Canines are our passion. They are our addiction. They are our way of life right down to the very core and without them we would be lost. The canines of this world really are something to behold. They assist us at work, they accompany us at home, and they perform for us in the field. No matter where we go, they are by our side. Canines really are a ride or die, and for that we are grateful.
This podcast will showcase working canines of various breeds and disciplines as we search for those canines and their handlers who are always striving to be the best at what they do. Those who are always grinding. Those who are always pushing the limits. Those who are always dogging. Join us on our adventures as it is sure to be a wild ride. I'm your host, Bryce Matthews. And I'm your co-host, Stephen Basham. And this, this is Semper Doggin.
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The team at Froggy Bottom Outdoors is excited to get to know you and will be glad to answer any questions you may have. Welcome welcome welcome guys to another episode of the Semper Doggin podcast. I am by myself tonight. I am flying solo. Basham was not able to make it. He is at a big coon hunt right now. So best of luck to him by the time this airs that hunt will be long gone. But we want to send some good wishes to him and some good luck.
While he's gone, I have replaced him with two people who might be better. You never know. You just never know. Guys we are sitting down today with two of the key members of Battlefront Outdoors. Mr. Eric Presley and Ms. Brianna Roth. And I am pumped to bring them to you guys for them to be able to tell their story to you, what they have going on, why they are doing it, where they have been, where they are going. And kind of just a plug for Battlefront Outdoors.
Brianna and Eric were two people that I met down at Grand American in South Carolina. Working the Semper Doggin booth, walking around, just trying to network, meet other people and stumbled across this duo here. And it has formed a friendship. We've kept in touch since Grand American in January. And I told them I needed to get them on the podcast. I owed it to them. So here we are. I'm paying my debts. You guys ready? Great. Perfect. Alright guys. Well, Eric, let's start with you.
Tell us a little bit. Just tell us about Eric Presley. Like where have you been? Where are you going? A little bit about your time in the service and maybe about what you did before Battlefront. Yeah, most definitely. So again, my name is Eric Presley. I live in Orangeburg, South Carolina. I've moved all over this world, not because of the military, but because of the air compressor world.
So I joined in 2012 in the air reserves, then moved and ended up in Birmingham, Alabama with the Air National Guard out of there. Then moved to Savannah and joined the 165th Air Wing. I'm currently on drill right now. So I was a crew chief on KC135s and then I moved over to the C130s. There was an incident here at the base. We had an airplane go down and we lost eight members of the Puerto Rico Guard unit.
And I realized I didn't love airplanes, that if I don't love something, I'm not going to put something in the air. So I moved to more of an admin role and went to QA. So I was the bad guy on the flight line. I got everybody in trouble. And now I've taken the role of the first sergeant position. So I am everybody's friend and worst enemy at the same time. But whenever there's an issue, I'm the go-to guy for resources and help. So I'm enjoying it.
I'm loving it and hoping it progresses further, hopefully heading up to the wing and then who knows, maybe even command chief one day. But civilian world, I work on air compressors and I hunt way too much. But that's why I started, me and Brianna and Patrick and Josh, we all founded Battlefront Outdoors. We were with another nonprofit for a while and we decided we want something in South Carolina. We want something natural to us.
And we decided, hey, let's incorporate all of our friends, all of our friends' friends. And we branched out. We went over to the law enforcement side. We went over to EMS, firefighters, even dispatch. We all serve a different battlefront. And basically we take veterans, law enforcement, firefighters, hunting, fishing, golfing, NASCAR events, whatever makes that hero happy and gets them connected with others. That's what we do. Yeah, man. That's so awesome.
And when I met you two, you guys were actually with that other organization down at Grand American and met you guys at a coon hunt. So I was like, okay, Semper Doggen, that has a military tie. And we talked about that. And for those of you who might be new to the podcast, Semper Doggen was Basham's idea, the namesake. Semper comes from the Marine Corps, always faithful, Semper Fidelis. So Semper Doggen, always dogging.
And then I met Brandon and Eric and to hear their mission and what they were doing, just to hear their heart, it was great. And to meet them in a coon hunt, I was like, all right, these are my people. So I was super pumped. Just so excited about this. Brandon, why don't you give us a little bit of background on yourself, where you've been, where you're going. So I joined the army and I did mental health. Can't say much more about that.
I was stationed at Fort Jackson, Fort Benning, Fort Lewis, Fort Bliss, here at Shaw Air Force Base. And just before Fort Bliss, I went to Afghanistan and did combat stress control over there. So when a critical incident would happen over there, they lost a soldier, something happened. I got sent. So I lived out of the bag. And I went to them and took care of them and help them cope with what was going on. So I got out in 2015. I wanted to go to 20, but they wanted to deploy me again.
And it's a little bit different when mom leaves than when dad goes. So I got out in 2015 and I dedicated a ton of my time to battle for an outdoors. Like Eric, I hunt and fish way too much. And so if I'm not in the woods and I'm not on the water, I'm here at the house with my five children and trying to stay sane. Everybody who is in mental health for the Army is now trying to keep themselves sane. We are our own worst patients. I guarantee it.
