Episode 499 Mr. Whiskey Why Dark Humor Keeps Veterans Alive Transcript

This transcript is from episode 499 with guest Mr. Whiskey.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] You ever feel like the civilian world just doesn’t get it? You step out of uniform and expect clarity, purpose, even peace. But instead, you’re hit with confusion, frustration, and that sinking. Now what feeling maybe you thought getting out meant everything would finally fall into place? A job you love, A home that feels right, peace in your own damn head.

But here’s the truth, things. Don’t always come, issued like that at discharge. And when the mission disappears, a lot of vets feel lost trying to build a new one. Today’s episode is the fix to all of that. We’re sitting down with Mr. Whiskey, a Navy vet who faced one of the most brutal command climates imaginable, rampant suicides, broken leadership, zero morale.

He made it out, and now he’s using his voice, humor, and hard won wisdom to help others find a new path forward. We got real about purpose after service, military, dark humor, leadership failures, and why getting out isn’t the [00:01:00] cure all you may have been hoping it would be. But before we dive in, make sure you’re subscribed to the email [email protected] slash subscribe.

You’ll get my five favorite, favorite episodes sent straight to your inbox. No fluff, just the best insights to help you drive on. I also wanted to take a moment to raise awareness for something deeply important to our community, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation. This organization is working to build a permanent national Mor Memorial in Washington DC to honor the service members, families, and civilians impacted by the global war on terrorism.

This memorial serves as both a tribute to those who served and a way to ensure that their sacrifices are recognized and remembered for generations to come. If you wanna learn more or find out how you can support the mission, visit g watt memorial foundation.org. Now, let’s get into today’s episode.

[00:02:00]

Scott DeLuzio: Mr. Whiskey man, welcome back. Welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here. You know, I was on your show back gosh, six, seven months ago, and you know, that was a great time and, and looking forward to the conversation with you today.

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah, no, I’m glad to be here. I wore my dark green to be thematic with the whole military theme and the drive on logo. So we’re, we’re here, we’re ready.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. Excellent. So, for the listeners who maybe aren’t familiar with you, your background and everything, tell us a little bit about yourself, your Navy veteran, but, you know, tell us, tell us a little bit about your, your military background and, and kind of, you know, what got you to where you are today.

Mr. Whiskey: For sure, you know, mate, nuclear operator. So not the most common job, you know, not the most common title, but I did have a very unique military experience to begin with. The nuclear program is one of the highest stress and suicide rates. When I was there at that time, it was about one to three suicides a month.

And that’s, that’s a lot in my, in my book. One is too many. So to have one to [00:03:00] three. Each month flag always at half mast. The command saying, Hey, we’re doing steak and lobster because to raise morale, you know, that kind of stuff. And then the ship I got sent to, you know, I do, I am a man of God. And, and maybe it was all lined up because not only was I at one of the most high suicide rates space, my ship, the CVN seven three USS, George Washington.

Was in the news and under investigation for a mass suicide epidemic. Described as, you know, we had three in a single week, and this was prior to my arrival. Three in a single week, you know, all different ranks and, and all that. And then by the time I left, we had about 15, the last one being a man murdered his wife military on military.

So imagine that my experience has been very unique, the kind of. Each base has its own command climate, as you’re well aware.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Mr. Whiskey: good, sometimes bad, sometimes very bad. And

Scott DeLuzio: You know,

Mr. Whiskey: you know, I,

Scott DeLuzio: I, I, some race

Mr. Whiskey: grace to some of the leadership for what they had to deal with. Obviously, the new leaders who

Scott DeLuzio: came into that.

Mr. Whiskey: [00:04:00] it’s like a

Scott DeLuzio: Operat

Mr. Whiskey: salvage almost.

And for the

Scott DeLuzio: leaders were there.

Mr. Whiskey: kind of made things worse whether intentionally or unintentionally, you know, there’s definitely. I saw a lot that could have been done different. And recently I’ve learned that not a military man, I’m a man who was in the military. You know, there is a big difference.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Mr. Whiskey: a lot of us or men who happen to be in the military and I don’t know, the military man mindset is, is is different, you know? And for me personally, I saw. and my potential much greater outside of the military for what I wanted to do. In the military, there’s always so much red tape and leadership and it’s good to not have constant change, right?

We want a strong structure and organization to protect this country, some of the stuff that just, always people above you and your, your impact is limited to such a small bubble in the military, and I felt like civilian side. would be more [00:05:00] ability to cause change, whether to the military, in tandem with the military, or just to other groups including veterans.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, so that, I mean, that’s. Certainly a great reason to get out of the military. You’ve seen greater potential outside of the military. And I, I like how you described it as you know, the military man versus a man who was in the military. When it, when, as you were saying that, I was thinking back to the TV show back in, gosh, I don’t even know the eighties or nineties or so.

Like major dad, I think it was where, where like he was a military man. Like he, like that was his, his thing. Like, you know.

Mr. Whiskey: you can look and just know,

Scott DeLuzio: You just know,

Mr. Whiskey: themselves out of a, they like stand at attention just to rest,

Scott DeLuzio: right, exactly. Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: How would you describe yourself, Mr. De Luzi? I gotta know, are you a man who was in the military, a military man, or both? Did

Scott DeLuzio: I,

Mr. Whiskey: become one or the other?

Scott DeLuzio: you know, I think I was a man in the military and the military like kind of followed me out as, as I [00:06:00] left the military, I kind of.

Mr. Whiskey: I.

Scott DeLuzio: Kept some of it with me. So it’s not that I’m necessarily a military man as, as we’re describing it here, I, I think I am more of a man who was in the military who’s kept a piece of that past part of me.

Mr. Whiskey: not even your choice because the other, this is so funny. I caught myself the other day. I was taking the public transport in Chicago for a speaking engagement and a man had told me like, when you get off the blue line train, you gotta go upstairs for the green line. And then I got totally lost because I.

He didn’t tell me. I also had to go across the street and back down. And then I was describing to this woman who was a worker, I was lost. And I was like, you don’t understand. Told me, take the blue line head, top side, go green. And I was like, no way. I just said head, top side about taking the subway. I was like, this is. The Navy just suddenly popped out of my mouth,

Scott DeLuzio: Right, right.

