Special Guest, Micah Herndon

Count money, man.

Money back riches.

I'm trying to told him.

I'm a beast, bud.

What's up, gang?

Welcome back to another episode of The Grindcast.

Get ready.

It's a new day, and we got a special guest for you guys today.

My new friend, Micah Herndon.

And so, little story on us, we were, I believe it was meant to be.

You know, I get on the plane, you know, recently, and I'm flying to Dallas.

And Micah sits next to me.

And normally I stay quiet, you know, on the planes.

I don't talk a ton to people on the plane.

Or when I work out, I'm not like the, let's talk to all the neighbors, you know.

But something about Micah made me open up and start talking to where I remember telling you,

don't worry, I'm not going to talk your ear off the whole flight.

You know what I mean?

I just, I felt your energy and then I start realizing we had so much synergy,

so much in common, I believe so much.

And, you know, thank you for your service, you know, first of all, by the way.

I appreciate it, thank you.

We have a very special veteran in the house with us.

But then also from Ohio, you know, I realized you're a buck-eyes fan.

Not far from Youngstown, Ohio.

And so we just end up with so much to talk about.

And Micah was actually on the flight next to me headed to Dallas for it to be like

one of the speakers for a huge fundraising event for the military,

as you ended up being one of the people selected for what we're getting ready to talk about today.

And so you were getting ready to speak in front of a group of people.

And I remember you sitting there going over your notes, you know,

and nervous wanting to do a good job, you know, for everybody.

And so just super excited for you all to hear his story

because you're going to grab so much inspiration out of it just as I have.

So you were four years active duty.

That's correct.

Right?

And a lot done in four years.

Yeah.

Two combat deployments was a Garmah Iraq 2008, 2009.

And then you ended up in Afghanistan.

Yeah.

Also.

Right when we got back from that Iraq deployment,

numbers and activity was ramping up in Afghans.

So, right when we got back they asked for volunteers.

And you know, that's why I joined to do.

They asked for volunteers.

Yeah.

You volunteered.

Yeah.

Said send me.

Yeah.

Okay.

Ain't too many people doing that.

Yeah.

But that was like the, you know,

it was fresh.

9-11 was fresh and right when I graduated 2006.

You know, I always had niche for it because I, you know,

I watched those buildings and all the chaos and the death and loss and everything

when the towers went down.

I was in eighth grade.

Now you, you were a machine gunner.

That's correct.

Right?

And you had over, was it 400 missions?

Yeah.

Yeah.

400, a little bit other 400 convoy's because each, each,

each free deployment we always just, you know, just like cast away.

Tom Cruise, he puts down the hash marks for the days gone by.

Each mission we just do a little check.

Check one off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just, that's something else to keep your mind on.

Purple heart recipient too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You just, just amazing man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, a special, special breed.

Yeah.

Where does somebody like that, you know, how is somebody like that even created, you know,

that says, you know, send me.

Most people will be going the opposite direction, you know, not running, running towards

it.

So, you know, why could you give us a little bit of your upbringing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the youngest of five, three older brothers, one older sister.

when my mom was pregnant with me, her and my dad, you know, they were on the

outs, and so, you know, really grown up, leaned 100% on my brothers, you know,

helped raise me and whatnot because the father figure was really never in my

life, and when we did get a father figure, it just so happened that I had a lot of

loss, you know, early on in my life. It felt like I was, you know, living in and out

of the funeral homes, and so...

Your dad passed?

Yeah, my mom's husband, my stepdad after she divorced my dad when I was a very young

age. She eventually met Aure, and so in my mom met Aure, you know, he was, I think,

God really put him in my mom's life but also our lives. As short as it was, the, you know,

the time that we got with him, the lessons learned, you know, it was, it was terrible that

he died of a blood clot to his heart and just freak, you know, came out of nowhere.

How old were you?

I was eight or nine, okay.

When that happened, hi, and so right after that, my sister, she was nine months pregnant

with her first and her husband, Jeff. He kind of stepped in that role along with my brothers

to be that father figure, and he took me to get my hunting license and everything, and

he was real big in the snowmobile and out the words stuff. Weekend, he went up with his

buddies snowmobile and he just had an accident and died from that accident. And so my sister,

she was nine months pregnant, as her first husband, you know, died. My mom, her first husband,

died, you know, and then my stepdad, her second, I was, died for my mom.

A lot of death for me, and a lot of death, and a lot of people close to you.

Yeah, yeah, a lot of pain and but when the beautiful thing about the human mind and body,

it's able to adapt. And so I'm not sure what it's called, but you kind of just block out everything

when you're kind of in that thought of a war. Your body goes into its own protection mode.

I think that's the majority of my childhood, that's pretty much what happened.

And so then your brothers stepped up and helped raise you young, three older brothers,

might even my sister or sister. All your brothers alive? Yeah.

In your sister? Yes. Okay. Yeah. And then did you play sports? Yeah. You said you play football.

Football, basketball, baseball, you know, all of them. All of them.

All of them. Growing up, you know, in my school. South East. Okay. Yeah.

South East, there in Paul Myra. Not too far away from the Youngstown. Yeah.

So, especially the 90s, you know, you got, that was kind of like the, you look back.

Yeah. Every generation looks back and like, oh, yeah, that, my generation, you know,

that was the greatest. Yeah. Because it's just your generation and everything.

So grew up, Sega, Nintendo, all the sports, game, Rambo, action movies, all that,

you know, all that stuff. Dallas Cowboys, Deon, like all the 90s. Which, yeah.

So national championships at Youngstown State. Right. Right. Right. And I can't say that for the,

for the Browns. No. No. Unfortunately. Yes. Just pain. We're, we're, but what we've learned,

you talk about blocking it out and, you know, adapting, you know, I mean, I've just learned also

as a Browns fan to just, I have no expectations. That's the key. Absolutely. I have no extra.

I don't, I used to take the bait. I'd get all excited. We get, you know, new coach, new draft,

you know, that's like, oh, this is it. And our super bulls is draft. I don't take the bait.

That's our Super Bull. Yeah. I know. I know. There's our season's over in October. Very low

expectations. Yeah. Yeah. You know, highlight for me was here and being in Pittsburgh and watching

the Browns win a playoff game. Yeah. Here in Pittsburgh. You know, I was here and managed to not get

beat up by my own family. My wife's a Steelers fan. And, you know, I think I cursed my son,

you know, but I got three kids and out of the kids, my, my one son joined my side. Yeah. He's

here in Pittsburgh as a Browns fan. So we, we're trying to raise them tough behind me. I'm

in line trying to give adversity early. You know, to me, I got nothing against any of the fans,

the Steelers, none against I have the utmost respect for their organization for sure.

I mean, they just said they find a way to win. And you know, the past how many years? Yes.

It's just decades. That's a then body man of stability. Stability. Yeah. It's just what a

culture. What a company should be. Yes. You know, you know what I mean? No doubt. So, so what

inspired you to say this is what I want to do? So you said I'm, I'm going to join you. It was

at the 9-11. You said that that's what kind of did it for you where you felt inspired or did you

always feel driven as a kid to do something like this? I've always ever since I was younger,

thought I'd always had this thing in my head like you heard do something you heard do something you

heard do something. And obviously seeing the tax at a young age that was a big driving force.

But also it was because I was a D3. I got recruited and everything for football and

basketball was just me and me and school we don't get along. And I was just in sports and girls

and didn't pay attention to studies and whatnot. And so, there's a blessing in disguise. You're

not alone there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I know how you feel. Yeah. A lot of people felt that way.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just that all they look for to is recess games. Obviously recess when I was

younger, but when you get older in the high school sports it's all games. Yeah. Because of the

crowds you're playing from. Right. No doubt. It's very similar. High to what the WWE wrestlers and

whatnot. It come out to all these packed stadiums. Right. Just that rush that adrenaline. That's kind of

what gets you. But I was getting recruited. Didn't have the grades. Had the stats. 5 5 short white

dude. That was around the time West Walker was breaking out. So the slot position normally you see.

