Episode 521 Kris Searles One Vet’s Fix for the VA’s Failures Transcript
This transcript is from episode 521 with guest Kris Searles.
Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Your knees just shot. Your back is wrecked. The docs are handing you pills and just send you home. Does that sound familiar? Kris Searles lived it. He was a sniper in Iraq. He lost half his team just days before they were supposed to fly out. He came home crushed both physically and mentally. The Army Med boarded him, the VA handed him painkillers and he said, screw that.
He found something that actually worked stem cell therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy without the pills or surgery, and now he’s using the knowledge that he gained to help other veterans take back their lives through his organization. Overwatch 6. We’re gonna talk about all that in just a minute.
Before we get into it though, I wanna take a minute moment to raise awareness for something deeply important to our community. The Global War On Terrorism Memorial Foundation. This organization’s working to build a permanent national memorial in [00:01:00] Washington DC to honor the service members, families, and civilians impacted by the global war on terrorism.
This memorial will serve as both a tribute to those who served and as a way to ensure that their sacrifices are recognized and remembered for generations to come. If you’d like to learn more or find out how you can support their mission, visit GWOT memorial foundation.org. Now, let’s get into today’s episode.
Scott DeLuzio: Chris, welcome to the show. I’m really excited to have you here and wanna talk about the work that you’re doing over at Overwatch 6. But before we get into all of that tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, uh, military history, all that kinda stuff, uh, to kind of just get things started.
Kris Searles: Well,
Scott DeLuzio: Thanks for having, me. [00:02:00] Yeah.
Kris Searles: I to about you. So this may
Scott DeLuzio: sure.
Yeah. This could be a two way thing. This is cool.
Kris Searles: yeah. Well, thank
Scott DeLuzio: Thank you.
Kris Searles: doing out there. Also, thank you
Scott DeLuzio: You bet.
Yeah, thanks.
Kris Searles: just, that typical kid, grew up farmland of Illinois, you know, corn fields, soybean fields. I had a pretty strong military family to World War. I
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: but what I do know for sure, my, I had a grandfather who was first wave Utah Beach as a, combat engineer. Made it five days into the war and got taken hostage by German, you know, so he was German, POW for
Months, and he was in such bad when the, we across the [00:03:00] I got
see his PW tag last year. That was kind of cool to into family history. That was fascinating.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah.
Kris Searles: And then I have an uncle who was a Air Force Colonel Vietnam, retired outta the Pentagon air traffic control guy. Great, good man, good friend. And then my dad was a Green Beret in the Vietnam era.
Didn’t, uh, never deployed thankfully, but you know, it was right up to that last minute when Nixon said, I think it was Nixon said, we’re getting, we’re done. We’re getting outta here. He was the first ones to say, I don’t, this thing isn’t for me.
Scott DeLuzio: Uh, sure.
Kris Searles: We service for a few years anyway, then I joined.
I always wanted to join, like I said, typical farm kid with, know, A DH, ADHD and didn’t belong in school and always in trouble. Typical story. And,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Yeah.
Kris Searles: Finally joined after nine 11 straight Id And work beautiful Beautiful [00:04:00] uh, was deployed into the first, the initial invasion of Iraq.
pure living Work with some guys, awesome people. tough work and then came back. I always wanted to be a sniper. I grew up reading about reading every sniper book there was about Vietnam World War ii. I wanted be a green Delta force, more than anything. I was to head that way and then got back
Scott DeLuzio: Got back.
Kris Searles: and obviously needed more snipers. The military needed more, so started putting schools together and I got selected to go, made it through all the preselection stuff and it was on
Scott DeLuzio: Okay,
Kris Searles: Our backyard our crazy wins and our mountainous environments and and train with your people that you then build a team with.
Scott DeLuzio: sure.
Kris Searles: pretty worked out pretty well. [00:05:00] I ended up gonna school with some great guys, but my buddy was an Olympian. He was a 96 Olympic field hockey team, captain Lawrence Amar, great guy.
I mean like of a Started building the platoon. Spent a year building the, spent two years building the platoon together, which is a great experience. Had some ups and downs in that, like, you know, anything the military. And then redeployed eventually in oh six, did a whole year over there about about a year. missed a first couple months due a shoulder surgery I had to have leading, of Iraq. Between Baghdad and Iranian border.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay. Yep.
Kris Searles: a pretty big hotbed in there.
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: pretty crazy deployment. Lot of casualties, a lot of injuries. Uh, a lot of our guys got injured. Eventually ended up getting, well get to [00:06:00] that point. that’s where we were. Hunting’s our county. Do you remember
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Kris Searles: yeah, we hung that guy quite a bit. of course all the
Scott DeLuzio: Yep.
Kris Searles: You know the guys in that area?
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. My, my brother was in Ramadi, uh, around that time period, and I remember him talking about that as well. Just. Being one of those things you have to be on the lookout for, you know?
Kris Searles: Yeah, he
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, he was.
Kris Searles: a bad dude.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: And turns out he was the whole time. Not the whole time, but we ended up killing him. Two clicks down the road from our fob.
Scott DeLuzio: Oh wow.
Kris Searles: They dropped a bomb on him. When the task force was hunting him and we were pretty much QRF for the task force and helped hunting him.
We could, but, and then I’ll just tell you the story because it’s kind of a cool historical point actually. As I learned, as I get older and learned about being part of history, it’s kind of cool to tell the story.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, sure.
Kris Searles: We just came back from like a multi night sniper op. We were up for two, three days straight doing whatever [00:07:00] and came back and our commander’s like, you take, you guys take a couple days off downtime, recoup. This is a big brigade sized fob. This is a pretty well set up fob, so plenty of easy living conditions. We weren’t home security and having to do our own log pack and our own missions and everything else we had to do in that first tour. We were our own entity out in the middle of nowhere, northern Iraq that first time. so we were able to have that downtime and rest and relax. So wetted down and then that was kind of late afternoon. They woke us up in the middle the night and said, you guys gotta go. You gotta go forces bring grenade, bring, bring everything go this grid. And you in those days you can’t fly the gate like we did in the wild west. time
We had
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: more,
Scott DeLuzio: Little more rules. Yeah.
Kris Searles: Yeah, exactly. [00:08:00] Stand at the gate. waiting at the gate, we eventually passed out the waiting. And then the sun comes up and we’re all like, going on here? Like, what? This is And like, Hey, you guys go to
Scott DeLuzio: You guys go to.
Kris Searles: up these four guys. Okay, So we pull on the hard ball drive, There’s army bulldozers out there and all kinds of military folks staying around and a big crater and debris everywhere. I’m like, man, what is going on here? And we get out and kind of do our thing. Look around. It’s obviously secured area. Everybody’s just kind of hanging around and there’s these four guys that all have beards and brand new uniforms like M fours that just came out a case like they’ve never
Scott DeLuzio: We’ve never seen
Kris Searles: You know, [00:09:00] tags.