Mr. Whiskey: I’m heading topside. Like, I have civilian friends who are like, what? Some, I’ll say I’m going to the head and they’re like, huh? I’m like, I don’t know why I call it that. It’s a restroom. I, [00:07:00] I haven’t called it. I don’t

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: just, it just, it comes out, I think the vernacular and in that stuff, I’m sure. You have like certain phrases like, and people get mad ’cause I’m like, I’ll see you at zero 100. And they’re like, it’s 1:00 AM.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right,

Mr. Whiskey: It’s

Scott DeLuzio: right.

Mr. Whiskey: this military time, like it’s easier,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: repeats, there’s no confusion. 1800 is 1800, six o’clock, zero six oh. You know? But

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, I, I actually had a problem with that, WA, this is after I got out of the military. I set my alarm on my phone for six o’clock to wake up six o’clock in the morning, and I screwed up. I, I set it for 6:00 PM. Ever since then, I switched my phone. It’s, it’s on military time, 24 hour time.

Mr. Whiskey: you’re

Scott DeLuzio: I am never going back to that because I, I, I even on my computer, on my phone, everything, I, I keep it that way because I screwed it up once.

I don’t wanna do it again. So I, I just try to put, make a, you know, error proofing, dummy proof it, if you will. You know, so I, I can’t make that mistake again. But so. I wanna talk [00:08:00] a little bit more about your, your experiences, kind of the stuff that you are you’re into now. So I mentioned your, your show that you had me on a, a while back, a couple of nukes.

Mr. Whiskey: Sir.

Scott DeLuzio: Great time on that show. Definitely for the listeners. Go, go check out that show. But you know, focus on having these conversations and, you know, focus on self-improvement and you know, that, that type of thing. How. What kind of got you into that? What sparked you to get into that and, and create this platform and, and, you know, what do you, what was your goal starting it all?

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah, so it is funny how like we plan one thing and then life and, and God will send us a totally different way. You know, wanted to do a comedy show because, you know, the nuclear community, like I said, they always say, I don’t know how true this is. You know, don’t fact check me, but they say. The recruiters, say that about only 5% of people can join the military, right?

They always get that spear of like, you know, you’re the, the best of the best because between the physical waivers and drug waivers and haz, vb, only [00:09:00] 5% can join. Then they tell nuclear operators of that 5%, only 1% can be a nukes. You know? So you’re like of 5% of America, right?

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: of nukes have these inflated eagles. Because they’re so smart. Their brain just function differently. You know, they

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: think differently. We have a term called nuking it out, which is overthinking or arguing very technical, minimal points. And so we were

Scott DeLuzio: We’re sitting around

Mr. Whiskey: a very interesting

Scott DeLuzio: academic,

Mr. Whiskey: yet comedic conversation. I was like, look at this.

A couple of nukes.

Scott DeLuzio: oh,

Mr. Whiskey: oh,

Scott DeLuzio: there it is, you know.

Mr. Whiskey: how it happened. Even though my show really is just a nuke, as I jokingly call it, sometimes, that’s me because no other nukes were in on it, you know? Nukes are like very unenthusiastic people and they’re tired and they’re alcoholics and they hate life.

And so no one wanted to do a podcast, you know? But I was like, no. Like we’ll highlight, nuking it out and then we’ll also nuke out life and we’ll, we’ll, you know, talk about the mental health struggles. Like I wanted a balance [00:10:00] of we give life advice, but we have a good time. And when I was recently in Chicago recently, as in. April. You know, speaking about, I was talking about integrating comedy to address dark subject matters such as medical ailments and suicide. And one of the talking points I had was about the military is known for dark humor, for morbid humor that sometimes civilians don’t get. Or like, people are like, are you okay?

Do you need to see someone or talk to someone, you know? Because like it was a lot of, you know, every time I walked across the shipyard, you know, I had somebody sail. I was like, be so funny if that, you know, high beam just fell on my head right now. You know, like stuff like that or, know, so I, I, I talked about how even like military and humor play a role together and, you know. No nukes were in on it. And so when I got out, I especially lost the connection to that community. And there are meme pages and Facebook groups and all that for like nukes only, reactor only. But you know, I didn’t wanna spend all this time trying to hunt down and find nuclear partners. I [00:11:00] said, you know what? Why be so niche? You know, every,

Scott DeLuzio: Every podcaster will say.

Mr. Whiskey: niche. Your show shouldn’t be for everyone. ’cause then it’s for no one. I don’t believe in that. I believe that, your show is gonna reach the right people at the right time. I, I truly believe that. And so I said let’s do military mental health. But that put me into this category of Mr. Whiskey is a military man and he only works with military people. And I can’t guess on his show ’cause I’ve never been in the military and you know, it. That’s not what it was about. Like you don’t need to be in the military to help people in the military.

Scott DeLuzio: That’s right.

Mr. Whiskey: Just like pastors who go and preach at prisons. I mean, some of them are former prisoners. Sure. But not all of them.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, they, yeah, they don’t have,

Mr. Whiskey: has been an addict. Right.

Scott DeLuzio: they don’t have to go rob a bank just to go be able to talk to people in prison, you know?

Mr. Whiskey: Right, right. That’s what I’m saying. And so yes, does it help to have that mindset? But there’s also stuff, a lot of overlaps between the civilian military

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: too. Right. Our lifestyle and our job are intertwined, but we still face, I. Divorce, we [00:12:00] still face, you know, grief and loss of family members and loved ones. We still face, you know, sure we may have a higher rate of addiction, but civilians struggle with addiction. There’s people overdoses, almost one in seven people know someone who has taken their life or overdosed.

So it’s, you don’t need to give me life advice just ’cause you’ve been through it, you know, like at the end of the day, if anything, sometimes it’s kind of. like you think you can talk to me ’cause you were in the military too, so therefore you know what I’ve been through. Like, I want a person to speak to me as a person, not as like soldier to soldier sometimes.

Does that make sense?

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, I, I think so, and I, I’ve done the same thing on this show is I, I’ve had plenty of people who were civilians who had some sort of expertise. Maybe they’re. You know, a psychologist or a doctor, some, some other you know, trade maybe that they, they may do or maybe they run a nonprofit because they’re just extremely grateful for the, the service that servicemen and women provide to the country.

And they run a nonprofit to help those folks. And they, [00:13:00] maybe they never put the uniform on, but so what they’re, they’re providing a resource that is there for those people who might. Need that type of resource. So my, I, I see.

