Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Schick and I'm joined by my co host and wife, Ashley.
Shik Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans, first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy. At One Tribe Foundation, we believe everyone.
Has a story to tell, not only about the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through to get them to where they are today.
Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story, to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape who they are and what they're doing to pay it forward and give back.
Our mission with this show is to dig deep into our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope and inspiration their story has to offer.
And we're thrilled you're joining us again.
Welcome to the Good Stuff. We have the gift of getting to hang out with one of the nicest people in the world who also happens to be really good at beating people up. Today's guest is Randy Gettuur, who I've been friends with for years after getting to know him through various fundraising events and motorcycle rides.
And you may know him from being a Hall of Fame six time world Champion UFC fighter, or as an actor in countless projects, including The Expendables, and he's an Army veteran. He's here to tell us the story of being raised by a single mother, how he discovered his love of wrestling, and his path to becoming a champion.
He's nice enough to record this episode over zoom, even though those AirPods kept not only popping out, but shooting out of his califlowers.
Here's Randy Gattuur.
Just start back. You got it, the benefits of cauliflower year.
I didn't notice ever, Keith.
Yeah, sure it's thirty because it's the first thing that some people notice, like they can't stop staring at it. Yeah. Now, other people have known me for years. I'm glad. I just got back from Bulgaria. And of course you're here to do the pick up scenes with fifty s And a big part of the scene was about my ear. As usual. Expendable, so all by college buddies lose their body when that stuff comes on it's a blast.
So one of the first pictures I showed ash, you sent me a picture where you stabbed some cauliflower and then held it up to your ear. I said, just to give you an idea who Randy is. He's the real deal. There's no nothing manufactured about this guy. You've been there for me and for guys that I know that served that have been either battling cancer or just been dealt cards that they didn't ask to be dull, and you've just always been a stand up dude. And I remember the first time we met years ago at
one of your events. It was one of your rides, was pokeron in Vegas for Extreme director from Foundation, and I just appreciate the human you are.
Man.
I've seen you around a lot of people before you take the stage and rock the microphone. You're so gracious man, and you don't big time people. I think that's why people just gravitate to you, because not only are you this badass fighter, but you love hard man and it's palpable. And I think that's one of the reasons is people feel it, and I know I have. Before we kick this off, I just want to say thank.
You for that man. Thank you. I appreciate that very much, Jake. Yeah, we put another one out come on.
This is awesome.
This is this is the challenge trying to get things to stay in these damn ears.
Here's the deal. Like, if that's the biggest struggle you have this week, that's a win.
Yeah ah, no doubt about that.
Well, we are so thrilled and so honored today to have our next guest here on the Good Stuff Randy Couture, the Natural, a six time UFC champion act Jim owner father also runs the Extreme cature g I Foundation, which serves combat veterans in need and motorcycle enthusiast and great friend. Thank you Randy so much for being on the Good Stuff.
Thank you. I appreciate you having me on so pleasure.
Jake has told a lot of stories about the two of you in the time that you've spent together. We won't tell those on the Good Stuff.
But well, the good thing is just like they're really other than just being horrible up singing karaoke.
I'm just impressed that you actually got him to sing Karyo.
Liquid courage was involved drinking. There are some liquid courage.
Jake is now five years sober.
Yeah, that is amazing.
Good for you, bro, been actively trying to get the crutches out, and I have one hundred percent accountability and with my everyday life and trying to be a legitimate, walking, eating, breathing example for our boys and just let them see what ability looks like and that every decision has a consequence.
You got to own it all that to say, we do go deep here on the good stuff. The whole point is to be vulnerable and talk about the hard times in life so that we can celebrate the great times in life. Is there a time or a story that you can remember in your path where you went through something that really helps shape the man that you are today.
Gosh, I've had a few of those instances in my life for sure. Growing up in a single parent household up in Seattle, my mom kind of toning the line, raising three of us by ourself with literally no support or little of no support definitely set the stage, I think.
And you can use those circumstances as an excuse to make a lot of piss poor decisions, but I think being the person I was, I use them to motivate me to head in the right direction, to make some choices that put me in the right places and got me the right people that I needed to get through those circumstances. And those coaches were very important. I mean, walk down arrest on that hoping to get a dead beat dad's attention and didn't work. He never saw me
wrestle in a single match my entire career. But I found the place that I seemed to fit or it seemed to flourish. Some of my best friends were guys I was sweating and bleeding with on those mats, and those coaches were very important people, and I needed to kick any ass. They were the guys to step up and do that. I needed someone to throw an arm around me and give me a Dutch rub and say it's gonna be all right, man, You're gonna be fine.
