Why Listen:

If you listened to my conversation with Stacy Bare or my recent conversation with Dan Cnossen - if you liked the flavor of those conversations, you’ll love this episode. I shut up as much as possible during my time with Micah - he is a force to be reckoned with. He had a thriving career until 9/11, where he was in New York when the towers fell. He ran into the towers, dragging out whoever he could, and swore in that moment to kill whoever was responsible. He wanted to be an Army Ranger, he ran into a Navy recruiter on the way to enlist, and signed up to become a Navy SEAL instead. After ten years as a Navy SEAL and 4 years as Paramilitary, he moved to Montanta. Wackinenss ensued. It led him to start a non-profit called Heroes & Horses. I’m betting money that you will donate to this organization before the episode is over. It’s incredible. In the show notes we have a link to Micah’s TedX talk - in it, Micah talks about how important struggle is. This is something he learned in his 1,110 days - 13 deployments - in which he was deployed to combat zones, but even more so when he returned. We talk about Micah’s struggles, and how we’re doing that to the Veteran community by often coddling them - doing the work for them - prescribing them medications, trying to keep them from the very pain that will heal them. And so, Micah and his team take a different approach. They take 30+ Veterans into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights where they face austerity and challenge. They have water, coffee, meat and veggies… not a whole lot else. They ride 400-500 miles on horses. They learn to shoe horses. They take philosophy courses. They wake up at 4AM to workout, and work all day until 10PM. They provide tools so that each individual can mine who they are.

About Micah:

Micah Fink is the CEO of Heroes and Horses, where for the last five years he has offered combat veterans an alternative solution for defining and approaching their physical and mental scars – a solution that does not include the overprescribing of medication, or traditional psychotherapy, but rather the opportunity aand tools to redefine their purpose, rediscover their inner-strength, engage in a practice of self-responsibility, and maximize their potential. He started out in the Navy, where he served for ten years as a Navy SEAL and four years in paramilitary service. Since then he has also worked as a professional speaker for Free Matter, as well as the Executive Producer of the film, 500 Miles.

Why Listen:

No matter what your political affiliation, I’m guessing that you’re pretty upset about our countries state of affairs. In this interview, I talk with Bob Garfield - who, in addition to being one of the world’s foremost podcasters and writers, is also a co-founder for Purple: Project For Democracy. Purple: Project for Democracy is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement. They span the breadth of American society to rediscover and recommit to our democratic values.

If you like this interview, be sure to check out BTU #70 - Emily Cherniack: How New Politics is helping veterans of both parties run for office (https://beyondtheuniform.org/blog/btu-70-emily-cherniak-how-new-politics-is-helping-veterans-of-both-parties-run-for-office?rq=emily)

I didn’t have time to read Bob’s bio prior to our interview, so here it is:

Bob Garfield is co-host of public radio’s weekly, Peabody Award-winning On the Media. He is also the founding co-host of Slate’s podcast on language, Lexicon Valley, and Amazon Channels’ The Genius Dialogues. He is the founder of the Media Future Summit, and, on weekends, is on a sporadic national tour with his one-man show, Ruggedly Jewish.

A heroic multimediocrity, Bob has been a columnist or contributing editor for the Washington Post Magazine, The Guardian, Advertising Age, Civilization and the op-ed page of USA Today. He has also written for The New York Times, Playboy, Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, Wired and the Mainichi Shimbun and been employed variously by ABC, CBS, CNBC and the defunct FNN as an on-air analyst. As a lecturer and panelist, he has appeared in 37 countries on six continents. He wrote a shitty episode of a short-lived NBC sitcom, Sweet Surrender, and co-wrote a song recorded by Willie Nelson. (Long story.) He is a five-time New York Times worst-selling author. His sixth book, American Manifesto, will be published in early 2020.

Why Listen:
While Floyd has had an impressive 13-year career as a Sales Executive at Cisco and now as an Executive & Team Coach, in this interview we talk about the work that Floyd does with military marriages. Floyd has done extensive work with military and Veteran relationships, helping couples improve their marriage, as well as helping Veterans be more effective in their working relationships. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation about tactics that can help any listener improve their most important relationships.

About Floyd:
Floyd is a Corporate Sales Executive at CRR Global, which is a coach training school. He also works as the President and Executive & Team Coach at Relatance. He served in the U.S. Army for 13 years, originally enlisting in Infantry, going on to ROTC and then serving as a Company Commander and a Management Information Officer. While on Active Duty, he also obtained his Masters in Management Informational Systems. After the Army, he worked at Cisco for over 14 years, most recently as the Director of Operations Supporting Sales. He is the author of the book, Conscious Leadership in Action.