Mr. Whiskey: and stuff like that. ’cause sometimes we need a, we need a separation for the military. ’cause we also have this distrust and dislike of the military.

Scott DeLuzio: right. I mean,

Mr. Whiskey: don’t wanna tell our problems to the military, you know?

Scott DeLuzio: yeah. And, and look at just the, the attitude that a lot of veterans have towards the va. You know, right or wrong, you know, I’m not, I’m not gonna go down that rabbit hole right now, but you know. The people just have a very big distrust of, of the va, of the military. And so maybe if you need some help, the only other option is a non-military option, non-military connected option.

So yeah, check out some of those civilian resources or non-profits or, or other organizations that are out there that can provide you with the benefits that you’re, you’re looking for,

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: you know?

Mr. Whiskey: sure. I, I totally agree with that, like I [00:14:00] said, and from there I kind of was like, you know what? I need to like. I’m not just a military guy. I even like rebranded my show logo. It was a nuclear explosion with me and my dog sticking our tongues out. We were like woo ing out life. And everyone thought I blew stuff up.

So, they thought like we were just talking about nuclear warfare. And I was like, oh, okay. Branding change. And so now it’s neat and unprofessional for my dog. She’s, she’s sitting up, you know, toward the sky, like ready to embark on this life quest. And, you know, I still have a huge focus for, for veterans and military, of course.

’cause it’s, I mean. As we said, only 5% qualify yet, it’s a huge portion of the population. I mean, everywhere I go, there’s a veteran or active duty member, you

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: they need our help at just as much. Like I said, they deal with the same stuff, and so. I don’t want be restricted to just military, but at the same time, I don’t ever want military members to feel like my show is not for them as well.

You know, it’s for and I have it even on my website. I have it broken down. If you want to go to just military only episodes or [00:15:00] guests, I have it organized like that

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: by branch. If you want to go just to Vietnam War stories, you can, if you want just Air Force or Army. Yet to have Coast Guard on, so Coast Guard hit me up, but and Space Force, you know, but, if you wanna do that, that’s for you.

But hey, if you want to go look at careers or finances, or specifically VA home loans or specifically women’s

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: mental health, like, it is for everyone and you can, that’s the goal with the show is that anyone can go and find something they need. I’ve, I’ve done flying airplanes to sleeping better, like. Everyone has different, we’re at different points in our lives. You know, some

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: relationship advice, some don’t, but some people who are good at relationships are bad at money, so usually they

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: in tandem, I

Scott DeLuzio: I was gonna say, and that that’s usually, if they’re not good with money, they’re gonna end up not being good in relationships too.

Mr. Whiskey: yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: But yeah, I mean, that, that’s, it’s, it’s a wide variety of topics and I, I face the same struggle myself with this show. Sometimes I feel like it’s, it’s all over the place.

Sometimes I feel like I, I just gotta narrow [00:16:00] in and focus on a couple, you know, key topics that are really heavy hitters that’ll. Drive the most impact. But at the same time, you know, you never know what somebody might be going through. And, and, and if they stumble across that episode, that might be the thing that just turns out light bulb on in their head.

It’s like, oh man, I, I, I need to make that change. Or, you know, use whatever that resource is or get that help or whatever. And so, you know, at, at times it’s like, I kind of wanna put, put out all those different types of episodes because,

Mr. Whiskey: exactly.

Scott DeLuzio: want, you want to help. Everybody, you know, I, I started the show thinking to myself, and I’m sure you’re probably the same way.

So I, if I can help one person, then it’s a job well done, right? And, and then, you know, years later you’re, you’re still doing it and it’s like, okay, well I, I’ve helped one person, so who’s that next person? And, and so you want to just keep going and, and make sure that you.

Mr. Whiskey: ending.

Scott DeLuzio: You don’t miss anybody either. So, you know, so there’s a lot of resources.

You know, we talked about all sorts of things like that. But you, you’d also introduce comedy [00:17:00] into you know, you’re talking about, you know, just everybody kind of joking around and, and the dark sense of humor that a lot of military has. I. Completely understand what you’re talking about. I’m sure a lot of the veteran listeners on the show for this episode is probably just not in their head, like, yep, yep.

I, I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Mr. Whiskey: Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: It, I’m, I’m trying to maybe just get your opinion on this. Why do you think it is that, that we’re, we’re into the dark humor and the rest of the, the population is like, man, something’s wrong with this guy.

Mr. Whiskey: You know what I, a very interesting question because don’t know, because the only other population I’ve found that dark humor really works with is more of like young emo women or gothic women who are also. Usually suicidal, you know, not to stereotype or label them, but I mean, if you look at a statistics, so

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Mr. Whiskey: I wonder if it’s that like de emotional detachment piece is necessary to understand and enjoy that humor.

Because I met plenty people who are just like, [00:18:00] that’s not funny. Like, why would you joke about that?

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: we have some kind of emotional detachment, and that’s not to say we’re lifeless, but I think, don’t know. You know, it’s like, do any of us truly wish we would get hit by a bus walking to the shipyard? hopefully not. But do we laugh and say, yeah, we could get a pretty good amount of disability if we break enough bones? Yeah, but it’s like, I think it’s. I think it’s necessary because like morale is so hard. I, as much as I bash on leadership you know, being a leader in certain fields and, and looking at the way the military is set up, has to be so difficult to maintain because like I mentioned, to bring it back earlier, you only have so much control as a leader and you can try and do what you need to do, but the mission needs to get done sometimes. Navy or big Army, or whoever it is, uncle Sam, is putting down deadlines that you have to meet. And sometimes you’re a lot, almost every time that I’ve ever seen, you’re understaffed, overworked, you know? And so it’s hard to maintain [00:19:00] morale. And you and I, in, in the episode of my show, we actually talked about how there’s this mindset in military that, that men get the, like everything is just stupid or, or gay or weird to like. Actually attend command events or to use the, the what is it, MWR and go on the trips and stuff and, and how that, like everything, a lot of the commands try to do to boost morale. People are just like, forget this. I’d rather go home and drink. And it’s like, how effective is drinking at raising morale compared to, you know, actually if you actually have fun with your command, when you can have fun.

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: some people who want to continue the beatings until morale improves. But you know, there’s that mindset too. But I think it’s like, so I think working in that humor, whether dark humor or, or, and one of the things I miss about the military, which I only get when I’m with veterans, is inside jokes that like military only jokes, you know, there’s certain jokes that I’m like, civilian friends just wouldn’t get.