Yeah. I'm always watching you guys and taking these people out on trips and even yourself, you know, going out, going fishing and going turkey hunting and running the dogs. And I'm like, man, you guys, you guys are doing it all right down there in South Carolina. How did you get into the coon dogs? Let's go that route for a second. It started with me. I had a buddy who ran dogs and I was like, man, what is this about? And didn't think much into it, to be honest.
And then we said, hey, let's go to Grand American. It's 10 minutes from the house. Let's set up a booth. Let's see if we can sell some stuff. You know, get our mission out there. Well, when I was there, you know, I fell in love with the dogs and I ended up purchasing one off of a buddy. And then he said, hey, you know, I've got this other dog.
He's almost a finished dog, but he'd be a great one for you to work for, you know, work with while you, you know, you can learn this dog while this other one's kind of growing up and still in his little puppy phase. And when you get him, you can use the other dog to train him and kind of teach him and help him along. And I was like, well, sure. So I took that dog Tank and man Tank. He's I hate using the term accurate, but he's like 60 something percent accurate. Right.
Who even knows how to calculate that really? But like most of the time he's got one under, you know, under above him and he's just a good dog, man. Like the love I have for that dog is just amazing. Now the other one, he was on my nerves, but you know, he's, he's, he's still young, you know, we're still working with him.
But yeah, it was just a friend and we went out together and we took some kids out and then we took others out and then I picked up some land and yeah, that, that was how we got into the coon dog world. Just kind of off of a free dog really. And then I purchased another one. Now it has consumed me not right now because of how hot and nasty and snaky it is in South Carolina. So we're taking a, um, and we're not charging through those swamps with those gators. Uh, you can eat, no, I'm good.
So we were taking us a break until about the September timeframe and then we'll jump back bad on it again and continue to hunt again. Yeah. Brandon, how'd you get roped into it? Like it kind of seems from what I can tell is like you and Eric are kind of hooked at the hip when it comes to this kind of stuff. Did he drag you into this? We're kind of hooked to the hip with everything. That's why we hit, that's why we co-founded Battlefronts together. For some reason we get along well.
People question why I chose him as a friend, but I love him. He's a great guy. But basically, um, like he said, they had taken kids out and I had never been coon hunting before. I'd never seen it done. And he called me and he said, Hey, why don't you bring your kids? You know, we're going to take all these kids out. It was with a youth hunt group. And I said, okay. So I went out there and I watched these kids have a ball. And in fact, they ran his dog tank that night before it was even his dog.
And so once the kids got their coon, I sent my children home and the adults decided to do some adult coon hunting. And so I really got to see more of the fast paced part of it. Um, Eric can tell you, my eyes got real big. I was very interested in it. Obviously, like I'm a dog lover. So for me, um, like a lot of people, it's not about the hunt, it's about the dog. I fell in love and I told Eric, I was like, Eric, I want to go back. I want to go back. And he was like, well, I'm going to go out.
I said, okay. I was like, I want to go. And that was it for me. That was it. I've been hooked ever since. Yeah. I mean, I know exactly what you mean. I, I didn't find coon hunting until I was in college and love, love dogs had been around dogs my whole life. My granddaddy, he ran deer dogs down in North Carolina. Like I was exposed to it, but coon hunting was something new. And when my buddy Quentin took me out, it, I didn't know how to explain it.
Like when his dog, Kate come treading and that's the first time I heard a tree dog just locked down on the wood. And I'm like, oh gosh, like this is music to my ears, you know? And then walk in there and she's got a coon and then you recut her and she does it again and you recut her and she does it again. And the fire just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
It's like somebody took a leaf blower, you know, at the base of a little bonfire and they just held it on full blast and just got bigger until it was out of control and everything around it was on fire. And you're like, oh boy, what have I done? Like there's no, there's no way to bring this back. Right, especially when you want the newest, latest and greatest gadgets and lights and chat and then it just gets out of hand. And then you're like, well, I want that dog. Well, I can take another dog.
And then you're like, wait a minute. I can't, I can't do no more. Before you know it, you got, you're in over your head. You got too many dogs. You don't have enough time to hunt them all. And then you're like, oh boy, how do I, how do I back down? Not back out, but back down. And how do I consolidate? And how do I get down to the dog that really suits me?
And I think we all go through that at one point in time when Colton, my buddy Colton and I were living together, I think we had like six dogs out behind the house that we were trying to hunt. And that, you know, with two dogs, it's manageable, right? You know, for, you know, having work, air force duty, the nonprofit, and then your personal time. Cause you still have to keep that personal time. You can't just give that up, you know?
And it's like, you got to limit yourself and you got to plan out when you're going. And man, it's so addicting. I'm lucky enough where I've got some land about two miles away from me. It's like 300 acres and my buddy lets me hunt. And it's some nasty swamp and it's some ag field, but it's perfect, you know? And it's quick for a, you know, get the kids to bed, load the dog up. You're there in five minutes and then you're back home two to three hours and you've treated three to four times.
And it's a good time, you know? A lot of people and a lot of, actually a lot of veterans, you know, they're misplaced because they're born somewhere, they live somewhere, they join and they go halfway around the world, right? And they're like, man, I really like this place. I'm going to settle down. Well, they don't know anything about that area. And then next thing you know, you're taking them out on a trip. Like, well, I don't never been coon hunting before. I've never ran deer dogs.
