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The Protectors® Podcast
Welcome to The Protectors® Podcast, where the valor meets the storyteller. Hosted by Jason Piccolo, a seasoned veteran and retired special agent, this series is a must-listen for anyone intrigued by the courage and tales of those who pledge to protect us. Beyond the front-line stories of bravery and dedication, this podcast goes a step further, weaving in the perspectives of those who bolster and narrate the protector's journey—featuring a remarkable lineup including New York Times Best Sellers and acclaimed Hollywood actors.
The Protectors® Podcast offers a diverse array of voices, from those who wear the uniform to the authors and entertainers who amplify their stories. It's a unique blend that highlights not only the raw realities faced by our protectors but also how their sacrifices inspire the narratives we cherish in literature and film. Each episode is a testament to the interconnected worlds of service and support, bringing listeners an unmatched depth of insight.
Dr. Jason Piccolo is a retired federal agent, former U.S. Army Infantry Captain (Iraq 2006), and author.
Past Guests Include:- Sean Patrick Flanery - Andrews & Wilson- Mark Greaney- Stephen Hunter- Remi Adeleke - Florent Groberg - Clint Emerson - Travis Mills
The Protectors® Podcast
#481 | Trevor Coult | Veteran Voices and the Boundless Digital Canvas
Trevor Coult joined the show to talk about a tone of topics. We discuss the challenges of maintaining integrity in the complex realm of content creation and the YouTube landscape, riddled with restrictions and a partner program that leaves much to be desired, prompts us to examine the broader disconnect within social media moderation, including the looming shadow of AI oversight.
Make sure to check out Jason on IG @drjasonpiccolo
You know you got to hit record. Hey, welcome to the protectors podcast. Incredible guest today. We've been following each other for a long time but we just relocated and found each other on the Instagram. The Graham. Welcome to the show, trevor.
Speaker 2:Thanks, thanks, jason. Yeah, we have been a bunch of her quite some, a lot of years now, but then Instagram is worth. I've reconnected with a lot of people. I mean, I deleted the Twitter account just because I just thought it was just filled with toxicity, I just thought it couldn't be bothered with this any longer. It's just nasty and, yeah, there's no accountability. So I just decided to go to move to a mature platform. So here we are. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, the thing about IG too is like, like you said, the toxic stuff. Like you choose to follow you on Instagram, you don't just kind of like come across your you on our Twitter, aka X or whatever it's called nowadays, where people just like they just throw jabs at you all the time and if some dude in his mom's basement and he's like 300 pounds and he's like I could have served and it's just like, please stop, please stop.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean I'm enjoying Instagram at the minute. I mean I've found a lot of great guys on there and nitties on there, so it's nice. But I've got plans this year, 2024, I'm moving in a different direction from the usual videos and stuff. I want to. I'm working with someone at the minute, an American, to try and we're moving to take my first book that one there, not wrong one that one there first in the signing. We're doing first in the signing and we're trying to turn it into a screenplay at the minute. So that's looking exciting. Oh, that'd be really cool man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've got lots of good people lined up, so it's looking really good at the minute.
Speaker 1:I think you know I've seen a lot of, a lot of veterans who write books and stuff like that, who are very creative. It's not just veterans. They get into writing screenplays, you know, like getting getting their stories onto, like because you're very creative. You know you're creative with reality and you can see reality differently and when you put it into words and then you put it in the screenplay and then you could visualize what it would look like on the screen through your own experience, if any of that makes sense.
Speaker 2:But I think. Well, I had decided that if I got a part in the movie, I was going to play a bass rap that didn't want to leave camp.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You know that's uh-huh, but yeah, you guys, go do what you're going to do. I'm just going to hang here and drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, what are you up to these? Days anyway, I see you're, you're promoting a lot of things, which is nice, it's nice to see.
Speaker 1:I think you know I should go down the laundry list of things I got going on right now, and one of the things I want to talk to you about is something I think might help you. So one thing I do is I have my protectors foundation, which is a nonprofit, for, like our you know, mostly our first responders here, because you know there are so many nonprofits out there that you know they have the good intentions but they're not really providing direct support. So what I found is like we have a lot of like small police departments and actually it's not even small police departments anymore. It's like police who have no equipment or training and if they do need new equipment or training, they have to pay for it themselves. So my big thing right now is just trying to get like decent training to as many people as I can and then like simple equipment like tourniquets. You know, I didn't realize. You know I'm like okay, you know, yeah, it's cool, they probably get issued one tourniquet, but I found that, like police and stuff like that, they're always encountering people who need a tourniquet, so they're using their tourniquet, so it could be like accidents and stuff like that. So just little things like that.
Speaker 1:Then I got the podcast and the writing and everything. And one thing you and I were talking about before we hit record was like demonetization and YouTube and trying to get your voice out there and not having you know. I mean, listen, it's nice to get paid for to use and stuff like that through YouTube, but if you're putting in your work and you're putting in the time to put out a product, then you should you know you should have the option of people supporting you. So I've been using what they call a sub stack to write articles and sub stack. It offers, you know, video. You could actually put podcasts on there, you could put writing on there and it's a great platform. A lot of people use it and it's your platform. As of now, they're not like, you're not getting throttled and you'll see a lot of journalists have run over and jumped onto the sub stack.
Speaker 1:So for people out there who don't understand, like, when you go on a YouTube or you go even IG, I got throttled the other day for putting up a post about being exposed to toxins and that got throttled. I got a thing that says this post goes against our guidelines. So I'm like here it is me burning marijuana and inhaling toxins and then talking about burn pits in Iraq and I got a post that said hey, you know what we're going to. You know you're not able to monetize this. So then the same thing happens with YouTube and the same thing happens with all the other platforms.
