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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;08 - 00;00;27;20
Unknown
I got to capture some of the most heroic moments of the GWOT. Truly, I believe that and like the best of America. My primary motivation in life is to make sure that every marine, soldier, sailors and airmen that I can comes home. Not a body bag or a flag draped coffin, but on their own two feet without the mental health scars that you and I and everyone we know has experienced to the greatest gun possible.
00;00;27;21 - 00;00;48;28
Unknown
Really think through what you want to do and how you want to go about doing it.
00;00;49;00 - 00;01;09;19
Unknown
Some people wait for opportunity. Others fight for it. Welcome to Tactical wealth. The show were disciplined service and real world experience become pathways to financial power. I'm your host, Kaj Larsen. On each episode, we bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone from boots on the ground to successful careers for military to wealth and how they've done it.
00;01;09;19 - 00;01;20;06
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;20;09 - 00;01;48;29
Unknown
Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Wealth. This week I am super amped because we have my friend and fellow founder, Greg Brooke here. Greg is the co-founder of Bastogne AI. He's also a strategic advisor in the venture space, and he is a master sergeant in the US Air Force Reserve. In addition to all of that, he is a graduate in neuroscience from Columbia University.
00;01;49;02 - 00;02;16;29
Unknown
His career sits at the intersection of military operations, neuroscience, and emerging tech. His background includes includes combat documentation, humanitarian missions, and I have personally been in war zones with this man as he studied for his neuroscience degree. Greg's career is an incredible testament to the power of being vanguard and leading edge in both your career and your thinking.
00;02;17;02 - 00;02;43;14
Unknown
And he is an expert in AI and defense and the intersection of human behavior and national security. Greg, welcome to Tactical Wealth. You probably had the best entrance ever, brother of any of our guests. I sound way more awesome than I thought I would. Thank you so much. It's truly an honor to be here. Any anytime I get to hang out with you is a sincere and honest pleasure.
00;02;43;15 - 00;03;04;29
Unknown
So, yeah, let's get this rolling. Well, what can I say? So, Greg. We did come here on the yacht, right? We did. And the lesson there, the technology leadership lesson that we got there, was that never let an Air Force guy on to handle the ropes on a yacht. You know, that was just a bad call. I specifically chose not to join the Navy.
00;03;05;00 - 00;03;21;10
Unknown
I was going to ask you why you joined the Air Force. And now it is abundantly clear after watching you handle the watch. Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. Like I mean. Hey, hey. To be fair, I mean, you told. You taught me, I did it. You were like, this one looks almost perfect. Oh. That's perfect. Yeah. For my first time ever mooring a yacht, we arrived safely.
00;03;21;11 - 00;03;43;10
Unknown
We did. We arrived safely. We were here. I did not destroy yacht B beyond your lack of native nautical ability. Why did you join the Air Force? So I grew up in Boston. First person of my family, born in the United States. I really so I got into college out of high school based on nothing more than just an ability to take tests.
00;03;43;10 - 00;04;05;17
Unknown
Well, my grades were garbage. Like, I was an angry kid. I had severe undiagnosed ADHD, as pretty much the entirety of the special operations component does, and a lot more of the military. So I was, you know, one day I was literally randomly walking past recruiting center, and I kind of look at myself in the mirror and I was like, well, I am not doing a goddamn thing with my life.
00;04;05;19 - 00;04;28;08
Unknown
If I say in Boston, like, maybe I'll get a job in like, construction or like open a bar or something straight out of good Will hunting. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Not Irish, but, you know, grew up among them and fantastic people. But I want to do something more. You know, it was 2006. It was the one rock was, you know, front and center of every news story.
00;04;28;08 - 00;04;49;18
Unknown
It was the front page, I mean, more times than it wasn't. Right. And I thought to myself, well, I, I want to try this out. I want to see what this is like. Right? In my family. There is a long history of military service. No one. My family had joined the US military prior to me doing so, and one of my cousins actually think about it right now.
00;04;49;18 - 00;05;05;22
Unknown
He talked to me about this recently, so I was very encouraging, but we'll see how it goes. But he just graduated from college, so. And how did you pick the Air Force? Honestly. So initially I was going to be a marine. I went, I saw a bunch of dudes working out when you scored too high on the asphalt.
00;05;05;26 - 00;05;30;02
Unknown
Yeah, no time to. Actually, you know, my dad's buried, right? So I could make that choice. I love Marines, some of the smartest people I've ever. And we've served with Marines overseas in combat and extraordinary culture. Fundamentally. Sprinkler. Yeah. To be perfectly honest, you know, I patriotism wasn't something I had when I first joined to be just 100%, forthright about that, you know, integrity.