You know, some of these guys are from say Iowa or Illinois or somewhere where they don't do, you know, deer dogs. And they're like, y'all do this out here? I'm like, yeah, this is what we do on the weekends. And it's, you know, getting those people that have never experienced it out, seeing their faces then they get hooked. And it's just, you know, so much more enjoyable seeing others come to know and come to love what you do. Yeah, man, that's it. It's awesome.
And I kind of want to dive into that. You know, you talked about taking the vets out on trips, like let's break it down. Let's go from the very beginning of Battlefront because this is a fairly new organization. You were involved in a couple other organizations before this. And I want to, I want to maybe walk through how you came about starting this organization because I know there's other people in other parts of the country who are in the same boat. Like, man, I want to do something.
I want to make a difference. There's obviously there's some really, really big organizations out there and there's a bunch of small ones. But sometimes people just want to want to go out and do their own thing and they have an idea and and maybe that idea is something that nobody else has done or nobody else has tried. They just don't know where to start.
Walk us through kind of what you guys learned in your other organizations and what you wanted to do differently with Battlefront and how you got that ball rolling. I know that's a lot to bite off. No, no, it's cool. You know, and not to to downplay the other organization we're with. You know, much love to them. They were amazing. We just had a little difference of opinion and we wanted to focus on, you know, our people in South Carolina and bordering states and just have a tight knit community.
You know, so again, nothing against them. For us, what we wanted to do was one, we had a really good connection with a lot of the veterans and law enforcement. And that was kind of my big thing, right? We would go on these trips and our friends would see us like, well, I can't go on those trips because I'm a nurse or I'm a, you know, an EMT or firefighter. I'm like, yeah, well, this is a veterans group. That's it. Man, I really want to go with you.
I'm like, well, so they got our wheels turning, right? And we're like, you know what, let's open this up to more, more people. Because like I mentioned earlier, right? We all deal with things. Myself, personally, I've never been in, I'll, I'll censor it for you. I've never been in the crap before, right? I've never been in the firefight or anything like that. So I can't connect with some other people.
But what I can do is put person A with person B who has been there before, and I'm using them as a resource. I'm like, okay, I know you and you connect. And that helps them through. Well, firefighters, EMS, dispatch, they, they see, and sometimes some more horrible stuff than veterans saw, right? It could be a child case. It could be, you know, the car crash or whatnot. And I did not know this up until the other day. Like in certain states, dispatch is not considered a first responder.
Well, why not? Because they're the ones taking the phone call. And a lot of times if that dispatcher is experienced with their job, sometimes they can mitigate the situation before it even escalates further. Right? They are a first responder in our book. And that needs to be changed. Now I have, do you have a friend who's on that board in Virginia who's pushing that through legislation, but that's neither here nor there. So you know, we, we said, all right, so we'll start this.
So we came up with a name and honestly, that was a Google search. We all spit ball names and we Googled them and we're like, what's this a name? Is this a name? Is this a name? And we're like, no, that sucks as a name. Don't even, don't even put that, you know what? Just sit down. You know, don't even bring that back up. So we finally came up with a name, right? And then we're like, all right, we need a logo. That was worse than coming up with a name. So we finally found us a logo, right?
We finally did something. And then what a lot of people don't realize is how hard it is on the paperwork side and how much money it costs on the paperwork side. And we came out of pocket for all those legal costs. We started with zero in our account. It all came from our accounts. Bree, Josh, Pat, me, all of us. And Bree took a lot of that hit, you know, and whatnot. And we're still, you know, fighting for every little piece and then finding grants and everything like that.
It's tough to start a nonprofit. And where we see change can be is there's a lot of nonprofits that do what we do, but a lot of these nonprofits don't want to partner with others. Well, if you can partner with others, you can grow together. Right? We're supposed to bring each other together and help us grow. Why would you ostracize each other and not grow together? I don't understand that. Right? Like you can keep things separate and funding and stuff. And that's great.
But build, grow together, help each other, work off each other's strengths. You know, Bree got to go out with Patriot Hunts. Great organization. They do a lot. Their mission is a little different than ours. I've dealt with, you know, some veteran coalitions and stuff like that. And they're just like, hey, we got these grants open. We got this open. There you go. Let's grow together. If it means us having to go to a VFW hall, that's what we'll do.
If it means that we've got to go to the firehouses, that's what we'll do. You know, it takes a lot. It's a full-time job. And nobody in Battlefront takes a dollar. We're hoping to gain a whole lot of sponsors. And maybe one day we'll be able to add a full-time person to run this thing. And then us just be a sounding board and the board to be able to make decisions and basically watch it run and just kind of help build it. We're wanting to expand into Georgia, North Carolina.
And you know, I talked to a guy the other day up in your area. So that's a possibility too. So it takes a lot. I would, if I was somebody who wanted to be a part of a nonprofit, I would first start, I would volunteer with one, see if that's something you want to dedicate your time to because it's time consuming. You know, you're going to have those talks of, hey, you've been gone three weeks out of the month. I need you here. I mean, you love it, right?
