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July 29, 2021 - Raging Dissident

01:40:40

HOUSE ARREST e25 - Devon Larratt

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	My name is Devin Larrett.
	I live in Ottawa, Canada.
	I'm 40 years old.
	I pull into the 225-pound class.
	I've always loved fighting.
	I've always been drawn to it since I was a kid.
	In 2001, I came to Canadian Special Forces, did it really on a whim, just walking by the recruiting office and walked in.
	I thought that the best contribution I could make was to fight for civilization.
	He's done seven tours in Afghanistan.
	Big day ahead of me.
	I need to look my best.
	Sometimes when you're faced with your own mortality, you get a little bit better at living the rest of your life.
	Skydiving for me is a release.
	Love that letting go of the plane sensation.
	The instant when I'm even starting to think about letting go of that plane, I have to get rid of all my fear.
	That is a beautiful thing to be able to free yourself of that entrapment.
	Of the joy that you can feel in flying through the air, the adrenaline, you know, falling through the sky.
	It's an amazing feeling.
	This type of training improves my mindset for my arm wrestling.
	You're forced to keep as much of your mind active as possible.
	Your life depends on it.
	It forces me to think while I'm under stress.
	There's a lot of stress, you know, you think you might die, you know.
	You know, in arm wrestling, you really have to make that switch.
	You know, you have to turn into something else to be really good at the table.
	You have to let go of what you are in everyday life and you have to become something else.
	And it's the same thing in skydiving.
	You have to do something that you don't really want to do, but once you get there, you can really let go of everything.
	What a great day.
	Got no skydive.
	I went on leave last year just to pursue arm wrestling fully.
	Every day I'm training for this moment.
	Especially with this year off.
	He will literally train all day long.
	I just blew through a dude's hand.
	To win at the WAL, it means you're a bad dude.
	It's the biggest pro league that there's ever been.
	to win it the first year I'm a part of history it's a big deal for me There we go.
	There we go.
	You're good.
	Got to dump this over.
	Hey, thanks for having me on here, Jeremy.
	I'm no big fan of your show.
	I got you on Instagram.
	And when you start going, I'm right there with you, man.
	Oh, thanks a lot, man.
	I appreciate that a lot.
	It's an honor and a privilege, like I said.
	And thanks for being here.
	And looking forward to it.
	Can't wait.
	Turns out I think I've muted myself here.
	I'm going to have to fix it.
	There we go.
	I think.
	Good.
	No.
	Anyway, Devin LaRat, if you don't know, you should figure it out.
	Armbet.net.
	That's his baby at Dev LaRat on Instagram, veteran special forces operator.
	Yeah, I mean, I'm as far retired and as civilian as you can get now.
	I mean, you're like, I've got this t-shirt now, you know, but my problem.
	I'm fully retired.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	I did 20 and I did 16 at the Hill.
	So, I mean, there were some really good years and all good memories.
	Yeah.
	That's great, man.
	I just realized my own audio was muted this whole time, but that's all right.
	I'll fix it later.
	I'm recording it, so it'll take it up.
	Oh, yeah, they can hear you.
	I'm talking to myself.
	Yeah, well, it's good.
	It's all right.
	Yeah.
	Anyway, yeah, I know.
	I appreciate it.
	Yeah, I got it.
	And it is what it is.
	So how's everything been going, man?
	We wallowed the destruction there.
	Where was it in Dubai where you're the king of armed wrestling now?
	Is that how it works?
	Well, I think that I kind of cleaned up North America again.
	You know, I was probably considered the guy from like 2008 to 2012, 13. And then, you know, I had surgeries and I got skinny for a long time.
	And yeah, like I just got back in May what's called the legacy hammer.
	It's supposed to be held by, you know, the best guy, but there's the destiny hammer.
	Sorry, the legacy hammer, I don't think has really gotten to the top of the hill yet.
	I really think I'm probably pretty good in North America, but I do believe that the dude right now to beat is in Georgia.
	He's this great big Georgian monster, Levon Saganishvili.
	He's barely human.
	I love it.
	I love the guy.
	If you say he's barely human, that's disturbing.
	I really get a kick out of the chirping going back and forth on the Instagram, the stories and stuff.
	Guys will, you know, you guys tag each other.
	And one of them I laughed at pretty hard the other day.
	Was that you doing the weird music?
	Whatever.
	It was just this weird.
	Yeah, that was a kid from that was a kid.
	I mean, the arm wrestling scene is growing.
	We've got a pretty good culture going right now.
	And yeah, there was a kid in Russia who's super popular.
	He's got like fucking like six million followers on TikTok.
	Is that the school boy or is that somebody else?
	No, this is, yeah, you know, it's funny.
	Schoolboy is super, super popular on YouTube, but there's a whole, like every single social media platform has like their superstars.
	Yeah, this, this, this kid from Russia has got like, he's got like six million followers on TikTok.
	So wow.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, man.
	So yeah, he's this young phenom and he did this video and I just kind of copied it.
	Take from, you know, copy who's doing really well and just try to do it better than them.
	I was doing okay on TikTok for a while.
	My Rocky, one of my followers, does that was managing it for me went from nobody to 31 and a half thousand or something in about two months.
	And in the last month, it hasn't moved at all.
	Suspicious.
	I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but you know, man, gotta put that algorithm.
	Yeah, it's the way it works here when you've got the wrong opinions and stuff.
	Um, yeah, I mean, uh, geez, I don't even know where to, where to begin.
	It's uh, you've had a fascinating career as well.
	Like, uh, I played the little intro there.
	Your wife, you did seven tours, so you did three and a half years of your life over there in that lovely vacation space.
	That was posniate too, but I don't even really count that.
	Like, you know, you know, yeah, it was, and you know, you know, like not all tours are the same.
	Like, some tours are pretty chill, and then other tours are actually real.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Sometimes you eat ice cream and swim in pools, and the other times you live in holes in the ground and try not to die on a regular basis.
	Well, I was basically always eating ice cream.
	That part really changed for me.
	You gotta stay huge.
	Yeah, you gotta stay.
	Man, that's the main thing about going overseas, right?
	Free food all the time.
	Weights.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I got a kick into the guys that did the teardown tour in Kabul in 2012, and they all just got huge.
	That's what they did.
	They essentially all just went and lifted weights.
	It was pretty funny to watch.
	They all come back, these monsters.
	You know, I do have like a little bit of guilt, you know, like being in the unit that I was with, we did get really, really well taken care of all the time.
	You know, it was very consistent for us.
	I mean, and we're very well aware that a lot of the dudes are out there living in holes, eating rations for like, you know, the entire time.
	And it's just like, man, that's a tough tour.
	That is a tough tour.
	You know, like, yeah, there's no, you know.
	Yeah, no, go ahead.
	Yeah, like, even though, you know, we're doing, we're doing some, some tough stuff, at least we're getting our laundry done.
	We're getting amazing food.
	And that's definitely.
	I do that any day compared to sitting in a trench and eating rations for six months.
	Oh, my God.
	It's definitely a different animal.
	I just, I had a little bit of a taste of it.
	I wasn't around too long.
	I wasn't, I started, I hung around Seesaw for a little bit on the operator course there, and then I ended up had an issue.
	But I know what you mean.
	I remember there was a time on the course there, I just felt like such a dickhead.
	We were sitting inside while all these GD guys they had hired, like just privates and corporals from wherever.
	This was down in the States, and they're up cleaning up our brass that we had been shooting all day.
	And I'm in there literally eating pizza indoors with the heat on, watching them from the window.
	Like, I feel like such, shouldn't we help them?
	Or, you know, it's kind of, I know what you mean.
	It's kind of a fucking suffering.
	They didn't suffer.
	Yeah.
	Go out and eat ice cream right in front of them.
	Oh, it's terrible.
	You have heard this.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Seven easy days.
	Yeah, that's right.
	That's right.
	Just chocolate cakes and high fives.
	There was a guy there.
	I think he was with you guys for a while.
	He was one of the instructors on my course.
	I don't know if he was what he did there, but there was something he always said that I found was hilarious.
	He's like, you know, to be sarcastic, there's just chocolate cakes and high fives.
	It's a piece.
	It's easy.
	It's awesome.
	It's the opposite of that.
	It's terrible.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's a tough task.
	They attempt to bring balance.
	They attempt to bring balance to the universe.
	Yes.
	Easy task, not a, you know, shooting low for sure.
	I guess how are things out of the?
	Oh, no, I was going to ask about, I didn't know this, actually.
	I didn't, I was just reading earlier.
	You'd been, you're actually wounded on one of these deployments.
	I didn't know that.
	Yeah, yeah.
	There was one mission that was pretty rowdy.
	I ended up getting hit a couple times, but in shrapnel, and yeah, and I got one direct hit, but didn't seem to slow you down much.
	Yeah, well, I got lucky, you know.
	But yeah, I mean, when you look back, we're all lucky, really.
	If we're still here, yeah.
	Yeah, very lucky.
	And that day, I was extra, extra lucky because there was just a, it was just a total disaster.
	Man, going in and doing a hit in the broad daylight never works for special forces, typically.
	I mean, it's just typically a no-go, but everybody's awake, everybody's got nothing to do.
	And the signal is, hey, everybody.
	The whole town comes out to see what's happening.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, not really favorable.
	But, you know, looking back, you know, those hard days are probably my favorite days to remember.
	You know, it's where I learn the most.
	And, you know, hopefully somehow they make you a better person.
	Yeah.
	Well, you know, humility, I think, too, because I noticed a lot of guys would have quite a, they had quite a, not an attitude or an ego, but it was everything changed once it was like, oh, this is real.
	Like there's shit, there's bullets flying around now.
	And it's like, okay, maybe I'm, maybe I'm not such the badass I thought I was.
	I'm going to just take it easy a little bit.
	You know, and I wanted to ask you about that, about, because this is something I always wonder, like, because you've got seven deployments, obviously, a shitload of experience.
	Just that feeling, that always, if I really sit there and sit in it and think about it, you can kind of really bring it back in a way of like, just what it feels like to like that, that, the intensity of that.
	There's just no, I mean, where like people are trying to fucking kill you.
	And it's like, you could just turn a corner and then everything goes black.
	That's it.
	And you're not going to have, sometimes that's just what happens.
	And it's, I don't know if that gets easier to deal with.
	Does it stay the same?
	And did your, your ability to cope with that and manage that become stronger?
	Or is it, yeah, this just always sucks?
	You know, I think it's probably different for a lot of guys.
	A lot of guys who go through it and then go back continuously.
	I think that for those guys, it's a different answer.
	And people are on a spectrum.
	I feel like me as a person going into that, like when you talk about the bravery scale, okay, I would say that in the unit where I was, like at the Hill, like most of those guys are just, they're so brave.
	I honestly would have assessed myself as being on the less than average bravery scale in that unit.
	I swear.
	Like we got guys who are just so gung-ho, who are just so like, yes, put me in first.
