Special Guest: USMC Combat Vet, Law Enforcement Vet, Entrepreneur & More, Martin Madrigal

In this episode, I sit down with an incredible guest, Martin Madrigal—a true embodiment of the American Dream and resilience. Martin is a combat veteran, former Marine, and law enforcement officer turned entrepreneur. Now based in Texas, he owns multiple Powerhouse Gyms and is launching a lifestyle clothing brand that celebrates grit and determination.

Martin's Brand:
Humble Vaquero: https://humblevaquero.store/

Mental Health Resources:
Give an Hour Link: https://giveanhour.org/
Cohen's Veteran Network: https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/

Other Links:
Website: https://www.jessievirga.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drvirga 
Podcast equipment: https://amzn.to/3BxWVTf


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Welcome to Jessie Virga’s channel, where she shares insights on her wide array of interests. Jessie also hosts an audio podcast (link below). 

Jessie Virga hails from the Bronx and has an extensive background in security and defense, having spent 10 years in the military in various security roles. Following her military service, she pursued a degree in Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience from UCSD and briefly pursued medical school. Realizing her true passion lay elsewhere, she transitioned back to security work with the Department of Defense and Homeland Security, earning both an MBA and a DBA in Homeland Security. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Psychology. 

Jessie’s career has always focused on protecting people, information, and infrastructure. Her dedication extends beyond her professional life. She volunteers for Search and Rescue, works as a part-time EMT (TCCC/TECC), and enjoys hiking, backpacking, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and staying active. 

In addition to her professional and volunteer commitments, Jessie is an entrepreneur. She owns several businesses, including a nonprofit animal welfare organization, K&L Animal Rescue. Jessie is eager to share her extensive knowledge and experiences through her journeys. These thoughts are her own, and she welcomes engaging with those who have something interesting to share. Feel free to reach out via email. 

Thank you for being here, and God Bless. 
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https://www.jessievirga.com 
K&L Animal Rescue:

Transcript

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what's up everybody welcome back to the Doctor B podcast I'm your host Jesse Verga today I have an amazing guest I actually met him at my gym I have worked with his wife as a posing coach he's phenomenal individual he is a combat veteran former Marine he was law enforcement for years before moving to Texas and now he runs his own business he owns multiple gyms uh currently in uh in his area part of Texas so he owns a few powerhouse gyms he is also starting his own clothing brand which he'll explain a little bit more about in this video his parents were immigrants to the United States they literally work from the ground up he joined the Marine Corps shortly after so it really is a story of the American Dream and not just any American dream of veterans American Dream so without further ado let's get into the interview so to kind of start things off do you want to introduce yourself who you are your childhood growing up how you landed in the Marine Corps and you know how you got to where you are sure hey so my name is Martin Magical for those that don't know me obviously like I'm not into famous or anything like this so people want to know who I am they probably see me around for those that know Martin magical I was born and raised in Orland California my parents migrated from Mexico back in the seventies um ever since the 70s they would come back work here in the fields um and then once the season was over they go back to Mexico and then come back again until they were able to go through the whole long process of becoming a US citizen and all that stuff um so growing up I mean we never had like nothing crazy expensive like we just had the bare minimum we had a roof over our head my parent my dad my mom always working all the time working late in the fields we never had a chance to play sports because we never had nobody to take us and plus my grades were never good like I was always at the very very very bottom my brother though I got one brother no sisters of one brother he's five years younger than me so he's a complete opposite growing up he was always straight A's honor student everything and I was just a complete opposite I was always cutting school getting in trouble getting written up you know doing a whole mess and stuff so from a young age like all my family would always tell my mom my dad okay he's gonna grow up being a gang member he's gonna be in trouble he's gonna go to jail so always had that in the back of my mind um and coming coming up from like I wouldn't say nothing because we were still blessed to have what we wanted when it came to food like we weren't like poor but we never I like the extracurricular stuff extra stuff that other kids had in school so at school we'd always get um made fun of because of our clothes we had to get food from the cafeteria my English was kind of bad so I was in ESL so I would always struggle you know with trying to have friends that only kind of click with like friends that were like me they were kind of like yes so only second language and so English then my mom only do very my mommy very very minimal English so it was very frustrating trying to get help with school homework because she knew how to do it but her all the way back in the days and I was like what's not with the teaching me at school and I got remember crying every day trying to do my homework and I was all hey like they don't like me at school my teachers always mean I hated school like I just hated it um so and then in the summers like we'd always go work on my dad and my grandpa on the fields um so our childhood was good like we obviously I never got abused or nothing obviously just a regular punishment growing up in a Mexican household you know the sinto the chancla uh that that was that was a normal thing especially for me cause I was always getting in trouble and my mom was like hey just wait till your dad gets home you know they're watching that I'm like damn alright cool haha so we got ready um but that's that's the way it was I mean it was fun um and fast forward you know like think it was I was a freshman when September 11 happened I was just sitting there and I saw it on TV and I was just like it caught me caught me off guard I was in shock of course like everybody else was um and at that moment I knew that I needed to do something I was only a freshman so me you know I called the cruise office I'm like hey I wanna I wanna join yeah the thing I call it the time it was army wasn't even the Marine Corps cause I just wanna join the army cause that's what you saw really you know oh you're too young like you're still a freshman you can't even like there's no point in even like come in uh you need to have a diploma cause at the time of diploma was a requirement and at that time I was at the bottom of the barrel so my counselor had already told me like hey you're not gonna graduate in time cause you're already behind credits you can't to go to summer school night school just to even catch up to possibly have a chance to give the bomb so then freshman year goes by now so I got it I need to do something for myself because I you know I got I got tired of seeing my dad working hard on in the fields on my mom also working hard and my brother doing excellent in school I was like I need to do something for myself because I'm not I don't like school and I don't wanna be like hey mama I wanna go to college and then you pay for it and then and then I fail I don't like it so now I feel like a total failure because now I'm making you guys pay for it it's not something that I tell my passion I don't wanna do it so I'm probably I think at the end of sophomore year I was finally able to sign out to the pulley program which is kind of like a well it's a prominent they have for from the Marine Corps and Marine Corps and well little backtrack to that the reason why they're going the Marine Corps because I had two friends that joined the pulley program a year before I did cause there were a year ahead of me there were juniors and seniors and then one of them graduated as a senior came back in a uniform I was just like oh shit that's badass I want that uniform and he's like wait just to let you know this is the hardest it's the hardest boot company you're gonna do he's like if you want something easier you know go to the other branches and I was just like all that time I was like I don't know I just want to hold you something so I remember going into the Air Force recruiting office his my mom my mom and dad didn't even know how to spend on my friends will take me I went in Air Force guy was like yeah you don't have enough your grades are too low your Asgard that you took is too low so there's nothing that we can do for you here I was just like okay so I went next door to Marine Corps because that's what my friends have already gone let me go talk to these guys and see what's up I walk in was a staff sergeant also has to remember his name Scout Sniper awesome dude he's he's from Europe I don't remember what country he was from but he said what's going on Martina what do you wanna do and I was like I wanna be in the ring he's like okay he's like it's hard I was like that's fine and then he's like just know like it's gonna be 13 weeks of hell and you have to go to your MOS school you have to go to another MCT then you need to get deployed he's like what do you wanna do for your MOS and I was like I just want to shoot guns like I want to go to Iraq I just want to be out there and he's like I want