Speaker 1:So you go to sub stack and sub stack is basically your own little website and your, your subscribers can have free. You can have tier levels. Like people want to give you five bucks, they want to be a founding member, they could pay you certain and you set it. So it's kind of a cool idea and like, with you you're putting in the work and you have a lot of supporters, then if people are supporting you, then you could put in even more work, if that makes sense. So that's one thing. I just a little thing maybe you could think about later on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I've been in the last two days I've had a row with. The thing is, youtube has this thing where every creator gets a YouTube partner program manager which, to be honest, are pointless. They can't add any value to your channel. They're just like us. It might as well be your wife there and you're going. Why can't you fix this? And they're going because I don't have the control. I don't know anyone. So YouTube partner program managers are actually useless. I call them oxygen thieves.
Speaker 2:I had a row with mine yesterday and then before so, trevor, we know that you're going to have to do one-on-one consultation I says can you fix my channel? No, I says well then what's the point? So I've got. What I've done to YouTube is I've played them at their own game. Basically, I got all 600 of my videos and I locked them down into private, so they're not allowed to be played anymore and YouTube cannot earn any more revenue. So I basically I gave up YouTube about two days ago. I think I had 155,000 subscribers. I just went. Now I've had enough of it and walked away. I don't want to use the platform anymore. I find it very, very toxic and it's run by the wrong people.
Speaker 1:It's tough to find platforms, man, and I hate to get political on it, but it's a true. You can't speak to anything because a lot of my content is shooting and I'm like and I don't know what it is I have probably I don't know 100 plus videos on Instagram of me shooting, but then once in a while it'll be like this goes one of them, a random one of me doing a competition, not even like talking about defense or anything, and it's like this goes against our policy and I'm like this makes no sense.
Speaker 2:We've got to remember that. Now let's go from this point of view. Those people that run platforms, social media, are geeks. They've never left their house. They work on computers. They don't know the outside world, and I mean every platform. They are little geeks that sit down and work on electronics. They don't know the real world. They don't know that they're able to sit in the house, do little geeky stuff because people are out protecting them. And then they ask you to come onto their platform so they can make money. And you come on, they go.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't like that. I mean it's now like your opinions. Your opinion is not accepted by someone else with different opinion. Before, it used to be scroll on by if you don't like someone. Now they stop and look at you and go I don't like you and you're like I don't care. So, yeah, so social media is run by geeks. The people that are in charge of monitoring social media are also geeks with no life experience. So I mean they all sit in a house all day looking at a computer, looking at algorithms, to make sure you have a word that affects them, and then they do platform. Yeah, it's pathetic.
Speaker 1:And I think nowadays what they're doing is they're even skewing AI somehow, Like they're putting in their algorithms into the AI. So because you know, in about a year, nothing nobody like screening anything on any social media is going to be a human. It's going to be like AI, like going through here, and AI is going to be set up the way they want to set it up. So those same geeks and everything are set up like you know what, if someone's doing this, this is an AI and I don't agree with them, then boom. Yeah, brother, it's interesting, but you don't want to lighter note. Let's talk about you. Let's talk about these books. Man, you know we got screenplays and I don't. How can you say you're having your third and final novel? There's always going to be another one, Come on.
Speaker 2:I've read it or stuff to say. I mean, obviously life moves forward and I keep notes and diaries of things. The first one I wrote first in the song it was just I was dealing with a lot of my mental health trauma and I found it easier to deal with by writing something down and getting it out of your head. It helps me close that chapter. So, yeah, the first thing to sign a book was very controversial because there was quite a few people that went to Afghanistan with me then went first thing to sign in. You weren't in signing first. Three para were and I'm like, yeah, I know I was attached to three para, I was working with them, oh, but but it's para that went there. Yeah, it was. Yeah, I was C company three para.
Speaker 2:The CEO, lieutenant Colonel Stuart Toodle, who got DSO, sent my betoon there. No, that's not right. And so the whole. I knew it would cause controversy but the fact is I did write to Stuart Toodle, probably about a year after the book came out, asking him he worked I think it was Barclays Bank he worked for Don't quote me, I think it was for Barclays Bank something to do high up in the bank doing security, and I asked him to get his arson gear and to put something out to prove my point. And they don't like doing it, do they? You don't want to walk over someone's legacy by saying you were there before them and you know what. You know what? Half the vet, in fact a tenth of the vet community, are fantastic blokes. 90% are toxic. You know everyone wants to beat each other up at the minute, you know, and I just take. I'm an easy sound board, call me names all day. I'll take it. I'll just take it as long as it gets it off your chest.
Speaker 1:You, you brought up a great point. We eat our own, we do, and it, you know it's, it's. It's the veteran community, it's a law enforcement community, it's anybody who's quote-unquote, alpha and a reality is like, and you'll see that the ones who are very toxic and the ones who want to be there, it's their ego. It is so ego driven. And if you take a step back and say, hey, you know what, it's not always about me, it's about the, the greater good, the bigger mission. It's about telling that story. When you're telling a story, you're telling it. A lot of times the civilians have no idea, but in order to give them a view, then they'll get a better perspective are the people who are still serving and the veterans. So it's like, why not support each other? Can you imagine if, if every vet supported every vet? I mean obviously the ones support people.
Speaker 1:They were, like you know, cracked out and stuff like that, with with ego and stuff like that. Yeah, imagine it.