00;05;30;03 - 00;06;02;09
Unknown
First, it's something I developed being in the military and really seeing not just what this country is at a wider scale. I left Boston twice before I joined the Air Force. Right. And most of that was like once to new Jersey, once to San Francisco to see some family. And when I, when I first joined or when I was like going through maps in that whole process, I remember taking the ASB, and I remember the Air Force guy who was kind of like one of the administrators, after you take it, you sit and you wait.
00;06;02;10 - 00;06;25;04
Unknown
He was like, you're definitely going to be getting call from the Air Force. You did way too well on this. You should think about joining the Air Force. And I was like, well, I really want to be a marine. I like doing pull ups. You know, I like mic map, right? Because that was first coming out. And then the Air Force called me and the recruiter took me out to lunch and they told me about like, aircraft and all of these other opportunities.
00;06;25;11 - 00;06;42;20
Unknown
And then I talked to the marine recruiter. And, you know, I joke about this like the marine recruiter was always in their office, the Air Force guy, you really had to catch between like ten and one. So you understood the lifestyle play, right? Right, right. I looked at it, I thought about it. A few people were like, well, I mean, if you want to get shot at, you should join the Marine Corps.
00;06;42;20 - 00;06;54;06
Unknown
And part of me was like, actually, you know, I don't think I would mind that. But then they were like, if you want to, like, really learn some skills in a trade and have a lot more opportunity to do things like go to school, you should probably think about the Air Force. So I talked to the Air Force recruiter.
00;06;54;06 - 00;07;10;04
Unknown
They were like, yeah, no, you can definitely go to school. Like I'll have time. What do you want to do? And initially I like chose all the jobs. And then they were like, well, you're probably smart enough to go to college and become a pilot. You should learn Jets first. So why don't you choose like avionics or crew chief or all of that stuff?
00;07;10;04 - 00;07;28;12
Unknown
So I did, not realizing at the time that someone really needed to fill a quota and I went off to basic training, realize about two years in that being on the flight line was not really for me. Put in a cross training packet. And we'll go into that here in a second, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. So what did you do next?
00;07;28;13 - 00;07;44;06
Unknown
What was the next stage of your Air Force career? So it was really cool. I actually got to work on F-22 with came with a lot of access to a lot of like really high end systems, things that the rest of the world had literally never seen, most of which are actually still classified. And, it was a really good learning experience.
00;07;44;06 - 00;08;06;06
Unknown
It really like taught my feral raccoon ass how to be, you know, like attend, like very specific attention to detail because those are no fail. Like everything you do on any aircraft is no fail, right? Like you cannot. Sorry. I don't know where I do. Yeah. You know, a couple a couple of sailors, you know, like. Yeah, we're good to go.
00;08;06;07 - 00;08;26;05
Unknown
Yeah. We want to keep it real here. You know, we want people to actually believe we're in the military. You know, swear away, you know? Perfect. I always wanted to wear your now, but. No. So I worked on it for me to for a couple of years. And the flight line is really not a conducive environment to doing things like going to school.
00;08;26;05 - 00;08;49;27
Unknown
And you're working 12. Like, you really do have to, like you're taking a pilot's life in your hands every time you're opening a panel. And I have nothing but respect for every 18 and 19 year old kid who was put through the pipeline to do that. And that's one of the most amazing things about the military writ large, by the way, is we take literal teenagers and give them responsibility for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment or nuclear reactors.
00;08;49;28 - 00;09;10;12
Unknown
Right. And they succeed. Right. And that and that skill, the level of responsibility at such a young age and being in a zero fail environment, I think, is one of the fundamental building blocks that translates into success in the private sector. If you take that same discipline in that same training and that same motivation and use it as a catalyst.
00;09;10;13 - 00;09;33;05
Unknown
Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. I think that's that's one of the most profound and important lessons, not just a military service, but of being in the military period. Right. Like this is a thing you are responsible for. You cannot do it. Yeah. No excuses mindset. Exactly. So great. So then you you're working on the F-22, which for people who don't know is one of the most advanced fighter aircraft we have.
00;09;33;06 - 00;09;55;16
Unknown
It does extraordinary things like a Cobra maneuver, things that only a MiG 29 used to be able to air. Right, right. In a jet aircraft. Right. And it goes supersonic. And all this, all this crazy stuff, right? The. Okay, so you're working on the F-22. You started to understand sort of advanced warfare systems there. That was kind of your first real like hands on touch with really advanced warfare systems.
