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The Protectors® Podcast
Welcome to The Protectors® Podcast, where the valor meets the storyteller. Hosted by Jason Piccolo, a seasoned veteran and retired special agent, this series is a must-listen for anyone intrigued by the courage and tales of those who pledge to protect us. Beyond the front-line stories of bravery and dedication, this podcast goes a step further, weaving in the perspectives of those who bolster and narrate the protector's journey—featuring a remarkable lineup including New York Times Best Sellers and acclaimed Hollywood actors.
The Protectors® Podcast offers a diverse array of voices, from those who wear the uniform to the authors and entertainers who amplify their stories. It's a unique blend that highlights not only the raw realities faced by our protectors but also how their sacrifices inspire the narratives we cherish in literature and film. Each episode is a testament to the interconnected worlds of service and support, bringing listeners an unmatched depth of insight.
Dr. Jason Piccolo is a retired federal agent, former U.S. Army Infantry Captain (Iraq 2006), and author.
Past Guests Include:- Sean Patrick Flanery - Andrews & Wilson- Mark Greaney- Stephen Hunter- Remi Adeleke - Florent Groberg - Clint Emerson - Travis Mills
The Protectors® Podcast
510 | David Blalock | Survival Skills, Community Relief, and Disaster Response | Hurricane Helene
In this episode of The Protectors® Podcast, David Blalock shares his experience with boots-on-the-ground experience discussing Hurricane Helene:
1. Importance of basic survival skills, especially land navigation without technology
2. Lessons from Western North Carolina and the value of educators like Kevin Estela
3. Community collaboration, featuring contributions from Tulsi Gabbard and her sister Vrindavan
4. Support for local law enforcement and hurricane relief in areas like Scotland County
5. Challenges faced by smaller law enforcement agencies
6. Potential for mobilizing federal employees in disaster relief
7. The impact of grassroots efforts and community-driven responses in crises
8. Celebrating protectors like the TOA Group who serve communities nationwide
The episode emphasizes the power of preparedness, community action, and the need for more efficient disaster response systems.
Make sure to check out Jason on IG @drjasonpiccolo
Hey, welcome to the protectors podcast. Great guests on today David Blaylock. He is out in North Carolina. He knows a deal. He's on the street, he's in the wind. You're all over the place, David, we're talking and you've got a hell of a background man. I'm glad to have you on the show.
Speaker 2:I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Now, this is an interesting show because we were introduced through our mutual friend, kevin Estella. Yeah, and there's a lot going on in North Carolina now, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah, Kevin, great guy. I'll even give you know I want to beat Kevin's drum for just a minute. He, when we were determining and I'm sure we'll get into how we went up there and how we came to go up there but when we asked Kevin hey, can you, can you go up there with us without hesitation, yes, and he made a couple of calls and was able to get some logistics hammered out through all of his connections Just such a solid dude and glad to work with him and he's part of our team now. But, yeah, great guy. So, yeah, he introduced me to your podcast and you and was singing your praises and vouched for you, so I couldn't wait to be on. So thanks, yeah.
Speaker 1:I got to sing him a ton of praises because there's so much training I want to do that's outside of our spectrum, right, like I need to learn how to hunt, I need to learn how to do, like you know, basic, basic survival stuff. I mean, yeah, you know, you learn some stuff in the military and here and there, but there's so much I need to learn and Kevin's going to be the guy to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's just such a good teacher and and you know, you know, coming from that space too it's like some guys know the material but they can't teach it Right. And Kevin's just such a good communicator he can literally. I don't care what level the student's at, he can they get a lot out of it. He's just a good teacher.
Speaker 1:You and I both know man. You could have every acronym, you could work for every acronym, you could be the most tactical operator in the world. But when it comes to actually teaching, it's a lot different. Teaching and coaching is a lot different than just being able to operate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and a lot of guys will tell you that up front and some won't, and I'm sure you see it out there. It's a lot of it going on out there. But yeah, Kevin's not that guy and we aren't either. So I want to learn some land nav from him because you know, I'm in proximity of it and through one of the jobs I had, but I never had to do it. If I needed land nav as a law enforcement guy, I was really screwed.
Speaker 1:And now you know what, though? One thing I'm learning is that you can't rely on your phone.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:You can't rely on GPS. Yeah, you got to really rely on a rudimentary the fundamentals of land map. Thank God, you know when I went through the military and you know here's the deal I was enlisted so I knew how to read a map, but I eventually became an officer so I had no idea where I was going. I'd always get lost. It's just. It's just something that happens, but you really do need lane nav and you know the deal.
Speaker 2:I mean murphy's law comms are going to go down, everything's going to go down, and you need those basic skills. So I'm looking forward to kevin. I'm like you. It's like I want to get exposure to, to the things that he does. Just because you know, I feel like I've been around that other stuff for 30 years and, um, he brings such a refreshing point of view and a different topics and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:So I'm looking forward to take more from kevin for sure. Well, you know one thing if you look at the hurricane of devastation and everything is going on north carolina, tennessee, everywhere that the hurricane hit, yeah, they are trying, people are trying to get from point A to point B to help others out. And you don't have, maybe you don't have that communication infrastructure, maybe your iPhone won't be able to get cell service, maybe you won't be able to use a GPS and maybe your GPS will pull you in the wrong direction. But if you understand how to get to point A to point B, it's really does come down to survival. Now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean point B. It really does come down to survival now. Yeah, I mean, yeah, we were and I'm sure we'll talk about it, but we just got back from Western North Carolina and all the cell towers were gone, so there was essentially no cell communication at all. I mean we took some Starlinks in there and that sort of thing. I'm sure you're tracking all that, but yeah, that's to your point.
Speaker 1:I might be tracking it, but let's get into that, like let's. I really want to understand the complete scenario here. We hear Starlings, we hear FEMA roadblocks, we hear this, we hear that, but I want to talk to you because you were on the ground. So how did you get involved? Where did you go? What did you do?
