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Dec. 24, 2023 - Stew Peters Show
57:14
A Soldier’s Reflection: Mental Health and Perspective
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And I thought that I would give you, my audience, whoever's listening or watching, a gift.
And that gift is perspective from other veterans, not just myself, not just Jason that we usually see on the show.
But other veterans.
Today, you guys have the distinct pleasure of hearing from an extremely close friend of mine, somebody that I fought in combat with, a gentleman by the name of Mike.
We will meet him in a couple minutes.
But first, we got to get through all the housekeeping.
So stick with us.
Don't go away.
We start now.
Hello everybody and welcome here to the next episode of the Richard Leonard Show.
I want to thank you, as always, for joining us this week.
It's a very humbling experience to watch this show grow.
Myself and everybody here at the network and at the show just enjoy watching the interaction from you, the audience, every week, every week that we do this show.
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Carlos Cortez and his staff want to help you to plan and execute a tax-free retirement plan.
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Whatever it is you do for work, This is going to be your plan to live as tax-free as possible.
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Hello, Mike.
How are you, sir?
Man, I couldn't be happier, dude.
How are you doing?
I'm very well.
I would like to introduce you, Mike, to the world, or whoever is watching.
World meet Mr.
Michael Wellnitz, a man that I served with in the Army.
We were deployed together in Iraq.
And I'm very grateful, Mike, that you chose to contact me about coming on the show.
And I think that this is going to be...
Something that we do often now.
And so I want to take one second here before you and I get started and just tell the audience, if you have served in the military and you are a veteran, I guess even if you haven't, if you're a family member and you would like to have time on a platform such as this to talk about your experiences or have a conversation about something, please reach out to us.
I would love for This platform, The Richard Leonard Show, to be the voice of all veterans, whoever would like to participate.
So please reach out to us.
You can find us on Twitter.
You can find us on Rumble, all those things.
And so reach out to us.
Let's have a conversation.
Let's get you on the show.
Let's let the world hear about your experiences and how you feel about it.
So with that said, Mr.
Mike Wellnitz, What are we going to discuss today?
I think you and I offline kind of discussed a little bit about the mental health issue as it relates to our community, the veteran community.
So what do you got for us?
Well, first of all, thanks again for having me, man.
I'm stoked.
It's good to be here.
I dressed up for you today.
So you guys knew I was serious.
Man, I got to look into your sponsor too, the retirement plan.
I got to check their website out.
I haven't been on there, but that was cool to hear your sponsor.
He's amazing.
Yeah, I'm excited to check it out myself.
My wife and I were just talking about it this morning because I'm sure you hit the news feeds and see how Gen Xers kind of getting the brunt of terrible economies here and there and most of us don't have any retirement saved up.
That's right.
I got to check into that.
And yeah, I like your point there too about maybe hearing from non-vets, but spouses.
That's important, man.
And just to pass out information and how they get through, right?
Because I didn't have a spouse when we served, but my family now has had to live like military.
I've raised my kids and my wife's had to put up with it because I work on the road now, which is similar.
We got it sorted out now, but that's always a struggle when one person is left to raise kids and expect to work.
Manage a household, that's tough.
Do you think, Mike, that you...
I mean, around this issue of mental health, I know that it's a tough topic.
And initially, when we got home in 2005, and for the first few years after, It wasn't something that I openly talked about.
Knowing you the way that I do from back then, it wasn't something that you were probably very open to talking about either.
Would you say that you, now looking back, that you had some, in quotes, issues that you didn't want to talk about, that you thought you could handle on your own type stuff?
Yeah, so I guess the best way...
Is to tell you how I even got started with it.
Man, we were young, half crazy.
I just wanted to get home and party and do my thing, and that's exactly what I did.
I didn't pursue.
Yeah, I didn't pursue.
I didn't think I had anything going on physically or mentally.
Besides, you know, I tore up my shoulders.
Turret got a hold of my shoulders a couple times.
That was normal stuff.
All stuff I wrote off to, you know, I signed up for it.
I wasn't trying to seek any benefits or anything.
I just wanted to carry on with my life.
But anyway, not to drag it out, we got home.
I think it was right on two weeks after being home.
It was still the end of August.
I know you couldn't make it, but I threw a little party for myself at my mom's lake home.
I was staying with them when we got back until I moved to Washington.
So I was going to throw a little party and I'd been feeling all right.
I hadn't done anything.
I started building a motorcycle and I just rode.
I didn't seek anyone out.
I just rode my bike for two weeks straight and just one buddy that I hung out with.
And then I was like, all right, two weeks in, I'm going to have a little party, you know?
And that morning I woke up that everyone was showing up.
I felt like I was pregnant.
And I'd been working out every day.
I stayed.