00;09;55;18 - 00;10;16;23
Unknown
Absolutely. I always been really interested in physics and computer science and all that. So I got to learn a lot of how the pros really do it at that stage. And then the feral raccoon took over, and I randomly met a guy who was flying in F-16 Chase on F-22, and he showed up to a skiff that I was working at, knocked on the door with a case of beer.
00;10;16;29 - 00;10;32;15
Unknown
And for people who don't know, the skiff is the secret compartmentalized information facility. It's basically our little secret room where we do all our little secret stuff. So some dude shows up in the secret room with a case of beer and a camera, which anybody who knows what a skiff is knows you don't take recording equipment of any sort into the skiff.
00;10;32;15 - 00;10;51;22
Unknown
And I'm like, hey, man, what? Because now there's like, in my mind there's a security violation. I have to call a bunch of people, like, I'm going to have a really bad weekend, like, you know? And turns out he was like, no, here's my letter. We're all good. And I was like, you can bring cameras. And I've never, like, I've never seen this before.
00;10;51;24 - 00;11;12;22
Unknown
His name is JP long. He's a good friend and mentor. And I was like, what? What are you what is your job? You're an enlisted guy in a flight suit bringing cameras and, like, racks of natty into the skiff, like, what is this career field? And I was, like, getting ready to put my crash package in. And, you know, I put in all the, like, PJ and all that.
00;11;12;22 - 00;11;35;19
Unknown
And he was like, I'm a combat cameraman. And I was like, so what is that? Because I literally never heard of it. And I was like, are you like public affairs? And he was like, nope, we are not. What we actually do is deploy with frontline units, fly on jets, deploy with special operations, both Air Force and others, and document not just the mission for public release, but primarily for for transfer.
00;11;35;25 - 00;11;51;23
Unknown
Well, for training purposes, for situational awareness. Like my stuff is used to brief the the president of the United States. And I was like, that sounds really cool. How do I get into that? And he was like, well, we select. So do you want to put in a package? When's your window? And I was like, I'm literally filling out my paperwork right now.
00;11;51;23 - 00;12;17;26
Unknown
He was like, okay, here's the job he choose. Here's the reference I submitted. And I got picked up for it for Combat Camera. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. I think people who who sort of don't know the intricacies of the career pipelines in the military, there's like combat camera is sort of like the force gump of the military, like you just find yourself in every random situation, you know, you might be like skydiving in with like a rescue battalion on a seesaw mission.
00;12;17;26 - 00;12;45;23
Unknown
Or, you know, you might be like cross training. You might be like flying a silo 100ft underground, next to sleeping next to a weapon of mass destruction. Yeah, I've literally done both. Yeah. The silos are way less fun than the skydiving with seals and PJs and odors. The. It's an amazing job. Just because we get to do everything we really do get to touch every part of the entirety of the Department of Wars enterprise.
00;12;45;24 - 00;13;15;04
Unknown
Right? So everything from subs to surface warfare for the Navy to seal teams to Rangers to PJs, there is on a lot of missions, a combat cameraman, and most of the time you will never see our work. In fact, there's been two deployments total where I've had publicly released information. Yeah, but other than that, and I mean, it's hard to because, you know, I got to capture some of the most heroic moments of the guai.
00;13;15;07 - 00;13;35;07
Unknown
Truly, I believe that. And like the best of America. Right. And at some point someone is going to have to classify that so far. Like, I mean, that's well above anyone's pay grade. I mean, if anybody wants to put in a good word to the war, by all means, I don't know who would do that. Who knows? But, no, it's really amazing.
00;13;35;07 - 00;13;59;14
Unknown
No. And I do think it's given you an interesting purview when I think about your military career. You know, we often interview a lot of people who have exited the military and built companies. But this is all still real time for you to some degree, because you are still actively serving. You're in the sunset of your career, but because you're in the reserve, you're able to have this like really varied, kind of like interesting, circuitous military career.
00;13;59;14 - 00;14;19;21
Unknown
And then towards the end in the last couple of years, simultaneously begin your transition. So your military transition is really now and it's been ongoing for a couple of years. How what was the choice to to go to school and get your degree and why? Neurology. So neuroscience. Sorry. It's actually a really interesting it's a really easy question to answer.
00;14;19;21 - 00;14;45;18
Unknown
And it's the year 2018. That was a really bad year in the military specifically for veteran mental or just military member mental health. You can read about it now, but and it was kind of validating. But in 2018, the suicide rate for special operations personnel specifically jumped about 300%. I'm sure I know for a fact. Yeah, we both do.