Speaker 2:sure we can touch on it. But I was after the law enforcement. I was working at a facility that trained predominantly military, and so a student came through one week and it happened to be Tulsi Gabbard and she was with. You know, she's a Lieutenant Colonel in the reserve currently. So she came through with third group special operations group. She was a student, and so the gist of it is I was super impressed with her. She just she crushed everything. She's a professional, she had no ego and she was just an amazing student, and so, anyway, I was a fan of hers before that, but I was really impressed after that.
Speaker 2:So long story short, fast forward to Uvalde. The mass shooting happened, the school shooting happened, and so I called her. I was so passionate about it and we still are, and I'm sure we'll talk about what we're doing with TOA group Um, but I was so passionate about it I wanted to do something. Uh, the sheriff's department and I said, let me, what can I do to help? But what I really want to do is is go to all the schools in Scotland County, and so I reached out to the sheriff's department, I went with them and start. We just went through the schools and looked at where the gaps are and that sort of thing, and I knew from having my experience I knew that there were gaps. I just didn't I wanted to get eyes on.
Speaker 2:So, long story short, called Tulsi and said, hey, how can you help? And, to her credit, as busy as she is, she picked up on like the second ring and she could have easily blown me off because as busy as she is and that sort of thing. But she said, well, look, let me, let me loop somebody in on this call. Let me loop in my sister. My sister used to be a federal marshal and she's as passionate as I am about it. So she, about 10 minutes later she called me back, pulled her sister in on the call and her sisters we all call her V, her name's Vrindavan, but we just call her V and so we started a company. We were doing some executive protection but we started a company that's concentrating on that, on the school and law enforcement and the problems that local. So Tulsi wanted to get up to the mountains and donate materials and, like, get in there and, you know, roll her sleeves up. One thing about that woman is that she's, she wants to get in there and do actually good work. She is not about photo ops, which I respect about her, she's like let's just get in there and really help people.
Speaker 2:So here in Southern Pines, back to Kevin, there's a place called War Dogs which is two blocks from where I'm sitting right now. But they're a surplus store and so they literally the guy, his name's Pete, he runs it, he shut down the place. We loaded up a trailer we must protect Tulsi's nonprofit basically provided all these materials and I'll have to give a shout out to Lowe's Hardware, pete. We were already en route to the mountains, but Pete takes a big trailer and goes to Lowe's and we just fill it up with all kinds of water materials.
Speaker 2:We didn't know. We didn't know what they needed because, like we were talking about earlier, the comms are down. You know. You know you need the basic things like water and food, but that's kind of what everybody's bringing. So we really wanted specifics on what we need and what we were hearing was a lot of fuel. So Pete closes his store. This is just local good people in the community. Man, he closed his store and drove a trailer, volunteered. He said no, I'll go right now. So I even have connections there. So this is we were approaching, getting those signals. It really helped that how, just how willing he was to help. He said I got it, I'll take care of all that. So he goes and loads it up and he's en route.
Speaker 1:So that's and that's a long way of saying how I got involved with it, but I actually, well, this is like right after the hurricane too, this isn't like you know, a week later, this is like, hey, you know what, we're, we're gonna get into this, we're gonna and that's the thing is like, I've noticed you see a lot of immediate action. You see a lot of decision making. Now, anybody who has that background in military, leo, emergency response and everything we all know it's critical to make a decision and and do something. Immediate action. You need to get in there, you need to get done. Right, we're talking people have a very limited space of survival, yeah, and they need the help.
Speaker 2:So you guys jump right in it and you're like hey, you know what, let's do it yeah, and you know, we just so we drove up there and, um, you know, this is a great thing, number one. I used to live there. So what a lot of people are seeing on the news, whether it's Weather Channel, fox, whatever you're seeing a lot of Swannanoa, which is a little area on Highway 70 between Black Mountain and Asheville, and that's where I lived. Everybody you know when you're from that little area, people just say where are you from? And you just say east of Asheville. Right, it's actually even a decal on my coffee cup here because nobody knows where Swananoe is. But now, unfortunately, it's on the map because they've got, they got devastated.
Speaker 2:So you know, I reached out to a lot of people that I know that still live there, that have businesses, and couldn't get up with them. You know they had very intermittent signal at best, so it wasn't like we were able to really communicate with them, but we just literally got in a car and started driving up there. So we made it to Polk I'm sorry, rutherford County and there's a huge distribution center there. So that's where we rendezvoused with Pete. Finally he caught up with us. Center there. So that's where we rendezvoused with Pete. Finally he caught up with us. We took the trailer and it's just a huge. They were using it as like an emergency operation center, but it's just a huge area there and it was just trucks, just lined up, trucks, just like ours, just donating goods, and it was just a it was coordinated chaos of people just unloading trailers and helping and you name it. They were getting it.
Speaker 2:So we started there and then the local sheriff there and Rutherford County and his guys, man, you know, one thing about cops is, you know and I think this is universal is that he said you know I have asked him. I said how are your guys doing? Is that? He said you know? I asked him. I said how are your guys doing? Like, how are their houses doing? Because you know we're going to go.
Speaker 2:I've worked hurricanes before because I'm closer to the eastern part of North Carolina, so I'm no stranger to hurricanes. But you have to make guys go home, and so that's what he said he had to do. He said the biggest problem I have is just making the guys go home and get some rest, and so fortunately by then, you know, there was a little bit of relief and other agencies were coming in and sort of um, helping carry that burden so his own guys could go home and rest. But the sheriff was exhausted but such a great attitude and he gave us some help and he was like I love what you're doing and he actually escorted us up to Chimney Rock and Chimney Rock I'm sure everybody in the nation has probably seen the video of the guy that's out there, I think the morning after and he's essentially saying it's just gone. And you know, you always take with a grain of salt what you see on the Internet and I'm like I wonder is it that bad?
