being around someone like you and I used to be the guy who could I don't need to
drink I'd go months and be like oh yeah I'm gonna drink like you know I love a
drink and and you don't drink and you haven't drank since you were like in
your 20s I think you know no I haven't drank since I retired
oh okay science time I felt the effects of alcohol which i felt quite strongly
was basically the day retired yeah you're retired which was October 1st
2010 you know of course mean the boys we went out we had a bunch of drinks I woke
up in the morning cuz I still wake up early and I woke up in the morning I was
like well yeah that's done because I got other stuff I got to do now
and basically when I no longer had will call them friends to drink with yeah and
then I was like yeah well I'm done with that and I just ever since then
just haven't really you know I've had and another thing is sometimes people
think I'm like offended if they have drinks or whatever I'm not you know I
remember actually I went I was on the first podcast I was on was Tim Ferriss
and we got done with the podcast and he you know we went out to go grab some
food because I was staying the night at his house and we went out and we got
some food we got some mistake and he's like do you mind if I have a glass of
wine with this I was like Katie look yeah you know a reformed alcoholic just
decided one day you like my dad one day he was like yeah this gets in the way of
work yeah that's kinda that's kind of my attitude isn't really yeah yeah and if I
want to drink something that tastes good then I'll drink chocolate milk I love
the taste of chocolate right I mean that stuff makes me feel good yeah and I just
yeah and people asked me about a lot of and I need it's something that I need to
address on the podcast cuz the other thing is just I might as well double in
just a little bit right at this moment but when I was a kid I was into hardcore
music yeah I was into and and the type of music that I listened to was against
drinking and against like it was yeah yeah we're talking straightedge we're
talking Minor Threat yeah really yes absolutely and so it was
almost and I was again I was never really I'm very I'm very I'm not a real
good follower so anytime there's some kind of a movement going on I'm always
like saying wait why is this movement going why am I always questioned I don't
just jump in I'm hard to get on board with something like that so it was
around I wasn't like so there's a there's a thing with straightedge okay
so this this thing was called straightedge it started in I'd say Utes
the the epicenter of it was in Washington DC
the first band really to coin the term was Minor Threat which is a punk band
Harvard I assumed they were partiers no not at all by the name No
and so one of the things that one of the symbols of straightedge was he already
go to a bar when kids used to go to bars for a show for a for a music show if
they were too young to drink wants to win the bouncer looked at their ID card
they'd put a big X on their hands and so the straightedge symbol was they put the
X's on their hands meaning look I don't drink and it's actually funny cuz I took
my to my kids to see the white buffalo the other night in San Diego and it was
awesome and but when they came when they showed their IDs they got the X's on
their hands so what the straightedge kids would do is they would draw big X's
on their hands meaning hey look I'm not drinking so there was that an in that of
course morphed into like a gang and there was you know by the time I was a
you know middle teenager there was hardcore gangs that would assault people
that drank and would get crazy while I was together with the Juggalos
yeah so it just so what so when I was a kid I was okay and I wasn't like a
full-on I wasn't drawing a chi don't forgot no I never like had X's on
drinking but I but I understood philosophically what was being said
which was look I want to win right I'm hardcore I want to be stronger I want to
be aware and I want to be alert and drinking and doing drugs doesn't give me
any those things so at that that's so sorry but even at that age
do you understood the fuel that goes into the Machine affects the performance
yes see I didn't get that as a young so here I am and and it was you know I
was in discipline and you know I had a before the seals oh yeah I had a band a
hardcore band the name of my hardcore band was rage of discipline that was the
name of my hardcore band that was a foul it's what that's what Bronson's Children
is my first band when I was like 13 was called Bronson's children but then as I
got older I got more hardcore then it became a rage of discipline there was
also about no knowledge Brian his children Bronson Francis Charles he
didn't drink I don't even know Oh name we do know Charles Bronson was a badass
when I was a kid I thought Charles Bronson was the man because he needs his
baddest man on the planet yeah he was you know a tail gunner in a you know
bomber in World War two and he grew up in the mines yeah when he was a kid when
he's ten years old or 11 years old he was working in the mines yeah and until
he was old enough the he's to have to wear a dress cuz he didn't have his
parents didn't have money to buy him clothes he had to wear one of his
sister's dresses down to the mines so then he went to World War two and
then he became and you know you he's just had great movies he always played
this stoic character that was unemotional and so I was you know hey
when I grew up only be Charles Bronson of course so then we had a band it was
called Bronson children well as we got more hardcore eventually that name
