[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. And it's almost like, I don't know, like Murphy's Law of Hunting, like you're going to look for wildebeest and you cannot find one and you gotta like, the closest we could get, I went out with Tommy and Jay to film shooting 8.6 and the closest we could get was 375 yards and I had the 12 and a half inch barrel shooting 160 grand and I was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, it was like, well they went down about, I'd say 100, 200 yards, we followed them over a hill, then they came running right back, I thought we were gonna get stampeded. They came to like 50, realized we were there, and then, I don't know how they didn't see us, and then turned and went back, so then I got another shot at 200, and I was like, am I just making terrible shots? And then it went, it left the herd, went off by itself, and it was,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They also get like, John was telling me that they get like herd mentality, like the herd starts storming and kicking up and their adrenaline goes on. They could already be dead, but they're still like, I gotta move.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I would go to a 16 just cause carrying that thing around is fine for a day or two, but I mean I guess it really depends on the hunt, but I would still go to a 16. Same hunt you went on, what would you do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would still go to a 16, just to be able to get in and out of the truck easier, carry it around. And then I do love that Voodoo, the 525, and I'm a magnification whore, but I don't think I dialed over 15, like some 3 to 18.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just cut, cut, cut that extra weight off the gun, get it small, I mean it's short, but it's tall, you know, but like a smaller scope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just something lighter and then a kickstand, because we only had so many of the prototypes there, so I was running the Atlas. And you're junior, so yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, to spot. It was nice to have- Oh, for spotting, yeah. Yeah, like, if you had time to get set up, because I had the, uh, Bushnells, and they were 12 power, so my field of view was tiny. You're binocular.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, yea. And my field of view was tiny, so I was, you know, I'm trying to find things that these guys are all experienced finding, they're like, they're right there. And I'm like, looking around, so, but once I got on something, you know, even John used it to determine if we should go follow that herd, if there was a bull or not, cause he couldn't see, so he dialed a 25 on my scope, get a better look at him. So it was nice for that, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean I don't know how you could explain it any better than you did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You get so lost in a hunt for a little bit and you're locked in, you're zoned and then like, you lose the animal or they run off or whatever. And then you'd like stand up and you look around and you realize where you are and you just have beautiful canvas in the background, hills, valleys. And then it hits you again and you're like, I'm South African.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The best. Easy. I don't. It was, uh, it was interesting. For sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it was, well you know, you'd be falling in a herd and then you hit and there was one, cause I was shooting all wildebeest, the herd we found was wildebeest so they would not go down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You gotta shoot him, Drew. Yeah, yeah. Well, cause I was and I was like, am I missing? And he's, you know, he's flying a helicopter fucking sideways following the shit and he's watching them better than I am and he's like, no, you're hitting it, just keep going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then like, you get one in the neck and then you could tell he'd just be like, good chat, peel out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would still say, yeaah, I would say my kudu, but not so much just the kudu, like the whole day. Well what was it? Give us a synopsis. Me and Jose went out to Cowie. Jose had gotten his- My favorite day was Cowie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it was great. Uh, so we went out to Cowie, which is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So much different training. You go around a corner and it's completely different than what you just drove over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we went out with John, and uh, because there were so many of us, they didn't have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So John went with a guy named Mabuti and he was a farm hand. So he wasn't a tracker, so he wasn't, you know, didn't have the eye. He wouldn't come with us off the truck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, John was kind of like alone that day and in the morning we looked for kudu because they don't like the sun and it was a hot day so you have like timeframes, you have like kudu o'clock which is like in the morning before the sun comes out and then right before it gets dark. So, we go out and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We looked for kudu, we didn't really see, we saw a couple, uh, cows, but no bulls, so then we got into impala time and we were hunting all day for Jose's impala. We stalked one through some bush and he missed a shot, it happens, but we went and looked for that for a while.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then we go off and we find a big herd that's divided, I guess, into three smaller, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, but I wanted to help. So I didn't want to go with them, make more noise and be a bigger mass. So I went off on my own. Different thing. Cause I knew where the herd was going. So it felt really good. Like after being there for four or five days that I could kind of start to pick up like things, pick up their patterns and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Start doing stuff. So I was spotting from the other side because we would have lost them because they walked back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I was like, well, no kudu today, but at least like Jose got him his Paula, I was pumped for him, like, it was good. And we're driving back and he's like, well, it's like kudu o'clock, but we do have to get out of here soon with the day break. So we'll like drive down and see what we see. And he's saying this while we're like, we stopped to have a beer and smoke. And he's saying that and he like looks up and glasses the hill and he's like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so it just happened to work out perfectly. It was like, we'll see what we see on the way back to the gate and then we'll go. So we saw it and my adrenaline was instantly fired up as soon as I saw it. So we go up, we drive around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We park in like, there was this big field with like 10 bushes and he's way up on a hill, like has a huge vantage point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we're at like 850 yards and he was asking what I wanted to get to. I was like, with that crazy elevation, like I think it was like 24 degrees. Oh, 30 degrees. Like it was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we're squat walking just through this giant open field with like a couple of bushes. So we're like squat sprinting like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we get up there and we go up to this fence line and we can't cross it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because let me just make too much noise. There was no coverage or anything. So we lay down right next to the fence line. I got my bipod all the way extended up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then my bag wasn't tall enough, so I took another, like two cow patties and stacked them up and was like squishing them down to get my bag up so I could get the height. So then I finally find it, I get on, uhm, I dialed because there was so much, I was so excited, I was like, I don't want to fuck up and forget to dial. So I dialed, cause they were very,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Eventful, I guess. He just, we just waited for the shot and he came out the right time, stood there perfectly broadside and I got him good. I was dialed in too far.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It happens, I mean that's just hunting. And he didn't go far, cause as it turned out I double lunged him. It was a perfect shot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, just insurance shot because- Yeah, don't blame me. Yeah, he walked down. They can cover ground. John walked me back into him and he was like, you see those two trees and how there's like that little hole in the middle? And he's like, yeah, he's like, his body's about to come up in that hole if you see it hit it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But he said, you can come back to the truck or you can go up. I was like, no, I want to go, I want to go up and see him. I was so excited. So I walked up, but it was straight uphill and I'm like exhausted. I took a video when I get there and I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like I'm absolutely dead. So I get to it. It was like me last time. It was, it was crazy cool just walking up on such a big game. Isn't it awesome?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm looking at it, you know, I'm up there for a while. Uh, I didn't realize they went to go get more help. They went down to the farm to get more bodies. Um, so I'm up there forever by myself. I was like, they just must have a tough time getting the truck up here, but I didn't realize they left to come back. So I'm sitting with this thing for a while and looking at it and I know nothing about kudu. So I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's cool kudu. But like, and then as soon as John gets up, as soon as John gets up there, he's explaining it. He takes one look at it and he's like, look at the depth. And he sticks his arm down and he's like, normally it's the size of a golf ball. And he has his arm down it. I was like, well, that's cool. So I had to make that a picture.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Niche? Niche? You can say either. It's both, yea. Okay. Which one do you prefer?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A liver detox? Some cannabis med 7 stuff. I'm all about it. Well I need the liver detox man, my liver's been on strike for months.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Listen, there's not much you're gonna find sexier in New Hampshire. This is like my fourth trip out here to this great state.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but, you know, due to all the things that happened in corporate, we weren't really able to go after a lot of the things we wanted to go after and develop and innovate in the way that we wanted to because innovation takes a little bit of time. It takes some effort. It takes money and patience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Little bit of patience. I mean, you can move fast, right? But you can't move that fast and you can't offset whatever you're doing. But in any, in any case, we're not constrained by that anymore. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even though EOTech had a lot more products on the roadmap when they were divested from L3 than we do right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The products we have on the market or on the road map right now are really amazing and they really fit with our heritage and they're really an advancement of our current technology and our current space in the market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] EOTech was, you know, an innovator in electro-optic technology.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The original founders, uh, were pioneers in holography. They developed the very first, uh, helicopter gunship site using holography. And somebody said, you know what, it would be an awesome idea if we could put this on a small arm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jerry Mikulic was kind of the first to pick up on it and really shoot it a lot. Yeaah, I mean I can pull the trigger a little bit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So from, I would say that our heritage is really, uh, looking around the corner. You know, that's how we were founded. We were, hey, this is great technology and for a lot of different reasons. Put it in the small arms. But most importantly, it's better because it's faster, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, you know, when you're, when you're under, uh, severe corporate constraints, it's always about... Tell me about it. You're making money right now. Yeah, really? So just keep doing that. Don't do the next thing. Do this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So everything else was a contract company. So the one thing you don't have to do with a government contract company is market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, it wasn't about marketing, it wasn't about telling our story. And so we did a poor job of educating the consumer on what holography is and why holography is better than a red dot. So we talked about that yesterday, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That holds in the fact that, you know, like we said yesterday, we've never received, for all the clones that we've ever received, it's only been industrial design. We've never had a out of China actual holographic site, cause holography is hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I love your place and you're right here by a train track. We've got a train track, uh, half a mile away from the factory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Several years ago, we were scrapping tons of, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, holograms as they were recording these holograms because they would just be slightly out of phase. There was a slight problem. We couldn't figure out why and it was because the train was coming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you're talking a half million dollar retrofit just to that building to put to, or just to that part of the building to add springs and other things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and if you've got to deal with, uh, you know, you, you...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you're the size of, of, uh, well the size that Q is getting to the portfolio that you're creating, uh, the advances that you want to take, you start bringing on, you know, product management and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so you've got your sales people who are telling you the voice of the customer. This is what the consumer wants. This is what they want. And then you've got.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's the part where I think a lot of people lose track of it. You know, uhm, or a lot of the consumers lose track of the difficulty and the expense that comes in with it to figure out the right route to go and then develop the right system that's 100% foolproof.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When we launch our next generation holographic site, right? When that thing is buttoned up, ready to go and we launch it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're, we can bring that to the market and not have to feel as though we need to educate the consumer or prove a damn thing. We're, we were the pioneers of holography and if we say it's better,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolutely. And so, but we know that on holography. What we also knew is that coming into the Magnified Optics line and bringing out Voodoo is that we had to prove it. Like we couldn't just show up with