They were the guys that do that too. And junior high school coach John K. Spear still good friends with him to this DAYE an amazing man. I don't think he realized the impact he had on so many of us. Coach backer boy in high school old football coach never wrestled a day in his life, but he was a great wrestling coach. He was a disciplinarian and kept us on task. And I won my first championship with him as a state champion in nineteen eighty one, my senior
year in high school. And see how you sound like my girlfriend?
Nobody liked the bragger Randy that.
It's easy for She slaps through with that all the time. Oh, when I was six, what.
Were you like as a teenager?
I was pretty shy. Around my friends, I would open up, but certainly around adults, I was pretty shy, kept to myself, soft spoken, some might say, until you turn me loose on a wrestling matt or on a football field, and then that's where all that came out, was there? I was never in fights, well, I think I was in two fights all through school. Never any trouble on athlete. Probably I just didn't get caught. That's the truth of that situation.
How did you wind up on a mat in the first place? If you were shy and you weren't a fighter, How did that even come about?
My best friend at that time, his name was Bobby Stevenson. He had two older brothers, David and John, and they were both on the wrestling team and the junior high school we were at grade schoolers. We're in sixth grade. Bobby's like, Hey, we're going to go watch my brother's wrestling. You want to go, And I'm like, hell yeah. We get in the car, go with his parents, go to
watch John at David Wrussell in this tournament. It was the district and they happened to have a novice division that they'd implemented for kids, and John and David thought it was funny to throw me and Bobby into the novice division tournament. Never wrestled the day in my life. I pain a kid with a headlock. I got my first bloody nose, and I'm like this was amazing, Like
I just had a blast. So I think in my young mind, I thought, wow, I haven't heard of my whole life what a great wrestler head was, And maybe he'll come round, Maybe you'll you'll want to come see your wrestle. So that next year I rolled into seventh grade at All the Way Junior High School and coach K Spear was the same pee teacher and coach that had been running that tournament. He remembered me. He said, hey,
wrestling starts next week. I'll see you there, And I was like, all right, I've been wrestling ever since.
What was your first big win that you can remember.
I won the state championship in nineteen eighty one, my senior year in high school. I'd never been to the state tournament before that. I qualified as an alternate the year before wrestling two weight class is above my weight. I couldn't make my varsity team. You know. It was
five hundred at best that season. And I going into my senior year, I sat down with my mom, I want to be a state champion this year in wrestling, and said, I'm working twenty thirty hours a week to be able to pay my car insurance and put gas in my car so I can drive to school. And you know, I don't think I can do that and achieve this goal. And my mom said, look, I believe in you. You can take the next four or five months off from your job. I'll pay your car assurance,
I'll pay for your gas money. And so I went about writing that plan down. I wouldn't go from where I'm sitting right now in Las Vegas to Dallas, Texas wherever you all are at, without a map, And you better sit down and draw a map. Figure out all those steps rolls off your tongue very easily to say I want to be a state champion, But how am I actually going to get there? Because from where I'm sitting then to where I want to be down the road in five months is a long ways away.
How did you not to do that?
I didn't. Literally I was doing this stuff on a whim, had no idea that I was visualizing. Coach Kseper had all these tagboard signs in a stage where we wrestled, where we practiced. He had all the takedowns, all the reversals, all the escapes, and I used to memorize those and sit at home at night while I was going to bed and visualize each one of those ones I knew, and then sooner or later I knew all of them on the list. No idea how to visualize or what
I was doing. I literally fell into the same thing. No one had ever talked to me about setting goals or how to map that out or I had a fair idea what I needed to do, and I started writing down a plan and this is how I think I need to be to get to that. And this was what led to the conversation with my mom, which allowed me to stop working at the grocery store as a box boy and start doing the extra lifting, start doing the extra running, doing the extra drilling, and practice
time and being diligent in all those things. I practice. All that stuff was written in a journal. I had no idea, why are what motivated me to do it? Come to find out, I was doing exactly the right thing, And I had no idea.
I had a great mother as well, who always was just hammering at us. You know, set goals, reach for this, no self doubt, keep going, you get in your own way. But few short years later you're a father.
Yeah, nineteen, had a family on the way. Dated the same girl my whole senior year in high school, and she stayed in Seattle at University of Washington, and I went across the state, the Washington State, which was eight hours away, and so I said, man, I can't imagine going to college my freshman year and dating somebody that's living clear across the state. So we kind of parted ways after our senior year and I came home. I lost in the challenge match to make the varsity team.