morphed into rage of discipline of which Elgin James was the guitarist who's
another buddy of mine that echoes met who will come on the podcast at some
point and tell his crazy life story which I'm a big part of in the beginning
until I turn we got the years of the pre military Jocko series yeah yeah yeah so
I'll be tuning into that one long story then I joined the military yeah so when
I joined the military what do I want to be I want to be I want to be a seal I
want to be a frogman I want to be the best frogmen I can be I show up at a
SEAL team guess what frogmen do frogmen drink okay
cool I didn't know that now that I know that give me a give his shot of
Jagermeister cuz I'm ready to rock and roll
and that was sort of how you proved yourself and that's what we did and I
was immature and dumb and and despite everything I just said about like hey
I'm a little bit I'm hesitant to really follow well now I'm in the SEAL Teams
this is my dream job and this is what I want to do
if you don't buy in you're not in yeah it's like it's not I don't even know if
it's just like that's the way it is yeah my first drink I was 17 right after I
finished basic training I show up at the regiment and they're like all right what
are you drinking and I'm like because my family's full alcoholics on both sides
there's nothing I thought I guessed I'm like you know grandpa was my other
grandpa was and grandpa's grandpa was and you know one of my uncle nothing
okay they might hear this but we all know what you do okay right so not a big
deal but and Dad but dad was one of those guys he was like well that just
doesn't affect me and me personally like you as a kid I'm like I don't really see
the interest like what I'm gonna throw up on myself and whatever whatever and I
was one of those kids that say no to drugs actually worked on mmm you know
like now I'm older I'm like man I should've been smoking weed since I was
like 12 and shit but I still don't but I did I just like you see the effects on
people like when I was a bouncer I'm like yeah the guy who smoked weed were
really mellow yeah when the guys did coke and drank like they were the ones
who the problem but when I get to the regiment the first night of parade is
done and they're like hey what are you drinking I'm like well I'm 17 they're
like this is an army mess like it's okay just don't worry we're all gonna keep it
like it your loves like I'm not trying to tell the world like hey underage
people drink but hey underage people drink but it's an environment full of
people that are there to look out for each other anyway so I had a couple of
drinks and I'm like okay this is the way it is and same thing yeah work Monday to
Friday you work your ass off you go hard as you can like you go hard in the paint
right your your tires are stripped at the end of the day Friday rolls around
okay we don't see it 8:00 a.m. Monday morning boys
and you know if you're gonna drink don't drive but if you do drink driver that's
what you got told when you when you're dismissed for the weekend right yeah and
so basically have a fun blow off the steam don't hurt anybody and take care
of each other's basically what you're told
so the SEAL Teams definitely is a culture it was even more when I first
got in cuz now you're talking about the old Vietnam guys and it wasn't a war
going on and it was just hey what are you gonna do if there's no war going on
and you're you're a frogman what are you gonna do
well we drank and I'm not I'm gonna look down on I mean we
had a great time it was fun bonded we you know it was it was fun it was what
you you know was what we did and I'm not even trying to say anything negative
about it but that's what it was and unfortunately there's a lot of guys I
shouldn't even say a lot there's a a decent number of guys that don't do well
with alcohol man and it ruins their lives that ruins their careers and that
sucks it sucks to see ya I never really had any issues I drank when I drank and
never interfere with myself in any way and you know that was that it wasn't a
huge deal and I mean of course what I mean what I'm talking when I was 19 20
21 22 and we drank a lot we drank a lot weird how your body like the next
morning probably like it was nothing we and that's what we did but then like I
said and even now you know and I when I go out and hang out with some of my old
buddies or actually it's more not what I just what if I go and hang out with some
my old buddies you know we probably don't even you know maybe have a beer
but when I go out and see the young guys the young guys are getting after it I
don't look down on them at all I think you know getting after it I found I
found when I hung out with my buddies that are still serving you're not in the
gig anymore you're not doing the job so you're a little out of shape your your
drills are a little rusty maybe or whatever I find when I'm around guys my
age that are still operational I can't keep up with them drinking because it's
part of the training it's part of the culture I've fallen off and even like
before I was in I didn't really drink and then when I got out I stopped
drinking as much you know and it's not like again guys we're not Jocko and I
aren't saying the military we're all functional alcoholics what we're saying
is it's just what we do yeah and you know you can remember the job that that
we volunteer to do we weave Ahlan tiered a-runnin a gunfire yeah you know for our
countries and for fun like let's face it a lot of us think it's fun I thought it
was the best time of my life but he's still got to blow off that
steam