00;14;45;19 - 00;15;09;22
Unknown
And, you know, at one point, I remember coming out of the talk while I was deployed to Afghanistan and watching some of my friends who went down in a Hilo, which is a fairly famous crash. It was, I don't know if I can say the number or like the call sign. Yeah. No, I'm literally not sure if it's class, but it isn't.
00;15;09;24 - 00;15;42;02
Unknown
Isn't that the OP that my friend Eddie, his brother, was was killed on? No, no. Our friend Eddie. No, no, it wasn't. No, it was not that. No. It was the one with the 1/60 guys out of New York. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Kristen is Chris Russo. Three PJs, William Posh, Carolina, Mark Webber. And I had to pull it with all of them, by the way, and I walked out of the talk after watching this happen and like, watching the rescue ops and all of that and some of the pieces I was with were actually on the hook to respond to it.
00;15;42;02 - 00;15;59;26
Unknown
And it was just really a rough moment. And then as soon as I walk off out of the talk and like, go to the smoke deck, smoke a cigarette and like, get WhatsApp on my phone, I found out a Green Beret buddy of mine had killed himself that same day. And that's when I decided, like, you know, 22 to none.
00;15;59;26 - 00;16;15;10
Unknown
All the push ups were doing all the disparate programs. Everyone's talking about mental health. No one's really trying to actually like or no one's been successful in solving it. I'm sure a lot of people were and still are trying, and they made leaps and bounds, to be perfectly honest with you. But I think there's a lot more work to be done, to be done.
00;16;15;11 - 00;16;36;12
Unknown
And I think 2018, like, maybe you know better than I do, I don't think we have like real explanatory power for when the spike there came like for me, what it was is that for guys like us who are veterans of the global war on terror, it was two decades of the longest wars in American history. Kind of like the curtain closing on those.
00;16;36;14 - 00;16;56;10
Unknown
So you had all of these guys getting out, right, who had been downrange, who had done multiple combat deployments, and all of a sudden they were transitioning to the civilian world. And they're like all of the problems like, you know, the Pandora's box kind of opened, right? They had been stuffed in this little box for so many years while we were like on a high op tempo deploying.
00;16;56;15 - 00;17;17;24
Unknown
Then we came home and like, all the demons came out. Not just that, I think that's definitely part of it. I think for me, or at least one of my suspicions about this, and I think history will prove this, at least in some context. Correct is the idea that, like the people who struggled initially, kind of set an example for other dudes, kind of as like a this is what you have to look forward to.
00;17;17;24 - 00;17;35;25
Unknown
Like Japanese suicide. Yeah, exactly. Like it becomes like almost like a seed. Yeah. Like a social contagion. Almost. Right. Like, oh, well, this dude, like, you know, he was a team sergeant and he was an amazing person and did incredible things in the military. And he's struggling. So man, I'm probably. Yeah, you recognize it earlier than I did.
00;17;35;26 - 00;17;57;16
Unknown
It took for me until Mike day killed himself. The iron fog of Fallujah, who had been shot like 31 times and walked to the helicopter, refused to be Kazakh. And I was like, if that dude kills himself, he's the toughest person on the planet. Like, there's something wrong with that was much later. So here you are, 2018. And that's what was the catalyst for your decision to go to Columbia?
00;17;57;17 - 00;18;23;06
Unknown
Yeah, well, Columbia specifically was because of my at the time, girlfriend and my wife. But when I decided to dedicate myself to working on this issue, was that specific day, it was actually on March 13th. And yeah, like, I literally like, went later into my two and started looking at colleges to apply to and like, what the what the timelines were, what the application requirements were.
00;18;23;06 - 00;18;47;11
Unknown
I missed most of them, by the way, for that year. But I decided to like, you know, put a packet, basically put a package together. So so you like, defaulted to this small little state school. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you end up at Columbia, which is amazing and extraordinary. I think what's so interesting is that you did not have a straight line to graduating college.
00;18;47;11 - 00;19;06;09
Unknown
You had the most undergraduate experience of anybody. I can imagine. There were times that I would check in with you and like, I thought you were in, like your third semester of your second year or something, and you'd be like, no, I'm in Syria, you know, and then you'd be like, no, I'm not there. I'm somewhere else. Right?
00;19;06;10 - 00;19;29;22
Unknown
Like, so you were like active duty or reserves, but like, often mobilized, and you're in and out of combat zones. So how much of a challenge was that in terms of finishing your degree? So actually, I mean, there were definitely challenges that came along with that. Right? So it's really hard to go back to like go out of a firefight and into like studying for organic chemistry, which is literally what I was doing in Ukraine.
