I've Never Been a Bully with a Weapon! Podcast w/Ant Middleton

Ant Middleton is no ordinary guest . He's a former UK Special Forces operative , he's a best-selling author , he's a TV personality and he's an adventurer . Ant has lived a life that most people can only imagine , from surviving life and death missions in hostile territories to redefining leadership under the toughest conditions . Ant doesn't just talk about resilience .

He lives it every single day , and in today's episode , ant shares how he's harnessed fear . He's faced adversity head-on and he's turned the lessons of the battlefield into strategies for success in life and business .

So so much . We can talk about , so many different roads we can go down , but let's set the scene by starting at the beginning , really , and I guess tell me about your childhood and go back as far as you can remember , cor yesterday .

stepdad age of five . My father passed away when I was five and my stepdad replaced him of five . My father passed away when I was five and my stepdad replaced him more or less straight away .

It was , you know , the stepdad , was dad straight away . So it was . It was almost sort of squashed out of our life straight away . So not that I wanted to forget about him , but I was almost forced to forget about him who's's doing ?

So raised , especially growing up , moving from the UK to France , it was almost a distancing exercise , even more so , you know , the vivid memory of my father almost became a forgotten memory . Then , from the ages of nine till 16 , I was brought up in France , in rural France , so with the cows farmers , you know , really just had a lot of land to play on .

French speaking school , french speaking school . So I speak fluent French , did you before you got there ? No , didn't speak a word of French , of French before I got there and I was just chucked straight into a Catholic school because we come from a Catholic background .

And I was chucked straight into a Catholic school because we come from a Catholic background and I was chucked straight into a Catholic school . So I picked the language up within three months . You know , kids are very , very adaptable .

Within three months I was holding perfectly good conversations and starting to pick up the accent , starting to pick up the vocabulary masculine and feminine . There's a sort of a vocabulary where it's le and la . You know just . Each word is is either masculine or feminine . They'd have troubles in the UK right now .

So no , I was a very active child , very hyperactive child . I needed a room , I needed a space because I was outdoors all the time . I never sat in my room . I wasn't a PlayStation geek . I wasn't into my video games . I was just into going out playing in the forest games .

I was just into going out playing in the forest , building bows and arrows , dens , you know , sleeping um in the forest at weekends with friends . So we had the freedom and the liberty to to be kids , which was great . But we were very , very sheltered , and that became apparent when I decided to not only join the british army but moved from France to England .

You got a good hiding , you got the wooden spoon , you got a belt , you know all those good things . So it wasn't , you know , it's not . I look back and think , oh , you know , I was bullied or we had a violent upbringing , it was just normal . I was a happy kid and , yeah , I just wanted to get away from one France , because it was .

It's good to grow up and grow old . You One France , because it's good to grow up and grow old . You know , when you start to find your own feet , you want a bit more excitement in your life . I wanted to break away from the family , not due to any mishaps that we've had or any sort of clashes .

I just wanted to get out into the big wide world and be free , basically because we were isolated . We were sort of closed off to the world . So the jump that I made was just . It just blew my mind .

She was happy with it . Yeah , signed me up . Away you

go . So I joined the Royal Engineers at the age of 16 and 10 months and then went on to do P Company and became part of nine parachute squadron Royal Engineers of five airborne brigade and you can imagine it was . I went from a sort of quite chilled , relaxed culture to a male dominant sort of UK vibe .

You know drinking , fighting , you know that sort of dog eat dog world . So it was a huge culture shock for me . When I joined the army and my first , I would say three , four years I didn't really enjoy it .

Even if you look at things now , what I do in the military and when I've left the military and what I do with my TV stuff , I'm always doing it not by myself , I always do my own thing .

So it was hard to sort of balance the two , between being part of the lads and going out every weekend on the piss , you know , getting into fights , and living that sort of British military culture which it was very much back then in the mid-90s , late 90s , to just trying to find myself , you know , this quiet , relaxed sort of gently spoken boy .

Really that's what I was when I joined the army .

The Army , they sort of pick and choose , they sort of train to operate in certain areas . They're not an all-rounder as such . That's why the Army's so big , because you've got your drivers , you've got your engineers , you've got your drivers , you've got your engineers , you've got your infantry . You know the parachute regiment are , are the elite of the army .

You know they're . They go out and they're they're . They're a frontline fighting force , a conventional fighting force . So they , I would say that they're . You know , if you've got your wings and your maroon beret , which I had , you know you're very , very well respected within that organization . So I sort of bounced from the paras , if you wish , to the marines .

I got my , my maroon beret , my parachute wings , and then I thought you know what , when I left , I missed the military . I left and I done a stint in civvy street and I missed the military and I thought to myself you know what ? I'm going to go and join a different organization .

That's when I decided to join the marines at the age of 23 , 24 and you talk about .

So once you've done that , you've got your green beret , first and foremost you are a fighting operator . That's who you are . Then , ultimately , you go on and if you want to get all your driving licenses , you know if you want to go off and be a chef , or if you , you can , you can do that in those departments or you might get pinged for it .

If you've fucked up in the marines , they might go right . You're going on a fucking chef's course and you're gonna do . You know you're gonna work in the , in the , in the cookhouse , for the next two years , steven seagal and under siege , isn't it ?

But so a lot of people got pit school ping , they got pinged for these , these shit details , as we called them . But um , but ultimately you , you will always end up back in a fighting company .

It's called you go back a troop . So there's a new troop every two weeks . So you can imagine , you know we've got loads of back troopers Do you go back to day one ? No , it depends . So say you've passed the first phase , which is four weeks , then you fail the second phase , then you go back to week four .

So you get back troops , you go back into a troop that's starting then . So you know , for example , when I passed out , you know there's people still in week 12 , still in week eight . You know that started with me , they're still in week 18 or whatever it may be .

So 13 of us , or 12 of us , got to to the end as originals , as originals from the , from the troop . So we spent the minimum amount of time there , which was 32 weeks , and , um , we all passed out together . What's hell week is that ? What it's called hell week is , uh , american thing .

Hell week is , uh I think it's for the BUDS training oh okay , the Navy SEALs yeah , hell Week is do we have a UK equivalent ? Week is easy . I could do a week with my eyes closed . So you know when I hear Hell Week , hell Months , hell Years , you know selection is six months long , p Company is 26 weeks . When you go down long P company is 26 weeks .

When you go down depot , the Royal Marines is 32 weeks . You know to do a week of training and then to go on to continuation training .

Um , where they do pre-para so they prepare you to see if you're good enough to go on to P company and complete the P company course , which is the power course , become a power trained or or or power power trooper .

So when I tipped up the , the shock of the level of fitness and the mentality required to get into nine parachute squadron Royal engineers was extremely high . You know they'd only send two or three people per p company and those two or three people passed . You know they'd done the royal engineers proud , basically .

And that training , that pre-power training , was just run by two lance corporals . You know one pti corporal and one other lance corporal . You know who were just , you know just wanted to thrash the living daylights out . You and I'm talking from the moment you woke up to the moment you went to bed .

So the pre-para for me was a big shock , um , but it prepared me from for , I would say from later down the line for the royal marines and then um , united kingdom special forces selection .

But that was a moment that I was a young , 17 , 18 year old , and that was a moment that I was a young 17 , 18-year-old and that was a fucking shock to my system , but one that I look back on and I embrace , because it prepared me for a lot , you know , in the military .

This is tough love at work , and at 9 o'clock at night , you all go for a cup of tea together . No , you don't talk to these instructors .