I was running.
I was working out.
I was staying fit.
I woke up that day and I was pregnant, man.
My stomach was so big my pants wouldn't even hardly buttoned.
And I just started burping.
And I couldn't control, like burping nonstop.
This is weird, dude.
Well...
This went on for years.
It stayed with me for years.
Really?
After, I guess, so I moved to Washington, went to dive school, commercial dive school, and I had to seek, that's when I first sought out the VA and help because I'm like, this is not going away.
I'd eat a piece of popcorn and I'd just be burping, just loud and sick, right?
Wow.
And I honestly I went up three or four pant sizes just because I bloated so bad.
So I started seeking help through the VA. We started then with years, I mean years of testing because then I'd move around and I'd have to start the process over.
Yikes.
Went through endoscopies, colonoscopies, hooked up to machines to see what was going on.
Well they found a hiatal hernia which We contributed to, you know, when we could sleep, sometimes it was with a flak vest on and we'd just gorge on an MRE or whatever.
So going to bed with a weight on your stomach and sleeping on a full stomach and then having your vest on probably contributed to this hiatal hernia, right?
Can you explain what a hiatal hernia, I don't know what that is and others may not too.
You got like a valve valve.
It's below your esophagus, but right where your stomach starts, you have a valve.
It should be a one-way valve.
So that food stays down.
A heidel hernia, your stomach comes up past that valve.
And so there's nothing really keeping it.
So I'd puke a lot.
I'd puke every single day.
I'd wake up.
I still happened here not too long ago.
If I fall asleep on my back, I'll puke into my lungs and I'll wake up just fucking gasping for air.
I'll choke on my own vomit.
And I still have that issue.
So yeah, we found that.
But through all these doctors and tests, we weren't finding anything.
And that's when I was first diagnosed with PTSD. And I'm like, what are you talking about?
Just made me mad.
I'm like, man, I don't have PTSD. I'm physically ill.
I'm puking in my sleep.
I'm puking when I wake up.
I'm bloated.
I'm like, how is that PTSD? And it took...
Years of my own research, too, because it's not just the VA, it's just the medical field in general.
It's overwhelmed, and you've got to be your own advocate.
Finally, I accepted it, and it made sense.
I'm like, this started the day I was going to celebrate, I guess, being a civilian and seeing my friends.
When I brought that on, I guess that's what gave me such anxiety.
To deal with civilian world again.
And that's when I kind of started piecing it together and like, all right, so I got issues.
And I do.
And I tried meeting up with friends several times.
And I mean, if they end up seeing us, they'll be like, oh, that's what that was.
But four or five times and just hang out at their house, I would just up and leave.
I just couldn't take it.
I just didn't feel right, didn't want to be there, you know?
So let me ask you a question quick.
The PTSD, the anxiety or stress or whatever you call it, of having your friends, your closest friends, whoever you invited to this party you were throwing two weeks after coming home from combat...
Is what initiated this hernia action?
Is what they told you?
No, the hernia was already there.
That was separate, but it was treatment for the hernia that I got diagnosed with PTSD. Okay, okay.
Yeah, so it's separate.
But yeah, and trying to get treatment so that I could eat and be normal and not be a disgusting pig burping all the time.
I was diagnosed and I didn't accept it for a long time until I started Researching how it works and different scenarios and different effects it can have.
And I was like, all right, well, I guess I accept that and I see that.
Now what?
Then you're left with the big now what?
Now what do we do?
Because there's a magic pill for that.
Can you honestly say, now that we're almost 20 something years home, can you say that you can identify those In quotes again, PTSD symptoms that you were exhibiting back then before you got the treatment, before it was identified.
And what do you think?
Because I know the answer to this question for me, but what do you think was going through your mind when you were, for example, go to a buddy's house, right?
And in the middle of the night or in the middle of the party, you just take off because you can't do it.
What did you attribute that to?
Because for me, I wasn't willing to accept PTSD until later.
Yeah, me too.
Good question.
I think...
I just felt like...
I just felt like my old friends at that...
I almost felt like they were pieces of shit because they were just carrying on and partying, which obviously they weren't, right?
They were just what 20-year-olds do, 25-year-olds.
And then my other friends that had been graduating college and then moving into careers, they were easier.
They were cool.
I could get along with them because they seemed like they were propelling forward and they were starting their careers and everything.
And I guess my other friends that were working and partying, and for some reason I felt like they wouldn't understand.
I didn't want them to understand either, you know?
So it's a weird way to put it.
It's not like I was looking for anything.
I just felt like we weren't on the same page anymore, you know?
I just felt like we had nothing...
We could relate to, and so I would just kind of panic and squeak out of there.
Do you think that...
I struggle with a way to phrase the question, but I mean, because for me, it was...