Speaker 2:And so, sure enough it was, because we went up to Chimney Rock. It took us a little while to get there. Lots of trees have been removed, but you just saw the damage. Kevin and I kevin got a lot of um, a lot of footage from it. But, like he said, and I agree with him, the pictures that you see just don't do it justice how that place, um, it's just devastated. But the people were just, you know, no one had a bad attitude, no one was. You know, oh, woe is me. It was just rolling their sleeves up and getting to work. And that's really what I miss about that. Western part of the state is such a close knit group of people already that they welcomed us in and and just the greatest attitudes, man, it was, it was something. And we got some real, real good footage of lots of materials had already arrived there. But Chimney Rock really got devastated and Lake Lure area. I don't know if you've seen any footage, but, like I say, the pictures don't do it justice.
Speaker 1:When you're talking about like the massive land and you know we're talking about land nav and you people think land nav, hey, you're gonna go a couple miles into the woods but this is a massive area. These are like, these are rural areas. These aren't like the cities. You know you have to get out of your bubble when you're thinking a city and like you know what, hey, I know what, I know how to get to the target. No, we're talking about you know you're 30, 40, maybe even a hundred miles into the woods where there's no access to get there, except for one road that may be washed out. And one thing I've been noticing like pack mules, pack mules and helos.
Speaker 2:I saw that Right, yeah, and I'm seeing all the good work that you know so many people are doing these private organizations, and you know, yeah, but even where I lived in Black Mountain there's if you continue up our driveway it continues up that mountain and there are people that live up there that rarely come down and that's just how they live.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, to your point. That's, you talk about land nav and you know, I know wildlife was there when we were there and they were sort of tasked with the gruesome task of scanning the lake, but then they were going door to door and they were using ATVs, mules and that sort of thing to get to these little houses that are on the side of these mountains that you probably can't even see from the road. So you almost have to know, somebody has to almost lead you where they are, because you're not going to look at it, you're not even going to look at it from a helicopter and see it. So it's just, the work is still ongoing and will be for a long time just to find people. But yeah, we didn't have any comms. We had, obviously the law enforcement was with us and thank God they were, because we could at least communicate through them and know where we needed to go, so that was a benefit that we had.
Speaker 1:You know, one of my best friends brought up a great point and they had. They showed me a post of one of their friends on Facebook and they're like look, this is going to go on way beyond. It's going to be out of the media in about a week or two. You know that's the way it is. But the collective conscious needs to be into this thing and they brought up a good point of having families almost not like foster, but like sponsor another family that keeps track of them, that helps them directly. I mean, think about it this way got 320 million people in the us. Yeah, you know, we got plenty of people that could help out and plenty of people that will help out.
Speaker 1:They just don't know how to do it yeah and bringing up the idea of, like you, you have all of these families who have pretty much lost everything. Think about it. So if you find someone who you know has a means, opportunity, intent, capability or whatever to help another family, I think it help out with simple things is hey, you need to go to point A to get your driver's license, you know you need to get. Hey, you know what, you may have lost your birth certificate, you may have lost this and that and everything. Or hey, you know what. They might reach out and say hey, you know what, we really need this. You know we need winter clothes, we need this, we need that.
Speaker 1:And you have someone directly sponsoring another family. I thought, you know, that's a really damn good idea because you get all of this materials and everything in there, but it doesn't always get distributed to everybody that needs it, right. So, having that individual thing? And then to me, on a personal note, I have the protectors foundation yeah and our goal was to provide equipment and support to small, small police departments.
Speaker 1:And I'm thinking to myself, okay, what if we sponsored a police department who may have been devastated? Yeah, like today, I went and I had a private company reach out to me and they said, hey, we have all this equipment, it's brand new, because they have a security company and we would like to donate it. I'm like, okay, cool, so I have all these level 3A vests, I have holsters, I have this and that. So if we find, like a police department to sponsor, you know stuff like that, where it's individual and it's it's direct, so your money doesn't get lost, right, yeah? And and you know what, on on top of that, if you don't want to do the individual sponsorship, you find companies, you find groups, you find vetted groups that are actually going to be doing it, and then you help out and you don't care.
Speaker 1:But I'm sure we could find millions of people that would help out if they had like the right, the right thing. And it's just trying to come up with the logistics, because this has to stay in the public conscious. Yeah, I mean, and that's I could see Tulsi getting into this because of the Hawaii aspect of it. I mean, looks, hawaii was in and out of the news in two weeks. The only people that keep it there are the people who are affected by it.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, in fact, I think you know I've heard her say more than one time over the last week you know this is Maui, but even worse, and so it wasn't a fire, it was the same devastation. But yeah, it's like, you know, she had a lot of conversations with people. You know she, she had a lot of conversations with people and and it was she more than anybody is aware of, just to your point. It's like it will, people will move on to something else. You know it's a two week cycle. I would even argue sometimes it's shorter than the crazy world we live in now. It could be two days, but yeah, it's to your point. It's like it's no, no, no, we want, we want to come back and, in fact, one here, the specifics, just like you were saying. It's like tell us exactly what you need, what are the things that you aren't getting, that people are just mass, and I'm glad they are. It's a good problem that people are just mass donating, but what are the things that you're not getting? Because I'm three hours from there, really, from where I'm sitting at right now.
Speaker 2:We plan to go back. I know that her foundation is continuing. In fact, her foundation, I'm sure it's probably over this by now, but I checked on it this morning. She's raised over $300,000 and she will of anybody. And this is why I'm just such a fan of her, because I know that that money will literally go to the people and where they need it and she's going to come back. She told him all that and I know that we're going to go back because Kevin and I are based here in North Carolina and we have another guy that works with us on the company. That's retired military and you know he was already out of town but he would have gone with us. But he's already saying hey, let me know, I'll go with you. We got chainsaws.
Speaker 2:But it's just such a tight-knit community up there, jason, that's what I was so impressed with. I knew it because I lived there. My father, I remember in 1993, whenever we moved in there number one, it's a law enforcement community, but all the wives, the ladies, auxiliary from the highway patrol, but even neighbors, were bringing us food and that sort of thing. And I remember thinking, man, there's real sense of community in this part of the state and, and man, it was really. I really was reminded of that when we got up there, cause I mean, it's like I say you know, you hear the cliche, it's like a war zone. It really was like a war zone, but, man, there wasn't a bad attitude in the place, um you know, you bring the war zone thing up.