Scott DeLuzio: None of that
Kris Searles: I, Hey, you guys. And our, platoon was our platoon name was Predator, predator Platoon. So like, Hey, you guys.
you guys looking for a ride from Predator Platoon? like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah, yeah.
Kris Searles: guys going back to the brigade. we need to go, we’ll take there. And so we had four trucks. We put one guy in each truck and, and we’d get in and go turn
Scott DeLuzio: around
Kris Searles: up. When we came in, and I drove
Scott DeLuzio: drove everywhere.
Kris Searles: E six and I still drove everywhere. I didn’t trust anybody to drive.
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, okay.
Kris Searles: yeah, Everything on the road’s, spotting stuff, I and whatnot. So I went back up
Scott DeLuzio: back up the truck
Kris Searles: and the guy’s
Scott DeLuzio: Guys sit in the right
room,
Kris Searles: I’m Hey man, what’s going on? Make small talk? And wouldn’t to me. like, man, are you
Scott DeLuzio: man. Are You even in the
Kris Searles: you
in, ID like you wouldn’t say anything. And are you even in the Army, you wouldn’t say anything. My gunner turns, you know, rotates the turret pull security, and he, his foot bumps into this bag there.
All these
Scott DeLuzio: these guys are [00:10:00] carrying.
Kris Searles: paper black bags, like grocery bags, they’re carrying them like footballs, like their m fours are behind them and they’re carrying these bags like their lives. And my gunner bumps that bag and the dude flips out. It’s like, Hey, you don’t touch that. I then I lost and I
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.
Kris Searles: anyways, we just, you know, drove two clicks back to the fob, dropped him off, and then finally got like, oh, you guys, go ahead, bend down, you know, lay down, whatever. Now you can recover for a couple days. Like, alright, cool,
Scott DeLuzio: Alright, cool. Thanks.
Kris Searles: pass out in the middle of the day and they wake us up
Scott DeLuzio: Wake us up again.
Kris Searles: They’re like, Jesus Christ, what’s going on here? And they
read us the
Scott DeLuzio: Read us the memorandum killed. Oh, okay.
Dropped the bomb. Okay.
Kris Searles: back to bed, like whatever. So,
you know,
Scott DeLuzio: So.
you know.
Kris Searles: on has gone on, I’ve started to hear and read the books about what went on chasing that guy.
That guy, was [00:11:00] like, oh, I guess that’s my part.
Scott DeLuzio: Part.
Kris Searles: we were
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
our
Kris Searles: our original mission was our snipers. Were gonna set up a
Scott DeLuzio: Set
Kris Searles: around this, his whatever, his little mini base he had there, Hide
Scott DeLuzio: up task force. We were gonna be.
Kris Searles: essentially. And one of our guys, one of our were killed that night, hit hit, threat area, stood the task force down and bomb on,
Scott DeLuzio: Okay. Well that’ll get the job done.
Kris Searles: yeah. So
Scott DeLuzio: That’s why. That’s why it was a giant crater when you showed up, right?
Kris Searles: yeah,
I
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: I’m like, why is
Scott DeLuzio: A bulldozer. I’m bull.
Yeah, right.
Kris Searles: None of
Scott DeLuzio: None.
Kris Searles: sense with any kind operation you do, you know, and like, what is going on here? So, as I’m sure you know, after that, things just got crazy
Scott DeLuzio: Sure. Yeah.
Kris Searles: and yeah, like I think that’s after that they
Scott DeLuzio: [00:12:00] That blew up that
Kris Searles: the mosque in Samara, that Golden Mosque,
Scott DeLuzio: okay.
Kris Searles: they, it was one of their big sites for that sec, that area of
Scott DeLuzio: Alright.
Kris Searles: I. sun. They blew up their place. And so that huge harness nest and things just got crazy and our area got way worse.
And we
Scott DeLuzio: We were.
Kris Searles: constantly engaged with, with the enemy and IEDs and ambushes and sniper operations and QRF to help out everybody else that’s engaged with the enemy. And it was, it was, how I
Scott DeLuzio: How I explain, it’s
Kris Searles: everything I
Scott DeLuzio: the thing I hope.
for.
Kris Searles: I wanted I wanted be in all that stuff,
Scott DeLuzio: Okay. I got
Kris Searles: everything had to offer. It was pretty wild. So anyways, we’re we’re coming the end of the deployment and we’re down few guys, Lawrence, a the Olympian, ended up having a, I think he had a stroke in the middle of the firefight
Scott DeLuzio: oh.
Kris Searles: we were, uh, I’m planting IEDs that can be [00:13:00] tracked. Like we would make our, we wouldn’t, but they would make I that we would then go and place enemy territory pick them up, pick and pick use them, and then you could track them and kind of establish raids
Scott DeLuzio: raids off the bad
guys.
Kris Searles: bad guys.
off of where they have that thing stored. So we were
implanting
Scott DeLuzio: were.
Kris Searles: of those one night
and we dropped off that team and then pulled a few blocks down in the middle of the city and we rolled into a ambush. wasn’t an ambush, it was. got an Iraqi army post army base, and we were in the middle of them coming back from that attack.
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, okay.
Kris Searles: So we got hit
Scott DeLuzio: got
Kris Searles: like three
Scott DeLuzio: hit.
Kris Searles: up like three buildings all around fun. So we were like, get people, let’s get so we wrapped UPS team
Scott DeLuzio: Team
Kris Searles: we pull up to extract
Scott DeLuzio: back.
Kris Searles: on the, on the turret, laying down suppress, and the guys come running outta the shadows. jump in the [00:14:00] like, where’s, where’s? I? Right behind us. And so looking, where is this guy? comes up and see, I see my night vision that he was like physically exhausted.
Like I could see coming down
on his face something’s not right here. And I see him trying to open the door the, And so,
Scott DeLuzio: So,
Kris Searles: you know, it
Scott DeLuzio: you know it.
Kris Searles: It takes hours to come down off that adrenaline rush.
Scott DeLuzio: mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: was in like, middle of the night. So we’re go back, we’re playing video games, whatever. And my, my buddy and
Scott DeLuzio: Buddy of my
Kris Searles: was like, I’m gonna go check on Amar. He goes, comes back and he Amar’s gone. I he’s like, disappeared. He’s not there. So he goes and
Scott DeLuzio: snow, they quietly.
Kris Searles: Because they could tell something else. You know, was more severe [00:15:00] going on and backing up a couple months he ended up, he had Bell’s Palsy where like half goes numb. You know
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, okay.
Kris Searles: he where he got half, his numb and just kept him in the fight. Good.
Scott DeLuzio: Really? Really? I wouldn’t expect that.
Kris Searles: Yeah.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Yeah.
