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Tactical Wealth is the show built to empower the military and veteran community to take control of their financial future.
From navigating the military to civilian life transition, to launching businesses, growing your income, and building long-term wealth, each episode brings you real stories and actionable insights from those who’ve gone from boots on the ground to building lasting wealth.
Hosted by Kaj Larsen, former Navy SEAL, award-winning journalist, and mission-driven entrepreneur. Kaj successfully co-founded a financial technology company and sold the company in 2024. The podcast features hard truth conversations with successful veteran entrepreneurs, CEOs, and top financial experts.
Whether you're still in uniform or already charting your next chapter, this podcast gives you the tactical tools to lead with impact in your finances and beyond. Let’s get tactical.
Tactical Wealth is a Gebbia Media production, brought to you by Siebert.Valor, a military-focused initiative from Siebert Financial. The Tactical Wealth podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Siebert Financial. This podcast does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy any securities. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
For more information and disclosures, please visit siebert.com/disclosures.
00;00;04;13 - 00;00;16;27
Unknown
Leaders talk about what they don't want to talk about. They say what they don't want to say. They listen to what they don't want to listen to, and they plan for what they don't want to happen. I've got to do hard things because that's the only place I want to learn about. So whatever I learn in the NFL is going to be more, what are you doing?
00;00;16;28 - 00;00;41;05
Unknown
You mean another chapter in the book I already read, and I got to go right there. No, don't get out because you think you're missing opportunity. And don't stay in because you don't know what else to do.
00;00;41;08 - 00;01;03;12
Unknown
Some people wait for others. Fight for it. Welcome to tactical wealth. The show where disciplined service and real world experience become pathways to financial power. I'm your host, Kaj Larson. On each episode, we bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone from boots on the ground to successful careers, from military to wealth and how they've done it.
00;01;03;12 - 00;01;13;27
Unknown
So you can apply those insights to your own mission and your own life. This is tactical wealth, from military to money.
00;01;13;29 - 00;01;42;00
Unknown
Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Wealth. Today's guest I am so pumped on Clint Bruce. Clint Bruce is a former NFL player, former Navy Seal officer. Who your. He is a founder. He is an entrepreneur. He's actually one of the best entrepreneurs I know, a man who has continually chosen service over the spotlight, started his career like I did as a star athlete at the US Naval Academy.
00;01;42;00 - 00;02;00;19
Unknown
I was an athlete at the Naval Academy. He was a star athlete. You intellectually belong there. I did not, I was I my entire academy career was based on like athletic over treatment and academic underachievement. So it was kind of like a arbitrage between the two, like you belong there. Well thank you. I was Forrest Gump, the accidentally let in.
00;02;00;21 - 00;02;22;02
Unknown
Then he did this extraordinary thing. He goes to the NFL and goes plays for both the Saints and the Ravens. And then he goes that right. Yeah okay. Ravens and then buds and then the Saints and then back to the teams. Right goes full Pat Tillman decides to go to the Seal teams and leave this prosperous NFL career.
00;02;22;09 - 00;02;35;05
Unknown
He ends up at Seal team five which we call Surf Team five, which is probably where I should have been because on the surfer of this duo. Yeah, well, I think good looks. I mean, I think they kind of draft the good looking guys there. Actually, I think I was already married and it was just cheaper to keep me on the West Coast.
00;02;35;06 - 00;02;56;28
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then ultimately after his time in service in the Seal teams becomes an incredibly successful serial entrepreneur, starting companies like Trident Response Group, including a bunch of philanthropic organizations that we're going to get into all of it. But I'm super excited to have my teammate, my friend, my colleague Clint Bruce here. Welcome to the show.
00;02;57;01 - 00;03;12;15
Unknown
It's so good to have you drove all the way down. This is the whole you have the spectrum of the sea. This is what a Naval Academy grad Navy Seal officer supposed to look like. Do you have the spectrum? You know, I always tell people all the time, like seals coming, all shapes and sizes. My shape is round.
00;03;12;18 - 00;03;28;17
Unknown
You know anything about physics? Around as the strongest ship in all the nature. So when things get really hard, I just kind of keep on rolling. It's like a tactical advantage, right? So hitting roll. But man, it's exciting beer. It's fun. It's you know, as I've gotten to speed on this show and the things you're doing, things you've always done, it's just always fun.
00;03;28;17 - 00;03;46;19
Unknown
It's always fun to slow down, especially catch up with guys who are trying to make a difference and try to always tell my daughters like times. The only thing we have no authority over but total ownership of, and we have to steward it because we don't steward it, we steal it. It's kind of a ones and zeros kind of thing.
00;03;46;20 - 00;04;07;12
Unknown
Like did you steward your time or did you steal your time? And I think when you come out of a world like you and I do, where we've lost a, I think the worst thing we could ever do is waste of time. Those we love, miss and have been inspired by, that we have a real stewardship duty opportunity to use our time well.
00;04;07;13 - 00;04;21;06
Unknown
And I watched you do that for a long time, so it's fun to be here. Thank you. And it's amazing that those lessons that were burned into us early on, we were talking previously about things like Carl Montas leadership ethics book that we had to read then that we hated when we were like, I'm never going to use that.
00;04;21;07 - 00;04;38;15
Unknown
Right? And then all the time, over all the time. And then those lessons are like burned into us over and over. And we have this, this saying in the Seal teams that you earn your trident every day. And, man, you have always epitomized that for me, even when I was a young pleb and I first heard about the man, the myth, the legend.
00;04;38;15 - 00;04;55;27
Unknown
Clint, I guess I was one of your rates, wasn't it? Well, no, because I was a junior. Yeah, well, you were 97, so it was, you know. My God. That's right. Walt. Amen. Eric Ulrich, Mike Martin, this is all in first company. Our squad. Like, that's a that's a that's a density of studs right there, man. You have some good people.
00;04;55;29 - 00;05;16;05
Unknown
Pretty wild right now. Okay. So what? So originally take me back to, like, you know, early days claim. Yeah. Yeah. Did you always know you're going to go to the academy? Yeah. It's a funny story. You know, I get asked this question a lot, and my answer pre-COVID is different than my answer post-Covid, because there's just things you don't remember when you're growing up.