	I'm first through the door.
	I want in on every single hit.
	You know, I would have probably put myself as below average on the bravery scale.
	And I remember my first tour, like my first, like, and when I say tour, I mean like real tour, like tour where you're going out at night and you're fighting.
	It's a threat level.
	Yeah.
	So I remember on that tour, I would say that my performance was like really impacted by all those things.
	Like, you know, like, you know, before you go out on, like when you're planning the mission, your stomach is just like, oh my God, this is my last day on this planet.
	That's the worst.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Right.
	So, you know, like, you know, leading up to the mission, you're like, and then, and then you get on the chopper, you get on the Humvee or wherever.
	And, you know, you get into game mode.
	But at the same time, like, I remember the first mission.
	I was, I was younger.
	I was, oh, fuck, I don't even remember when I was probably in my late 20s or early 30s.
	And I just wasn't like, it would affect me.
	Like, it would affect me a little bit, like in the mission, on the mission, especially like a longer one.
	If like we had like a mobility where it was like, you know, 10 days, two weeks or something.
	Right.
	I would notice that my willingness to, you know, have my head up and look and see, it was just like I'd slowly start to become degraded a little bit.
	Yeah.
	Dave, do you ever read Dave Grossman's books?
	On killing?
	Yeah.
	And on combat?
	I'm a terrible reader, like really bad.
	I've read like seven books in my life.
	Those just happened to be one of them.
	Yeah.
	I did look at some of the training stuff.
	I found that very interesting.
	Like I saw how like the percentages were from like the different wars and all that.
	Yeah.
	I found that fascinating.
	An aspect of that he talked about is that like your the continual exposure to like the threat level and the fear level and the combat, like it does degrade you over time.
	It's like that's why they have got to replace like the longer and more extended time these guys are exposed to combat and the intensity of it and so on, there's like a bell curve where it's like, it'll be good.
	And then after a while, it starts to really come down in a hurry and you got to replace these people.
	So you get burned out and your brain like, you know, like drugs or something.
	You can't have these chemical, these intense levels of adrenaline coming through your brain.
	You get exhausted.
	That's another thing.
	I could never believe that you would fall asleep.
	And, you know, like you do.
	Like we would, we would have like ambushes or whatever.
	And it's like, yeah, just hold this 10 and 2 for a couple hours.
	Like, okay, you know, and then your heart rate comes down.
	You're literally like, falling asleep.
	It's like someone just tried to kill you two hours ago and now you're sleeping.
	Like, yeah, it's hard.
	That's why you have to have reserve guys to reserve forces to replace them because that's when the counterattack comes when you're exhausted.
	Yeah.
	But I did notice a lot of things absolutely did change for me as I went forward.
	So that tour, like my first tour was a bit rough.
	That's the one I got I got shot on and you know, came back and I really licked my wounds for probably like a good year.
	And then my subsequent tours after that, my psychology absolutely changed.
	It 100% changed.
	And I used a tool that I think is quite common with guys is that I developed, I guess, what you call a switch, right?
	So I really had the ability to really change, you know, on the camp, in the day, in the planning, on regular me, like still have those same feelings of my guts churning.
	But then I found that once we kind of crossed the threshold of mission start, I was like a totally different guy.
	Totally different.
	Like, I was, yeah, I kind of was there to do the job and I wanted to.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	But it took me a good tour to get there.
	It took me like experience.
	It took a good solid deployment and then and then come back, lick my wounds.
	And then after that, it's like I developed it.
	It's like I had the ability to actually truly enjoy what it was that it was it was giving me and just making the best of it.
	Yeah.
	Because if you don't go there, you're going to do worse.
	Yeah, for sure.
	I found it was like an acceptance thing.
	I mean, I only did the one, the one combat tour was that one, but it was the initially, like a lot of time leading up to it too, my brain was always like, how do I not die?
	Like, how do I not, you know, just trying to not make mistakes, like try to be perfect at everything and make no mistakes.
	And it's like, man, you can do everything right and still get smoked.
	So it's like, you have to, there's a level of this, you have to just accept that this could happen.
	It couldn't, you know what I mean?
	And just do your best and whatever happens.
	That's part of the game.
	And if you don't, you can't accept it, you're going to be, you know, you loosen up a little bit and go, well, you know, it's just let the fates fall within, you know, do what I'm going to do whatever, man.
	And that I think there's a little bit of, you know, power there too.
	But yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's probably the best thing I got out of my experience in the military was being able to, I've talked about this before on the street.
	I guess you watch some of them.
	I had no idea.
	That's pretty cool.
	But the, that you can, I think it exists in most men or everybody, really, but it's a part of our personality that you Have to reach in and cultivate a little bit or embrace that there's like, yeah, there's another aspect of your this that society especially now hates.
	Like they call it, you know, toxic masculinity and to an effect where it's like the switch where it's like, I can just turn into this other guy where, you know, you can set all this stuff aside and do what I got to do.
	And that's, you know, that's how we survived for thousands of years.
	I mean, if you're going to hunt a wolf or something, you can't be like, I hope it eventually you have to kind of go into a headspace where it's like, I'm going to fucking kill you one way or another.
	And that's it.
	And I don't care what I got to do, but I'm doing it.
	And then you just, that's all there is in your head.
	You're not thinking anything else.
	And that's a great thing to have.
	It builds a lot of confidence, I think.
	I mean, I'm a totally different person than I was 10 or 15 years ago.
	And I think I owe that to the military and having, you know, having these experiences that you can, and you got to think about it and process it too after the fact.
	You can't just show up and never think about it again and walk away.
	Like, I don't know.
	I guess I know what I'm doing now.
	Yeah.
	Mission before self, right?
	So it's supposed to be.
	Yeah.
	Well, I mean, once, if you can, if you can really embrace that, you become very good at accomplishing a mission.
	Yeah, if you throw yourself into it.
	And I guess that's probably served you very well in your arm wrestling career.
	It seems like.
	There was a video I played of yours on here once, and it was clearly you were talking about the competitor, the match you had coming up with Big Fellow there.
	What was his name?
	Oh, God.
	The big beard.
	Oh, if Mike.
	Yes.
	Is it where I shave my head again?
	Yes.
	Yeah.
	My man.
	I went mission before self big time on this last one.
	Yeah.
	That's the one I was trying to show.
	I was trying to tell people.
	I was like, you see what he's doing here?
	Like, he's going in.
	Like, you know, like, there's a, something happens where it's like, okay, now I'm, now I'm this guy until I've finished doing what I got to do.
	And we're staying.
	We're going to sit in this.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	What I've found is the same thing we're talking about with, you know, how you can only maintain that for so long.
	Yeah.
	So I normally only kind of turn on the killer mode for like just the last little bit.
	Like I kind of try and be just a good person and, you know, you know, open and compassionate, whatever I need to do to be like a good human being in the world.
	But then there comes a time when it is no more messing around.
	And a lot of, yeah, I normally and I normally clean up a little bit when I do it.
	Yeah.
	Well, it's like a ritual, you know what I mean?
	Like it's, there's got to be some, I think that helps, some kind of extreme physical change.
	Like even just shaving your beard, like I look like a completely different, I look like a baby, so I can never shave this off.
	It's got to stay forever or I'll never get laid again.
	But, you know, shaving your head or something that you don't, like you can almost physically separate different, I had a guy, my first section commander who I thought was great, Brian Kenny was his name.
	And he would, he had a mustache.
	That's what he would do.
	He would grow a mustache before, and he would be like, that's, and he'd be like, that's evil, Brian.
	He's different.
	Right.
	I'm like, Roger, okay.
	Yeah.
	You know, it's like some kind of something.
	Some, everybody's got some kind of, you know, maybe not everybody, but it's definitely in there for sure.
	Yeah.
	It's, yeah, I'm just playing the video.
	I don't know if you can see it.
	It's really important.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, I can see it.
	Yeah.
	I love to do it.
	I love to get there.
	Like, I feel like the level of focus and the adrenaline and the living in the moment is what I, what I really still, I still yearn for it.
	I still seek it.
	Yeah.
	It's hard to do it.
	Now I have it.
	I have it in arm wrestling a little bit.
	You know, it's hard to replace that.
	Yeah.
	I think guys, I think people, then you need some kind of mission or something to do that's not like just swinging an axe all day.
	You know what I mean?
	You need some kind of something ambitious that you feel like is worth your time.
	That's not like, you know, plowing a driveway or something.
	You know, nothing wrong with that kind of work or whatever, but I, you know, you need something to, something, some kind of mission or something that's like challenging for you.
	But yeah, that's kind of the same thing.
	Peterson talks about this before.
	You know, he's like, a good man is not somebody that's who's harmless.
	He's like, the guy you want, like who you want to be sheriff is like the nicest guy, a compassionate guy who's got a lot of empathy.
	He, you know, he understands people.
	He's there to look out for you, whatever.
	But if the wolves come, he'll fucking flip the switch and go to town.
	You know what I mean?
	He'll clean, fucking clean house.
	And he's, you know, that's who you want.
	And that's what, that's been my experience with.
	Oh my God.
	Are you kidding me?
	And I know so many guys who are those great people.
	I know them.
	I know they're there.
	And I get so angry.
	And that's why I like to listen to your podcast.
	Yeah, I was going to say I've met a lot of the guys I've met were like kind of in your circles.
	All those guys that I, you know, I had the pleasure of working with or trained me at all.
	And a lot of the Kansoff guys I know and spent time with and like, they're all like that.
	They're all very, they're great human beings.
	And it's, but it's all like, they're all smiles.
	It's like kind of jarring to, you know, especially newer guys that they go and do these selections and stuff.
	And it's like, when it's work mode, like they're trying to break you.
	They're going to test you and they're going to try to break.
	And then if they, you know, if they get hurt or they leave, whatever, it's like, and then they were super nice.
	It's like, well, yeah, man.
	They're not, there's nothing personal.
	He doesn't hate you.
	He's like, dude, are you okay?
	Like, is your knee all right, man?
	He's like, oh, you know, and it's like, oh, I didn't understand.
	It's like, because it's a, it's, you know what I mean?
	You either understand or you don't, I think.
	But yeah, all those guys are, I don't know any of them that are, you know, not like that, really, come to think of it.
	But yeah, just great.
	We need more.
	It's a great place to cover for sure.
	Yeah.
	And I do, I mean, and I think that's why a lot of veterans are in this same boat where they're looking at the leadership right now and they're just like.
	The level of risk adversity, how it's shaping our entire country, I mean, is enough to make us lose our minds when we know there's people like we probably all know a good handful of them that were like, just put that guy there.
	Just put this guy there.
	And all these things just disappear.
	Yeah.
	I've, you know, I've been, and it's again, like, I know any kind of great leader or anything, but I've had the, again, I've had the pleasure and the honor of being able to work for some of these guys.
	I've had a great, I've had great examples to learn from.
	So it's like, I, I can, I'd be like, that guy, that's the guy you want.