Kris Searles: I.
Scott DeLuzio: They, they needed the bodies, right? Yeah.
yeah, yeah. So let, let’s, uh, let, let’s fast forward a little bit to it, like how did you get involved with, uh, Overwatch 6? How, where did this, this kind of evolve from? And, and you know, where, where did you come up with this idea and, and, you know, tell us a little bit about the organization.
Well
Kris Searles: different things. So just to finish that story
Scott DeLuzio: for you.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.
Just
Kris Searles: I’ll wrap
Scott DeLuzio: Hold on Wrap it up.
Kris Searles: 30
Scott DeLuzio: seconds
Kris Searles: We were
Scott DeLuzio: under, man.
Kris Searles: we were
Scott DeLuzio: We’re getting [00:16:00] ready. Heading heading
Kris Searles: platooned,
Scott DeLuzio: escort.
Kris Searles: all battalion convoy worth of crap, all the
con and all that stuff. So we
Scott DeLuzio: we escort.
Kris Searles: and we literally guys standing in line to So four guys manned up a truck, the the convoy on the way back. That truck gets hit with an EFP Three outta the four guys that were all going home the next day.
These were all the guys that we built platoon with and trainer. It was actually my whole team. I was just in a, I was gunning for the platoon leader at the time, and so the whole, everybody but the driver was killed
Scott DeLuzio: killed
Kris Searles: and they were all going home The next.
day.
So that left mark for sure.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah,
so
Kris Searles: I ended up, I had a lot of back problems leading up to that and then through that so I got back and started into my spine and turns out I had a crush vertebrae
Scott DeLuzio: vertebra.
Kris Searles: discs. And so the Army’s like, you’re [00:17:00] done, And I was not good. was very angry, had a lot of anger issues and a lot of anger from that
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: I’ve got moms and dads and brothers and in my face and they’re all wanna know what happened to their brothers and sons and everything.
And very angry. Never gotta go back and finish the fight, I guess. So I ended up getting boarded and had a lot of, started having a lot of back problems. Ended up moving up here to
Scott DeLuzio: Up here to Wyoming
Kris Searles: my wife and I bought land and just built our own house, two of us,
Scott DeLuzio: okay?
Kris Searles: could hardly stand up. to crawl outta bed, just, you know, over the years back starts getting worse. And I was not about to have surgery. Very antis surgery, very anti pills and drugs and all that stuff the VA gives us.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: And so I was listening to Joe Rogan one day and he talking about stem cell therapy in his neck. [00:18:00] I was like, well,
Scott DeLuzio: I was like, that’s what I got. I got,
Kris Searles: I can do cell thing. So I
Scott DeLuzio: you. yeah.
Kris Searles: a guy
Scott DeLuzio: guy.
Kris Searles: in Park City, Utah DOI Clinic, Dr. Adelson, if anybody wants to check him out. Who works with a lot of vets. He’s been doing it since the nineties doing stem cell stuff. And I talked to him he, I was very reassured by his knowledge of the spine, his background in stem cell
Scott DeLuzio: Cell.
Kris Searles: he’s like, I think I can help you. So I wrote, and this is all cash based. we wrote them, wrote him the check and paid for it. And what he did was, back then, this was 17, they drilled into your iliac crest in your hip, pulled out bone marrow, and then on your love handles. the fat out they mix all that up and they get this good quality stem cell stuff comes outta that. And so
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: changed my life and I was able to, get back in building. I was doing a lot of rescue stuff at that time, very active in that s out in the west. And I was able to [00:19:00] perform better. I was able to start getting into hunting and biking and more active.
And I this stuff works
Scott DeLuzio: Wow.
Kris Searles: forward. Oh, about four or five years. This is now about that 20 year mark where all my buddies are starting to
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: are over, they’ve hit their 20 year mark. All these infantry and special ops guys are wrecked. And I’m like, well, stem cells work
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: doesn’t lead to surgery.
You don’t have to have pills, which can lead addiction, which can lead to suicide. Let’s, I’m gonna I’m gonna start a nonprofit to fund stem cell therapy.
No one else is doing this. So
Scott DeLuzio: Overwatch.
Kris Searles: Sniper Overwatch, you’re
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: buddies. And then six, I got your back.
Scott DeLuzio: Gotcha. Yeah.
Kris Searles: And
Scott DeLuzio: Excellent.
Kris Searles: I don’t have really any skills other than the and search and rescue stuff, so I can’t, so I always had a bunch of guys around here me to teach how to shoot from the sniper world. I gonna pay for it. I don’t money, but gonna donate money my nonprofit.
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: I
teach, I put on these shooting events. I’ve only done a couple, [00:20:00] I’m just getting started, but I put on these shooting events to those that wanna pay. That fee is essentially a donation, whatever, I then use to help veterans and first responders with I, I now call it
Scott DeLuzio: Call
Kris Searles: healthcare, like
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: what the VA can give us
beyond a pill, beyond a surgery. And I’ve done a couple of
Scott DeLuzio: couple shooting
Kris Searles: Uh, the last one last year was a runway shoot. I have access to a mile and long out in
Scott DeLuzio: I bring in.
Kris Searles: snipers and special ops guys that have a background in teaching and working with civilians. We’re
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: Delta Force Seal Team six, we’re.
We’re training the civilians that wanna know how to shoot better.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: Like you gotta be able to work with civilians. So the fee that they pay us, why then use to go on and help and they have a fun time. We get to have fun hanging out with each other, shooting having a good win,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: now grown. [00:21:00] To more on the mental health side with veterans talking to veterans. So I got involved with that about this time last year. And as I’m sure you can relate, you get tired of hearing about all the suicides
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, absolutely.
Kris Searles: and your buddies. It’s never ending.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: I was like, man, I’m either Gonna do something
Scott DeLuzio: do
Kris Searles: this.
I’m gonna like turn off all my phone and
Scott DeLuzio: something. Yeah. Yeah.
Kris Searles: So I was like, well, I have this nonprofit that I, I could do something with and maybe I could empower that to help find additional And I went through a program in Denver called the Institute for Brain Health.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: It’s a three week inpatient, sorry, three week outpatient program focuses on PTS and TB all at once.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: It’s a phenomenal program. It changes lives and it fixes the problem. It’s
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: bandaid, it’s you live there for three weeks and you [00:22:00] do physical therapy,
Scott DeLuzio: therapy, like
Kris Searles: level stuff with the vestibular balance and the cognitive work and the, and all that. Crazy weird work with MDR therapy, we even do a day of equine therapy.
You’re taught nutrition, you’re taught to cook yoga. Speech and language therapy for that frontal lobe. TBI stuff you do art therapy, which was kind of empowering that or using the power of vulnerability
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: to really get in there deep and
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, sure.
Kris Searles: And you do this half with your buddies, like a cohort of like four or five, six of you, and half by yourself.