You won't , you rarely speak to the guys that took you through pre-power , because there's that element of you know you weren't worthy or you know it's like you knew that they were just being fuckers just for the sake of really thrashing the living day .

But they got the the fittest and they got you know they sort of brainwash you within that process as well to be welcomed as part of the squadron . So it's a mental and a physical game , but it's a huge change and a huge shock to the system .

But when I joined the army there was nothing going on . So that I call , there was a lot of pub soldiers , there were a lot of camp soldiers that you know would go out on exercise and think they were brilliant because they , you know , going around playing soldiers .

And when I look back on it , I wasn't interested in that bit , you know , unless it was real for me , I wasn't really interested in it . So I could have done a lot more , could have worked a lot harder , but , um , yeah , it didn't really interest me to play soldiers . I've never been one to to to play or to mimic . I've always wanted to do it for real .

So when I left the army , about a year later , iraq kicked off . So that was one of the main reasons why I rejoined back up to join the marines . And then , when I joined the marines , um , I passed out training and straight to 40 commando .

And then , when I joined the Marines , I passed out of training and straight to 40 commando and then went , more or less went straight to Afghanistan in 2007 .

When you were going out there , were you going there with a specific mission in place , or yeah , when you go out there with the Marines and the paras , you go out there as an elite conventional fighting force .

Now , conventional fighting forces is not task force stuff , you know , it's stuff where you go and occupy some ground , keep hold of that ground , hearts and minds , make sure the taliban aren't coming back in or the enemy aren't coming back into that area trying to take it over . And then slowly , you , you go and you , you , you gain more and more ground .

Then the next , the next rotation that comes in , they hold that ground and they might gain a little bit more ground over that . Then you start building infrastructure within that sort of area , within that area that you've secured . So it was . There were long days , there were 14-hour patrols .

You know , if we did get into contact it would be firefights , it would be from 200 meters away .

But you know , as a marine I was a bit disheartened with my first tour because not that you want to get into a scrap not enough killing for you , but it's , it's like no , it's not that , it's it's . You know you wanted more of a responsibility . You know we weren't allowed to go out at night .

You know there's only only tier one operators allowed to go out at night .

So when you're when you're out , you know , when you're in the fob forward operational base in the day and you're hearing helicopters going off off and over over you and you're seeing , you know special forces operators come onto the camp because they they're the only ones that you know , you think to yourself I want to be that guy there .

Um , and you know I hate to say it , but conventional forces out in afghanistan was just ied central . You were just patrolling around waiting to get blown up and you know what's the ied stand for um improvised explosive device .

So they'd make improvised explosive devices and , uh , you know , either um telephone connection or pressure pad , whatever it may be yeah , exactly trigger .

I never allowed that to creep in , because I've seen it creep into people's heads and I've seen it take them out . You know , um , I had a very good pal in the special forces and he was just . It was when he passed .

It was almost , you know , waiting to happen , because not he'd manifested it himself , I'm not saying that , but it was almost a series of events and he died on duty and he passed away on duty , and I won't mention any names , but I'm just saying that that is a mindset as well .

It's a huge mindset thing and I've seen and and grown soldiers from the army , you know , waking up and being in tears because they've it's their job to mind sweep out the out the base , you know have to clear the area .

Mind sweep before , you know , because obviously at night , even though they've got sentry positions all over the , the enemy will come and dig in ieds and , uh , knowing that you've only got two free patrol routes that you're going to use , and come out , boom , and then clack them off .

So yeah , when I was in the special forces and I went on to on to these fobs at night , you know so I've chatted to young , young men that were just in tears because this mate got blown up that day in front of him and he's like tomorrow it's my , my time to minesweep . I'm just like listen , don't take it personally , it is what it is .

And these are young , 18 , 19 , 20-year-olds who are having to go out and do this .

That's don't sound very far , no , but it's one of those as well where if it's operated via um , ir then , or via a signal , then you're fucked . Okay , you're gonna get blown up . But if it's trigger based um , then you're hopefully gonna catch it before it does , or they might .

It might be there and it might be for for another time and the signal's not working , or the , the , the signals aren't working between the uh the transmitter and receiver . So it's a . It's a huge game of Russian roulette . And after that tour the first tour I'd say I was fortunate enough .

But I went straight on selection United Kingdom Special Forces selection and passed . What does that mean ? I went on to become a Special Forces operator .

So United Kingdom Special Forces selection is selection for the SAS and SBS Special Air Service , which is the Army Special Forces , and the and SBS special air service , which is the army special forces , and a special boat service , which is the navy special forces . So this is like another level up from the another . Yeah , this is .

I thought it was when I was in the marines . I thought it was the next level up , but it's a whole different world . Say , for example , you're a sergeant in the marines and I'm a lance corporal in the marines . I passed the selection process before you .

I'm then senior to you , okay , because your rank gets stripped right back down to trooper , because it's such a different organization .

You're working with CIA , mi5 , mi6 , all these different intelligence agencies , all these different secret services , and you're basically gathering intel and putting a package together to go out and take out or arrest HVT's high value targets that come in over the border , reassess their troops and then nip back over where they think they can't be touched .

So our job is to identify where they are and to go in and arrest them . It's called hard arrest . It's to go in and detain them , because if you can get information out of them it's even better . But these HVTs are heavily guarded . They've only got 15 , 20 bodyguards around them .

So someone who is , you know , really savvy , got all the technical knowledge , all the technical equipment and will come over and resupply their troops and teach them how to do it all and then go back over um a certain border . Again , I won't mention any borders , but the one that borders afghanistan is quite obvious .

So as soon as we , as soon as there's a series of id attacks nine times out of ten , we know hvt is , is is close , is in town because all of a sudden , you know wool borough bombs are going off , um ids are going off . You know there's patrols are being hit in a space of 24 hours . You know two , three , four patrols .

We know like the id facilitators must

be in town . We whack up all the equipment that we need to do to track this , this person , down , either by phone signal and again , I can't go into the details of it on how we do it . But once we've got that information and we get the green light from the boss , then we have our own assets . Everyone mounts up and we go after them .

What we do is we cut the head off the snake , and it has such Probably quite literally yeah literally it has such a positive effect because one of the tours that I was on I've done three tours in total , two with the special forces One of the tours that I'd done we took out about three HVTs but in so let's say it was a IED facilitator .

So you've got an IED facilitator , you might have a weapons arm facilitator , you might have a training camp facilitator . You know you've got all these different HVTs as part of the network and when you focus on one .

So we took out I think it was a weapons facilitator and someone stepped into his shoes about two , three weeks later and instead of focusing on the other network , we just focused on that person . Then we took out that person and it took about three or four months before anyone stood into that person's shoes and then we took them out as well .

And it was a couple of years before any major weapons came across the border and there was a period when we were really hitting the HVT for the IEDs that there was a dry patch of IED explosions in the Helmand province for about two years .

You'd never heard of an IED strike because we were just cutting the head off the snake all the time until someone went I'm not treading into stepping into issues , because I'm a dead man , so you're always playing catch up and you're always trying to stay one step ahead of the enemy , or I realize .

With modern day warfare it's just more than one way to skin a cat . The psychological warfare alone and the techniques that we use to eradicate the enemy , second to none . You know , sometimes you well , most of the time you don't even need to press the trigger .

You know it's using their own technology against them , using their own system against them , using their own people against them , and it's really it is . People talk about psychological warfare . You know we can go in all day long , kick doors down and take our hvt's . I can do that with my eyes closed . Done it , done it for two complete tours .