You start seeing more short white dudes. You know, quick agile. Not the fastest, but short can go

over the middle. Find your spot. Talk again. Now the big guys. Yeah. So I had quite a big success in

high school, especially our we had a good class from middle school all the way up. They're definitely

looking forward to our class and went nine and one lost to a book door in the rubber bowl. Acre. Yeah.

Booked always got a tough program. Yeah, we were up at half. It's just the way that the game

played out. You hanging with them. You had a good squad. Yeah. I had a pick. I mean, they got you

got a pick. Touch less. Yeah. Let's go. I got decleated too. When I got that pick, didn't see the guy,

you know, coming from the blind side. Yeah, that's all that matters. Got decleated. Thought my legs were

uh, I thought I had no legs left. I'd never seen it coming. He came in from the side.

You've seen it before. It was like Nick Jubb. You got his knee. Yeah. And my basketball coach was at

the game. And right, one of my brothers was the coaches. He was already halfway on the field and

basketball coach. He couldn't even look at it because he thought because of our basketball. You

mentioned it was messed up. Did you break it? No. Okay. You were good. Yeah. So how did you go from that

to Afghanistan? Um, so got recruited. Went to Hyrum. Was going to plan on being a teacher because

I thought that was the only way to be still involved with sports because all my coaches, they were

yeah teachers and coaches. Yeah. I wanted to do that. I realized, didn't realize one thing,

that involved school. And uh, as you know, being schooled on get along. So, um, they played football,

basketball at Hyrum and then transferred to Kent. And at that point, you're just flushing money.

You know, I mean, paying for traditional four-year college experience. I know you get out of it is

and all you get is that you don't

straight up, you know, provide yourself

the next steps later in life to be

able to, you know, be recruitable and

sought out.

Right.

Like you're not.

So did you see a commercial or, you know,

what you're at Kent State and you're like,

hey, I'm just gonna join the military.

Yeah, one of my brother Josh, one of his friends,

because all my brother's friends,

they would always be at the house.

So I got close with him.

He was three, six years younger.

They practiced wrestling moves on trampoline

on me all the time, because I was smaller, you know.

So I got real close with one of my brother Josh's friends.

He just got back from Iraq.

He was a national garden, the army.

And from his experience, I was looked up

to him and got his experience and whatnot.

And he said, if you're gonna join,

you're gonna go all the way and don't, you know,

do the reserve, you know, do it full time.

And grown up, all in.

All in, grown up, I actually talked to quite a few veterans,

one being my brother's friend.

He said, toughest branch, dudes and Marines.

So, they have the best uniforms.

So that kind of,

pigeonhole, like my decision, really,

what the next steps were.

So, went home one day after class to my mom,

and was like, yeah, I'm joining the Marines.

With mom, say.

The one thing that I always say about my mom,

she's the strongest person.

Hands down that I've ever,

never known.

I've met quite a few, I've served with heroes,

strong, you know, mentally, physically, emotionally,

spiritually, strong people.

And I've been blessed to, been exposed

to these types of humans, like in my lifetime.

And I still can say my mom's, you know,

my rock foundation.

My mom's a strong, strong, strong family.

Yeah, she had big as well.

I got the same thing.

And so, told her, she handled it well,

and she knew, like she's very, very wise,

and she knew the more that she pushed back,

the more that I would, you know,

want more to go.

So she embraced it and fully supported me ever since.

And so then, where did you go first?

So boot camp, Paris Island,

and then duty station, it was open out.

Was it hard?

Coming from sports background,

and working, I've had that in green.

Yeah, not that bad.

Ready?

It's all mental.

Yeah.

It's hard.

How many, what percent do you think signed up

to come and actually made it through the process?

So East Platoon, there's about 90 recruits,

and there's six platoons in a company.

And so, not, the dropout rate's not, it wasn't crazy.

But at that time, when I joined,

I needed bodies, so there's a term that we joked around

with waiver Marines.

You know, during peacetime.

A little stricter.

They wouldn't think about opening a net tattoos face,

tattoos marijuana charges.

When they need bodies, though, to the meat grinder,

they just, it's the waivers.

Yeah.

And so, that was a running joke when someone wasn't the brightest.

Oh, yeah, waiver Marine, aren't you?

So, when, so, how long after when you got there for training,

did you end up in Afghanistan?

Oh, the first deployment was Iraq,

and right when I got to the duty station,

it just so happened, the timing of it,

the patoon, they needed one more person.

And so, the first formation that we had,

he asked all the new guys, you know,

private, PFCs, they're like, who wants to go to Iraq?

Obviously, everyone, you know, all the new guys,

that's what the majority of us joined to do to go fight.

And all of us, you know, raised our hands,

and so, he asked knowledge questions

that we learned in boot camp, the general orders.

And just so it was good on, like, for me,

because we were booger, patoon.

We did, we got messed up the most.

We couldn't drill, we couldn't,

we had, compared to all the other patoons,

we were the lowest performing,

but, Dernbuk, we got messed up so much,

we won the PT and we won the rifle range.

So, and as Marine, that's honestly the most important.

You know, your physical training and then shooting.

So, I never, I always hated drill anyways.

And so, we always got messed up.

But anyways, I get off on these teams.

But, yeah, so, they just asked general orders,

and obviously I knew them,

forbade them, because we always got messed up.

And so, got that crack, or answered it crack faster than anyone there.

And next time I know...

How long?

So, you first got pre-deployment training.

We were attached to Hawaii, one throughout Hawaii,

so, you go down there, pre-deployment training,

maybe a month, two months.

And then you do your pre-deployment leave,

say, you know, go back home, say bye,

and then come back.

So...

90-day process?

Yeah, give it take.

Yeah, around there.

And then I remember you telling me, was it Iraq?

Where did you go?

Because I remember on the plane you told me,

we didn't have a ability to take a shower for a month or two.

Yeah, yeah.

So, Iraq, it was a little bit more build-up,

because it was on the back end of...

It wasn't like we weren't pushing into zones and areas

that haven't been touched, you know what I mean?

So, when I got to Iraq, it was very had established, you know,

everything that you would need.

So, but Afghan, that was a little bit different story.

But you went two seconds.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

So, tell me about that experience.

That one out of the two deployments,

that was the more kinetic deployment and the harder of it.

Each war has its pros and cons, but what we experienced

and ran into in Afghan was a bus saw.

So, when you first got there, how long was it before you could shower?

Three and a half months.

Three and a half months.

Yeah.

And you have what?

Baby wipes?

Yeah, so I got over there in November,

on 9, I was on the...

There's a group that goes to set everything else up for the AdVon.

I was part of the AdVon team.

I was an NCO and squad leader.

So, we got in November,

and it's cold.

It's just tense, because our fog,

where it wasn't really, it was just...

We were the second group there.

Southern Hellman.

You're living in tents?

Yeah, yeah.

Just like big car tents.

When we first got there, and like you had to sleep with your...

And your mummy sleeping bag with your camis in the bottom reboots,

unless you'd like getting up first thing in the morning,

the crispy frozen camis and whatnot,

because your body heat helps keep everything warm.

So,

and we realized that in the officers in the higher ups,

they had generators.

We didn't have generators,

and they would warm their bottles of water on there,

because you had to shave every morning.

So, I caught on to that and started replacing.

So, it's like, all right, you motherfuckers, you're not getting hot.

You're not getting hot water.

I'm going to enjoy this.

So, right before I would always switch out the hot bottles for the cold.

Enjoy that nice little one, the home-beam air shaving and whatnot.

You just poke holes in the top,

and say, we have the running water.

And then, so, what was the experience there?

What was that process?

You know, like, you sound like that was the tougher of the two?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, what, you know, give me some examples of that.

So, we got there in November our first IED that we hit,

January 9, 2010.

It was like a 42nd convoy.

If I remember correctly.

And so, it's a bit, it's a route that we've gone over, you know,

30 or so times.

And just to happen, this is first thing in the convoy is like maybe 45 minutes into it.

And just want to give you a picture.

Each convoy lasts maybe, depends on what you get into,

10 to 15 hours.