So maybe An hour, you’re
Scott DeLuzio: Okay. What’s
joke.
Well, it seems like that that’s, uh, pretty all encompassing. You know, all the things that you’re talking about there and, it, and. Is something that probably a lot of guys, I mean, they probably just don’t even know that these things exist. I mean, all of the stuff that you, you just were talking about [00:23:00] and including the, the stem still stuff.
I, I, I had actually heard Joe Rogan talking about that on, on his, uh, podcast. So I’m familiar with it in that, you know, it did help him with his neck issues and stuff. But you know, I’m sitting here, you know, as, as a veteran wondering, you know, how accessible is that? Is this something that is, is it readily available?
Could, you know, could the VA do this type of stuff or, you know, that those are the questions I had after, uh, you know, hearing that. But you know, here you are and and I’m glad we, we got to connect. But here you are and, and we, we now know that, you know, you guys, uh, help facilitate some of that stuff. And, and so that’s, that’s great.
And. Learning a little bit about, you know, where do the stem cells even come from? And it’s like coming from yourself. So I think that’s even better, right?
Yeah. On
Kris Searles: front.
Scott DeLuzio: front.
Kris Searles: another round, last May. So this time last year I did a round in my knees and shoulders, and those are umbilical cord stem cells.
Scott DeLuzio: Oh,
okay. [00:24:00] Okay.
Kris Searles: go harvest the umbilical cord
and
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: the stem cells. And then that’s, it’s a lot, a lot of money.
It was I think close to 20 grand for knees and shoulders,
Scott DeLuzio: Oh wow.
Kris Searles: in each, yeah. It’s no joke. But you’re getting nine month old stem cells
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: and are pretty bad. And now they’re,
Scott DeLuzio: Now they’re,
Kris Searles: great. Like I noticed, a huge improvement. And like any grand pound or your knees erect, you know
Scott DeLuzio: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Kris Searles: and my knees
Scott DeLuzio: My knees
Kris Searles: better, but it’s gonna
Scott DeLuzio: got
Kris Searles: I’m thinking 10, 20 years from now that I don’t wanna, I, I’m trying to avoid a knee replacement.
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: So if I can regrow the cartilage and soft tissue, I have to prevent that problem 10 years from now. Why not invest in yourself now? So, so it’s 20 grand. How much do people buy for new car?
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right, right.
Kris Searles: how much they like around here?
Snowmobiles are a new thing. Every year it’s 20 grand, you know, so people pay 20 grand to come out here and hunt,
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: know? It’s like, where are
Scott DeLuzio: Where are your [00:25:00] priorities, right? And, and that quality of that quality of life that you get from not being in pain constantly, barely being able to get out of bed, not being able to do the outdoor things or physical things that you want to do. All of those things. Just kind of, produce a worse quality of life if you, if you’re not able to do all of those things and you know, at the end of the day, does that, does that 20 grand, what is that gonna buy you?
I mean, it is gonna have to buy you a car at least, because you’re not gonna be able to walk anywhere or ride a bike or anything like that. You know, you’re, you’re gonna, you’re gonna need some sort of transportation at that point, but but even still, you know, yeah, sure. I completely understand. 20 grand is a lot of money.
And. Yeah, people are gonna have to figure out ways to come up with that money, whether it’s financing it or, or something. But, you know, those options are available and, and you can do that, uh, the same way you would invest in a car. [00:26:00] You’d, you’d figure out a way to get that money, you know, through financing arrangements or, or whatever.
You can, you can get that money and you know, even if you don’t have 20 grand sitting in your bank account right now, you, you can still figure out a way to get that money and then, you know, pay it off over time, obviously. But but think about the quality of life increase that you’ll have. By doing that now versus waiting 10 years.
And then what did you do with those 10 years that sort of got, I don’t wanna say wasted, but you didn’t live them up to their fullest potential anyways? Right?
Kris Searles: it, man. Very well said there. There are financial vehicles out there that can help you make that happen. If you, you can’t just get the shots and your good. You change your lifestyle. You
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: stop drinking and smoking. You gotta eat. gotta work you know, gotta, a magic pill, it’s accountability.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: gonna
Scott DeLuzio: You
Kris Searles: 20.
Scott DeLuzio: for Your own
self.[00:27:00]
you’re gonna do what it takes to get outta your money. Yeah, sure.
Kris Searles: you know, it’s, the more you put in, the more you get outta it type of thing. when
Scott DeLuzio: When you do
Kris Searles: and you are doing.
those activities again, what does that do for your mind you’re able to get outside and you’re able to be, productive, whether it’s hunting or mountain biking, or rock
Scott DeLuzio: rock climbing,
Kris Searles: playing with your kids.
I have, I’m 47 and I have 6-year-old twins. I wanna be able to
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: with them and take them out doing the crazy stuff, 10, 15 years from now. So I gotta think that way. That’s that return on the investment and the mental capital that you’re investing in today to provide in the future. And then how many guys do you know are addicted to pills or they get a surgery and they get all the concoctions of pain pills and then they have a hard time getting off the pills and they start drinking.
And what does that, what does that end up? What does that lead to?
Scott DeLuzio: Nothing good. I mean, that, that’s just a, it is just a recipe for disaster and, you know, when [00:28:00] you were just talking about, you know, kids and, and things along those lines you know, when. You think about that investment that, that we’re just talking about, you’re investing in yourself. You’re also investing in your, your kids and the other relationships that you have because, uh, you know, for example, with kids being able to go out in the yard and throw a ball around or, or run around and play and, and kind of horse around with them.
If you’re in extreme pain, you’re, you’re, that’s the last thing on your mind. You’re not even thinking about that type of activity with children. If you are feeling better though. I mean, you’ll go out and run around, horse around, roll around on the ground and, you know, do all the, the things that kids love to do and, you know, get dirty and have fun and make those kind of memories with those kids too.
And I don’t know, can you, I’m not saying. That you can’t put a price tag on that, you know, because obviously there’s, there is a number that for everybody that it’s like, no, that’s, that’s a crazy amount of money. I can’t, I can’t [00:29:00] handle that. But, you know, think about like, where are your priorities? And, and like you said, you know, if you’re, if you’re going out, you know, drinking every night or, or smoking or doing, you know, all the things that are, you know, are not good for you.
But you keep doing those things, those things cost money too. But you somehow are prioritizing those things, those, those things that don’t have a positive impact on your life. So, you know, why not, you know, cut those things out, save a little bit, and then now you have a little bit of money that you can put towards you know, something beneficial for your, your, not only you, your life, but your family as well.
Yeah.
Kris Searles: it, you it. And to kind of
Scott DeLuzio: kind.