00;05;16;05 - 00;05;34;26
Unknown
So I think you know my story. A lot of people don't mystery. So, you know, played football, had an opportunity to play a lot of different schools. Father passed away. I remember having a conversation with him when he was in the hospital, and he didn't use these words specifically, but it's what I remember him saying when we were talking about these schools.
00;05;34;27 - 00;05;48;29
Unknown
I had an opportunity to go play at, and I remember he was he had kind of when he went off. You were already in Texas at the time, right? You know, I was born in Arkansas and moved down to Texas. And and when he went in the when he got in the hospital, he was my size. When he passed away, I could carry him and one on just.
00;05;49;06 - 00;06;08;14
Unknown
But you he had such a presence and he was so joyful, even as he was dying, that you had to step back. And I lost his stature. And remember walking to the hospital one time and he said, son, you have to make a 40 year decision, not a four year decision about what you do. And I was not ready to hear that.
00;06;08;14 - 00;06;25;10
Unknown
I didn't I didn't want to contemplate a scenario where I didn't have a father. And and I remember him grabbing my wrist. And I was I just remember viscerally, I could still remember being shocked at how powerful it still. And he said, son, leaders talk about what they don't want to talk about. They say what they don't want to say.
00;06;25;10 - 00;06;45;01
Unknown
They listen to what they don't want to listen to, and they plan for what they don't want to happen. And that's what makes. And so for me, I'd always love the Army Navy game. I'd always thought it was really special. And so I started pursuing the Naval Academy. And obviously it was really fortunate. There up in Dallas, we have a guy named Roger Staubach who's all right.
00;06;45;01 - 00;07;08;02
Unknown
I heard of him, of him. We call him The Saint. Roger. And I always say, never meet your heroes unless it's Roger Staubach. And they just prepared to feel bad about yourself. Yeah, because he is. He's like that. He's what you think he is and better. And his bride, Mary Ann, is incredible. And, so, you know, the one of the questions I get asked all the time, when do you want to go to naval cabinet?
00;07;08;04 - 00;07;24;17
Unknown
And I just I never remembered not wanting to go to the Naval Academy, being able to feel, but I could never remember the genesis of it until Covid and Covid, there was nothing good for Covid other than I got to spend unbelievable amounts of time with my daughters, right? And so my oldest pulled me aside. She goes, dad, you want to watch Magnum, P.I.?
00;07;24;18 - 00;07;41;04
Unknown
I'm like, yeah, of course I want to watch Magnum, P.I. and so she turns on the new one. I'm like, oh, stop it. Like, we don't. We're not watching that one. We went back to the original one, and in the second episode, there's a, you know, our buddy Jack Carr writes about this often, and we did two platoons together.
00;07;41;06 - 00;08;02;27
Unknown
We did. But George. Yeah, yeah. And, and so there's an episode where reveals that the character Thomas Magnum played football at the Naval Academy, and he was a Navy Seal. That's right. Because that was his original backstory, and they changed it to pilot later on. Right. But season one, he was the frog. And so all of a sudden I had this hyper lucid memory and it wasn't repressed memories.
00;08;02;27 - 00;08;18;20
Unknown
Just when you get older, you have a lot of things to remember. And all of a sudden, I remember sitting next to my dad as a chubby little fifth grader in a little Rock, Arkansas, watching Magnum, P.I., Thursday nights at 8 p.m. and I remember watching that episode with him and going, dad, I'm going to play football to Naval Academy, be a Navy Seal.
00;08;18;22 - 00;08;39;12
Unknown
I'm my dad was like, all right. So I never didn't have that kind of default subconscious X on the map. And as I reflect on it, how fortunate was I to kind of always have a plan and to be young enough at the time to not season it with reality and expectations and Gibson abilities, because I wasn't like, you know my story better.
00;08;39;13 - 00;08;56;22
Unknown
Like, I loved football way sooner. The football loved me like I was the fifth string fullback in eighth grade Brandenburg middle school. There were three other fullbacks. So do the math on that. I remember my dad, my dad. I remember my dad said, son, I'm not disappointed. You're the fifth string fullback. I am disappointed they put it in the program.
00;08;56;23 - 00;09;13;19
Unknown
I was like, what it is in the program? One, two, three blank five Clint Bruce. And so I just love the game. It's where my friends were at in what I realized is how advantaged I was to. My gift is not being gifted. They're going to figure it out. And at some point everybody's going to have to figure it out.
00;09;13;20 - 00;09;36;10
Unknown
And that's a muscle. And you have to grind, process and give it. So, you know, I end up playing scout team. And so it scout team. You have, you know, 3 to 4 reps for every one rep that talented guys have. And also you have these different positions. And so the football story is the first game ever played really was halfway through my junior season because another guy got hurt, another guy got kicked off and we were up by 20.
00;09;36;17 - 00;09;57;09
Unknown
And I remember going in there in the second half and looking at the guard and going, hey, when I play guard on scout team, if I'm pulling, I sit back on my heels a little bit. I bet he's pulling shot the gap, made the sack, never left field after that. What it was, it was a culmination of these thousands of reps.
00;09;57;10 - 00;10;13;24
Unknown
I got. It just kind of cascaded in the knowledge of the game. You know, one of the mantras in our world is like, you don't do it so many times. Get it right, you do it. Sometimes, you almost can't get it wrong. And so I think for me, but it's also about being prepared for the moment 100%. Right.
00;10;13;27 - 00;10;31;21
Unknown
Because I think moments happen to them. But more often than not, especially in our world, like you make the moment happen. Well, it's either halls, your Nimitz. It says there are no extraordinary men, only regular men who find themselves in an extraordinary circumstance. Right. And so we all have the, you know, the things that you don't rise to the occasion, instinctive level of your greatest experiences.
00;10;31;24 - 00;10;47;03
Unknown
Our community gets credit for that a lot. Was a Greek poet that said it the first time. And so I think I'm I jokingly say I've had this for as Gumby and kind of life, but it's it's really not a joke. I mean, the formula is stumble up or just try hard, take notes, run around with good people and try to keep up with them.