And you don't feel like you've overworked yourself or you've done so much. So it takes a toll on the others around you too, because you are being selfless. You know, sometimes you have to be a little selfish and take back that personal time. And that's why I brought up that personal time hunting earlier. You know, I still have to take time to hunt for myself, for my dog. I don't need to be teaching someone all the time. So limit yourself and take the time and grow it and keep it fun.
Like with any hobby, job, anything, you can get burnt out. So you've got to know when to step back, hand it to someone and say, hey, can you run this for a minute? I got to take some time to myself. So that would be my advice there. And yeah. No, that's awesome, man. So like, Brie, you're very integral in this whole thing. Walk us through like a day for you. Like this is very hands on right now. You guys are in the trenches, you know, pun intended, trying to get things done.
You're trying to make this thing go. You are trying to spread awareness and let people know. And I see you doing a bunch of that on social media. So like, you know, as somebody like yourself who is, who's retired out of the military and this is now your baby, like what's a typical day for somebody like you who is, who's putting everything they have into this? It's chaotic between this and you're absolutely right. This is this is my baby.
And and taking care of five kids and my house because I'm a single mom, you know, so it's pretty chaotic. But like right now, I'm needing the IRS to respond to me. OK, me and the IRS, we don't get along. And I call every day I start my morning eight o'clock in the morning calling the IRS. Hey, well, then even Eric does it. We start fielding phone calls. People are calling. Oh, hey, you know, I talked to so and so and so and so. Well, what do you think about oh, hey, I meant to talk to you.
And I think he gets the blow of the blow of it to be honest with you. Or I get a lot of it, too, and we stay on the phone. We absolutely stay on phone. But throughout my day, like when my kids are in school, I'm working on flyers or I'm working on continuing paperwork because I've been the one that's put together all the paperwork to make this a legit nonprofit. I'm working on like I actually make a lot of the merchandise that we use with our logo and stuff on it.
So especially before an event that week before, I stay up till like three in the morning and a lot of coffee and my house smells like burnt leather. You know, I've got so I'm making hats and I'm making cups and stuff like that. But I mean, the most joyful part of my day, honestly, is when someone says, hey, I would love to plan this hunt or I would love to take five people out on the water. My boat just came back.
Those are the phone calls I really enjoy because at that point now we're we're working on what we're the core of our mission. So that's a pretty typical day for me. But honestly, just planning those trips and executing those trips. And that can make for some long weekends and some good distance driving my truck tires are feeling it. So those those trips and those hunts is just that's the good stuff. Yeah, you know, and it takes so much to do that.
And you know, even down at Grand America, you know, you had a few of your kids with you down there. Eric's wife showed up, brought his kids like this is a full blown family deal. Like everybody is committed to what you guys are doing and they believe in your mission. And you brought some some people with you to battlefront from your other organization. How do you guys go about convincing people that, hey, we're going we see a need and we need help. Will you guys join us?
How do you guys go about that? I'll be honest with you, Bryce. We don't have to convince them. That's what I was wondering. These are people that we've known for, you know, a long time. And for them, they're not connected to a certain organization. And like that's not necessarily I don't want to say not necessarily what you want to be, but they it's the people. Right. So Eric, myself, Josh, Pat, a lot of our other staffers.
When we decided we wanted to go a different direction and it's the four original co-founders, Eric, myself, Pat and Josh. When we left to start our own thing here, everybody just kind of went behind us and we didn't even ask. We said, you know, we support you guys no matter what. We're still here for you. You know, just work all the way. Right. And they said, no, we're coming. Yeah. They said, you look, if you guys are leaving, you know, some of them decided, hey, I'm going to stick it out.
I made a commitment. I'm going to honor that. I'm like, hey, I can't ask for any more than that. You know, if I was another organization, that's what I would hope my people did. Right. You know, for us, it was like, you know, we saw something we just didn't we didn't like. And that's OK. We have that with everything. And we said, hey, you know, let's take a step back. And we did. And we took some time. And then a group chat started and then names started popping up.
And people are like, hey, I want to do something. I want to do something. I want to do something. And we're like, all right. You know, these these people decided, hey, we're going to follow you guys because we're family. I mean, we spent years and years together. They didn't want to leave that. You know, they knew they could call you at nine o'clock at night and just talk. They knew they could come over and hang out with kids or whatever. And that's how it happened. And then you start growing.
And then these people are like, hey, what are you what are you all doing? Like, you know, why do you all do this? We tell them and like, you know, I want to do that. You know, I don't think we have anybody on our team who joins just so they could go on free hunting trips. We make that very obvious. You don't join for yourself with this organization. And all of our our folks say, no, that's not what I had done. That's awesome. So we all have the same mindset of getting people in the outdoors.
Now we do get bombarded with all the extra stuff of what's so this sure. And let's do this and let's do that. And then, you know, if you come to a disagreement, you're like, you know what? Let's take a step back and just focus on our mission of getting people in the outdoors. And it resets itself. And you go from there. So and then you start posting on Facebook and LinkedIn and all those. And it's like, people see the mission. They want to be a part of it.