If you get into some hairy stuff, obviously that's going to take a little bit of time.

What do you mean, hairy stuff?

Like, any small arms fire or IEDs, possible IEDs,

because it's all a big chess game over there.

Yeah.

Because we traveled the same routes day in and day out.

And they didn't have nothing but time over there.

And they watched how we react to certain situations.

They'll throw out, they'll have a decoy just to see what our SOPs are.

And so, they can plan ahead.

And when I explain my deployments to people,

a lot of the public are very ignorant too.

The lack of like the knowledge that who we were fighting,

they gone drugged, or names, and they think they're just third world country.

No, these are enemy.

Their hardened warriors have been at war for hundreds of years.

They've passed, it's in their blood.

And not many people realize that, especially what's going on currently.

So, the lack of respect, that the population shows our enemies,

it doesn't rosem in the wrong way a little bit.

What was that like?

Where did you have, I remember you told me, you lost some of your friends.

Yeah, that first ID blast.

January 9th, has a 400 pound bomb.

I was the first squad leader right at six machine guns underneath me.

I put myself in the front because I've always thought growing up.

Leaders lead from the front.

You don't.

A big thing for me, growing up in the Marine Corps,

in my short time that I did there four years,

you see the good leaders, and you see the bad leaders.

And when you're coming up, you can pick and choose which trait that you want in your own toolbox.

You can learn from the good and the bad.

Absolutely.

I don't want to do that.

I do want to do that.

I've been blessed.

I've had some of the best leaders that I've ever encountered and some of the worst.

So, really, I'm able to take growing up different aspects of that.

So give me a couple traits of the best.

Top three traits that are similar and the best top three traits that are similar

and the ones that you're seeing were the worst.

Don't ever ask one of your workers, employees, to do something that you haven't done.

Don't demand respect, aren't it?

And you're never above anything.

You're never above a jaw.

any job, no matter what status that you get to,

just be a good human.

Yes.

And remember where you came from.

You know what I mean?

Yep.

And so that I took that in consideration when I put myself

in the front.

That's your leader.

You lead from the front.

So what happened?

Because I know you obviously you survived,

but you lost a couple of friends.

How did that happen?

And then that has to change your perspective on life.

Yeah.

Yeah, 100%.

So it was remote detonated IED.

And so someone's watching it from 200, 300 meters away.

And they have a detonation device, whether it be a watch,

a garage door opener, something to be able to send a signal

to that IED.

And they targeted our last vehicle,

because that's what we normally had

rolling with us, all the VIPs we put them in the very back.

Because in our AO area of operations,

the biggest threat was pressure plate IEDs.

So pressure plate, two pieces of wood

or something separating the wires.

You run it over.

Those wires connect, completes the circuit, blasting cap,

initial source.

That's why they selected that last vehicle.

Because the VIPs were back there.

Yeah.

And I'm sorry if I'm not getting choked up,

but it's pretty vivid memories.

Yeah.

I mean.

Yeah.

So I pass over it.

They hit our last vehicle.

And I'm up in my turret.

It not the shock wave knocks me off down into my truck.

And right then, I knew it was an IED.

And so we did what we were trying to do,

what we worked all the pre-deployment training

when an IED strike does happen.

My vehicle pushed forward, back vehicle.

Obviously our last vehicle was blown up

so the second the last vehicle pushes back.

We set a cordon, knowing in, knowing how,

and get all the casualties assessed.

And then calling a burden, set the LZ.

And each one of us had a job.

So me being the first vehicle, we had to push up,

knowing in, knowing out.

And I can't leave my turret because no matter what's

going on behind me, I can't leave

because I'm posted right there.

Yeah, you got to stay focused.

I have the 180.

Yeah.

And but as we push up, get set.

I look back.

It's chaos.

It took quite a few minutes because that sand over there,

we call it moon dust.

It's not like just place sand, almost sand.

When you get that stuff kicked up,

it's more of a powder.

It stays in the air.

And so after that IED, once the smoke cleared,

the sand cleared, and you're actually

able to see what's going on.

You got my lieutenant running back and forth

from the last vehicle to my vehicle,

where our radio operator was.

He's calling in the nine line.

Our security team was the second vehicle.

They get out.

They're taking all the casualties out

to the casualty collection point.

They're covered from head to toe and blood.

And I don't see Ballard.

And Ballard was one of my machine gunners.

He's one of the main reasons.

He's the younger Marine from Kentucky.

Me and him connected bonded instantly.

He's one of my best friends.

I didn't see him.

And so I had some looking around, not

seeing him.

People are covered in blood.

They finally get Ballard out.

I had to see him on the stretcher, gripping it.

He had a Budweiser 10, Budweiser bandana.

He always wore.

So I knew it was him.

I was just happy to see him moving,

even on the stretcher, or litter, or whatever.

And it's just hindsight.

It's funny, but when it was happening, it wasn't funny.

Ballard's a big Kentucky 6263-225 solid.

And for whatever reason, we had the two smallest Marines

in the security team carrying his litter.

I don't know if you've seen the terrain over there

with the poppy fields.

And well, not how their irrigation is for their fields.

It's pretty up and down.

It's not just like a level flat.

So when you're carrying quite, you've got to watch your foot.

These two Marines, you've got to bless them.

One of them dropped the one end.

And so his legs go down.

And he's just screaming.

And looking back on it, it's funny, but like while you're in it,

yeah, it wasn't good.

And that happened 45 minutes into the convoy.

We got the casualties out.

And we still had the mission left to do.

It's not like you get blown up.

Then you stop.

You stop.

You stop the mission.

And that right there was one of the hardest moments

because after all the chaos, destruction, all the blood,

and then realizing when the dock was working on,

the people that got killed on impact, you can just see.

I just saw from up in the third whenever

he couldn't revive them or they were gone.

He just went and then moved on to the next one.

Move on to the next one.

He didn't get, I think it's because we're attached.

But he didn't get what he deserves.

He deserves an award for all the guys, all of the team,

my lieutenant, everyone there performed flawlessly.

Our group, they could have been a lot worse.

But my dock especially, he is a dog.

So what do you grasp from that?

How does that change your perspective on life when you come home?

And then what things can you learn from that that you could use positively?

Because obviously there's a lot to overcome there mentally.

What can you grab from that and use positively?

And then how does your perspective shift?

Just with anything in life, this human experience

that we're having here on Earth, you have ebbs and flows.

You have highs and lows, you have winds and losses.

It's being able to navigate and adapt to those certain times,

being able to not give in to just do the route, the easiest route,

the least resistance.

Now that I'm on the other side of everything after Tijuana,

I got a lot of different perspectives.

That I cherish the hard to good, the bad dog, everything in the dwindle.

I mean, I know you change my perspective when I sat next to you,

and you're just as simplest.

Based off of what you're telling me, you went through the three months

without being able to shower isn't even the hardest part of it.

That's perspective.

And so when I got off the plane, my perspective changed of like,

man, just no matter what's going on, be grateful you could just hop right

in the shower right now.

I'm showerin' twice a day.

You know what I mean? Working out and training Jiu-Jitsu.

You know what I mean? It's like shower in there, showerin' again.

And in a day, and you got people going three months,

you know what I mean without.

I mean, what a perspective shift of gratitude, for me,

on that end after talking to you.

100%.

And then the treatment that you got.

So the treatment, this is when you're like, hey,

we get in, we start talking to you,

you're gonna think I'm crazy, you know what I mean?

And you start talking and I'm like, dude,

I don't think you're crazy at all.

You know, what was that treatment called?

It's an eye-begin.

Eye-begin?

Yeah.

Eye-begin.

And so you received that after, you know,

there was a charity or someone that does fundraising for this

and they try to help folks that what do they call it?

That you're overcoming?

That you're overcoming?

The PTSD?

The PTSD.

Okay.

Everything that comes with being in a combat kinetic deployment

when life was lost, more times you've been in life

or death situation more time than once or twice.