to do something cool you know like I've seen in the movies I've seen it like I want to do something cool he's like well he's like he's like I was a grunt I don't recommend you being a grunt because you're gonna hate life he said but I'll go ahead and put in some paperwork for you see what your score is like so obviously my initial score is super low like your score is not enough so then I was sneaking over there with my friends and I will go to practice test with like some other guys I already graduated you know eventually my grades got enough to get like the bare minimum freaking MOS so I ended up going as more transport so I was like what's that well you pretty much gonna drive all the hummers you're gonna drive all the seven tons you know you're gonna be in the turret you know you're gonna deal with the grunts you're gonna be doing stuff as a grunt two and I was just like all right let's do it so then obviously I came all the time I was like hey I wanna join the Marine Corps and I was only 17 she's like absolutely not she's like you're not gonna do that um you know obviously being old school in Spanish she's like he's gonna put you up the front cause you're Mexican you know they always put all the people of color and Mexicans at the front of the war and we don't want you to die and I was like that's not true and I'm thinking I was like first for a second I was like maybe it is true you know I was like I don't know I've never been to where I just from what I've seen in the movies um so I was like well I wanna join she's like no I'm not gonna sign off on your cause at that time obviously what is to know you have to be 18 to sign on your own or find your parents not to consent to so I was okay well I'm still gonna go because eventually when I turn 18 you have no say and she's like well no so for two years she battled with me cause I was still continue to go to these bully programs and she kind of found out that I was going there and it was indigenous twice a week would go go run learn cadence learn the phonetic alphabet teach about the Marine Corps the Marine Corps like the history like everything else those guys are just coming out of bouquet so to me I was just like then I was like I wanna be like him like I wanna be able to you know walk around like him have that confidence um go around be like hey I'm a ring what's up you know I'm superhuman and then you know so like continue on for two years finally when I was a senior I don't know what happened and she just came around and she said you know what I guess the last two years haven't been enough for me to convince you from not going so I'll go ahead and sign the paperwork um go go ahead and set it up with your crew I'll go there with your dad and we'll see what happens I was like all right thank you and I was like I was happy that day she finally um you know was happy with me doing something for myself because the whole time there was just no you're not gonna do that you're gonna go to school you're gonna get a job I was like I don't wanna go to school like it's just not me like I never like going to school the only reason I like going to school is cause my friends and I was always at the class huh I was getting in trouble you know doing a kind of a bunch of funny stuff and I was always getting in trouble so then my dad obviously was hey you know you're gonna be a grown man um it's time for you to start what you wanna do he's like I would rather you stay here and just work but you know it's it's coming to that time where it's time for you to take initiative and this is what you want to do I support you I was like okay I think he kind of just wanted me to just go take off music do anything so then um towards like right before I end up going to boot camp like I graduated in July finally with a diploma because I had to stay after school almost every day I would go for two hours on night school and then I will walk to go work out Little Caesars because I was my first job became a supervisor there which is kind of weird and I thought I was only freaking 15 and I was a supervisor grown adults um so I was working there for a few months and then I went to go with my dad and like me and my dad's relationship was always kind of like was kind of I wouldn't say rocky but he was just the dad like old school Hispanic like you do things my way like I'm not really gonna show you love like this is just the way it is just old school that's just the way I saw was against how I'm gonna be too you know so we carpool obviously to go to work together and we never really talked like we never had that like close bond then here are some other people have with their dad and my mom it was just kind of like I'm dad I'm a mom you listen to me these are this is the right mom this is the way it's gonna be like okay let's do it um so looking back you know that's I kind of wish that we had that and it was kind of a lot on me because I was just an asshole teenager I just didn't care um I was always the one causing problems and anything like being disrespectful um which now I can see now that I have a 14 year now I can see luckily he's not like that he's complete opposite but so then back to going to the Marine Corps when I saw my contract I was gonna ship out January and then they called me like I think it was like November hey you gotta get your stuff ready cause you're shipping on next week I was like no I was like can I was like I got plans I'm going to Mexico you know I got doing a party like I'm doing these big things before I go to boot camp but I can't really well you're the government's property so you have to go and I was just like oh shit so that kind of scare me and I was just like hey mom I've been calling they have to go to boot camp next week she's like no extension grandma she's like whatever see and I was just like well they told me like I've already signed the contract on government's property and then she's like no and then one of my friends I graduated from boot camp she's like no they can't do that like once you sign the contract you can leave that day all you gotta do is say no like there's nothing they can really do um and I was just like oh please right so I called him back and I was just hey I can't go next week I was like it's either January or I can't go at all like oh well let me see what I can do because we gotta fill that slot because somebody else you know couldn't make that slot and I was like well I'm just gonna know that I can make it so they call me back and hey we're able to get things figured out you can go in January I was like cool haha so and everything kind of snowed out went to boot camp January graduated on April 5 and then went to then when I graduated I think went straight to MCT so when I see 10 I'm gonna call my mom I was like I think I'm done with this like I don't like it I'm always getting yelled at um it's hard to do a lot of hikes and I was just complaining she's like meanwhile that's what you wanted she's like now you gotta finish it she's like I can't let you I can't support you to quit she's like you gotta you gotta see it through that's not what I'm here but big thank you for giving me that talk to myself so I continued obviously I didn't quit we come away school and then West School they give you three choices to pick whether East West overseas my last pick was overseas because I was born and raised in county I was you know I was home raised obviously I was I wanna be home closer California so I pick west east overseas they freaking Semi O'connell Japan I'm just like oh shoot I'm gonna be there for two years I'm not gonna come home I don't know anybody but luckily I knew some of the guys are with me so I was like hey this is this is what we sign up for let's do it um so I checked in to Okinawa um I was there for two years you know as soon as I got there they're like hey these all the guys are come back for my wreck so I just got back from my wreck um you know you see these guys walking around me like these guys these guys in some shit you can just see that they just walked around differently they give a different vibe you know and I was just like okay I was like I guess this is shit is real um so we did a bunch of pre training for that at first deployment first deployment was in 2006 I want to have a side I got a tight attention to a security team so we're pretty much kind of a QRF team it was just on these and at that time we had no seven tons we had some some up armored we haven't had any like the ID detectors or something like that so we were curious so anytime somebody will say with an ID or they needed an extra responsibly to go out in the system we go on high school like in engineers and need to go to work out on the streets like outside of the city you kind of just set up a corner around the city well we did a little bit of patrols here and there um it was fun it was fun like while I was there but I didn't know that everything that I did there and like the things that I went through we're gonna affect me later down the road because I was young you know I was 18 you know I will get out of the vehicles and I carried my cable in the front so we would go out you see like wires or we thought they were wires we start digging around I thinking that the she could just explode and you're done but that's just what the protocol was okay we don't have time to sit around and wait for you deep um so we just had to take care of ourselves and go around digging stuff and then just push through and then there's a few times where we go through one route we come right back probably within an hour and my knees are going off um and it's just like man like I just we just drove through here like how is it possible that we even a missed it or two they knew that we were gonna come right back so they went out and said it and then they knew as soon as we passed through they were gonna hit those IDS whether it was pressure point whether it was timers or cellphone cause this as time went on they started getting a