It was similar, right?
I felt like, yeah, I don't know that these people are going to understand.
And the few old friends that I did try to reconnect with, it was great in the onset.
And then you get into, you know, like you go to guys weekend or, you know, you have a house party, you go to a party or something.
And then you just kind of, for some reason, It just flips, right?
Something just flips in your mind or in your brain.
And I would just get instantly furious, just pissed.
And I'd bounce out just like you would.
Yeah.
And then your phone would blow up and there's no response.
But I felt the same thing.
Like, you guys just can't understand...
The way that the world works.
I think that I saw the world work a completely different way than I used to, and those folks weren't able to understand it, even though I wasn't willing to explain it to them.
Yeah, very true.
And yeah, you nailed it.
I'm not here to preach.
I'm not here to tell you guys nothing.
I'm not, I don't want to change you.
Like, I just, I felt like we don't smash anymore.
And that brings me up, yeah, that reminds me, actually, I still credit this to why my wife fell in love with me, actually, and we got married because, so I met her that weekend too.
I met my wife, my now wife, two weeks after being home on the lake.
And we ended up, there was a mutual friend of ours having a birthday party and party bus, and that was like the last place I wanted to be, but then like my wife was getting on this party bus, so of course I sucked it up and went, you know, I'm not going to miss out on this opportunity, right?
And I was sitting by her, I bellied up next to her on the bus, and then obviously it's a bus, so there's other people around it.
I told one of our jokes, you know, it was a pretty sick joke anyway.
I won't get into it.
I'm sure.
But the response that you get from that joke with all these people is just pure shock, right?
Just open jaws.
Some of them don't even say anything and they walk away.
And that makes it even funnier for me.
I think that's hilarious.
Especially...
And my wife laughed and I'm like, oh yeah, I'll probably have to marry her one day because she thinks it's hilarious.
Well, turns out she wasn't really laughing at my joke.
She's laughing at me because I was the only one laughing at my own joke and everyone else was disgusted and she thought that was hilarious.
But it was those situations where people just think you're a freak of nature and some of them are even...
Scared of you because they're like oh you know this person just got back from Iraq and we were there for a long time you know some people didn't know how to handle it and then some of my good buddies you know I didn't have patience for them like bumping into me anymore I remember that too yeah like go to a bar and one of my best friends bumped into me and I was ready to fight him right there don't you ever run into me again you know what I mean yeah just weird attitudes and I don't know.
It's just hard.
You need to get thrown back into it.
Like, good luck, Buttercup.
Do you think that there was any value in the reintegration process that we went through?
And I hate using the word reintegration because I feel like it doesn't apply properly.
But do you feel like any of the stuff that was given to us when we were coming home Was any value to you at all to be able to once again coincide with your friends, your family, the people you may have worked with, and just to kind of feel normal at home?
100% not for me.
I think for the older troops that had wives and kids, I bet there was value in it for sure.
Mm-hmm.
There's one thing that stood out to me was don't shake your baby and I remembered it when I finally had a kid however many years later.
You know, it's really funny you bring that up because I just ran across that video on YouTube not long ago.
It is a thing.
You do want to do it sometimes when they're screaming and you don't know what to do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Absolutely.
For the older troops or the troops that had family members and stuff.
But, dude, I was 25.
I was a little wild.
I wasn't listening to any of it.
I didn't care.
It didn't apply to me.
I just wanted to get so...
Not to me.
And I'm not saying it's a fault on anyone because I wasn't going to listen no matter what, man.
I was young and I was full of piss and vinegar.
I wanted to just get out of there.
So it's not to discredit the program and what they tried to do.
It was just, I wasn't going to pay attention.
Yeah, I agree a thousand percent.
I don't think that anybody needs to be blamed for any of it.
I think that the down, not the downfall, but the pitfall of the program was...
I don't know that they did a stellar job at looking at the demographic of soldiers coming home.
Like you, Mike.
Single soldiers who don't have kids, they don't have wives, they're going home to a situation where they're gonna wanna drink, they're gonna wanna partake in some drugs maybe, they're gonna wanna party and be sexually active, do dangerous things like drive motorcycles too fast and flip jet skis off waves and all kinds of crazy stuff.
But this is actually a very good segue into the things that we found ourselves doing to kind of keep our mental health in check as we came home.
But we didn't, I'll say it for me, not for you or anybody else, I didn't have the balls.
To swallow my pride at the time and ask for the help that I knew it had to have been four or five months after we I knew I needed help.
I knew it.
Yeah.
But I didn't have the testicular fortitude to put my hand up and go, hey, can you help me, please?
And so I guess I'd like to hear from you some of those things you did.
We got about three minutes left in the segment.