00;10;47;03 - 00;11;08;10
Unknown
I mean, that is the formula. That is for sure. Yeah, for sure. You want to change your trajectory in life. Look at the five people. People. And so ended up as the opportunity to play the Naval Academy had incredible classmates like Walt. We've talked about and and, you know, Henry Kurt Baum and just some Craig Baumer who ended up in medical school with my sister at Georgetown.
00;11;08;10 - 00;11;27;06
Unknown
So there's two guys you and I both know. And I tell people, Henry Krugman has looked like a 42 year old Charles Bronson since he was 18, and he's going to look like a 40 year old Charles Bronson when he's 80. Coleman Ruiz has looked like a 42 year old Tommy Lee Jones. Yes, he since he was 18, and he's going to look like a 40 year old Tommy Lee Jones when he's 80.
00;11;27;07 - 00;11;50;22
Unknown
Yeah, him and his wife, those are two of the hardest people. Those kids came out doing like pull ups. Yeah. And what I'll say is, like, sometimes I could be accused on this show of having too many of my Seal buddies on. But by by defense of that, my, like, clap back. You know, my caveat is that because of what you just said, that we surrounded ourselves, we learned from mentors.
00;11;50;28 - 00;12;15;13
Unknown
They all went on to also do extraordinary things. Henry Craig bombs a surgeon, right. Coleman's dominating right. Like in the business world, Bridget. I mean, the reality is, like like he married. He married a bigger stud that all. Leah. You know my classmate, Shanna Santos Ferguson, she's running the Olympics. She was the CEO of USA swimming. Right. So if I'm going to share with you what I learned along the way, it's a disservice to you, not share with you who I learned it from.
00;12;15;15 - 00;12;40;22
Unknown
So why would I not pull from this Encyclopedia Britannica of amazing men and women I've got to be around like that is my formula. I surround myself with people I don't know if I can keep up with, and I just try like hell, right? I definitely like I would not have become a Seal were it not for Henry Craig and Walt Allman and then Eric Autry, who were peers, and we were all pacing together.
00;12;40;24 - 00;13;07;06
Unknown
Yeah, it's absolutely like, Mike, you got guys like, you know, and remember when I was doing Tommy? Dave was captain of the water polo. He's not even fair. Yeah. Like his wife. Like he's in his own category. Him in his category of one of his brother. Different. Their unicorns were cool about yourself and like Roger. And then, you know, I remember when I was a Jimmy Galloway was and Jimmy Gowdy was one of the, you know, first team guys that got sent to and after distinguished service at the airfield.
00;13;07;07 - 00;13;28;02
Unknown
Right. So like my I've always told my daughters like chase the right people like Chase this kind of thing called the high ground. Like my office, all our offices, our officers, kind of like warrior. We works like co-working facility for veteran and athlete led companies. When I tell people is like the weekend of the high ground is always the same, whether on the ball field, battlefield, boardroom or breakfast table.
00;13;28;03 - 00;13;46;24
Unknown
You just find them, follow the right people to the right places and become your version of what you love about them. Not not them 2.0, but your version of them. Because we're all aggregates like we're all the rights of an equal sign, which are some product of our experiences and and our friendship side of the equation has a lot to do with who we are.
00;13;46;25 - 00;14;06;29
Unknown
Like we were just talking about David White the other day, you know, the bard of the yard, the Shakespeare, one of the most influential teachers in my entire life was my Shakespeare at the network. It was at Dan Childs. No. Is David White? Oh, right. David Childs and I still remember him to this day. Yeah. And you know, in Shakespeare, probably one of the first neuroscientists that was an author.
00;14;07;00 - 00;14;27;13
Unknown
Like there's an amazing book called Primal Intelligence by Ghanim Ferguson, Ohio State, and he talks about, Shakespeare as a storyteller. And he's interviewed all these really remarkable warriors and, and all of them kind of have an affection for Shakespeare as kind of the knowledge graph. So I don't remember your question. I get so excited. I'll talk to you guys.
00;14;27;13 - 00;14;43;06
Unknown
Like so. Yeah. So for me, where we were Academy, you were telling me you're at the the Academy. What happens after the academy? Yeah, I was really fortunate. We were part of a really good team. You know it. Guys like beef and dish coffee. Some of the, you know, some of the stuff you were just talking about Mike wall the other day, talking about some really, really amazing.
00;14;43;06 - 00;15;04;09
Unknown
We have this perfect storm of coaches. We had Paul Johnson and being a head coach, Georgia Tech, we had Gary Patterson, who's now the defense quarter, Nader at USC, who was the legendary coach at TCU. Bill Emory was our strength addition coach, who I think maybe if you ask any of us top ten most influential in our lives, most of the film is one of them.
00;15;04;11 - 00;15;23;26
Unknown
He got us ready for war without even really realizing it, ended up being general manager of the Chicago Bears. And and so we had this perfect storm. Dick Bumpus, we had these amazing coaches, and so had an opportunity to be part of a successful team, you know, first bowl team, 20 something years. And, you know, he had guys like Ben Fay, who I think is one of the best leaders ever got.
00;15;23;29 - 00;15;40;06
Unknown
Guy wasn't even he was a captain of football team didn't even start. He just coming in the fourth quarter and win and win games for like just because he loved the team and the mission that much. So had an opportunity to play. The NFL was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens. And how did that work? Service commitment. Yeah.
00;15;40;07 - 00;15;59;24
Unknown
So so the David Robinson style basically. Well, I'm not quite that low. There's some accommodations made for David Robinson and Chad Hennings and a lot of people don't like Roger went to bed Nam Roger deployed to Vietnam. There's a really funny star quarterback. Yeah. There's a really funny story about a trophy winner. There's a real funny story about him asking the Dallas Cowboys for more balls.
00;15;59;24 - 00;16;19;15
Unknown
And one of the guys in Dallas Cowboys like Roger, we can't keep sending your footballs like these things cost. What happened here last football is like they got hit by mortar and cowboys like, we'll send more footballs. That's okay. Didn't know. And and so the the plan at the time myself Ronnie McKenna from West Point Ronald from West Point.