But the psychological warfare behind collecting intelligence , the psychological warfare about getting one up on the enemy , you know it differs from from hearts and minds to to , you know , really infiltrating and penetrating their network how ?

Um , new zealand sas great fighting force , but got some good powers in there . Um , the aussies aren't too bad , um , I would say they're a tier below , but , um , we will only really work with the aussies , the Americans and New Zealand . That's special forces .

And when it comes to conventional forces , you know Marines and pilots that work all around Europe , part of NATO , et cetera , et cetera . When we'd hear that we'd have the Navy SEALs with us , we always felt good , yeah , and vice versa , anyone else ? We always thought that we'd probably babysit in a little bit .

But um , you know , when , looking at , looking at the operations that we went on and being on the ground every single day , conducting multiple , you know hundreds of tier one operations , what separates us from the rest is our attention to detail and the discipline , um , that we have .

Now we don't have any super duper weapons , any special tech , you know , above any other fighting force , but the mindset that we have and the discipline that we have and the attention to detail that we , uh , acquire , is what separates us from from the best , and tell me I know you said that you , um , you would never wake up thinking today was my last day .

But is there any particular days , I guess , particular circumstances , horrendous situations that you're involved in , where it was very touch and go and you're thinking ?

You literally just you have a , you have a plan and you adapt that plan as you go . And if you you know if it goes to shit which nine times out of ten it does then your training kicks in . Um , communication is absolutely key and , uh , keeping momentum is is one of the best ways to facilitate mission success .

If you can be fluid and keep the momentum going within your drills and skills and the communication between you not verbal , just touches and where you go , then you will move as a slick and I mean a very slick moving machine .

And it's fascinating to watch , it's almost therapeutical , the way we move , the way we we cross each other , the way we cross each other's on the doors , the way we stack up , the way we enter the room differently , and it's but all the time but our , our risk assessment , because we do it so much and we repeat that process , we get used to it .

So I used to go into combat and I used to use adrenaline to get me through the door . I'd be at the door we're running to go and I'd wait .

You know , I'd wait either for a pause of a weapon I'd wait for the moment you know , and then I'd breach the door or the way I'd move , I'd make sure I'd always , nine times out ten , have the drop on the person . And also , if you think to it and I used to think to myself what's the chance of them getting a drop on me ?

Not really , if they do fire they don't know you're coming ? yeah , they do . But but the natural instinct when you're , when you're the hunter , the natural instinct is if someone's waiting behind the door , I'm still very confident , the way that I move and the way that I know that I'll get the drop on you .

I I'll wait for that split second or that split millisecond , because you'll naturally try and make a decision , fight or flight , but you'll naturally you'll have that moment , that millisecond of making that decision , because that's what it takes , and during that millisecond I would have made the decision and got the drop on you .

And what I mean by that is , you know the calculations in my head is well , I've got the psychological advantage because I'm after you . You know I've come knocking on your door , so now you're on the back foot straight away . That's psychological advantage .

Two , if they're firing their weapon on automatic through the door , then I know that they're shitting themselves , because we never fire on automatic . Every round that we shoot counts . So , one , you're wasting ammunition . Two , if you're firing that weapon on automatic , the weapon will naturally erase .

You have to at some point take your finger off and take charge of that weapon again . So again , I'll wait for that pause . I see the fucking shards come out the door . I see the . I think , right , there's going to be a natural pause in that weapon . That's my time to go . That pause will happen . Bang , I'm been there .

So that would be adrenaline that got me through the door . But because I've done it so many times , I've been at that door so many times , kicked that door down so many times , you know , met an empty room , a full room , enemy fighters on the other side , it became . I got so used to harnessing that emotion of fear that it became therapeutic .

You know those . That moment of me going through that door was it went from the adrenaline doing it the first couple of tours to the last tour , just being I was looking forward to that . That euphoria , because it's that's the only way I can explain it because it went . It was so peaceful because during that moment life was so uncomplicated .

If I took a step to the left I was going to die . If I took a step to the right I was going to live . There's no bullshit , there's no complications in life , it's it's life at its purest form . And rarely do you walk that line . But when you walk it all the time you make you harness that emotion , you make it work for you .

So it went from that moment and I knew exactly how I was going to move . I knew exactly where I was going to go , I knew exactly how I was going to feel to the point where it got to a point where I was chasing . I wasn't chasing , chasing adrenaline , I was chasing that euphoria .

You know , I say to people I try and put it , put it into layman's terms for people who , who , who , who don't understand it . You know , when you get your poets from World War I and World War II that wrote the most beautiful poems in their trenches and they've got fucking trench foot , they're getting shelled . It's because they're at their ultimate peace .

Nothing matters , it's life at its purest form . There's no fucking political bullshit . You're in a fucking trench , you're at the door , you make one wrong move , you're dead . You're not going to know about it and if you live to fight another day , then woohoo , you get used to that feeling .

So when those poems and that wasn't until I went through that and I started feeling like that I thought I understand how they wrote these . You know , I read these poems sometimes and I think I mean I know what that guy was going through .

He was just there , probably being shelled to fuck , you know , just waiting for one to drop in his head , but he was just like I'm at peace and that , that . That that was a feeling that I chased time and time and time again and it was , uh , it's , it's addictive . You know , it's not adrenaline . It's not adrenaline for me , it wasn't .

It might be for some people , but it's it's . It was that that I chased and um , yes , it's a feeling that I miss every day , but I count my lucky stars how , how did it feel ?

So when people say to me , how did you deal with killing ? I was like I was saving lives and I'd only take that shot if you thought you had the right to either take my life or my pal's life . If you didn't , if you put the weapon down probably had every , every reason to shoot you and I could have you would literally just let people go , I'd leave .

No , just arrest them . We call it arresting , we would . Yeah , we bring them in and we question them and okay you don't turn around and no , no , but some of them . You would . You know if you are , when we're after hvt's , I knew the bodyguard that was there . There was , you know .

Yes , when , when they , when the action starts to kick off , that person doesn't want to be there . It might sound all glamorous that you're looking after a hvt and you're the body , but when you're , when you're quivering in your boots and I can see you , they're shaking and your weapon's there and you can't even control your weapon .

I'm just gonna , I'm gonna take you to the ground , I'm gonna take your weapon off you , we're gonna , we're gonna , you know , plastic off you . We're gonna clear the whole compound once . I'm happy that we've got the hvt , then the rest of you can go . I don't , I don't , I've got no interest in you , I've got nothing .

You know , I'll question you on the spot , try and get as much information , but if you're running from a , you know , and you're not the hvt , run for your fucking , your fucking life . Because , guess what , you're lucky that you've come across a good guy , because anyone else would take you out .

So that's how I can always live with it . I can always live with my decisions that I've made , because I know , deep down , I've never been a bully with a weapon and , like I said , I've taken a life to save a life .

So that's how I processed it in the end , because I thought and I did now again , that was just my feeling of processing , being point man , it's like I used to think I've got no right to take life . But if , if they think they've got the right to take someone else now , I'll just deny them that , that that right , therefore saving life .

So as long as I went in with that mindset , then ultimately I was always saving life and tell me we spoke .

I would say yes .

You know , years ago they started allowing non-badged special forces officers into the headquarters of you know the special forces , therefore bringing their sort of non-special forces ways , and that was sort of like the start , sort of like the , the start of the demise of of the special forces becoming a bit woke .