00;19;29;24 - 00;19;47;25
Unknown
But there were other instances. One of the things I was most impressed about is Columbia specifically has a really, like, tight knit veteran community. It's actually got the most veterans out of any of the Ivy League schools, and that was like one of the major selling points to me. Besides the fact that my at the time, girlfriend and my wife lived in New York.
00;19;47;27 - 00;20;16;24
Unknown
But beyond that, a lot of the professors at Columbia, circumstances notwithstanding, were actually really supportive of members of the military, which surprised a lot of people when I say that. But I mean, also, you know, I was not a humanities major, so maybe there's some difference there. But Columbia does a really good job of taking care of its vets to be perfectly like all the political the of the past couple of years aside, I am very thankful I went to Columbia.
00;20;17;00 - 00;20;46;25
Unknown
So you're deployed to the Middle East after October 7th? Yes. And and then you came back to graduation at Columbia? Yes. And the campus was exploding over the very conflict that you had just been an advisor in. Yep. Yeah, it was great. It was a really almost schizophrenic experience. And also, you're like a Jewish. Yes. Air Force guy who works in the special operations community alongside the special operations community.
00;20;46;26 - 00;21;19;06
Unknown
Like, there's just like a bunch of, like, paradoxes here. Yep. Oh, yeah. I mean, coming back to. I'll answer all of those questions because there's a lot there coming back to Columbia after that deployment in particular, was simultaneously one of the most infuriating and also kind of like hilarious things. You know, I was. I'd walk through campus and be told like, like I literally see people like holding signs saying, like, you know, Zionist or baby killers and all that.
00;21;19;08 - 00;21;35;27
Unknown
I mean, I Amazon it. I'm, you know, and then I'm thinking back to, you know, the missions where I risked my own life dropping aid to the people of God like air dropping aid to the people of Gaza. My team are the first ones to document that, all of that. And those dudes were amazing, by the way.
00;21;36;00 - 00;22;06;24
Unknown
Wild, wild. So you eventually graduate. You're still serving in the reserves. You're kind of like jumping back and forth across the line. At what point do you really decide to to plunge into building your own company? So that so there's two answers to that question. The first was when I started working for them. Right. And I got to really see what it's like to run an actually effective NGO, because you know as well as I do, there are so many that just aren't, to be honest.
00;22;06;25 - 00;22;26;11
Unknown
Yeah. Well intentioned, ineffective. Yeah. And that's kind of when I got like a little bit of the entrepreneur bug, I guess, like about his arm. Yeah. And so for people who don't know, you were working for this NGO, Global Services Medical, Global Surgical medical Support Group. The acronym is terrible. The organization is amazing. Screwed up every time.
00;22;26;12 - 00;22;44;05
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, Erin Epstein founded it. Right. But we were all together in Ukraine and we were doing things like teaching Trump combat casualty care to civilians in Ukraine. So advising, insisting on the drone program, doing a bunch of other stuff, too. Yeah. And, you know, that was kind of when I one fell in love with defense tech as a concept.
00;22;44;06 - 00;23;07;02
Unknown
Right? I didn't really know much about the industry outside of, like, you know, an enlisted airman's view when, you know, Lockheed Martin is I know who TX is, Boeing, all those things. But like, that's when really like you started seeing like Palantir and Andrew Roll and all these companies and like I invested in Palantir back in what, 2020 when the IPO because I saw like because we used it.
00;23;07;04 - 00;23;28;11
Unknown
Well, yeah. It's not just that we used it, but when it broke, they were able to fix it right then and there. Yeah. And that was just amazing to me. But yeah, so I kind of like started thinking about it. And before I became an entrepreneur myself, I started actually advising other entrepreneurs and VCs looking at due diligence of any sort on a bunch of defense companies.
00;23;28;12 - 00;23;46;29
Unknown
Yeah, because you were kind of perfect stage as defense tech was rising as a sector. You had just finished Columbia. You had been deployed downrange like you had seen the drones up close and personal. We had seen the drones up close and personal. And so we were sort of leading edge with a lot of the defense tech stuff as defense tech was becoming like the cool hot space.
00;23;46;29 - 00;24;03;14
Unknown
Right? I think it's always kind of been it's always been really cool to me. I don't think, like a lot of people paid attention. There was not a lot of capital in the system prior to really 22. I grew up in the Valley like defense tech was like it was a child. Yeah, exactly. It was all yeah.
00;24;03;15 - 00;24;24;28
Unknown
I mean, Andrew's business model was literally like, Palmer lucky is just going to fund this until it works. Yeah, right. And God bless them. But or Peter Thiel Palantir. Right. And then a lot of these companies started popping up. And really for me, it was as I was like doing this consulting, this consulting work for VCs, for companies looking to get into government contracting.