So what were the things that you partook in?
Is partook even a word?
I don't know.
I'll have to look it up.
It is now because I think everyone will understand it so that it makes for a good word.
All right.
Yeah, well, right away...
It was the typical stuff.
I drank too much, even though I wasn't really, you know, that was a couple years without drinking.
I drank too much, and I rode my motorcycle like I didn't want to live, for sure.
We even put a toggle on there so I could ride at night with no headlights, and I did that many times wide open, really Too much to drink.
You rode with no headlight?
I'd ride, yeah.
I'd get pretty well intoxicated and turn my headlights off and wide open all the way home at about 120.
Yikes, bro.
Went off the moon.
More than anything, that was just to try and find a rush of combat again because everything seemed so boring.
Yeah.
It wasn't necessarily me trying to kill myself as much as just, I need to find a rush to feel alive and feel good.
Yep.
And that was a pretty good rush.
Well, I bet that it was.
So, yeah, that was a big one for me.
I didn't really learn...
Anything of value.
Even when I started learning things of value, I didn't know it, but that was meeting like-minded people, whether they were veterans, that always helped.
And we didn't sit around and talk about anything.
They just have a different way of communicating, right?
Not necessarily what you've been through, because again, that wasn't important to me.
They just understood your lingo and that you're You talk like an infantryman.
You can relate, right?
You can use acronyms and things and you can drop an F-bomb or say something that's probably not socially acceptable and they're going to still embrace you.
That's more what it is because, again, I still don't like to talk about...
It's not my thing.
That wasn't it for me.
For a lot of guys, that does help them.
That's not what I wanted and seeked out, but it was just another person that if I got a little out of pocket, they understood.
They'd get out of pocket.
They'd been there.
It's okay.
Everything's good.
The next day type of thing, you know?
Yeah.
Somebody that's going to let you do what you're going to do to a certain extent with the understanding that this is just blowing off some steam versus having to call the police or have you committed.
I've heard all kinds of crazy stories where people's...
I talked to one guy, his best friend in the world who didn't ever join the military...
institution because they had a little bit too much to drink.
And he found himself with, had a flashback or something like that.
And instead of asking for help, just had him committed.
I mean, that's crazy. - Please.
But they just should have just taken it into the side.
See, not just a friend that lets you get out of pocket, but that one that ain't scared to put you in check, too.
So if he needs to slap you around a little bit, I think that's pretty good.
Okay, man.
You're out of line, dude.
Yeah.
And I think that's important because I don't like...
I don't need cowards in my life that talk about me behind my back.
Like, let's just hash things out and let me know I'm being unruly and then let's move on.
Yep, absolutely.
I agree a thousand percent.
We've run out of time in the segment though, folks.
We'll be right back.
Stick with us.
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Hey folks, welcome back here to the next segment of the show.
When we ended the first segment, we were just kind of riffing, really.
Mike and I, it seems like we were doing a lot of catching up.
Full clarity, Mike and I went many years without seeing each other.
You know, life happens.
He was traveling.
I had kids and jobs and blah, blah, blah.
And then just one fateful day, this beautiful man walked into the Harley-Davidson dealership, and I about crapped my pants.
But it was really good to see you, bro.
And...
But we had this small discussion in the first segment about your motorcycle riding antics, and I want to talk to the audience a little bit about how we maybe self-medicate, because I think that that's important, because the preconceived notion of the general populace,
in my opinion, is that when veterans choose to self-medicate to deal with whatever issues they have going on, It's drugs, alcohol, this behavior that's self-destructive.
I would argue that There are many things that are great.
And so, Mike, my question to you is, even though all those years ago you participated in riding your bike with no headlight at 100 plus miles an hour, which makes the hair on my neck stand up even, have you found a positive way to use your motorcycle or motorcycles to help you just...
Get through life.
Because for me, it's the best therapy I've ever had.
Yeah, for sure it is.
For sure it's still my favorite.
Always has been.
And yeah, I still like the thrill of riding fast, but I don't drink and ride anymore.
Too many deaths, too many accidents.
And I think most of that's, you know, all the deaths in Sturgis.
There's always drinking involved.
I just, I told you outside of this, I just, just, just one of my really close friends, 11-year Navy SEAL, lost a leg.
He just got home two weeks ago, and now he's going to learn life with one leg short because of a motorcycle accident.
He wasn't drinking either, but Now it's the peacefulness, not necessarily the rush.
It's the fact that you've got to really hone in and be on top of your game, especially today in this world.
All the other drivers on the road aren't paying attention.
They're all texting.
So it's great therapy for me because it brings you back almost into the combat where you're just ultra aware of everything and everything slows down if you're riding the right way.