Um , and then thereafter there was the yeah outside having an influence on on the military and then the military having an influence . So it was a bit of a knock-on effect , but it really depends who's in charge of you know , of the organization , yeah , but yeah , unfortunately , wokeness has gotten everywhere . It seeps in . All you know .

You leave a door open , you leave a crack open , it's going to seep in no matter what .

So you just got to learn to to ignore it and you surround yourself with with , like , like-minded , motivated people who aren't looking to be offended , who aren't looking for excuses , who don't feel entitled , who , who just want to be there , to to do the job and be the best at what they do do you ?

They didn't join the army to say , hey , stop shouting at me .

It's definitely being pressured from the top all the way down . And , uh , if you don't adopt certain ways , then , um , you know , organizations are shut down , organizations are being pulled of funds , organizations are being being uh , uh , what's the word I'm looking for ?

Are being targeted , really , are being , you know , forced to , forced to take on these rules and regulations , otherwise they're going to suffer . So it's definitely a huge peer pressure from the top all the way down . It just doesn't seep in from the sides , it's trickling from the top down .

We were pulling out of Afghanistan and it was just a case of right it's time to leave . You know it's time to to leave . You know it's time to to go . And it was a decision that was made quite easy for me because of my , my ways , or non-conformative ways within the military anyway .

If someone's aggressive to you on the battlefield , you'd counter it with extreme aggression . So you know that's . That's the way I've been brought up , that's the way that was drilled into me from the military . I'm not blaming the military , you know we all make our own decisions , but that's the way of the world .

In the military world , violence , violence we deal with violence , with extreme violence . If someone's violent to me , I counter that with extreme violence . Now there's zero tolerance to violence in Civvy Street , you know .

So it's a hard one to cross , because I can no longer go into that code of aggression and I've had to cut violence out of my life completely , longer go into that code red aggression and I've had to cut violence out my life completely . Where I used that as a weapon , I used that to keep myself alive . So it was .

You know you're trying to balance the two worlds up of having a family and having kids and then of going out and , you know , hunting down hvts . So it's it's . It's a hard balance to to get white and when you operate at that level of special forces , I believe that you shouldn't have any wife , you shouldn't have any children .

My wife would be lucky to get one call a month . You know , my priority was the military . You know I love the military , I love the special forces . I volunteer for everything and anything . Now , even though I had a family and I was there , you you know , I want it to be at the very forefront .

I want to be the best at what I've done and I strive to be the best at what I've done , but it was . You know , there's that non-conformative side of me . I've always done my own thing . I've always done my job to the best of the ability , or best of my ability , I've always got the job done . So there's never been any problems there .

Ability or best of my ability , I've always got the job done . So there's never been any problems there .

But , um , you know , I'd always take charge of my own life , which didn't sit too well in a military organization where you're expected to be 100 military in the zone and , you know , off camp on camp , well , I had my own life outside of the military , if that makes sense and and as a father now and also back then .

You know , I've used aggression a lot to get up mountains . I've used aggression a lot to get through business . I've used aggression a lot to get through life . You know , it's competition with other people , whatever it may be . So I teach them to be aggressive to a certain extent . But you know , there's the way of the land where it's like .

I'll teach them to protect themselves as well . I'll always teach them to walk away . But if they're walking away and they're getting aggressed and you turn around and then you preemptive attack , you go for it straight away , no hesitation .

people listening to this ? We were talking about using aggression to be successful in business , or to get up a mountain , or to get through a bad day in the gym . Can you maybe give a bit more example , a bit more context of how someone would go and use it for themselves bad day in the gym ?

Can you I don't know maybe give a bit more example , a bit more context of you know how someone would go and use it for themselves ?

That's the aggression , pent-up aggression that's waiting to get out , pent up , and if you don't exercise it , it's gonna take charge of you . So what I do ?

If I feel that , if I've had someone that's upset me or pissed me off , or a situation that's happened where I'm feeling this pent-up aggression , then I use it for to do a mega workout , for example , and I mean , you know , I let all that , or I use it . I do a mega workout , for example , and I mean you know , I let all that go , or I use it .

I'll go out for a run , you know , and when I mean thrash myself , I choose a mountain , I run up you know I use it to my advantage .

They've given you their aggression , ultimately , and you'll pass that on to you . It's , it's , I've been there , I've done it , but it's , it's not fair . You've got to realize when that aggression needs to be , and again , it's , getting up and doing something productive with it .

It's not a case of just , you know , going and punching the wall , because that's counterproductive , right , but when you're working out , when you're doing something physical , when you're doing something , you know you might want to use that aggression to get into the office and just smash out some contracts , smash out and just , you know , just leave me alone , I'm

gonna do what I need to do . That is progressive , right , it's , it's . You're actually using your aggression to your advantage .

Um , because what really gets me is people or situations putting you in that mood or in in that situation , and then for for them to win the win , the battle of the wheels , because obviously they're getting to you and you're snapping and taking out and they're almost , you know , breaching your home without even stepping a foot into your door .

So I'm so competitive like that that I won't allow that to happen . I think , oh , he's pissed me off . I won't allow that him to win or that person to win , if that makes sense so I just break it down , and I do , and my wife understands that .

I'm just like , right , I'm off to the gym , right , I'm off for a run , right , and it might be sporadic as hell , but it's better to be sporadic , you know . Then then for it to to you , you know , you can feel it , you know answer , you know what you need to do , what kind of a character is your wife compared to you .

I want to bring children . I don't want anyone changing my children's nappies , I don't want anyone wiping my children's arses , I don't want anyone to be around them the moment they can talk . And then you're like kindergarten . They never went to kindergarten . They start school when they needed to start school .

By that stage they're potty trained , they know how to talk . So you know we made sure we've done all that . We take him , my wife takes him to school , she takes him to the clubs . You know , even now , you know we live in dubai and you know we could have the easy lifestyle of having , you know , a really good . You know care and help .

But , um , my wife is , is , is a is a proper woman . You know she , uh , she likes to do that and it works really well with me because I like to get out and about . I need to get out and about . Um , I need to be constantly on the go . I need constant challenges in my life . I need constant problems to solve in my life .

I need constant stress , um and pressure in my life in order to function . Positive stress , positive pressure towards positive goals . But , um , I need that in my life , otherwise I'll I'll sit around , twiddle my thumbs and I'll get myself in trouble .

I mean , I know , you know , let's say , chief execs of big companies , particularly public companies , and when they stop , and then you know they're , let's say , normal person again and they don't like it that they haven't got staff running around after them and they don't have a driver anymore and they check into a hotel and the manager doesn't give a fuck who

they are anymore . You know , and it almost feels like that kind of adjustment for me

100% .

You're constantly told how good you are and how you know to maintain those standards , those level of standards .

So when you , a lot of soldiers make this error especially your special forces soldiers and your , I'd say , your marines and powers is , they leave thinking that they're someone and you've got to realize pretty quickly that you're no one , that you've got to start . You can take the basics that you've learned , but you've got you got .

You've got to now climb down four or five rungs of that ladder .

If you don't meet the criterias and you don't get up to the standards of being a soldier before those 32 weeks , then you get kicked out . You know you won't become a soldier before those 32 weeks . Then you get kicked out . You know , you , you , they , you , you won't become a soldier . But it takes that those 32 weeks to become a soldier , right .

So once you transition , boom , 32 weeks , you're a soldier . There's no reverse program for that . So you've gone from being a civilian into into the military world , right .