Speaker 1:So I was, uh, I was training at camp shelby in summer 2005 for katrina. Yeah, and I remember telling people I'm like what was it like after the hurricane came? Yeah, and I always tell people it was like the end of predator right right you know what? All the trees are not gone, everything's not down.
Speaker 1:I'm like that was katrina for me yeah and I wish back then I had like cell phones and cameras to take pictures, because now, now you can see what's going on and you know, one thing I like about all this right now is the grassroots approach. So you have your group out there, you have a lot of other groups going out there, you have people who have had the background, who now have another mission, and you know, one thing I'm not doing is I'm not faulting them. You know, a lot of times, believe me, I give this speech all day long about. You know, you have the influencers and you have the inspirers, and influencers are all about influencing things for themselves, and I've seen a lot of people stepping up who are in that space and saying, hey, you know what we got to do this. So I'm seeing a lot of positivity. I'm seeing a lot of people are doing it not for themselves.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, we see it, you're in the same space and you, we all know those folks. We, we did see some real patriots up there, a lot of you know. The news is what.
Speaker 2:What I'm hearing is is you know, I really watched the news more to this morning than I have in the since this all started. But you know lots of rumors and you know the new word these days is misinformation. But there are. But you know, I really saw mostly private um helicopters and that sort of thing. But when we got in the chimney right we did see um some military folks there. I don't know if it was civil, I don't know what they were, but we can get a chance to talk to them.
Speaker 2:But outside of that man, it's just regular people donating helicopters and from all over the country. So I didn't really see a lot of outside help other than a lot of local people. And when I say local, there was people from all the way from Cary, north Carolina. There were people from the coast of North Carolina there with law enforcement helping, but it was really inspiring to see. But there were a lot of those people. When you're talking about influencers and that sort of thing. I would hear that they were there, but they weren't. At Chimney Rock. There's so much devastation there.
Speaker 1:Believe me, when it comes to self-glorification, there's plenty of disaster to go around. I'm seeing a lot of people setting up to go next week, the week after, which is great. It's going to have to be a continuous process. Listen, you could donate pallets of water, but it's a continuous thing. You know when power's out, when lines are out and when supply routes are gone. It's got to be continuous.
Speaker 1:And some people just can't leave. You know one thing I had a request come through the foundation which, man, I would love. I've reached out here and there and everywhere. But they're like, look, we got a police department hit me up. They're like, look, we, we have all these shut-ins. Yeah, we have seniors. I can't leave. We have seniors that need oxygen. We have this, we have that. Yeah. And they're like, can you help us get a thousand mres? And I'm like, oh man, I wish. I'm trying to price it, I'm trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1:I was ready to, to, to facilitate it, but, man, I mean trying to find that amount and then making sure it gets there and the supply routes yeah, there's a lot of logistics that are going to go around this and it's going to have to continue it's the logistics of it that I think are the nightmare of it.
Speaker 2:There's certainly people that are willing to give and um. But let's just up just to your point earlier. It's just getting from point a to point b. It's like these roads upure there was a windy road, that there were trees down. They fortunately cut them but you just can't get up there Once you get to Chimney Rock. What most people see on the news beyond that is the road is completely gone. So the only way to get to it would be ATV or side by side or even by mule or just walk. So there's thousands of people beyond that point. That who knows, who knows? You know it's, but it's like you said earlier. It's like it looks like a lot, but they will use it. It will go a lot quicker.
Speaker 1:And think about jobs. Yeah, Think about there it's. There's more. There's way more than this than basic survival.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I have a friend that I reached out to her. I've known her since I lived there and she owns a salon there in town and you know her husband's sick and she already had enough on her shoulders and now that salon was literally it was right in. What most people see on the news is Biltmore Village, which is right at the entry to Biltmore Estate. That's prone to flooding, but it doesn't get flooded like this one, and so that business is completely gone. So all of her staff, it's just, it's just devastated. I don't think that you can rebuild it.
Speaker 2:Last time it flooded, it took them and it wasn't anywhere near this. It took them at least three and a half months before they could even get in there to start working again. So, yeah, it's a lot of people that are just out of. Not only is the day to day life hard, but it's like think about the stress of I'm dealing with this but also what am I going to do? My entire life is working life or professional life is devastated. So I just can't imagine what they're going through.
Speaker 1:So what do you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know, just keep like you said. Just keep make sure that you know it's. This is why I'm so proud to be associated with her organization. We must protect this, because I know that when she tells somebody she's coming back, that's not just hot air. I mean, she's going to come. And in fact, we already talked to her sister, talked to us and updating us on all the money that they're raising, and let's spend this effectively on exactly what they need. Start reaching out to these law enforcement and these organizations that actually have boots on the ground there to tell us exactly what it is you need, and and we're going to be making another trip very soon um, it's just, it's hard to even put into words, jason, what you see. It's almost like. Where do you begin? I don't know. Yeah, I don't even know where to start, and well, that's true.
Speaker 1:You know, one thing you can start is like organizations. Then Then listen, if you go to the IRS website and you know, and ever since I started the nonprofit, I kind of learned okay, you know, why am I starting a nonprofit? Well, I'm starting a nonprofit because I know 110%, because I always put my own money is going to the, going to the cause, to the cause. But if you go to the IRS website and you search for certain organizations and, believe me, I've watched a lot of them and you can see how much they're pulling in for quote-unquote operating costs and quote-unquote pay, and you have 70 or 80% of what they're bringing in is going to their own pay and their own operating costs, which is basically their pay. Right, that's the big thing. You have to find organizations and that's one thing about these grassroots ones. It's like, look, if these people are going into these, we have 10, 20 people going in and they're going to, they're going to help, right, and they're raising money. You know that money's going in, it's not going in their pockets.