And my Wife now rides her own bike, so I got a built-in riding buddy, and I know your wife rides as well, and that makes life so awesome because she's just like me.
If she's having a rough day, we might just go for a 15-minute ride, and now it's all gone.
It disappears.
Yeah, it's crazy how that contraption, that two-wheel contraption, can just take...
Full disclosure, there's been one time for sure where I got on my bike and I was having a rough time.
It was the last time I was contemplating suicide, and it was probably, I don't know, four years ago.
And I took off and I just left.
And the negative part about it was I didn't really say nothing to anybody.
I didn't tell anybody.
I didn't tell my wife I was feeling this.
She's going to watch this and this is going to be a whole other conversation because she don't even know this.
But I went for like a four hour ride.
And I got to...
I don't even know where I went.
I get on the roads in Wisconsin and I get lost, right?
Turn my GPS on my bike off and just go.
As long as it's not a dirt road, I'm good to go.
And I got to where I was going.
And to be completely honest with you...
I really had to think about what was bothering me.
It almost seemed as when I was riding, enjoying my music, just kind of chilling out, just riding my bike.
I almost forgot what I was feeling and the reason why I was feeling the way I was feeling.
And so by the time I got home, it was a full day of riding, and I felt a million times better.
My head was clear, and I was able to myself formulate a plan to deal with whatever was bothering me.
And in the past, much like you, I'd try to find the answer for those issues at the bottom of a bottle or doing some other destructive behavior.
Yep.
Yep, it's different now.
Yeah, it's just getting out.
Because one, you're basically in nature because in your car you don't notice all the blades of grass and the trees moving and Things blowing across the road and the deer as much.
And then you just hone in.
And even if you're in the city, then it's a matter of really being focused.
And it's just like meditation because you have to hone in to all the traffic.
And you'd think that'd be chaotic, but there's something almost peaceful about it.
Yeah, yeah.
There's something super simplistic about it, bro.
And it's the weirdest thing.
And try to explain that to people that don't ride.
Yeah, for sure.
There's also, I mean, what percentage of bikers out there do you think still, especially in the V-Twin world, they buy a $30,000 bike just to bring to Sturgis or just to be seen on bike night with their buddies and get all...
And that's cool.
I'm not dogging on these guys, but I don't think they fully understand, like, the riding spirit.
You know what I mean?
Where, like...
Getting caught in the rain and riding no matter what, just to ride or taking your motorcycle to work or the dentist or something.
I know people that just are like, oh, why would I rack up unnecessary miles?
I'm not going to drive my bike to the dentist.
That's what you got it for.
Yeah, you're riding.
To me, it's about...
Riding.
And I know everyone's different.
Like I said, I'm not dogging on these people.
It's just, I feel like there's a different spirit for somebody who just rides just to ride.
And my wife has it full on too.
It's exciting because...
When she first started riding me, it was pretty miserable.
She rode on the back of a hardtail of mine and I would ride in snow and sleet.
I didn't give a damn.
And it was miserable for her because it wasn't fun.
I was the guy that wanted to be out there damn near in a blizzard just because I liked the fact that people would look at me like I was nuts because I was nuts.
Yeah, right.
Absolutely.
Okay, so We've established motorcycles are probably one of the best healthy ways to kind of deal with mental health issues.
What else have you found?
I mean, so let's also preface this by saying that Mike lives, he's in the northern part of the country.
So you got a lot of woods, a lot of lakes.
I would imagine you spend a lot of time outside.
I do, yeah.
I'm sure a lot of your listeners know this already and relate to this.
And again, this is fun.
I bring up my wife because she wasn't big into it.
One day she decided to come to me and say, hey, I want to do this.
And I was like, done, are you kidding me?
Shooting.
It's pistol, because I have a pistol range in my yard.
I don't have an area for long-distance shooting.
I know a guy, and I was a damn good long-distance shooter, but I just don't, it's not as convenient for me.
So, big into pistol shooting, because I got a great range in my yard, and my wife picked it up.
And that is a great form of meditation, because again, you have to Slow down everything.
You've got to calm your mind if you want to really hit a target with a pistol.
Yeah.
And so it's breathing exercises.
It's controlling your breathing and your mind.
And...
Again, everything I've found that I enjoy doing all has to do with combing my mind and focusing in.
And pistol shooting is phenomenal.
And long distance would be too.
I just don't do it right now.
Were we together?
Did you and I do the squad designated marksman course together?
I believe so.
We were shooting at a thousand meters with iron sights and dancing the jig if I even hit the dirt in front of the damn thing.
Yeah, yeah, and then, yeah, I should get back in, you know, I know Ripley's not a terrible long ways for me, and they would do the shooting contest, and I did really well there years ago.