Speaker 2:But I did that for a while. I've stopped doing it. I'm gonna be honest, you've stopped doing it. So I left on my 2015 1617, 1819. I was out there. I mean I was working with a great journalist, an ex-captain from two Park Hall, sean Raymond. I got to know all the defense journalists in the UK, whether it was Mark Nichols on the mail, deborah Hayes, richard courage, and I was working with them one.
Speaker 2:I was going really well and we were pushing a campaign about mental health and how we should tackle the stigma and what we should add to resettlement To help troops move forward, and it was going really really well. I mean, I was raising money. I was doing just giving pieces. I was raising tens of thousands of pounds. It was all accounted for it. I was all going to different charities. I loved it.
Speaker 2:I was shown trance, transparency, but it just takes. I mean, there was some veterans took the piss. One veteran asked me to help them buy ten mountain bikes so we could take veterans out, and I went. So basically, you want me to set up your business so you can take that. I said now I can't do it, and the minute you say no, I'm not gonna help you, it's like ah, that's because you're a scammer, and then they go down. You would have caught in your scammer and a thief. You're doing it for your own benefit. I mean to be honest, just there's one veteran in particular that I'm not allowed to mention at the minute, but there's one veteran in particular who used to be in the US Army, who lives about seven miles from me now. Every month or two months he reports made the Suffolk place for scamming and fraud and theft and I'm constantly going around a circle, going in, clearing my name, coming out, going to their man him and he's obsessed.
Speaker 2:So I've actually stopped raising money for veterans, probably four or four years ago, whenever the fingers from him started pointing. And then when he points, someone else goes Well, maybe it is true, oh me. So I've stopped helping veterans because I just found it the dozens and dozens of veterans that I did help. Just whenever fingers are getting pointed at you, they don't step up and go. Well, he helped me. They stand back and let you take all the shit rather than go.
Speaker 2:No, trevor did do this for me. Trevor Did do this for me. No, we help me here. He helped me here. So the fact that people you've helped decide to take a step back and not support you was enough for me. It was validation to not help any more veterans and it sounds awful saying that, but Unfortunately that's how I move forward now and I find I've got an easier mental health and my days are a lot easier Without the dramas of constant emails. Can you help me fix my roof? Can you help me put petrol in my car? I've just stopped doing it because of the toxicity within the vet's community.
Speaker 1:It's sad, but it's true, that's. You know what it's. It's incredibly sad and there are so many people that that take a step back. Yeah, that's why you don't really see me jumping on and supporting a lot of different nonprofits and stuff like that. But I could see absolutely what you did was the right thing. When you're attacking you and they're attacking your mental health, your missions, your mission helping veterans hey, that's one of your missions. Hey, you moved on to something else now. Your writing your videos, everything else is another way to help you and help others. You know the nonprofit world.
Speaker 1:One thing I did with my nonprofit was I said look, I don't want to collect money and I'm Adam, I'm very adamant about this, but I still get people donating. Is that I want Companies and I want businesses to donate their money, because you see a lot of nonprofits out there saying Asking mom and pops, friends and family and people who are barely scraping by To donate to them, and you know someone who some people are that stuff to put food on a table nowadays, and when you're asking them for 20, 30, $40 a month to support your, your nonprofit, yeah, I'm I'm sure that money goes to great, great causes, but the reality is there are we both know this numerous corporations out there who have made billions and trillions of dollars on Wars and and other equipment and everything else that, hey, you know, maybe if they supported on a profit, they'll get their tax break and you'll use them the way that they were able to to use your, your, your body. Yeah, you know 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I'm still a. I'm an ambassador for a mental health charity a vet, and she met health charity here in the UK which, which I mean, they do great work. So I and they don't pay wages, they get donations and donations go to pay for therapists and no other charity in the UK does that. I mean, I used to be a patron of other charities as well, but I took a step back when I seen it things I wasn't happy with what I was saying. So I took a step back and another charity called veterans in action that I was a patron for do fantastic work and Whenever I was challenging Politicians and a ministry of defense, I spoke to the boss of the charity, said listen, I love your charity, but it's best I take a step back because whenever I'm starting to challenge politicians and if they see I'm associated to you, it could affect their funding.
Speaker 1:So yeah, he was like I like how you take a stand and I, you know Unfortunate I shouldn't. You know I struggle with it sometimes because I'm like I try to stay as middle of the road as possible. It's still take a stand. But it's tough, man, it is absolutely tough, but you are able to talk, you're able to use your past and your experiences to shine a light on on topics, and that's one thing I want to talk to you about is the military cross. You know, I know, like over here and I know are different, with the Silver Star as Bronze Star, we have the, the single service crosses, we have Medal of Honor, but I'm not quite familiar with, with how the UK and how you guys all work. So let's talk about those.
Speaker 2:Take me back to that well, first of all, and your highest medal is a Conspicuous the Medal of Honor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, congressional Medal of Honor, yeah yeah, I'm just, I've got all these medals in my head. That's where I went, but them. So yours is the Medal of Honor, which is the top one, which is equivalent to, I would say, our Victoria Cross, which is our top medal. Now, below our VC, we've got a thing called conspicuous galaxy cross, which is it's it's not quite the VC, but you basically it's on par. Do you know what I mean? It's sort of it's nearly there, it's it's a bravery medal in the face of enemy forces. You know, when Outnumbered outgun you still fought, you still save lives. It's one of those medals. And then below the Below there, we have the George Cross, which is. So we got the VC Conspicuous Galactic cross, the George Cross. I've got the military cross, which is just below them, yeah, and, and it used to only be given it to officers for many years and then they changed the criteria of it. So I was one of the very first non officers, other ranks, to get that.