Kris Searles: a coach. We’ll get to that, but focusing on trauma. But else, I’m starting to now coach people [00:30:00] that need that, that to get on that right path to see that window you’re talking about, do I finance the new soil or do I finance stem cell therapy that combine me happiness and longevity, you know?
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.
Kris Searles: coaching, that’s where the coaching comes in What’s to you in your life? Oh, my kids. Okay. So what’s important to you about doing stuff? Well, I like to wrestle with them and I wanna take them out hiking. And I’m fascinated. I love to hunt. I’m not hunter, I’m not a killer, I should say.
I like to hunt, but I don’t kill anything. not getting outside. I, I wanna take my kids hunting. Okay, so you’re gonna be able to do that in 10 years? Probably not. what it take to get you there? That’s
Scott DeLuzio: Coaching. Yeah, sure.
Kris Searles: reach out to
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Uh, another thing that, uh, I, I wanna bring up too, j just ’cause you mentioned the Joe Rogan. Stem cell connection there. Another thing I’ve heard him talk a lot about is, uh, like the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. And, and how did, how does that work? You know, [00:31:00] is, it, does that, is that something that you guys work with as well?
Or is that, is that like a separate thing that you guys don’t touch?
Yeah,
Kris Searles: I
Scott DeLuzio: I have
Kris Searles: don’t need
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: Marcus Institute for Brain Health. is Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot. He died last year, but he’s pretty much the one writes the check.
It’s all free. cost 85 to put one of us through that program’s, I mean, top level stuff, man. Remember that
Scott DeLuzio: Are doing P
Kris Searles: Generation one stem
Scott DeLuzio: stem Cell therapy
Kris Searles: 20 years,
Scott DeLuzio: 20 years.
Kris Searles: good stuff. It’s, I got
Scott DeLuzio: We Got some buddies.
that have on, So
Kris Searles: anybody’s
listening check in
Scott DeLuzio: check
Kris Searles: clinic
about
Scott DeLuzio: in,
Kris Searles: therapy
Scott DeLuzio: therapies
Kris Searles: But the
Scott DeLuzio: hyperbaric thing.
Kris Searles: How I
Scott DeLuzio: how I got involved with that was one of my friends,
Kris Searles: [00:32:00] uh, he’s a marine
Scott DeLuzio: infant.
treat.
Kris Searles: had some pretty good, uh, I, he did there’s an organization That they bring you in for, I think, three to four weeks down there, you have to do multiple hyperbaric chamber, settings, sessions a day, I believe. And all it is, is you’re just forcing that oxygen into your brain, into your body what they’re seeing and how it repairs the soft tissue of the brain That will, will take, MRI of your brain to get there. And then when you leave, pick another one. And so you could see the physical change
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, okay.
Kris Searles: and the soft tissue that’s grown. And just by getting all that oxygen in there, it’s working. I have a friend that I went through the Institute with that, uh, he did psychedelics and the Marcus Institute, and he was much better.
And then he went on to do some treatments and he’s, he’s just, like I said, we’re talking about the [00:33:00] return on the investment. He’s just continuing to work on himself
Scott DeLuzio: Uh huh.
Kris Searles: and he’s seeing improvements. Idaho I know has a pretty good program for, uh, hyperbaric work for their vets. There’s a clinic here in southern Wyoming. It’s, it’s in a town called Rock Springs. on on I 80. There’s a clinic there I’m working with that. They’re doing hyperbaric work for vets. They’re also doing float tanks and stuff, but
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: point being,
Scott DeLuzio: Point being,
it’s
getting
easier to do. Mm-hmm. And
Kris Searles: Data.
Scott DeLuzio: data’s there
Kris Searles: showing it works, and
Scott DeLuzio: Pills, surgeries. Right.
And, and that seems like it makes the most sense to me. Like, what if we have these tools? Available and they work, let, let’s start using them. And you know, I know, I know a lot of the pushback is gonna be, well, you just mentioned it costs like 85 grand and it’s, it’s expensive. No doubt. That makes perfect sense to me.
But as time goes on [00:34:00] and people start using this technology more and more and more. The cost will start to come down. You know, the, the equipment will get better and, and the production value, you know, they’ll, they’ll be able to make them cheaper and quicker and more affordable. And, you know, there’s gonna be demand for it.
And so the more we use it, the more we’ll be able to use it, I suppose is, is the way to put it. You know, and that’s, you see that in a lot of other industries as well as, as time goes on, you know, that initial prototype might be super expensive, but you know, as it becomes a mass production type thing, you can, you can scale that down and, and have a lower cost and still have the same quality treatments.
So that’s something that, you know, hopefully in time that’ll start to come down and then. Places like the VA will probably be more likely to start recommending that over, you know, other treatments that, that maybe are not, you know, pills and, and other things like that, that maybe aren’t the best for you may, maybe it works temporarily, but it’s, it’s not the best long term type thing.
But [00:35:00] yeah, so the, those things are I think, important tools that are available, you know?
Kris Searles: yeah, I
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: tell you not frustrating and how much it makes me angry to see these guys are on all these pills.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: one pill. done any, I haven’t done any of that stuff. I’m not any of that crap. And I’m, if you heard my story, surgeries and back problems and everything, and I’m, I’m hanging in there.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: Hyperbaric friends that are part of my that have gone through
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, I mean, all of those things that you were mentioning, it’s all like a natural way of, of healing and uh, you’re not introducing these drugs and other chemicals and things into your body that. I really, quite frankly, don’t need to be there. You know, and, and so you guys, you guys help out with, you know, with all that stuff and, and you know, there’s other organizations out there that, that help [00:36:00] out with all, all these things.
And that’s part of what we do with this show is help shine a light on the organizations that are out there that maybe. Veterans are out there who need this stuff, they just don’t know it exists. And so here we are, we’re talking about it and we’re gonna, you know, help get the, spread the word about all the things, the sense stem cells, the hyperbaric, the you know, the, hey, even just getting outside.
You were talking about like just, you know, you, you, you like to go out and, you know, just hike around and, and do that type of thing. That’s awesome. Like, because that’s, that’s great for, for you. There might be other people who want to do that too, but, you know, maybe their, their knees or their back or their hips, whatever are, are just in too much pain and they, they can’t do it.
But they would love to if they could. Well, there there’s options that you can do something to help the situation that you’re in. And really I think it’s that mindset shift that we were talking about. Uh, you know, [00:37:00] what do you want, what’s important to you? What do you want to invest in? Do you wanna invest in the, the cigarettes and the booze and the stuff like that?
Or do you wanna invest in yourself and, and your your wellbeing overall? And, and try to help make yourself the best version of you that you can be. Um, yeah, sure it’s gonna cost a little money. Um, but, you know, at the end of the day, what, what goods some money if you can’t use it, you know?