little smarter how to hide IDS and stuff like that carry a little bit of fire some fires someone on one firefights here and there nothing crazy and that was the end of that deployment and came back to Okinawa and then obviously that's when I started realizing like man I just don't feel the same but nobody else was saying nothing so I kind of just want to flow everything was cool my two years ended up when I got shipped out to Camp Hamilton so right away checked in the Hamilton like here we're gonna deploy within the next 6 months so once again another worker leading up to it and then during that time that's when I want my my wife Jennifer plus you'll be better wasn't developed I went through the phone on social media MySpace back in day so we were talking on the phone and everything and the message and I was hey I didn't ship back to California and then she's all right you know let me know when you get here call me so I called her so we're dating day for short time got engaged got married so then my first deployment I was I was already married and that that deployment was a lot different because now I had a responsibility I knew that I had to come home for my wife it wasn't just me and my mom and dad cause obviously my mom and dad can still take care of themselves like yes it would suck but it was just me I was young I was a kid I didn't have no feelings it was just like it was just me like whatever whatever happens happens I don't really care but this one was a lot different you know what I always told her I was I was told my wife I was like I will never get off the phone mad at you for whatever it is because I don't want you don't want that to be the last conversation that we have when we go out and then that's the last you heard a reason you being an asshole because that's not that's not how it's supposed to be and there's one time all time that I got married and it was stupid it was just cause she couldn't answer the phone because she was still at work and obviously the time frames isn't total our difference so I called she didn't answer and the times that we're able to use the phone we're kind of rare because we're always leaving and we come back at midnight and then by that time you come back you shower you sleep like 2 3 hours and get ready and go back out again so I'm like I'm pissed off I'm like hey like you can answer the phone or what she picks up she's okay I'm at work let me call you back and I was like well why don't you answer the phone and I clicked and as soon as I clicked I'm like fuck how's it going with fucking idiot and I called him back in and I was hey I'm sorry um I'm just admitting I should have done it Angelina know that I'm about to leave again everything is good nothing's happening you know everything is hell everyone's healthy no nothing nothing's going on although see I wasn't the case but you know I was like everything's cool she okay you know I was like I'm sorry I can get in there and it didn't um so fast forward you know I came back from deployment and I think it was the second night I came back remember sitting in the room just just sitting at the edge of the bed you know when you come back from your promises and all this training like post upon training you go see the side you can return to intimacy and like how to have it how to be a friend and yeah give you like these checklists that you check off to make sure that you're not crazy of course we're not going to answer that to to be honest like we're just going to check it over good everything's good we check the boxes is going to keep training so I remember I think it was a second I came home I was sitting at the edge of the bed and I just started crying and I was just like I was like I don't know what's going on she's a yeah I don't know she's a nigga it's just because you just came back and you still kind of tried to adapt to the life of here you're not having to worry about somebody trying to kill you with one of your friends or something like that so it's just this part of what is and I was like yeah that's probably it but you know I I ignored all the signs you know and I was drinking like every day I'll get a six pack and at the time we come for so we my little apartment right outside of Camp Fountain we're eating like Little Caesars and Top Ramen and Hamburger Helper I was drinking almost every day and I was just going to work and everybody else was kind of doing the same so I was like I guess it's normal so then it continued on and then I was here then I got out because I'm like hey we're gonna start another great deployment training deploy again when I was a young I don't see like I personally don't think the military is for somebody has a family especially kids I mean yeah it does work it could work I see any work but for me personally I just didn't think it was something that I wanted to put my wife and my future kids through and having to move different duty stations and go on deployments and just not have a stability where where you are friends family um so I decided to go ahead and get out even though they were like hey we're gonna give you 40,000 dollar bonus you're gonna go where you wanna go and I was this close to signing it and then I was like no I saw some of my friends get out too and I was like I think I'm done um so I was out for a few months and then I missed it so much that I went to the reserves so I did the reserves for I think it was about three years um so I was actively drilling every month doing my two weeks a year and then I got kind of tired of that because I was a surgeon time so these guys they were career reserves were coming on the weekends and it be a hot mess you know no haircuts camis were not good not it was just nasty so by the time Sunday came there were semi squirt away but then come next month it was the same thing again it was the same thing and then we were always getting blamed and like you're the source you know why is this guy late why is this guy not here what where's his gear I'm just like I don't know he's a grown ass man like this is this stuff doesn't happen in active duty because you live you sleeping 24 7 like if you're at the mortal pool wherever you're at and you mess up it's gonna come to you to the Berks when you have to be staying up all night clean you know doing duty like they just continue so people know not to mess up and you for most part they're always scored away obviously there was those ones that are not so squared away but they kind of get weed out um but reserves was just a whole different ball game and nothing I just got tired of it and I decided to leave that so that was the whole that was a little intro of like growing up moving to the Marine Corps hey you know it's it's so I was QRF I started off as a team member eventually became team lead I I was obviously deployed a lot we're about the same age but I joined a little bit later so I didn't go I I didn't deploy until 2018 so a lot of the damage was already done but I would hear stories from some of the Marines that I was deployed with kind of how Iraq was and how Afghanistan was in the beginning of the war and how like you couldn't drive past a plastic bag without being extremely cautious because they cause the folks out there was very rogue warfare at the time there was no there was no rules for them at least we had all these rules of engagement but for them it was just a circus um I know that you and I have talked a little bit kind of touch back on what you had said in the beginning and I'm backing out a little bit about your parents working um kind of in the agricultural industry did you um during during their time working I guess essentially in length in the fields of Northern California were you also going back and forth to Mexico with him this was before yeah how are they came out here in the 70s and then I was I was born 85 so probably like 15 years before I was born they were coming and going coming and going crossing the border crossing the border obviously illegally until their stuff was able to get approved and go to the process and all that stuff yeah my dad my dad a green card but for the longest time he was in denial I was like I don't want to be a Jewish citizen he said I will stay next until finally I think maybe like 10 15 years ago he found was like all right man do we want to go take his test and I'm just a man's like you know more stuff than most of the people that are born here in the US you know it's it's crazy so every summer um right over here in like the Hemet area there's a few fields that are publicly accessible like or there's an orange field and then there's another like low crop field I wanna say it's like it's root based stuff anyway I always stop there and bring them water because the people who own that property they don't live on the property so they the folks that are out there and they're not all immigrants but I'm just like nobody cares about these people like no there's no water for them they don't even put a pop up like to give them shade the conditions even now are really bad so I can't imagine what it was like for your parents in the seventies when people probably cared even less my my family immigrated here in the 70s also and it was a nightmare for them but they immigrated to New York City which was already filled with every flavor of immigrant at that time so they kind of blended in what was it like for your parents in terms of like condition and their health passed away supposed to think it was a few years ago not too long ago no one of my cousins was fortunate enough to marry him prior to and passing away and he touched on the subject of how he was treated when he was coming over with my mom which obviously was his daughter because it's my mom and then there was I think a total of nine of them so it was my my grandpa my grandma and then all coming over to work out here and he touched on the subject about how they were treated at these encampments um where they would keep a lot of them and like these like metal