And you build friendships, you build connections, relationships, and and sometimes business partners to. Yeah. Yep. I'll be honest with you, Bryce. The other thing another the other people we didn't have to convince are a lot of the people that would host our trips. So we would have catfish club, you know, catfish clubs. We had a plantation down in Jackson. We had Titan Farms, you know, all these different places.
And they were in a way tied to our previous organization because they did them for us year after year after year. And when we went our own separate way, they're like, hold up. Like Eric said, what what's going on? And we explained to them, we just want to do something different. We want to add in the first responders and stuff. And they're like, you know, that's really commendable because those people aren't thought of enough. And so we're going to, you know, we want to work with you.
And it also goes back to the fact that these people are not necessarily tied to that organization. They said, like, for example, one of the presidents of the catfish club, he said, I know you, I know Eric. And he said, it's you guys. And I know you guys are doing a good job. So we don't know, Bryce, we don't have to convince anybody. Yeah, I kind of felt that way.
But I was just curious, you know, because I said, there's other people out there who are maybe have the same mindset and they're they're caught in maybe the same boat. And, you know, just hearing some some reassurance from other people who've been there, done that, you know, it might help somebody out.
So one thing that Nikki tells me all the time, and this is going to come full circle, I promise one thing she tells me all the time, she's like, I get so tired of waking up and trying to figure out what we're going to have for dinner tonight. She's like, that's one of her hardest jobs is trying to figure out how to feed nine people every single night. OK, now where I'm going with this is how do you guys figure out where your trips are going to be all the time?
Because you're constantly trying to put people in the outdoors. Like, is that something that the the veteran first responder, whoever it may be, whoever's going to be positively affected, are they coming to you and saying, hey, like, I really want to go catfishing or I really want to go on a deer hunt or I really want to go to a NASCAR race and you guys make that happen? Or are you guys planning the event and saying, hey, this is what's going on. If anybody wants to join, let's go.
How does that work for you guys? Like, is that something that is a task for you? It's both, right? So we have a group of volunteer staff members. I mean, I started as a volunteer staff member and I took people out hunting on my land, my little eight acres that butts up to a cotton field, you know, in my buddy's land. And they say, hey, I'm going hunting in two weeks. I got some time set aside. I can take one person. I can take two person.
And they say, hey, I'm going to post up a trip on the Battlefront Outdoors members only page. They'll say the who, what, when, where, why, blah, blah, blah, tell you what's needed, license, camo, whatever. And they'll say, hey, enter this drawing, you know, Bryce is awesome to enter. And they'll exactly they'll comment on it. Then you got a hundred people saying Bryce is awesome. You know, your, your head expands a little bit. And then we do a random drawing selection.
And like, I'll take a lot of, you know, a lot of these older vets and, you know, these older heroes, they're not on Facebook. Have we found the perfect means to engage everybody? No, because you've got generational gaps here. You got the older generation, they're not on Facebook. So they don't see the trips being posted. So what we do is like, I took one the other day, an old Navy vet, he was on a ship and he never got to work with firearms, but he inherited a ton of firearms.
He's like, man, I don't know the first thing about them. Can somebody teach me about them? Well, we just happen to have people who are, you know, FFLs and people who, you know, that's their passion is firearms. I can link them two together separate from that Facebook group and build them up and do that. We get a lot of requests for mainly down here is hog trips and deer trips. Typically still hunting or thermal night vision stuff.
When I introduced the coon dog thing, I had like two people sign up, they're like, what? And now I'm getting more and more and more. And I'd have met some really good close friends who like we took them out and now they're like, hey, where are we going again? I'm like, well, I need to take other people out, but you can definitely go. Right. So you know, it's both.
We ask a lot of our staffers, I mean, we ask them to do, you know, three trips a year or four trips a year and attend one or two fundraising events a year. Now if you think about it, that sounds not a lot, but I mean, it takes time. You got to plan these things. You've got to sometimes there's money involved and our staffers, they, they do amazing work and they're like, you know, I'll, I'll cover everything. I got to feed them.
I'll put the corn down for the deer, you know, whatever they typically do it. Where I want to get with the organization is I want to have enough funds to, you know, all they do is send me a request of funds, you know, tell me why you need it, what this trip is, you know, the supplies needed for the trip. And I want to be able to fund that.
I want to be able to go and purchase offshore trips and just say, Hey, staffer, you know, ABC, you guys are taking six people out Charleston, you know, in two weeks on a deep sea trip all day, you know, go catch a tuna for me, whatever. Right. I want to get with this organization. I don't want us to worry about having to go to the VFW or to, you know, the trade show and, and trying to sell and, you know, give this, I want to be able to show up there relaxed and, you know, hand merch out.
That's really what I want to get. I want to be able to just to hand t-shirts away. Now I get in trouble a lot because when we go to these trips, I mean, these shows, you know, I'm a sucker for kids. Like these kids will come up to me with sob stories and I cannot please. I'm like, yeah, just take it, you know, and I get in trouble for that. I had one, we did a concert at the Orangeburg drag strip and this kid come up to me, probably six, maybe four years old.