	Or, or, or the opposite of him.
	You know what I mean?
	I've also had really bad leadership where like, this guy sucks.
	And, you know, when you look at, you know, the leadership of the country and, you know, a lot of the military right now, it's like, this is not going to, this isn't going in the right direction.
	These are not, you know, and it's like they don't have to be the smartest person or whatever, but if they're just weak, soft, bad people that are going to cut corners and, you know, do the things they're doing, like this is destined to fail.
	Because that's what I've learned in the military.
	Because that's what I really loved about the military.
	The things I did like about it was that there's no faking it.
	You can't fake anything.
	That rucksack weighs 100 pounds every step.
	It doesn't get lighter.
	You can't pretend.
	You can't, you know, reality is reality.
	If you get shot, you got to deal with it.
	You know, it's like there's no amount of, you can't talk your way out of any of this stuff.
	You got to perform and results matter.
	And it's like, but they're doing the opposite now.
	It's like, well, we're just, we'll just say a bunch of things that don't make sense and take a bunch of terrible actions.
	And then like the Homer Simpson quota, you know, it's like, I'm just going to hide under some coats and hope that somehow everything works out.
	Like, this is concerning to me because this isn't consistent with everything I've learned in my entire life.
	Yeah.
	I mean, I left before I feel like the culture really changed.
	Yeah, I got out in 2017 and right around then it was starting to get weird.
	The guys I've been talking to lately and they're just like, you wouldn't believe, you wouldn't believe the stuff that's going on now.
	Believe you, that I wouldn't believe it.
	Yeah, I've heard some whispers too, but I prefer just to stay with my blinders on now.
	It's just another, just a little bit longer.
	Yeah, well, it's one of those things, like, well, what can I even do?
	You know, like, some people obsess over these things, and it's like, yeah, they'll pay attention, care, but like, if it's ruining your life, you know, then, you know, I can't, you know, I can't do anything about these things really.
	So if it affects you that deeply, it's probably not good for you.
	It's not good for you to spend that much time stressing over these things.
	And try to deal with things in your own life that you can affect, you know.
	So what do you got going on out that way?
	Well, I've just been doing this mostly.
	It's pretty, I like it out here.
	I mean, I guess you've probably, you've been all over the country, so you know that it's just different.
	I like the attitudes and the people out here.
	It's just more, not that anything's better or worse.
	It just suits me better.
	I just, you know, I like it here.
	I like the, I don't mind the terrain.
	Some guys are like, it's too flat.
	It's too, it's too many.
	It's too flat.
	Like, I like it.
	I think it's cool.
	It's different.
	It's nice and dry and warm all the time.
	I thought you were in Nova Scotia.
	I am from Nova Scotia.
	I'm currently in Saskatoon, Saskatoon area.
	Oh, wow.
	Okay.
	I didn't know that you'd moved.
	I thought you were still out.
	No, I go back and forth.
	My kids are, they live in Nova Scotia with their mom, so I travel back and forth.
	And my family all lives there.
	My dad, my mom, and stuff are all there.
	Saskatoon, man.
	That's wild.
	I've never spent that time in Saskatchewan.
	It's like the Texas of Canada, kind of, you know, and it's similar to Alberta, I guess, a lot of ways.
	But yeah, it was just a totally different, I just was like, I just got to do something different for a little while, you know, and this is definitely it.
	Different scene, like kind of like shaving your head and doing a whole, you know, I was kind of in a rut.
	So I was like, this, you know, this is not.
	Why not?
	You know, it's, what's the worst that can happen?
	Yeah.
	You got, you got any, uh, you got any arm wrestlers out there or what?
	I'm sure there are.
	There's some, there's some big fellas out here for sure.
	The arm vet, that was, is that your, is this your baby?
	You know, I've, I've been in arm wrestling since I was a baby.
	Like, I mean, I started arm wrestling when I was like five or six.
	And I, I basically have always been like a super fan.
	So I'm like taking ideas from this and that and this and that.
	And I kind of realized probably like five years ago, really what we needed to kind of, oh, look at you.
	Hold us on.
	Hold on a sec.
	Joan, come and show people what you're looking like right now.
	Okay.
	Jodi is an actress.
	I'm going to a pink party.
	I'm just kidding.
	Oh, perfect.
	A pink party.
	Everybody's pink.
	Yeah.
	Anyways, I kind of figured out what I thought we needed.
	And I mean, like, everything is evolving all the time.
	And right now, I feel like we're in a period where the phone is just, it's so powerful, right?
	So we need to learn more how to do everything through this.
	So we need to, it's about community building.
	And that's really the heart of what Armbet is.
	And then, you know, all sorts of cool stuff on top of that.
	Where now we've, we can actually, you know, we can stake arm wrestlers, we can get equipment, whatever we need.
	Anyways, yeah, I pitched it to everybody, every single person I thought I could get to help me.
	Finally, kind of the ball got rolling and now we have such an awesome team.
	I'm so happy now.
	I feel like it's given me a good purpose, you know, the growth of this app.
	I think in a few years, I think it'll just be such a great tool for anybody who wants to get into the RMS and community.
	It already is good, but in like two or three years, it's just going to be, it's going to help a lot of people.
	Yeah.
	I, you know, I didn't even think, I didn't even know this was a thing really until I think I started following you maybe.
	And I was like, oh, what the heck?
	It's a lot of fun, surprisingly.
	Like, I didn't think it would be.
	Like, an article I was reading actually earlier about this one here from the Ottawa SISM from a few years ago.
	And it was kind of the same, like, you might think it's, you know, high school, but it's like, no, it's pretty fucking serious, man.
	These are pretty big, mean dudes that do some serious, serious training for this.
	And it's, I love the struggle.
	You know, it's like just a mental game.
	That's another fun.
	I love watching because it's so entertaining.
	My favorite clip that I've, I played this a few times.
	We were, what was the guy's name?
	Jerry, he was just, this guy's Jerry Catter.
	Yeah, he's huge And he's just, he's just, and you're just not even moving.
	And you're like, nah.
	And he puts in the big effort, and you're like, oh, so close.
	Just taunting.
	You know, it was like, this is amazing.
	I'm way too strong, Jerry.
	It was amazing.
	Yeah, that's one of my favorite matches.
	Oh, man.
	Guys, guys are serious.
	Guys get hooked in arm wrestling.
	It's a great sport.
	The thing that I love about it so much is it's at the base of it.
	You know, it's the size of sport where you're not, it's not, money isn't the main motivator.
	Like people aren't doing it for money.
	They're doing it.
	Everybody who shows up at arm wrestling practices is there to work, is there to, you know, become a stronger, better person.
	And the community just really, you know, makes that happen in people.
	It's great.
	I love, that's the thing people can both complain about, but I think is what makes it special is kind of, for the most part, the absence of a lot of money.
	Most clubs don't charge a member fee.
	You can just show up, meet people, train together.
	And so many people are the same, you know, like I personally have always struggled with doing things by myself.
	I'm terrible at it.
	Like you ask me to do anything.
	If it's, if it's just me, I really, I'm just, I'm just not really going to do it that well.
	But if you put me in with other people, it's, I thrive.
	So, um, you know, so arm wrestling, I mean, we are sharing our fitness experience, you know?
	Yeah.
	Like together, we get stronger.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	That's, I'm, I love it.
	It's super, I mean, um, community building, especially now, I think is, is really important.
	I mean, the way society is kind of fracturing and everybody hates everybody and everything's, you know, I've been trying to push that to like, you know, this is all the people in the telegram groups and whatever.
	And it's like, if you, if you're into this, if you resonate, if what we're doing resonates with you, go in there.
	I guarantee there's going to be somebody near you that is on the same page.
	And it's worth, you know, going out there and trying to find these people and, you know, making friends and, you know, kind of community building a little bit, networking, because just for your mental health alone to know that you have, you know, like a peer group, you know, you need something.
	Everybody needs something.
	And it's just very isolating the world we live in now.
	Everything's over the phone.
	It's very easy to just stay home and be in front of screens all day and you lose real connections with human beings.
	Everything's over the screen.
	And it's like, it's not real.
	It's not, it's a, it's a cheap substitute for the real thing.
	And, you know, you can get by with it, but it's not the same as, you know, me, you know, being with other people and sharing these experiences and stuff.
	And, um, you know, so I think, I think it's important.
	And yeah, we're all stronger together.
	I'm terrible doing stuff by myself.
	I can't, I almost need other people.
	Like the website was another guy.
	All this whole overlay was another guy that did this for me.
	The TikTok channel is run by somebody else.
	And, you know, and, you know, people find me and send me stuff.
	And, you know, it's like, oh, this is much easier when there's a bunch of other people.
	But if you can't, nobody does everything by themselves.
	I think Schwarzenegger said something like that before.
	Like there's no such thing as a self-made man.
	Everybody's got help.
	Everybody's got some kind of, yeah, and it's true.
	So, I mean, you can either recognize that or you can think that you do everything on your own, but the humility aspect to it, maybe.
	Yeah, yeah, I love it.
	I love it.
	Mondays and Thursdays, right here in Kanata.
	Anybody's near Ottawa, come out and find us.
	We're at Busters.
	Seven o'clock tonight.
	Tonight.
	It's always a big celebration.
	Means I get Mondays and Thursdays, I get to take the day off and do whatever.
	No working out Mondays and Thursdays because I get to hang with the team.
	Are those your only off days?
	Well, no.
	I actually, I switch it up a lot.
	Basically, so now that I'm retired, I really am a full-time professional arm wrestler.
	So most of my life is dedicated to my craft.
	So I like to go to practice.
	That's my, I really enjoy it.
	And it's actually probably, it probably really is the best way to get better as well.
	And the days that I practice, I don't work out with weights or anything.
	So yeah.
	So I normally do like, when I'm really training hard, I'll do like three or four club meetings a week.
	So basically every other day, I'll go to a club to an Ottawa and then I might bounce out a little bit.
	Like I'll go to Montreal or I'll go to Toronto or wherever, just Pembroke, you know, there's lots of clubs around.
	Yeah.
	I wanted to ask you about that.
	There's so many stories about you.
	Are you aware of this?
	Your training stories that are just, dude, I saw, I saw Lauratte in the gym and I don't know.
	I don't know if he's human.
	What is yours?
	When you were at your peak, like, or what maybe that's now.
	I don't know.
	What kind of, what does your training day look like?
	Yeah.
	Look, I mean, guys who knew me from when I was serving, I was in, I'm 46 now.
	And I'll tell you, I'm really damaged, really, really damaged.
	Like in terms of like most of my joints are pretty rough.
	Like I can still do a lot of stuff, but yeah, I'm definitely not what I was when I was like 25 to 30. Like back then, I basically didn't have injuries and I was just a complete retard, like complete, complete idiot.
	You know, there's a good picture of me there.
	Like that's, that's me.
	Like, yeah, and I, I could, I could run.
	I could do everything.
	Yeah, whatever.