buildings out of the middle of the field with noisy no running water it was just whatever bottle of water they could get um food was scarce um showers were kind of just on your own you just use like a water bottle whatever that you could you get whatever rags you had you just wash yourself kind of and then you go out to work pretty much all day from sunset to sunrise um and they were kind of just driving around kind of like kind of remind me kind of like the slavery but back in the day where they were kind of just you were just a number like hey this is your number this is you're gonna work here and then once you're done we'll come pick you up and take you back to your to your home not your home but like the place that they were staying at and then once their contract and because they were like on contracts so once the contract and for a certain location of whatever it is they were crops for they were just sent out to another location and just kind of rent it out and once the season went over then they would have to find the wrong way to go back to Mexico find a place to stay for the winter and then start all over again the next year what do you tell me that he would go work and like the people that were in charge of him or I was he just being because obviously he was all Caucasian people and they would just yell at him um they would throw stuff out of him and they're just getting paid at nothing but it was just enough for them to just have something to survive off day by day um and eventually it was just enough for them to save up and then leave that's that type of farm field to a more control because there's kind of like I guess different levels were some of the places you went to treat you like that there are a lot more welcoming like the farmers or some of them were like third generation Mexicans so they understood they understood where they came from where their parents came from and they only said huge farms that cropped a lot of corn apples cherries and all throughout the whole season so like they would bring a lot of workers and they knew water like personally like they would hang out on the weekends they would have houses for them like actual like mobile homes that they would stay in although it was like four or five pounds per mobile home but it was a lot better than some of the other locations were a lot of the other people that would recently come from Mexico so kind of just that just depended on how long you were here and the connections that you made with like the farmers and ranchers and stuff yeah that's interesting so I I've heard that before because I know that some of the dynamic and it all it also depends like I know more about pretty much Southern California and some of how they run things here but I've seen where um the look the land owner will actually rent a part of the property to that second or 3rd generation person who has the experience of working that field and then they go out and hire people to work that section um and usually it's a legitimate house but what I noticed out here and I passed them all the time I finally stopped and I was like are you guys good like do you guys need stuff cause it was 110 degrees I had drove past them in the morning at like 6 a m and they were already out there and I came back at 3 and they were still out there and I just remember this one woman cause she was wearing a bright pink shirt and um like a I don't even know what you would call those it's a fabric hat to cover her like sunshade like to cover her neck and stuff and I were pulling over and I'm like are you guys okay like I had gave him I had a case of water in my car I gave him a case of water I had an um this pop up that I always keep in my car even gave him the pop up and they were all really appreciative they they bring stuff with them when they start the day but it's 110 degrees like no matter what you bring it's gonna get hot by the time you actually need it so I was just like it made me really upset because I'm like this is still a these working conditions still exist and we drive past them all the time and no one I don't know can't say no one but I didn't see anybody else stopping so I was like I think this should be brought to the light a little bit but yeah thank you for that I was kind of curious about how it was but it's good that they found kind of employment with better working conditions or at least nicer people um for a few years yeah that's it's crazy that and these are the people that feed us like yeah we go to the grocery stores and a lot of it comes from from there yeah we will be here but like a big portion of it is from here or even South American went up but there are probably way worse conditions than we are here I think about like even what comes from like middle America like there are also people working those fields and it's not the field owner 99% of the time there there is hired hands and I just I'm just like bro this person feeds me like I treat him the way I treat my mom like my mom was feeding me like top tier care but that's like it's a conversation for another day so after the Marine Corps um I know that you went law enforcement how that's kind of a little bit of a stereotypical path I'm guilty for that as well but what um what was that transition like how do you like PD in California we can go a little into that I know and I'll cut out any spots you want me to but yeah what was that like it was good I mean um when I first got out like that was the that was the goals to go straight to law enforcement um while still in the Marine Corps I think I was I think I maybe like two months left I took the test for LAPD I started going through the process um and then towards the end I forgot what happened where I think I missed an appointment or something so then anything I kind of pushed back a little bit and at that time it was hard to get into law enforcement like during that time like you'd have hundreds of applicants show up hundreds of applicants make it to the next step and so forth so it was really hard to get into law enforcement back but was it like 2,012 2,011 when I and then when I got out the Marine Corps it was really hard 2009 so in the meantime I took a security job so I was working there working like these random places like a freaking food for less and just like the random hours they would come and take me come work they'll be there and then I was there for maybe a few months and then quickly moved up to supervisor and supervisor just kind of working on money to fire schedule and I was going to school to get my associates and then later on my master's in criminal justice because I figured that's gonna help me for law enforcement trust for how I don't think it really did a thing I don't think that you look at that really um but it up getting my degree so I was working and so it took me took me a good year and a half a little over a year to finally join the San Diego Sheriff's Department but during that time I got turned down by I think it was Border Patrol um Riverside and then LAPD and sending a shirt what kind of like the only ones that were like continually pursuing me like a come get this done everything was fast forwarding everything and then during the time that I did my phone interview with LAPD like I was ready of the detective seems like he was some old school guy you brought him you know he's a came in he's like so you have to break leather every day you're gonna be so central for a minimum three years he's like are you doing that I was like absolutely I was like come on I just came back from military or just kind of I don't want to war twice this is what I want to do you know and I think that was around the same time that that one movie came out I forgot what the cop movie was oh bro I know she's talking about the partner Jake Gyllenhaal and um other guy the Hispanic dude right yeah the Hispanic guy yeah yeah um it's it's violating yeah it's a really sad movie yeah so we saw that and then my wife was like nope you're not gonna go and delete so he knows like no it's not even like that like it's just a movie it's just Hollywood but I knew it was like that because I have family know and we would go there to visit like just taking the wrong street somewhere like people will chase us start shooting at us like there's a couple times where I got chased in my car just because I went in the wrong street and shooting me because I'm not from there so I'm just like that's what I want but at the same time I'll just I should probably listen to her cause she's probably right and then I'm glad I listened to her because I mean look at stuff that went through LAPD on calls that they gone through and they're still going through right now so then I ended up accepting the offer with Samantha Sheriff's Department and then even while the Academy and even 2 three years in like they kept calling me like hey man like we still want you like we'll give you you know a bonus and this and that blah blah blah just like no I'm good I think I'm good here so then I would say like the first 6 7 years of law enforcement because I ended up doing like 11 for 2,011 to 2,020 22 was about 11 years almost I think the first six seven were good and then right before Covid and then everything was Brianna and George Floyd but that's when everything just took a spin like everything just start going downhill um they started taking away our rights um you can do this policy started changing get a controversial sheriff out there the sheriff you guys had the female I think right when you left yeah when I left and then we had a Gore yeah yeah a little bit I remember that sheriff being extremely controversial I know you and I had talked about this during Covid how crazy it got for law enforcement but yeah it was good like the first seven years I think up until Covid and then like beyond everything just took a turns of the worse like people just started retiring early all the moral just went down um bunch of like non written policies were coming out like