And he looks at me and he goes, oh, that's a soldier. I'm like, yeah, that's a soldier on a shirt. He's like, yeah, my daddy was a soldier. Oh, that's cool. You know, and he goes, yeah, he died overseas. I was like, you know, the fact that that kid just said it, like it was nonchalant, you know? And then he showed me, he was, you know, he was sad. And I looked at the mom and I was like, she's like, yeah, yeah. And I was like, you know what? I don't even care. Take it.
Take what you want, you know? It was like a smaller size I had was a medium, but that kid wore that shirt around that concert the whole time looking, you know, like wearing a dress or something. But they were so proud of that shirt because it symbolized their daddy.
So that stuff touches, you know, and then you see the Vietnam vets, you know, a lot of people, they overlook the Vietnam vets, but when they came back, you know, they were spat on and people, you know, custom and everything, and they didn't even get a welcome home. So being able to take them out on a trip is something really cool. And it shows them that you care. And you know, some of these folks that they kind of don't think they serve because they never went overseas or something like that.
Now, don't get me wrong, we're going to joke about that with them, right? But in the end, we all did serve in some capacity and that's to be rewarded, right? We all need to cook. We all need the supply guy and supply gal and the person who does your, you know, ID cards and stuff. So, you know, they're welcome as long as they were honorably discharged, still serving, and even in volunteer firefighter versus paid firefighter. It does not matter.
You still decided to make a decision to go into that burning building. So yeah, that, I mean, every day it's look for more trips and our staffers are trying to think outside the box on what we can do for trips. I mean, shoot, I've even gotten into the golf trips now. We're looking to do a tournament and it's like, you know, some people are like, I don't play golf. Okay, that's fine. Drive the beer cart around. That's me. I'll be your designated beer cart driver. There you go. Together.
Okay. Yeah. Perfect. You know, we, we've went, we've went to racetracks to set up some for Speedway has been great to us. Just to enjoy a night of watching race cars go around and around in circles and make another left turn. It's really whatever the hero wants to do. I mean, I mean, I'll, I will do mountain top yoga if they asked me to. I was, I was going to say like, I can see you doing that a hundred percent. The nice, nice a sunset in the background and yeah, yeah.
I can see you participating in that. Absolutely. I would know it's, it's awesome. And you know, you guys aren't, you said there, there can be a generational gap where people aren't on Facebook. They're not on the social medias. But another thing that you guys do in it, which is exactly how I met you is you guys are involved in the local events that are going on. You guys are going to these, you're going to the hunts, you know, grand American Coon hunt. You guys are there.
You're going, I talked to you on the phone the other day and you said, you just got back from a dinner of some sort, you know, out in the community, everywhere that you guys can be and be present. You guys are trying to be there and having that one-on-one interaction. Excuse me. Yeah. I mean, the people is what drives America, right? The small town farmer, the guy who's built the classic car in his garage over there. You don't realize it, but he could probably buy the town.
I mean, you just never know. It's to be honest, when we try not to even go to the big trade shows because you're competing with vendors of big name brand things, they're there to buy merchandise. They're not there to, you know, give back per se, you know, 90% of them, I would say. But it's the small town, like we're going to the Gilbert or Lexington Peach Festival. There's thousands of people there on 4th of July.
The road is just lined with people and it's hotter than sand out there, but they're still going to show up eating the peach ice cream and looking at all this and it's 4th of July. They see an American flag, they're like, ah, I'm going over there. And you're able to sell them a water for a dollar a piece and then you start mentioning your mission and they're like, you know, I happen to have 300 acres. And you're like, huh? Yeah, we can take people out. Absolutely. Let's do that.
It's free to do that. It doesn't cost them a dime to let us come on their place, you know, potentially harvest an animal and get off their place. They felt like they made an impact and they did. And they see the joy that it brought, you know, myself, the hero, and they're able to reach out in their local community. To gain the support, you're going to have to get in the community. You're going to have to go to the hunts, the VFWs, the legions, the little small town shows.
I mean, I'll take people over to the local axe throwing place. Now with partnership with the South Carolina Veterans Coalition, we are now going to be on their website. You know, they'll have a resource and say, hey, call this person at Battlefront. And then when these folks are getting out of the military, they go through a TAPS program. Three will know the term. I'm still in a TAPS, transition assistance or something. Transition Assistance Program, yeah.
Yeah. And they'll do this thing, you know, basically saying, hey, when you get out, this is what you need to do. And they will be a resource that they tell people about. And all it took was going to the VFW, setting up a booth and talking to a lady. So we have to be, we have to be involved in the hunts. Myself, I'll go down to the local hunt clubs and then I'll say, hey, you know, I got some acreage too. Let's have our own hunt.
You know, eventually, maybe one day we'll be able to have a armed forces or, you know, a birch responders hunt where, you know, I bring a few dogs, my homie brings a few dogs and we take, you know, one, one representative from each thing and have a competition hunt. I think that'd be cool. Yeah. And then whenever you do that, you're going to do it around Grand American so the bash man I can come down and we can bring dogs to help out with that.
Yes. Right. So, I mean, and you know, we've, when we go to these shows, we meet people. We met a guy named Mr. Brandon. Dude's got acreage, a lot of it. He'll let us go coon hunting. And then he was like, hey, I need predators gone and I'll pay you to take them off my land. $50 a head. Nice. Right. You know, not that, you know, in case anybody from PETA's listen to this or anything like that, it's not that we're just going out and, you know, wiping and populating.