When you get back from that type of deployment,

you just have to be alive, have ice in your cup,

running water, hot food, not MRE food, like UGR,

because it's eight months on MREs.

That ain't it.

Great.

And that's where...

What's MRE?

Mille ready to eat.

Okay.

And, um, grab...

That's saying meal prep.

No, nice meal prep, you know what I mean?

That ain't that.

No.

It definitely is not.

They have a shelf life of multiple, multiple years.

Okay.

That's all you need to say about that.

I mean, it's perfect given the situation,

circumstance totally, but when you're able to have real food

and hot water, it's the little things.

Yeah.

It's a small...

It's just gratitude.

So much to take you.

Yes.

Like, it can take you anywhere in life.

Love and gratitude.

Amen.

So what did this treatment consist of that you did?

Can you walk us through?

Yeah.

How that came about and what that experience was like?

Yeah, yeah.

So, I'll try to give you the Readers Digest version,

not too long, but just enough to say you can

get the details and understand it a little bit.

I mean, you met the Lord.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

You have me at that.

That's...

I noticed when you sat down next to me, I'm the same way.

I try to just do my own thing.

Tonal, you got the blinders on your horse.

Just don't look at me.

Don't talk...

It's like the biggest thing, armrests in the middle

who gets it, who establishes it on all those quit.

It's just like...

That's what it goes on.

Just a couple of conversations, six inches between the years,

as I'm flying.

But after this treatment, I'm searching...

Like, I felt your energy.

I just...

You think I'm crazy?

And again, you think I'm crazy, but after that treatment,

that I got...

You could feel people whether they're hurting,

whether they're happy,

whether they're mad, sad.

You feel their energy.

Because we're all connected.

And I could just feel the energy from you.

You know nonsense.

So that's why I was always like...

I don't want to talk to you.

Talk to this guy's ear off.

Because it was a little intimidating.

But I don't care.

It's not like we're trying to establish dominance or whatever.

You look like it's stand up good dude.

So I just started talking with you.

And...

Sorry.

No, the treatment...

The treatment that you got done.

So go down or reached out to a nonprofit.

Illinois, they covered it.

It was finally able to...

So you reached out to them?

Yeah.

Okay.

So you were struggling at that.

But really, because the running, yeah, it's a good outlet.

It's a healthy outlet.

But you were running marathons.

Yeah, marathons, altars.

But what's an altra?

Any race that's over 26.2 miles.

So 50K, 50 mile, 100K, 100 mile, late.

But I was proud of myself.

I ran two miles last week.

I was proud of myself.

26, 50 miles, man.

That's another level.

A 20-minute mile is the same distance as a 6-minute mile.

It doesn't matter as long as you're doing something.

Yeah.

That's it.

So you contacted them.

Yeah.

And then they selected you to be one of the people for this treatment.

Yeah.

And you go to Tijuana?

Yeah.

So they recommended it with Ambo.

They recently just came out with a, I think,

in November of last year in Waves and War.

It's the same house, the same company, Ambo.

We go down, they pick you up from San Diego, which is like a 45-minute drive from San

Diego to Tijuana, where the house is.

And you spend, so we got there on a Tuesday morning.

And you leave Saturday morning.

And get down there.

You do a sweat tent.

A rattle for the bat.

Once everyone gets a detox.

Like a detox?

Yeah.

It's sweat it out.

It's sweat it out.

It's a ceremonial.

Okay.

Because the Ibogaine, it comes from the Baudidi tribe, and they're still practicing it

today over in Africa.

And Ibogaine, it's a shrub.

And how they derive it's from the root bark of that shrub.

And they call Ibogaine, I think it's the grandfather of the psychedelic medicines.

I don't quote me on that.

It's one of the prominent figures.

Because it gets down to the root of your problem, your subconscious where you can't really

just by normal methods, you can't get to your subconscious.

So it gets to your root problem.

And to your soul?

Yes.

Yeah.

And so you do it at night.

And it's just like the way they have it is pill form.

It's, and you take four pills spaced 20 minutes apart, you have fire ceremony.

Write down your intentions, what you want to ask the medicine, and you throw it in the

fire.

And after that fourth pill that you take, you go down to the ceremony room where you

have your cot that's on the floor of mirror or shaker.

You have a nurse there hooked up to IV heart rate monitor.

And from there you put on the eye mask.

It's like a blacked out eye mask.

Because I began, it likes to work on a clear canvas.

Any little light like a candle light, it doesn't like any light.

And so you wear the mask.

They have the traditional music playing, just like a ceremony that's recorded.

They have it playing on loudspeakers.

Put your, you know, you lay down with the eye mask.

They have that music playing.

From there it's either really good or really bad.

And mine was really, really bad.

And the trips normally last eight, twenty, twenty four hours to hang on.

If you're ready to get out of it or not.

And mine was eight hours of my own personal hell.

And I couldn't get out of that trip.

And I puked over twenty times.

And because I was purging, getting all the bad out of years and years of trauma.

And stuff that I had no idea, even affected me.

Just years and years of just pain that all deep down.

You could see it, feel it?

Yeah, I puked over.

That's one of the, that's one of the, it's purging.

It's one of the things that you get from the eye began.

If you had a lot of, plan up trauma.

Yeah.

And I had a lot.

Yeah, we say it was your personal hell.

Yeah, yeah, I thought I was going to legitimately die.

I was on this train and I couldn't get off of it.

I was on this train and I hate roller coasters as it is.

Or train, anything fast gets my stomach.

I was forced beyond this train and I was sweating profusely.

Everything was red, orange, like dark.

Fire was everywhere.

And I thought I was literally going to die.

No matter how much I screamed to get off that ride, it was just eight hours of the same

thing over and over again.

That was my death in a sense.

That experience was my death.

I was worse.

So you do the eye began.

Then you have, they call it the great day, where you throw a rock in the bottom of a pond.

What happens?

You get these, just like cloud of, you know, sand or just stays in it.

That's what you're doing.

When you take this eye began and you're, you're, you're stirring up all your problems.

You're getting.

And so the day after being exposed to all that stuff, I was worse than I was before I even

came in.

Like I thought I wasted the nonprofit's money.

I thought I was just going to have to live the rest of my life with that with, well, I

guess this is my new norm now.

I'm just going to be a worthless human and bad human just to be around.

And I can't get better.

And so you have that great day.

And I didn't perform, I just laid in my bed and cried the entire day.

I didn't participate in any activities like breathing exercises, massages, all that.

I stayed isolated.

That was my rock bottom.

Again.

Another level in my life.

Yeah.

And so you have that great day.

And then the next day there was a Thursday.

Yeah.

Now it was Friday.

You do the DMT, five M.U. of DMT.

And I didn't want to do it.

I was like, I'm done with all this shit.

Yeah, I did it last time.

But worse.

I'm worse.

Yeah.

I thought I was legit.

The gym, you could go to die.

And I lost probably like 20 pounds puking.

But my coach that I had, he very, very knowledgeable in the five M.U. of DMT.

And after talking with him.

And I came to the conclusion.

This is where the shift I think happened for me.

The start of the shift.

I'm already at rock bottom.

What's the, I can't get any lower.

Right.

Can't get any worse than this.

What you feel.

You know.

Yeah.

And so I have nothing to lose.

If it helps me great, if it doesn't, I'm already going to be the same.

It might as well try.

Right.

So we try it.

Talk me into it.

I said, all right.

And the way it's in the ceremonial room whenever you get the DMT.

But it looks ten times different from the I began experience.

That was my hell down there.

And I go down there for the DMT.

It's spotless, super clean, massive pillow that the lady's on.

You have a pillow behind you.

Your coach is behind you.

Do you breathe in exercises?

You know, deep breath in.

Hold it for a second.

Let it go out.

Let your shoulders grab you.

Take it there out.

Put your lungs.

And then on that next deep breath in, she holds it to her.

She lights it, holds it to your mouth.

Just like when you have smoke join or whatever growing up, you're.

And then you hold it in because you want to blow clear.

You don't want to blow any smoke.

And once you let it out, slow, same thing, shoulders, gravity, take it out.