you can't do this you can't do that um can't do karate no more I'm like really I was like I go to jiu jitsu and I get freaking put in this thing like every day and I'm fine yeah tell me one tell me when the last time was that somebody died from karate but they were quick on taking it but they want quick on giving us a replacement so when you go to the academy and train in karate for almost every day and detach and then now you can't do it but they don't give you a replacement so I said okay so then now I either have my Taser my baton my weapon not gonna use my Taser cause sometimes most of the time is not expected and the time it's gonna slip out so it's either I just go hands on or I run um so it got very it got very interesting you know the moral story changing a lot supervision unfortunately how to do what they were being told by the people talk by a great supervisor my first 70 years um but then as the terminal started changing a lot of younger sergeants who attends were getting promoted so they started changing as well I wouldn't say it was it was their fault it was just more of a culture um the wages everything started changing in California and came to law enforcement we weren't really respected anymore nobody lied to us that he couldn't have a 31 sticker on the truck not that I ever did but you know like some of the guys were like yeah I took mine off because he just don't know you can be at a stoplight we can be go at the grocery store and we'll see your car that's your window to work cause you just America's most hated you still are obviously here in California but um it was unfortunate and and then the whole time I was just like you know something something's gotta change I was like it's either departments gotta change or I can go somewhere else but then like I have friends and other agencies over there it's kind of the same thing over here like a lot of people are leaving the retirement of which states become cops out there and I was like well I was like I don't know so like I think probably 2,000 like at the beginning of Covid all that cool stuff started coming out too like we're making kids wear masks and vaccines like all this stuff that California was pushing and we just me and my homies didn't agree with it we're pretty vocal about it too especially like at work and on social media um social media not so much because I was told your promise or kind of just how to be very wary of what I posted or else I get flagged and then sent to Ra another conversation you know it was very difficult to so I guess stay Cool Common Collective knowing that I still have the badge but I just didn't feel like I was valued like I like I used to be you know I was just more I was just a member like hey this is my badge number this is all you are and there's already a posting for your your position as soon as you leave there's already somebody that's gonna get hired to come on on the low when I lift I was talking to someone in the cruise and told me that they were only able to get probably around 10 people to come take the test the initial test from those 10 only about six make it to the next step so like the pool is just very very small compared to what it was back in 2,011 and 2,012 you know back before all that happened you know so I mean it was just it was just a culture and I was like it's time something's got to give you know and we're working 10 11 days straight we got mandatory all the time so two and a half hour shift is a long day where they can be rotated shifts these tonight's everything months so then my son was like hey so when you gonna come home so we can go do this more than I was like can I was like gonna work well hey I got a game can you come and watch was that you're gonna work we're like hey I have a parent meeting you know this America can come like I gotta work and then I was like I don't wanna just keep calling up because I'm just kind of being a disservice to my partners some cars didn't care like they were just like whatever I'm gonna do what I want for myself but me I wasn't really that selfish okay I'm just gonna call off all the time because I knew that somebody else had to pick up my slack and luckily I was with the group of guys are really good that's kind of like the reason why I stayed so long because I was with a really good group of guys because I don't have not been for them or probably just bouncing green if you know about how like reserve deputies were you basically put yourself to the academy yeah so there's like blocks like Block 1 2 and 3 so you do they're about six months they're like it's a night school um and you you can't really do them back to back usually do like you do um your third phase at 6 months then you're basically like forever on FTO until you get your your second phase or second level and I did that to see because I had heard a lot of stuff about even Orange County LA San Diego but we have a really good deputy out here Chad Bianco he's yeah he's awesome but because he's awesome it's created a lot of competition within the sheriff's department so they they're pushing deputies out all of the time and they're one of the highest paid deputies so besides going like Riverside County I know that CHP has seen kind of like an influx of applicants but the culture is still the same like the couple bad apples somewhere else in the world has created this like dynamic where all cops are bad which is so weird cause a lot of my family either went military or went law enforcement NYPD and I never in my life viewed even as a minority I never viewed police as the bad guys but it's it's interesting so but okay so you move to Texas how is your family adjusting to to life in Texas it's great see there's a little there's a bit of a bit of speed bumps that were with the Molassi wasn't as smooth as people may think I just wake up and go you know there's a big process that we had to go through a lot of my wife ended up you know she's the one that orchestrated the whole move she's a captain she's the one that the driver of this whole things you know she's one of did his full spreadsheet and kind of compare to the states I wanted to go to but we had Texas Florida Utah Colorado um she pretty much just kind of went down and did like a little spreadsheet of like gas taxes cost of living registration you know like all the basic things that we kind of don't like don't agree with California that may be better in other states gas you know um so we ended up essentially going between Texas and Florida luckily good thing we didn't pick Florida cause it just seems like to constantly be metal was the all kinds of weather so we pick Texas and as far as location we kind of just went off of like housing like what the prices and houses are because not not all Texas is cheap like it's all cheap relatively compared to California but there's certain locations that are a lot cheaper than others and it's like the smaller town which is kind of reward our town is kind of growing but um nonetheless like it's cheap like you can get a brand new three bedroom two and a half bath 380 400 on 1 acre lot 1 or 2 acre lots brand new which is what we did um but we obviously only left like I still stayed with shirts of armor for I think like another month and a half um but my wife and my son they went to Colorado to spend some time with the mother in law till I finished my time in insurance department because our house wasn't gonna be done till September in Texas so I was just I was done with um California my wife was done my son was done too other than the friends that we have that we still have there um and then also I was just hoping to sell within like a week so okay I guess it's time to go so then we borrow for sale so within a week and then she went out to spend some time like a mother in law while the house was built I stayed there till July and then I came out here I think it was August and then already kind of had like a job so essentially kind of was one of local sheriff's department so when I got an Airbnb stay there for like a month I was working there for probably like a month and then they finally told the hate house is gonna be almost done so when I flew to Colorado we drove back in the vehicle that we had and then we get here like oh it's gonna be another month because this was delayed and this was delayed so now we're spending another month an Airbnb was just which is expensive so now we keep fucking up all this money and then meanwhile driving like an hour and a half to work because that's where the Airbnb was that we ended up choosing because of the ways built out for our dog so they can have somewhere to go kart and stuff like that um so I'm driving an hour and a half she's driving about an hour to take her son to school and I was like man this sucks so like we're just like is it it's gonna get better we're like it's gonna get better this isn't it now so my father here house is gonna be ready next week you guys are bringing songs of our cool so we come over we sign the house is finally ours and things just can't start moving so I'm ended up being law enforcement here I think it was maybe like from August to November and that was it like I just didn't really have an enemy no more like that fire for me like being law enforcement and I just to serve and I was like I just didn't have them I was like I don't wanna do something that I just don't have the the fire for like it doesn't make any sense he's not making me happy it's just now it's adding stress again you know not that the departments here and on a little better than California but it was just like just it still ends up being the same thing like you still enforcing the laws you're still doing ministry still serving the community whatever so I'll say that when I'm done with all of this time to do something for ourselves you know cause of our ability the schedule is gonna be rough too again I was gonna go back to tour and a half hour shifts and then my work time here is gonna be on call so instead of California