	Yeah, you know, you're at that time when the injuries haven't affected you and, you know, you're, you're in full soldier mode.
	And yeah.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I was actually just out running this morning and I've got something going on with my hip and I'm like, I don't know if this is just old.
	Like that's the diagnosis.
	It's like old.
	It just hurts now.
	So carry on.
	I don't know.
	I just turned.
	Well, I'll be 36 here after Christmas.
	And it's, yeah, I don't know.
	Or like, I also, I was in a bad Snowmobile accident once in Petawa.
	I went right through a tree, spun my whole life.
	I can't believe it didn't break my femur.
	And I'm like, is that what it is?
	Like, did it just finally come loose?
	I don't know.
	But I catch it.
	It definitely, your body definitely ages faster doing that kind of work.
	Like every mile you put in with those rucksacks and all the gear on and everything, and every jump these guys do and every bad fall, you know, it just adds up.
	It's cumulative and some of them are permanent.
	It's like, and it gets worse as you get older.
	My back is starting to hurt now.
	I hurt my back when I was 18, I think, or 17. I was doing, I did basic in the, or maybe it was 16. I was young and I was 120 pounds, maybe, doing battle school as a C9 gunner.
	So I just did the stiff knee, like when you can't bend your knees, walk and look, just in my back, I could feel it like crunching on one side.
	I'm like, oh, that's not good.
	And now it's starting to hurt like the last couple of years, the same spot.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Like way, way later.
	It's like seeing 20 years, kid.
	You're like, oh, man, really?
	Like, that's cool.
	That's wild.
	I can't believe that.
	Let's see.
	The ferryman's toll.
	One of the guys that follows, he says, I guess I have to hold off a few hours on leaving and make a trip to Kanada tonight.
	Do it.
	That would be great.
	Yeah.
	Where'd you say it was?
	Yeah, come on out.
	Busters at 420 Hazeldine in Canada.
	There you go.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	There you go, brother.
	Go check it out.
	A couple of Hadrian's dumpsters.
	I haven't been able to catch anything for a while.
	DTS, stay bigoted, brother.
	Thanks, man.
	Full draw scarves.
	Good afternoon.
	Forgot about it.
	Some have seen this is a must-share screen record.
	I don't know if Event will load or not, but take a while.
	Yeah, it's taking a while.
	But yeah, your body degenerates faster.
	But that's something else I missed about it, too.
	I think, I don't know where I was reading this, maybe the same article, but that was a great thing with the military.
	They basically pay you to train.
	And everything I learned about fitness and everything was, as a result, a byproduct of that, because it was part of your job.
	You needed to do it.
	And I ended up, I hooked up with a guy, Chris Schneer is his name, at Synergy Training Center outside Fredericton.
	I'm not sure if he's still there or not, but he had a lot of professional athletes there.
	Brandon Brewer is the Canadian middleweight boxing champion that was training there.
	There was a couple other professional fighters there.
	And it was just different.
	This is not, you know, he actually was one of the, what were they called?
	The trainers that the Army has at the gym and stuff.
	Perry's?
	No, like the, what the hell are they called?
	No, like the PSP.
	He was a PSP guy.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	The Perry was before the PSP.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	He was PSP and then he went and did his own thing and it was a totally different, I mean, guys are throwing tires around and sledgehammers and big rocks and just like, you know, one, and he'd just make up new stuff every, you know, I paid a lot of money for it, but I was like, that was worth every penny because I remember everything and that stays with you forever.
	You know, and then you can pass that on to other people.
	And one day I went in there and he just he filled a duffel bag full of rocks, just big rocks.
	And he's like, here you go.
	He's like, do like all these sets with this.
	And he's like, because it's an uneven, it's basically throwing a dead body around.
	And he's like, it just challenges your body in a different way.
	Things I would have never thought to do on my own that you don't do with cables on a cable fly machine in a gym or something.
	And that kind of stuff is just, but yeah, it was, you know, the army's got some benefits to it, I guess, besides getting shot and blown up and whatever.
	Besides the really fun stuff.
	Yeah, the great times, great days.
	Yeah.
	So yeah, I did want to, I was curious about that.
	I guess that's probably, that would make sense.
	I was going to ask, what was the, if you ever had a time that you were like, that you found that was the most fear you'd ever felt, like where you were like, you know what I mean?
	Like the most intense level of fear, like real fear, because I had never been scared before until I was, until I was in Afghanistan.
	Like you think you're scared.
	Like, oh, this guy's going to beat the shit out of me after school.
	That's not fear.
	Fear is, fear is a guy lining you up with an RPG-7, you know, and you have no cover, no time to react.
	I'm like, I'm fucking dead, you know, like I imagine probably getting shot would be one of those times.
	Yeah, it's interesting, you know, just when I hear you talking about it, to me, there is quite a difference in my mind right away when I hear you say the words between fear and adrenal response.
	And, you know, like, I feel like there's a bit of a difference there.
	I feel like fear is a little bit more like I'm thinking about this and I'm very wary of it and I'm not happy about it.
	And I, you know, whereas you don't really always have the luxury of fear when you're so much in it, but your adrenaline might be just red line and beyond.
	You know, I feel like a lot of the times when I was probably at the most risk, the fear wasn't really so present, but the adrenaline was.
	And then times when I would be more away from things, I would have the luxury of perhaps, you know, being able to rationalize things a little bit more and probably having a more pure feeling of fear.
	Yeah, maybe.
	I guess there's more fear beforehand.
	You know what I mean?
	While you're talking about the mission planning and just waiting, like we would tell us, like, oh, here's our, you do your, your, uh, you know, your, and you're just left to sit with that.
	It's like, we're doing what today?
	It's like, well, we got, you know, 80 or 90 guys dug in here with small arms and indirect fire.
	There's probably booby traps and mines and the whole thing.
	And, you know, at in five or six hours, we're going to go get them and kill them all.
	Any questions?
	You know, and I'm like, we're doing what tomorrow?
	You know, and you just kind of sit there and think about all the things that can go wrong.
	And, but then when you're in it, it's a totally different, I guess, because, you know, I guess maybe you get used to it, but it's brand new when you're brand new.
	And it's like, I don't, my legs feel funny.
	You know, like I can, they're there, but they just feel weird, like kind of, you know, like, what is this?
	And, you know, you lose some of your fine motor skills.
	And, you know, some guys have like ocular and audio occlusion.
	Like they can't, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a weird thing to manage that if you don't know how or if you've never done it before, it can be overwhelming for people.
	Yeah.
	I found that there were other feelings that were worse than fear.
	Like, you know, guilt.
	Yeah.
	Guilt is a terrible one.
	You know, the after.
	So before there's fear, during There's like adrenal redlining, yeah, and then afterwards, you'll feel like guilt about things that you feel like you didn't do quite right and you want to fix, and you know, that's the one that lasts.
	I think I know a lot of guys like that.
	That just they, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday, and a lot of the guys we had a bad, um, we had a bad, we had a whole section get wiped out by an IED and a lot of them still are like, you know, like they blame themselves.
	They just feel guilty.
	It's even just surviving where it's like they got, they went home in a box and I get to watch their kids cry about it.
	And I'm here drinking a beer.
	It doesn't seem fair, you know, it's like, especially when you're brought up to be a team and, you know, we're all together and it's like they didn't get to go home and I did.
	It's fucked up.
	Yeah.
	If they could go back, like, I mean, the, the, the army guys, they're always like the teams, they're always trying to fix, like make things better, like, especially like now they're focusing more on the psychology of it.
	I think that they've done a really good job now in preparing guys for combat, like way better than when I was going in.
	Like, you know, when I was leaving, there's like courses in mental resilience now that you take to, you know, just to make yourself stronger mentally so you don't break down as easy.
	Right.
	But I don't know that there's that much for the, the, you know, for the, for the dealing with, with the guilt part.
	And maybe there is now.
	Maybe there is.
	Yeah.
	Maybe they fixed all that.
	Yeah.
	I don't know.
	Do you, do you, what do you, do you miss any of it?
	I mean, I do.
	I mean, I think everybody does.
	You go through a weird, I went through a weird kind of when guys are done and they want to get out, they're done.
	You know, like, I can't wait to fucking get, turn all this shit in and get out of here.
	And then you're like, I'm free.
	I'm, you know, and then it slowly starts to creep back in.
	And then you only remember the good times for a while.
	And then you become one of these assholes with a RCR flag all the time.
	You're like, this is the best.
	You know, it's like, ProPatra!
	Why are you selling, why don't yell, ProPatra, while we're banging?
	That's weird.
	You know, like, no, I, something, you know.
	I don't know.
	It's a weird transition.
	Yeah.
	I do miss a lot of the people, but, you know, the people aren't necessarily tied to the jobs.
	I still talk to a lot of them.
	I still got a lot of buddies that I converse with.
	And, you know, you miss the culture a little bit.
	I probably miss the food more than anything.
	But that's a great perk because then I'm like, I got to cook my own stuff now.
	Oh, man.
	You got to get a wife and just get her.
	I'm a terrible cook.
	I'm basically, again, The Simpsons, like, I'll pour cereal in a bowl.
	It'll catch fire.
	I'll be like, I don't know what I did.
	I don't know.
	Honey?
	Yeah.
	I burned the cereal again.
	Yeah.
	I miss the guys, I think, the dudes.
	When I was getting out, it was weird.
	It was just some corporal.
	I think I was duty NCO or something in 3rd Battalion when I was leaving.
	And he was, oh, you're getting out?
	I was like, yeah, this is like my last day or something.
	And he's like, and I think his old sexuality or something, he said, he's like, well, I don't know.
	It's like one of those things.
	It's profoundly like, I'm looking at him, like, he doesn't even know, understand what he just said, but it's like, that is profoundly true.
	He was like 20. And he's like, well, you know what they say?
	You miss the clowns, but you miss the clowns, but not the circus.
	And I was like, yeah, that's true.
	Yeah, you know, I do miss the job as well a little bit.
	Like, you know, there's, there's really, it's a great form of expression, you know, to be at that, you know, pointy end of the spear for your country.
	It's the top of the pyramid, man.
	You guys are at the fucking.
	It's a really, it's a really great place to be.
	It's just, you know, when I realistically kind of reminisce and I'm like, would I ever want to be back there?
	Like sometimes I'm like, yep, yep, yep.
	And then I'm like, wait a second.
	Yeah.
	Depends on the mood you're in.
	Maybe not.
	To me, it's all about the same thing we talked about at the beginning, you know, mission for self.
	You have to believe in whatever mission you're doing.
	And my mission has really changed now.
	Probably, and I've really finally found some good resolve in my mission.
	You know, my mission now is my family and my craft and arm wrestling.
	And I think that I can build some community outside of, well, outside of being a soldier now.
	I feel like now I'm something else.
	I'm just not that guy anymore.
	Hats off to all the guys who still do it.
	And gluttons, you know?
	100%.
	And it took me a little while because I got out and I was like, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.