Once you let it out, she kind of not pushes you, but hands you off to your coach behind you.

You have a big pillow.

And he just guides your head into the pillow.

And right when my head hit that pillow, I was strapped on the tip of a rocket going.

Like I said.

You're telling me on a plane.

Yeah, I'm with you.

And all you to everyone else, I apologize if you think I'm wack of nuts, but I just strapped

on the tip of a rocket going a million miles prior to the universe.

And once I got to the top, I got off.

Everything colors were vibrant.

There wasn't a flaw in the environment.

I got off.

I look up.

I got it right there.

Ever since January 9, 2010, I've been cursing God.

I mean, God didn't have a relationship because it took Baller, Namor, and Warriors.

I got hit with an idea.

I got knocked out as hard as I ever been hit, but I'm still here.

I still have everything.

Why, why them?

I put them in the back because Baller had a kid on a way.

I had a wife.

Hey, that was like his sixth time over in Afghanistan.

He had four little ones, three little ones or whatever.

Warriors had a kid on the way.

Why, why them?

Why not me?

I signed up.

I put my, shouldn't play out like this.

That's been my problem for ever since January 9, 2010.

We got it.

So once I got off the rocket, realized where I was.

God was there.

I just started screaming.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

That's, I cursed you name.

I started kissing.

I guess this beat.

Powerful.

Next person.

Amazing.

Next.

Next person I met.

Well, my stepdad, Ori, that I was eight or nine.

I just started kissing and mugging.

Kissed the top of his bald head.

He said he was, he loved me.

He was so proud of me.

Ended to tell my family.

He was able to communicate with you.

I was hugging him.

Yeah.

Kissed the top of his bald head.

Kissed his amazing.

And the next person I met was Jeff.

My sister's husband, that passed.

I was wrestling around with him.

My grandma Katie, I met the last three people.

I met Ballard Amhert Morris.

Wow.

And the first thing I said to Ballard, I was like, you got two good legs.

OK, so he got a new set of legs.

Yeah, he got it.

God didn't write.

That's a two good legs.

That's the first thing I was screaming at him.

Wrestling at Ballard.

I was in the Himmler World and they said they're at peace.

It's not my fault.

Because I was living with survivors going for so long.

Right.

No doubt they said they're not paying anymore.

They're good.

Right then.

And after a football game, taking off your shoulder pads

all your, that first air you get after a hot game,

it's so refreshing.

And it's just like after a mission, a convoy,

take your flat-off, Kevlar, you feel weightless.

That's what I feel.

That's how I'm weightless.

No, I have no weight.

It's just, so you came back from that and you woke up.

In the bed?

Well, after Valorhamer War is that I just start screaming,

I'm the richest man alive.

Because I was able to meet everyone I lost at such a young age.

I was able to meet God.

Yeah, held God.

Unbelievable.

Seeing heaven.

It was beautiful.

Colors were vibrant.

Perfect.

It felt like I was up there for two hours.

And do you remember anything about God?

It was white, dressed, like not dressed, but pretty much

what they, you've seen pictures.

That's what it was.

So I heard screaming at all the richest man alive.

And I started laughing uncontrollably and crying.

Because he has a book written for everyone.

It clicked in my head.

I started screaming.

Now I know why you had me experience all that loss trauma

at such an early age.

So I'd be able to handle all the loss, all the pain from the military.

So I'd be able to grow up fast, be callous, and handle that.

Because the area I had written down.

You were already doing the marathons?

Prior to this?

Yeah.

OK.

How'd you get into the marathon running?

That was after I met my wife.

I met my wife when I got back from my Afghan.

And again, just happy to be alive.

It's the honeymoon effect.

Anything made me happy.

She met a false version of myself.

That wasn't the true me.

That's who she fell in love with.

And then we got married two years after I got out.

But that's when the honeymoon phase just wears off.

About a year and a half after your deployment, reality sets in everything.

All the images, sights, sounds, everything.

This comes to the forefront.

And you were all good for a year and a half.

Just happy to be alive.

But now reality sets in.

And that's when I started having problems.

Me and her started having problems.

And we eventually got divorced.

And that's when I was at my rock bottom.

My first.

Your first rock bottom?

Because I was isolated alone.

It burned so many bridges with friends and family.

The way I was acting, drinking, trying to drown.

Yeah, the pain.

The pain.

Yeah, no doubt.

The demons.

Of course.

And I was at the point of suicide.

And what really saved me, cleared it out, did not do that.

Was Ballard, Amherst, and War is they didn't have a choice to leave the

surf than I do.

Right.

What kind of a man would that make me?

And so really that saved me.

That's why I found, I was growing up, competition, working out, to get the endorphins,

resorted back to my foundation, it was just working out.

And I really caught on to the running thing because of how it made my mind.

Feel.

Yeah.

And then addicted ever since.

But then you got in to running marathons.

Yeah.

And then you did the Boston Marathon.

Yeah, my first marathon I ran was a Canton.

I didn't even know you had a qualify for Boston.

That's still a green runner, but I didn't know that was a thing, qualifying for a marathon.

I didn't know how big, I didn't even know how big Boston was.

And when I ran, I got it like a 259, my first marathon.

What is that?

What do you mean 259?

Oh, two hours, 59 minutes.

Okay.

And how many miles?

26.2.

Okay.

And I got lost, even got lost a quarter of a mile and had to turn around.

So that added some unwanted time.

But when I finished, I crossed the finish line.

Some dudes like you just be cute.

Shout to them.

I'm like, that's cool.

What the fuck's BQ?

And I had to look it up.

And yeah, Boston Qualifier.

And that's when I realized you had the prestige around Boston and the marathon scene.

But it just introduced me to the running community, which is such a beautiful community.

It's not about like paces and trophies.

Everyone has their own journey, their own healing.

Reason why they're doing it.

Right.

Everyone has their own why.

It's nice being a part of that community because we're in the same head space.

Where a lot of people have encountered and become friends with.

Just like on the plane, when we met, you just tell people that you can gravitate towards

and good energy.

You know what I mean?

So you ended up on, they did some type of documentary from one of those things, right?

Were you on ESPN or something?

Yeah.

So like after the Boston race, I had no idea anything, no, anyone recorded anything or there's

a report of that came running up to me.

Walking back to the hotel in my bare feet because I couldn't stay at the shoes anymore.

The subway of Boston, this reporter caught up with me and asked if they guys, I just thought

as a survey about like the race and whatnot.

So I answered and once I got my phone back, there's like over 100 notifications and I was

like, uh, something's gone, screw with my phone.

And it was all these people like news media outlets like from Boston, New York, Good

and More America, today show, like all these numbers and whatnot.

And I was like, what the fuck's going on here?

Yeah, I thought I was almost hacking my phone or something like that.

So you did the Boston marathon, your phone's getting blown up by all these media outlets.

You don't even think it's real.

And so all of a sudden people wanted you on these shows, did you get on any of these shows?

Yeah, yeah.

So today's show and Good More America, they both called and they wanted us.

This is the first time I ever met a Boston.

You did it?

Uh, the marathon.

Yeah.

It was the first time even going to Boston and from those phone calls, they wanted us to

drive from Boston to New York, which I've never been to New York.

So there's a lot first.

Yeah.

And uh, it can't, I didn't know it, realized how cutthroat the morning talk show is like

business was because it was, Good More America was willing to work with the, today show.

And I wanted to do them both because I wanted to get my brother's names and stories.

Out there in front of the most pair of eyeballs.

Yeah, beautiful.

That I could.

Yeah.

And Good More America was willing to do it with the day show, but it wasn't vice versa.

Okay.

And so today's show said, G either got us or you got them right in.

So I was like, all right.

Um, Good More America.

And I get a phone call.

All right.

We'll do it too.

So you did both.

Yeah.

A sat right after you got done.

This was go home next month.

You're coming back.

This was on the spot tomorrow.

One minute you just doing a Boston marathon next minute.

You're on a today show.

Yes.

Unbelievable.