You know, cer, especially [00:20:00] when it comes to certain words of vernacular, like. Talking about certain watch duties or certain phrases or, or acronyms. We know the military loves acronyms and know, so whether it’s those inside jokes or the dark humor, I think it’s just trying to get any little boost of morale that you can.

And I think if you put restrictions of like morality or emotional attachment to it, then you’re gonna lose. A large percentage of the humor from the military, and you dropped that and now Morale’s already dropped lower than it was. So that’s, that’s what I think it was. You know, I think civilians have a lot more leisure time to. Care and a lot more emotional availability to like overthink and care about that stuff. Whereas in the military, it’s like, screw it. We’re making that joke. Who cares? I,

Scott DeLuzio: I.

Mr. Whiskey: already sucks because, you know, I, I’m away from my loved ones. I’m working long hours. I’m underpaid, I’m stressed. I’m, I’m, you know, don’t like where my life is going and that’s not to, and I’m making [00:21:00] it sound like the military is miserable.

There is a time and place for it. I mean. It just depends. Like I

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: your chain of command can make or break it. You know the people you work with in your own decisions too. And again, not there’s a lot of control on you, but there’s also a lot, like we said, that is in your hands. How will you utilize anything that that can boost morale, whether that’s your own free time or the commands time.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And to your point that you were talking about earlier, I. The leadership, they have a lot of people that they have to take into consideration, and not everybody’s gonna like every decision. Some people are gonna be on board, some people are gonna be like, eh, I don’t know if that’s the right decision.

And, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. That’s, that’s their job. They have to go follow those orders and do what the, the leadership is, is telling them to do. And so. It, it’s gotta be a difficult thing for a, a leader to be able to you know, kind of please everybody. And, and if you try to please everybody, you’re gonna, you’re [00:22:00] probably not gonna please anybody.

And so that, it’s gonna end up just being a, you know, a, a never ending cycle. And then the leader’s gonna be frustrated and that’s not gonna work out well either. So, you know, so that’s a difficult job in and of itself. But then, you know. You look at that, that dark humor side of things and, and where that comes in.

And, and from my perspective, I think it’s it, it’s a kind of emotional detachment that you’re talking about. I think that that’s the key to it all because you know, I, I, I know we, when I was in Afghanistan, we’d, we’d joke all the time, it’s like, oh, watch your step. You know, like we, we’d do like one of those kind of things and.

Mr. Whiskey: that funny,

Scott DeLuzio: We’re like,

Mr. Whiskey: know people were like, that’s awful.

Scott DeLuzio: yeah, exactly. And, you know, but, and, and we’d laugh about it, you know, like e even if you’re the guy who, who was you know, supposedly gonna, you know, blow up or whatever. But like, we, we would laugh about it because you kind of have to, you, you kind of have to like detach yourself from like the, how severe the [00:23:00] consequences of, of this thing is so that you can focus on, on everything.

’cause it. I mean, if it was me and I, and I’m constantly worried about blowing up or getting shot or whatever I, I’m gonna be petrified. I’m not gonna be paying attention to anything other than like, every little detail around me. Like constantly laser focus on all those little tiny things. And then I’m gonna miss a big pic picture and I’m, I’m gonna end up missing, you know, the sniper that’s, you know, in the window on the other side of the, you know, the road or whatever.

And so those types of things. You have to be able to kind of separate the the different scenarios, you know, in your head, you know?

Mr. Whiskey: If I actually stepped on a landmine and got blown up and lost a leg, you know what my buddies would say? We told you. I watch your step. And

Scott DeLuzio: I know,

Mr. Whiskey: like, I guess I didn’t watch my step.

Scott DeLuzio: right?

Mr. Whiskey: like, oh, this is why I don’t play Twister. You know, like that’s, that’s even after the fact because like, like you said, we can just focus and get into this negative mindset,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: it’s important to do it.

And you know, one thing too that’s frustrating [00:24:00] is if as a leader you keep trying to boost morale and nothing’s working. If you ever stop, then you’re held accountable and they’re saying, you’re the reason. There’s no morale. You’re failing your soldiers and sailors. And it’s like, you can’t, you can’t win.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And, and to your point too, you said earlier, you know, a lot of people just rather go home and drink and like, that’s not really the best option, you know? Yeah, sure. Maybe the the, the group outing or whatever it is that, that, you know, leadership has planned, might not be, you know, the, the exact thing.

Mr. Whiskey: you’ve ever been to,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, it’s not the exact thing that you might want to be doing with your Saturday or whatever, but, but if you do, I don’t know. You’re with a bunch of people, you know, friends that you’re, you’re with and you’re hanging out and you can laugh and have a good time and kind of let, let your, your guard down.

You’re not like on duty necessarily. You’re, you, you can just kind of be you and be you around those people and, and who knows, you might actually have a good time. Right. So.

Mr. Whiskey: the bandwagon mentality, like I said, of [00:25:00] people get this mindset, all it takes is one guy to start making fun of people and being like, you really, you’re gonna command ball,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.

Mr. Whiskey: come have Fireball with me. You know? And then it, it’s, it’s such a bandwagon mentality, honestly. Same with I think part of the reason the dark humor, humor does so well is because like, like you said, everyone is in on it, you know?

So same in the opposite way. It’s where if everyone like morale, and this is just positivity in general. It is so much harder to build up momentum and spread for that than it is negativity.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: I, I believe, like I, what I love is in, in Proverbs, I believe it talks about, I’m going to give a terrible paraphrase of this, but it’s like a little bit of, I don’t think it’s poison, but it’s like a little bit of something gross in a va.

Wine will ruin the whole

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: You know, and it’s like just any negativity will spread so fast and just ruin everything.

Scott DeLuzio: Right,

Mr. Whiskey: you could, if you put a drop drop of wine and, and a bit of poison, it’s not gonna make it taste better. You know,

Scott DeLuzio: right.

Mr. Whiskey: much of it. So it’s like a, the dilution scale for [00:26:00] positivity to negativity, it’s just so against us, especially in the military. it’s also on the leadership to like, make sure that when those events happen, that you’re not like, stand attention, salute me. Like you gotta make it, like if you’re off. You’re off,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: and some, some people can’t take off the uniform, some people can’t relax for just a little bit. And so it’s also on the leadership.