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, but the 5 to 25 is the way it is and the power range is where it is because that was super hard to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And our idea was to prove- Still no one's doing it. No one else is doing it because much like holography, it's expensive. You know, it's, it's, it's a difficult- Magic ain't cheap. There's probably one of these that says that. People think those freaking, uh, Keebler elves don't cost a lot, but to keep them in that fucking tree and have them baking all the time and working on your shit, it's difficult. And so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you'll start to see now that, uh, we feel and the sales show that we have proven ourselves to be a premium optics manufacturer even though we're at a much greater value. We're at a much lower price point with the same feature set and functionality as our nearest competitors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we didn't do that by compromising quality. Uh, we did that by saying we're willing to take a lower margin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because we want to put good product out there. We want to be able to innovate. And we need, you know, we've got a case to prove. So you'll see now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we've done that we're able to get into that more sportsman's oriented role, that more consumer oriented role. We figured out the challenges behind shrinking that light path so that we could get a super short 5 to 25. So now we're going to change that and instead of starting at a base of five, maybe we start at a base of two.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we go to a two to twenty that's in a, the same size package with a smaller objective lens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a great job with the reticle etching. I mean, there's a, and it's a rugged scope that's gonna, you know, the clicks are consistent. Oh yea. I mean, it's a great scope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But what do we do, right? So what do we do as manufacturers, right? We look at uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Generally speaking, you look at what does the customer want, right? And what did the customer always say they wanted? I want to rug it, I want it bomb proof. So you look at, uh, let's take US Optics, right? The heaviest, the heaviest optic on the planet, but you can roll over your truck with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Screw your rifle afterwards. It doesn't matter. Your scope will still be there. Uhm, and Vortex kinda took that route.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're just telling you it doesn't have to be a brick to be strong. No, it was interesting. And that's what we did. Ours is just as rugged as anything from Vortex, but it's lighter weight because we've scienced it and made sure that it was, but it doesn't have to be that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You do, but you want that innovation and improvement for free, because why didn't you figure that out before you sold me one? Yea, it's great. And that's, and you're right, because it's not how any other industry works, and if, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If Ford does a 2021.5 because they figured out something that would be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nine times out of ten, it's either safety related or more cost effective for them, uh, but immediately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you want it, you are, you automatically know you've gotta go buy a new truck. Can you imagine? You don't feel like you gotta call Ford and say give me that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How pissed would you be then, or would you even buy it? Like, we expect innovation, but in the gun industry we expect it for free. Yeaah. Yeaah, I guess I would be. And it still costs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I mean, if everybody else is progressing, but it's the same damn car from seven years ago, you're not gonna buy that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, I gotta tell you, I got a call yesterday, the only phone call that I took while I was here yesterday. Are you getting an uva?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Somebody just declined one, so now I gotta make a decision. How much is a new one?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so with the markup, and this is just a basic LT1, it'll be 83. Such a value. That's a huge value. And the use was going for 100 grand right now. Yea, it's a $15,000 markup. So the Atlanta dealers are doing 10,000.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we were talking about development and the differences in it, and the fact is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're right, no other industry do their consumers expect them to give them the innovation for free or to not update it and as manufacturers we expect that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've got to make reasons for you to buy more. I've got to make. Now with the military and that was kind of, that was the conundrum we were in with corporate because they were contractors, right? They were government contracting company and we were a commercial company that happened to have a government contract. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that was the thing. And now we can operate that way. We can operate towards, let's be dynamic. Let's do the next thing. Let's stop doing the old thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Masters of Nameology. Oh, we, we, we wrote the book on Nameology. Yeaah. Well, yeaah, I mean, I love the new name, though I still maintain, uh, my ideas better than your name. Kevin? LBGTQ.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What? Dude, I can't remember at all. So, I keep a pen and a notepad because otherwise it didn't happen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but yeaah, the, uh, so for Voodoo, we were looking for a name and we were trying to figure out a bunch of other stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you know, one of the things about long range shooting is that there's a lot of science to it, but there's also a lot of magic, a lot of who do. And uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Literally the best trigger ever fucking sucked. The media. It doesn't even work. I love taking them in the nuts. Yea, but I'm thinking like literally the greatest badass trigger. Right? Change that. But that's LGBT by Q. Right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep. How did, uh, how did the winner enjoy his prize package?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you can't tell me what it means and you don't know what it means, then it's nonsensical and it should be gone. If it can't be clearly articulated, then how the hell can it be properly enforced? It shouldn't be there. And I think that's one of the problems that I have with