Let me ask you this, Mike, because you, I mean, everything that we've talked about, you mentioned that your wife is big into it, which I think is amazing.
It's great to have that support.
Do you think that you would be as healthy, mentally healthy, and I would imagine you're physically healthy because you always have been, minus whatever ailments you got, but you've always taken good care of yourself working out, running, all that stuff.
If you wouldn't have met her, or if you wouldn't have got on that party bus and never was able to initiate that relationship...
Do you think that you would be where you're at today?
Because, and the reason I ask you this is, as much as sometimes we as men, as soldiers, as veterans, as alphas, hate to admit it, the women that we have in our lives, in my opinion, are like the...
They're the backbone, right?
If I was not with my wife, if I would have foregone that relationship when I had the opportunity to, I would be in a whole different place right now.
I don't think it would be as good of a place.
Yep.
Do you agree or do you think you would have been all right and figured it out on your own?
I don't use this loosely at all.
But I'm positive I wouldn't be here talking to you right now, no.
She definitely gave me something to get up for.
And again, I wasn't necessarily like, I don't know what you'd call it, but...
I do remember another instance.
I finished a full bottle of whiskey and then some and then hopped on my bike in downtown Seattle and I was going for a ride.
Well, I hit the first roundabout a block away and as you hit the roundabout I just kept on leaning and just laid there in the grass.
It was about then I'm like, all right, you know, I got a cool gal that I don't really want to end this now.
So I started straightening up my act then.
So yeah, she saved me from the fire for sure.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
No, just a lot of support and reason to wake up in the morning, you know, and then we had a family and story goes on.
But yeah, I think that was a whole nother point for me.
Like, I suggest to all veterans, have a hot wife.
Make sure she's hot too, because that helps with soul confidence.
Female veterans too, I highly recommend getting a hot wife.
I just think they help.
I love you, bro.
It just helps all around with all ailments, really.
And I'll tell you what, man.
I agree.
Because, you know, I think that there are...
Like I said earlier in the show, it took a lot for me to swallow my pride and do what I needed to do to get back to good.
And for me, when we came home, I had a little boy to raise.
You know, my life was not...
Very well put together when we left.
What's that?
That was tough for you.
Your whole deployment was tough.
That was a rough deal.
Well, you know, but it only made us stronger.
It only made me stronger.
And I think that it was those actions and those things that happened in my life that kind of made me who I am today.
Because I think I could have certainly crumbled.
Yeah.
There was more than one time, bro, where I wouldn't be sitting here either, right?
I mean, I think that that story probably echoes in the chambers of the veterans halls all over the place, right?
That there's something that kept us here and kept us on a track to be better, right?
And it wasn't just us, right?
It wasn't just the fact that we were soldiers and now we come home and everyone wants to call you a god dang hero and all that other crap.
But it was finding those things in life that gave us a reason to continue the mission.
And I've always said that having a mission is kind of what helps us to get over that hump and be able to live out the rest of our days in some kind of peace.
Would you agree?
Mission focus, mission first type thing?
100%.
I got out and I went to commercial dive school, which is badass on its own.
Crazy job.
I've now done...
The top three most dangerous jobs in the world known.
I was infantry, obviously, I was a commercial diver, and I'm still in the oil field.
There's one out there, I think, is the helicopter lineman that I didn't get to in this lifetime that I'll have to try again.
For a brief time between diving You know, 08, big slowdown, bad market, starting a family.
I went and worked.
I won't put them on blast, but I did a job that didn't make me proud and it wasn't dangerous, and I was the most miserable person to be around.
I had no self-worth at that point, even though it was pain okay.
I needed...
When I was a commercial diver and I'd go to the bank, they'd be like, wow, cool, tell me about it, you know?
Same thing when you're in the military.
And there was no sense of pride in my career, and that was the worst time of my life, dude.
I've been through some hard times, but that sucks.
So I highly recommend to people in general, but especially so-called alphas or whatever you want to say, people that like to live a little different, you've got to have a career that...
Either motivates you and keeps you driven or has an edginess to it, or at least something you're proud to be.
Otherwise, life is really hard, man.
Right.
And I think that that is probably one of the things in our country as a whole.
That is not respected enough, right?
I think people get down this road where, well, I got to go to college and I got to get a job.
I want to work for Apple and I want to sit at a desk and I want to do this.
And I think much along your lines, Mike, that's why I felt so comfortable bounty hunting.
Stu Peters and I, we ran around this country for 14 years chasing felony criminals.
That the law didn't want to, but they were out on our money, so we'll track you down, come hell or high water.
Yeah, yeah.
And we got into some pretty shady situations, and those were the best times ever.
Yeah, you thrived on it.
Yeah, and that's what you looked for.
I looked for it all the time.