00;24;25;01 - 00;24;53;18
Unknown
There is a lot of out there. And it really bothered me because I felt like people were jumping on a back on a bandwagon to make a quick buck at the expense of my brothers and sisters. To some extent, that is still the case. There. You. I'm. If you spend more than a month in defense tech at any of the conference, you will see a company that's like purporting to defy the laws of physics or do some wild things, or building a product that the warfighters just don't need whatsoever.
00;24;53;19 - 00;25;29;01
Unknown
Yeah, exactly. And when I'm at my co-founder and we decide to start a company together, the first conversation we had about starting this company after we were going to start a company together was the first thing we're going to do is go and ask the user, like the customers, right? The operators, the and not just operators in the special operations sense, but operators in like the, you know, like the midshipmen or ensigns, like actually piloting boats, the captains, the surface warfare officers, the subsurface warfare officers, the pilots, the guys jumping out of planes as well as the guys fixing them, what they would do with more compute.
00;25;29;03 - 00;25;46;16
Unknown
Yeah. And I'll get into the AI stuff. Yeah. And tell me. So tell me about bastion with with the disclosure that I am an advisor to the company. So at the risk of talking my own book, like, you know, first tell me about this extraordinary company that you started, I appreciate that. I know we really we really are.
00;25;46;17 - 00;26;11;06
Unknown
We have, just like you, an incredible set of advisors. We have a lot of buy in from the Department of War Enterprise at the Pentagon level, and also at the user level, which is really important to me because you know as well as I do, there are so much technology that like just sits in a box and just collect dots and describe the the macro problem for people that we basically saw the early stages of when we were in Ukraine in the early stages of the drone revolution.
00;26;11;08 - 00;26;40;19
Unknown
Right. Of course. Well, so there's two really, right. The first is that AI and autonomous systems like unmanned autonomous systems of any sort, ground air, whatever, surface, subsurface, everything really change the game in a few truly profound ways. Right? So they provide an asymmetric capability that you can jump the gap between like a javelin and a tank. Right.
00;26;40;21 - 00;27;08;13
Unknown
And we saw that at the very beginning. And I mean, the Ukrainians really did pioneer a lot of these use cases. And then the second thing is as to the reason the Ukrainians are still speaking Ukrainian. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. And mobile. Yeah. Here, Ukrainian was always better than. But you had the background. Yeah. But then the second, the second thing was with the advent of AI, a lot of people started using it more and more, especially because warfare is fundamentally an adaptation problem.
00;27;08;14 - 00;27;26;06
Unknown
Right. So like you out adapt your adversary and that lets you win, right? You adapt to their tactics. They adapt to yours. Whoever taps faster. Congratulations. And that's been true since the first caveman swung the first stick at the other caveman for his cave. Yeah. And then the next guy threw a rock and he was like, oh, that was a good idea.
00;27;26;07 - 00;27;56;27
Unknown
When we find a bigger rock, you know, let me find a way to throw this rock. And that's been warfare ever since. Yeah, exactly. And and then defense, all of that stuff. And as I was starting to use, like, overcome the adversaries decision loop, it became very apparent that the data center infrastructure built to host all of this AI and all of this, like outsourced, very react, very quickly reactive thinking and strategic decision making was incredibly vulnerable to attack.
00;27;57;03 - 00;28;21;05
Unknown
So one of the things to do is we go out with special teams to do special things like investigate data like critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and document those. And no one was really addressing that problem. And, you know, I had conversations about it. And then and the problem is that proximity matters, right? Right. So you have all of this demand for compute power at the edge, right?
00;28;21;07 - 00;28;41;25
Unknown
In the literal areas of conflict. Right. There's plenty of compute power, you know, sitting in a, you know, warehouse facility, you know, somewhere in the Iowa. Right. But the problem is that you need compute power for deploy, right? For a lot of different reasons, not least of which is latency, but also the communication system on top of just the data center infrastructure itself being vulnerable.
00;28;41;26 - 00;29;08;27
Unknown
Comms were also really, really vulnerable to degradation or denial. Right. And we're not talking about like permanently wiping out all of the satellites of the United States uses to communicate or Starlink today. Right. But the ability to degrade that for a period of time to give your, your adversary space to maneuver, that's a really dangerous set of circumstances, especially when we're talking about basically everyone that's a near peer is fighting in their backyard.