Speaker 2:But I Disagree with with receiving medals like that. I really do, and I've always hated it. The military cross has given it hasn't helped me in any way. I think it's maybe more of a target. Yeah, I think Winston Churchill once said, the shiniest gongs cast the darkest shadows. Because whenever you're given a galaxy medal, they put you on a pedestal and you are the target, for Some people will like you, other people will hate you, and there's no in between. I mean my mental has. It has brought me nothing but misery.
Speaker 2:If I'm honest, I wish I'd never received it, because to receive a medal like that, you can't just run out and do. If you run out and do do something, say unbelievable, you save a life or you take a life. You don't do it by yourself. She's no one does things by themselves. The teamwork. You have to have a group of people around you to put down suppressive fire, to actually Maneuver the vehicles or maneuver around the ground in order for you to do a Certain act. So you cannot win a galaxy medal on your own, and anyone that says that's a liar. It takes. It takes a lot of people doing bravery things at the same time for something to be achieved and to single out someone to give them a medal. I Think so, just grace. If I'm honest, I've never really liked it, but yeah, and it's brought me nothing but shit. I'm also, I've never liked it.
Speaker 1:The other thing, too, that comes with. It is like when you do speak your your truth, then it's always like you know, trevor, you know receive the highest, one of the highest decorations, and it's Trevor military cross. It's like it's ever just Trevor. It's always now that, now that you have that, it's always going to be following with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, and I don't like it. I mean it's brought me nothing but misery and it sounds bad saying that, but it's brought me nothing but misery. I mean I've had hit mail. I've had my son's tennis club called and told not to let me in because I was a paedophile. I've had threats. I've been targeted. My family's been targeted. My friends get targeted because they know me. I don't want to mention the news. Work begins with A and ends with zero. They once wanted to have me on their shows to. I mean I've been called baby killer, all this shit that goes with it. But I've got. I have an armor now. I've got an armor now where you can't get through. I mean I grew up being called ginger. I mean rusty roof, dirty sailor.
Speaker 1:I've had it all.
Speaker 2:So I mean I'm pretty impenetrable now with them and their stuff gets thrown out. My I just take it as it's just part of my life.
Speaker 1:You know, I've noticed that I think you and I kind of went in the service the same. I went in 93 and you joined what around 94, right.
Speaker 2:I joined American Independence Day 1994, 4th of July.
Speaker 1:Oh, there we go. You know what? What a great day. I have to tell you this, trevor my favorite holiday is July 4th. You know, just so you know that, just so you know where I stand Now, just say it. I just love it. I love you know just the whole thing about it. But you know, having that, you and I we joined in like different times. You know the 90s were different man, they were different, and like I was enlisted artillery in the 90s and then later on I was an infantry officer. You know my service in Iraq was nothing compared to you know so many people like real combat.
Speaker 2:You gotta remember, for us the British liked to poke a bit like the Americans we liked to poke our nose everywhere. So in the 90s we had Cosimo, we had Bosnia, we had Northern Ireland, you know so we've always had a conflict to go to. You know, We've always had training in other countries.
Speaker 1:Those Brits, man, you know what? Let's talk about the 17, I'm just kidding. The 1700s, no man. But out of everything in my life and as we get older you know, I just hit 51. The only thing I do a lot we talked about that I do a lot. But a lot of what I do now is more of a legacy for my kids. You know, someone brought this up to me the other day and they're like look, you have 480 something. Well, at the time it was 450. 450 podcast episodes. So when I'm dead and gone, my grandkids and my kids can listen to me chatting with people.
Speaker 1:All the time I write books, I do the foundation, I do everything. 95% of it is for my kids. So I have a legacy so they can see something that's different than they don't know me when I was like soldier, officer, law enforcement or anything. I mean they know me with law enforcement, but years after I got out of the field. So now they can have some sort of legacy. You know, with your books and everything you have a legacy and with your being outspoken you have a legacy. And you did mention not liking the award, but the thing is your generation's ahead of you. You know your kids, grandkids, your great grandkids are going to be like oh yeah, you know, great great grandpa was this and that, and they'll be able to look at that legacy.
Speaker 2:It's a small one, though, jason, you've got to remember it's going to be a small. It's a small window because in 100 years time, someone's going to live in the house that we worked hard for. All our belongings are going to be in the bin. No one's going to remember it in our photographs, and that's just. In 100 years time, we may be brought up in a conversation when two people are having a beer, but we're working hard today to be forgot about in the future. So you know, I just now think relax, just relax, just you know, take these days of comes, enjoy watching your kids grow up. Don't be so. Don't be on your phone 24 seven. Just enjoy life.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm enjoying life. I'm semi retired now, a lot of things that you know. That's the thing about social media, too, is it looks like you know I could do this, like you, and I will talk. We'll talk for 20, 30, 40 minutes and then it takes me five, 10 minutes to edit it and then it's done. You know and like, with the foundation of stuff, I'm putting in a little work here and there, but I don't use, I don't put my kids on social media just because of that toxic, that toxicity.