where it was mandated here I was on call so essentially I was still working so I couldn't really schedule nothing on my days off because I could probably get called in and I was like I'm not gonna live like this so I was like I got I got these so that was about six months no not even six months it was just from five days till the end of November did you apply for your LEOSA so LEOSA is a federal concealed carry you can get it after 10 years of military service and or 10 years in law enforcement so as a Marine you can you I can say I'll send you the website after this um there's like a LEOSA portal it does the portal is really the only place that I found you can apply online uh they do charge a small fee but I had no problems with it so you basically send in a copy of your DD two fourteen um which has your MOS on it so they're gonna see what you did um they'll also see your um your deployments to show that you handled a firearm cause like an admin person who never deployed it doesn't qualify and then plus your um you can send in either pay stubs or anything you have from the sheriff's department to show that you a total did 10+ years and then what you get is this like federal ID that allows you to carry anywhere in any state with the exception of like federal places which are airports and federal buildings nothing else about you you do not have to comply with state law so you can carry in a school if you want to like you can carry anywhere that they that they allow you which is pretty much anywhere but federal buildings so I say again sure I didn't hear that you cut out so to look into that for sure yeah I'll send it to you I got it because California has always stupid laws with their CCW and also I'm not doing this like I can't really carry it anywhere but like my house in the car so I went and got my LEOSA because um I should be able to protect myself anywhere I go not just yeah to wherever they say I can go anyway so I know you opened a gym in Texas that was like so random but it also made sense because kind of been a part of the gym culture for a while what was like what was that like it's a it's a powerhouse right hey everybody welcome back to the Doctor V podcast I'm your host Jesse Verga I wanted to let you guys know that I will be starting a new series called path to faith this is going to be my spiritual journey me kind of getting back into a position where I have a closer relationship with God I feel as though I spent a really long time angry at God I've gone through a lot and I think that while I don't think it broke my relationship with God I do think that it halted a my journey it halted my spiritual growth and I would like to prioritize that once again I am not a I'm not associated with any religious organization or any specific denomination of any particular religion this is simply me reading the Bible reading other holy books and just learning from the scripture I have already started this I have this notebook here which is where I've been keeping my notes and where I've been writing down you know just just quotes and things that that really resonate with me so I have you know quotes from exodus and Genesis and now obviously the Bible is a very it was a very long text so I am not trying to rush it I'm not trying to get through any particular area of scripture just so I can have a podcast episode but I have already started and I wanted to share that journey with all of you guys it will not be hosted on the Doctor Verta podcast it will be on my website Jesse Verda com where you can check out path to faith and you can listen to the episodes there I will kind of talk a little bit about spiritual health in this podcast simply because spiritual health and spiritual wellness is a part of wellness wisdom and warfare and I think it's incredibly important so if you are interested in kind of listening to me go through this journey or maybe you you know you wanna leave a comment for me or maybe I missed something in terms of lessons and things to be learning from the scripture that maybe I've missed or overlooked or maybe that you don't agree with my interpretation of it I would love your feedback again I am doing this alone I do not have a mentor I'm not affiliated with any church or any religious organization so I I'm looking forward to interacting with you as I go through this this journey once again so if you again wanna check it out it's Jessie verda.com you can check out path to faith and I will see you there God bless yeah so we're we're part owners of the part housing um essentially the place where we're staying at the Airbnb um that gym that we're going to was one of the gyms that we ended up becoming part owner so we would go there but we like the environment we like how clean it was but like the equipment and then like those are gold in California is like within five years we're gonna open up a gym we're gonna be part of a gym we're gonna manage a gym but somehow we're gonna be in the gym industry because also my wife has a personal training background and I both have computer in the past so it's been something that's been part of our lives for part of the last 10 15 years and I've been working out since I think I was in high school I did this um but like within the next within five years ago in Texas that's gonna be the goal and it just happened to be there I met the owners and I was like hey what's going on I introduced myself my wife and I was like we just moved here from California we like your gin um we're looking to see if you guys are interested in maybe you know join the partnership or if you guys are looking to sell or somewhere somehow we can you know become partners and some sort of speech you know he said you know what you know it's crazy that you bring that up because me and my wife have actually been talking about that that we've been wanting to partner with a young couple that's fitness oriented that has a background in fitness and has a love for it and is not just wanting to come in just because there's money involved or it's a gym we could just say that their dad their dad a gym long should you know and I was like no it's not even adult I guess just something that we always want and we always want to how give back to other people by also being part of it like it makes no sense to be part of something that's not even gonna be involved in and you're not gonna be looking out so he's like yeah so we we had several meetings within like two months and then we ended up doing a whole process of joining partnerships which I'm sure you know what that process is like it's long it's tedious and the laws lawyers and everything like that so we came partners of legend um so when I took responsibility of all social media and everything like that so I was posting everything from there and then they're like we're gonna be building 2 3 other ones within the next year and just continue to grow because the the one there was just so successful and we know that we've already built a brand just from this one here even though powerhouse is known worldwide um but just the people around us so already know like how great a Virginia facilities this is so then we opened up another one in February of this year and then I was doing some social media there but then I kind of laid off of that one I was just doing the one in Weatherford which we just opened up um 2 weeks ago or a week ago so and cause I was just it was hard to handle for um Instagram accounts trying to go back and forth and like just my account was a few times when I post something it was my personal account trying to post something else was I started to go to videos like this is just too much like it's a job in itself to do social media so then I dropped those other two accounts and only kept two and then our manager and they're taking those two accounts um so yeah now we're mainly focus on the one that we just opened up and then all the future ones up yeah cause the the original powerhouse is in Texas right yeah the original I I I've been meaning to go to that one I don't like that not to bash the franchise because I used to go to powerhouse in New York and it was my gym I loved it I would go to Gold's Gym and I go to powerhouse um the one in here is one in Temecula California is awful I don't know what it's different yeah it's the management they always mess up my contract I always pay my contract a year in advance in cash and they just don't know how to handle that I don't like the month to month they like just always pay the year up front like just here you go but that one has like the boxing gym like the boxing ring in the middle of the gym which I thought was really cool cause my background is bought in boxing so I was like oh that's legit but the it's just weird it's just so weird but yeah next time in Texas I'm gonna have to come check out your gems cause I saw the pictures they look clean like nice like y'all actually treat your it's funny cause uh when you were talking about going to the recruiter's office it made me laugh cause when I the reason why I joined the Navy initially was because I walked into the Marine Corps like recruiter's office and no one was there and there was like one Pooley he was like changing I was like where's everybody like where's all the actual Marines he was like oh they're all at the gym and I was like I should have known and then I turned around and went to the navy's office they were all eating lunch I was like oh I should have my first I should have my first like clue but and then when I after I got out of the Navy and I went back to the Marine Corps recruiter uh it was the same thing they're all on pizza gear I don't know who was who I don't know what their rank was but they were like oh yeah they're like we work out every second of the day cause uh Temecula recruiter or not the I guess it's technically Temecula they're in like a shopping center and they spend 90% of their time kind of like as a presence in that center so they're always outside running or