Speaker 2:Right of money's going in. It's not going in their pockets, right, yeah, and that's that's why I just you know, I completely you know, whenever she started this thing and her sister her sister is essentially I would say there's really no other way she's my boss, so, um, but whenever it's something to do with them, I just I know that I know where her heart is, tulsi's, I know where her sisters is, and if they say this is something that we're going to do, I'm all on board and they're without any skepticism at all, because, like you, I have a lot of skepticism on these charities, really is it the retired leo in years, I think?
Speaker 2:it must be, it must be, um, but this one is like I see it firsthand, we go there and, and just the people. And I will say this you is like I see it firsthand, we go there, and just the people. And I will say this you know there's, you see it on the news, but there were a lot of people saying, you know, thank God, somebody's helping us up here because the government's not.
Speaker 1:And I don't. I don't really do politics that for the longest time, but I tell you what? As someone who spent well think about it this way Active duty, national Guard and plus 23 years as a federal agent, federal officer, federal operator for 23 years, I understand government. Believe me, I understand government.
Speaker 1:I've been in this. I've been in DC for 12 years now. Yeah, I don't even know. But you know one of the agencies I worked for and this was drives me nuts, man, I should write the tell-all book. Yeah, actually I did write that one before. Yeah, hey, this is a new one. A new one, but part two. You know, the end of the fiscal year is on september, right, and they were coming around going hey, I got ten thousand dollars to spend. What do you guys want to buy? And I'm thinking to myself give it back.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Give it back. Yeah, there is so much fraud, waste and abuse in the government and I'm thinking the government is not here, to help you because there are too many self-serving people in the government.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, yeah, effectively. Listen to the boots on the ground people, the agents, the GS5 through 13, even 14s. They want to get things done and hey, you know what? There are some 15s out there and a spattering of SESs, but they want to get things done and then they hit that bureaucratic hurdle. It's always paperwork man. You get these impact cards. Yeah, you can spend $3,500.
Speaker 1:But when you're talking about massive, full-scale, let's go deploy some resources. I said this the other day there's 2.9 million federal employees, mas amenos more or less. I guarantee you right now, a million of them would be like how can I help? How can I help, even if it's giving a dollar? Can I help? Yeah, how can I help, even if it's giving a dollar? Right, listen, you have the combined federal campaign and the federal government. Yeah, and that has to be all vetted. And you believe me, in order to get onto this for combined federal campaign, you have to pay to get on it, because I looked at getting my foundation right. So you're not going to get immediate resources.
Speaker 1:And a lot of these small time organizations let's say, tulsi's is on there or someone else's and they're not on a CFC. You can't just automatically say, hey, you know what. I want to put $100 towards this organization through my federal account. Think about it this way If there was a way for the federal government to say, when you have an emergency like this, every week you're getting a pay, you could take out $5 of your pay, a dollar of your pay, and put it towards this specific emergency, to these specific organizations that you deem worthy. Think about how many that's 2.9 million federal employees. Think about how much money you could raise just by doing that Right. And when people say, oh, it's a cup of coffee, well, really it is, but it's coming directly from the federal government cutting a check to this organization and boom.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know why it works Because, listen, the government doesn't have to vet it. You are choosing to send that money there. Will it work? I don't know, man, but I'd like to think there's more that the government can do as individuals, and rather the bureaucratic mess that it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just like I say. My humble opinion is it is. Yeah, it's just, it's just like I say. You know, my humble opinion is it's just, it's horribly inefficient. You know, it's like you look at these companies that you know streamline the wolves essentially start doing something the government started and they just make it so much more efficient because, at the end of the day, they're, they're, they're, they're a business.
Speaker 1:My last agency I was in, I was lucky. I became a Lean Six Sigma dude. That's like process improvement and I streamline so much bullshit Right and it's so easy to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Here's the other thing, too, is we can invade a country. I can't believe I'm actually getting political fellowship. You know this is a new improved protectors podcast getting political leadership. But hey, you know this is a new improved protectors podcast. But listen, if we could take over another country in a week, you're telling me the military industrial complex that we have at this present point who's had 24 years worth of experience in this can't go in and mobilize and completely revamp that whole area. Listen, I've lived on a FOB for a year. You could. You could build infrastructure in a very limited amount of time with the proper resources.
Speaker 2:Right, proper people and resources. It'll get, it'll get done for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, we're just two guys, so we'll try. Hey, you know we're podcasting.
Speaker 2:That's what we do. Yeah, we're. We know people, yeah we're podcasting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, but yeah, it's a problem up there, but there is a healthy, you know, I wouldn't say distrust, but there is a healthy amount of questioning about the federal government right now up there from those people in the mountains.
Speaker 2:And you know we were in Georgia too and so, but we were specifically we concentrated on New York because I mean North Carolina, western North Carolina, because it's the most devastated.
Speaker 2:But you know there are there's already in that area a very healthy distrust of the government already.
Speaker 2:So when they feel like they're you know where they're looking around, like where is the where's the government help, and like I say, I'm not, I don't really typically get political, but when you, when you're literally standing there talking to somebody and they're they're looking around like where's where's the help, because they watch the news and they see this money going to these other countries and it's just not, it's not arriving where they need it, and so they were so thankful about us and they were just like, yeah, because the government's not going to do it apparently, and they really feel like they're not coming at all, they really feel abandoned.
Speaker 2:And that's just not me repeating something I saw on the news. I was listening to them face to face and it's hard when they're standing in their what used to be their yard are the remnants of their house. It's devastated and they're like thank you, guys, because nobody else is looking out for us. So there's really that feeling up there of desperation, of thank God it's in to your point earlier if it's going to keep coming back, because this is going to run out and I hope that we don't run on to the next thing in two weeks, that new headline, or even two days.
Speaker 2:David here's the deal, man. It's like this is.