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're really focusing on your rights and we're doing the best things that we can, but in reality.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're really just constantly and repeatedly preaching to the choir and not gaining new advocates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I needed to get the hell out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So that's where you're from, Baton Rouge. That's on Rouge. I needed to get out of there and... So you Southern Cajun hillbilly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, you know, the problem is we don't have any hills.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look, the two, no no no, that, that, I have no problem with killing or murder, I'm just saying, you don't have to work for it. It's, it's even more fun than crow hunting, which to me is the most fun hunting you can do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We did them with shotguns a little, but mostly it was 22 single shots because you would be out hunting raccoons, running the dogs and that's when you'd find them and they were profitable enough to be able to, you know, feed the dogs and buy some school clothes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and that's the thing, it's Nutra Rat, right? But you can, you'll be able to find it in the New Orleans area. Yeah, it's white meat. There's a lot of, uh, Budan that is made with, uh, with Nutra.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of women don't realize it, but the trim on their mink coats and that kind of thing, and even on some of the rabbit stuff now, is all neutral.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we were already doing that to keep them off of our ranges and it was amazing, but the next year MWR came in and said, you know what, we're just gonna take that same money and let the hunters kill them and then they bring in the tail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so, unintended consequence, right? You're out there, they're destroying all these hogs, running them into the impact area, so they're not a nuisance, right? Because you can't control, they breed like pigs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they were just cutting off the tails and letting them, leaving them lay. Coyote population exploded.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Freakin' smorgasbord out here. They ran out of the 20 grand bounty, uh, in like three months.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they increased it and then they increased the, uh, amount and then they had to put a stipulation that it had to have hair on the tail because they were cutting open the pregnant's eyes and then cutting the tails off the freaking fetuses. Jesus.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't want to go to college, wanted to go to college, wasn't ready to go to college. So I decided I would join the army.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because all I wanted to do was get away for a minute, gain some focus, and get money for college. My plan was to come back to Baton Rouge, go to Southern University, get a degree.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He goes, okay, well I just gotta do the paperwork. Eh, no problem, sorry. So we sat down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, we go through all the list of things and he's telling me everything about why I need to stay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he says, okay, well, sounds like you made up your mind. Let me just summarize real quick. So, uh, you're gonna leave the army doing a job you like, right? Because you do like your job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, making good money, yeaah, more money than I've ever made. So that you can go to college and get a degree in something that you don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And hopefully get a good job that you'll like and make good money, right? Not in Hawaii. I said, I see what you're doing, Sarge, and uh, yes, but fuck you, I'm still getting out. And three days later I re-enlisted, and uh, I did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and I went into consulting right after that and I think that kind of made me miss the team aspect of it more because you go on, you do a project, you're...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It works out, everybody's happy, but you high five and walk away. You know, you leave the bag with everybody else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I missed, you know, being involved. I missed being a part of the success and the failures and how do we regroup, you know, that part. Yea, the team aspect. I didn't think I would miss that, but I really missed that because all my formative years were spent in the Army. I joined the Army at 17. You know, I went to basic training at 17.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that, and you know, I've, I've, we've had those conversations before in passing, in person, over the phone, and, uh, what, what I think is most important, and it's something that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Honestly, I don't believe you consciously understood it at AAC. No, I had no idea. After AAC, you, you, in reflection you realized it, but I think at AAC what was amazing was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unconsciously, you developed a team that plugged the holes in your boat. You knew, you didn't consciously know that you gave zero fucks about production.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you consciously knew you needed people to do this and this and this, and you empowered them to do the things that they needed to do, and that's what kept AAC successful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Recruiting is hard. It sounds horrible. You know, so when you get on recruiting duty, you've got a nine month probationary period.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] True story, won't go into details here, but I almost, I, one night I nearly murdered my station commander. Real life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, because I hated recruiting that much. And he was that big of an a-hole.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And at the time, I just didn't understand it. You know, the one day that we, we had gotten into it and he had told me, you know, I told him flat out, you can't make me put somebody in the army. You can make me call anybody you want, but you can't make me put them in the army. I have to want to put them in the army.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he goes, okay, well you know what, you're right, go home. Go home, we'll see you in the morning. So I come in the next morning. This motherfucker had moved my whole desk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Walk inside and all my shit is gone. And, uh, I go, where's my desk? He's like, you saw it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You want me to sit outside? He's like, yep. So I go outside and our lead refinement list, which is our, all of our books for everybody in high school with the notes on them, they're all missing. All that's sitting there is the phone book. And for those of you who don't know, you used to get a phone book every year, really thick and had everybody's phone number in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I go, where are my LRLs? He's like, well, you're right. I can't make you put anybody in the army, but, uh, I can make you make phone calls, but I'm also not going to let you fuck up our LRLs by being a jackass. So just start at the A's and continue. If you're not going to do a good job, you're at least not going to fuck up what we're building.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So about four hours into it, it started getting hot and I was a recruiter in Baltimore city. So here I am in.


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[Assistant] Bees, long sleeves, tie, all awards, sitting outside in the fucking parking lot looking like a total jackass. Calling people from, uh, the white pages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he made me do that for the whole day, and then the next day things got better on, you know- Jay, the white pages are the residential stuff. Right, right. Yeah, the yellow pages are the business. I'm sorry, I forgot about that. So, uh, he felt like it was all better, I was still stewing over it, but that's how much I hated it. You know, and I hated him for doing it, I hated everything else about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that night, you know, that weekend, you know, we, we had a big, big to do, but somewhere after that within about the next month, I realized that I was right and he was right. You know, um, I had to want to do it. I had to want to be that guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was his job to make sure that I had the tools and not let me off the hook easy. You know, sometimes shit just happens and you can't make it, but you can't just say, okay, buddy, it'll be good next month because you can't be okay with failure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the difference between recruiting and the big army is just that in the big army, you're required to be successful. But they give you every tool you need to be successful. And to be a recruiter, you had to have been successful in whatever else you were doing. But now you come to recruiting.


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[Assistant] And your success or failure is based upon the decision making abilities of a 17 to 34 year old.


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[Assistant] Your success is almost completely out of your hands.


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[Assistant] And it becomes a sales sport. It becomes a contact sport. You've gotta go out and you've gotta do these things and you've gotta qualify people and you've gotta meet the right people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And one day I realized that it was very data driven. One day I realized that my conversion data mattered. That I needed to go out and secure 34 appointments. And for me to secure one appointment, it took me asking for 12 appointments.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And once I secured 34 appointments, my conversion data from appointment to contract.


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[Assistant] But once I figured out that it was a numbers game and it didn't matter if you said fuck you or okay,


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[Assistant] If I just kept going down the road, I would get the okays.


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[Assistant] And then I found my niche. I found out that I was a fucking phenomenal high school recruiter. Mostly because I still looked like I was in high school. I mean, I was only 21 when I started in recruiting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I had what was a nice car back then, at least in inner city Baltimore. I had a Volkswagen Jetta with, uh, two 16s in the trunk. Like, I was the man, alright? Of course you did. Of course I did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so I, I never drove my government car. I left it at the office and when I would go do high school visits I would show up in my car, you know, show you what was there. Uh, I had a great memory back then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so I could be whoever you wanted to be, but not for nefarious reasons, but because I was selling you an intangible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was selling you something that you couldn't see, taste, or touch, but you had to dedicate your future to it. So I truly and wholeheartedly believe that if you were qualified and interested, that it became my job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To help you join. Not to coerce you to join. You were already engendered to join for whatever reasons that you said okay to our appointment. But after that...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was my job and my responsibility to help you be able to make that right decision.


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[Assistant] Once I realized that I became a fantastic recruiter, but one day...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got a recruiter journal, which was our magazine, and on the cover of it was the army service pistol team. And they had just won nationals for the first time in forever. The AMU. The AMU. And at that moment, the best shooters in the world, best shooters in the world. Absolutely. And I, at that moment, I found out that they had been


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Transfer to recruiting command. So now they were a part of.


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[Assistant] So I decided that I would figure out how to get there because I needed a break.


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[Assistant] No, no, no, I didn't get the escalator until I got to the AMU.


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[Assistant] But while I was out there, I decided that I loved recruiting. So I became a station commander, which meant it was that much harder because now I'm responsible for putting people in the army for myself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Running a station, running all of the training and managing a whole bunch of other recruiters and their success or failure. And that day when I saw that magazine, I also realized that if I was gonna retire with 20 years, I was gonna spend more than 15 of that in recruiting. I'm like, I'm gonna burn out. That's gonna be terrible.


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[Assistant] Last paragraph of that story was that they did an open.


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[Assistant] Uh, TDY period for up to 90 days and that's how you could get a job. So I finagled my way into getting a tryout.


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[Assistant] I had a chip, so I cashed it in to go down to Fort Benning, ended up spending the entire time at Fort Benning, and then I also got a


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[Assistant] This puts me as if you get it, you can come and be the broke swankest lowest shooter on the service pistol team.


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[Assistant] But you've gotta get released from your command and everybody else to be able to come and do this. So I get back.


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[Assistant] And, uh, my commander says, you know, you're absolutely, we're not gonna release you to go there, you know, get back to recruiting. Asshole. Asshole. And I'm like, well, okay. And, uh, that night,


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[Assistant] I don't remember who because I got wildly drunk. That seems uncharacteristic. Totally, doesn't it?