00;16;19;15 - 00;16;40;02
Unknown
Bo Morgan from Air Force was make your team get your warfare specialty then revert to reserves a plan that we're all on. So I was at the Ravens, made the Ravens. It was amazing. No one knows I played the Ravens because I played the same position as Ray Lewis. He's okay. Yeah he's I did it was. So he backed up right.
00;16;40;09 - 00;17;00;12
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Along with thousands of other guys. And but there was and this was 97. So this is race pre-war. Yeah. Well this was also raised second year. So no one knew Ray was going to become what he became. But there were inklings. There were flashes of it. And I do remember vividly being a practice one day going, it might be easier to become a Navy Seal going to be already.
00;17;00;14 - 00;17;19;26
Unknown
And then Walter called me because a guy got hurt. I was supposed to go through Bud's February 98th play the season, go to buds, right? So in August, Walt and a couple of guys called me and said, hey, you can start earlier if you want to. And for me, it was real odd. It's like, here's what I knew.
00;17;19;27 - 00;17;34;15
Unknown
I got to do hard things because that's the only place I want to learn about self and learn what I'm made of. And here's what I knew about the NFL. Whatever I learned in the NFL is going to be more what I already knew. Do me another chapter in the book I already read and I got to go where I don't know.
00;17;34;19 - 00;17;52;08
Unknown
And I wasn't scared of injury or anything like that. I mean, football is a violent sport, but I do remember it's like, man, if, if, if I couldn't pursue this and and what a, what an honor it was to be one of 16 guys selected. Right. So for me it was a no brainer and I remember went to war.
00;17;52;10 - 00;18;17;09
Unknown
Were you worried at that at that juncture? Like you could go to buds and get hurt too and that could ruin your NFL career? I never really thought in terms of downside risk. Like for me, it's I've always been an opportunist, like kind of a damn the torpedoes. Not not uneducated risk, but calculated, thoughtful risk. Right. Like in which could I, which could I endure being heard at doing like which is the more which is the better scar.
00;18;17;10 - 00;18;32;27
Unknown
Right. So if I got hurt in buds and couldn't go play in the NFL gardens, okay, that's the better scar to have. Right. And I'm married, you know, my ring dance stage. She's amazing. And her dad, I was a scout for the Cowboys and and kind of knew the realities. And I had unbelievable support to do the harder thing.
00;18;32;27 - 00;18;54;06
Unknown
And so Amy and I moved out there. We were the first ones that were married. She's got so many fun and memories of being our little apartment and looking out the window. And there's Henry and Waltz, like, looking in the window. Hey. Yeah. And you cook anything today? Yeah. And so she got to take care of all of us and and Choate and and so it was pretty easy to leave in.
00;18;54;08 - 00;19;12;00
Unknown
Had an unbelievable class, had great guys I went through were like Tom Rhino, you know, all these other guys. And the anger, she went alive and made it. Chicken and seal team five and pre 911 the Saints called and this was 99. Had an opportunity to go back out to the NFL. Admiral Richards was in charge at the time.
00;19;12;00 - 00;19;32;03
Unknown
I think his only question was how much do you bench. I told him and he said, don't obey the community. And I just kind of stood there because I didn't know if that was a yes or no. And so tired just pulled me out. She's like, leave. I'm like, I don't know what just happened here. So when I think for context, people probably don't understand the pre 911 Seal teams are a peace time military.
00;19;32;04 - 00;19;46;12
Unknown
We're part of the peace time set battle rhythm. I mean you're a contingency battle with them. But CAG and dev are going to get the work right. Sure. And sometimes you know pejoratively we could have called the Seal teams like a shoot dive jump club prior to 911. And it was cool. We're always ready to do work, right?
00;19;46;13 - 00;20;02;29
Unknown
Because the world is the world. Right? But but the reality and for me, the calculus. And I think Admiral Richards and Cap McKay at the time, and they were like, hey, listen, the community needs to constantly replenish itself. If you look at what David Robinson did for the military, I'm not saying I would have been as good the NFL as David Robinson wasn't in the NBA.
00;20;03;01 - 00;20;24;02
Unknown
But when you have these personalities, the point of these communities, it's kind of an asymmetric was it was different calculus, like Walton Wall and I were doing Cism then. Right, which was the military pentathlon team and, and Johnny Sanchez and all these guys. And that was okay. Yeah. It was cool. Yeah. And it was probably a positive thing for the community, for the war officers.
00;20;24;02 - 00;20;40;00
Unknown
Well, a question to be because you got to replenish. Right. The and nobody knew what seals were back then. Like when I showed up the academy I had never even heard of seals. Yeah. Now I think I was going to make the Saints because they because of what they pursued. I remember when I left the Saints, I wanted to Dick and I say, coach, was I going to make it.
00;20;40;01 - 00;20;49;16
Unknown
He kind of looked to the left and right. He goes, we're going to cut you a couple of days ago, but I couldn't get a coach to do it. I go, what? He goes, I was like, you know, me knobs that guy has on him right now. Like I'm not cut him. You cut him. So I was like, I have made the team out of fear.
00;20;49;16 - 00;21;11;25
Unknown
He's like, maybe I'm like, I'm good with that and I'm cool. And but yeah, I mean, it was, it was. And I was always I was very clear. It was like, hey, if something goes down, I'm leaving. Like, I want to go with the real game. And so I went to the the Saints and just kind of remembered why I left the NFL in the first place and went back to the team and, you know, went through pre post on a level deployments.
00;21;11;27 - 00;21;37;26
Unknown
You know I was fortunate as an oh I got to do three deployments people tunes and and got to be around amazing. Of all the seals you'll have on here I'm the least accomplished. I'm the funniest maybe the best looking, certainly the best looking over 300 pounds and but man, I got to run some amazing guys that continue to inspire me today and you hardly ever see them, right?