they're running down Winchester or I'm like okay this is this is it this is the the right way I wouldn't reserve us on if you know that but you're 100% right there's like no military bearing in the reserves unless you find someone that was prior service to think is really weird but um so okay so you started the gym um and so you no longer with the law enforcement agency in Texas so you're working full time for the gyms basically or for yourself um I actually work for started as a just regular security officer um November 2 years ago almost and then I was there for maybe about a year and then a supervisor position come up and obviously there's guys I've been there for 15 20 years then I was just like man I was like I'm not ready at only been here for a year like you're not even here yet and then my swear was at the times that you should put in for like your background alone your experience like just by the one year you've been here like we think you're ready and I was like I don't even know how to stuff still but I was like okay so I put in I did the interview and I decided good I got the position so now I'm a supervisor sexually conscious sit in the cubicle essentially and then make schedules and make phone calls and you know email and talk to and have a lot of meetings a lot of one to one meeting something that I'm not used to having with like um I guess leaders are away above me and company um we have like a lot of ambassadors that come from other countries we have a lot of people that are like I guess like senators um like a lot of people from people that come to and I'm just like I was like I'm not supposed to be doing this like I came from the freaking fields you know being the worst in my class and I was like but here I am I'm just like okay this this is it you know it's definitely a weird feeling so you are supervisor for security there or is it like just oh dang that's pretty dope yeah isn't that crazy like you went from like not really doing well in the azvac which is crazy thing to like a successful business owner managing essentially a multi million dollar company run aspect of it that's insane it's funny how that works out like how much we grow just in all aspects yeah the last question I will for starters um I wanna make sure that I do like a quick random little little blurb so I had kind of met you on social media I don't know if we ever actually like met in person I know we went to like the same jiu jitsu gym the same gym for a minute and then separately I completely completely separately I found your wife on social media she had I was looking for a posing coach for myself and one of my clients who was a she was a bikini competitor and then your wife was like oh I'll take care of it so I went to your house not knowing that I had already kind of met you on online and then met your wife and I was like oh there's a Marine here like she's like yeah it's my husband I was like oh that's pretty dope like having no idea that you two were connected and it wasn't until it wasn't until I went to go message her afterwards I think and I saw our mutual friends which was you and I was like holy shit like I inadvertently knew both of you at the same time and she was dope the the client that I had that she was helping um she if I remember she placed second and then her second show she placed first she was the last competitor that I trained but your wife did an amazing job with her posing so that's pretty dope um but anyway yeah so kind of just like to wrap things up a little bit how now that you're settled in Texas and now that you started this like second chapter in your life that's still a pretty young age like do you have any like future plans like what's kind of like you have a couple kids right oh just oh he's and he's fourteen so what I mean damn that's crazy cause you're like my age and you have 14 year old I have no kids um so what's kind of like the five year plan like he's gonna be a grown ass man at that point but like what's the what's the future look like for you guys yes you probably some ways company that me and my friend started he's back in California still with the department um he's doing some cool things there I'm not gonna say what he does or who he is cause he wants to keep well you'll probably know who he is but I'm not gonna say what he does we're just some cool stuff um so we decided to start it I mean we've been talking about this for a while now and then like hey we want to provide a lifestyle essentially lifestyle brand that pretty much and focuses on anybody that works hard every day no matter what the obstacle can come it doesn't matter where you're from what you believe in what color you are cause we're not about that we're not about saying because you this you this is just you get up you work hard you continue to move forward no matter what it is to put food on a table put a shelter over your family and just continue to drive which is probably good percentage of the population I would think um and we're like cause they're all the other companies kind of like have a little bit of this and a little bit of that but like this one kind of like this is for most of the population cause I mean realistically we're not awards and weird times transition times and we're like we're not think we could have something that could just include everybody and I'll be so devices on like what what it is you know what color this is or what color that is you know it's more just okay get up be humble you don't need to be flashy and say like oh I do this and I do that well every once in a while it's okay to be flashy cause I need to inspire somebody else to be like oh they they have that I think I can do that you know like if you can do what I can do you know cause I that's all kind of look at some people too like I don't really I don't get jealous when I see people doing better than me it's good it inspires me and then I'm like okay if he can do that I'm gonna try to do that but better um so that's that part of the company that we just started and then as far as here with my wife and my son essentials kind of just continue to move forward um our household initially bought was 1 acre we purchased another acre and a half so we added more to the property um compound we're gonna add some growing some chickens and some goats and you know like we we don't really know what the feature meant with but we just continue to move whether it's we still stay here in this house we buy a bigger house on a bigger ranch we don't know like the possibilities are unless you know like there's just a lot of things that we can do and you know that everything is open yeah I know I respect that I think having an idea of like I know I wanna grow but I don't know exactly what that means so now that's that's awesome what um so the brand that you and your friend started is it just apparel or like how um what's the future for that company cause I know it just your guys are just starting it now yeah it's just right now it's just a barrel um it's pretty much just representation of okay this is what we are this is what the company represents um but I was here as we continue to grow probably add something like services whether it be some sort of coaching you know because his background is very deep and like flying around stuff like that and cool stuff I have some background in it from the military and I have a lot of stuff but I think um we'll definitely be the artist of stuff with that yeah that's interesting have you um I know Tim Kennedy has a like a training academy out in Texas he um his primary focus is he started his own school do you know who Tim Kennedy is yeah yeah so he started his own school like I always thought like if I had kids I would move to Texas just to send them to Tim Kennedy school cause like on top of meeting the state requirements cause there's obviously standardized test that the kids still have to take and whatever else but on top of all of that he teaches them like life skills like how to critically think and introduction to taxes and all of things about being an adult and then there's also they have like an airsoft class so they teach them like tactical weapons handling and close quarter combat and those two like CQC sort of stuff so that um I think if he I think he kind of is looking at helping kids because I think he found that most adults are somewhat helpless but I don't think that most adults are helpless I think that if there's resources out there for them kind of like how you're saying where it's like an all inclusive like it's not just for one particular section of the community it's for everybody I look forward to seeing your super secret friends you know ability to kind of spread your company out are you guys gonna have a location or this might be a little getting a little ahead of myself but are you guys going to be selling in person and if so we'll be in California and Texas we already kind of sort of selling some in person to our friends are we know more hats that we think we are first order we had to think about 15 hats sold out of my second day we're currently back order because of the whole lockdowns of like the people at the ports so kind of push things back and then these shirts I just got on I think it was four or five days ago I got these ones and there's another order and order from two separate locations because these are all local like we're not doing overseas also stuff like that like these are local as well I got an border locally I'm trying to support local businesses now if we're gonna continue to do that we don't know like it all depends on the members like how how things go moving forward but that's gonna be our only goal is to try to sleep with local businesses um because we're supporting them and they're supporting us to help us out and make the part for us um but it's been it's been a lot of learning experience especially within custom clothing you know you and your um getting Ein I was like what's an Ein so I had to learn up how to get