Kris Searles: Yeah, I. You can, okay, let’s say that stem cells don’t work and you’re out 15, 20 grand, whatever.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: end. The clinic I work with, it’s $3,800 per injection. So think if your left knee bugs you four grand, you get an injection,
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: you know,
maybe you
Scott DeLuzio: That’s
even
Kris Searles: you only
forward one knee right now.
So
Scott DeLuzio: breaking it down. Sure.
Kris Searles: four grand. But, so the, the Doc told me,
Scott DeLuzio: told me
Kris Searles: failed
Scott DeLuzio: Failed surgery.
Kris Searles: repair,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah,
Kris Searles: So you spend 10 grand, five grand, whatever on stem cells and it doesn’t work. [00:38:00] There’s no harm. Done to your body.
You’re just out five, 10 grand. You can go make more money. You can’t repair a failed surgery.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: That’s that mindset mindset,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: And.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah. And, and that, that mindset is, is, is important. But, uh, you know, talking about mindset, you were talking about some of the, the mental health aspects of things too, and. You you had mentioned before we, we started recording you know, a little bit about post-traumatic stress growth, PTSG versus, you know, a, a disorder you know, which a lot of people refer to it as.
Talk to us about that a little bit and tell, tell us how you’re, you guys kind of work with that and use that mindset. I, I suppose to, you know, help folks, uh, who are struggling with this.
Yeah,
Kris Searles: And if this goes past an hour, man, I don’t care. I can probably got plenty of time,
but
Scott DeLuzio: No worries. Yeah.
Kris Searles: know.
Scott DeLuzio: Yep.
Kris Searles: [00:39:00] so I got fortune to get involved with this group called Veterans Talking to Veterans. It’s based
Scott DeLuzio: based outta Jackson, Wyoming. Yeah. Okay.
Kris Searles: started with
the fall of Afghanistan. Julie is the mind behind this.
She’s all those three letter things. PhD therapist stuff’s a woman, I think Jordan Peterson and a six foot tall blonde. She’s great. She had some clients that were vets that were not doing well after the fall of Afghanistan and she cold called the VA Commissioner here in Wyoming say, we got a
Scott DeLuzio: There we go.
Kris Searles: Your vets are are not doing good here.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Whatcha gonna do Well, she’s
Kris Searles: like, I
Scott DeLuzio: like, I always thought the best thing
Kris Searles: empower veterans to help other veterans. And she, so she just so happens, she has a company where they train people to be coaches, coaches, coaches, whatever, leadership coaches. She goes, I’ve always thought if we can train veterans on how to deal with trauma, put them to work in their communities, in their communities, plus with veterans, let go, help [00:40:00]
funded this and they trained a handful of coaches and put it to work.
And now we’re at 50 coaches as of last week, graduated another 15 recently,
and it’s a free program, so $8,500 to go through that training. If you were to pay it, we offer it for free with
Scott DeLuzio: With
Kris Searles: the
Stipulation that.
you
Scott DeLuzio: that you then go out and do
Kris Searles: sessions one a
Scott DeLuzio: one a week
Kris Searles: with veterans in
Scott DeLuzio: veterans in New York.
Kris Searles: Rural communities, big towns, doesn’t matter.
Zoom, I have people that zoom in from all over the country, Alaska,
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: Island, and we’re
Scott DeLuzio: We’re coaching them to get on that good path,
Kris Searles: Growth, healing, mentoring. So we
Scott DeLuzio: So we find those vets that have kind of gone down journey,
Kris Searles: are now
Scott DeLuzio: in a better place.
Kris Searles: so they can use their experiences to help others that
Scott DeLuzio: Are not.
Kris Searles: that far along their. Just to [00:41:00] find the good that person and coach them to get on a good path. We don’t tell ’em how to do it. We don’t hold their hand. We kind of just nudge or crack a door open and coach them through that door. And traumatic stress is not a disorder. We’ve been, we’ve been dealing with trauma since we were throwing crap at each other in trees. I
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: War is nothing new. So dealing with trauma is nothing new. The body knows how to deal with it. The, the post-traumatic stress is part as the body’s reaction to a survival mechanism.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: an EMT and you
Scott DeLuzio: You walk up to.
a, yeah.
Kris Searles: wreck the side of the road and you’re putting gloves on, your hands are shaking much, you can’t get the glove on. If you’re brand new,
Scott DeLuzio: Brand
Kris Searles: and you’re
Scott DeLuzio: stack
Kris Searles: for the first time kicking doors in, what am I supposed to do? Which way do I go?
Six, seven
Scott DeLuzio: seven hits later.
Kris Searles: everybody’s just not even talking anymore.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: body dealing with the trauma. The
Scott DeLuzio: my problem is
Kris Searles: [00:42:00] that stuff just layers and layers and stacks and stacks over the
years and we don’t do anything about it.
Our society doesn’t think,
doesn’t
promote,
health and wellness, whatever you wanna call it.
process and trauma. They
don’t
Scott DeLuzio: Don’t.
Kris Searles: It’s shut up and dry
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.
so
Kris Searles: what?
Scott DeLuzio: what?
Trying to break down that stigma.
Kris Searles: that’s part of The Governor
Scott DeLuzio: Gordon’s mental health,
Kris Searles: Because Wyoming’s, number one for suicide in the country.
We have the most suicides in the whole, not all the states.
Scott DeLuzio: wow,
Kris Searles: And so he was already
Scott DeLuzio: here’s, we doing work in this field. So that’s why he
Kris Searles: Btv
Scott DeLuzio: on.
Kris Searles: and started putting us to work. And it’s not a disorder. It literally is a survival mechanism. There’s nothing to be ashamed about having post-traumatic stress and to have the anger, have the depression, have the. negative thoughts, Whatever it is that’s happening, just understand that this is part your body processing all that crap that we’ve dealt with. you’re a cop, a homeschool mom that’s got 15 kids running around, you’re a veteran, [00:43:00] doesn’t matter. It’s all it’s trauma. Is trauma.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.
Kris Searles: we’re trying to teach these guys, gal to process it, talk about it, get it, get it out the system. And what Veterans Talk to Veterans is about is we bring together groups of our like-minded people once a week and we literally use mythological stories.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: sounds weird. I was like, what are we doing here? We’re telling stories about kings and queens and Dungeons and Dragons. What’s going on? All that
is, is a story that does not trigger your thoughts, your bad stuff in there. Like, Hey, tell me that time in Baghdad when.
you were ambushed and
Scott DeLuzio: Sure
Kris Searles: was killed. This
Scott DeLuzio: the story
Kris Searles: that
Scott DeLuzio: that
Kris Searles: Thought process. And then we ask questions that spark the conversation. It gets that conversation going Then. then if they wanna talk about stuff and bring stuff up, it’s on them and we’re there to support him. it’s not just me, the coach, it’s your peers. Everybody can relate. been through similar crap. [00:44:00] And so that guy
Scott DeLuzio: that guy that may wanna open up
Kris Searles: that’s bugging him, somebody else in the room,
that’s been there and can support him.