00;21;37;29 - 00;22;13;01
Unknown
This is how consequential I think most of life is about gathering pace centers. And I think you and I were blessed at both the Naval Academy in the community to be around people that you're going to have to work the rest of your life to keep up with, even after they left you. And and what attributed it to them to try to keep up with a man who made such a mark on you before he left us, that you're still trying to keep up?
00;22;13;03 - 00;22;40;04
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. You know, that afflicts me to this day. I was doing a high rocks race this weekend, and I was like, first in my heat and my overall time like, wasn't that great? I didn't have any rabbits to chase. I needed, like, someone to chase buddy. That's I mean, it's so funny. I was kind of I did a bunch of interviews at Radio Row for the Super Bowl for the Navy, and someone asked me kind of my system, and I said, well, I just kind of chase paced pool, chase the right people, the right places keep pace with people they're going to.
00;22;40;05 - 00;22;56;22
Unknown
They're going to set up fast paced and leave you behind. If you don't do your work, you got to be pulling someone behind you. And that's the mentorship. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Like because the machines you. I always felt like all great leaders want to get forgotten. They want to build someone that eclipses if they care about the thing more themselves.
00;22;56;25 - 00;23;18;07
Unknown
You want to build someone and something that eclipses you. And I think God is merciful because most times you just makes you unforgettable that way, almost by default. Like, you know, you know, greatest basketball coach of all time would John John Wooden. Yeah. John UCLA yeah. So for the last 50 years of his life, he's trying to get forgotten.
00;23;18;08 - 00;23;38;18
Unknown
But every year you're creme Abdul-Jabbar. Yeah. Hey, coach, we got to go. I watched Roger Staubach try to get forgotten for the last 35 years, but some possible is so many people want to say was like, I know him. This is what he did for me. Right? And so I think, you know, you and I are fortunate to to to and not just fortunate because I think there's design in it too.
00;23;38;25 - 00;23;55;25
Unknown
I'm always surrounding myself with people I don't know if I can keep up with. And then my mission of the day is try to keep up with it. I love the mission of the day. Although I would say you're a humble guy, it's one of your like most for all the things that you've accomplished right, you are extraordinarily humble.
00;23;55;25 - 00;24;15;05
Unknown
I will say you are one of those legendary people. I'm sure when you meet people like out in the wild and they're like, oh, you're a Navy Seal, do you know? So and so when I meet people out in the wild, in the civilian world and I say, I'm a Navy Seal, they say like, oh, you know, Clint Bruce, you know, like like I would say eight out of ten, I think, I think I'm the everyman.
00;24;15;05 - 00;24;34;21
Unknown
I'm think I'm the one that they're like, okay, I can't be like him. But there's a guy in between us named Clint. Yeah, I kind of like a little bit. Right. So I think I'm the lamb to the everyman, the liaison officer. Every man. Right. Amazing. So tell me, like, so you do three combat deployments, post nine, 11, all out of five, right?
00;24;34;22 - 00;24;56;09
Unknown
Yeah. All out of all out of Seal team five, which was right next door to us, basically. And and then tell me about your transition out of the teams. Yeah. You know, my my bride got pregnant during our last platoon. And, you know, I, I think you you always feel like you got out to early unless, you know, you got out there.
00;24;56;12 - 00;25;13;03
Unknown
And so getting out always this kind of. It's the thing I think you probably wrestle with for the rest of your lives, right? Unless you did it too late. You know, you did it too late, right? And so I think, but a lot of people don't understand, like in the officer community, the parallel I give is it's like being a college football player.
00;25;13;04 - 00;25;29;25
Unknown
You have five years to go in four years to. It's kind of a finite life cycle of being an operational. And then the rest of that requires leadership that I'm not necessarily get like, you know, I guys like beef. And some of these guys, I'm like, y'all, it'd be the best thing I could do for the community. Just get out of your day, right?
00;25;29;26 - 00;25;50;27
Unknown
Like, I mean, guys that are really gifted for thinking at a strategic level and, you know, the in in, Amy had our daughter, and there's a guy without a father. You know, guys ask me all the time he should get out. Stay in. I said, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but what I will tell you is don't get out because you think you're missing opportunities.
00;25;50;29 - 00;26;07;16
Unknown
And don't stay in because you don't know what else to do. Because the mission and the men deserved more than a dual minded man. An opportunity will always be there. So. And then the other question I ask is like, hey, give me the name of three guys that can run your troop boom, boom, boom, right? Give me the name of three guys that can run your family.
00;26;07;21 - 00;26;21;28
Unknown
They just kind of sit there and stare. So like, for me, it was time, you know, I needed to take care of my mom, my brother and my sister, my bride, my daughter. And I was looking around and I was like, home and a beef and like, Catholic need to need me. And and and it was just kind of time.
00;26;21;29 - 00;26;49;28
Unknown
The other thing for me to is kind of a student of humanity. And understanding the supply chain of terrorism for me is exciting to look at. Man, how can I help really great business leaders that are doing hard things and hard places? How can I help them be more successful in these emerging markets? Like how can we economically, how can we how can we mature these markets and these, these cities where there is a middle class, where there is a labor, where there is all these other things?
00;26;49;28 - 00;27;12;20
Unknown
Because if you understand, this is one of the things like all these classes went to the Naval Academy that are beating at the time and they're like, oh, perhaps von Clausewitz was right. Yeah, maybe I don't know everything. At 21 years old from Garland, Arkansas. Right. And so you see that economics, education and health care are the pillars upon which a society can grow.
00;27;12;20 - 00;27;28;26
Unknown
And, you know, you and I were talking about this. One of the things I've always told my daughter is like, hey, there's there's three qualities in a place we're going to have to go there and do work. And it's the work that you and I know we say when you say work, right? If you have suppression of critical thinking, you have limited economic opportunity.
00;27;28;29 - 00;27;48;28
Unknown
You know, the suppression of the female voice. Evil is going to be there because it's uncontested, has nothing to oppose it. Yeah. These are these are the pockets in which extremism and terrorism breeds. Right, 100%. And I want to underscore how important this is, like your post service mission was born out of your service experience of being in those places.