Speaker 1:I think this is different because, for one, yeah, we people understand the true, the true nature of the beast. Yeah, they do. They understand the government, they understand that the help isn't coming right. But I think there are so many people that have some sort of connection to the south, whether that's the North Carolina, south Carolina, tennessee, anywhere affected. Everybody has some sort of connection. I don't know what it is. I think all of us have some sort of connection there and it's keeping it in a collective post. That is what I love about social media, because, listen, people watch the news, but if you really look at the metrics of how many people actually watch the news, you get four or five million views here and there, and then it's just a soundbite.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But I think if you keep this in a collective and you keep it at the hey, you know what? Hey, what are you doing over there? What are you doing over there? And you keep the social media flowing, yeah, listen, how many of us have the backgrounds that have had some sort of background in giving back or helping out there? How many people I love using this word protectors, right, and you know one thing I love about protectors you never have to have had to put on a uniform.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:As long as you want to help out your fellow human, you have, or even animals, help me, and we're all protectors. But you know what, as long as you want to help out and you want to give back, then you are a protector, if you are now self-serving and all this other bullshit, then you are a protector.
Speaker 2:You know, in fact that's, and we haven't talked about it, but we, the company that um, her sister, started, vrindavan, who um is, is called toa group, but it's, and so toa, you know, they're um, hawaiian, but they're of Polynesian descent. So in Hawaiian or in Samoan, toa is warrior, but our motto is to protect and serve the village. And you know, kevin is part of our team. I'm glad he's part of the team, but it's to your point, it's like he wasn't law enforcement or military, but everything that he brings to the table is absolutely to protect a fellow man. And so, and all the things that he does, all the, all the um information that he brings, all the subject matter experts that he is on all these things, well, there's, there's part of it, so it doesn't.
Speaker 2:Our organization is pretty diverse and so people like Kevin you know he wasn't long and he's a good shooter, he can hang with anybody on the range, but he doesn't have that formal training, but he's of the same mindset to protect and serve the village. And that's our motto and that's what we're doing. And, if you know, he really dug in there and started working and in fact, one of the law enforcement guys up there was like talking about just like you and I were talking about earlier. It's like, hey, you know, I know this area because I'm from here, but other than that, these other guys that are showing up, they don't know their way around and there's no comms. So Kevin will stand there beside me. I'm like, well, here's your guy and they had a long conversation and but he's an asset, right, and so that's what we try to do.
Speaker 2:Is we got, we're made up of law enforcement Van, and so that's what we try to do, is we're made up of law enforcement. Vrindavan was a federal former I mean former US deputy marshal. She's kicked a lot of doors in in DC and New York City and if I was going to go on a drug raid tomorrow, I want to go with her, right. And so we have another guy who was retired with Special Missions Unit or Delta, as most people know, and then Kevin, who was a teacher and all the other things that he brings to the table. So we're very diverse but ultimately, at the end of the day, is to protect and serve the village If that means making somebody more survivable, if something, unfortunately, like we're witnessing up in the western part of North Carolina. Well, kevin can get right in there and walk, uh and walk people through how to survive until help does get there, where, honestly, full disclosure I would be lost because I just didn't grow up that way. I mean.
Speaker 2:I grew up hunting a little bit grew up. I'm born and raised in the South Um, but I always had a radio, a walkie talkie, so if I was out in the woods on a foot chase or something, I can just all right, just walk me out. But yeah, we're that's like you said earlier is to protect and protectors, and that's like that's what we like to call ourselves, and so much so that we've that's our motto is to protect and serve the village. So I agree with you a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:It's going to. It's going to keep going on. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't you can't just take the uniform off and change who you are. You know and I've said this, jason, people might not believe me, you can probably relate, and I'm sure a lot of police officers can and military it's like. You know, I truly didn't even know what I made. For like two years when I was a cop. I didn't even know what I made. Money wise, I wasn't the most responsible person financially anyway, so I'll preface it with that. But I was so happy to be in the job I heard a guy tell me years ago I went to a class and he said you have a front row seat to the craziest show, best show on earth. And I was like man, he nailed it because I didn't care what I made, I was just happy to be out there doing it. And that's a calling Military. The military guys are the same way, and women it's like V when she was a Marshall, she didn't. She certainly didn't get into it for the money. But when you get out of that, that doesn't.
Speaker 1:you can't just take that uniform off. You need a mission man, you need a mission.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Even if it's like giving back a little bit here and there. Yeah, we giving back a little bit here and there. We're not talking cash, we're talking about just time and effort. I tell you that's so funny because when I was retiring I was looking at like I was a GS7 board patrol agent and I was like whoa in San Diego. I was like, oh man, wow, yeah, you were in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're doing a lot of helping local law enforcement that doesn't get the funding that these bigger agencies do. And you know I enjoyed working where I was working. I was, you know, at a pretty large organization that trained mostly military. But you know, it's look at the news man it's like the people that are going to the active shooter are not typically the people that come through those organizations. It's like the local officer, it's the um and I used to tell guys this with it that would always want to go be a detective or they wanted to get into some other.
Speaker 2:I'm like, look, remember timothy mcigh. You know I actually met the trooper that pulled him over. It was just a trooper that saw a tag violation and pulled him over. It's those frontline police officers. The Eric Rudolph, if you remember the, the abortion clinic bomber. Yeah, he was caught by, as I recall and I could be wrong, but I think it was. He was caught by a rookie police officer, as I recall, and I could be wrong, but I think he was caught by a rookie police officer. He was dumpster diving. It was just a rookie police officer out there on the front line doing what they do.
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm going to get in trouble for this because I was one, but you know, I talked to one of my local buddies and we have that acronym. It's a BAF Bullshit Ass.
Speaker 2:Fed, I mean because seriously.
Speaker 1:I mean, think about you know, that is the biggest reason I started the Protectors Foundation too. It's like, listen, you know, you got people making 13, 14, 20 bucks an hour maybe, yeah, and they're cops, and they got to get their own equipment and training Right. And their training, quote, unquote training consists of qualifying once a year. Listen, I just came off of working a six month as a contracted FI for a department. Yeah, and I've seen what people look like when all they've had is just academy training. Yeah, everybody wants, and the people that are buying the training are going to the training and stuff. They're the ones that want to be trained. They're the ones that can afford it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There are so many. And just because you have a badge doesn't mean you can shoot. Worth of shit.