Then you're a full-blown adult and all of a sudden you're chucked out into Civvy Street , where you had to train to think like a soldier , to be like a soldier , to fight like a soldier , which is a completely different world to Civvy Street .

You've got the military world and you've got Civvy Street , but you're not trained to be a civilian again , you know , you're just chucked into into society . So where's the ? Where's the ? Where's the ? Not untraining , but you're entering into a different world . It's almost like going , you know , never been to school .

For when you're chucked into university it's like you know just paying your taxes , you know rents , you know in how to , how to , just the basic things in life and then also how to act in civvy street . Now I realized very quickly that zero tolerance to violence . I've got cut violence out my life .

I can't go into code red aggression anymore because you know if you show any bits of anger you'll be on a bar basket weavers course and you know you've got anger management . It's like you know . So I've got to tone this down . I've got to cut out of my life and all they do in the military . They train , they give you a course , put you on courses .

They might put you on a chippies course , on a plasterers course or a PT's course , but they don't . You know . They need to train you Like they trained you to become a soldier . They now need to train you , I believe , to become a civilian talk of that .

Yeah , I've been in talks with certain people but yeah , you know you're barking up the wrong street because ultimately , once you're out military , they don't care you know , and this isn't a sympathy thing . It's like you're no longer an asset .

Now , all all of the veterans , that , um , that are outside that , that clump together , they've all looked after by charities , by military charities , and not looked after by the military .

And once you're out of that organization , it's like so , it's like you know it's , there's , there's ways of doing it , but they're just not interested that you're , you're , an asset one minute and the moment you sign off , you're , you're , you're no good to them you're used to them .

You know the flip side of that is people wasting resources , using it as an excuse , wanting to be , you know , want to be part of , of of of of a club , part of a club that they're not in . It's really strange the way that I'm saying it , but not that they want mental health , but they want to feel wanted again . They want that connection with the military

. People are abusing the systems , saying I suffer from mental health and they don't . Some of the stories I've heard , some of the stories that I've called people out on , are shocking . They're using , they're jumping on their old mental health bandwagon and it's shocking . But then you look at mental health . Mental health , you know it's so vast , it's so big .

The problem is so big nowadays that they're allowing people to use it in plain sight . Now you look at what's going on in the Western society at the moment , where people have wanted men becoming women , children , babies . That's mental health in plain sight . The problem of mental health is so big that they can't control it .

So what they do is they allow it to transpire in plain sight because it's so huge , so huge . So , you know , trying to , you know you're , you're like just like chucking a needle into a haystack to try and deal with this problem .

But it's , um , it's , it's something that I don't really dive into because I don't really understand it to the extent where I've been on the line , where I've been in that bad , those bad head spaces , but I've never teetered onto into the , into that remit of of mental health where I could understand it .

But what I try and do and what I do to empower people is a prevention before the cure . You know I can see them going down a certain road . So I try and I try , and you know , coach them or mentor them in a way where you know I pull them back from the line if that makes such that makes sense .

But anyone that crosses that line , then you know it's , it's . I try and help them out on my books and I try and get them on the straight and narrow , but it really is down to , down to the individual . You know how honest they are with themselves , how , how , if they hold themselves accountable and moving forward , but it's a huge problem .

It's a huge problem , but one that's being made a mockery of , I believe , which really , really frustrates me .

And nine times out of ten , if someone's got mental health issues , if you take them off the drugs and take them off the alcohol and you know , put them on a program , you know keep them clean for , I'd say , four to six months , those mental health issues will go away . I promise you that . I've been in a state where you know I've lost friends .

You go out and drink , and heavily . You know you'll be on a day or two . You know bender with the lads , you know , as you've just buried your pal from afghanistan , and you realize that all you're doing is damaging yourself . All you're doing is it's just a detrimental effect of of how you feel . You're just digging yourself deeper into a hole .

And there was one . One moment . I was at a funeral buried . A friend that died died , and I was that drunk that I was asking where he was . I didn't even realise I was at his fucking funeral . I was like where's so-and-so and they're like man , what the fuck are you talking about ? And I'm like where is he ? He's meant to be here .

And I didn't even realise that I was at a funeral . I felt like I was just on the piss with the lads . And that's when someone sort of you know said Anne , what are you playing at ? And I sort of had a reality check , like whoa , alcohol's starting to really take charge here .

And the moment someone starts to take charge of me , I won't allow that to happen . So I'm so headstrong . I won't allow people to take charge of me . I won't allow situations to take charge of me . I won't allow . I'll always find a way . I'll allow people to take charge of me . I won't allow situations to take charge of me . I won't allow .

I'll always find a way , I'll always find a solution . I'll always , you know , find a route through and beyond it .

I did go through a stage of not going out with it , but it's become part of my life . Now I'm so busy I've got you know , I'm so busy with business and so busy with my family that I rarely go out , I rarely drink . So when I do , you know it's it's , it's all in moderation , but it's like everything , everything in moderation .

But if you're struggling with mental health , I'd say cut out booze , cut out any , any uh synthetic highs and cut out negative people around you . You can isolate yourself and , you know , use one or two people positive people around you to get you out that hole , because we think we've got so many .

You can isolate yourself and , you know , use one or two people positive people around you to get you out of that hole , because we think we've got so many friends . But as you go through life , you soon realise that you've got yourself and your mindset , your decision-making and your emotions and everything is a decision from there onwards .

I got called out of the club , ran out of the club , split up the groups , my group put them all in a taxi and as I came back around , the police that were with the other group . I naturally thought because I know how to deal with these situations were you know , if you take them around the corner and they're outside , that's great .

So when I came back around and they hadn't moved that other group of people , they started shouting at me as I was going back in the club to grab my stuff . And so I said to the police officer I've just put , take them all my lot around the corner , put them in . I shouldn't have done it . It was a drunken decision , right .

But I questioned the police and put all my lot in the cab around the corner and you've uh , you've still got these people here . Now I've come back around and they're abusing me again .

And obviously he didn't like being told what to do and an argument got into fisticuffs and I ended up getting charged with section 20 GBH because I had a fight with a male police officer , and also I got charged with common assault on a female police officer . Now , common assault because it's got the word assault .

People think I've laid a finger on her , I could spit at you right now . That's common assault . If you , if I , verbally abuse you and you fear for your life , that's common assault .

So the police officer and she writes it in her statement I didn't lay a finger on her , but where she got out her spray and I was obviously what she witnessed was yeah , it was wasn't nice . She literally feared for her life . So I got charged with common assault as well only a couple of months , but concurrently I got charged .

I got sentenced to 14 months and , um , I'm glad I did . It was the best life lesson that I ever went through ?

The moment that hammer went down I knew what I needed to do . There was no more attend court to do this . Like I know what I need to do . I've been sentenced to 14 months . I looked at my wife and smiled , said I've got this . Uh , 14 months , I know I'll be out in seven .

If I , if I'm a model prisoner , I'll be out in four and a half five months on tag . So as soon as that hammer went down , in my head is in my head , no word of a lie in my head I thought I need to be the best prisoner that I can be . So that was a challenge . I set myself a challenge .

I set myself challenges with everything , no matter how negative it is or how positive it is . I set myself a challenge okay , to ascertain a positive result , a positive outcome . So as soon as I went to prison , the first day I got in there , I was mopping floors . No one wanted to mop the shitters . No one wanted to mop the floors .

I was like , give me a job . I I had about four jobs . I was mopping the shitters , mopping the floors looking , mopping the corridors um teaching people to read and write , which got me out of my cell at night .