Thanksgiving was the first big tournament in the resting season. Usually every year but in nighteen, so I'm not going on the trip. Might as well take the bus across the state and go home for Thanksgiving and seeing my family. Ended up going out on a date with Sharon, my girlfriend that whole senior year. Go back to Washington State and I get a phone call, Hey, I'm pregnant. You know, don't what to do. She was like, look, I'm having this baby. Whether you're in or it doesn't matter. I'm
having this baby. So the ball was definitely in my court. I went on autopilot. I was like, I am not going to be like my dad was. I'm going to be part of this kid's life. And that was a huge decision. I quit school right there, went to an art recruiter, took the ASVAD, qualified and joined the service to support a new family on the way. I went on the layed entry. I wasn't going to get in too basic training till that next October. So October nineteen
eighty two, I left for basic training. My son had just been born that August before I left. Ryan, that's my oldest Scared out of my mind was a nineteen year old to be a parent and all this responsibility, all of a sudden that came with the decision to go on that date when I was hope for Thanksgiving. Sharon is an amazing person. She's in the great mother and an amazing person. We have two great kids. Amy was born when we were stationed in Germany a couple
of years later, been six years wearing that uniform. And then the next big decision, have two kids. Now, have the opportunity to keep wrestling and doing what I'm doing in the service, pursuing that Olympic dream of you know, making that Olympic team, or am I going to get out and take this scholarship. I basically ended up being an alternate on the Ada Olympic team as a soldier. So all these college coaches are like, where the hell
did this kid come from? And because I basically joined that service right away, my clock stopped as far as matriculation in college, and so I had had four years eligibility. So all this all the college coaches started calling. Now I'm fielding all these college from all these great colleges wanting me to come wrestle for them. And it was a big decision for me, was I got to keep doing what I was doing, support my family, as a soldier wearing that uniform, or was I going to get
out and try and get that college degree? And they are my Army coach Floyd Winter again those coaches is we're very important guys. He encouraging me to get out. So, no, I think you need to get out. You're crazy if you don't take that scholarship at Oklahoma State it's one
of the best wrestling schools in the country. And pushed being he was sure he would have loved to keep me on the team and keep me in the service, keep me winning championships for him, but he did what was best for me and pushed me to get out and take the scholarship. That was a huge decision for me, and a very scary decision with two kids and a wife and a family to support, to go try and see if after six years of being in the uniform, if I had what it took to be a college
student again. I mean, it was crazy, but it worked out.
Does Ryan ever say to you like that if it weren't for me, you know, your whole life been Does he ever?
Yeah? No, he's never you know, never had that conversation. Obviously. I think he could do the bath and figure out how things went down.
How would you describe your time in the army looking back now?
Formative? It was nineteen between my junior and senior year. I went to Europe for three weeks, first time really out of the country other than going to Canada or Mexico and seeing other cultures. And it was in a humanities class. And that summer, our humanities teacher and social spence teachers all got together and they took sixty of us overseas for three weeks. I work all year saving money. First,
catching chickens, the nastiest, nastiest job. Oh yes, the nastiest job I've ever had in my life, literally wading through barns full of thousands and thousands of chickens and chicken shit. But it was six dollars an hour in the late seventies early eighties. That was a lot of damn money.
What would you do with the chickens once you caught them, they.
Were going to go to the slaughterhouse and be slaughtered for food. Somebody has to catch him and put him in those trucks and take them to the slaughterhouse. So wow, that was us.
You can't tell me that didn't help with your footwork.
We got creative, for sure. We got into some trouble. Our boss, mister Potter, was not too keen on us playing football with the chickens. And yeah, how do people don't realize there, I've never been around that many chickens, but they're urine species, is right. With ammonia, it is it makes you literally makes your eyes water. It's so strong in those barns. There's eighteen to twenty thousand chickens and one of those barns, so it's crazy. All right,
where'd that one go? We got an ear pod that shot across the room.
It's because pressure these thunders.
All right, let me find my earpod one real quick. There it is, I got it, all right.
So you've you've now served with one hundred and first Airborne and got out. Did you ever prior to that have a desire to serve your country?