Speaker 1:And there are some interesting people out there who follow me and, hey, thank you for following me, but some people send some interesting stuff. So, but most of the time I'm taking my daughter to soccer, I'm playing catch my playing football my son, we're watching shows, we're doing this, we're doing that and everything. That's my life, that's the life I love. That is like. That is my mental health, right there. Because if I think back about my career and I think back about things, it takes me to a dark place. It takes me to like, to a point where I'm like huh.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I've got the Well I've been the PTSD resolution, which is a mental health charity, and I've got my therapist, who lives only a few miles away, and there's times when I just give her a ring and get advice and stuff, because sometimes I slip back into that role of feeling sorry for myself but I then get to kick up the ass and back out of it. But I I love my own company and I could sit here all day and just binge, watch TV, make a coffee. I'm happy. But the weird thing is, even though I like my own company, I sort of hate being by myself all the time. So I would rather that my partner comes and sits on the chair and watches TV and then I sit on another chair and I'm in my own little world. Sometimes it's nice to have someone there, but I don't want people there all the time.
Speaker 1:Welcome to my world. I, you know, it's the, it's the thing, it's like this, this solitude. I, like you, know a lot of times what I'll do is I like to write a lot and I like to get out and I like to go to a coffee shop, but I'll put my headphones in and I'll listen to tunes, I'll write and I like to be around people, but I don't like to be talking to people. Yeah, and most of the time I'm talking to people is like right now. These are like.
Speaker 1:I have like two or three friends that are nearby and I'll see them maybe once a week, once every couple weeks. I spend most of my time with my kids. I'll be texting friends and stuff like that here and there, but I'm mostly a, I'm mostly in my own little, my own little like creative spear. And like when you were talking about, you know, it's your last book, what's, what's your creative outlet outside of this? What is? What do you do that, you know, besides just watching, like me, like watching my damn 48 hours true crime, crap. But what do you do? Like to keep your mental space?
Speaker 2:You're gonna laugh at this now. I like to go out, not every day, but most days, and I'm happy to go and sit and just have a coffee. I like to go to. I've got a hotel which is not my hotel. Clearly. There's a hotel where I know the owners of it and they're fantastic and they're in a place called Bridge and I'll pop into there and I get I know all the staff. I'll just sit at the table, I'll have my coffee and I look right out towards the War Memorial and the lovely plants and to me, that's me. I sit and have my coffee, I look at so and I'll do this to different places each week. I'll go and sit somewhere. So I like to do that.
Speaker 2:I like watching my son play football he's a good little footballer and yeah, just doing things and going for a walk. My partner doesn't like to go for walks that long, I'm honest. So tonight, mirror with her, she wants to get fit. Jason, she's always wants to get fit. She doesn't want to go for a walk. So that's a struggle, but I just like. I like going for walks along the countryside. It's sort of it sounds weird saying this, but I'm happy when I'm at peace with things. I've loved to go and sit in the woods by myself and make a bruise jack of potato, just chill. I just I don't like people, jason, anymore, because they've they've let me down that much. Now that I just don't like people. It sounds awful. I'd rather sit and chat with my dog dad in November, so it's good. But I'd rather lose 10 of my friends to get my dog back. Okay, I really would, because my dog added value to my life and a lot of people don't. And that sounds really harsh, doesn't it? But it's true.
Speaker 1:Everything you've just said. It sounds like most of us. You know a lot. I wouldn't say most of us, I would say a lot of us when you take the ego and stuff away. I, everywhere I go now, like here's my coffee mug, I have coffee stickers everywhere. One of my friends really got me into getting away from the chains and trying different coffee places, and that's the thing is like oh, soldier on coffee company, there we go.
Speaker 1:My goal is to try to just Go to different coffee places, sit, and it's not always about being doing, it's not always about doing. I like to do the same thing. I like to relax, I like rocking, because what I do is I, you know, I just get in there and I just walk. I'll listen to a book, I'll just chill, and I Like to. I like the solitude, I like the idea of trying different coffee. You know, I used to be a black coffee guy. Boom, give me some harsh black coffee.
Speaker 1:I like to go somewhere. I like to look at the owners, I like to look at the story of the coffee shop. I Like to be like hey, you know what I mean. What's different about this one? It a lot of times when you go to these coffee places and I'm gonna have to go on like a tour of England and stuff like that too, of All their coffee. A lot of times, when you look like into the websites and stuff, when you look at about the owners, a Lot of them have come from like interesting backgrounds and they're they're doing this because they love Doing it and they love bringing that joy to other people and a lot of them have faced some harsh times in different countries and now they have a coffee shop.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, the guy, the guy who runs this. He does it. His name's Brian Phillips. He does it. He's on Instagram. Actually. He does it because it's a hobby and and the story's amazing he's he lives a couple miles from my parents. He's from where I'm from in Belfast. He lost both his legs as an amputee on operations and this is a hobby for him now and it's a great. It's a good little thing. He sends me coffees and I've got woolly hats and t-shirts from him and all I do in return is and I'm being straight all I do is Promote him and just and he does. He never asked. He never wants to ask me to promote him. I just was scrolling through Instagram and I came across Carrick Fergus coffee soldier on coffee and I thought, oh, that looks good. I said my message going I didn't know there was a coffee house In Belfast. I'm promoting other brands and I'll do your. And I said I'll promote yours for free. I don't, I just think it's great and his coffee tastes lovely.
Speaker 1:He's a nice guy and I think I'm looking at it right now.
Speaker 2:Oh my okay we should all I. If we all supported a wounded veteran or we all supported somebody, this would be fantastic.
Speaker 1:But can you imagine it? Can you imagine, like, if you just got on Like I'm pushing around six or seven thousand listens a week and I would imagine every all my followers said, hey, you know what, listen to this podcast, check this podcast out.