Teaching um , being a confident , so someone that I confidant , so someone that was struggling at night , I'd go and I was allowed into their cell to talk , to talk to them about their mental health issues or whatever it may be .

And then I worked my way up to a PT monitor you know I work in the gym and I kept myself to myself and just focused on becoming the best prisoner that I could be . And , lo and behold , I got released early on . Good behavior . But , I took it as a challenge . I was excited when that hammer went down . Honestly , I was excited .

I thought I've got a challenge in front of me .

You come out and she probably thinks you're about to have normal family life and then you're off to jail . I mean , did you , were things fraught for you guys , or was she always being very supportive ?

I've been very , very selfish and I look back on I had my priorities all wrong . My priorities were the military , priorities were my mates and when I went to prison , when I left , the military wasn't there . My mates weren't there .

The only person that was there was a one common denominator throughout my whole life , or throughout the majority of my life , with my wife now for 19 years , was emily . That woman , she was just a constant and that's when I realized , right , I got more priorities . Well , there's a huge learning curve .

Going to prison again , that's where I realized I had to separate the two worlds . I couldn't merge the two worlds together of having a military mindset of aggression with extreme aggression . Violence with extreme , extreme violence is like no , I've got cut violence out of my life full stop . Zero tolerance to violence . I've thought about this .

All in prison Same with aggression . Can't never go into that code red aggression . You don't need to Ant to tone it down . You know you can go there , but now you tone it down . So it was needed .

It was probably the best thing that happened to me during that stage , because if I'd have got away with that , god knows what damage I would have done thereafter and potentially got away with or potentially have done more harm and got a heftier sentence . So I'm very positive like that .

You know , if you tackle a negative situation with a negative mindset , guess what the outcome is going to be . Every single I've been there far too many times to tell you any of her . So when I got sentenced , there's a negative situation , negative environment that was going in . I had to adopt a positive mindset to get through it .

I had to , otherwise I would have probably have gotten fights , I probably would have done the whole 14 months , but it wouldn't even let me out at seven . That's what a lot of people do . So I take on the three , the three awarenesses . Right , it's the environment , the people and yourself .

So if I've got positive headspace , if I've got positive mindset and I'm entering into a negative environment around negative people , then I'm the odds are against me . So I probably won't venture into that environment . Okay , cause I'll get drained of my positivity .

However , if I've got a positive mindset , positive people around me and I'm entering a negative environment , then I'll take that on every single day . I'll always make sure that the positivity out balances or outweighs the negativity .

It's the same with if I enter , if I've got positive people , positive environment and I'm in a negative headspace and I'm gonna , I'm gonna enter that into that environment as much as I don't want to . Um , so I always try and take those three , those three into account in everything that I do and I keep my life very black and white .

You know , my , my problem solving is a , is a , is a y junction . You know , yes , no good , bad , positive , negative , right wrong , now boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom . And I get to where I need to be very , very quick . And I don't always get it right .

first day I got out I went straight and worked in the close protection remit .

And then I bounced on such a good job there that I bounced from Sierra Leone to Burundi to East Africa and done the same there , trained their first ever snip snipers , and then bounced to the Ivory Coast back west , called Divois .

I had a connection with Sarah Leone because I went there in 2006 with the military . So , yeah , I just bounced around Africa and I bounced around Africa for about two years and then Channel 4 came knocking for SAS . Who Dares Wins .

And I literally was in Sierra Leone when I got the phone call . I got the phone call saying we've got your number for so and so . So . Once I heard the name I thought , right , okay , look , we want to . We're looking at running a TV programme . Are you up for it ? Was it an immediate yes ? No , it was a phone down .

Just leave me alone , I'm quite happy bouncing around Africa . The more I thought about the prospect and a new opportunity . It excited me . Then I said look , I'll come back to London and I'll have a chat with you . And I had a chat with them . The powers to be in London got wind , special forces got wind . Special forces got wind of it .

And they told me that Steer clear of it to go nowhere near it . Well , the moment they told me that it's like showing me the big red button . Why were they telling you to steer clear ? Because it would go against the secrecy act that I've signed . You're not allowed to be video . You're not allowed to be video . You know you're not allowed to be filmed .

You're not allowed to be ?

I expected to do that , but you expect me to live in the shadows in Civvy Street when you don't pay for my bills , you don't put a roof over my head , you don't feed me or my family . They're almost trying to control you with their ways when you weren't part of the organisation , and that pissed me off .

You know , this was done years ago , but we've just done it better , we've done it bigger , we've done it more , we've done it psychologically better , we've done it emotionally , we've done it bigger , we've done it more , we've done it psychologically better , we've done it emotionally better .

it . As soon as we filmed the first series , I went straight back to Africa to continue with my contracts and then I got a phone call saying you need to get back here . This series is going to blow . The press want to talk to you , everyone wants to talk to you . Everyone wants to talk to you . Get back here now .

I said I can't , I'm doing a contract , I'm halfway through a contract . So they said listen , crap , you can't trust me . Get back here . So I got back here . The show came out and I've never looked back since .

So the original format that I wroteed I think they only do the celebrity one now . So the original format that I wrote on the back of a cigarette bag has been axed . It doesn't go ahead anymore in the UK .

And you know , myself and the production team , we structured that whole second series and then it went on from there , the third series , and then , you know , more production got involved , the more tick boxing got involved , the more wokeness got involved . It became a reality TV show rather than a military course .

You know , and that's not the idea of the course , but the first , I would say the first one , or the first two , the celebs were hardcore and the person that sticks out to me is Wayne Bridge , the former England Chelsea footballer left back , he's just got a tank on him . He would just go forever .

He stood out quite a lot , to be fair , in a super positive way . I don't like to badmouth anyone , but there were some shocking celebs that obviously last not even a few hours , mentioning no names . But again , you know , they've come on the course , They've given it a go . They've probably just come there to collect a paycheck .

And I don't fit in a room for the celebrities , I certainly don't , because I can just smell and see the fakeness and it irritates me .

Not saying'm not saying all celebs , of course , but you know that world is very fickle , it's very fake , it's media driven , it's agency driven , where they want to push you down a certain road and make you be a certain person , mould you into a certain character .

And that's just not me , you know again like I said I can't be , uh , I can't be , uh , controlled in that manner . I just need to be me , um , but what's really positive about being me is people know , if you're looking for rawness and authenticity , then come to me , whether that's talks , books , tv programs , business .

Now , if you want an honest opinion , you want me to lead your group and you want me to lead you to success , you want me to flip your mindset . You want me to to , to make you realize what you're capable of , come to me , I'll do that . If you want authenticity and rawness in filming or anything that that I do , come to me . And that's what's .

That's what happens in this industry . People come to me now because they know exactly what they're going to get , who they're going to get and the , the work ethic they're going to get out of me .

And , um , a lot of people don't come to me because of they feel intimidated , or they feel like , you know , I'm maybe a bit too too outspoken , or maybe a bit too uh , the my , my ways are a bit , you know , unorthodox , shall we say , but , um , all I'm trying to do is empower people with themselves .

That's all I want to do , whether that's through tough love , whether that's through pushing you to your limits physically , psychologically or emotionally . All I'm trying to do , and all I want to do , is make you realize what you're capable of , and make you realize who you are and empower you with with self-belief , and that's all I want to do to people .

That's why I write books , that's why I go on my tours , that's why I continue to film , because if you realize what you are truly capable of , then you , you would , you , we wouldn't be sitting here right now . You know it's , it's phenomenal what we're capable of and it fascinates me and I just like to bring that out of people .