Why? It was one of those kids with my cousins and my buddies. We ran around with sticks, steating out each other belly. We're all in through the grass and all of that. My dad was a Navy man back in the Bay of Pigs Era. He was a CBE in the Navy. My uncle was on the Kittie Hawk, and nom my great grandfather, Arthur Griggs, drove for General maccarson and will work due. So definitely had some history there that I was aware of, but wasn't something I
ever set out to do. I literally was scrambling to find a way to support a new family, and this was one of those light bulb moments, Oh that'll work. I can do that. And what I didn't want to do is go live in our parents' house and see how that went. I was way too independent to want to do that or to think that was going to work. The Army solved that problem. I honestly never didn't see a Navy or recruiter. The only recruiter in Pulman, Washington
that I saw was an Army recruiter. So that was the one I walked into and took the test, and obviously things worked out huge decision for me. I went to the Eedy eight trials that summer, was an alternate on the team, literally two matches away from making the Olympic team, and I was wrestling at a level and
I'd never expected to be at. I think during that time in the Army, I believed I learned and developed the confidence that I could compete at that level, and I don't think that was there before that, And now they want me to go to a whole new level. And I'm like, holy shit, talk about a butt pucker.
Yeah, yeah, I was.
You know, I was like, man, and now how am I going to support my two kids and my wife? And what if this dodn't work? You know, I was a pretty good student. I didn't apply myself. I literally got e's and b's without trying, So it wasn't like I was a dummy, but it was still six years since I'd been in that kind of mode, in that environment as a student at a college Division one college.
And there was definitely a scary decision for me driving out of Fort cambl Kentucky for Stillwater, Oklahoma, car packed and loaded with the kids and everything, and I pulled into town and first person we met, we're staying at a hotel too, We could find an apartment, and everybody was just so dang friendly, so amazing in that you know, I was like, man, I am definitely in the right place.
It was a lot different than the way you get treated around the military base and living just off the base, and seems weird how much finance and you know, how much money we bring into those communities, but those communities a lot of times aren't very friendly or kind to us around the bases. I don't think a lot of folks know that, but that's just how it is. And so yeah, you know, I was almost immediately elated that here we were and it was it looked like everything
was positive. They were all positive sides, that this was going to be a good decision and things were going to work out. Transition, as you know, Jake, is a real challenge for a lot of folks, and walking away from that piece of who I was for six years, I wore that uniform. That was a huge part of my identity and who I was. Thankfully, that college scholarship was my built in purpose. I had no time to think about what the hell am I going to do now and who the hell am I get from? God?
Right there, bro Absolutely, and you know that, you know that, no doubt.
I was so blessed and fortunate that my purpose was already built in. I'm going to go get my college degree, and I'm going to win a national championship in collegiate wrestling and set about doing that and then again awesome experience. And I think being a cowboy wrestling for the Cowboys at Oklahoma State, I developed that confidence that I cannot just compete at that level, but I could win. I could win at that level.
You know, we talk about it all the time on the show.
Coaches, I mean, it's crazy.
Just makes such a huge impact on our lives. Myself and Jay concluded with Texas high school football and cheer and dance, Like it seems like almost everyone we've talked to it, there's been a coach. It's just such an important rule.
I mean literally, if it wouldn't for my coaches and for football, like, I wouldn't be alive. They're so influential and makes such an impact. And yeah, like you said too, I don't think that they realize it. I don't think that they even know because they're just doing what they're passionate about doing. But it has so much power and so much longevity and sustainability in one's well being if
you implement the lessons taught later on. You know, Jackson is eleven and he's playing football and Texas at me it's a religion. His coach is pretty tough. He's no fluff and doesn't put up with any antics, And I said Jackson. In my senior year, I was voted to captain my team, and I had this kind of love hate relationship with my head coach. I was never really receptive to authority. I wanted to question.
Everything, unlike you, Jake always fought.
Yeah, Like it was way different. I did get caught like every time. I wasn't good at not getting caught. And I told Jackson, I was like, look, Bud, here's the deal. You never know what the reason is behind anything they're doing, but I promise you there is a reason, I said jack One of the coolest things I ever experienced that had nothing to do with being on a football field was it the day during our awards ceremony in the Marine Corps after the guys got home, and
the day that I got my purple heart. Damn near fainted because I had this major infection inside my body. I told you about this years ago. I ended up having to fly back San Antonio the next morning for mergency surgery. But I looked up and it was my head coach from my senior year and his wife and kids, and I was taken aback by it, you know, like,
what are you doing here? And he just said, I just wanted to come tell you that I love you, I appreciate you, or respect you, and one of my kids to shake your hand, give a face to a name when I talk about you. And I told Jackson, I said, man, as a young, dumb teenager, I never
knew that I was making an impression. I knew a negative one because when I'd ended up in his office, you know, like I think about my coaches, I think about especially guys in the Marine Corps that not even even in leadership, but just in my opportune that just made such an impact. And it's just so cool to be able to have these experiences that we never would have gotten had we not done something that scared us,
you know that we were a little nervous about. And that's what we're trying to get the boys to understand is, hey, do what scares you. Get uncomfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That's where you're going to grow.