Make sure that like, if, if you’re not having a good time or you’re not out of the uniform, the people below you aren’t gonna be,

Scott DeLuzio: Right. Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: like they can be and then they’re gonna hate it.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Because then that just feels like another day at work and that’s, I mean, is that really what. The intention of this is supposed to be right. So, so that’s, that’s a good, good point. I think for the leaders who might be out there listening to this is, you know, keep that in mind. Like, don’t, don’t make it another day at work for your, for your guys or, or, or gals, whatever you have under you.

But like, don’t, don’t do that because that, that defeats the whole purpose and you might as well just not do the whole event to begin with. Right. So,

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah

[00:27:00] off

Scott DeLuzio: yeah, exactly. You know, I, I, I’d rather have that than another day of work. So, you know, and I know like. You know, getting out of the military a lot of times, I’m sure you’ve noticed this through conversations that you’ve had and maybe even yourself.

But you know, a lot of times veterans struggle with the, the loss of mission or purpose after getting out of the military. And so it. It becomes like a new mission when you get out to find maybe a new, a new role or career path or, or something like that. Right. Have, have you kind of experienced that through your, your show and you know, people that you’ve talked with?

Mr. Whiskey: I love this topic. It’s funny, I, my way to the airport from Chicago, my Uber driver got into this conversation with me. I’m sorry, Lyft. I don’t wanna promote the wrong brand. Lyft took me, I paid $80, but yeah, he, we were talking about it and about how, you know, the longer you’re in, definitely the worse it is.

But I, I always tell him how, even just like a few years, especially when he went straight from high school, that’s all you know,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.

Mr. Whiskey: what’s really sad and [00:28:00] come May 9th, it’ll be my two year anniversary of leaving the service. And I found out, especially last year in my one year anniversary, like a lot of thoughts that day because that one year felt like yesterday and it felt like one year, it felt like a couple years. It was such a strange period in my life. And with that coming up, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting and I think for me personally. I happen to fall into the podcasting and find a new mission pretty quickly. That had a lot of purpose and meaning and a lot of impact. But I’ll give an example. one of my best friends called me not too long ago saying, Mr.

Whiskey, I. I’m gonna reenlist and or I’m gonna go back in. He, he just spent six years talking about how he’s so excited to get outta military. A few months later calls me saying, maybe I’ll go reserve. Maybe it’ll be better. Maybe it’s not like the real military. Maybe they’re not lying to us. And I said, oh, said, Hey.

And I, I held him accountable. He couldn’t believe I knew this. I said, lemme tell you so [00:29:00] and so, I said, you had this expectation that as soon as you got outta the military. You were gonna be happy again. You were gonna find that girlfriend finally, that you were gonna get a dream job, you were gonna be killing it. Everything was gonna be sunshine and daisies. You got out. What did you find that your resume for, from being a CS aligned with nothing? the college process wasn’t what he thought it was. he got a, a job as a Amazon delivery driver than a bus driver. He was miserable. He was basically saying, at least in the military. I, I felt more purpose than this. And I said, you thought that getting out would just cure all your other issues. And I said, the military plays a huge factor into relationships, career, all that. Don’t get me wrong, happiness, but that getting out is gonna be a miracle switch, where a few days later, you’ve got this dream job because I’m military, everyone’s gonna wanna hire me. That’s not how it works.

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: if your resume is like, like [00:30:00] respectfully. I mean, he was a cs. I mean, what does that really say? He wanted to be a car mechanic and auto engineer and just saying that he was military and he lived on a ship, doesn’t qualify you for that, you

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: And he, I said, look, and now you’re desperate.

You’re turning back to what you know, all you’ve ever known since high school was the military. So now you’re like, well, maybe if I go back in, but a different branch or a different style, I can make it work this time. I know everything that I need to know. I said, look. If you knew everything and went back to high school and redid it, do you think you would be happier?

Maybe. But I think you’d still be miserable. Still face some of the same problems. It’s like going back in just ’cause it says it’s the reserves and not active duty. It’s not, that’s not gonna be a miracle, miracle cure either. You said the same thing about the civilian label.

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: labels. You have to take action and it, it, it broke my heart because. For six years. All he did was like, he wasn’t one of those guys that had the countdown on his phone. I know plenty of guys that had the countdown app, but always talking about was like, bro, I’m so excited to get out this and that and all these plans and. [00:31:00] wanted to tell him, like, it’s not going to fix everything.

But I knew that wasn’t good for his morale. ’cause he was, that was what he was right on, was getting close and cl and then they extended him twice to stay in. So I knew I was, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but that phone call came where I had to say it to him, and I’ll say it to all the young veterans listening who feel like, what happened?

Where did I go wrong? You didn’t go, you didn’t, nothing went wrong. This is just a reality of it. Getting out isn’t a miracle fix. You know, I even, I, some of the stuff I faced with, I realized like it wasn’t just the military, you know, I didn’t get out and suddenly I’m happy and, and, and great, you know, it’s, it’s, you have to see it,

Scott DeLuzio: Like you said.

Mr. Whiskey: new mission, not one that comes with all these built-in presets of you’re happy and you have a, a wife and a family now, or whatever it may be for you.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: have to work. It’s, it is actually. Not just a new mission that’s continuing from your old one. It’s almost an entire restart, especially if you’ve been in [00:32:00] for the longer you’ve been in, the bigger the restart is,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah,

Mr. Whiskey: and it may set up a good foundation for you, but a lot of the things aren’t covered by the military.

Like I said, even only thing that kind of is, is maybe, maybe your career if you’re staying in the same field,

Scott DeLuzio: sure.

Mr. Whiskey: but like, hey, if you’re a nuclear operator, getting out, trying to do anything other than that. I mean, I’ve been denied. When I first got out, I got denied from. it was funny, I was overqualified to be a waiter or to be a server or to just do something simple, why I looked for something blue collar or, or stuff.

And at the same time I said, Hey, you’re a military man, so you can deliver these Amazon packages with, you know, precision, you know,

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: no wrong labels. So it’s a, it’s a very sad reality. But the truth is the military isn’t a free pass to a, you know, spoiled civilian life.

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: a lot of ways it’s actually more difficult sometimes.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and you don’t get issued on your way out of the military. You don’t get issued the, the, the [00:33:00] family, the, the American dream job, the, you know, the, the house with the white picket fence and all the things that you might be looking for. You don’t get issued those things. You gotta work for those things just like anybody else.