I'll rent out a cottage or a hotel room somewhere in the middle of nowhere . I'll say to my ghost right , come for three , four days . The moment we wake up we're going to get the bulk of this book done . And then you know , the next three or four visits will be two days , another two days . So you know I spend a hell of a lot of time on my books .

I've got to make sure that when people read it they feel like I'm talking to them and when I explain situations that it's done and I say in layman's terms , but in the ways that I process them , that people can look at it and almost kick themselves , go wow , that's a process that I can understand and I can take on board .

And with the overwhelming sort of response humbling response I've had about my books , you know if I showed you my messages just on Instagram and , again , just saving people's lives , changing people's lives . You know , a lot of people in prison read my books , a lot of people that are going through heart and that that's where the mental health , you know .

I try and help out with the mental health side of things to stop them from falling into that hole . Um , that's why I still do what I do , because , uh , because of that , the reward for that . You know people who come up to me . I've never read a book in my life and they said but your book , I couldn't put it down .

It was so easily laid out , so easily to relate to that . I could understand it . And because I've been through life , I've been dragged up , not brought up . I've been through the hard times , I've been through the suffering . I've been through the hardships , the pain , the tears , the blood , the sweat , done it all .

And when I put it down on paper and I talk people through how to get through things , through life experience now he's been there I get that , rather than being , you know , someone that's just writing a book because I think that this method works , or you know , I've been told that it does .

So my books are huge and I'll continue writing until I think I've got a good you know three , four more books in me . You know so that I hope to do for a while longer .

it's . It's an emotional journey that you go on and I was , uh , it was only on the back end of a 15-hour day of going from Camp 3 to the summit , bypassing Camp 4 . We didn't stop off at Camp 4 .

We'd just done a marathon sort of summit bid and between Camp 4 and the summit I was probably halfway up and it's so steep that there was this woman that came down and on our way down she , she stopped and unclipped and went around me because I'm on my way up you know , it's common courtesy , just to you know .

So , as she stopped , she sat down and I , because it's so steep , I was like on one knee , you know , leaning forward and , uh , on my summit suit I have all my my wife , my children written on there so I can look down at it . And I said how is it up there ? She went , it's beautiful . She went , it is beautiful and you're almost there .

I was an emotional wreck at this stage . I had my goggles on . She couldn't really see me . I had my oxygen on . She said it's beautiful . She said Emily , oakley , shiloh , gabriel , prasayas and Bly she read the names out perfectly . She said they're all extremely proud of you . They'd be extremely proud of you . You've got this far .

They'd be extremely proud of you when you stand on the summit . And she didn't have to stop and say that . She didn't have to , she just summited . She didn't need to tell that to me , she could have just nine , just not well , 10 times out 10 people just go past you . They've done their summit bit . All they want to do is get down .

It's a very sort of one-way mentality . When you , when you hit the higher peaks , the 8 000 meter peaks , she didn't need to stop and do that . And what she didn't know is that I was using my children from camp to camp . So I imagined that my daughter was by my side every time I was taking a step and I was in pain and I was struggling .

Just imagine that I was nurturing my getting them up the mountain . So it's just , it's a way , it's an emotional way that I got through , got through the climb so quick . And when she said that to me , I took two , three steps forward . Once she unclipped and went around me , I took two , three steps forward .

And Once she unclipped and went around me , I took two , three steps forward and just sunk down on both knees and just started crying because I thought to myself wow , she doesn't know how much I'm suffering right now . She doesn't even know that I'm using my kids to get me to the top of this mountain .

And she sat , stopped , pronounced all of my children's and my wife's name to a T and told me that it was a weep of . You know , I just cried for about four or five seconds . It was like a release boom , boom , boom . And you know , I had my goggles on anyway . So I sort of dried my eyes , stood up , took a deep breath and cracked on up the mountain .

So that was the last time I shed a tear .

I think If you're going to plan to climb your 8,000ers , aconcagua is a great mountain to do .

And someone said to me so I was planning on going down there . And someone said to me Ant , don't go down there , he said , because the media are saying that anyone that's going down there to do that sit on the far right . So unless you want to be portrayed as the far right which I don't I don't sit on the right .

Unless you want to be portrayed as the far right which I don't I don't sit on the right , I don't sit on the left , I sit in the middle right . Then don't go down there , man , because it could be detrimental to , to , to everything .

So I thought to myself wow , so anyone that's outside of the blm organization that's down there , that's doing that , there's going to be classed as far right . So basically it looks like it's a far right against the far left , which I don don't really want to get involved in , you're right . So I didn't go .

But then I was speaking to a pal that's down there and he was just like it's absolutely carnage down here . He said it's literally no word of a lie . He said whites are fighting blacks and blacks are fighting whites . I've never seen anything like it before in my life . He said there's kids in the streets in my life .

He said there , there's kids in the streets , there's , it's carnage . So there was a tweet and I retweeted something and that's all I'd done . I retweeted something . That was because one , I was peed off that I couldn't go down there , you know , and stand with with military friends . Uh , because we were in class as far right .

Two , for that happening on our streets is disgusting , you know .

And if it's far right against the far left , then car it's like , and all I put was a picture of BLM fighting , which the media portrayed as far right , and I put the far right against the far left , the extreme right against the extreme left , both not welcome on our streets , fighting in broad daylight , like what example are you setting to our children ?

Absolute scum . Okay , that's what I put . And about the situation , I didn't say BLM or Black Lives Matter . I don't mix Black Lives Matter and BLM . Blm are a non-law abiding organisation . Black Lives Matter is completely . They've just cleverly put it together where you know you have to tread carefully around it . I never associate BLM with Black Lives .

Matter is completely . They've just cleverly put it together where you have to tread carefully around it . I never associate BLM with Black Lives Matter . I don't mix the two . Right . But the BLM movement I was talking about the BLM movement against a far right movement that the media said was happening , two extremities . Two extremities and that they don't belong .

What example ? If you look at the tweet in its entirety , it's what example you're setting to our children . You know , absolute scum . And then all of a sudden , it's like Ant Middleton calls BLM scum . It's like no , no , no , no . And it blew it Because they take snippets , as you know . How long did it take to blow up ?

They make the wrong story Seconds and take it down . Take it . So I ended up taking it down and maybe I I've got an emotion emotionally attached like that . But you know , people don't know the build up of the story , of how I was meant to go down there , and you know , and it's like it's happening again .

So you know to say that I've been , you know , sacked because of that and because of this , and it's just .

I said , you know , I sort of explained the situation , I said these are my views and opinions and you know it's yeah , it just blew up and the media picked it up . You know like they do . You know how they get away with being able to do it , I don't know , but they picked it up and the witch hunt started from there .

The witch hunt went on from that moment onwards for about a year , year and a half . It's set now . It's been gone now for a good year or so .

You know , and why aren't you getting you light At that stage ? You're in lockdown as well , so you've got social media in front of you . That's the only way you're communicating . It was just like . You know , it was something that I'd just go to myself . Do you know what ? It's a life lesson , not a regret . It's a life lesson . It's happened .

What's the positives that I can take from it ? Who ?

You know being silenced , and it's just control , isn't it ? That's all it is . People just want to control you , people want to , people want you to adhere to , to us , to a one-way narrative , and that's what makes the world so interesting .

We've all got different opinions , we've all got different views , we've all got different messages that we've all got different values , and they're just trying to trying to box everyone into the same same way of thinking . I suppose .