And the like, I obviously from Ohio, small town, and then getting exposed to this life

and it was mind blown to say the least it was going, it felt like it was going a million

miles prior for up to a year afterwards.

Okay.

Because interviews, interviews, uh, ESPN, they came to the house, uh, shot the little video

that they did.

And, um, uh, talking, uh, I guess, you know, because people see that video that ESPN

did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How would they look that up?

I'm not even being like the way I explain it to people.

I'm not even being a pompous dick or I'm not being like full of myself.

Easiest way is just to Google, Mike or her and, and videos from YouTube will pop up and

M-I-C-A-H.

Correct.

Yeah.

Herndon H-E-R-N-D-O-N.

That's correct.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So.

All right.

And so, any other strategies for keeping your mind like in check, you know what I mean?

So what advice would you give to people out there that they could use, you know, maybe

that have worked for you that have different levels of trauma, you know, that, for the

mental, you know what I mean?

You're not alone.

Everyone the top crossing top page celebrity top page athlete.

Okay.

Who you are, everyone goes through pro, it goes through trauma and problems.

It's being able to like I said, navigate the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows, the

winds and the losses and stacking your winds up daily early on in the day.

Like what?

What do you mean stack your winds early on, daily, early on in the day?

All right.

So a wind right off the bat making your bed, taking trash out, putting dogs out everyday

stuff that you normally do, it's how you view those tasks that you're able to make

that switch.

It's not just your normal stuff you do.

There's purpose behind just, you know, putting the dogs out.

If you can get, if you can take your ego away and just see that as a positive, a wind first

thing in the morning, whatever you do in the morning, it's the small stuff.

And after, just make it to breakfast, after you have your breakfast, stack more winds between

breakfast and lunch.

And then after lunch, between lunch and dinner, stack more winds, small winds.

You don't need, this is micro, you're not thinking macro.

So after you stack some of your winds, you look back at them in the day, give all these

all those little positive stuff that you've done and your head of the, head of the April.

And then you just do it over again the next day.

And after you stack the little tiny winds daily, now you're stacking days.

And what's the biggest things that you do for yourself to keep yourself mentally there?

Do you think would running be one of them?

Making the body sweat.

Anything that makes the body sweat.

Yes.

OK.

Make the body sweat.

Non-negotiables every day.

Make the body sweat and work.

Like do something move because exercise.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Everyone, I mean, common sense is not a common virtue nowadays.

Yeah.

But everyone knows if it's

going to impact your Gdae positively or.

You typically start your day off with something like that?

Exercise or sweating?

I'm not.

I'm not.

Before kids, yes.

Once I had the little ones, I got a six year old on a four

year old.

And they're, how do you fit it in?

When do you do it?

Because you want to?

Yeah.

So help with dinner, dishes, whatever.

Tubby time, dinner, putting the kids bed.

And then after once they're the bed, then I'm able to, you know.

Exercise.

Yeah.

You do it at night.

Yeah.

OK.

Yeah.

Are you struggling to sleep after that?

No.

No.

Because I always end it with a sauna.

And ever since Tijuana I've been incorporating just killing

two birds with one stone, like the kettlebells or dumbbells,

just like a short circuit in the sauna.

Nice.

Any breath work, bleeding, prayer, anything like that daily?

Yeah.

So who I was on stage with down in Texas,

recently Pete Scobal really connected with him on a,

because he's been Ibogaine twice.

And really connected with him on a, another level.

And one of the most interesting dudes I've ever met

then blessed to meet.

And he gave me, we shared stories of, you know,

our journeys with Ibogaine and whatnot.

And obviously, no Terry, because he was still team six.

So he's definitely got some good stories.

But I got these books from him.

It's one minute, not one minute, I ordered that one.

He sent me a devotional, daily devotional.

I'd read that every morning.

So every morning you're opening up with a devotional at some

point in the morning.

Yeah.

Any breath work?

A devoted breath work?

Breath work, yeah.

Anything, any situation that normally I would,

like, be triggered, like with my triggers with the PTSD

and whatnot.

I can delete that with the breath work.

And obviously during the lifting session and so on.

What's the cadence of the breath work?

Is it a certain amount of seconds in for holding out?

What is it?

Yeah, for myself, it's, because everyone's different I think.

And I do as much as I can get in.

I hold it for a couple seconds.

And then just like I did before the DMT,

exhale it all, let the shoulders go, everything.

How many times?

I know, and why you want your, I believe you want your exhale

to be longer than your inhale.

And then pause.

And then once you're able to do that a couple times,

you're able to control your heart rate.

And from there, you'll be able to calm down.

So, what was the thing about you crawling to the finish

ladder or something?

Did you crawl?

Yeah, not my brightest moment.

But, hey, you made it.

Live and learn, man.

Yeah.

Yeah, we got it, I got it done.

Looking back on it, I just watched the video for the first time

because they played it before they probably

on stage down in Texas.

I watched it for the first time and it was pretty emotional,

but a good, a happy emotional.

Now, anytime I cry, it's happy, you know,

happy tears and whatnot.

So that was pretty wild, seeing the video and whatnot.

What made you crawl?

Did you cramp up?

Yeah, cramp up?

Yeah.

That was my guess.

Lecture lights?

Well, going out way too fast,

because that was only my third marathon I ever ran.

Now, how many miles is the Boston Marathon?

Every marathon is 26.

26.

26.2, yeah.

And, but Boston's a little bit different

because you gotta look at the elevations.

No one to push and no one to not to push

and I was just, I was new and I just ran off

because I had all that gas leaning in my tank,

all that bad memories and fuel,

that pushed me in my work,

all it's races.

All right, the first half of that race is net downhill.

And so I was cruising, you know,

and you use the majority of your quads

and whatnot when you're going downhill.

And then after the, after you get past halfway

around 16 and a half,

is a set of uphill, it's called a heartbreak hill.

It's a set of uphills that go from 16 and a half

to like 19 or 20 miles.

And that's where I paid for going out way too fast.

Coming up to hill.

Yeah, yeah, this, because I think it's four

different individual hills, but at that moment in the race,

your two hours, you know, two and a half to hang on

what your pace is, your body can only hold so much glycogen

in the muscles.

And that's when you hit the wall.

And I did, I'm not only hit the wall,

I got flattened by the wall.

I grown up in sports, you know your body pretty much,

you know, how to load, preload, and like carbs.

And the whole, the running is a total different beast.

Now you gotta worry about salt, electrolytes.

If you're a heavy sweater, if you're not a heavy sweater,

if you're a salty sweater,

um, I was just so new into the game, the running game.

And so where did you die out?

How many miles left?

Like as I 17, I started right leg, start cramping up

and you got nine miles left.

Yeah. Yeah.

And by when I got to that last hill, heartbreak hill,

the left leg was locking up.

And so it was just like walk, run for, um,

what six, six miles to get the 20,

say the last like point two was my body had enough.

Like legs would not, everything was cramped,

it would not move.

And I was taught in from boot camp.

It's so cliche, but it's, you apply this to any chapter

avenue in your life is adapting to overcome.

And that's what I, if I can't run, I'm gonna walk.

If I can't walk, I'm gonna crawl.

If I can't crawl then you low crawl.

If you can't low crawl then next option is just a roll.

Yeah, you look like a check.

Check as doing input, you get the job done because if you get help

finishing across the finish line, I don't think it counts or something like that.

So I was able to do that.

And I didn't, like I said earlier, I didn't know anyone video did or whatnot

until I got my phone and realized, oh,

yeah, I'd imagine in that moment, you're just like locked in blacked out.

Like I ain't worried about nothing else.

You know, I just got to get through this.

Yeah, just like blinders on this.

All I wanted to do was just finish because purpose reason behind it.

My guys, you know, keeping their names alive and telling their.

That's awesome that you've been able to use that as, you know, fuel for you

and motivation and purpose.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

Well, it kind of, for my little ones, now,

it's that's a standard.

It's not, I don't force anything on them.

It's just a gravitate toward how do your kids now?

You got a boy and a girl.

Yeah, Harper six, Colton four.

Okay.