Speaker 2:That's right and you know it's funny and I'll even rip. I'll rip my military guys a little bit on this one. Um, just because they have, just because they're military, doesn't mean they can't either, especially with pistol. But to your point, law enforcement it's. It's just I don't know how much training I paid for myself as a cop because I knew my life, my very, very life, depends on this.
Speaker 2:I was a pretty aggressive officer. I was very you know the better word is probably proactive, but I was out there beating the bushes and looking for criminals. That's what I wanted to do. And you know it's every department. There were guys that didn't like that. There were these retired on duty guys that didn't like it. So a lot of times and Jason, I think a lot of guys can relate to this I knew that I was by myself, because, number one, you didn't have a lot of people.
Speaker 2:But number two, it's like ah, he's, you know, david's out there stopping another car or looking for something, and I'm like I went out and got the training and I paid for it myself because of the department. A lot of times the departments just can't afford it. So you're paying out of pocket to go to a lot of these classes. So, um, and you know, I'm lucky too, though, but I'm in such close proximity to Fort Bragg. There's so many military guys guys, real shooters that really understand how to train you correctly, so I was fortunate, but some of these departments don't have that, so, um, yeah, that's that's my next goal is.
Speaker 1:So I did the FI thing for for six months so I can go out there and actually teach. Yeah, I was an instructor before, but now I wanted to learn. I wanted to see what the baseline was. Yeah, so now what I'll do is I'll go out and give training to really needy departments. Yeah, Even if it's just starting the basics, because everybody wants to tackle stuff. But, believe me, so many officers need the basics they need to be able to get all those pretty little holes on the target and not surrounding the target.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, they same here, jason. They always want to jump right into cqb and I'm like you know you're not. You're not proficient enough to that's. That's that's's NFL level. The guys and fortunately again, you know people like Rick that we have on our team. You know that's what he did for a living 13 years and he will tell you and most people that know is those guys start with nothing but fundamentals, Like they treat, they train all of them Like they've never touched a pistol in their life and that's the correct way to train and a lot of law enforcement. They think that they go to blet and they do a qual that I think we spent, jason. I don't know what you spent, but I don't think we spent more than a week on firearms and it was just. It felt like they're teaching you just enough to get yourself hurt.
Speaker 1:You know well I tell you, man, I back in the day the border patrol actually had hell, a firearms approach. I don't know what they're like now. And then, you know, when I went to 1811 Special Agent, course it wasn't bad Right, but like when I was dealing with the uniform, guys and girls, it's like man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's bad, you know, we see we were doing some training for one of the local agencies here and we, you know, we start them out on the flat range and we'll get a lot of we'll sort of number one. You know how it is.
Speaker 1:A lot of what we're doing is assessing whether or not we're going to do anything more advanced with live fire, or we're going to keep them in sims.
Speaker 2:But so ultimately they were pretty proficient. They were safe. I wouldn't say proficient, they were safe and there's a big difference for us. But we were going to do some sims and you know it. All that goes out the window when somebody's shooting back at you with sims. It's not, you know.
Speaker 2:I remember thinking I shot really good whenever I called you know, because I was proud of what I shot and I just remember thinking none of that, uh, is relative to an actual encounter that law enforcement have none of it, it's your little. The analogy was like it's just showing me that you're able to safely do what we ask you to do with a pistol. But that is not training correctly and I'm sure I'm not the only one saying that, there's a lot of people saying that. But law enforcement, I hope, is starting to understand that unfortunately it takes these active shooters and all these encounters in the body cam is really pushed a lot because we're actually seeing officer seeing, whereas before you might hear an officer was killed in your state but you don't hear about a trooper in New York getting killed and then seeing the video on the news that night of the body cam footage.
Speaker 1:So, you know, what I'd love to see is I'd love to see targets where it's more focused on not just the gut shots upper chest, and I like to see headshots. I'd also like to see you get, you could DQ If you have a certain amount of rounds that don't go on to the actual silhouette that's on the target. So that means, like you know, the bullet is off here, because where do those rounds go? Yeah, they go.
Speaker 2:So they get hit someone innocent, right, and especially when you're working these big cities, or let's say, you respond to an active shooter and you got to do a well-placed shot under stress, while moving, while moving, you know that's the other thing using cover right under stress and that's we were able to simulate it as much as we could, the stress of it and the screaming people and all the non-shoot people that are in the room, all the non-combatants, but the role players that we had in the room.
Speaker 2:And you know, look, I was until I started doing actual good fundamental training and then progressively getting to that force on force thing where I'm making good decisions because I'm laying. I remember I was laying there as a I was, my role was I'm a dead person, but I was just wanting to be in the room where I could still hear what's going on here, and I caught around right in the stomach and I'm laying there. I didn't have a weapon and my hands are out and it was just. You know, credit to the officer because he called it out. But we talked to him and I'm like he said man, I just got really stressed and I saw a human figure and I sent it and that's. You know, that's those are the mistakes are going to be. I can't do that on flat range, though.
Speaker 2:No no, but I, you know I'm a glass half full kind of guy. I'm like, hey, it's good grouping and it looked like your grip looked great. But you did shoot somebody just laying there with no weapon anywhere.
Speaker 1:Hey, you know, there's always a positive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's always a positive, but you know the guy was like but you're training and you're not training.
Speaker 1:You have to put them under some sort of realistic effort. Yeah, absolutely. Flat range is great if you want to learn how to zero your weapon and learn how to get your grip down, get your fundamentals down before you move on. Yeah, I can't stress it out Shooting once a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a disservice that they're doing. You know, a lot of these agencies just can't afford it. Yeah, but even the ones that can, a lot of times they won't. And even if they do go on the range, there's a lot of times where you can go on the range and you're wasting time. Right, if I'm not trying to get better, if I'm not practicing the things I don't like to do, you know what I'd like to see.