I think you have to be willing to fail. You've got to be willing to embrace the potential that you're going to fail. You're not going to be successful and still be willing to put yourself out there and recognize that that failure, if it does come, is going to be your opportunity to learn to get better, to become a better athlete or whatever is you're applying yourself to, and at the end of the day, a better hum it. So that fear of failure is a thing that locks
up a lot of guys. I know, a lot of amazing fighters in the training environment, in the practice environment, and then it comes time to walk on fight night, those four steps up into that cage, and they lock up that fear of failing, That vulnerability, the potential exposure in there is more than some people can handle. That's a mental skill you have to practice and learn to deal with and pace that adversity.
And something also that I've found, you know, even in my life, is a huge motivators that desire to please. So the fear of failing, but then also the desire to please. You mentioned your father, Did you draw from that when you took the mat?
I think we all want to be loved and accepted. It's part of how we're wired as humans, for sure, and sometimes we're willing to go to great lengths to see that happens. We have to all learn that that little voice in our heads it should be our friend, I call my crazy redmate, say shoot it. No, many of their right mind would say to my face. And learning that I control that voice, that voice does not control me, it was a huge step in my journey. And that didn't happen until I was well into my
thirties before I figured that out. Working with a sports psychologist on the national teams and all that stuff, and trying to develop some of these mental skills to deal with the adversity of competition, of walking out into the center of that map by myself was a huge thing for me, and I wish I had have figured that out a long time if I may have avoided a couple of divorces. Who knows. But recognizing that we control
that voice, that voice does not control us. We can step behind that voice anytime we want and let it that or on. You don't have to react, you don't have to even engage. It's going to say what it's going to say. But you can also stop it and give it affirmative, positive things to say. And now you become a force to be reckonied because your conscious voice, that thing that rolls off your tongue so easily, and
your subconscious voice are saying the same thing. You're going to be tougher than hell to deal with when that's the case, So recognizing that you have to spend some
time there to develop. Like any physical skill, we have to spend some time working on those mental skills to develop that acuity and sensitivity and learning when that voice is chirping and going off and saying things that are undermining your confidence and your actual abilities that are God given, and recognize them when to shut him up and give him the positive things to say and focus on those.
I had to write those things down in the beginning on three by five cards and put them in my gym bag and put them in my life and put them on my spitabre and my cars when I'm driving to practice. Those things are going there, and especially when the pressure gets turned up, that's when that voice seems
to really start chattering and going nuts. You know, the week of the fight, if I listened to that voice, so I'm going to be out in the parking lot run at sprints because the what is come in right instead of letting my body recover and having faith and competence in the plan and all the work that I just put in even get to fight week to be
able to walk into that cage on Saturday night. And the thing I didn't recognize was that all those skills apply to my everyday life, to all the other things I do in my life, to having a conversation that's difficult with my wife or my kids or my boss. I can visualize those things and see the outcome that I want and imagine it seeing it in my head going a bunch of different ways. With that one common denominator success, I always saw the hand get raised at
the end of those fights. No matter what happened in that visualization, I always was successful. I was alway is victorious. And the same thing. I can visualize just about anything, and I think you start to have a physical reaction to those pictures that you start putting in your head. So controlling those pictures and making them positive and affirmative things is a hugely powerful thing.
That's the sole food right there, the mindset. It's so important. Was there a period of time in all of this that you had self doubt?
There was two of those, and both of those had divorce in front of them. My mother was married and divorced twice and married a third time to my stepdad Marco. That was the biggest sense of failure that I had ever experienced in my life. And I literally considered driving my ten speed bike in oncoming traffic and just being done. That's the truth of the matter.
You had to fight socilid audiation at one point.
It certainly crossed my mind. And anybody that says those kind of thoughts never crossed their mind is lying their ass off.
I completely agree with you, agree with you.
We all have things that happen in our lives that put us in that dark place in that you know, where you start questioning your value and what you're able to handle. And I never actually tried to go through with any of that. I've been in that dark place twice in my life, and I don't even want to talk about the other time. It just wasn't. Yeah it was. It was bad, but I got through it. I got through with the help of friends. Some people know me well enough to call me and make jokes and lighten
the mood and put it in a different perspective. It's all about framing something right. If we allow the frame that certainly are crazy roommate, our subconscious mind wants to put around shit, You're probably going to end up in some dark places. Yeah. And if you're recognize and you shut that off and you give it the positive affirmative things to say, and you probably end up in a
lot less dark places. I've been very, very fortunate. I've never been a person that struggled with anxiety or depression, and I know there are a lot of folks out there that do. I think it important that we address and talk about some of this stuff. Doesn't matter how painful it is. I think it has to be addressed and we have to shine a light on that stuff or or the numbers are going to keep going the
way they're going and they're not good. Yeah. That was one of the darkest times, that first divorce and recognizing the situation that I'd gotten myself into, how unhappy I was and I wasn't being the man I wanted to be living a life I wanted to live. Thankfully, got through it. Definitely sought out some counseling, and I've been to worst three time. Doesn't take a brick in the head, does.