	I started doing this about two years ago and I kind of found a, you know, it turned out to be, you know, it was a positive thing.
	People are entertained by it.
	They like it, whatever.
	And, and, you know, it's become a whole other thing now.
	But what's your long-term strategy here?
	Where are you going with all this?
	I don't know.
	We'll see what happens.
	You know, I'm just, it's been going, going well for the last couple of years.
	You know, warlord maybe or some kind of despot dictator.
	I don't know.
	I just, well, I originally thought I was like, maybe he'll be a comedian or something.
	That was kind of, I just saw people doing this.
	I was on my couch watching.
	I think it was Owen Benjamin or somebody.
	And he's like, here's a guy who's just talking to 5,000 people and he's just with a laptop.
	I was like, damn, that's, that's something like that.
	I could do that.
	You know, I couldn't, you know, why not?
	We'll give that a shot.
	And I did that for a little while.
	And now it's just become, yeah, like there's a whole, there's a whole bunch of these people now.
	There's thousands of people.
	There's some of these guys are selling.
	He sold like three or four hundred of these flags now all over the country and people are meeting up and making friends and everything.
	Hold on, that's not from the kit shop?
	This one, no, this one.
	Yeah, this gun over here.
	You sell those?
	That's from our kit shop.
	Yeah, that's, yeah, Frank.
	Blackbird Industries actually makes them and sells them out or Frank buys them in bulk and mails them to people if they want them.
	And it'd just be a cool thing.
	You could see, like, if you see that out in public, it'd be like seeing a battalion banner or something like that.
	You'd be like, oh, you'd automatically know you have a lot in common with this person.
	And I thought that would be kind of a, that's a cool thing to, you know, an easy thing to do for people.
	And yeah, I don't really have a, I'm not really a guy with a plan.
	I'm like more like a dog chasing cars, you know, I don't know.
	same way, man.
	I'm the same way.
	But eventually, if you chase cars long enough, you kind of get to the 401, and you're like, I'm going this way to Toronto.
	Yeah.
	It's kind of, I don't know where it's going, but it's going somewhere.
	And I didn't know what to do for a couple.
	And it was bad.
	Like, it was kind of, I was kind of in a tailspin there for a little while.
	I think that happens to a lot of guys when they lose because that was my whole life.
	That was my whole, I joined the military when I was 16 or 17, and that's all I ever wanted to do.
	Once I understood that that was something that existed when I was like 10 or 11, like I saw like a war movie or something and I'm like, this is a thing.
	And they're like, yeah.
	And I'm like, I want to do that.
	I need to do that for some reason.
	And I couldn't, you know, I was just sucked into it.
	And then it was like, I thought I was going to be in there until I was dead.
	You know, I was like, I'm signing a 50-year contract.
	They'll replace my body parts with machines.
	I don't care.
	I'll just stay in here forever.
	It'll be my head in a jar or whatever you want to do.
	And then it, you know, wear and tear.
	And you have the issues and everything that happens.
	You run out of gas.
	I used to say like the guys, like everybody's got an expiry date.
	Like some people can do it forever.
	Some guys do it 30, 40 years.
	Other guys can do it for five or 10. And they're just like, I can't, I just, I'm out of gas, man.
	And when you're out of gas, you're out of gas.
	You can take a break.
	And if it comes back, it does.
	If it doesn't, it doesn't.
	And I was like, well, now what do I do?
	And it took a while.
	You know, I'm lucky I found this.
	But unfortunately, a lot of guys end up just, you know, they deploy to, what did somebody say?
	They deploy to FOB, you know, Ford operating base living room couch and, you know, go on beer drinking operations.
	And the next thing you know, they're dead or something.
	It's hard, you know, to replace something that significant because it's not just a job.
	You're not just like, I show up eight to five and I, you know, cars or whatever.
	It's like my entire identity is wrapped up in all of this.
	This is who I am.
	You know, if I'm not, I'm not Master Corporal McKenzie, who the fuck am I?
	I don't know.
	And it's like, that's fuck.
	I don't know.
	I'm lucky.
	Hey, you should, you should see if there's a position for like the R ⁇ R hotels and like, you know, wherever.
	See if there's a, see if there's a requirement.
	Maybe you can get in there and work the R ⁇ R hotel.
	That's a good deal.
	That would be juicy.
	I doubt the government would allow that.
	I don't know if they approve too much of my positions on a lot of, you know, basically call them, calling them scum all the time and lying bastards and this and that.
	I don't know if VAC would approve that, but I don't know.
	You never know.
	They don't pay attention.
	They may have no idea.
	We've been paying this guy for how long?
	Probably applying.
	You never know.
	Might have yourself a good deal there.
	Yeah, maybe not.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, that would be fun.
	Something to do anyway.
	Oh, do you watch?
	I was thinking that, do you watch a lot of like, because I was, I was just thinking, like, cause I was a kid, I was just drawn into this and like just the war movies and the whole culture of it.
	Like, was it something you like play?
	The video that I played earlier, where you just like, usually like, I just walked by the recruiting center and just went in.
	It's just like, I just felt like doing it.
	It's here's the thing with my kind of war history.
	I didn't have that plan as a kid.
	I did not.
	I remember sitting in the bathtub when I was like probably three years old with my brother who was five.
	And I remember still very clearly looking at my mother, who's German, by the way, and left the country, you know, and whose entire family was basically destroyed by the war.
	You know, she looked at us and she said, I want you to be happy and I want you to do anything you want to do.
	And I will be, I will support you.
	And with anything you ever want to do in your life, just never be a soldier.
	So something must have happened there.
	Something must have happened.
	Soldier, huh?
	That's what you took away from this conversation was the last word?
	Yep, that's all I remember.
	The forbidden fruit, the forbidden fruit.
	But no, I didn't really.
	I mean, I wasn't really into war movies, nothing like that.
	So like I said, my mother was, my mother's side of the family was German.
	And my father's side of the family was Canadian.
	And my father and my grandfather, it's actually quite some interesting.
	They used to just fight war like for hours every second Sunday.
	Like every second Sunday, it was just war philosophy between the side of the Germans and the side of the Allied forces.
	And it really meant a lot to them because they were, both of them were deeply, deeply involved.
	And I, I would, you know, when you're a kid, you don't have to be involved in the conversation.
	If it's going on, you record everything, right?
	Yeah.
	So I must have kind of internalized a little bit of that.
	And that's probably part of it.
	But I had no, I had no plan to.
	I had dreadlocks halfway, you know, past my shoulders.
	And I walked into the recruiting office and I got on course like immediately, like, because it just so happened the timing was perfect.
	Yeah.
	Well, you're like six foot five.
	They're probably like, yep, get in here.
	Send him to the airborne immediately.
	Right.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Did you, you probably, you got in after that was probably over, I think, did you?
	So I got in in 95. So, so it was interesting.
	So, so I, so we did our basic training in Kingston.
	So I was with the Princes of Wales.
	That's a reserve unit in Kingston, not too far from where I grew up.
	All the best guys started as reservists.
	Oh, yeah, absolutely.
	Absolutely.
	So I was there.
	We did our summer.
	Well, we did our QL2, so our basic in Kingston.
	Then we went to Pettawawa and the airborne had just recently been disbanded.
	So our entire staff was all airborne guys.
	So our QL3, so our basic training was taught by the disbanded airborne guys.
	So it was incredible.
	It was an incredible way for me to start, you know, having all these, you know, basically the top in the military at the time teaching you on basic.
	Great.
	It's so important.
	Like that I would get frustrated because I was like, that would like, I always like beat myself up.
	Like, I want to do everything as perfectly as possible.
	If I fucked anything up, I'd be like, God damn it.
	Because I was aware, I was just so lucky with the guys that taught me coming in.
	Like, even some of the reserve guys were just like very, very switched on guys that really cared, really went the extra mile all the time.
	And like, really, it was like, I got like just laid out in front of me.
	Like, here's the best way to do, I mean, and they put the effort in.
	Like, they were working like night, 18 hour day, like not sleeping for days because they're doing lesson plans at four o'clock in the morning and they're just, you know, and then they're going, I'm doing PT.
	So it's like, you have that, or you could have had the fat, lazy guy who checks out at 4.30 and, you know, he's late to work.
	And like, you could have either one.
	And I had these excellent guys.
	One of my first sex commanders I had, and he was in the reserves.
	He was doing his retirement, like on the way out was Brian.
	He was a 3 VP guy.
	He was a two commando guy.
	And, you know, all those guys were just, yeah, it was so lucky to have like, to be able to pick their brains and to learn from guys like that.
	That, you know, learn, what's the phrase, you know, learn from the people that know.
	And that was definitely those guys.
	Lucky.
	Yeah.
	Funny.
	It was funny, actually, with me.
	The guy who was teaching me, you know, T-Bar, Barrett.
	He was my, Tim Barrett, great guy.
	He's retired now.
	Anyways, he was my, well, anyways, I don't, I probably shouldn't be saying names on this show.
	Anyways, he ended up, sorry.
	I'm sorry.
	So good.
	He's mad at you, not me.
	Yeah, I know, I know.
	I'm saying sorry to him.
	Yeah.
	If he's watching.
	Anyways, he was my instructor on my basic, well, basic infantry.
	So, yeah, and just a super hardcore airborne dude, like, you know, followed to do it around basically.
	And then it just so happened the way it kind of worked by some kind of fluke is we were both on the same course getting down into the hill.
	Same course.
	Yeah.
	So, so it was great, you know, like, so he's, we're, we're, we are now both students on the next phase.
	Yeah.
	Awkward for him.
	Tough.
	Yeah.
	No, no, no.
	Tough, tough dude.
	Tough, tough, dude.
	Yeah.
	That was, uh, yeah, I, I had a, had a, had a little run with that.
	It was, it's a tough, you know, people go to these, to these, uh, these tryouts and come back and, and, you know, get ribbed by everybody.
	Like, oh, you do, you quit in a day and, you know, all this stuff.
	And I'm like, go, go try it.
	Go and see what it's like, man.
	You don't know.
	It's fucking no joke, man.
	It's intense.
	It's got a reputation for a reason.
	Lots of fun.
	Seven easy days.
	Seven easy days.
	Chocolate cake and high fives.
	Yeah.
	A few of my friends, a lot of my friends went and did that.
	A few of them got in.
	Some of them didn't.
	Yeah, it's just, I always was drawn to that because I think because of, I met a few of those guys just by chance again.
	We were doing like some pistol.
	Some of these guys taught me how to shoot pistols and they taught me an interesting trick where he was like, yeah, I don't want to say the guy's name.
	I don't sure I remember it now.
	But where you put the finger, the guy puts his finger on your trigger finger and he's like, you just do everything else and let me do this.
	And then you're going to understand the trigger control and everything.
	Sights, sights, sights, sights.
	Yep.
	Yeah, exactly right.
	And I was like, oh, you know, so I got to learn and just the way they were.