00;27;48;28 - 00;28;13;16
Unknown
Like for me, like northern Nigeria, I'll never forget, like, you could see the roots of instability taking place from those three conditions that were on the ground in Africa. In Africa, you go there, you know, Joe Kony, largest army. Do you see all this other stuff? And and also you go into these places where you appreciate these child soldiers and you create this micro enterprise like, hey, make this ship it here, we'll sell it, will reinvest back into you.
00;28;13;16 - 00;28;36;26
Unknown
And then you got to tell us what you're funding. And all of a sudden you're erecting this generational class of decision makers. Right. And so I think for me, as a guy who's always wanted to fight evil, I think that you can fight evil asymmetrically and sustainably. I find a really great business leader and helping them do hard things and hard places for good people.
00;28;36;29 - 00;28;55;14
Unknown
Yeah, and it's a little bit of a play. On what Stan McChrystal said after he was commander in Afghanistan. You and I learned the hard way that you can't shoot your way out of this problem 100%. You know, Admiral Olson told us you can't kill your way to victory, which is 100% true. And that doesn't mean that you don't kill people, by the way.
00;28;55;19 - 00;29;16;27
Unknown
You just got to be consequences, right? There's got to be consequences. Right? But but when you erect a society where, you know, we don't have to go very far to see this, like the literacy, like if you invest in literacy in poverty stricken parts of America, you can you can iterate these zip codes out of this kind of doom cycle they're in.
00;29;16;27 - 00;29;36;28
Unknown
Right. So economics, education, health care, empowering and protecting women. You can create generational change. I'll give you an example. With one of our foundations we have we have this program called the 21 fellows. So what we do is we find veterans that want to coach and teach. They want to go back and coach these your hometown or or distressed area will augment their sound.
00;29;36;29 - 00;30;08;10
Unknown
Right. So if you're a E6, E7, you're making, you know, 7580 that special pays. And if that independent school district can pay you 55 we're going to gap you, we're going gonna we're going to we're going to maintain your quality of life. So your family isn't punished for you having a passion, professor. Because I'll tell you this, as a guy who had years where I didn't come home knowing what I did that day, and I can only speak to the male experience because that's my experience, is if you're a husband and daddy and you come home that day and you don't know that you mattered, it's it's hard to think you matter at home.
00;30;08;10 - 00;30;26;12
Unknown
And if we can help guys stay passionate with how they use their day, when they go from the boardroom to the breakfast table, the will be they'll be better at the breakfast table. And for me, that's one of the questions I get asked all the time. I know you get asked it to the people of what, your favorite gun.
00;30;26;13 - 00;30;43;27
Unknown
I was going, you asking me what favor gun is or what my for a weapon is. And the younger they are, the festival at the same thing. But I always want to talk to young men. Go listen. A gun is a tool. A weapon is what I used to win. My favorite weapon is a map. Once I have a map of everything, I know where the bag I'll be, what to come in, what to bring, what to leave, how to get home.
00;30;43;28 - 00;30;58;28
Unknown
And if I have a map. The worst I'll ever be is wrong, but it won't be lost. Kind of biographical. When I describe my life, I say I lived on the ball field, the battlefield, the border and the breakfast table. And I will tell you the most lonely and scared I've ever been in. For the longest period of time was in the boardroom.
00;30;59;00 - 00;31;16;00
Unknown
It was the ball field. In the battlefield. They are simple. They're not easy maps, but they're simple. Man. There's there's hyper clarity on where the ex and the high ground is. And not only that, and the metrics are pretty well defined. Well, when you step into an ecosystem and an infrastructure that exists solely to get you as high as far as you want to go.
00;31;16;02 - 00;31;32;11
Unknown
But in the boardroom, I had a I to replicate that. So for me, the reason I started all the companies I've started is because there's someone who needed what I knew how to do that I wanted to learn from. So for me, entrepreneurial was a capture strategy, almost like a ASAP. Like, I mean, how do I how do I okay, I know how to do this.
00;31;32;11 - 00;32;01;17
Unknown
He needs that. And man, he's a he's an amazing business guy but he's also a great husband dad. So how do I do this and learn how to do this. Because I've been chasing people my whole life. So that Chase pays pool formula kind of went from the from the ball field. You know, Jason goes like Shane Halloran and Javier Zuluaga and Matt Cassel and Fernando Harris and Andrew Thompson and Joe Speed and then the in the battlefield, you know, Danno and the guys we've talked about like Waco sometimes, like, I'm never going to catch him.
00;32;01;17 - 00;32;17;13
Unknown
I'm sure you're going to try. Right. And so for me, the boardroom, that's the formula. So you found a series of like extraordinary mentors. Yeah. Men and women and brass tacks. How did you do it? You built Trident Group first. Trident response group. Yeah. So TRG so the real story just, you know, you know, you can redeem anything.
00;32;17;20 - 00;32;35;26
Unknown
So when I got the teams, I went into wealth management. And you're thinking what everybody else thought as soon as I said that and I just was not. It's a, it's a it's an important industry. You got to do it because inherently you're protected. I think there's two fronts. Everybody cares about the physical and the financial terrain. So this Welsh management kind of like our parallels on the financial train.
00;32;35;26 - 00;32;49;00
Unknown
So it's really virtuous important. I just wasn't good at it. I would sit down and someone go, hey can I manage your wealth? And they go, no, I'm like, well, I don't manage your stupid wealth anyway. You know, that's some anger issues, right? I'm also super honest. So someone go, are you better in my person? Like, well, who's your person?
00;32;49;00 - 00;33;03;23
Unknown
They tell me like, they're so good if they die calling me, but I win at Katrina. Trina happened when Katrina pulled a bunch of people. I just put a neo. We'll put a neo on top of New Orleans, right? It's amazing. There's a competitive. Yeah. So it's like it's it's it's it's easier when you know how to do it.
00;33;03;24 - 00;33;19;12
Unknown
Right. And then I came out and all these really amazing men and women who are leading the way, I wanted to lead in the boardroom and in the community and in their own homes. They're like, hey, can't Clint can you? And I would listen to what they asked me if I could do. I go one, I can do that.