Looking back now, though, it's kind of hard to have gratitude for the hard times that we went through. But looking back now, do you feel like those times shaped too you are today?
Absolutely, And that's certainly something I've learned through athletics, through wrestling and fighting those setbacks, those losses. Everybody raves about six world championships, that means I lost at least five times, and the truth is I lost. I don't say it's not always about winning. It's about how you deal with the adversity of life. The adversity of losing in life and in athletics, you're going to get knocked on your ass.
There's no way around it. Everybody does. And if you think you're going to skate pas that you're storally mistaken that you better figure out how to embrace it, make the most recognize it for what it is. It's a chance for you to learn to make the adjustments you need to come back and be a better athlete than at the end of the day, I think, a better human. So I embraced that the vault was for wrestling and losing some of the biggest matches you can literally be
in make the Olympic team to be NCAA champion. I lost in the finals twice. I think those losses that set back to dealing with that adversity and the kind of darkness and negativity that comes in after you lose something that big, something you work that hard for, definitely made me the person that I am to be able to deal with the divorces and to deal with all the other stuff that life's thrown. I had tools because I dealt with those adversities on the mat me in
the cage. They gave me resilience, They gave me a mindset to be able to deal with any of the other crap that came my way.
You've got such an impressive resume and so many accolades to your name, but tell us about Extreme Couture Gi Foundation.
The Extreme Paturity Foundations was something that I founded in two thousand and eight and six I got to go to Iraq. I spent twelve days on the ground with a bunch of our soldiers there, and obviously it was a moving experience for me, having taken that oath at nineteen and never had to put my ass on the line, and now I'm hanging out with a bunch of guys in gallops. I'm literally doing exactly what I traded to
do and never had to do. So it was a, I would say, a good experience, but one hundred and twenty nine degrees in the Iraqi.
Heat, I don't know what you're talking about, Rennie. Tell me more about.
Yeah. I enjoyed what we were doing and why we were doing it over there, but it wasn't fun. It was a challenge for sure, and it gave me a new perspective on what it would be like had I been that guy at nineteen years old walking onto that combat zone. So it was an eye opener for sure
for me. The next year, in O seven, a friend of mine, Mike Davis, set up a barbecue at the Fisher House and Walter Reid Bethesda, the NBC, Me and Ken Shamrock and Don Fry all came out and we had to walk the wards and meet a bunch of men and women fresh off the battlefield that have been wounded. That experience was a game changer hearing the horror stories here and you know all, my dad came down here for the last six months to be my caregiver. He's
staying in the Fisher House now. He's lost his job. My mom's been here for a year and a half while I'm going through these surgeries. We've lost our house, the house I grew up in. My wife's car has been in the parking garage for eighteen months now and it's got a boot on it. We can't afford the fifteen hundred dollars it's going to take to get that
thing out of hawk. I was beside myself. I knew at that moment there was something we could do to alleviate this transition for these folks that have already sacrificed what they've sacrificed. So we filed for five and one seat three status. Yeah, starting to get a motion.
Everybody, it's okay, Yeah.
So we're off and running. One of our very first events with the Extreme cotuur GII Foundation was a motorcycle poker roud. Obviously, there's an affinity between veterans and motorcycles that started after World War Two and kind of drove a lot of the biker clubs or call them whatever else you want to call them, but a lot of those guys were vets after World War Two that ended
up in those places and doing those things. So the Motorcycle Poke Around immediately became one of our most successful events, and we've done a lot of different events over the years and a lot of different states. We've got program coordinator Patrick Crosby up in Seattle, we're doing some events up there, and had friends in Saint Louis, Dave Marikatani, friends down in Georgia and Tony Demos, Postelic Up and Quad Cities. We just had a ride in Coco Beach,
Florida with Dave Mancuso. These are all friends of mine. They don't get paid. They're doing these things because they see what I'm trying to do and they want to be part of that. They want to help those guys actually served. That's what means a lot to me, is that these are actual civilians, Americans that see what's going on and want to be part of this and want to help and want to raise the awareness and raise
some of that money. Every year we go out to Walter and but there's a Lenda Resnik helps since identify families that need the most financial help at that time in that transition and we sit down with each one of those families. Last year I had to sit down with sixteen families and give sixteen ten thousand dollar checks. That's good kicking the butt for most people and take that financial pressure off them while they're in that situation.