Speaker 1:They had a good conversation, yeah that'd be nice and it's not about the month for me, like the podcast is like I don't have any sponsors right now. You know I went. I did a detail with the government before I retired. I went to work back for a department of Homeland Security and I knew it was going to be controversial if anybody found out. I was working with them at the time so and DHS didn't know who they were bringing on as a detail. So I'll tell you a little story here. So I'm a whistleblower, and I was a whistleblower when I worked for Homeland Security about migrant children being victimized.
Speaker 1:So years later I'm working for a different agency and I put in for what they call a presidential Management rotation thing. It's a pretty, it's a big thing. My supervisor helped me get into it. I think only a hundred and something certain federal employees get to do it. So when you do it you could apply to different agencies to go work with them for six months. So I go hey, you know what, just for the hell of it, I'm gonna put DHS Department of Homeland Security policy. So go work for the main Homeland Security, working for the main policy people. And they accepted me. They obviously never googled my name.
Speaker 1:So I go and I worked there and I was like you know, just to do this, I better get rid of all the sponsors I have for the podcast because I don't want them to be like come after me for anything. I was like, as in getting paid While I'm working for the government because my agency was fine, they're like I do whatever you want. So I go there and I work for six months for the Homeland Security working writing policy Directly for the secretary. It was just funny. But since I got done with that, I retired. I'm like you know, it's tough for me and it's tougher a lot of people to go and ask for People to support my projects. I don't know. It's just tough for me to ask for money. I it's so. It's different, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Have you ever been? Have you ever? There's a lot of good guys out there that I know that are always looking for people that to work with. Rob O'Neill. My cooya has a good podcast called the operator. He's a great guy. He's always looking at different projects, always trying to expand, so maybe that's an avenue. Go down and ask me I mean, I know quite a few decent guys, but America's so big, you can fit Europe in there. It's not like you walk across the street.
Speaker 1:You know, I've never been. Here's my, my world. I'm a world traveler brother. I've been to the Bahamas Once when I was a kid. I've been a Kuwait. I've been Iraq and I stopped in Ireland on the way back from Iraq and I went to Germany. And I went to Germany in 2019 for Oktoberfest, so I just went, I did the fast for a day, but then I went hiking all over and I loved it and I've always wanted. I have got to get back to Europe, man. I have got to get over there. I just want to hike everywhere and that's what I love about it. I just I'd need to get over there, just like you're saying, walk. There is nothing like just walking in a different line at land. I absolutely love it, man. So I think I need to come over there and get some coffee with you, brother.
Speaker 2:I mean for me it's easy. I mean I live just in South London, I Can be in France in two hours and that's packing, leaving in France. I mean I was in, as in France last weekend, I mean a few weekends before that, I was in Budapest. Just it's easy. Just we could just travel Bulgaria, romania. We mean it's so easy for us to travel around. And I've been, I've been to the US once, which is well, which is a trip of a lifetime 2008. I got for, I got flown over to Washington DC. I stayed in a hotel which faces the West Wing it's right on the corner, bit, massive hotel, beautiful. And then I went, I went to see push and you've lost. That Was a good day you haven't seen America.
Speaker 1:I mean, I live here, I live right outside of Washington DC. You have not seen America. You, you know, you have not seen like.
Speaker 1:No, they're real the real United States this is. This is a facade, this whole area around here and it's just. I Don't know man. There are so many cool places to see. I've still yet to see some of the really. You know, I've lived all over this country. I've lived everywhere, from California to Texas, minnesota, colorado, pennsylvania, cheese. I've lived like probably 10 or 12 different states. There's still so much to see here You've got to get. You would love the Appalachian Trail. I mean, I grew up right on the Appalachian Mountains and what it is. It's like a Two or three thousand, two thousand, I don't know how many miles. It is huge trail, it's the whole mountain range. There's so many different things to see that aren't Washington DC.
Speaker 2:I know well, that was to do with work, though, if I'm honest, you know, yeah, so that was an interesting day. But I Want to go back over. I keep getting invited to Texas. Comes, come, stay in Texas, champ, come, yeah, yeah. Only steers and queers come from. That's the movie quote. By the way, before anyone has to go with me, that's a movie quote.
Speaker 1:But then, yeah, food metal jacket, I think it was yeah, yeah, didn't I film that in England? I.
Speaker 2:Not too sure they've known the film in the US, didn't? They thought that had quite a few sets where they did that, you know.
Speaker 1:But I'm thinking like geez or something big that was filmed there. I didn't realize it. I'm gonna. I'm gonna look up that yeah you got it?
Speaker 2:They feel yeah, man brothers.
Speaker 1:You know there are so much to see here. Texas is great, but Texas is like its own country. Yeah there's so many different, like landscapes in Texas. Colorado is beautiful. Yeah, there's this, and I went to Montana a Few years ago and I was incredible geez man. There's just so much. It's just different countries, like within one.
Speaker 2:I think if I visit America, I need to take a month out and just spend a month. You couldn't, I mean a week's away. A week's a waste of a trip, you know. I mean you might as well go for a month.
Speaker 1:Now, if you go to Florida, make sure you Google Florida man first and they just start looking at everything. I think Florida is a different, a different, different land. I'm gonna say it's a different country, it's a different land. And just everybody out there Google, if you're, if you're listening from overseas, google Florida man and you'll, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It's a Very interesting movie on Netflix, isn't it? Oh well, yeah, that's a little bit. I like that show too, but it's, it's, it's interesting. Yeah, mm-hmm, I Well, I will Google it. So what is like? You know? What are you doing now, man?