00;29;08;29 - 00;29;30;08
Unknown
And we're we're the ones fighting thousands of miles from home. And that's kind of what we started thinking through how to solve. And that's where not just Bastogne came to, like, came into being, but also the idea of how do we really solve these problems. And that's what we started talking to, like users about. Like, not just what would you do with more compute, but like, what are your problems?
00;29;30;08 - 00;29;53;25
Unknown
What are your concerns? What are things that are a gap that aren't being met yet? And so where is the company today, present day. So currently we're fundraising. We're looking to build a prototype. We just hired a CTO. He's absolutely amazing. What started out as a conversation seven months ago, actually about two weeks before I told you about it, between me and my dear friend and co-founder Peter Francis.
00;29;53;25 - 00;30;17;09
Unknown
And he has a lot of experience on the data center side, has now grown into not just like a movement and like an idea that is garnering attention, but we kind of, like brought this to the door as like, hey, this is something that like, we don't think anyone is addressing really and really needs to be addressed.
00;30;17;09 - 00;30;50;11
Unknown
And the first briefing I had is betting on everybody was like, yeah, no, this is existential, like a risk for us. And I think what people don't appreciate is that the game has changed in the past. The only route into this kind of like innovation was through, like a Raytheon or a Lockheed Martin. And now there's because of the new mandate, like all of this opportunity for people who have actually been there, done that boots on the ground to create these companies and to solve problems at the speed of Silicon Valley, at the speed of innovation.
00;30;50;11 - 00;31;22;28
Unknown
And I think that's what's so incredible about Bastogne. What do you think? What do you think is are the most important lessons that you learned from your career in service that are now allowing you to be in the entrepreneurship sphere? The most important lesson, not just in to being to being an entrepreneur, but to life in general, in my opinion at least, is when someone who's done it before tells you you're fucking up in some way, you should really take a second and think through and like, listen to what they have to say.
00;31;22;29 - 00;31;42;01
Unknown
But isn't this the paradox of entrepreneurship that in one, in some way, you have to understand the conventional thinking and know when to dismiss it? Absolutely. But at the same time, listen to the voice of experience. Yeah, but you have to also be able to imagine the world in a way that it isn't current day. Yes. No, you're absolutely correct.
00;31;42;01 - 00;31;59;05
Unknown
And the corollary to listening to when people are telling, like, you don't have to agree with them and you don't have to act on them, but you should always take the feedback or listen to the feedback of someone who's been around the block. Right. And we see this on the teams all the time. You see this in any career field in the military, right?
00;31;59;06 - 00;32;19;10
Unknown
Like rocking really, really sucks if you don't know what you're doing. And it sucks in ways that are very unexpected and you don't really think would suck until you're going at like mile 12 with 55 pounds dry on your back. Right. Or like, what kind of boots and what kind of socks to wear. Right? You know what kind of socks you like.
00;32;19;13 - 00;32;35;19
Unknown
Someone who's done this before might have some different thoughts, and it may work. It may not. And that builds that confidence to, in your own mind to know when to listen to someone and when to, you know, take their feedback with a grain of salt as well. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. And where do you see, where do you see yourself?
00;32;35;19 - 00;32;56;08
Unknown
What's the trajectory in the next couple of years? Being a prime honestly, I want to I honestly, I want to create the anti-crime and that's kind of a joke. But like, I and I'm not trying to make a Transformers joke or something. Yeah, the joke is, you know, like the primes provide, like, you know, maximum cost and minimum effective product.
00;32;56;09 - 00;33;23;08
Unknown
Right? And I think it's a little bit unfair because they are working under very different circumstances and doing massive programs and having actually talked to primes now and integrating with some of them, we're seeing that like a lot of my expectations have been like thrown out the window. Right. Like these are amazing people doing truly amazing things and are very difficult circumstances with the customer that, like, changes their mind all the time, not because they want to or because they're finicky, but out of necessity, because warfare is a constantly changing thing.
00;33;23;10 - 00;33;45;04
Unknown
And the argument is that now we're at this dynamic, transformational moment. So we have to move at a different speed of velocity of innovation. Absolutely. But for us, what we want to do is literally provide our customers the commercial spaces as well, with the maximum effect of product at the minimum mission impact. And honestly, and this might put off some of you sees at the minimum cost of the customer.
00;33;45;05 - 00;34;03;19
Unknown
Like my primary motivation in life is to make sure that every marine soldier, sailor and airman that I can comes home. Not a body bag or a flag draped coffin, but on their own two feet without the mental health scars that you and I and everyone we know has experienced to the greatest extent possible. You'll always need boots on the ground.