We've expanded our mission a little bit. We now have a big database through all of our events and through MVP Emerging Vet the Players, which were the Nevada chapter for that. A lot of these vets get buried in bills and they're up to their eyeballs in debt. So they provide us that paperwork, show us those bills. We'll pay those bills off and get them flush so they don't have that stress in their life anymore. We recognize that not all wounds are on the outside. Some of
these guys. The peer up here counseling of MVP and all that's great, but some of them need a little higher, more professional care. So we've connected a lot of our veterans that we recognize needs and more serious counseling. They let those demons out into the light of the day. They don't like that, they hate that actually, and give them some professional tools to deal with that TBI or that PTSD and the darkness that a lot of us
carry around because of our training. Because we're not willing to let that stuff out, and we're trained not to. We're trained to stay on task and accomplish the mission, not to ask for help, not to cry for vulnerability or any of that stuff. So changing that narrative, changing that mindset, making that okay to say, hey man, I'm struggling. This ship is really on me and I'm really having a hard time. We have to be able to change
that narrative. Two years ago I spoke to all the sergeant majors in the European Theater about just this and changing the narrative and if we don't get it from the thought, so it trickles down to everybody else. And Strapless just retired. He was a sergeant major in the army. He stood up and he told his story about having his gut in his mouth, and he said, I just got back from counseling and trying to sort that out, and I don't want to ever be in that place again.
But to have a sergeant major stand up in front of it all the those other starting majors and tell that story balls the size of church bells, and good for him. That stigma that's attached to asking for help has got to change in our services or we're going to continue to see the numbers that we're seeing. It's that simple, no doubt about it.
Truly, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for what you're doing, and thank you for spending the time and the energy and the effort and the talent and the treasure on this because you know, we live breathe it every day in the work that we do with veterans, first responders, law enforcement officers, and we're just we're truly grateful that your voice is out there doing this.
Yeah, man, I mean, look, you're leading from the front as usual. And just like Tony who I got to spend time with Tony from Jordia. Love that dude. And some of those people you mentioned that never served a day in their life are prime examples of being able to serve now without wearing the uniform. It's possible. You don't have to wear uniform to serve your nation.
I have to know, Like, here's my burning question. It has nothing to do with fighting or UFC. I mean it kind of does.
Well.
Yeah, I'm a die hard impractical Jokers fan. Yeah, that was pantying with the stars, dude.
That that was because we do watch it religiously.
I literally laugh out loud every time I'm watching it, whether I've seen the episode ten times or twenty times. I love those guys. That whole concept of that show is just hilarious.
There's been a couple of times where like, I'm like, are you sure you're not the one with the TV I.
Because I'm laughing so hard.
But break what was break?
Legit? They've literally even friends forever, and I think that's what comes out in the show is that they just have a blast taking the piss out of each other. Frankly, that was just a lot of fun, so great. I'm probbing today. I mean that that episode was so funny to me, and sal was was great and obviously very gracious. It was just a lot of fun.
I got it.
I got a little Jerry wear, thank you, got a little piece in they're kind of giving you some hints and telling you what's going on and what they want you to do, and I kind of took it one step further.
I just pulled my pants off.
Through a mass.
I was just about to ask, Okay, when you did that, was it a plant thing or was that spur of the moment like I'm just gonna off and give them to them. That was just me getting into it.
Our's your Is that more appropriate underwear?
Exactly like your mama taught you always make sure you got clean underwear.
That's a whole other story.
Thinking back over your journey, is there a person or an individual foundation that's made a huge impact on your life?
Yeah, my mom, Yeah, she raised service by herself, saying parent sect example, taught us the work ethic. I was the oldest of three to two younger sisters and chortlist was there. I had better be done by the time mom got home, So there was some delegate and go off. It's a gets some stuff done. And yeah, my mom absolutely set that example in that bar for me, my entire.
Life sounds like we had very similar mothers. Yes, yeah, she's my hero too, very much.
So my heroin what do you do to recharge any tours batteries and just calm the soul.
Well, it used to be going in the cage and get punched in.
The face, but most of the demons scattered for the shadows that's going on.