Speaker 2:Right now I'm in the middle of a well, I'm coming to the end of a court case. I've been fighting with the UK Ministry of Defence for quite a few years for different issues with that, so that's coming to an end. I had a big row in my solicitor last night about it because we're at the end now, so tensions are a bit frail. Me and my sister had an argument last night. We ended up both, instead of arguing with each other, we pointed the fingers at our barrister and we blamed him and he's like it's not my job. So I'm dealing with that at the minute and I'm currently finishing off a novel which I'm doing at the minute, and apart from that, I've got a few projects on the go. As I said, we're doing the screen this. We're writing the screen things for first into signing that's been put forward.
Speaker 2:So I'm helping Matthew Morris in launches YouTube, which should be any day now. I mean, he took me a couple of years to get it into him. Do it. It's extra money. Do it because Matthew's a great actor. But Matthew, along with probably 40 or 50 actors in Hollywood, have all been sort of pushed to the side because they've got a brain and they speak out a bit topic which concern them. You're meant to stand in line and you're meant to stand in line and take it. If you're an actor or if you're in the public eye, you know, the minute you have an opinion, you're then lambastin, aren't you? So I'm helping him with different things and, yeah, I just I keep busy. I like to help different people do different things and yeah, I've been following him for a while.
Speaker 1:I love his content, man, because, you know, a lot of times the same thing is like you know, hey, here's my son, here's this and everything. But once you have like a voice, it's like here you can hear they are. And I, you know social media. If you look at the like in the US, we have 320 something, million, million people now, if you add in the rest of the world and stuff. But on social media you get these same people, the same attackers, the same vitro and it's just like please, I just want to have an opinion. Look, you don't. If you don't like it, just listen to it, move on. You don't have to agree with me, but that's my opinion, that's the facts that I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's just like geez some people think their opinions are facts, though, and that's yeah.
Speaker 1:I almost wonder if it's like it. You know, I'm not even. You say almost wondered I'm not nine times at a ten. It's ego. It's ego. People just want to be like I am the one, I'm the alpha, I'm the top, the notch person, I know more than them, and it's just like I'm like prom, 51 years old. I'm like you're good, you do, you do, you do you and I'll do me.
Speaker 2:I'm getting to your level of a relaxed type person. I'm only 40, I'm 48, I'm 49 in April actually.
Speaker 1:But oh, you got a 49 in April. I'm not even gonna try to do math, I was gonna try to say okay, well, you're almost there, man.
Speaker 2:I reached a stage in my life. Now it's just. I'm just. I don't wanna be the alpha male, I'm happy. Listen, I'm quite happy on my step. I know where my my, I know where I know my worth. I'm happy to sit on a step. If someone wants to be out there, go for, go for it. Go and take the battle to the enemy. I'll stand mine the step. Now, if someone comes on my step, I'll defend my step. But I'm happy just to chill now. I've done all that crap in the past. It's now time to relax.
Speaker 1:I don't need to be the best at anything. I want to have fun, like I do a lot of this, like shooting stuff, and I'll tell people right off the bat I'm like I'm never gonna be the best, I'm never. I love, I just like having fun. And now I'm doing photography. I'm not gonna be the best photographer, but I love taking pictures of people yeah.
Speaker 1:I love expressions of people. I love just. I love because people love having pictures of themselves, because it's like it's, it's just and that's not like the ego thing, it's like some people just never ask. I love taking pictures of people because I'm like they never sometimes they never see themselves that way. Yeah, they only see, like the social media, selfies and stuff, but they don't see like behind the lens and the crinkles of their skin and humanity. I don't like.
Speaker 1:I don't like taking a lot of landscapes because it's like that's my view of the landscape I want. I want to look at like my roadmap of people's faces and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:I don't have, I'm just kind of rambling now yeah, well, I, I mean the gond and the shooting and the competitions. I mean I used me in that type of thing. But can our Reeves put me off? He's a Hollywood actor, clearly everyone knows him, but I watched him on a video. I just went how can someone be that so good with the weapon system? So I, and then from there on and I just quit. I just there's no point. There's no point, I know.
Speaker 1:I know, I didn't want to look at that guy anymore. I was just like you know.
Speaker 2:Come on bro it's like there was loads of guys who see QB and and sniped just just, who just quit. That day just went, yeah, and you know.
Speaker 1:I, I'm sorry, excuse my French, but Tom Cruise, seriously, I saw him training for the movie collateral and how he's going out and he's doing all the shooting. I can't think they use SAS to train him that stuff. But I'm like, come on, man, you know, just just fake it but he's actually shooting around.
Speaker 1:I like doing it because I because I just got out of law enforcement so 23 years in that and it does help. And I like to do it because I like to train people to. I'm a instructor and I like to get people into it who are especially the ones that are in law enforcement. It's because a lot of times when you're in our in this career field over here, you're shooting at targets that are straight on in front of you and you're shooting paper. But with these competitions I do you run in your gun, in your shooting and stuff like that. It's more along the lines of it's good for people who are into competing against themselves, putting themselves under a little bit of stress, but especially if you're in a field that you have to use a firearm, it's good.
Speaker 2:But I tell you what law enforcement law enforcement is? It's completely different than soldiering, and soldiering in foreign countries. I could get away with things I don't mean bad things but I could get away with how to kill a target where law enforcement have a small window, there could be civilians around. You gotta look for collateral damage, make sure there's no one around who's in line of fire. I mean, is there gas canisters about? Is there?