Scott DeLuzio: right,
Kris Searles: Now That guy feels like he’s helping somebody. And this guy has a little bump
because
Man, I’m not alone. Other people have gone through this too. Holy crap. And he’s
doing
good. I guess I can,
listen to him and
do what he did and I’ll get better.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah.
Kris Searles: And then next week, that flips. This guy’s not having a good week, but this guy can relate. Well, hey man, I, I used to drink a lot. I know where you’re at. This is what I did to fix it. And bam. So now
Everybody’s helping
Scott DeLuzio: helping each. Great. Yeah.
Kris Searles: And the number one thing is, is we’re
empowering veterans.
Scott DeLuzio: Veterans.
Kris Searles: to help other and then. There’s a tragedy in their community. We had a couple suicides here in my town the last six months with first responders. went to work. We brought all our coaches in from around the state. We went to work here in the community for two days. We brought in all the religious leaders, education leaders fire, EMS, Sheriff’s office leadership from them.
We brought them in and we worked with them on how to, how do you grow, how do you heal from this when [00:45:00] trauma happens, how you recover from that is growth is healing.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: Writing your book, telling your story, everything you’ve done, to honor your family, that’s growth.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: you’ve grown from that.
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: when you provide those tools to that community, to that individual, how to grow, how to coach them, mentor them, gets them on that right path. Plants those seeds that then can let them grow and then walk with them
Scott DeLuzio: We
Kris Searles: We just had a tragedy here in
Scott DeLuzio: here.
Kris Searles: It’s on the news, so I’ll talk about it. It happened in early March. A young mom was dealing with postpartum depression and back to the pills. They gave her pill after pill after pill, and nothing worked. They put, they then put her on ketamine. She then murdered, killed her four kids and then herself, of them were in cribs.
Scott DeLuzio: [00:46:00] Wow.
Kris Searles: I think the other ones, the oldest one was like 12. I think it was like three, four and nine and 12. Two were hers and two were step kids. was not obviously in a clear
mind.
Was,
Scott DeLuzio: for sure.
Kris Searles: yeah, it’s pharmaceuticals, man. That’s a whole other conversation. So we just got
Scott DeLuzio: got back
Kris Searles: an event up in that where We Same thing. We work with the kids in the community and this is how you communicate with your moms dads, and the policemen and the firemen, and is how you respect and honor those in your community that take care of your community. And so it was a good two day event, and once again, it empowers us veterans that
Scott DeLuzio: Veterans
Kris Searles: that purpose in life, need that drive, that
Scott DeLuzio: that focus
Kris Searles: to go out and help our fellow first responders
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And that makes the communities just that much better when, excuse me. When you have a bunch of [00:47:00] folks who actually give a shit about what’s going on in their community and they do something about it instead of just being bystanders, just letting life happen to them and their, and their communities for, for that matter.
And seeing everything that you, you maybe just drive by a, a place that you see something is not the way you think it should be, and you just kind of. Bitch about it and maybe make a, a comment to your spouse or whatever, and it. but you can actually do something about it. Like you, you see something that’s wrong, you can go and, and try to fix it.
I’m not gonna say that you’re gonna be successful every single time, but you, you can give it a shot. Right? And that action of doing something is. Is helpful in and of itself because you now feel like you have a purpose, right? In, in, even if it’s just in that moment, you know, you’re, you’re doing something that to help somebody [00:48:00] else and you know, sure, that makes that other person feel good, because somebody’s helping them.
But gotta make you feel good too, if you’re able to provide a benefit to somebody else. Just out of the goodness of your heart. Not, not because it’s your job and you have to or anything. It’s just because you’re a good person and you, you wanna see other people successful not getting into other trouble.
You know, if, if you’re helping somebody out, it’s probably ’cause they need the help. And so you, you want to help them get out of whatever pit they might be in, in that, that given moment. And so, when you’re able to pull someone out of that, you know it. It kind of feels good that you’re, you’re able to, to do that and it gives you that little, maybe a hit of dopamine if you will, you know, natural feel good chemical and, you know, helps you push on to that through that next hard thing that you might be [00:49:00] dealing with.
Right.
Yeah.
Kris Searles: Thriving
Scott DeLuzio: Thriving
Kris Searles: word. Thriving
in
Scott DeLuzio: and,
Kris Searles: are the two
Scott DeLuzio: sure. Yeah.
Kris Searles: You wanna, number one connection are not connected. touch So we try to connect with them and show them that, hey, you’re not alone.
You’re not lost. Come with me.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Kris Searles: And then when you, when you create those thriving communities, those thriving relationships, they just grow back to the growth. You just provide that. You literally just have to build that foundation in there them grow. We’re not trying to achieve things, you know, we’re,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right.
Kris Searles: that’s who we’re, we we’re naturally drawn to help people as well. So Julie’s vision of this it’s fascinating to watch it come true because she saw that veterans and first responders were naturally doing this already. It’s who they are.
They’re [00:50:00] naturally wanna help people. So you would empower them to use their experiences that. We don’t wanna talk you don’t wanna hear our war stories. They don’t wanna hear, you know, we’re, we’re afraid to talk about that. It’s hard to relate to our communities. It’s hard to relate to the civilians. But if you give ’em the tools on how you can use your experiences to now help others, like you said, that provide support, you
Scott DeLuzio: You feel good about yourself, Uhhuh,
Kris Searles: And
Scott DeLuzio: and then when you
Kris Searles: do
Scott DeLuzio: weekly.
Kris Searles: meetings, I’ll have to, I’ll have to send you link, man, you come check one out. It’s pretty cool. You provide that support. facilitate
Scott DeLuzio: that
Kris Searles: the
support
Scott DeLuzio: the support comes from their peers.
Okay. just
start the conversation.
Kris Searles: I step back. Someone speaks like, was I one
Scott DeLuzio: Quick story. We had a.
Kris Searles: in put without breaking any kind of conduct? An elite level skier, one 1% of the one like David Goggins has that line of the uncommon among the uncommon. [00:51:00] That’s her like, holy cow. And so she calls
Scott DeLuzio: Calls into my
Kris Searles: and she had a pretty big tragedy in her circle where an avalanche took out a pretty good group, group of skiers recently.
Scott DeLuzio: meetings. Oh, wow. Okay.
Kris Searles: of her friends, you know, whatever. And this provided her a
Scott DeLuzio: Provided her
Kris Searles: to speak because we’re used to losing friends. We’re used to losing a lot of people at one time. And this traumatic avalanche event, within seconds, are comparing an avalanche
Scott DeLuzio: good.
Kris Searles: through an
Avalanche.
looking for the bodies search, looking for parts and pieces to using a metal detector, patrolling back to their base in Afghanistan looking for landmine.