00;33;19;13 - 00;33;32;29
Unknown
Two. I know someone that could do it better than me. So I have this real simple philosophy. Someone asked me if I could do something. I go, can I do it? Can I do it so well that they asked me to do it again? Or ask me what else I do? Do other people need it? Is this a real market?
00;33;33;00 - 00;33;47;14
Unknown
Is it scalable? Do I know someone that could do it better than me? Am I scalable? Is it confused the existing story? I run it out of this brand. I start another one. But all these brands have just gone through that filter of earn the right to be asked to do it again, or ask me what else I do.
00;33;47;14 - 00;34;07;03
Unknown
And then I think about inherently, I look at guys like you and some of our other friends who are a little bit behind me career wise. I'm like, man, when that guy gets out, when she gets out, I can hold water for these clients until she gets here and they just turn it over to them. Right. And so that's counterinsurgency.
00;34;07;03 - 00;34;27;15
Unknown
That's what we know how to do. This is this is economic counterinsurgency. So my whole theory is economic reinvention of America by its warrior class. Go back to the place that built you and make it better, or go back to the place that built you and rebuild it. I always say that after World War II, a generation of Americans came back and built the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen.
00;34;27;16 - 00;34;48;26
Unknown
And there's no reason our generation of veterans can't be remembered for doing the same thing. It's remarkable. And I think I think we owe I think we owe the Vietnam generation and the Korean War generation three things, particularly the Vietnam generation, we owe them. And I'm sorry, we owe them a thank you. I mean, you and I, there's doctrine that you and I enjoyed that didn't exist.
00;34;49;04 - 00;35;18;29
Unknown
You know, listen, 911 didn't exist as an apparatus until Vietnam. It was extracted from Vietnam. Eric. Calvary, like all these other things that we thought we've always done like that. Those guys invented it, right? Our first five years in the teams, we were essentially still using Vietnam era tactics because it works, right? Right. Then all of a sudden these guys, guys come home and we're in this flux as a nation between the industrial revolution and it's kind of emerging technology and kind of software evolution, telecom revolution.
00;35;18;29 - 00;35;39;25
Unknown
And, and we we don't have the ability to build and do these inherently physical things. And what's really cool now is I tell these young men and women, it's like, hey, man, learn the trades. You're gonna make half $1 million a year, go to hack school, go to hack school, go to roofing school, go to plumbing school. If you are an hack person.
00;35;39;25 - 00;36;02;01
Unknown
One of the things I love about these kind of labor, these kind of vocational skills, is they're project centric, beginning, middle and end. There's often an omen of physicality to it. And I think when you use your body to accomplish a mission, there's a, there's a physiology that associates success with sweat. And then it's generally a small unit thing.
00;36;02;03 - 00;36;20;07
Unknown
And so for me, I go, man, how do I recreate this, this ecosystem that helped me get to the high ground on the ball field, in the battlefield, in the boardroom. And then how do I nurture guys to positions where they're where I am now 20 years sooner, because they may not have the bride that I had in the family.
00;36;20;09 - 00;36;38;28
Unknown
I mean, you know, I'm so fortunate. You know, I stepped into a credibility and and relationship and stuff back in. I went back to the town that I came from, surrounded by people that cared about me. And if they didn't care about me, they cared about my bride. You can't help but fall in love with my daughters.
00;36;38;28 - 00;36;59;06
Unknown
And there's people like, you know, just for the sake of Amy, the girls are going to help plan a little bit. Right. And, and and I play dumb. And generally it's true. But every once I'm pretty good at something and. But my really gets. I hate this analogy because I just played linebacker and I don't like quarterback. Unless you're Ben Fay or Navy quarterback.
00;36;59;09 - 00;37;15;10
Unknown
I love handing the ball off the other guys. They could do it and guys, I could do it better. And so it's it's that's my favorite thing the world do is hold the line to someone better than me can get here, and then give them to you and you to them and watch them be where I am now, 20 years sooner.
00;37;15;13 - 00;37;34;07
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, I was I was playing hoops with the heads of one of our fellow frogmen last night when I got off the airplane and, and like, they were like, oh, I want to score, I want to score. And I was just saying to, I'm like, hey, because they're too small to shoot really good. Yeah, yeah. I was like, hey, you know, scoring is cool, but, you know, it's even cooler.
00;37;34;08 - 00;37;51;20
Unknown
An assist. And I talked to him about like Bob Cousy, Killer Man and John Stockton, people like Johnson. You know, I just I did this post on LinkedIn the other day while I was talking about leadership's in Action and all. It's a verb. And I'll wrinkle really roll or describing or how many people are hoping you get it right when it's your turn to wear the weight.
00;37;51;20 - 00;38;18;26
Unknown
But it's this hot potato that you hold and steward when it's your time. And the best leaders I know know who has it before him and know who has it after him. And they're intensely interested in handing it off to them. Well, and Jason Williams, this is really cool. It's on the LinkedIn post, but he's talking to this girl, this lady, and he talks about how he would pass the ball and he would spin the ball where when it landed in the hands, the cow was ready to shoot it.
00;38;18;26 - 00;38;38;12
Unknown
Otherwise you'd have to read. And if you don't have time to reposition, I was like, that is an amazing leader. What a gift to know. Here's what I do and I have it. And I'm going to spin it to you in a way that you can do what you do. And that's fundamental. Our job is officers. Our job is officers is I always thought it was pretty simple.
00;38;38;13 - 00;38;54;21
Unknown
Not easy, but simple. Ridgeline, left right, limits, resources and repeat it. Really make them repeat left and right limits. Those guys are like, you didn't tell us not to steal a truck. I think I had to tell you, not steal a truck. Right? And then you just kind of do it well enough if you let you blow stuff up every once in a while.
00;38;54;22 - 00;39;16;28
Unknown
Right. But again, that's what's fun for me is to remind people how great they are and help them be that great. Quickly. Yeah, absolutely. Some of the stuff you've done, and, you know, we won't even scratch the surface of all the businesses. Yeah, there's no built here. The stewardship issue here, I like to I like to end with a section that I call rapid fire.