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[Assistant] Wildly drunk, but it was right at, so this was, this was 2001, uh, summer of 2001. Oh, right before 9-11. Right before 9-11, and I was on, uh, I was in Baltimore City, and my wife worked at the NSA, and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We, so we lived on Fort Meade and the line to get in Fort Meade throughout the rest of the- Yea, I've been there. It's always a fucking mile long. Was ridiculous, right? And so we had went out to a friend's house to watch a game or a fight or something and, uh, we're going back. My wife is pregnant with my youngest daughter.


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[Assistant] And we're in the line, and we've been in the line for like 30 minutes, and mind you, I'm- So she's got a pee like me right now? No, I'm- she's fine. I'm fucking hammered though. So, we pull- we're pulling up, we're pulling up, we're in her car, she had a Montero Sport. All of a sudden, we get rear-ended.


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[Assistant] And I'm mad. Like, I'm drunk mad, right? Like, what the fuck? You didn't hit my car. I jump out. And uhm, as I, as I look behind me,


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[Assistant] The people that just rear-ended us, I can't say that this happened for sure, but in my drunken mind, the driver and passenger were switching seats. So now, I'm even more angry. But then I realized the passenger, now again,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know for sure they switched seats, but in my drunken mind they were climbing across each other. The passenger is my battalion commander. The guy who told me no.


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[Assistant] Isn't that interesting? So I immediately sober enough up to not try to cuss out my commander and run over to the passenger side, which is his wife and say, is everybody okay?


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[Assistant] You know, we don't need a report, right? No, no, no, no, no, not at all. This was like a Friday or Saturday night. Monday morning, he calls my office and goes, uh, hey, uh, Sir Hampton.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How's everything going? Like, well, it was- Oh, my neck! No, it was a rough weekend, sir. Uh, truck's fine, I'm fine, but, but my wife lost the baby.


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[Assistant] Oh my god. And he fucking like, I'm just fucking with you sir, everybody's fine. It wasn't shit. Oh, you are a dick. Total dick. But he kind of, he kind of deserved it. And he said, you know, what, you know, what's our handle? That's pretty fucked up that you did that. But I was just calling to let you know that we went ahead and proved your 4187 so you can go to the Army Martial Ship Unit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what happened? She'd go there as a bum. Went there as a bum. Uh, only planned to do it for a couple of years just to get a break. And, uh, David Lewanek.


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[Assistant] And I think you've met Dangerous Dave before. Well, he was, he was our, our commander there and he had a different view from everything that had ever taken place in the marketing unit. His big issue was like, I don't give a fuck about marketing. I don't give a fuck about recruiting. We've got guys here that.


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[Assistant] So my goal is to figure out how we leverage you guys' capabilities and resources to make the army more lethal.


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[Assistant] Something to help the warfighters, you know, do better.


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[Assistant] So we worked on a course that we ended up, you know, taking bits and pieces from all these other courses that we went through and


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[Assistant] Uh, basically, you know, high performance shooting to teach guys how to, you know, no tactics, just how do you run and drop the gun better, stronger, faster? How can we increase your lethality and therefore your survivability? So we went out to Iraq, did that initial course.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We came back, this was 04. We came back from that and he said, hey, you know, I know you want to go back to Big Army, but, uhm, how about you stand up, eh, action shooting and combat training team?


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[Assistant] So action shooting, USPSA pistol and then Bianchi, which was kind of- So moving and shooting. Moving and shooting. And so, but then he said, you know, three gun was kind of just coming into its own back then. And he said, so we'll do three gunning as well. And I-


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[Assistant] I kinda thought it was an opportunity to do something great, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure that it, that we'd have the full support. And I said, well, we're gonna need another range, and we're gonna need more people, and we're gonna need, you know, budget for guns and ammo and everything else. And he said, done. Do what you need to do.


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[Assistant] Make it successful. Our organization is called the Home of Champions. So whatever you do, you need to make champions. It's like done. So we started the, uh,


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[Assistant] The army marksmanship unit's action shooting and combat training team.


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[Assistant] And I'm a big believer in move before you're ready. Like I don't want to do a shit ton of planning and have a perfect plan and be ready for this. I want to know the direction we're going and we start moving in that direction. And so that's what we did.


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[Assistant] We found a range, we took a budget, we converted that range, we built it from a range that hadn't been used since the 1950s as a, and it was used as a BAR sub-caliber range.


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[Assistant] And for less than $60,000 we converted it into what you stepped onto for the first time that was known as a Brinton range. Yep. And it was a world class action shooting range, base set up.


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[Assistant] The day that we opened up, I was so confident we would open. I had set up, uh, a match with, uhm,


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[Assistant] Kay Mikulic for her to do the women's course there. And we actually opened the range and did the first shot ceremony the morning of her event starting. That's how bad it was. And I had already scheduled and taken money for the inaugural Fort Benning three gun challenge.


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[Assistant] And we didn't even have a range when we did all this shit, so we were sweating bullets and building shit up until the last minute, but...


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[Assistant] It's been my experience that if you want to make this shit happen, especially with the bureaucracy and everything else in the army, you just, you do it and.


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[Assistant] You plan it and you say what's gonna happen and then you start moving in that direction and you give it enough momentum that nobody can stop it. And when we finished with the, uh, when we got...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Fort Benning three gun match cancelled, which was in, uh, 2010. We were the largest, uh, three gun match. That year we had over $300,000 on the prize table. We sold out in like,


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[Assistant] Three-tenths of a second through online registration. We were kind of the first to do that. We were the first to ever have a shoot-off.


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[Assistant] So like 43rd place walked across and got a gun from the table. Like that's how amazing the match was.


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[Assistant] Probably the only event that was cooler was, this is, you know, not jerking your chain or blowing smoke, but the silencer chute. The silencer chute was pretty titties. The one in, uh, the very last one with, uh, blackberry smoke


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[Assistant] Look, I'm not gonna let you live on this whole wasn't in control of it. I think you've got a team and you can bring people in that can do some amazing shit. Yeah. That can execute a vision that may not be yours, but that'll end up being awesome.


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[Assistant] Look, dude, you got, well, Adam's gone to do fuckin' actual work, so I mean, it kinda proves that the idea of having somebody else there to watch your interest is helpful. But in any case...


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[Assistant] So, Action Shooting Team was awesome. We had some great guys when we were there. I like to think that I hired some really great guys and we developed a really phenomenal team. We were, at the time, we were the winningest team in the marksmanship unit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But what was really great about us is that we translated everything that we knew into courses and coursework that was designed to make the warfighter better.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I like to say we trained everybody on the sphere from the very, very tip to the hilt. Yeah. We were all the way back by the ball sack and all the way up where all the business happened.


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[Assistant] That's a rare breed of individuals and that's a rare breed of coursework where we can translate what we do into something that benefits those that are the greatest and the winningest.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's like a regular ass day. I mean, we were in Afghanistan and he was on a team. I was coming back, uh, with another team. And I kid you not, we sat on the range one day waiting on this, this, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a smattering of, of organizations that just thought they were the best.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and you know, the thing about it with Robbie and Jason were that, you know, Robbie and Jason both held operational billets as snipers.


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[Assistant] Getting your ass handed to you by then. Right. Getting your ass handed to him by then is not...


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[Assistant] That devastating. But what we were, what we were trying to explain and what every team that came to us and trained or we went out to and trained understood was that, look,


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[Assistant] Operationally, tactically, we're not gonna try to tell you how to do your job. But what we can tell you is that...


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[Assistant] Our techniques, our methodology, and the things that we're going to show you today are going to help you be faster.


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[Assistant] They proved that. Now, Ravi and Jason, again,


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[Assistant] Long heritage of operational experience. Obviously the things that we were able to do in the Martial Ship Unit made them even better. But then you take a team like, uh,


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[Assistant] And you can be, and that's the thing, you know, you do have to realize that there are, every doer needs an enabler.