Scott DeLuzio: looking for, Yeah.
the
Kris Searles: the theme of the
night was
Scott DeLuzio: knight was parallel
Kris Searles: they were parallel and the first responders who’s never been to war, but has this terrible tragedy, the veterans, and
Scott DeLuzio: Veterans.
Kris Searles: He flew away. He saw the avalanche coming and had
Scott DeLuzio: Before
Kris Searles: off, [00:52:00] went and picked up the people. He
Scott DeLuzio: just,
Kris Searles: eight, there’s two groups. They took one group back to the parking lot, whatever flew back to get the second group avalanche happened. Had to pull away. Went back and got the, some of those people to come back and start the search. That
Scott DeLuzio: that pilot now
Kris Searles: to join our meeting so he can realize this is not survivor guilt, man, you did the right thing.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, sure.
Kris Searles: secondary
Scott DeLuzio: ambush,
Kris Searles: on attacks, secondary IEDs like. This is why we don’t do, you know, the vets and the first responders?
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: So once again, you’re empowering the vet to Help others.
And then in this group setting, they get to support each other and they feel like they help somebody for a change.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: It.
Scott DeLuzio: And And, it seems like it’s mutually beneficial because when that other [00:53:00] person is having a, a rough time, then that, that group can help that, that person as well. And, and it, it just, again, the community, the connection, the people that you, you were talking about is important. You need to have that in your day-to-day life.
And a lot of times we don’t, we don’t do that. We just isolate ourselves and we don’t. Talk to people. We don’t do things out in public. We just kind of become hermits and, and we trap ourselves in. And that’s, that’s not the way to go either. So, you know, I, I think these, these are extraordinarily, extraordinarily important things that you are doing because when you have groups of people that are otherwise just be kind of on their own floating around, you know, eventually you start to.
See people losing hope and that’s where you start to see these suicides coming in and it’s just, yeah, like circle and spiral [00:54:00] right down. It’s like going right down the drain. And that’s, that’s not where we want people to be. We want people to be thriving and happy and healthy and without pain in their bodies.
We, we wanna get rid of those things. And, and it seems like that’s, that’s everything that you guys are touching on and those, those things are, I mean, all encompassing important to the overall wellbeing of someone. And. Gosh, that, that’s just a, a great opportunity for somebody to get involved with what you guys are doing and, you know, get, pull themselves or, or help get help getting pulled out of that ditch that they’re finding themselves in.
You know, some people, they don’t see the light even at the end of the tunnel. And you know, if we, you can help ’em along the way and, and show ’em that, hey, it’s just right around on the bend, uh, there is light there. It’s. Maybe dim right now, but you can get there. And, and there is a way to, to do that through community, through, you know, the help [00:55:00] that, that organizations like yours, you know, Overwatch 6 can provide and, and just helping people get back on the right path.
And, and that’s, that’s, I think it’s super important for the listeners. Who are interested in what it is that you do, interested in some of the things that we were talking about. Where can they go to find out more information about Overwatch 6 and, you know, any of the other things that we were talking about.
Kris Searles: That simple. Overwatch number six com. That’s, you’ll see my shooting stuff on there. And then this, event that Knuckle was telling you about,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Kris Searles: on there happens in July, which obviously not Hopefully we
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Kris Searles: back and
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely.
Kris Searles: that you can reach
Scott DeLuzio: You can reach just Chris Overwatch,
Kris Searles: You can get ahold of me
if
Scott DeLuzio: get of me if you wanna talk.
Kris Searles: one about what we’re talking
Scott DeLuzio: We’re
Kris Searles: As far as
Scott DeLuzio: as far as the veterans talk. Veterans go.
Kris Searles: state are you in? Where are you
Scott DeLuzio: I’m in Arizona.[00:56:00]
Kris Searles: Okay, so we just signed a contract with New Mexico. I think Arizona is not too far away, so,
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: Wyoming’s doing good.
Idaho’s on is done. We’re training our second block there. Rhode Islands day now, New Mexico. We’re starting training soon and other states are quickly jumping on board.
Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. So.
Kris Searles: if you’re a vet and you wanna do this coaching thing, you wanna be a coach. call VA commissioner. out who that VA commissioner is in your state.
I guarantee you they heard about this program. I know they tell you wanna bring it to your community wanna be a coach. Uh, if you wanna come to a meeting once again, you reach out to me or have that link there. I think I left you
with
Scott DeLuzio: Yep.
Kris Searles: veterans Talking website. And have Zoom links. You could zoom in. I had a, weeks ago I had a guy from Alaska, two or three men and women from Texas and one from Rhode Island and everything in between.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Kris Searles: had, know, people calling from all over and I had a young Marine, like 27-year-old Marine who just [00:57:00] got out to a Vietnam But, and everything in between. Special operations, a cook, everybody and
Scott DeLuzio: That’s great. One thing I’ve, I’ve noticed with this show is that when I have a guest on the show very often, like, like you and I right now prior to us getting on this call and to record, we hadn’t met in person. We haven’t, you know, chat chatted, you know, prior to this you know, to any, any great extent or anything.
Uh, you know, other than, you know, a few minutes before we started recording. But you know, by the end of the conversation, you know, there’s a little bit of that comradery that’s built up. And, and this is, you know, relatively short conversation, you know, in, in the grand scheme of things. And, you know, you, you have these conversations with people, you start to form connections and you start to form bonds with people and you know, may.
Maybe some of ’em, you know, some of the people you’re, you’re not a hundred percent connected with, and that’s fine, but you’re gonna find your people and you’re gonna find people that are, are people who have [00:58:00] things in common with you. And, you know, all, all veterans have something in common, at least.
Right. And. Some will have other things that are in common with you as well. And then you’ll, you’ll make those connections and you’ll, you’ll start to learn about each other and you know, find your, your tribe, your community, your, your, your fire team, whatever you wanna call it. You’re gonna find it.
And you just got have to put yourself out there and kind of look for ’em. You don’t do that. You’re not gonna find. ’em. So, this is incredible work that you guys are doing. Uh, I will definitely have those links, everything that you mentioned in the in the show notes because I definitely want people to get involved and, you know, like you said, if there’s not something in their area.
If they can make it happen you know, it, it’s something that can be done if, if enough people want it to, to happen. So, you know, definitely reach out to those folks and you know, make, make sure that you get it in your area if that’s something that you, you think is in important for you and, and importantly your, your community as [00:59:00] well.
So, you know, Chris, thank you so much again for coming on the show. It is really been a pleasure learning about your background, your experience, but also, you know, all the stuff that, uh, is going on with Overarch six and, and other organizations that are out there that, that can help veterans. It’s, it’s just been a, a pleasure speaking with you, so thank you so much.
Thank
you.
Like I said, Appreciate it.
I hope so. Thanks again.