But no, the gym action was a huge for me because the rest of the world goes away. You can't worry about that argument you had with your wife, or the bills or anything when you've got somebody standing across the mat that wants to kick you or punch you in the face. Yeah, ride that motorcycle is the other place where it's very relaxing for me. You're in the moment. You got to be right there. I've got to be wandering off and end up at the gym when you
were going somewhere else riding a motorcycle. It just doesn't happen. So and then the third place for me is being out in the woods, hunting, fishing, mostly hunting. I love to fish, you and grew up in the Pacific Northwest right on the Puget Sound. We hunted, fished, crabbed. I love being in the outdoors, getting barefoot, walking around in the mud and the dirt, and getting connected to mother Earth. That's a happy place again, for sure. It's what that
small ranch outside of black Stock does for me. It gives me that place to unplug, put the phone in the iPad in the Fara day bag and call it a week or or sometimes a month. If you can get away with.
It, that's awesome.
Yeah, that's peace that's here.
With you too.
Man.
That wind therapy goes a long way, and.
Haman fishing and being in the great outdoor.
Being out in God's country where your electronics don't even work. Being able to unplug is so important.
Yeah. We get so used to having everything right at our fingertips and not halving the struggle for anything, from the running water and the toilet to the food that we have access to all the time, and you just take yourself out in the nature of the world and you realize just how insignificant we are.
Yeah, exactly. Last question, what feeds your soul?
Oh?
I think certainly what feeds my soul now is all the people I get to touch. You know, everybody talks about Oh my god, I can't imagine doing a four hour of pearance with all those people all over you and say, I got to need so many cool people for me. It's all about humility. I start with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility. With that mindset.
With humility, every single person I meet is better at something than I am, and whether open heart and an open mind, I have an opportunity to learn what that is and learn from that person starting with humility, acting with humility, and ending with humility. Every single day.
This interview today, this conversation we've had with you, truly has fed our soul today, and we're just so grateful for the man that you are, for all the work that you've done and that you continue to do, and thank you for being part of the good stuff.
I knew from day one you're real deal. You're a true homie. I knew it. I felt it, you know, I felt that sole connection and I was like, I just thank God for a minute, I was like, Hey, thanks for putting me around a real dude, you know. And I knew the people that set that up wouldn't put me in the arena be around someone like that, because I mean, you know me and I have a hard time keeping what I think in a cage. But I gotta tell you, bro, you've made me a better human.
Having the privilege and honor to be able to call you brother and friend is something I don't take lightly. And I know that I can call upon you and I think you know too. But I'll say it anytime anywhere, anything, say the word. I would have zero hesitation bleeding for you. Bro.
Well, I appreciate that, brother. Hopefully it will never come to that.
Yeah, let's hope y'all's bleeding days or behind us.
Randy the Natural Couture, I freaking love you man.
Thanks brother, that's a two way straight, brother, I really appreciate you.
So many great one liners and nuggets like I just really enjoyed that interviewing episode.
See, he's a hell of a lot more than just a pretty face.
No, he is so inspirational, so inspirational, you know, I love what he's said. Life's going to knock you down, figure out how to embrace it and make the most of it.
This is another guest who's accomplished great things that started in their childhood. And I'm awed by him. And it really and it doesn't have anything to do with this championships and his belts in the Hall of Fame and the acting. It has to do with how driven he was, even at a young age to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish, and being true to himself and being convicted in his work ethic. I mean, I'm just.
I'm inspired by it and staying humble the entire time. Humility was such a huge theme, you know, at least through his adulthood and everything he's accomplished, just staying humble and treating everyone like man. This is someone that I could learn from because he knows that that person is better at something than he is.
Yeah, and that's coming from a world champion, Hall of famer, and if he can do it, we should all be able to do it.
Exactly. A world champion, hall of famer who's exactly like the rest of us. He's got the crazy roommate. He talks about rolling that voice. I think that's hilarious. We all have it. We have these fears, we have these insecurities that creep in. But it's about how you get in there and you control it and you say, I'm not gonna let this hinder my success.
I mean, look, ultimate lessons learn from this amazing interview is always wear appropriate underwear and don't go kick and chickens.
Don't go kick and chicken.
Don't go kick and chickens.
Exactly. Thank you so much for listening. If this episode touched you today, please share it and be part of making someone else's day better.
Put on your bad ass capes and be great today, and remember you can't do epic stuff. Without epic people. Thank you for listening to the good Stuff.
The Good Stuff is executive produced by Ashley Shick, Jacob Chick, Leah Pictures and q Code Media, Hosted by Ashley Shick and Jacob Shick, Produced by Nick Cassolini and Ryan Kant's house post production supervisor Will Tindy. Music editing by Will Haywood Smith, edited by Mike Robinson.