00;39;16;28 - 00;39;37;05
Unknown
It's kind of like shooting steel. You know, you get instant feedback. There's no math. I get a chance. There's math where I'm hosed. All right. Best investment you ever made. My my marriage. And that. That's not just something like I know you, so I know you actually mean that. That's not something you say reflexively. No, no. Like for me.
00;39;37;06 - 00;39;52;00
Unknown
Using your partner. Dance date man. And one. When I invest in her, I invest in my daughters. And there's about a million people that know that all I want to be is the kind of guy my girls want to marry one day. Purposeful, passionate, productive and provider. And they had to have seen me do that if they're going to expect that of themselves.
00;39;52;00 - 00;40;20;28
Unknown
Right. And my family has been my chef, my family, my faith, have saved me in ways that, you know, only a chef can. Right. Quick reaction force for folks who don't know. Hardest financial lesson you learned? It's you know, you you have to invest in yourself. You have to you have to make sure you can stay in the fight so you can help others and and learning how to make sure Amy and the girls are okay.
00;40;20;28 - 00;40;43;10
Unknown
So I can make sure everybody else is okay. Because we come out of this, you get paid on the first and 15th, as long as you do your job and having to relearn financial management, right? Because that's not something we have to do. We take extraordinary risks because there's really no financial risk if you if budget. Well. So I had to relearn some fairly simple financial stuff.
00;40;43;15 - 00;41;05;10
Unknown
Not really. I had to learn it for the first time. And so investing yourself, making sure the machine servicing picks. And when I create these parallels, I got like I turned money into bullets. And so for me, more bullets, more targets. And so when I could change how I viewed money and look at it as a, as a, as a resource vise a trophy, I began to handle it better.
00;41;05;12 - 00;41;25;22
Unknown
Yeah. I also analog financial wellness to and money I call it a body armor to. Yeah 100% 100%. It protects you against the enemy. Yeah. And against bad things in life because we're inherently not we. A lot of times we can look at money as like a trophy and self-promotional, and that is the antithesis of who we want to be.
00;41;25;23 - 00;41;48;21
Unknown
So when I shifted to money as tackles, money as bullets, they're just the currency by which I run this map. I could make better decisions. Absolutely. Military habit. You'll never drop commander's intent knowing why you're doing what you're doing that day, you know? Hey, what's the commander's intent? Where's the X on the map? No plans for his first contact for that cardinal direction does.
00;41;48;24 - 00;42;10;00
Unknown
Yeah. How about a book that shifted your mindset that you think would be good for other for me? You know, I'm gonna say the Bible. I think even if you don't share my faith, there's a lot of wisdom there. But I would tell you, I'm a knowledge carnivore. I think the Body Keeps the Score is an amazing book when it talks about, hey, what's the byproduct of an impact lifestyle?
00;42;10;02 - 00;42;27;05
Unknown
I think the legacy about the All Blacks is a great one. The one I mentioned earlier, Primal Intelligence by Angus Fletcher out of Ohio State. It's an incredible read, and it will encourage you because it reminds you how brilliant you are. Sometimes the K through 12 environment makes you feel dumb, but no one's done. Just what's your genius, right?
00;42;27;06 - 00;42;52;13
Unknown
But Primal Intelligence is a great book. Love it, love it. Because he helped rewrite Howard Ruins Selection and the SMU and and the Soft World. Yeah. Absolutely amazing. And how about Morning Habit? First thing you do in the morning, man, I, you know, being thankful without kind of, you know, I just I just wake up every morning. I will be more than excited that I woke up.
00;42;52;15 - 00;43;10;15
Unknown
And what a gift. What a gift. Especially when you when you understand mortality like you and I do, to steward the day. And so you have an opportunity to do one. So being thankful, you know, there's kind of, you know, looking over my bride and going, why? Why did you use that? And then I know she's going to be at that 100 times a day.
00;43;10;23 - 00;43;30;00
Unknown
But for me, I just I just wake up fortunate man. I look at missed calls, missed texts from people I love, look at the opportunity to make the people I love and miss famous by showing you what I learned from them. So I think being grateful, yeah I agree. Actually, I you know, a lot of people say working out and working out is a staple of my life in my morning.
00;43;30;03 - 00;43;45;26
Unknown
Yeah. But also taking a moment of mindfulness in a moment of there's a ton of empiricism around why this is good for you. Yeah. There's no there's. I mean, it's you can be a scientific about it as you want to. I'm a gun. Shoot gun. Good guy. Like gun. Shoot gun. Good. It works. Don't need to fully understand it.
00;43;45;26 - 00;44;04;17
Unknown
Right. You're smart. You have this affliction of intelligence. But I think when you're around, there's an amazing organization called Adaptive Training Foundation. When you're around guys that are working out, they got, you know, missed a couple of legs. This is your arms? Yeah. Dave is a big student. You can be grateful and working out at the same time because you realize, like, man, I have I can do this, right.
00;44;04;18 - 00;44;24;00
Unknown
And so for me, I think both, you know, neck up, neck down fitness is a big deal. Couldn't say it better myself. Awesome. Well, Clint, I cannot thank you, man. You drove three hours to see your frogman buddy. We actually did someone on time, which for me is a bit of a miracle. Hey, you know, like, left and right.
00;44;24;04 - 00;44;47;28
Unknown
That's right. That's really talked about right. Shift fire. Exactly. Well, thanks, man. Are you excited to have you? Thank you man. Thank you brother. All right. Thanks for walking in with us today. Shout out to Siebert Valor and Siebert Financial for supporting our journey. We'll be back next week with another powerhouse conversation. More founders, more builders and leaders who are playing offense in life and in business.
00;44;47;29 - 00;45;02;24
Unknown
Make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel for exclusive content and extended cuts of your favorite episodes. Until next week. Stay tactical. Stay driven.
00;45;02;27 - 00;45;21;26
Unknown
Tactical wealth is a media production brought to you by Siebert valor, a military focused initiative from Siebert Financial. The Tactical Wealth Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Siebert Financial. This podcast does not constitute investment advice and offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities.
00;45;21;26 - 00;45;31;21
Unknown
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