an Ein number I learn how to get a seller's permit I was like so it's permanent kind of just like Solis stuff but I know you gotta get Protection you have a lawyer because if you were gonna come for you they're gonna wanna sue you because they don't like something or you said something I'm just like man like that we've hit a lot of speed bumps that I think that's where a lot of people don't start it when we stop we don't even get to make it to succeed um but we're just gonna keep going to like it if it takes longer but it'll just take longer we're just gonna make sure that we produce something that's good card that I would I would wanna buy like we've gotten some hats I'm like I don't want this like we're not gonna sell that we're not gonna provide this for for our people and then we'll take it back or throw them away because it's just not something that we want a lot of same with their shirts that we've had three different lawyers take care of them and we look at him like this is not the way I want it like I want this quality I want this print because it's all about prints different type of shirts you know and I was like this is this is a lot so we're constantly like looking at videos and listen to all the people that are working doing it colony started and how they're doing it and it's just like once you think that you're like all right I think we're good right now then something else comes in and then like we got shut down on Etsy because they said that we weren't creating our own stuff like I wasn't like there's a piece of paper I don't make an airplane and then sell it they said that because we bought a shirt we sent it somewhere they did it for us and we sold it that that was illegal and they don't have an actual person you can talk to there's no customers customer service right other than his email so they shut us down so right now we're gonna be going to shopify the website's almost done our partners Mario you can say his name is Mario um he's working on it right now so it probably will be done today or tomorrow he's uploading the pictures and then yeah it's been fun it's been it's been real fun yeah all of my businesses at some point in time we've sold apparel and it's just a such a pain in the ass like I want the Bella Canvas 3001C not just the 3,001 and then I want it silk screened and I want it to be screened in four screens and like you become an expert in everything by the time you're done running your own business like especially especially for just doing it like one or two people but you know I look forward to seeing your Shopify store um up and running let me know if you guys need any help with that uh I've done that I built a few Shopify stores in my time so if you guys weren't into any problems let me know but yeah no thanks for thanks for coming on do you is there any last thing you want to say or where can people reach you I think I have your social media link so I can link that but yeah mental health because I guess that's something that gets overlooked a lot and lately I think the last few years it's been really big and especially in law enforcement um obviously a lot of our brothers take their lives military to post traumatic stress I don't call it syndrome cause it's not a syndrome it's post traumatic stress um so just go get checked out I mean cause when I got out for years I wasn't I never got went to the VA I denied everything I was like I'm gonna go because there's somebody out there that's missing a limb they're missing I I was like they can have that help I was like I'm good I'm still walking I still have my arms my legs I can still see I can still hear I was like I'm good but inside you know I wasn't then my wife would tell me time and time again she said you know sleeping you're having nightmares while you're drinking you're you're up and down you know you're always looking around so yeah that's normal and that's what kind of happens when you go from military deployments to law enforcement kind of looking all your bag stuff like that she's I know but you do it all the time she said you need to go see somebody so I finally I went to go see you know psych I just talking to the site for a while right before code hit um that really really helped a lot seen talking somebody in person you know talking to them about bugs me because there's certain things that just keep coming back and I'm like I just I can't get rid of them but going in and talking to him was really helpful so in a combination of that and you know a lot of people know this but there's a handful I don't say a handful bar a couple times or I was close to pulling the trigger because I was like you know what like I'm done with this but the only thing that kept me going was my wife and my son I was like I can't do this like this is just it's a selfish act because yes my issues will be done but their issues have not just begun because now that I'm not here like who's gonna take care of them who's gonna provide for them like I'm supposed to be the provider and be here to protect them till the last day that I'm here but by mean wanting to kill myself like what's that what's that do to me you know like I'm just done so as much as people say like oh you know people are gonna kill us like yeah but you can still go get help but people are just illegal they don't want to go get help I'm like I'll go I'll go check myself in if I need to because I know that I'll still be here today the next day and the next day and the next day and I just can't see myself not being here and I know I like how's my wife doing how's my son doing well he's a teenager now he's 20 like that he has a question for me like he's going to proms and and I'm not there to help out so that's one thing I try to I guess push on a lot of veterans especially law enforcement to as well just go get help like you don't need to tell your supervisor you don't need to tell who you're working with like hey I'm gonna go to hell because extra pressure like we're gonna look at him this week because I'm gonna go get help go get help go see somebody um get better because life is short and the last thing you wanna do is end it all because one bad day cause you know some people are just one bad day for my lasting and I want to get that phone call because I've been on that side where I've talked to people from the military that I served with my rack and I'm okay you know what's going on like I'm just my wife is divorcing me like my kids and I was like really supposed to be okay and then next week I get the phone call okay social search committed suicide sons called I should have gone I should have flew out there like what could I have done these are getting that deal you know like what could I ask what else could I have done so I'm an open book anybody can you know call me text me social media whatever like I'll tell you how it is like I'm not gonna sugarcoat it not looking for department anymore I'm gonna tell you how it is I can't really I can't really stay quiet no more and so I have the freedom you know to actually express myself or not fear of I hear somebody coming after me because I'm actually telling the truth and tell people to take care of themselves and make sure that your insides is good you know no thank you for saying that I I'm a huge advocate for therapy I even wrote a book on veterans well being and gave it away for free cause I was just like I wanna make sure that everybody is prepared I think that really does hit home for me a little bit I remember the first time I rolled up to secure a scene for someone who had taken their life and I was just like what would have what would have been like if they were just if they just had somebody that they knew that they could call so no that's that's great advice I'm actually gonna leave a couple links at the end of this video um Cohen's Veteran Network is a great resource for not just veterans but for anybody who's struggling with mental health there's a couple of links and resources that I have for non profit so if they don't have a disability rating and can't get healthcare or um help through the VA which they should be able to or if they don't have their own healthcare um I'll leave some links to some nonprofits that can help them out same thing with the given hour is another one I even went through them myself um they they will set you up with a mental health provider for free virtually or in person whatever your preference is so yeah thanks again for being here uh shout out to the family for holding it down while I talk to you for over an hour tell your wife I said hi I'm gonna hit her up on social media because I know she could paint like I'm gonna need one of those paintings she's got a few yeah that's the first thing that I saw I'm an art collector and I saw that and I was like very Texas but very nice I was like okay I'm gonna hit her up so awesome man thank you so much and yeah I'll leave links for all your stuff in the description so hey salute thank you for having me appreciate you appreciate what you're doing and if anybody has any questions anything reach out on my open book everything's good one life awesome man thanks hey guys I wanted to interrupt this video real quick and remind you that my free guide Wellness Wisdom and Warfare a Veteran's Guide for Mastering Life is now available for download using the link in the description or if you go to my website jesseberga com free guide or it's under the podcast tab you can download it for absolutely free it's over 60 pages of just tips and tricks and things to help my veterans out there master their health master their fitness master their mental and spiritual health just things that I've Learned through my journey as just a veteran and that I've Learned as an educator and as a professional in multiple fields as an entrepreneur I put all these things in one place and I put it together for absolutely free so again link is in the description or if you head to my website jessevarga com you can download it for absolutely free