Yeah.

And your daughter's the oldest.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you got a six year old girl and a four year old boy.

Yeah.

Okay.

And what would you say is the difference between the people that,

you know, finish the race, you know, and the people that quit, you know,

whether it's the race or just metaphorically the life, you know what I'm saying?

Because you got a lot of reasons to quit.

You know, you've had a lot of adversity.

Yeah.

You know, you talk about managing the highs and the lows and being able to handle

the winds and the losses.

You know, what do you think starts to get people to just tap out, you know,

and give out versus the people that continue to push forward?

Every one of us has the ability to push past.

Everyone's preconceived quitting point.

Everyone has the ability in them to push past that.

No matter whatever the, that's exhausting.

Your focus, your determining your situation, any need to get past a certain point,

degree, number, in your job at home, whatever.

We all have it in us to, it's just being able to be in that uncomfortable realm,

that uncomfortable situation, experience, however long it may last or short

or how intense it is, being able to endure that uncomfortableness, whether it be physical,

mental, emotional, spiritual, having the strength to and wisdom and patience

to be able to endure those times.

That's what it boils down to.

And so do you, you know, you've mentioned the devotional, you know, you've mentioned running.

Do you have any feelings on, you know, how his faith important, you know, to you

on the journey? Do you think that helps?

It's 100%.

Like I said, every since January 9, 2010, being God,

my relationship with God now, after my experience in Mexico, ever since then,

his timing, his will, his, everything is lining up, me meeting you.

When I'm talking to my wife, not the most social, social bird, I'm not the biggest social bird,

but after that experience, I seek to talk with anyone, you know what I mean?

And I'm not doing it for personal gain or whatever.

I want to talk with people, talk to anyone because that's what makes this life beautiful.

Hearing other people's experiences and journeys.

And you just, because you, you can just tell talking with someone, you can feed off them,

right positively or maybe the energy that you're talking about.

Well, you're able to pick up on the energy.

Yeah.

What advice would you give to, you know, young people out there, you know, in general,

just guidance, mentorship, you know, what do you got for young people listening to this?

You know, there's somebody in their 20s, early 20s.

You know, what advice would you give to the young generation out there?

I wrote some stuff down.

My memory is not the greatest because my, my good friend, TBI, it's at random.

I knew this was going to happen.

So I'm going to get that.

That's good if you got stuff written now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stay humble, stay resilient and stay disciplined.

Stay humble.

You're not above any job.

Stay disciplined because

motivation is going to wear off without discipline. All that motivation don't last don't

last stay resilient and resilient don't quit when be quick to own your mistakes be faster to fix them

quick to own your mistakes faster to fix them to fix them a lot of times you got to own them

right you got to accept responsibility for those mistakes versus blaming others and blaming

outside things and circumstances that you have no control over right and last thing drop your

ego your ego is your best friend or it can be your worst enemy knowing when to pick and choose

your battles what do you mean it can be your best friend or your worst enemy how come my ego be

my best friend quarter quarter goal anxiety can be a positive or a negative depending on how you

look at it and depending on the situation like when you're getting amped up for a game

everything's heightened your senses smell touch site missions same thing my like our missions were

the games right you know right no doubt the practice prepared it's a little bit it's definitely

different about comparing the two in a sense you put in your life online with sports but what sets the

military veterans apart is sign on the line and being willing to die for a complete stranger yes

to your left no greater love exactly right so the purple heart thing you know I know that's pretty

prestigious you know it's given a lot of respect um how did that go about like how does that

even happen like how does somebody get a purple heart uh if you're wounded in combat and my truck

later on in that deployment my truck hit two i-eaties first one was we're part of marja we're

doing blackout so night vision on this this road like two in the morning going into marja

supply point where's marja uh southern helmen south afghan we're southeast yeah i got you um

but during during the first day he that my truck hit uh two in the morning it was uh there's a

wadi on both side of wadi's like a small creek or whatever and it's a road that's pushed up so you

got a 10-15 foot drop on either side so if you get hit it's a choke point for you know who the

Taliban when we were over there they lay we didn't have eyes on that road and they had 72 i-eaties in

48 hours because we would push through but they would just backlay you know once the combo went

through yeah once you went through they started both yeah they would just backlay and uh we're going to

like two in the morning we're going down down this hill i keep it this way we're going down this hill

and uh next thing i know i get dirt rocks loud noise the blasting cap blew which is about 10 pounds

of explosion the main charge though didn't blow because it for whatever reason god came in as a note

because if i would have got hit i might have vehicle if the main charge would have blown i'd be dead

right now because it would have flipped the vehicle because it's 10-15 foot drop just the width of

your vehicle yeah just enough to get through yeah and so the blasting cap i look back at now because it's

fun but blasting cap blew during that next 30 seconds it felt like in it there i'm just holding on

and as a driver and a driver i was my little tense gunner machine gunner they're trained uh when an

ID goes off to reach back and try to grab the legs of me the gunner because you don't want to get blown

out and we're just sitting there i'm holding on i feel these hands on my legs it's like hurting

you alright yeah i just shit myself though and uh yeah so that's the first one

main charge didn't blow for god and uh the second idea it actually hit the main charge and all

it was like a 55 pound one knocked me out i think it got lifted me up off the took or off

gunner stand and we have these harnesses they're called gunner gunner's harnesses that

click to gunner stand inside the truck so i think it got lifted up

if that harness brought me back in and on my way back in i think my kevlar hit one of the side

shields in the turret and it knocked me out pretty good i don't they say i was knocked out for like

two to three minutes i just remember waking up coming to and i'm like gumbee on the inside of my

truck against the radios like all slouched and i just look up doing my turret and it's just dust

like i was saying it's like wowed experience bro i mean i just yeah trying to mentally put

myself there that's just a wild experience bro yeah and i'm looking up and i realized i'm like

alright fuck i just got hit and so automatically my mind goes self check make sure i got all my limbs yeah

uh dernit we were coming back to base so it was toward late afternoon and it was it was like

115 120 degrees and but when you're up in the turret we're not allowed to have shades

up there and you have full combat load 90 extra pounds up in the heat up there you're just uh

you know i thought i was sweating profusely you know i thought it was blood uh huh

so i checked myself realized it wasn't blood check my members down there check my legs had everything

and at that very moment i was a happy small before my t-1 experience the happy small in my entire life

because i'm grateful i realized i'm alive and i got everything i have everything yeah blessed

and all i could hear was the loudering and my heartbeat and me breathing like my lieutenant driver

they were shaking me all i saw was their mouths moving and once my hearing came back

was when after i realized i'm fine like just concussion sweat and no blood or anything i started laughing

the hardest that i've laughed because i realized they didn't get me

and then um once my hearing got for whatever reason we we always had an iPod player playing

inside and for whatever reason when i was looking to my left before i got hit eminent puke was on

that song once i came to got my hearing back

um i don't know how the iPod player

survived the blast but it was playing uh

Sarah McLaughlin in the arms of an angel when my doc was checking my vitals

put it all together you know what i mean you could put the whole puzzle together

looking backwards now right so you know the calling you know now you know i feel like

for you is the and do what you're doing you know and take that and inspire and help other people

you know just recover from obstacles and adversity but just inspire people of what you can get

through and how much we have to be grateful for you know just the just the basic things you know

in life that that we have to be grateful for when you think that you're going through something bad

or you think that you have hard times in life you know it really helps put things in perspective

you know coming from what you've been able to adapt and overcome yeah big time so i think you

know like what is there ways that people can you know follow your journey or

or be helpful you know to your mission or what you got going on right now yeah so

after my story i went crazy uh i got invited down to it's called helicopters for heroes

down in Texas and this is where i met you you were going there right you know it's every year they do

annual hot hunt there's a rain automatic automatic weapon range they bring in select uh

uh 20 to 30 honored vets every year and uh just and it's all paid for and vitamin down just

we're able to do something that's very familiar to us especially the combat that's

getting that trigger time again that sense of camaraderie would not just any vet

but it's the combat that being able to bounce ideas off how you navigate it through your problems