Speaker 2:So you've got all these things to consider as law enforcement, but that when you're out in a battlefield, I mean downrange is the enemy and and I don't like people that say, but their civilians are, the truth is, and the truth is there is never any civilians in front of me. When there's enemy firing at me, civilians tend to go and hide. When the Taliban or Al Qaeda or terrorists or insurgents, whenever they pop up and they're shooting at you, civilians have already scarpered, already gone. So there's no such thing as innocent civilian got shot. It never happened with me in Afghanistan. I've never seen it happen. I've never seen. Oh, someone comes out the house pushing a trolley. Oh, I didn't know there's a gun fight on. It's nonsense. So at least whenever you were fighting against an enemy, you knew that you're.
Speaker 1:The rounds were going in the direction of a threat, not civilian casualties and we have so many shootings here in the US and I never bring up gun laws and all the other stuff, but the thing is, when you're talking about collateral, you're talking about, like you know I had a guest yesterday we're talking about active shooters and the thing is like you have a responsibility, if you're gonna carry a firearm, to be able to put your rounds on target because of what's behind it.
Speaker 1:A lot of times when someone's squeezing off rounds, there's people around, people are running gun in or they're running and ducking for cover yeah but when you're, when you're trying to take out that threat, you need to be able to put your rounds on that threat because you don't want to hurt, hurt kids, people, innocence well, don't think about right.
Speaker 2:The world always criticizes the US for having guns. It always will. Because you know what, whenever we can't criticize something else, we look for something else to criticize. But the one thing I understand you've got your amendments and you go by them and you know what I'm rightly so. I would never criticize someone else's laws and where you do it. And I know that if I was in the US and I went to apply for a gun, I know I'm the right age and I know that I could probably get one. But I just want a bit of advice on you. See, when you buy a gun in the US, is there something set in stone where, if you buy a gun, you have to go and carry out a weapon handling test and you have to go in zero or shoot on a range? Is there? Is that part of buying a gun to see if you're? All I'm trying to say is to show the gun seller that you're competent with that weapon system. Does that happen?
Speaker 1:no and you know, you know, and that's one of the reasons I got in my instructor too was because I want to teach people, families, mm-hmm, specifically the responsibility of having a firearm in the house yeah you know about your you know you and I've we've been around guns for a long time.
Speaker 1:We've been around firearms, rifles, pistols, everything. But when you get someone and nowadays, with so much going on, people from both sides of the party want a firearm. And my goal is to teach families like look, just because a gun is in a room doesn't mean it's automatically going to shoot someone. But if you put a gun in a room and it's loaded and you don't tell your children about it and you don't tell the children what happens when you pick it up and pull that trigger and it goes boom and the how dangerous it is and deadly, then people get hurt.
Speaker 1:Do people know how to secure their firearms? So they know how to what a safe is and they know what a gunlock is. They know how to clear a weapon. A lot of times you can go if you're at a legal age and buy a firearm. You can watch them, youtube or whatever to try to figure out how to shoot it.
Speaker 1:But I know every time I go to the range here, a lot of times what I'll do is I'll rent a private range because I'm afraid of what's out there in the lanes next to me people picking up a firearm for the first time don't know how to use it. So my goal is to go in talk to family, say this is you, I have these rubber guns, I have a fake pistols, everything from revolvers to semi automatics, all different types, and show them. And show them fake bullets, and then introduce the real gun with no ammo and then show them how to manipulate it and eventually work up to the point where we go to the range and everybody hears what that boom is and they see that bullet go down range and they see that bullet hit the target and shred it. And that's my goal is. It is to teach people just to be responsible with it guns aren't going to go away, yeah.
Speaker 2:I see the other side of this argument, though. Whereas there's no point in these senators and these people putting they're putting pressure on responsible that. This is the issue. I see they're trying to put more pressure on the responsible gun holders. It's like it needs chained down, but we're responsible, so it doesn't matter what laws change. It doesn't matter what pressure they apply to the responsible gun holders.
Speaker 2:The assholes are still going to go out and do terrible things with guns, who will not adhere to all these. All these new laws are making it more difficult, for if someone comes to break into your house and they've got a gun, you then have to run to a locker, unlock this, unlock that, so all the restrictions are being put on responsible people, while the people that are nasty don't have any responsibility, and that's the. That's the other side of the argument. Why we applying pressure on the gun holders. We should be applying pressure. Get the cops on the street, and it's impossible I mean that it's impossible to sort of. Please, let's be honest. And if someone sets out that they don't do a crime, they're going to achieve it no matter what, and it's difficult whatever nasty nasty happens in seconds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, these responses in minutes yeah, I know, and it's always gonna be hard. I mean unfortunately, right, the UK has, I don't know, 2% lunatics, but because your company's four times as nice of us, you've got four times the amount of lunatics that we have, and that's the issue?
Speaker 1:there's so many. The world is full of lunatics, holy crap. You know, brother, I appreciate you coming on. I like having this conversation. I'm gonna come overseas and you're gonna take me to your favorite coffee place. Oh yeah, and then I need, I really do. You need to come over there, man, and you got to come over here and don't come to Washington DC, I mean hey, listen yeah, there, I shouldn't say, don't come here, but there's, there's plenty of places to see that aren't Washington DC.
Speaker 2:I know well. The thing is, I've been arrested before. I don't think you'd let me in anyway oh shit, there we go.
Speaker 1:Well, looks like I'm coming to you thanks, thanks for helping me on.
Speaker 2:I really do appreciate. It's been fantastic love chatting to you and we'll chat again soon, hopefully.
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