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[Assistant] You know, you can sit back and look at, uhm, you know, Bin Laden and the hit on Bin Laden and only one guy gets to shoot the bullet that kills him. You know, regardless of if everybody puts a couple of shots in him just to make sure, only one guy gets to kill him. But how many dozens and hundreds of people


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Put them in that position. Help train them to get there. Like, you need those enablers. Otherwise, it's just me and you showing up somewhere going, who the fuck do we shoot?


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[Assistant] It's not that they're more valuable, but they're just as necessary. They're just as required. And if I can take a guy like Dan and have him train 2,000 guys to be more lethal and faster.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So uhm, first part of that is absolutely Pat Tillman changed a lot of the view on things. It's kind of like having a, uhm, a living Medal of Honor recipient.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right? You're never gonna go to combat again. You're never gonna go close to combat again because your story and your, uh, your, you being there is more valuable than anything you can do as an individual. But, so I think what happened with Pat Tillman, it has certainly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What was looked at from them, from the perspective of the two of them, like, let's say, and I don't want to say this fucked up, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, just be a ranger, like that's some hard shit, especially to be in battalion, not just be, you know, not just have a tab, but rocking scrolls and stereo and doing the work, right? Or going to selection or taking the long walk. They would be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Two fucking phenomenal operators, regardless of the organization they were in. Like, there's no doubt about that.


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[Assistant] Right, and it's not about celebrity in their terms, it's about how do they most effectively, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're able to, so they're not just good shooters. They're able to take that and translate it and make others good shooters. Like I've met a ton of great, you know, just absolutely phenomenal shooters who's like, well, how do you do what you do? Well, I put the sight on the target and I pull the trigger.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've got guys who can break you down and make you understand what you're doing and make you better. And that's a big damn deal. And that has a much larger impact. So unfortunately, both of those guys have had to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, as an organization, the army benefits for it. And I would say that because the army benefits from it. The country does. The country benefits from it. And they're being utilized at the highest possible capacity. And that was a big deal for the AMU. When we met,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was because we filmed the International Sniper Competition, which was the first one that Robbie and, and I just thought about this, I didn't even think about it when you said it, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The very first international sniper comp, I was the coach, Robbie was the shooter, Jason was the spotter. And we worked with a, a group, I worked with a group, uh, that was doing the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And told her, hey, I want to bring this group out here. I'd never meet them. Lindsay used to run Advanced. Oh, yeah, that Lindsay. So we, the silencer shoot was coming up and I told the, the camera team was like, hey, I think we may be able to go and check this out. I'll give them a call. So I called Lindsay and she was like, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have to talk to Kevin, but I mean, I guess it's whatever you guys can come out. Simultaneously, Robbie and I designed the Tacma chassis.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got a shit memory. Uh, from Remington. Uhm. Oh, Jason. No, no, no, no. We didn't know Jason at the time. We knew, uhm. Greg Beradat? Beradat. We knew Beradat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And how again, those were the guys that, yeah, those are the guys that we knew from Remington. And so when we knew that Remington was going to be there, we said, well, put us on the line next to them. So that's actually how we met Jason shop and all that stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And me trying to be me and see, world, I'm gonna tell you something that Kevin knows but has suppressed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were talking about the 2010 program because we were trying to get TechMod in the 2010.


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[Assistant] And so it was that XM2010 program that we were working toward and what we didn't understand at that point was that Remington was working with Kadex for that chassis but we were trying to get them to take the TacMau chassis and they said they were and one of the big issues was the suppressor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Transpired. We got some great footage from that. We did some really cool stuff for the show. Uh, if you get a chance, uh, go on History Channel online, the very first season of Top Sniper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was us. I mean, it's a killer, killer episode. So yeaah, that was the big thing. It was kind of after that, that my wife was like, you know, you've done a lot of development, you've done a lot of different things, you should formalize some of this stuff. So we started our consulting company, the committee consulting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I started doing consulting in 08. I didn't retire until 13. Seems like you, you're cheating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, so you've done stuff for Leatherman?


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[Assistant] Benchmade. Our first two big contracts were with Leatherman and with Tier 1 Group.


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[Assistant] They had nothing that was firearm or law enforcement or military centric. And the first time I went for the meeting,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I walked into a boardroom with everybody sitting with their arms crossed, like, what the fuck are you gonna tell us? They catered lunch and all of the sam- none of the sandwiches had meat on them. They were like bean sprout and vegetarian and vegemite and shit like that in Oregon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, they're, uh, you know, the thing about it is that when you're that big, and not with Leatherman, I think Leatherman just hadn't been exposed to the right opportunity. And, you know, it was no magic or anything, we just brought them the right opportunity there. And the Mutt turned out to be their highest margin and highest selling lawn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think with a lot of the larger companies, it comes down to, you know, is the juice worth the squeeze? How much are we going to get for sale of it? Is it the direction we need to go in?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I think some of the companies miss by going, well, you know, this niche isn't big enough to make a difference, is that that's how innovation really occurs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey, what road can we move down and learn? Where can we grow?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even if A isn't where we need to be, C is probably going to be there, but we can't get from A to C without waiting for someone else to get to C and then we become a Me Too. So how do we advance it? How do we move the ball forward? Like I have no belief that the fix or the mini fix is your final hurrah to the bolt gun world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we got shit on so hard on the internet machine. Everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Head and shoulders above the tac mod. And I think we did, uh, Ravi is the one who described it, so he said, you know what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your city girl is sexy, dressed real well, got her nails done. Uh, my country girl, she's a little bit junkier and got some old boots on, but they'll both give you a damn good ride. And my country girl's cheaper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that, you know, we lost out cause they could only submit one. And you got a million dollars on this one, and I've got my life savings of 60 grand on this one, but it ain't cause Remington dick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, they dropped us. And smart business decision. I mean, I cried for months over that shit. Yeah. And this is the first time I've said it out loud because my wife doesn't need to know about that, but she don't listen to your podcast. No way. So, uh, you know, but I mean, that was a hurting thing for us because that was our other side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that is the answer. Back 2010, you know, uh, myself, Robbie, huge advocates of that program, not because we wanted to get our chassis on it, but because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The entire rationale behind the M24 Sniper System being a long action was that you could upgrade it one day. Yea, and at the time, 300 Win Mag was kind of an emerging technology.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The 300 win mag is a force multiplier. I mean, it makes the 80% shot at a, at a, of a 308 100% plus. So you...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it is the war fighter, I want him to have the best equipment possible to make him as lethal and survivable as possible. But at the same time, I look at my customers the same way. I want to give you the best.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For this role, you'll never see us make something that is a hundred or any company I'm involved with, but especially EOTech because I know their commitment right now. You'll never see us make something that we say is one size fits all because that's not the case. We're going to innovate for that specific