Toxic masculinity I think there's more toxic femininity than there is toxic masculinity . But listen , no , I don't agree with either of those words . It's just their way of demasculizing you , isn't it ? It's strong . If strong men stand together , then you become a threat , you become , you know , intimidating , you become a problem .

And if they can break that down and take that away , then you become less of a threat and all it is is divide and conquer , isn't it ? They try and divide all these groups . You know black , white against whites . You know trans against non-trans , vaxxers against non-vaxxers . You know COVID against conspiracy , whatever it is .

They're trying to splinter these groups into smaller and smaller and smaller groups . So ultimately , we police ourselves , we argue with ourselves .

It's one big stage and we are being controlled . When I talk about population control , it's a population control and over population population control and making sure that we don't get too powerful , that we don't stick together .

Population control and keeping people in the system , keeping people in jobs , taxing people to the hilt so they can never really make it in life . There's so many many forms of population control that we'd need another podcast to talk about . Is that your ? Way of asking me to rebook you .

And it's not my space in the slightest , but you know , sometimes I have these conversations with people and they say , well , you know , these people at the top of the pharma companies or the top of you know , whatever it may be , want to control the world . And you know well , wouldn't you want to do the same if you were them ?

And I'm thinking , well , no , I wouldn't . To be honest . I'm thinking , you know , because the world that they being created is a is a shitter world than it was 10 or 20 or 30 years ago , and they still have to live in it as well .

And you know when there's travel bans or when there's uh , mask mandates or you know , or you know wokeness and all this shit . I mean , it's just , it's a shit world . I think why the fuck would someone want to create that ?

and I don't really know what the upside is follow the money but with all the money in the world what are you going to do with it when you're not allowed to travel , when you've got to wear a mask ? Control ?

And then if you've got two , three , four global companies like that , that ultimately run the narrative if they don't , then they're going to sanction you or or penalize you . Then you're going to play tune because you know , it's all . It's all about the money . So , um , yeah , you're stuck in between a rock and a hard place .

Do you play ball and just know what's going on and turn a blind eye to it ? And you know , live a comfortable life and just get through it and have nothing in assets or leave nothing behind . Or do you go against the system and get shut down , like a few people have , mentioning no names ? Um , because you can't take on the establishment , you know ?

Or do you sit between the two ? Work , be smart enough to what to work , dip your toe in and out the system . Um , use the system to your advantage and and live outside of it . You know there's there's three things there . Are you going to just conform to it . Are you going to which they're winning ?

Are you going to go you know the complete opposite and call out the establishment that they're going to shut you down In fact , they're going to silence you , you're not going to be winning .

Or are you going to try and outsmart the system , which is a lifelong process , which is a lifelong challenge , which is a lifelong process , which is a lifelong challenge , which is a lifelong problem to have and live outside of the system , but dip your toe into the system and use it like the extremely rich know how to . That's what I'm trying to do .

But I won't uh get into that because , uh , I don't want to end up on the same side as a few male people at the moment if you ever get cancelled , you can always come back here .

And the people that I work with you know the people that I work with , my loved ones , my work colleagues . You know all I try and do is enhance their way of thinking , look at life in a different way and to try and see the world through a positive lens . That's what I try and do .

And , like I said , when you've got adults acting like kids , kids acting like babies , you've almost got a devolution of mankind , if you wish . Now we , as adults who are responsible , who can stand up , we've got to look at our children and we've got to hold ourselves accountable and we've got to do what's right by them .

No matter what any establishment , government or whatever it may be says . You know what's best for your child , do you think we're being too subservient to governments ? I'm not subservient to governments .

So the system serves well for some people , but it's certainly not breeding resilient and hardened individuals . If not , it's weakening mankind . But each to their own . Some people like just to plod through life . Some people like just to , you know , be subservient to an organisation or to an individual . Some people are submissive , like that .

Some people like to break the rules , some people that's what I find so fascinating about the world Everyone is different . The moment you try and take those differences away and you try and put everyone in the same box , then that's when life becomes , you know , a bore . That's when you live on autopilot , that's when you live in the void .

So I try not to get involved in all that . I just try and focus on my priorities , which is my family , my work , colleagues , loved ones around me and the people that gain inspiration and motivation for myself . I try and do what's best by them , and that gives me plenty of opportunities to to to work on .

So , um , yeah , I think at the moment you get too tied up in controlling what you can't control , then , yeah , you're gonna find yourself in a bad place how worried do you think we should be at the uk , that is um about being attacked by a superpower like Russia ? No , I don't think .

You know , when you talk about weapons of mass destruction , I don't think anyone holds that capability to to take out . You know , take out planet earth um , I don't think that exists , um , certainly to make a dent in it . But when people go , you know the earth will evaporate just by the press of a red button .

It's like no , you know , don't panic , don't worry , I can't see it coming in in the near future let's talk about money money money , money , money .

but it's up there when I do stuff now it's like right , what's the financial benefits of this ? I don't allow it to control me . It has to be passion and a will to want to do it and a will to chuck myself 100% into that project . First , if it's 99% , it's really good .

I've turned down nearly half a million pounds worth of of of of sponsorship because the sponsor didn't fit right , it didn't fit with me , and as people I just take them on . I'm like no , you know , so that's that's . As long as I keep that there , then I believe , then I believe I'll be on the right path .

And money money is a by that we're just filtering the back end .

in the top end of business with a few people . So talk about a crash course , talk about learning quick , which I am a quick learner and I no doubt , within the next couple of years , make more money than I care what to do with .

So I'm not really worried about that side of things because I surround myself with the right people , you know , right time , right situation . I'm very good at doing that . And again , value for value me , giving them as much value as they give me . I think that's really important with any business relationship . What ?

All business , pure business , exciting business . You know sports and entertainment side of things . So yeah , I'm really starting to plan wisely when it comes to business . Now I'm fed up with working for a paycheck .

You know working for a paycheck is all well and good , but you know I've got the paycheck now to be able to pump that into something and let it look after itself .

That's sort of what the banks and the government are clever at doing .

So , yeah , no , I'll be very , very careful where I invest and I'll just make sure that it's going to benefit my children in the long run Not really me , but it's going to benefit someone I can leave behind without them , you know , without being taken off of them shall we say you mentioned mentors and that you know you're getting mentored by some business people

at the moment .

I believe that you know you're a good leader if you've got good fellowship .

So it's almost that I've done that fellowship into the leadership in the military and I'm now taking that back step of going into follow ship , ie people above me that are mentoring me , that are showing me the way and being a good leader by learning , observing and taking on board everything that's done and that's set for me as an example , what's a single piece

of best advice ?

Yeah , that make you feel like you're needed that you're wanted and surround yourself with those type of people , because if they can improve you as an individual , then that will naturally transpire in work , in family , business , whatever it may be , rather than the outside in , inside out .

And you know , and at your age you're probably not even halfway through this journey yet , but I mean , if you , if you had to look , look back on you , on your life now , how would you define success ?

But what I love about becoming a better version of you , of who you are , that's a lifelong purpose . You're chasing that carrot . Chasing that carrot , that's a lifelong purpose , is a lifelong goal . You know , constantly committing , constantly learning , constantly growing , constantly becoming a better version of yourself .

So that's what I would say to people is find a purpose within . There's nothing out there that gives me purpose . It's from within , here . You know , look at the world from the inside out and , uh , you know , because you're with yourself 100% of the time , all the time . Right , it's uh , you can't get away from yourself .