No, we're trying to control his land. Correct. You're helping him. You are a resource to him. Absolutely. And it's right beside the interstate. So we're actually saving state funds from money here too. You know, absolutely. It's a whole circle, you know, he's helping you, you're helping him. And in turn, both of you are helping the person driving down the road who really doesn't want to smash a coyote at one in the morning. Right. And then the insurance doesn't want to pay that out.
And then, and then the hero who went on the trip is having a blast doing it. Yeah. I don't see a negative anywhere involved. There is. No, there's not. And in a way, it kind of like, you know, so he's paying $50 a head per predator. So you take a bunch of veterans out there and you have, you know, predators being taken down in a way, it kind of turns into a fundraiser. And we tried to send Mr. Brandon, Mr. Brandon, we don't know. We just, we want to give these guys the experience.
We just want to go out and have fun. He said, no, I want, this is what I want to do. No, no. Okay. Okay, sir. So it's kind of, we've turned it kind of into a fundraiser as well. You know, it's pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome. So you know, Bri, correct me if I'm wrong, but you made a post the other day on Facebook and you shared a memory. And in that memory, it said like on, on this day, X and X years ago, this person literally saved my life.
You made that post and I was like, I was reading into it a little bit and I was like, man, that's real. You know, there are people who, who one day they think, they think it might all be coming to an end and something happens and their, their perspective has changed and it's changed in a very meaningful way.
You guys are, are being that voice for those people, you know, battlefront outdoors is trying to be that group for people and, and change those people, make a positive impact where, you know, maybe that day that they go out and go fishing is a day that they needed. You know, all it took was one person to care, one person to say, Hey, I want to give back to you and I want to say thank you. And you mean something to me. That's what it takes. You know, and that's what happened to me.
I read that post, I'm telling you, and I sat there, I looked at it and I thought about it and I looked at it and I thought about it and I was like, you know, what if, how did that impact me? What if that day wouldn't have come? What if you wouldn't have went on that trip or met that person? And then I didn't get to meet Brianna.
Right. And then, and then I don't get to form a friendship with Brianna and with Eric and then, and then battlefront outdoors doesn't happen because you know, all these circumstances like, like that one instance changed everything. That one instance helped create all of this. You know, whoever helped you has helped me. And when they helped you, you're now would help help other people. And it's a snowball effect. Right.
And in fact, the person that helped me, he's one of our, he's one of the four co-founders and him and another staffer that it's, he's still with us. And so when you see me on Facebook posting, you know, oh, I went down fishing in Edgefield County or I'm most of the time I'm with them. So in fact, even this last weekend was my birthday weekend and it was on that day. Like I went that day, he, they saved my life. It was a day after my birthday.
And so now my birthday weekend turns into an anniversary weekend as well. And we all go back out and do the same type of fishing that we did that day. And it's, I mean, it's super, it's super cool. And these guys can tell you and they tell everybody, like, I don't hide my story from anyone. But they'll tell you, I am a 100% completely different person from the day that they met me. They turn my life around.
You know, the other organization and everybody in that this right here, it has saved my life. Yeah, that's awesome. So if anybody is out there and they're in there in that spot or, you know, they know somebody who they want to get out on a trip. If they're in the South Carolina region, where can they find you guys? Where can they get ahold of you? How does that process look?
I want to land this plane here and just have a plug for where people can find Battlefront and also where people who like myself work a few states away, but we want to help and we want to contribute. How can we best do that to serve your organization? Yeah, you can go on Battlefront Outdoors. There's a public page on Facebook. Then there's Battlefront Members Only. That's where we have a few questions there to kind of quote unquote that you to make sure that you were in one of those services.
And that's where we'll post our trips. Right now we are currently developing our website. As we speak, the bones should be being built this week. So within the next month, it should be fully operational with all of our emails, phone numbers, how to donate pictures of trips, where we're going to be going in the next few months, trade shows to come and buy merchandise or just, you know, talk with us. And then, you know, they can always email us. We do have a general email account open.
Tell me if I'm wrong. It's inquiries at Battlefront Outdoors dot org. Yes. And that is dot org, not dot com. Inquiries at Battlefront Outdoors dot org. And I'm always available. You know, Eric dot Presley at Battlefront Outdoors. If you just add me on Facebook, you know, there's a good way you can call me anything. Facebook is going to be our lifeline until we get that website up and running. And then we're just going to be bouncing off of both.
I'm probably going to put a section in there for the folks who don't have Facebook. They can send in like a little form that says, hey, this is who I am. This is what I did. And this is what I want to do. I'm not on Facebook. How can I, you know, go on one of these trips? And then what I want to do is start a separate little little pot, right, of all those people. So when a trip does come available, I'll say, you know what, I've got the perfect guy for this or the perfect gal for this.
And not even post it on the page and just go straight to the, you know, that pool and pick from them. So that's where I want to get with it as well. That way we're, you know, double teaming it. Right. And I know that I don't have to say this, but I'm going to anyways, you know, guys, don't think that, oh, I didn't do enough that I shouldn't be worthy of a trip like this. You know, I'm just not going to put my name in the hat.