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Skill set or mission set and let's build it to that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Awesome, man. We appreciate it, man. But I, I, you know, and this may not make you pass, but it's, you know, just something we haven't talked about in a while. You know, I was an employee. Not just a consultant, but I was an employee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the buyout, or when they divested, uh, and the new ownership came on board,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I thought that their plan was amazing and I talked to JB about it, uh, you know, after the, after the, the sale was done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I got a phone call when everything was through and on that Saturday because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was the time when everybody who was there was either gonna get a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, a letter to return or hey, fuck off. You know, we're not retaining you. And I got a letter that said, Hey,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Come on back and, uh, I talked with JB.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm like, you know, for what you guys are trying to do right now, I don't think I fit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You've got a lot of crap on the roadmap and all that stuff is gonna get cut off as soon as you look at it because it was all corporately driven based on other programs that they had going and we were just the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ultimately, until you figure out where you're going, you only need one product manager. And...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know me well enough to know I'm a little bit cocky and I'm quite a bit confident. I've heard this. I know there ain't, well you've seen it. Anywho.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, customers and salespeople, what they know is that this is what I can sell and this is what I can buy. So they want derivatives of that. If you want to do something, you know, wildly successful and different, you've got to go a different way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I knew that EOTech was gonna do that and I wanted to be a part of it, but I knew I didn't fit at the moment. And we have another product manager who's the director of product management now, Mark Miller.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Mark is, uh, he's a bit of a unicorn. You know, the guy's, uh, uh, engineered by trade. He's designed and developed, uh, holographic weapon sights, but he's also got the chops and the personality to be in product management.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll take the Pepsi challenge against any product manager in this business. I know what I know. I know the customers. I know the products. I can, I can pull the trigger with the best of them. I can do that shit. But when it comes to holography and being in that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would bow out to Mark any day of the week. You know, when it comes to EOTech. So I told JB, hey look, I'm gonna step back. I'm gonna go back and do some consulting. I'm here if you guys need me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I did a little bit of consulting, helped them, you know, uh, consolidate the roadmap, go into what other products they were going, some of the stuff that you saw yesterday, all those things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but at the same time, I was looking for a new opportunity. I wanted to build something, I wanted to grow to something, and I had an opportunity with another gun company, FN America, so I took it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boy, do I. Sometimes you get an opportunity to see, you know, the other side of it and to see where you're at. It's hard with a European owned American.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think part of it is there's an, there's an honest assessment to that where it's like, hey, you know, the Europeans do have their own way of looking at things and a superiority complex if we're better and we know how to do it and you'll never meet up to it.


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[Assistant] But there's also that really ugly truth of often times the American asset of that company doesn't necessarily hire the best people or value the best people and they have a built in excuse if it doesn't work. Well, the fucking Europeans don't listen to us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I knew that in very short time, I was either gonna be a fuckin' pariah that got fired because, you know, I'm the bad guy. Or I was gonna quit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't want to get up and just be there. I don't want to get up and just be there even if we're fucking making money. I want to get up and kill it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, you may be right, but I'm gonna, uh, you may be right about the second half of that, but the first half you're dead fucking wrong. Alright? There are more people in this world, and by a factor of 80 in this industry, that don't want to do anything more today than they did yesterday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leatherman didn't really, at the time, support, you know, the, the gun industry, but it was because they didn't know to support it, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But everybody there was 100% committed on building killer tools and innovation and going to the next step. And EOTech's the same way and there's a few other companies I've worked for the same way. But there's also a hell of a lot of companies that I've worked for where it's like, dude,


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[Assistant] I can spend the next 30 years here making a great fucking rate of pay and building up a 401k. And I don't have to do shit. And that's fucking awesome. I don't care if we ever get any better. And I can't do that. So I lasted 10 weeks.


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[Assistant] Uhm, which was about nine weeks longer than I probably should have been there. In fact, I probably should have never came, but I thought that it was going to be amazing. I was on a call where we were doing a charter for a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, uh, I reached out to, to JB and said, hey, you know, I can continue consulting. We'll do something else. And then we got to talk in and the next thing you know, it was like, dude, why don't you just come back full time? You know, we've got more than enough work now and we can do some other stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can, because of my experiences with what I've been in, you know, keep in mind, I've


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I grew up in the army, right? I grew up in an organization where number one, you can love it all you want, but they only want you for a limited time. And number two, you're never fucking gonna get rich.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you can have all the ideas you want and if you're really lucky, you'll get a cool coin and maybe a little dangly, licky and chewy to put on your uniform, but that's about fucking it. So whereas you found out from the Remington thing that you have to work for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I need the same shit you need to feel productive. I need the autonomy to fuckin' operate. I need the, the, the budget and the latitude to be able to, hey, this is where the finish line is, but let me get there. But I don't need to be the guy. Like, I can work for someone else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, I don't know how the fuck you would ever work for somebody else.


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[Assistant] And uh, remember, if you chase money, you'll never miss a ho, but if you chase hoes, you can miss money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bose is the presenting partner of Beyond the Grid. That's because Bose QuietComfort 35 II goes beyond what you would expect from a pair of headphones. Just flip the switch to experience the industry leading active noise reduction feature


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And all distractions of the world around you fade away, allowing you to focus fully on what matters to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here we are, the first episode of Beyond the Grid. Isn't this exciting? A new F1 podcast. I'm Tom Clarkson and over the course of the series, I'm going to speak to the biggest names in F1 and not just about F1. This podcast looks beyond the grid at what makes the sport's biggest superstars tick.


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[Assistant] And we couldn't have a better first guest. Four time world champion and global megastar, Lewis Hamilton.


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[Assistant] I caught up with him in a little room at the top of the Mercedes Grand Prix factory. Just Lewis and me, no PR people, no rappers, no hangers on, and no dogs.


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[Assistant] You can do whatever you want. We chatted about anything and everything, both his life on and off the racetrack. It's a very different side to Lewis, one that you aren't used to seeing or hearing. I think he'll surprise you. Enjoy.


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[Assistant] You look like you're in a great place, isn't it? You're driving better than ever. You're about to sign the most lucrative contract of your career. Just, is life as good as it's ever been or better than it's ever been for you?


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[Assistant] What do you put it down to? Because not all of that is, is down to raw talent. Is it, is it hard work?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Keita. Yeah. Achieving what you want. When did you first become aware of life beyond Formula One? Uhm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When was that, what year did you sort of, did you start that relationship just, cause,


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[Assistant] I remember first interviewing you, you won't remember this, but it was back in 2006 when you were in, when you were in GP2 and


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[Assistant] The take home message for me, I mean you were dominating and having a great season.


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[Assistant] Because there's so much intensity around some of the young guys coming through now. They just want it so much. And one thing that really, given that you were on the McLaren Young Driver Programme and you were clearly the next big thing for Great Britain, I just remember thinking,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well look, here we are now, 2018. How has Formula One changed you?


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[Assistant] And you love the emotional highs and lows, the fact that it's...


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[Assistant] So actually it's quite interesting because you're talking a lot on social media in a minute about wanting to challenge yourself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean I've seen videos of you scuba diving, I mean everything, skiing, maybe I mean snowboarding, do you ski? I snowboard. Snowboard, having a massive shunt actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a guy who does what you do for a living, why the need to constantly challenge yourself when you're not in a racing car?


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[Assistant] Uhm, how much are you enjoying that? And where's the inspiration coming from? Are you quite artistic? Have you always?


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[Assistant] And I guess you were always tired too, because, I mean, you're racing up at Larkhall in Scotland


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[Assistant] Is it also true, Lewis, that you've frozen his sperm?


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[Assistant] Now I'm probably putting two and two together and making five here, but do you think your creativity that we've discussed in the last half hour or so with fashion and things


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that somehow helping you in the car? Because you're just creative in what you're doing, your artistry behind the wheel. Am I making five?


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[Assistant] Because you are so busy. I mean, just take that last 30 seconds describing what you're doing the whole time and it's non-stop.


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[Assistant] What an amazing guy you are, Lewis. Thank you for your time. It's been great to chat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Post Formula 1, as I am, to know what you're going to do at the next race.


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[Assistant] Because your record speaks for itself. But, but I'm going to play devil's advocate and say you have invested 30 years of your life into motor racing. You know so much about it. It would be a pity just to part that, wouldn't you? Or maybe not. No, I disagree.


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[Assistant] Thank you so much. See you at the next one. Yep. Alright. What did I tell you? The world champion as you've never heard him before. There were too many highlights for me to pick out just one, but poor old Roscoe.


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[Assistant] If you enjoyed that, make sure you join us for the next episode with Robert Kubica, a man who's only recently stepped back into the F1 spotlight following his horrific rally accident back in 2011 that left him fighting for his life.


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[Assistant] His is a remarkable story of determination and bravery that I cannot wait to share with you.


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[Assistant] Make sure you subscribe to Beyond the Grid on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or via your favourite podcast app so that you don't miss out on that or any of the other fantastic guests that we've got lined up for you. And while you're there, please take the time to rate and review the podcast because we'd love to hear from you.


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[Assistant] Or you can join the conversation on social media using the hashtag beyondthegridf1. And if you want, why not tag me in at Tom Clarkson F1.