And so maybe that was, maybe bounty hunting and kicking down doors in South Chicago, where it wasn't legal to be anyway, I don't think.
I don't remember, to be honest.
Or North Minneapolis or...
Columbus, Ohio, with just him and I, or one or three of us, and nobody else on the other end of a radio, no dispatch, no city, no other cops, no other backup, and we're kicking down a door in the ghetto trying to arrest somebody who's wanted for guns and trafficking meth, or cartel members or whatever, and I couldn't do it enough.
Nope.
It was awesome.
Absolutely, yeah.
I'd still probably take up the opportunity to run guns illegally because, I mean, it's on the pond, it's on the water, send me to Miami.
No, I mean, you're just always looking still.
I mean, I'm slowing down a little bit as far as needing a big thrill, but I don't think that'll ever leave.
Like, I always want some sort of thrill, you know?
Yeah, well, and you get that on your bike.
For sure.
I would think.
And so, in the oil fields, that can't be, that's not a mundane job, right?
You guys are in danger all the time, right?
Yeah, stuff happens out there on a rig all the time that you can't control, right?
I mean, just before I left, you know, a piece of metal that was I think they end up weighing at just under a pound.
Fell from 96 feet, about six inches from a guy.
And if you put that on a matrix, at the very least, that would have busted his collarbone.
At the very least, you know, if it would have hit him.
A one pound piece of metal?
Yeah, from 96 feet.
That's pretty severe.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, little stuff.
But yeah, I mean, with the oil field, it's almost...
Especially when I was breaking out and coming into it, and commercial diving, too.
It's miserable.
It's a miserable existence, dude.
Especially up north.
It's cold.
You're wet and cold and 40 below.
And what I loved about it was looking at the guy next to me and watching the misery on his face, and it just make my day.
Then I loved it.
Oh my God, look at this guy.
Look at this guy's about ready to cry.
And then I just love it.
And that's what I loved about it is the misery, I think.
Hey, everybody's got to find their reason why, right?
And if that's your reason, that's your reason.
Well, hey, but you know what?
That shows, though, but they still got in the water, right?
They still got in the suit.
They still did the job.
I mean, I think it's an amazing experience, and I hope to hear more about your commercial diving days, because that's kind of when we lost touch, when you were traveling and doing your stuff, and life happens.
But we have about six minutes left, and so what I want to preface this with, Mike, Is that this is not the last time you're coming on the show.
And I want to transition with our last like five and a half minutes here to other treatment options.
You and I talked offline about different treatment options for mental health stuff.
Not like severe mental health stuff, but just to get your mind right.
And so what are your feelings on that?
We got about five minutes.
I've dabbled with a bunch and I'm an expert in absolutely nothing, but I've found definitely just challenging myself and I've been intrigued with Wim Hof and his breathing techniques and methods.
I've dabbled with some of that along with cold therapies, you know, just ice baths or even cold showers.
Because really, breathing is huge, man.
Breathing is huge.
And I think a lot of people really don't understand it and don't realize that they don't breathe properly.
Um, and it's super weird.
And yeah, that's a whole nother segment.
Like I said, I'm not an expert on it, but I've dabbled with it and read on it.
And it's super interesting.
Um, a lot of people struggle with it, even lifting weights, right?
A lot of people tend to hold their breath and it's, it's, uh, you got to really look at it and remind yourself.
But, um, I think some of the cold therapy is cool.
And, uh, like plunges.
Yeah, plunges, cryotherapy.
My wife just launched a cryotherapy business.
I've been super passionate about that.
Cryotherapy seems to be, you know, really coming on strong, at least on both coasts, and we're going to try and bring it to Minnesota.
Okay.
So, those along with...
For many different reasons, not just mental health, but my buddy that lost his leg.
I'm really excited.
I'm hoping he documents it because I'd like to share it on your show.
But microdosing psychedelics, I've done it for on and off.
I'll go through stints for, what, four years or so now?
And just doing that along with actual meditation, It's really helped a lot, man.
You can't really pinpoint anything other than feel like you can really...
And just microdosing.
I feel like over time, you can really...
It helps your emotional...
Maturity to where you can process life and challenges and look at life in a different way to where it's every obstacle is not doomsday and all how do I get around this it's just like all this this is how I work through this and I feel like that's all based off micro dosing and meditation with it I haven't done any of the guided retreats or anything like that which are super interesting but I've kind of done my own treatments where I'll just meditate and
obviously being in nature and just, man, it processes a lot different.
Information processes differently.
Is it a situation where like you, I mean like you're up north, so you go out just to find a cool place in the middle of the woods and just be and when you say meditate, like is it a, do you play something that's a guided meditation or you just kind of get lost in your own thoughts and figure it out?