If you guys were involved in anything, you know, first responder, EMS, military, you know, even your dispatchers, I went to college with a gal who ended up being a dispatcher for several years and the stories that she told me, like I couldn't handle it. You know, you guys are included. You have done enough. Don't think that you haven't. Don't think that, you know, there's somebody else who's more deserving than me. Put your name in the hat and, and meet people.
Network networking is one of the things that I'm big on. And even if you don't fall into those categories, right. So like you, you never did this, this, this, and this, but you have a few acres to hunt on week, whoop, come out. You know, our staffer does not have to participate. That's one thing our, you know, we, we like our staffers to participate in it, but really they're there for insurance reasons and to take pictures and videos or whatever, and just make sure everything runs smoothly.
So if you're not one of those services, but still want to be involved in it, volunteer with us and get, you know, bring us out. You know, if you got a boat, Hey, we'll, we'll fill up your tank with gas. If we have to, we'll bring bait, you know, I mean, I'll probably not bait some people's hooks. So I catch more, but you know, that's beside the point. Yeah, I mean, I've got a, I got a staffer right now in the upstate of South Carolina, who's like, Hey, I want to do some offshore stuff, you know?
And I'm like, he's like, I have no experience with it. I'm like, well, let's go. You know, I have another buddy in the Charleston area who does know those waterways very well. I'm like, y'all linked up and y'all go, you learn, and then you can host more trips. Right. Done deal. So yes. In inquiries at that are front outdoors.com. Nope. Dot org. Dot org. See, even I'm messing it up. So or Facebook, Facebook's going to be our lifeline for awhile. I do have to post our newest shirt up.
And once we hit 500 members, I will give that one away to a random winner. I will do a live number thingamajig and we'll give that away. We're going to try to start doing more giveaways and stuff at different levels, 500, 750,000, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, look for that one here tonight. I'll post that up and then we'll just keep growing and growing and growing.
And if you're in another state, call me, get in contact with me, and then we'll talk about our next steps and how we want to grow. You know, what it's going to take for you to grow. A lot of it comes down to, unfortunately, money. I mean, all these states require so many different things. They require the fees to even have a name in the state, to have an organization, blah, blah, blah. So get with me and we'll figure it out. Right. I mean, I'll say yes, and then we'll just figure it out.
You know? Yeah. So I got a couple things for you to wrap this thing up. Number one, every time you hit 500, 750, and a thousand, 500, 750,000. So your next three landmarks on your Facebook page, you're giving away about a Front Outdoors shirt or something different. Okay. And then, and then one of you two are going to get a hold of me and Semper Doggin is going to give away a hat to that same person.
You're going to get a piece of Battlefront Outdoors merchandise and you're going to get a Semper Doggin hat. Now they're going to come from two different places. We got to mail them separately, but Semper Doggin wants to help. We want to be in on this. The other thing, the other thing that I want to do is if you guys have somebody in Indiana, I know it's local, but if you have somebody listening to this in Indiana and they want to go on a hunt with Battlefront Outdoors, a Coon Hunt, let me know.
I would be glad to take them anywhere in the state. I can cover the North, Basham covers the South. We can figure this out. We will help out. So don't think just because you're not in South Carolina that you can't be a part of this. If you're in Indiana, let me know. Let Eric, let Brianna know. Let us know. We will take you guys on a Battlefront Outdoors slash Semper Doggin Coon Hunt. Right. That's amazing.
And then in return at the end of the year, like we had talked about at Grand American, we'll make that donation to y'all to help get that dog. Yep. Yeah, because we need to mention that again, you know, for those of you who are new to Semper Doggin, I haven't talked about this in a long time, but one thing that Basham and I said that we wanted to do whenever we founded this was we wanted to help give back.
And in a way to do that, the only way that we know how to do that with being the dog lovers that we are is to, you know, hopefully one day be able to yearly the main goal and I got, I don't want to speak out of turn, but the main goal is at the end of the year, every year be able to provide a service dog to somebody in need. They're not cheap. They're expensive, but that service dog aids in so many aspects of people's lives.
You know, whether it's emotional, whether it's physical, you know, whatever it is, those service dogs, they provide us a service to that hero and Semper Doggin wants to be a part of that. Now, right now, you know, obviously we're trying to get this ball rolling and we're not going to be able to purchase a whole dog, but what we do want to do at the end of the year is cut a check to somebody and say, or an organization say, here, we want this money to go towards the purchase of a dog for a hero.
You know, that's what we're wanting to do. So for those of you who are new to Semper Doggin, you haven't heard that before. That was laid out in the very beginning of our, of our podcast and, and we still hold true to that and we still, you know, we're still looking for people to help us make that happen. We're still looking for sponsors for this podcast.
So a shameless plug, if you, if you have a company that you'd like to get some advertising on, we're not super expensive, you know, get ahold of us. We can, we can plug your company. We can do anything to help raise some money to give back. So Battlefront Outdoors, Semper Doggin, all we're trying to do here. We all know that canines can take us to some wild places and some of those are only accessible by an off-road vehicle.
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