And I think for people who like have that countdown app on their phone and they’re, they’re looking forward to that date getting out. And as you were talking, I. I came to the realization that this coming November will be 20 years from the time that I enlisted, and I’m kind of kicking myself right now.

Like I could be, I could be this close to retirement right now,

Mr. Whiskey: And it’s like, did

Scott DeLuzio: but

Mr. Whiskey: right

Scott DeLuzio: did did I make,

Mr. Whiskey: were you in for

Scott DeLuzio: I was in for six years, so, so it, it was

Mr. Whiskey: a long 14

Scott DeLuzio: it would’ve been a long 14 years for sure, but I’m, I’m starting to.

Mr. Whiskey: at it, you’re like, well, it would’ve been the blink of an eye if I look back right now at 14

Scott DeLuzio: Right now. Yeah. There, there’s,

Mr. Whiskey: it. During it.

Scott DeLuzio: but I, but I bring that up because there’s always that woulda, coulda, shoulda type mentality. And I, I think at the [00:34:00] end of the day, like I made the right decision because I, I, I, when I got out, I needed to get out and I wasn’t, I wasn’t gonna be doing the military any favors by staying in at that point.

So, when, but when you, when you get out, I think it needs to be. That you’re running to something as opposed to running away from something, you know, I’m going to this, this job that. This is a career that’s gonna set me up. Maybe it’s not my dream job, but it’s going to, it’s that stepping stone that’s gonna get me to that next, next step to get me closer to that dream job.

Or, you know, maybe I want to live in a certain part of the country or part of the world, move someplace else. And, you know, that’s what I, I want to go to. And that’s where I’m, I’m, I’m going to not. Man, I hate this. I, I hate that. I hate my first sergeant. I hate my, my, my commanding officer. I, I hate all these things.

I hate all the, and I, I just wanna get outta here. And then you, you do, you get out and you bust through the door like the Kool-Aid man, and, and you

Mr. Whiskey: And

Scott DeLuzio: are like,

Mr. Whiskey: other

Scott DeLuzio: holy crap, there’s nothing here. [00:35:00] Like, what, where was I running to? And so you really have to be running to something and not away from something.

I think that’s, that’s a key point.

Mr. Whiskey: But what I want to caution is, again, running to that something a plan, not with

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: unfulfillable expectations, like, oh, just because I’m a veteran or just because, or now that I’m no longer in the military it’ll, it’ll be easy. Some things don’t get easier.

Scott DeLuzio: Right,

Mr. Whiskey: maybe the military was impacting your ability to get in a relationship, but that doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee now that it’s gone, that you will be in one or that you’ll find one.

You know?

Scott DeLuzio: right.

Mr. Whiskey: again, like goals that you’re pursuing are different from, these are guaranteed expectations I’ve set. So I think that’s so important to have. Same with the military going in thinking. gonna go to Hawaii and I’m gonna highlight a submarine. I’m gonna have the time of my life and then end up in Newport News, Virginia.

Right? So understanding. That, unless in the military, unless it’s in [00:36:00] writing and sign, and even then make sure it’s there’s not a bunch of waivers attached that if this happens, this happens. Like, you know, if only it was, when you’re transitioning into civilian world, you sign a contract that says, all right, I am, you know, so and so, Mr.

Whiskey, this rank, and I’m transitioning into civilian life as my new command station, and I’m gonna get a, I’m gonna be stationed at the white picket fence house with, you know, the mandatory wife and kids and I’m not gonna play colors at zero 500 and no one in the neighborhood shall be allowed to do so.

You know, it doesn’t,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: it was like

Scott DeLuzio: Right. Yeah. You don’t, you don’t get that kind of send off with the e everything laid out for you. Nice and easy. Send off.

Mr. Whiskey: us don’t get a send off at all.

Scott DeLuzio: Right, exactly. Before we started talking, or sorry, before we started recording, I should say we were talking a little bit about your kind of mentorship of the future generations coming in to the military high school aged kids and, and things like that.

Tell, tell us kind of like some of the things that you hope to be able to impart on those younger folks. I, I know sometimes [00:37:00] their, their minds are kind of. Sometimes their minds are open, sometimes their minds are shut off to, to new people and new things. But what do, what do you hope to get across to the those younger folks?

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah, for sure. You know, it can be very difficult because I remember the Nuke program, right? All of us, they gave us a speech. When we got there, they said, Hey, all y’all nukes, y’all were the kind of students that showed up to school, didn’t work hard, got straight A pluses and called it a day. Y’all. Those people, this school isn’t that. This. No matter how smart you are, you’re gonna have to put in work. It’s about six years of education compacted down to a year and a half. It’s drinking water through a fire hose, is how they describe it. You will need to humble yourselves. And the reason there’s such a high failure rate is so many people are like, ah, shut up Chief.

You don’t know me.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: And then some people who face that struggle still wouldn’t let humility take over said, you know what, chief? had a bad quarter, but guess what? I’m still not gonna study, you know, F you. And [00:38:00] I think it’s the same thing. We’ve always talked about my show. You need to, in order to improve yourself, you have to accept criticism, you have to acknowledge weakness, and you have to have humility and take down that ego.

And so, yeah, like you mentioned, it’s very difficult getting through those egos and I, I wish I could, because here’s the thing, Mr. Zo, if you don’t. It’s gonna get broken one way or another by something worse, probably a mistake, a failure, or they go to the grave with a whole bunch of. that they could have avoided all because their ego was more important.

And, and guess what? Your ego, when it goes into the grave, it kind of just stays there. It doesn’t do anything. No one’s gonna talk about it years later. So, you know, I was thinking about this a lot when the high school I was speaking with said, Hey, Mr. Whiskey, we want you to make a mentorship program and we want you specifically, they said the Navy Cadet Future Cadets that are part of the, you know, army School program.

And I was like. What would I say to them? Because I don’t want to paint this picture that the military is awful and discourage them, [00:39:00] right? I mean, but the goal is to set realistic expectations. It’s like, well, how do I do that? Because, like I said, every military experience, every person’s experience, military is so unique. There’s a lot of overlaps, right? There’s a lot of overlaps, there’s a lot of same situations. But at the end of the day. command is gonna be different. All your coworkers are gonna be different. So what are the common overlaps that I can focus on that are more generic, yet helpful? And I think what I want to see is that longer term, this is a big picture.