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[Assistant] And don't forget, for all the F1 content you need, just head to f1.com and F1's official social channels. But that's it for now, we'll be taking you beyond the grid again next week, until then, keep it flat out!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, the mystery shirt guy. Oh, that's awesome, man. Oh, that's you! I know this guy!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sure, as far as so, who would you recommend for an Elk game?


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[Assistant] Six grand, uh, so the, the gentleman yelled out, I'll pay $5,000 for Tom's shirt. And I thought he was kidding. And the.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, gentleman that may have been over served at the table next to him said 5,500 and then somebody said six grand. So I took the shirt off as you saw, gave her the shirt and actually after that commitment, it's commitment. They gave me a sock F T-shirt to walk where later, you know, for the rest of the night, but I took it around and had everybody put call signs and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. So she, she got it.


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[Assistant] I think it was more the donors than me, I just happened to be facilitating a good time, you know.


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[Assistant] And, and my, I mean, you actually have to warm up to do this. Cause he can go, can I get five, can I get five, give me five, give me five, give me five. And I can't do it. And that dude, I mean, he, he's got his cowboy hat on and everything and nah, I couldn't do it. Hawaiian shirt, Christie's face on it.


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[Assistant] The special operations care fund, I mean, they do, I know you guys have hit on it, but they do so much for so many people and all the money, like you said, passed through. Not a single


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not, nobody takes a paycheck. All they, all they pay for is internet, is website fees, you know, and everything else is donated. It's just a great group of people being great Americans. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, so what's your background and all?


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[Assistant] Depending on how deep you want to go. Let's go back to childhood. Cause I want to start with childhood cause I got some questions. So I grew up in a little town called, uh, Dardanelle, Arkansas. I've never heard of it. Sounds made up too. Well, we have, uh, we have,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A couple of claims to fame. One is me. That's a joke. Nobody knows me. Uh, two is, uh, I don't know if y'all, Senator Tom Cotton, he's, he's from my hometown. And, uh, you know, like my cousin was best friends with his sister and stuff like that. And then, uh,


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[Assistant] We do. Absolutely we do. You know, cause he, he likes to get down man. Oh my god.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I played basketball through high school, loved playing basketball, ended up taking out of all things a cross country scholarship to, uh, Arkansas Little Rock. I did one semester figured out that I'm not really cut out for college and I need some discipline. So I joined the army. Uh, I actually had a ROTC scholarship and I could have been an officer and then realized that, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not cut out for that either, you know, and, uh, a lot of rules and stuff. And then, uh, I joined the army.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On my father's side, World War II, and then on my mother's side, they, they were all CBs and Marines in World War II, like island hopping. But we cut out the generation, you know, everybody else like, hey, you know, we're, we're not.


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[Assistant] They, they were doing other things and then I always hap- man, I played G.I. Joe's and stuff like that. I was always really interested in-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of the guy, my partner said, hey man, you're going to be the pack mule. Best ranger is a two man team. So, uh, my, my partner, he, he had competed three times in 82nd. So there's, there's a lot of strategy that goes into that competition. You know, there's, there's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a kid. I don't know anything about that. He'd say, put this in your ruck and follow me. Okay. And that's what I would do. Uh, I mean, I was physically fit. I had, now everybody on my team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, in 98, and when I say on my team, I mean from my unit and everything, had eventually won.


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[Assistant] And, uh, he had won and I mean, we, we trained, we were professional athletes for about three months, but everybody that, that was on that team eventually won the competition. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was some strategy. I mean, it was some strong, strong guys, you know, a couple of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Couple of them went to brag. Couple of them went to SF. Couple of them became officers. I mean. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was a staff sergeant. I was 25. Just thought I knew everything about everything, man. You did, why aren't you going there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'll back up. I wanted to be an airborne ranger, but I didn't really know how this worked. So my recruiter goes, you're going to need infantry training to go be a ranger. Okay.


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[Assistant] We'll send you to Hawaii for three years. I'm going, I looked out the window in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was an ice storm. I was like, three years in Hawaii? Heck yeah, man. I'll go. It doesn't sound bad. I didn't realize that there was an actual ranger regiment. So I went to ranger school from there and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I came as a dirty import and, uh, and went to Bravo Company 3rd Battalion and was a squad leader platoon sergeant and, uh,


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[Assistant] Yeah, because I was going, I told you yesterday, I was getting out of the army. I was going to be a professional triathlete. I was going to go back to college and, you know, work in the human performance industry somewhere. And then 9-11 happened. I go, well, hey, this is what I've been looking for the whole, whole time. And I stayed in, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was, it was the, if you weren't in Seventh Special Forces Group doing drug, you know, counter drug operations and stuff in South America, you weren't really doing anything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had guys that were re-enlisting. They had no equipment. They, they were getting, they were so deep into getting out of the army. They had cleared CIF, had no equipment. And I've watched, cause we were the first ones to go. We, we went over in October.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they all raised their hand. I do solemnly swear and reenlisted them. And then they went and got them equipment and then we.


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[Assistant] And I saw a couple of them later on and like they're green berets and stuff like that, man. But yeah, that, that's, that's what went down. It's like, we're going, okay, well I'm not getting out of the army now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a ranger, I did two. I did two. So we did the initial invasion, uhm, and then came home and then went back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and by that time, it was like, I was, it was decision time. So, uh, I was either gonna go be a first sergeant or something like that, or I could, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go try out for other units. I tried out for, for other units and I went there and, uh, stayed at Bragg for, from 03 until I retired in 16.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Once we identified needs and, and, you know, there was funding, the innovation in the military just skyrocketed, you know, uh, I mean, we were shooting iron sights and, and, and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then once, you know, what's supposed to happen is once those specialized units have this technology,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The technology just was not there. It was. Of what we needed, it would rattle around or, you know, and your zero shift was just ridiculous.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But. Cause it's so small. Yeaah. It's so small.


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[Assistant] I mean, I remember when we first started developing that. I mean, I wasn't up in the shop then, but, uh, I mean, what we had was...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Vietnam era technology. Yeaah. You know, and it's like, hey, we can do better. You understand there are things out there in the civilian market. There are people out there doing great things. Why don't we ask them, you know, what do we want? And let's ask them if they can make it. You know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because if I tell you what to do, well I just, I just stopped your, your creativity. You know, but if I, if I say, hey man, I want you to do, I want the widget to do this, well now,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first time I saw horse reticle, I was still in the rangers and it was still those guys that, you know, and we looked through that thing and go, that is busy. I can't see anything. And then once we started using it, I mean, I couldn't imagine just going back to mill dogs. I couldn't do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here's the thing, people move. On the battlefield, people move and you don't have time to dial in anything, so that horse reticle just...


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[Assistant] Muzzle flash. Muzzle flash and, and I need it to be accurate. Hide that muzzle flash and it needs to sound different than everybody else on the battlefield. Because let me tell you how it's happened in the past.