So I don't do it together because again it's a microdose so I don't really feel the effects.
So I don't do them together.
Per se, I'll just go about my normal day.
But some days, if I take a little heavier microdose and I feel the effects, which is usually just like a head buzz, I'll just be working in the yard.
But what I'll notice if I do a heavier microdose is I'm taking time to...
I got eagles in my backyard and lots of wildlife out here, so...
Instead of being kind of wound up and so task focused and like, God, I got to get this done and this done and this done, I'm taking time to actually just go look at my creek and sit there for a while and then look at the eagles and see, oh, what are they up to today?
And what are they all weird?
Like, look how they hunt and look how they survive.
And then you kind of reflect on yourself like, man, we're just animals too.
And that's what the microdosing does.
It's all the noise that's in the world and all the tasks and we're so driven and we work 80 hours a week.
You slow down and you just appreciate what's around you.
You talk to people a little different.
You actually don't just say, hey, how are you today?
You're like, you know, how's life?
And I've noticed, this has nothing to do with microdosing, but I don't have time for bullshit and chitchat.
I hate nothing more than Checking out at a grocery store or something or going to get your oil changed.
And they don't even look at you and they're like, oh, what do you got planned the rest of the day?
And you're like, murdering children.
Because they don't even hear you.
You don't care.
And don't know what I'm doing today because you're a stranger.
So get lost.
Don't waste my time with idle chit chat.
It drives me crazy.
And so I've noticed with microdosing, I have a little more patience.
I still don't chit-chat, but the people I do want to engage with in life, it's an engagement.
It's, let's sit here and talk.
Let's hammer this out.
Let's talk about stuff that matters.
I don't have time for any idle nonsense and noise.
Well, it sounds like...
What it sounds like, bro, is that it kind of makes you just appreciate your surroundings.
And I think maybe why it might be advantageous to veterans...
And I don't know a lot about it, so I'll have to do some research now that you bring it up.
But it sounds like maybe it just helps you also to realize...
The beauty around you and that it was worth fighting for.
Because sometimes I struggle with this.
You look at everything going on in the world, and like you said, everyone's moving so fast and they're so task-focused.
Sometimes I ask myself, well, what the hell did we do all that for?
Why did we go there?
Maybe some say the initial reason we went to Iraq or Afghanistan was for somebody to make some money or whatever the case may be.
I don't care anymore.
I want to get into it.
Because we were there.
You went, I went, we were there together, we came home.
Why we were there at this point, we'll talk about it later.
But I struggle sometimes to validate my why.
Why were we there?
What good did we do?
Did we make a difference?
Did we do A, B, and C correctly?
And so it sounds like the microdosing thing kind of just helps you take in what's around you.
Because I will tell you that the few times...
One of our sons lives in Bozeman, Montana.
And we go a few times a year.
And I'll tell you what.
I go up to the ski resort.
I don't ski anymore since my wife threw me off a mountain on our honeymoon, but that's a whole other story.
But I love being up there, and I love just seeing the sights and the views.
We went to Glacier One, and actually I was crying.
We went up that road to the sun, and you look back and you see the sun setting over the mountains and the snow flying over the one side, and it's like, well, this is why.
This is why we fought for this land, because it's beautiful and it deserves to be fought for.
Now we need to figure out how to keep it, which is a whole other battle.
But anyway, Mike, we've run out of time, so we've got to have another show.
But I want to give you like 30 or 45 seconds to just give some closing thoughts.
So go right ahead.
Well, I mean, interesting topics.
I like to hear from everybody.
And yeah, we didn't even scratch the surface, right?
Yeah, it goes fast.
It goes quick.
But yeah, there's just a lot to...
There's a lot to discuss.
There's a lot of, and this is such a great platform to put it out there in, and I just like open conversation, really.
I don't like to, I'm by no means a soapboxer.
I don't have anything figured out, and it's just nice to have a platform like this to talk about stuff, really, and I think you're doing a great job with it, and I'd love to be back.
Well, I promise you, you will be back, and I appreciate your words.
And folks, this is what The Richard Leonard Show is all about.
Everybody, we're all going to contribute, right?
And Mike Welnitz comes on the show to talk about whatever it is we're going to talk about, and he's not trained.
He's not a media person.
He's a veteran that wants to talk about his experience in hopes that it'll help somebody else think about their experience.
Or you'll get something out of it or at least initiate a conversation with the people that are important to you.
That's why we're here.
And so, Mike, I'm very thankful that you're here because this is, without me having to say the words, the reasons why I choose to do this show and have this platform today.
So I thank you for being here.
Folks, I really appreciate you joining us this weekend.
Merry Christmas.
Happy Holidays.
Please join us next week.
We'll be back with you.
Take care of yourselves.
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