A big picture, taking a step back that I out create a third party organization, or maybe it’s part of the military that sets up mentorship for the young enlisted, and maybe that includes. High school and JR OTC, but specifically, if we can set up all the young enlisted to do well, to create positive command climates, to work well with one another, that’s gonna, and they stay in the retention rate just went up. If [00:40:00] retention goes up and everyone’s having a good time, rous up the new wave that comes in everything

Scott DeLuzio: is,

Mr. Whiskey: in the military.

Scott DeLuzio: yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: cycle, like I’ll give an example on my ship. New people showed up. They got called nubs, non-useful bodies. And I, I hate that, to be honest. It’s very rude. Non-useful bodies. And it was by people who were there like a week or two before us too. So

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: part. Like now if, if it was chief, senior, chief, all right. You know, whatever. Some people would call it hazing. Some people call it tough love, right? The worst part was if you were a nub. The senior rates would task with all this additional work that was theirs to do and it was their senior rate privilege there. I’ve been here a few months longer now you gotta do it.

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

Mr. Whiskey: And then those quote nubs would get to that position and pass it. They would copy the same. Right? We see the same thing in in it starts in high school,

Scott DeLuzio: Fresh meat

Mr. Whiskey: Friday, let’s go punch a couple freshmen in the locker room ’cause that’s what they did to us.

Now it’s our turn.

Scott DeLuzio: right.

Mr. Whiskey: instead of this break, the cycle of abuse, we see the. Let’s continue it as our turn [00:41:00] for, you know, revenge. And so if we can break it at some point and set up young enlisted and officers as well to make that positive impact, it forward to the, to the next, and then keep that up. But here’s what I’ve seen.

So caveat is that I had a shipmate who he didn’t task his work to the newest recruits. He didn’t treat them badly, he said. I’m gonna do my responsibilities, my part. Do I have the privilege to pass it on to you? ’cause I have positional authority. I do, but it’s my job. All the other senior rates said, oh look, I guess he’s still a nub, but once a nub, always a nub.

And they would task him with extra work and treat him bad. And he went to his chain of command and luckily they took care of it, but like trying to break the cycle, he got thrown into the bottom of it.

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Mr. Whiskey: so if we can preventatively. You know, preventative maintenance, one of the military’s biggest things, preventative maintenance and cleaning. And look [00:42:00] busy and hurry up and wait. You know, if we can get the new generations going in or the mid generations to break that cycle and create a positive cycle and stop. And like I said, a little poison will ruin a whole VA of wine if you can stop any new recruits. Who get to power and decide it’s my turn.

And you know, I don’t like the way things are run. If you hold people accountable, can have that. So I think starting at the high school level and specifically the young enlisted level, again, most young enlisted are 17, 18, 19, 20. They’re young adults. They, they, you know, the education system doesn’t teach you how to adult and it certainly doesn’t teach you how to live a military lifestyle respectfully to the J-R-O-T-C programs and stuff, from what I’ve seen. not the same as being in and being enlisted. In fact, they have nicer uniforms here in Georgia than we do in the actual service. I was like, man, who’s paying for these? Their uniform. They had crisp, like black jackets and all these badges and [00:43:00] pens. I was like, what is, what is all this chest candy for?

I mean like, but anyway, the point being. what I hope to see mainly is can we set up a positive cycle and can we keep it running? And you know, we set it up so that when Mr. Whiskey and Mr. Dezi will pass away and people just listen to their podcast daily still, ’cause they’re great shows that the new generation will have their version of it and they’ll pass it down and pass it down and create a positive cycle. Because one of the issues now that we’ve seen, I’m sure you’ve seen it, is. see is the people who stay in are the people who are the most bitter, the people who like the way things were. And, and, and we have all this leadership that just is from like 20, 30 years ago. You know, so it’s, it’s on a huge lag time.

Just like when you order parts or do maintenance in the military, everything is on. We’ve, we’re replacing stuff that’s like 20 years old and why don’t we have modern computers that actually work, you know, but to each command their own.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. And I, I like that breaking the cycle thought [00:44:00] process because when you’re in that cycle, it, it’s almost like, well, this is my birthright to be able to pass the, the, the,

Mr. Whiskey: Right.

Scott DeLuzio: crap roll downhill and just pass it on to the, the lower guy. Yeah, exactly. You, you just, yeah, it’s a rite of passage, pretty much.

Yeah. And it’s like, oh, geez, I can’t wait till. Until I’m in that guy’s shoes, so I can pass it down to the guy below me. And, and it’s like, I don’t know. That’s, that just seems like a kind of crappy way to do things. And, and I think unfortunately, it’s, it’s probably gonna require some some tough changes coming from leadership to say, Hey, look, this is your job.

You do it. Don’t pass it on. Down, down the line the way it’s always been done, because other, otherwise there’s still gonna be some of those people. You know, until you get that, that next group of people in who, who maybe have a better mindset and,

Mr. Whiskey: Instead, you

Scott DeLuzio: able to break it.

Mr. Whiskey: as the work gets done, as long as the work gets done.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right. [00:45:00] Exactly.

You know, so again, your, your podcast, a couple of nukes, you know, talks about you know, wide variety of topics, a lot of different guests that you’ve had on the show any particular guests or, or topics that you’ve talked about that really stand out that, that really seem to be impactful?

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah, in September I had Scott de Luo on my podcast and we talked about,

Scott DeLuzio: All right. The, the check, the check’s in the mail. So I, you know, thanks for that that plug. Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: you. I know, thank you for that disability check. But I was gonna say, you know, I, obviously there are some guests that I get along with better and I enjoy more, but I find it also interesting, you know, because every guest has such a unique story,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: no matter how many. Vietnam veterans I have on the show, they’re all different stories. And one that shocked me was he went back to Vietnam a few years later and said all for nothing. And that just hit me in the heart, you know? And like I, I meet some of the coolest people. Like I recently did a episode on. The artificial [00:46:00] insemination, scandals and fertility fraud.