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[Assistant] Why, why am I going to get rid of it to the point like, uh, the army would cut the arms room and come down like, Hey bro, you're the last dude that still has this piece of equipment. And I'm going, yeah, I use it every day. It's the best. They said we're three gins past that. And I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are you really taking this from me right now? Like yes, go get your new piece of equipment. Well, the new piece of equipment was amazing. It was just, I didn't want to have to figure something else out that I was very well trained on. But then you'd get the new piece of equipment and go,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, come on, you can't put me on the spot with three. I'll put you on the spot with three. Three. Come on. You don't have to say their names. The absolutely worst, worst for me was always being away from the kids. Yeah. You know, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the, the second is like you don't realize it until, until you're back. So my wife is, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, you know, like, uh, trends, trends that the United States, well, you, it's not like I'm going to a bar in, in Iraq, you know, we, I'm not going to do that. So things that would happen, music or whatever, I'm like, yeah, I kind of missed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like every day was a good time, like, uh, just the dudes you deployed with and just laughing and joking and making a good deal out of a bad situation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well the thing is, is like everybody, like all the dudes you're with, they, they have, you kinda develop that personality. You can either be an asshole, and, and,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, man. And, and, and I, but it kept, in my mind, it kept everybody sharp, cause they knew I was watching. In turn, I knew everybody was waiting on me to mess up, so it kept me sharp. And, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, we, we worked hard and, and there was a lot involved, but you know, we, we loved one another and, and you know, we'd do anything in the world. That guy could piss me off in a second, but don't cross that guy because you're going to have to mess with it. Right, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'ma tell you what man, you are always the new guy. It doesn't matter that like, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's always going to be the new guy. And I'll tell you what, there are new guys that were so phenomenal. Just great guys. I'm in charge of them going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's cliche, and we talked about it yesterday, you never had to wear it so hard to be average. I knew guys that were professional, like no joke got paid to do triathlons. I know guys that were on the cover of Runner's World. I know guys that-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He lived in Vass, North Carolina, and I'm, I'm gonna say that was about 24 or 25 miles away from, from the building. And I would, I would come in and he would have three bottles of water with, with electrolyte powder in it, and it would be sitting on my team room table.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And when I saw those bottles of water, I would, I would get, whether I was on my truck or my motorcycle, there were certain places I would drop that water off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And because that was just the sign that Mike was running home and he needed water resupply around, along the route. And I would just drop it and he would, he would run home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had, we had dudes that tried out for the NFL, got tried, got called up two times to try out for the Dolphins, and I asked him, I go, uh, so I was a new guy trying to build rapport, and he had like a can of Copenhagen in his mouth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, no, Jimmy. And, uh, so he, he goes, uh, he was defensive end for university of Arizona. He goes, uh, I said, so, uh, I heard you tried out for the dolphins. I'm just trying to meet, be the new guy. And he goes, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I go, but what happened? He goes, well everybody was bigger than me and faster than me, but you know, I had the guts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like. And I know a couple of guys that were deploying with prosthetics. You know, one was a ranger, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There, there's some dudes that I mean, the mental toughness on some of these guys and, and some of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, it's all mental toughness, but it's going, hey man, I won't let somebody beat me and I'm not going to let the guys to my left and right down. That's at the end of the day, like, hey man, we've got a mission and I don't want something to happen to my mate because I wasn't there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we met when I was, when I was up in the gun shop, right? So I was done deploying and this, that, and the other, and, and she kind of caught me on the, on the back end of everything. And, and, uh, she goes specifically Rangers, specifically Rangers, but some, some of the other unit guys.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She goes, I mean, when y'all get together, y'all turn into the biggest assholes on the planet because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was my team sergeant and I won't say his name, but he, he left the team for a little bit to go, to go, uh, you've, you've got to leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, not necessarily the organization, but if, if you're moving up, you have to leave for a little bit and come back to take that next position. But you stay in the building, you're doing, doing things. And what he said, and it didn't click to me until I retired, that what he missed the most on being on a team is loading magazines.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had a guy 42 years old, decided he was going to be an MMA fighter. Right? When they, when they.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This one gentleman, that, I say gentleman.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know who you are fool. He took three fights and when North Carolina allowed MMA fighting again, he took three fights in one year. So he had to stay in that level of shape at 42 years old and went two in one, went two in one and fighting kids in their twenties and was whipping that ass man. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yea, sure. Weaker person, unless the bigger, stronger person knows jujitsu also. A bunch of cro-magnons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Issued a, uh, the 416. Yep. So and I always ran a, a, uh, 10 inch. That's, that's, I never got the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nope, never did. Uh, because I was one of the few people that ran a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, and I could come in a room with that red dot on and go just as fast as an EOTech and a lot of people would go...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scope, that was just as fast with the EOTech. And I mean, that was my jam, man. I did that for...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For years, I had that same 416 from 2005 to 2013.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Never malfunctioned one time, unless I was shooting, uh, blue tip training ammo, Lyserta ammo. Never malfunctioned. Never, not once. Not once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If, if, if it malfunctioned, it was because, it was because I induced a malfunction, you know, where, where I, I made something brushed up against a bolt or, you know, I, I was putting pressure on a magazine and even then that was, that was very, very, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, with two barrels, uh, I went through school with a 20 inch barrel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, but I usually carried the 16 inch barrel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was telling, telling Kevin yesterday that we'd get up cold bore zero and we'd throw clay pigeons out on the 800 meter berm. And nine times out of 10, I would drill that clay pigeon and it wasn't a testament to my shooting, like, you know, but that, that gun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, and we were talking about it, like, I get it, and the guys do the extreme long range, and things like that, and that's your thing. I never engaged anything past 600 meters, because, you know, one, I have to identify them, two, they're on the move, you know, so, so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you gotta have your leads. And then, three, I have to make sure they have a weapon. I have to make sure they're a combatant. So me, with a eight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like, hey man, that guy could bend over, he could move, he could do all kinds of stuff before that bullet gets there. And then what's the terminal ballistics when he does get there, when the round does get there. So I was always like, hey man, it's like shooting an animal. Like I don't want that animal to suffer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and I don't want the animal to suffer. I don't really care about the dude. Hell yea. I don't know if I should say that. I don't care if we edit that or not. But you know, it's everything. I don't want to engage somebody that's not a combatant. No, I mean if you know it's a terrorist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you always have to train alternate firing positions, you know, because in the real life, not on a range, that's how stuff happens. Yeah, it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, people don't, people don't train, um, shooting from a climbing stand, you know, in, in southern, you know, southeast hunting. I mean, we, we have climbers and uh, people don't train with that. Even archery, they always,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dude, this thing will, you know, Al will kill you. They will kill you, man. So, I've got a bow. And so, I just took out a, I just took out an arrow. And like, kind of came around the back side of the tree, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me tell you man, everybody needs to take up duck hunting. And I know that you're not a shotgun company, but I mean, we all sit here like we are now, we're having drinks, and then all of a sudden it's like, hey man, here's some ducks. They call them in, you shoot the ducks, dogs go get the ducks, you go back to laughing and joking like you're doing right now, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, it's a good time. It's a social event. Social event.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fishnet, you know, if you're in a boat, you get you a net, like, for fishing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh no, I'm, I'm, I'm jacked up, but I keep, I keep, like, keep on keepin' on, I'm like Joe Dirt, life's a garden, dig it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but we've gotten a lot smarter. They've taken baseline, uhm, stuff when people are coming in and kind of monitor that. I think that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, sadly, with a lot of the experimental munitions, specialty munitions, it's kind of like, ahh, well, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A, B, C, and D, we didn't, we didn't really anticipate that. And honestly, some of it is, you're supposed to wear protective, protective gear that you may or may not have decided to wear. You know, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My gear was, uh, 68 pounds. I weighed it. That's body armor and rifle, no rucksack or anything like that. If I was carrying a .308, that was 74 pounds. Right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, no, I ain't carrying seven mags, man. Make them shots count. Uh, I would carry four mags and one in the well. And then we would have a go-bag.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I'm not going out with a rug, but we would care, we would have a rug with extra stuff to resupply.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And not move fast. I can't climb a wall because my gear sticks out, you know, six inches from my, from my chest and I can't get over a wall. I can't do something or I can streamline it, make shots count, but I have a bag that we've carried and we drop it at a breach or we drop it somewhere, but you have to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the good thing about special operations units is like we can assess what we need, what we don't need and tailor that load for what you're doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I would never make that comparison because it's two different missions. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I mean I'm not a genie man, I can't say that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Iraq. That was big army. Like, the thing is, it's like, it's two totally different missions. There are things that the big army, the big military cannot do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we can do because we're smaller, more agile, uhm, we can flex a lot because of training and the experience of the individuals. But, hey man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm this many guys, when we need a, a battering ram, I've got third ID over here. Those dudes are coming through and they are wreaking havoc. And it's just, it's, it's what do you, what's your desired end state? What do you have to deal with? And then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You choose the correct force for that, for that mission. So, I'm not gonna cut a cake with a chainsaw. Right? But I'm also not going to cut down a tree with a butter knife. You see what I'm saying? Yeah.