Speaker 1:I think every time when you're doing qualification, the first 15, 20 minutes have a tactical, practical applications of a tourniquet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 1:Hey you, your arm's shot. What are you doing? Hey, your partner's shot. What are you doing? Yeah, just five, 10 minutes. What does it take? Five minutes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a huge proponent of medical and fortunately I've been around some really solid medical folks in the last 10 years with the military stuff that we were doing. But I'm a huge proponent of it because I worked a very rural part of the state and oftentimes when I was doing the drug, the interdiction stuff, I was really it and so I never I didn't even have a tourniquet, jason. I didn't even have one and I wouldn't have known how to put it on if I did, because I just really didn't get exposed to a lot of medical training. But now a huge part of our medical training is the medical piece. So even in the scenarios that we put them on, we have them treat the wounded and stop the bleeding and correct application of a tourniquet and put it on Tourniquets.
Speaker 1:And that's been one of my biggest push. Now it's going to be getting into everything. I've been trying to get tourniquets, man, because I'm finding out I've been donating tourniquets as much as I can. $22 is what I get them for. That's like an hour and a half of your pay.
Speaker 2:Think about it, man.
Speaker 1:So I try to get as many as I can out there, but I'm learning that the cops are using it on other people. Like a lot like gsw's are just even yeah, you know other types of injuries and they don't. They're using theirs on others, so they need a replacement. So it's like, yeah, it's so amazing that and how many like departments can't afford anything, man? Yeah, literally nothing. It's literally some of them. You're buying your own gun, you're buying your own equipment, you're buying everything, man oh yeah, I mean I was, I remember when I first first started.
Speaker 2:There's a county next to us that used to be it's grown a lot, it's got a lot more money but those officers were providing their own body armor, their own pistols, and so, yeah, it's not beyond the realm of possibility. There are still very small departments that do that, so they don't get any medical training and they don't get tourniquets Can you imagine just a simple stop the bleed.
Speaker 1:To us it seems so simple, but we're looking at it as people who have retired, who have been around a little bit and a lot of times you get some chiefs are so overwhelmed that they have no idea how to get their people to this stuff and it's like I think we can make effort man, you guys are doing it with your nonprofit, you're with your group and everything. And yeah, I think with what I think more collaboration as we, as we do this man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that one thing that we have, we have a lot of good relationships, like I say, with, with, how I'd say, diverse that TOA is people like Kevin and Vendavin and and Rick, that we all have connections here and so we'll get it for them. You know we've donated a lot of tourniquets and that sort of thing. I remember we were on the range with some of their guys and they were doing some live fire stuff but they incorporated a little bit of medical tourniquets in it and body carries and that sort of thing. And there were two or three of them that were brand new to the team, that didn't have a tourniquet. So we were literally popping the trunks and looking in our equipment bags and giving them the tourniquets I'd rather not have them than not and they just don't have the money and it's terrible to say.
Speaker 2:But these agencies want to do the right thing and a lot of people you know the defund, the police thing. I think the pendulum is swinging back right now. But you know, the first thing I thought is what's going to go is the training, which?
Speaker 1:is exactly what we need.
Speaker 2:And you're cutting and I think that people are starting to wise up to it. But when all that started happening like you're just going to get worse now because what they need the most is further training and that's exactly going to be the first thing to go. I remember the sheriff I'd go in to ask him for training. Well, we just don't have the budget right now. Like, I can send you to radar school, I can send you these, but I don't. I can't send you to officer survival school because I can't afford the lodging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Right, and so I'd have to pay for it out of my own pocket and um yeah, I've been sponsoring.
Speaker 1:Uh, it's like female officers go to that female officer survival course. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to put on a TCCC for officers or T I think it's. What is it, jason? T-e-c-c for law enforcement? I'm just so used to calling it TCCC. But we're going to. I have an instructor that's going to basically come in and just pro bono run some cops through it. It's just basic stop the bleed stuff and tourniquets and tactical combat, casualty care. But, um, it's just making them proficient that if something happens there's nobody coming. And even if they do, if you get an arterial bleed we all know a lot of people say three minutes or so.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll cut that in half because I'm like, well, if I'm only conscious for half that time, it really doesn't matter. So I'm really all I have. So I need to be like you were saying. The tourniquets for me is to number one have it, because even the VMS is on scene. They might not be able to get to you in three minutes.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:An officer not having a tourniquet is one of those things that just drives me crazy. I'm happy to see that the more I travel, the more officers I see in uniform they get. They got them, they have tourniquets. So I'm hoping that the tide is turning on that awareness of medical training.
Speaker 1:Oh, it is brother.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, david, I appreciate you coming on. Man, thanks for giving us a you know, a really you know a view of what's going on out there and giving us a kind of heads up on how we can help.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to collaborating with you guys, yeah for sure, and I will definitely keep you posted, and I'm sure kevin will too.
Speaker 1:Oh, believe me, I, kevin, I. Another shout out is the winkler knife. I bought both. One of kevin's knives uh, winkler collaboration. So everybody, kevin has an awesome knife out there. One thing I love about it the most you know, believe me, when you're into holsters and all that, when you get a knife that actually has a badass sheath holster. I mean this thing, this thing's incredible. I love this knife so much, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I want to say Winkler got flooded, but yeah, he's okay I know Kevin was in proximity, but I knew of the Winkler knives, even gosh, when I lived here or lived up that way, but then working out there with all those military guys and they would show me there. They're just huge fans of it. So I'm glad that they're okay. But we'll keep you, we'll keep you um posted, but I hope that your listeners and viewers will just keep in mind the people of western north carolina and and you know, florida here we are florida's in the path of another one.
Speaker 2:So we're getting hammered um, but we're gonna keep working, man, and I really appreciate you letting me come on and and talk about what we're doing and if people want to help at all, like I'd say. You know, tulsi's nonprofit is we Must Protect, and our website is about to go up with TOA Group, but I invite people to to check out what we're doing too, but it's TOA Group, t-o-a group, yeah, and there's a lot coming, man. You're going to see a lot more of us and a lot more Kevin, and we want to loop you in on some of it and get you out here and do some fun stuff with us.
Speaker 1:You know it, brother.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome, jason. Well, I really appreciate you having me on.
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