And like that blew my mind. And then I’ve had, the number one survival in America, EJ Schneider, the six times Naked Freight champion on my show. And that was a wild conversation. But then I’ve had people on my show who fly airplanes, people who blow airplanes with rocket launchers, and just. I love being a podcaster. And you know, I, I had a young woman the other day said, oh, well every young man runs a podcast. And I was a little offended. I was like, well, if you look at the statistics, only less than 48% make it to 10 episodes. Only about 4% make it to a hundred. So, you know, there’s a lot of people who start, but not many who you, who stay to it and. One of the great things when people will say, well, why do you keep doing it? And like you and I mentioned is to reach that one person or, or, and then the next person and the next. And I get to sit down almost daily with a wide range of guests. Like we’ve already mentioned, such a wide range internationally.

I recorded with people [00:47:00] in Ireland, India, Malaysia, America, Britain, all this stuff, Australia and for free. Pick their brains a part of some, some of these people are billionaires. Some of these people are geniuses. Some of them are homeless veterans. Some of them are just your day-to-day civilian. And it’s like they all have so much to offer and so much value and so much to help other people and seeing that connection and care, which I think to tie into the military, I feel like a lot of times we feel like we’re treated like an object, that we’re not a person, that we don’t matter.

I’ve had. I’ll never, ever forget this, the master chief who said, Mr. Whiskey, I don’t have to justify myself. I wear an anchor with two stars. I can do whatever I want. That seeing that is just like hopelessness and, and you feel trapped in the military like you’re not a person. Like community, doesn’t matter.

None of these people actually care. They’re just trying to fill a check box for Uncle Sam. So to podcast and see. [00:48:00] opposite of that. And to know that exists, it’s, it’s so beautiful. And so I love it. You know, like I said, I have all my website, all my guests and episodes labeled and organized so you can find what speaks to you the most.

And I have all my guests with their pictures and everything so you can find speaks to you. But I, I encourage listening to podcasts. I need to listen to more. ’cause you never know what you’re gonna stumble upon and you

Scott DeLuzio: That’s right.

Mr. Whiskey: story too. And I’ve had guests on my show. the only reason they’re still here today is ’cause they stumbled upon upon a podcast episode and it stopped them from taking their life, or from becoming an addict, or it turned their life around, you know?

And this episode that we have right now together here could be doing that, maybe not today, but it could be hundreds of years, like I said, after you and I have already passed away and people are hearing it. So I, I think podcasting is such a beautiful thing and I think what makes it so beautiful. Are the guests and the connections between every, the same guest could be on a hundred podcasts and every single [00:49:00] time the same story is slightly unique and tailored to a different way.

So I think

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. It is. And I, I think that’s, you know, that’s one of the reasons why I keep doing it, because I want to keep putting out different stories, different points of view, different ways of thinking of things. You know, things that you brought up today on, on this episode might be something that some never thought of before on their own or never even heard, put in those types of words.

And,

Mr. Whiskey: Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: you know, kinda just turn that light bulb on for ’em in, in their head and just. Maybe he’s gonna just help them in, in even a small way or a big way. Who, who knows? And you know, so I, I think that’s, that’s pretty awesome. Before we wrap up though, I want to give you a chance to let people know where they can find out more information about your, your speaking engagements and your website for the, the podcast and all that kind of stuff.

Mr. Whiskey: for sure. So that’s couple o nukes. Dot com couple o nukes and don’t include that prophe, that’s just on my branding ’cause I’m Southern. But you [00:50:00] know, I highly encourage y’all to check out the website, like I said, just because even if you don’t listen to my show, which I please do, but if you don’t, even just going through my guest catalog, it’s all resources for. Everything you could imagine, right? Every guest that I’ve had on most of them have a book or a show or a program that you may find interesting. And again, it’s not always about ourselves. You know, I find podcast episodes that I send to other people. I know not everyone does that, but I, I’ll find something on YouTube or a podcast show and I’ll send it to someone.

I’ll be like, Hey man, would really enjoy this or You need to hear this.

Scott DeLuzio: Yep.

Mr. Whiskey: And so I really encourage you if it’s not for you. we said, like maybe you’re not military and listening, but you care about that community, or you just want to hear our stories. Like it’s doesn’t have to be specifically for you.

So I, I encouraged a website, couple of nukes.com to tap into those resources, to check out my guests, to check out me, and if not even the show, like I said, I [00:51:00] love networking, meeting people, seeing how I can help you out, partnering up with nonprofits or connecting you to a guest on other shows that you know, most guests who have been on my show. I say, would you like a list of other shows I think you’d be a great fit for and get to have anyone say, no, I’d hate that.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Mr. Whiskey: so

Scott DeLuzio: Right, right.

Mr. Whiskey: Great. Or if you wanna reach out to me and say, Hey, Mr. Whiskey, I am struggling with this thing. I don’t like listening to podcasts. I have a low attention span, but do you know any books or guests or, or things that would be great for me?

Like I, I want to, as the years go on to build more engagement with the community and build communities, you know,

Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm. Well, that’s awesome. And so I’ll put the links that you, you just mentioned there in the, the show notes. Is there any special place people can go if they’re interested in getting you you know, out in their organization or school or something like that for any kind of speaking engagements or go straight to that website?

Mr. Whiskey: You just send off a nuke into the sky, like a bat signal an I appear. Now you like my website has all the different ways to contact me, [00:52:00] but that’s couple of nukes. So OF couple of [email protected]. ’cause I started this all when I was young and stupid and should have just put couple o nukes, but I thought people would be confused.

But I realized the OF confuses more people. So couple of [email protected] is the best way to reach me. And then all my, you know, social medias, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, all that stuff is just couple of nukes slash mr. Whiskey. Don’t put just Mr. Whiskey, it’ll be all liquor bottles. And don’t just put couple of nukes.

Sometimes you’ll get nuclear warfare. But yeah, if you put them together, guaranteed me

Scott DeLuzio: Awesome.

Mr. Whiskey: up a couple of nukes. Like I said, most of my stuff will pop right up.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. Excellent. Well, again, those links will be in the show notes for the listeners. Definitely go check out the podcast. It’s an awesome show. I think you’ll find a lot of value in the episodes that, that he has over there on there. But Mr. Whiskey, thank you so much for taking time to come on the show.

Really was a great conversation. I, I, I really was looking forward to this for, for a long time. And you know, I, I, I think we. We definitely helped that one person at least today. So, [00:53:00] I think we, we can both go to bed tonight knowing that job. Well done.

Mr. Whiskey: Hey, the reactor never sleeps, so neither do I. That’s what we say.

Scott DeLuzio: There you go. All right. Thanks so much.