	And it was so different from the regular military where you've got these guys with egos and, you know, I'm a fucking sergeant.
	You address me.
	And they're just like, hi, I'm Billy.
	And it's like, this guy has every reason and every, you know, possible way to like brag and act like a big shot.
	And he does the exact opposite.
	He's just a dude and he's very nice.
	You know what I mean?
	And I was like, there's something different about these kinds of guys that I wanted to be around that and learn from those people.
	And yeah, I was just, I was, that's kind of why I was drawn to it.
	You know, I just, those are like that, that, that, I don't know, you know what I mean?
	That tribe of dudes.
	You know what I mean?
	I was like, that's, I want to go, I want to see what these guys are all about.
	Don't regret any of it.
	They're just special, you know.
	Well, there's great people.
	There's people all over the forces.
	Yeah.
	It's an interesting time.
	Especially in, especially on decompression we don't talk about those in those days.
	Your early 20s with too much money and no sense, you know.
	I wonder if there's any.
	Yeah, I'm not even going to ask.
	I can't remember any of it.
	yeah yeah Yeah.
	Ha ha ha.
	Thank you.
	Jeez, man.
	Yeah.
	So yeah, you got in 96 and then you, so you just got out not too long ago then?
	So I got out in, I retired actually.
	My 20 was done in the end of 96. And I hung around for like not even a year in the reserve afterwards.
	Oh, really?
	But I did.
	Yeah.
	I hung around.
	So we have, we have a reserve anyways.
	Oh, oh, Roger.
	Okay.
	I thought you meant like a reserve reserve unit.
	Like you went back to the reserves.
	Like I thought about doing that and I was like, I couldn't do it.
	Yeah, no.
	I didn't really want to leave at the time.
	Like, you know, it was kind of strange, but, but I ended up realizing that, you know, doing anything halfway just sucks.
	For me, it just sucks.
	I didn't, and I felt like it was kind of being a bit of an anchor for, you know, my transition and, you know, evolving into something different or new.
	So I just kind of, I just, I cut it and I was like, okay, done.
	Done.
	Yeah.
	That's scary for a lot of guys.
	They don't know what they're going to do.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Well, it's a big world.
	It's a big world.
	There's a lot, a lot of challenges.
	It took me a while.
	One of the interesting transitions for me mentally was at the beginning, I kind of viewed retirement as a vacation or retirement, you know, like my work was done.
	Yeah, which in which is really not that much fun, right?
	It's really not that much fun just to be idle.
	So it took me a while to remember all the good stuff about what I learned in the forces and just how to reapply that to something new.
	All the same stuff, all the same stuff you can, all the lessons, everything, you know, is worth even so much more in the big world.
	In the big world, you can take that level of dedication, that level of focus to anything, you're going to be just fine.
	Yeah.
	I mean, yeah, you learn a lot about life and yourself doing those kinds of jobs where you got to push yourself.
	And that's where you learn the most was when you suffer and fail and, you know, have to push horribly, you know, and, you know, Rogans talked about that.
	You know, my friend Derek says, you know, you like you, you don't really, you're not living unless you're going beyond your comfort zone.
	If you stay comfortable forever, you're just dying.
	And you probably know who David Goggins is.
	You ever follow or read any of his stuff?
	Love that guy.
	Yeah, isn't he intense?
	You want to watch?
	I said, what a killer.
	He is.
	Oh, man.
	It's just, I read, I listened.
	Well, I listened to his book.
	Stay hard.
	You know, he's out.
	I'm just, this guy's a machine.
	And I knew he was, but I didn't, I had his book on tape and I listened to it the last time I drove out here from Halifax.
	And it was just like, by the time I got to Winnipeg, I was like, this guy is on another level.
	This guy's something else, man.
	And yeah, it was just his whole life experience crazy.
	But yeah, just pushing yourself through those, you know, if you stay, what do you say?
	If you're, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse.
	You know, if you're not pushing yourself, you're not, you just stay comfortable.
	You're just dying.
	You're not doing anything.
	You're decaying, really.
	So, you know, at any age, and he's like, now I fucking, now he's a fireman.
	He was a SEAL forever and he did all the ultra-marathon stuff.
	He's like, now I'm a, he does these extreme firefighting, like the guys they send out to the, he's probably doing that right now.
	There's all the wildfires in California.
	They'll send these guys out there to do that stuff.
	And, you know, yeah, it's not fun to just sit around.
	I did that for a little while.
	I had kind of the same idea.
	It's like, well, you know, I'm okay.
	I get a pension.
	I can just sit here and watch TV.
	And I was like, that was fun for a couple months.
	And then it was like, this is the rest.
	This is what I'm doing for the rest of the time.
	This sucks.
	This is boring.
	Do you know about my pumpkin stuff?
	I know.
	I know there's something going on with you with pumpkins.
	What's that about?
	Do you know anything about growing pumpkins?
	Not really.
	I know what you're doing.
	Have you ever heard of giant pumpkins or growing giant pumpkins?
	No.
	Okay.
	Well, you must know about giant pumpkins.
	They exist, yeah.
	I'm aware of them.
	So do you know how they grow a giant pumpkin?
	No.
	Okay, well, so a pumpkin, do you know about a pumpkin plant like a pumpkin vine?
	Have you ever grown one or anything?
	Yeah, I've seen them.
	I know you're not.
	There's many pumpkins on the vine.
	Right.
	Right.
	So to grow a giant pumpkin, you actually have to pinch off every single flower except for one.
	Oh, so it steals all the resources?
	Everything.
	Okay.
	All in.
	All in.
	This is it.
	That was, I think, was Gog is talking about that as well.
	He's like, if you don't, if you have a safety net too, you know, if you're doing something difficult, if you like, well, I have a plan B. He's like, I had no fucking plan B because if you do and it gets hard, you're going to be tempted to go, I'll just do the other thing.
	You know, it's easy.
	I'll fall on my safety net.
	But if you don't have one, you're for like you're all in.
	You're committed to this.
	Like, this is it.
	I have to do this.
	And there's no other way out.
	You're going to get your best effort out of that.
	You know what I mean?
	Even if you fail, you don't, but you couldn't have possibly tried harder because there was, there's no other choice.
	You've got no other option.
	Right.
	I thought that was interesting.
	Yeah.
	So physically, like, I mean, you live your life a whole bunch of different ways.
	There's a lot of things going on.
	But physically, the physical expression of my being, when it comes to the giant pumpkin theory, right here.
	The hands?
	Not hands plural, hand.
	One hand.
	It's all about the hand for the arm wrestling?
	Just this one.
	Just the right hand?
	Right hand, yeah.
	That's it.
	So for the past two years, basically, the only exercise that I've done is to strengthen my right hand.
	It's and pancakes.
	A lot of pancakes.
	This is before you were during your off season, are you assuming?
	No, man, that's peak season right there.
	That is arm wrestling.
	Hey, we're not bodybuilders.
	We don't have to look good.
	We just have to be able to perform, you know, like pancakes.
	Pancakes have changed the arm wrestling industry, man.
	Everybody is pancaking out these days.
	Oh, you're pretty lean in this picture.
	I don't know if that's, I don't know if this is okay.
	I naturally am a skinny guy.
	Like, I'm a skinny guy by design, but let me tell you, I wasn't that guy on May 28th.
	No, you were huge.
	I was not.
	Yeah.
	That was great.
	And it was fun to watch, too.
	That was another thing.
	It was like, you're so good at it.
	It's fun to watch anybody that's really good at anything.
	Like, that's why people get drawn into certain sports.
	I was just thinking about this, like, like Michael Jordan, maybe.
	Like, if you don't even like basketball, but just to watch somebody be so dominant at something is just satisfying to watch.
	You're like, man, that guy's really good at whatever that is, you know?
	And it's just fun to watch somebody.
	It's like arts, you know, in a way.
	And you just, it was just wild.
	I was pulling.
	I was hoping you'd win.
	And it was just, yeah, it was just crushed and crushing nomination.
	It was fun to watch.
	I felt kind of bad for the other guy, actually.
	Yeah, a little bit.
	Somebody in the YouTube chat was just like, does Devin know the monster?
	Like, yeah, I think he knows him quite well.
	Isn't that who you just beat for this?
	He said he was just watching him on Duck Dynasty or something.
	Is that where it was?
	That's right.
	Yeah.
	Michael's a great guy.
	He's, Michael and I have a very long history.
	He's, he's like me.
	He's been arm wrestling, you know, for 30 years or something crazy.
	And yeah, we've gone a little bit back and forth.
	He's beat me.
	I've beat him now.
	So, yeah.
	And this last time I crushed him.
	I crushed him this last one.
	It's kind of fun.
	It's funny watching because it's like pro wrestling in a way because you guys are like so mean.
	Like it's, it's really like, it's a battle, you know.
	And I, there was one, and it turns out, I guess you guys are good friends, I guess, by your Instagram, Matt Mask, the other guy.
	He's from Alberta, I think.
	And the one, one of the ones I watched, you were just like, he was struggling so hard and you were like, no, I'm choosing not to end this yet.
	You're like, I want you to remember this.
	I was like, oh.
	Yeah.
	Well, I mean, when we actually, so like the community, like most of us know each other, most of us are friends.
	But as soon as we have a match set, norm, well, it depends on a lot of guys are friends with each other the whole way through, but I always choose to, as soon as I have a match with somebody, I'm like, okay, we're going to fight now.
	You're cool with fighting me.
	Yes.
	Okay.
	I'm cool with fighting you.
	Okay.
	Let's do it.
	The fight for me starts months before we ever.
	Like as soon as they say the fight is set, you might not even know it yet, but I'm fighting you.
	You've got like a picture.
	Do you put like a picture up of them in your bedroom?
	I have, I tell you, like my psychologist probably needs to do a lot of work with me because I spend way too much time thinking about people.
	I love that, though, because it's like there's so much power in that because it's like it's also like kind of a defense mechanism maybe in a way that where you're like, if you're focused on someone else, you don't have time to like second guess and doubt yourself.
	You know, I think that plagues a lot of their confidence chips away.
	I don't know if I can do this.
	You know, the thoughts that creep in there where it's like, no, I don't have time for that.
	I'm too busy focused on destroying this person and trying to analyzing them.
	Sorry?
	Yeah.
	Target fixation, right?
	Yeah.
	And trying to look for weaknesses.
	That's it.
	Just watch closely.
	Watch closely.
	It's interesting what you learn, you know, if you focus in any field, you know, it's yeah.
	And the truths always go over and over and what you can pull into something as simple as the sport of arm wrestling.
	Like I feel like I've learned a lot of psychology through the sport of arm wrestling, you know, because the last probably, well, I'd say I've really, I've really gotten active with it since I've retired.
	Like before my retirement, like I did it, but not the way I have, you know, the last few years.
	You know, the mental stuff beforehand, like if you can understand a person, you can start to understand how to best attack them mentally.
	A lot of people are very similar.