maybe someone else can pick up from that and that's where the networking comes in

and so you just expand your your community that much more and when you get out

and it's called helicopters for heroes yeah helicopter what was that thing at was that in Dallas

or Dallas area or where yeah it's uh southeast of Dallas ennis Texas what is it ennis ennis yeah okay and um

yeah so ever since 2019 i've been flying down there because i speak and i'm a part of their

their team now and this new chapter that he introduced this year which i'll be a part of is uh

it's uh patriot supporting heroes and um we're pretty much any uh if you want to have

get the psychedelic assisted therapy um just from my testimonial and several special force guys

their testimony and the Netflix documentary in waves and war that just came out i think in November

this past November it's on Netflix if you want to experience true healing

and get away from the the yellow tape of the VA in the toward the lack lack thereof support um this is

another option for you and up to me it saved my life and i just this should be available this medicine

this should be available to every single vet every single law enforcement nurse doctor anyone

that's going through hard times this should be available in the United States it's sad that you have

to travel spend money to get treatment outside of the United States it's it's it's so how could

somebody support that uh go to i'll give you all the websites uh helicopters for heroes just

type it into google uh they have a website to donate to but our mission is to get this to every single

vet first responder law enforcement well possible well love it will cover pay for everything

down there on your way back i think we're probably the first non-profit to be venturing into this

realm of things it's the integration afterwards we're going to pay to fly your spouse down

for a week to why you're to see the change of the veteran that got back from the treatment to see

the change and to uh to pair that with horse therapy

for the vet and for

For the spouse. They caught out a question. Yeah, question therapy, too

Okay, and they'll do that for then they're gonna be a partner couple that together a ranch, okay down in Texas

So everything I'll paid for amazing

Yeah, so amazing

That's that's the mission mission statement mission goal now is to be able to provide this like it was provided for me for

Other vets. Yeah, well you got my support

That's and then anybody else that wants to support they just is that they just go to helicopters for heroes

Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, and on the website you do you have social media or anything like that you do right?

Yeah, yeah, we start to follow on each other. Yeah, Instagram is that the best way? Instagram and Facebook

Easy to find yeah

Yeah

Micah James herndon if you type that in my CAH

Yep James herndon H E R and D O N

That's correct. Yeah easy to find on Instagram. Yep, and Facebook same thing easy. Okay. Yeah

So anybody out there that wants to follow the follow your journey and and stay in touch

Yeah, though those I'd imagine we'll have some folks from this that are gonna be

Inspired and want to stay in touch with you because you know, I know

You've probably inspired a ton of people out there, you know right now because I know you inspired me just from that plane ride

You know, I couldn't wait to get you over here to share your story and testimony with other people because just that moment

Impacted me you know in different ways and thank you for coming out here in person, you know

You could have zoomed in and you know you drove

Iron a half away, you know to come hang with us in the grind cast studio and I love to get you and see you in person

Absolutely, and but I know you've impacted a bunch of people out there, you know today, and I really thank you for

Sharing your journey and you know, obviously sharing some things that are personal to you and

Still bring up, you know different emotions

Yeah, as we had an opportunity to see you know your whole heart and

But I know you've you've impacted a bunch of people, you know today and I'm grateful for

The time that you spent you know with us. I've

it's

Recipted a very blessed and grateful

One for meeting you gods

timing

is impeccable and his his will is impeccable and I

truly believe it

If you're patient

And you have faith

and

Just like being able to

provide

This healing

You know through donations

Being able to connect with another vet and to be a part of their their

Healing be a part of their journey it makes

everything you know

I'm not you ask my wife I'm not very social person but

If I can help another vet or long force or first responder

That's that's what makes this all worth it. You know down. Amen

We got to do something together, you know and in your area or here, you know, whatever you want to do to

To raise awareness and try to come together so we could support more people, you know that this can impact

You can count on us to

Be there with you, you know on that on that journey something needs to change and why do you think they don't?

You know you said man, this should be available in America, you know, but you got to go outside money. Why do you think?

money, what do you mean

VA their government

ran

business

if you

Take away the need for all the synthetic pills with this treatment you're not just slapping a bandaid on it you're actually

Digging digging down healing

And not

Thilling your body with all these

chemicals

Your your cut you'd be they'd be cutting their their own

You know they'd be cutting their legs out from underneath them if they legalize this because they realize

Oh shit there is

Something that treatment for this treatment. Yeah, everything

That we come back with

Wow

Performance powerful

Yeah, powerful

So well God bless you man. Yeah, brother on your on your journey

You got a lot of life to live your young, you know, you're younger to me and you got it. You got a second

Life with all this experience and perspective, you know that I've tried to grab from you

You know without needing to go through that experience, you know

I got so much respect, you know for you as my mom listens to the podcast, you know

She gets all excited on Fridays. Yeah, you know a new one drops, you know

And today's came out and I was talking to my mom on my way here. Mama Simon. Yes, it

Mama areas and and so she

She's like, you know who's also the toughest toughest person I know, you know, you have me at 19 and youngstown single mom

11,000-dollar house straight dog straight dog

And proud proud to say it

That's

My mom toughest break and proud to say it

You know no doubt as you are no doubt

So I was telling her she's like, you know, Simon, you know, how much respect that I have for

Our veterans, you know, I think people don't give them as much love and respect as they deserve you know

She said it, you know to me. It's you know, you got God and you know God and your family

You know and like right after that, you know, I feel like it should be your the veterans

You know the people that have done giving us this life that we can live and sacrifice, you know

So much this is what my mother was saying. Yeah, you know what I mean?

So I feel that way and I feel that same way man. So just grateful for you and others, you know that have

signed up, you know for that to give us this

Blessing that we have in this country to be able to have this level of

Freedom, you know to do the things that we can do and live in and no matter how hard things get or what

Complaints, you know people have man. We're so blessed to have the things that we have here in and

That wouldn't happen, you know if it wasn't for

Folks like you well, it's

Swam or thing out

say

To the like anyone that's struggling to or the younger generation

Control the controls control what you can control everything else is just white noise

Because the only thing that really really really matters is

Stick your arms out everything that's in here. That's your family

Family no one your job

How you make a living for to provide for your family, you know, you just

It

Yeah, I'll just and amen and you're in the union, right? You know, I mean that was cool to find out

You know about you also because you know that's that's what I've done for 20 years, you know

We work with mostly the unions or union life insurance

And I we've worked with them, you know teamsters and electrical workers and carpenters and laborers brick layers and

Pipetters police firefighters, you know that teachers these

This has been basically, you know, that's how I started at 22 and I think that's why I connected so well with the

People because I cared about those people those are my people, you know, so I'm going in and I'm

Doing a job, you know, that's that's kind of a white collar job

Dillon with blue collar people, but I got a chance to be myself and I would relate, you know to everybody because that's where I come from

all

I don't care who you are in life. Yeah, you

Get the respect and whatnot. This goes for anyone but

world

Human here, we're all

No one's better than anyone else

We all but what color do we all believe red? Hey, man, no one. I don't care race color creed

when you're

Exposed of that like I got exposed to that in the military. It doesn't matter what background this when your life depends on it

There's no atheists and foxholes

You know what I mean? No atheists and foxholes. Yeah, oh and

That's your brother sister if we could all just bring that that mindset

Back back. Yeah, it's an nowadays. It's just

Be authentic be yourself be a good human. It's not that hard, right

Get distracted with the white noise. Yes

Hey, man

Thank you, man. Thank you for your time. We're gonna have to bring you back

You know, we'll give you a break and yeah, let's follow your journey a little bit and stay in touch and then let's let's

Let's bring you back and and stay in touch man, but I'm super grateful for your time

God bless you and and your family and your journey and everything that you're doing, you know out there to keep you

Your friends names out in the forefront and impact, you know some of the other people man

So keep it going man. Good fight brother Iron, Iron, bro. It's today's proverb. That's right, right?

But hey all of you guys. Thank you for joining us on another episode of the groundcasts get ready us a new day

Appreciate everyone. Appreciate you