	You know, some people actually, some people actually respond to straight up, you know, threats and bullying.
	And, you know, a lot of people, a lot of people do, but actually a lot of people who are really good at stuff, as soon as they face that, it actually makes them stronger.
	Like if you try and bully or threaten, you know, a guy who's really a badass, normally what you do is you make him more powerful.
	I see that as a challenge.
	Yeah.
	It's like, oh, really?
	Yeah.
	It's like, don't wake the sleeping giant.
	You're just pissing him off now.
	Yeah, it's interesting.
	It's a very common psychology.
	It's very common, especially if you give someone enough time.
	Like if you start to approach someone, like, you know, if you, if you basically start threatening someone months before an event, like there might be that initial kind of fear reaction, but then they're going to start to plan and get ready.
	You know, you know, you know about the Mongols, right?
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah.
	Right?
	And you know how the Chinese beat the Mongols?
	Do you know how they did it?
	No, actually, I don't.
	Before I did it.
	They basically let them come into their castles.
	They fed them.
	They didn't fight them.
	They let them have their women.
	And then before you knew it, they weren't Mongols anymore.
	Ah.
	They converted them.
	Well, they just softened them up.
	They just gave them everything that they wanted.
	Oh, I see what you mean.
	Yeah.
	They took away the Spartan of, you know, what's where their strength came from.
	And they've fattened them up and softened them up.
	Right.
	Yeah.
	And a lot of, a lot, I find a lot of people that I encounter, like a lot of the champions, a lot of the champion mindsets are from overcoming, from, from, you know, from rising through, from beating adversity.
	And when you kind of take all that away, you know what I mean?
	You need to, you need the struggle.
	My buddy Pat was talking, we were talking about McGregor and he's been not, he's not the same guy as he was before.
	I don't know if you follow fighting a lot, UFC or whatever.
	And he's like, he's like classic, you know, defeated by silk sheets, sleeping in silk sheets.
	You know, he's too successful.
	Now he's like, that, you know, intensity that he used to bring to the hunger to win is now like, well, you know, I've got $100 million.
	You know, fighting for $100,000 isn't super important anymore.
	Not as much as it was.
	I don't really feel like now he's getting his leg snapped in half for, you know, whatever it was he got paid for that fight.
	Yeah, it's interesting that it's kind of, I like the mental battle aspect of it too.
	Like when you guys are doing the arm wrestling, like the struggle back and forth, because it's like someone's mentally challenged, like coming at you while you're being physically punished.
	Like you're getting tired and it starts to hurt and somebody's on top of you.
	So it's like that kind of, it's similar to like the selection phase, you know, stuff like that.
	And stuff like that in the military where it's like, now that you're really hurting, now I'm going to apply some mental pressure to you and see how much worse I can make this.
	Like I love those strong, you know, like that's where, that's where you really find out what somebody's made of then when you really like dump it right on them, right when they're at their lowest.
	It's like, let's fucking see what you got now.
	And then it's the time to do it.
	That's the time to do it.
	Like that can be the thing that pushes a guy over the edge.
	Once they're in the fight, once it's too late to adjust, it's just an extra thing that you can throw at them.
	So yeah, that's why when I, when I'm actually fighting, like at the table, right away, if I see an opportunity, I will start to talk.
	And it's so powerful.
	If you can do it properly, you can being ahead is nice.
	And if you can get ahead and then start laying the talk down, it's very easy to convince a person that they have no chance.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	That's funny.
	Yeah.
	You just beat them mentally, you know?
	It's good times.
	Good times.
	Makes you feel like a good person.
	I want to destroy you mentally.
	That's preferred.
	That's my preferred method of destruction.
	I don't want to just beat you.
	I want you to doubt yourself as a man.
	That's what I would prefer.
	Hey, I'm only sharing what I received for years and years and years.
	So it's just a balancing of energy.
	Yeah, I'm just giving back to the universe.
	Yeah, that's all it is.
	That's all it is.
	Oh, yeah.
	That was so good.
	These are all, I've got some of them on here.
	Yeah.
	One more year.
	These are great.
	This is on YouTube.
	It's the, is it the top 10 or top five?
	There's, there's Matt there.
	Is this the one?
	You're like, I want you to remember this.
	Yeah.
	Well, that was, so this is round one of that match.
	But yeah, yeah, I'm saying one more year, one more year, because we've got a long, long history, Matt now as well.
	And yeah, he's fully capable of beating me.
	He didn't, I wasn't even going to pin him, right?
	So he fouled out.
	Yeah.
	I think he's from Alberta.
	He is.
	Well, he's actually from Timmins, but yeah, he's a rigger.
	So he's from Red Gear.
	Hilarious.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Great sport.
	Yeah, it's a lot of fun to watch.
	I'm surprised at how much fun it was to watch.
	Yeah, there's way too much.
	Oh, get involved, man.
	Go out there.
	Get on our involves work.
	How do the weight classes work?
	There's a weight class for everybody.
	Yeah.
	Like, what are they, how are they broken down?
	You're in the ultra super mega heavyweight division, I think.
	Yeah, I'm in the pancake division.
	The pumpkin division?
	Sometimes, so I'm in, I'm, I'm in a kind of special spot where, you know, if I want to be a little bit more responsible, I can cut down to like heavyweight.
	So I can, like, if I want to run and be in good shape and, you know, make my wife happy, I can probably be 100 kilo.
	Important.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	But if I want to be just like the best I can possibly be on as an arm wrestler, then I just, you know, yeah, my face gets round.
	Going for the power.
	Yeah.
	I always, I'm always just like, I don't know.
	I fly back and forth.
	It's like, should I lose 10 pounds or gain 10 pounds?
	And I'd never do either.
	I just stay exactly the same.
	I'm like, yeah, you gotta, you gotta have goals.
	You gotta go one thing or the other.
	You gotta have a mission of some kind.
	Yeah.
	I change like every day.
	Like, I'm gonna run today.
	And then tomorrow I'll be like, no, I'm gonna eat 6,000 calories and do deadlifts all day.
	I don't know what I'm doing.
	Yeah.
	Normally every five or 10 kilos.
	So like every, you know, every 10 pounds or so, there's, there's a weight division that you can find.
	And the tournaments are all different.
	Like you can find, but basically, yeah, I mean, if you're anything under 220 pounds, there's a division, you know, every 10 or 10 or 15, 20 pounds that they'll do.
	I've got the classic, I was told alien hands.
	When I was trying to learn how to shoot, I've got the small hands, long fingers problem.
	So I've got these long.
	It's a pain in the eye.
	Yeah.
	You use the finger strength maybe to.
	Yeah, well, you can shut a person down the further you wrap around.
	This whole sport's all.
	It's all hand.
	It's interesting how technical it is.
	It's fun to watch.
	It's like, you know, something else to enjoy.
	And it's good.
	You know, the community building, like you said, even doing it.
	Yeah.
	And what's it called?
	In Canada.
	I almost wanted to say hookers.
	That's not what it's called.
	Busters.
	Jeez.
	What are you doing?
	Hookers.
	Well, we are called the Ottawa high hookers.
	That's our name.
	Oh, maybe that.
	Maybe I saw it somewhere and that's why it's in my head.
	Oh, could be that.
	Come on out and play.
	Come on up and play.
	Get ready.
	Next time you pass through Ottawa, next time you pass through, you'll have to stop in and I'll whatever.
	We'll definitely do that and I'll show you some tricks.
	Yeah.
	There's a bunch of some of the other, a lot of guys, there's a couple guys in the chat, I guess, that knew, I don't want to name their names, but a few of your buddies apparently are watching.
	Oh, yeah.
	A lot of other old soldiers and stuff around.
	Wow, War Relish 89 says, hello from Merck and the Relish family.
	Pickley from Ontario says, see, the great pumpkin does exist.
	Oh, Charlie Brown, it is.
	His name is Devin.
	The Great Pumpkin.
	You give me like another 10 years on this.
	I feel like, you know, when you think about fitness, health, and everything, I mean, most people are doing something similar.
	A lot of people are generalists.
	A lot of people are specialists in their sport.
	But I'm going like I'm doing something really weird now.
	Like just one hand is all the homework for me.
	That's it.
	I'll still arm wrestle.
	I'm not living in a wheelchair or anything yet, but I think in like 10 years, I think that this is going to be a very fascinating experiment to unfold, share with people, you know?
	I think I'll have, I'm hoping I look like Hellboy, you know, one just super killer claw on the other.
	The rest of me is kind of normal.
	Yeah.
	Grab my little hand.
	You know, are you, so you're right or left-handed?
	You're, because you won with, you're the champion with both arms.
	Yeah.
	And you're the only person to ever do that, I think.
	Is that correct?
	Well, I was the first person to do it.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	I was the first person, I'd say in modern, modern, like kind of recorded arm wrestling to do it.
	But once I did it, I feel like a whole bunch of guys did it.
	Like, I feel like I was the first.
	Yeah, that's how it goes, right?
	It's the Roger Bannister effect.
	I was talking about that before.
	The guy, nobody could run a four-minute mile.
	This guy does it.
	And then everybody fucking does it all of a sudden.
	Yeah, I feel like after I did it, like every super heavyweight champ was like right and left.
	There was this guy Bennis Plankoff.
	Then I think Andre Pushkar was one and one as well.
	And now, I mean, it's probably LaVon is probably ranked number one, right, and left in the world too.
	So, but yeah, I was, I was the first guy to break the ice and do kind of both.
	but now at 40, so I did that when I was like early 30s.
	So now I'm like, I don't think it's possible for me to have the energy to be on that level.
	Uh, so yeah, so now I've got pumpkin where I think I can be like at that level a little bit.
	And I've got party hand.
	Party hand is just around for fun.
	That's what I call it.
	Party hand, you know, whatever.
	I don't put any expectations, no stress, no nothing.
	If no, whatever.
	Just one giant arm, one giant hand, and I will never lose.
	I will never lose.
	Fascinating experiment for me.
	I think it's so much fun to try it because I don't think there's, I don't know of many people who are trying this experiment.
	Like, I don't see many people in the fitness industry who are like, I'm just going to work out my right cast.
	That's it.
	It's almost like a meme.
	Like, it's a joke.
	It's like, that was like, yeah, like that.
	It's like, oh, there's just one guy with one huge hand and arm.
	Like, but what if I did do that?
	You know, that's funny.
	Think about it.
	And you're just like, why not?
	I might as well.
	There's 7 billion people on the planet.
	Like, why not?
	Why not try this one-off experiment to see what they, and I'm actually, I'm really fast.
	I mean, like I say, I've worked out.
	I've been in love with fitness since I was a teenager.
	And this last couple of years of playing with this theory, fascinating.
	Fascinating.
	Is it a rumor or is it true that both of your parents were Olympic athletes?
	Is that a rumor?
	Is it true?
	Well, it's not true.
	There is some truth to it, but that's the thing with rumors is they normally start with a little bit of truth and then they turn into something.
	My dad was a fairly high-level wrestler.
	My grandfather on my father's side, I think he still might hold some records out in Alberta somewhere running all Boston.
	And on my mother's side, my grandmother was on the German Olympic team.
	Oh, wow.
	So kind of true.
	Back in during the war times.
	Yeah.
	Oh, way back then, like in the 40s.
	Yeah.
	Oh, wow.
	That's fascinating that you have family on both sides of that.
	That's interesting.
	And I guess a lot of guys probably do now because the guys have been deployed to Germany for so long.
	They have tons of guys of German wives.
	There's a guy in our battalion who his mother's German.
	There's quite a few of those.
	And you get to hear these philosophical conversations back and forth about the whole thing.
	That's fascinating.
	And I always I felt bad for these guys in a lot of ways because they don't get anything.
	Like I was in I was in Germany a while ago and there was an old guy there and he was just telling about like they don't he's like we don't have fuck all we don't have remembrance day nothing it's just not talked about you don't you don't have shit and it's like how is just like warrior to warrior as a guy who like I was just here doing what I thought I was you know what I mean I'm fighting for my country the same as anybody else and like they don't even get afforded that basic respect that's I mean that feels wrong to me it's like this guy he was a radio operator in whatever infantry division lost an arm
	and then went home like what do you the punishes it just sucks you know it's kind of sucks for them I can't imagine I'm trying to put myself in that position like that would be awful it's like losing twice you're talking about like for the German side yeah yeah oh Germany was destroyed oh yeah they well I mean that's that was the lesson never lose if you're gonna fight a war do not lose because you're at the total mercy of whoever defeats you and uh you better hope that it's
	as someone as benevolent as America because if it's not um you know if it's the Soviet Union you're gonna have a tough time you're gonna have a bad time the Soviet Union comes in and takes half your country and rapes all the women you know and all the craziness that went on and yeah it's I felt bad for those guys yeah just as just you know like soldier to soldiers like I can and I like I like I was fascinated like reading their books and stuff um I fin I read one that was uh this guy was uh he was he was originally a
	truck driver and then they remustered him to like an infantry division and um guy saget he was french he was like a french el sage lorraine German he was like one of those half and half guys and uh and that forgotten soldier it was called and just this the sheer insanity of it um I was like that I like I was like guys should read these books because there's like a lot of awful shit that happened overseas a lot of the dudes and stuff and it's like it helps put it into perspective it's like things are bad but like knowing how much worse it could be is almost like makes you feel better it's like oh well
	you know yeah you know 07 was kind of bad but it was not the fucking ukraine pocket i'll tell you that right now like some of those stories were just like and and being an infantry an infantryman like i can like the stuff that he's describing it's like i've done a lot of these things like just to you know my feet fucking hurt and i'm freezing and i'm hungry i'm like yeah i'm right there in the in the hole in the ground and then he's like um there was one scene that was like i got terrified reading it and he's like uh i was in a hole with this guy and there was a brand a veteran guy they called him the veteran for
	the because he'd been in the in the war since like 39 and this guy was like their he was like the old corporal of the section kind of thing and uh he came running back from the the trench ahead of them because they could hear the ground moving and shaking like they did their first four waves it's like you normally the russians attack in four waves and it's over and we we did the four waves we survived like thank god they're using the rocket artillery it's nightmare like oh they're drinking wine like finally thank god it's over and then there's a fifth wave and he comes running back and he just jumps in and grabs them and he goes there's a million of them run for
	your lives and then he looks and there's and he said in the after action report they estimated it was what 600 000 russian soldiers it was like over a half a million with armor and the whole thing just he's like the ground was moving with that many people all running screaming towards you i'm like that's insane so guys are like you know yeah afghanistan was kind of rough and sketchy but like then there's as extreme as this can get yeah not not not comparable not comparable no well afghanistan is probably more like enhanced police activity
	you know it was different yeah and and there were similarities in that too where they were always worried about uh because I'll be like, well, Afghanistan was, you know, you could get hit anywhere, anytime, and there's mines and booby traps.
	Same thing happened to them.
	It's like, there's Russian partisans literally everywhere.
	Guys will go like, yeah, go back to the kitchen truck.
	And then he goes back to the kitchen, never comes back because some guy grabbed him, dragged him into a bar and cut his head off.
	And they're like, well, Fritz is gone.
	So tail is not comparable.
	No, it's not comparable.
	I always found it fascinating because it's just this craziest thing.
	Like World War II is basically the craziest thing that's ever happened.
	The whole world was on fire for like five years.
	Just the scale of it and the insanity of it.
	Entire cities were erased.
	Yeah.
	I mean, I'm sure there's been crazier stuff if you can go back far enough, but definitely in the last, you know, 100 years, without question, without question.
	Just some of the stuff, like I'm at, like the sky got dark because that many bombers came in and leveled the city, created a fire vortex so powerful it was dragging people down the street pulling them into the fire like just like literally nightmarish things that you can't even describe like how would you describe that to somebody like how was so that's why i think the real like people are like grandpa never talked about the war it's like how could you how could you even explain these to somebody it's like it was shitty that's all you need to know i can't even yeah how do you describe something like that yeah my
	uh my grandmother is danish so i don't i don't have a german but uh close and her mom uh has memories of that you know when they uh the geoccupation came into denmark and so on and family members on you know it's it's crazy and it's uh it's a shitty thing wars are shitty yeah well let's hope we can avert one for the next little bit yeah till till yeah if we're good let's go another hundred years without doing that again because especially with everything we got now would just be devastating i don't think they're
	becoming i don't think we'd become or at least or at least let's decide to fight aliens or like sharks instead of each other yeah dolphins yeah how about we declare like a real war like with as much effort as like world war ii against the mosquitoes and just genocide them let it let it be done let it be done for all you serve no purpose destroy them like when you look at all the wars
	over the the entire lifespan of of the human race man those those mosquitoes they got it they got this it's got to be payback command the the russians again yeah they uh can we unite and destroy these creatures once and for all people people would but then you'd have like the left-wing groups that would be like we're you know people hashtag save the mosquitoes and you know we're mosquito supremacists if we could get a 51 vote
	maybe that's what we need we need a politician to come along to unite us all yeah war against the mosquitoes we don't need everybody we just need enough just need enough 51 yeah just enough solid yeah bus full of nuns thank man he's he says has anyone asked if he is batman i i haven't but i know that i've never seen devin or batman in the same place at the same time so the onus is on him to prove that he's not batman you know in my opinion i
	wish i could be that cool can't can't confirm or deny yeah i don't know um anyway i gotta get going i gotta get going yep it's been awesome yeah it was great man yeah uh come by when you're through ottawa give me a message i absolutely will do that thanks a lot man it's an honor and a privilege and uh great uh great having you here and i appreciate it and uh you know i'll say hi to you next time i
	run one of these streams here know that you're and you know say hi again to your wife and uh your kids and everything and uh take care of everybody and if you're in the in the kanada area one last time what's it busters getting there learning that's it that's it what was the address 430 420 you can't forget 420.
	i i did i've had too much 420 that i forgot 420.
	don't forget 420 hazeldeen 420 hazeldeen go check it out keep keep crushing it cheers man you too thanks a lot oh and that's that's gonna do it for that oh awesome man that was fun um great guy love to uh always fun to talk to i love his instagram go go check it out it's hilarious it's uh just very um you know inspiring stuff i wanted to ask him about the pants i forgot about that i wonder if it gives him superpowers
	because he always uh competes with these these uh multi-cam pants on i don't know if that's where he gets his power could be the pumpkins could be the pants could be a lot of things and there's a giant hammer that he's won there armbet.net is his uh website uh you can go there there's apps and stuff and you can download that and find people in your area that want to uh want to fucking arm wrestle you know uh why not you know people are into it it's it's it's fun you know i don't mind it um and it's interesting to talk to uh these guys and you know listen to what they have to say and
	they're they're oh what the hell's going on here wrong one the uh the insight into you know just the the warrior culture and the mindset and everything like that that guy seven tours can you imagine you know shot and blown up and the whole thing man um that's one of our that's one of our guys so you know honor and a privilege and my pleasure to have him here and i hope you guys enjoyed that uh private boomer says he's gonna go get stuff done now and you know you probably should uh big mac glad you guys enjoyed it everybody over there on youtube uh uh i'm batman
	cowboys fan is batman okay yeah and trent dab says batman's arms aren't that big uh anyway i'm uh i guess i'm gonna take tomorrow off i think uh i was gonna do maybe i don't know i'm just uh i need it's a long weekend you know i want to i want to do stuff too i need i need a life guy i got things to do or things i want to do so uh i'll be i'll be away tomorrow and i'll be back on monday for whatever again unless i'm still abandoned and destroyed and deleted like always uh or
	ragecast 157 is that what we're at now something like that uh i don't know you know it's uh you know you never know who's listening to isn't that cool it's uh it's a small world and uh it's an honor and a privilege again and uh to entertain you guys and be here to do this.
	I'm very lucky.
	And, you know, just appreciate your time here because it's limited.
	You never know.
	You never know when the bell's going to ring or you.
	So live your life to the fullest.
	Enjoy every minute of it.
	And life's too short to do shit that you hate.
	I guess.
	You got to do what you got to do.
	All right, guys.
	Cheers.
	I'm going to play one last, where is the...
	Yep.
	One little bit here.
	And I'll see you next time.
	I'll see you Monday, Monday at 8 p.m.
	Eastern, probably, unless something happens.
	8 p.m.
	Eastern, entrystream.live, as usual, raisingdissonate.com.
	Gab, Telegram, TikTok, Instagram, all the stuff that's up there.
	Oh, I didn't update this.
	We're actually at 17 days now without mass death.
	It's very strange.
	17. Let's update that.
	I mean, I was told it was going to be the end of the world.
	I don't know what's going on.
	I'm sure any minute now, the science will catch up with everything.
	All right, guys.
	Cheers.
	ProPatria.
	You know, it turns out Devin was also part.
	He was a Patricia briefly as well.
	So he's got dual citizenship.
	So you guys don't have to feel left out.
	He was also, he's got one of your half edges too.
	So it is what it is.
	One RCR Ironman team.
	Hilarious.
	All right, guys.
	Thanks a lot.
	And thanks to Devin and everybody for tuning in.
	I very much enjoyed that.
	It was a lot of fun.
	And I'll see you next time, guys.
	Roger death to Stalin.
	Fuck that guy.
	You know, I love this sport.
	I love the feelings that it gives me.
	In this life, you know, you can get material wealth.
	You can get all sorts of things.
	But the real treasure, I think, is these feelings.
	And to me, this is a feeling I'll treasure forever.
	Thanks, WAL.
	See you guys soon.
	See you guys soon.
	Exhibit.
	Expeditionary.
	Exhibit.
	Control the bus.
	It's bizarre.
	It's your own.
	Exhibit.
	Experience your miss good day.
	Experience your mission.

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