00;34;03;21 - 00;34;25;03
Unknown
I would rather lose boots. Be small numbers of professionals that know what they're signing up for and know what they're doing. And don't look at this like a lot of people do, as like, the best of a bad set of options. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a North Star I can get behind. Oh, yeah. Greg, we like to we like to end the episode with a segment that I call rapid fire.
00;34;25;04 - 00;34;48;00
Unknown
It's like shooting steel. Instant feedback. Ping ping ping ping pupu. All right. Best investment you ever made. Best. Palantir. I thought you might say that. You foreshadowed that one. Such a good storyteller. Your combat camera days coming back. Look, biggest mistake you made. My first wife. That's the first. I mean, it's definitely not a first. You're just the first to upset.
00;34;48;01 - 00;35;13;13
Unknown
Yeah. To be honest with you. All right. Military habit. You still use daily military. Making my bed every morning. Yeah. Admiral McRaven would would be proud. Is there a book that shaped your thinking? I know you're a pro reader. I know you're a vociferous reader generally, or in the context of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, what's best generally. Thus spake zar thruster by Nietzsche.
00;35;13;16 - 00;35;32;13
Unknown
And not because, like, I think, you know, like the Übermensch or any of that, but like because it's a really interesting way of getting into someone. And I think there's a lot of good things in there. And also I got literally have to give a shout out to Starship Troopers, the book for who you take to the gym with you, to Starship Troopers, who you take to war with you.
00;35;32;14 - 00;35;55;18
Unknown
Nice. How about a skill from your neuroscience training that you use in real life? Understanding how outward circumstances and environment can influence not just how a person thinks, but how they perceive the reality around them. That is, that is that is one of the most profound skills I learned not just at Columbia, but like for life in general.
00;35;55;20 - 00;36;21;23
Unknown
Because literally, like, you know, the things you're drinking, the food you're eating, the light you're exposed to can literally influence the chemicals in your brain and predict, like, to the degree that we can predict the outcomes of that in behavior. Yeah, optimize your environment. And the first thing you do in the morning, first thing I do in the morning I wake up, I well I mean outside of like the the bodily functions, push ups, 50 pushups every morning first thing out of bed.
00;36;21;25 - 00;36;44;17
Unknown
Oh yeah, I like it, I like it. And if there's one piece of advice you would give to a service member who is transitioning out of the military and thinking about a career in the private sector, starting a company, what would it be for a career in the private sector? Really think through what you want to do and how you want to go about doing it, and that that applies to everything, right?
00;36;44;19 - 00;36;59;24
Unknown
Like a lot of guys get out and try to go into business just because that's like a thing other people have done, and talk to your friends who have done those things. If you want to be a carpenter or talk to other carpenters, if you want to, you know, build an AI company or a compute enterprise for hardware, hit me up.
00;36;59;24 - 00;37;23;27
Unknown
I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram or whatever. I will have, like any veteran, you or my brother and sister, I will take any amount of time to speak to you. I will figure it out. Don't worry about my schedule like you are worth it and you deserve it. But for entrepreneurs specifically, believe in yourself and know that what you're like and be absolutely certain this is what you want to do before you start it.
00;37;23;29 - 00;37;45;16
Unknown
And how can I couldn't agree more. That is generous of you. You're always generous of spirit. How can people follow what you're doing? How can they learn about Bastogne? So we just came out of stealth. We have like the technology designed now, and I really can't say enough good things about my CTO. By the way, his name's he's one of the youngest people to ever work at DARPA.
00;37;45;19 - 00;38;04;19
Unknown
Amazing guy. But I got to work with him a lot, and we figured out the tech stack. We were out of stealth. You can follow us on LinkedIn. Twitter. Bastogne actual is my handle. Instagram. Avant garde operator post a lot of stuff about this. There's going to be a few articles coming out. I've spoken at Deep Tech Week in New York.
00;38;04;20 - 00;38;40;07
Unknown
I'll probably be speaking at another one. LinkedIn will have updates as well. Awesome action. Need to get better at LinkedIn. Yeah, we all need to get better at like did God knows. Amazing. Well, awesome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for manhandling the lines with me. And thank you for joining. Nobody, nobody wishes you more success in this endeavor than me, partially because I think you've defined a mission and purpose that is beyond profit building that's beyond building a traditional government contracting company.
00;38;40;10 - 00;39;07;28
Unknown
I think you understand at a very visceral level why it matters that we are maintain a leading combat edge at this transformational moment. So thank you very much. Honored to have you here, Greg. Your career has been fascinating as you, Forrest Gump, your way through the Air Force, graduated from Columbia, starting an extraordinary tech company. And I'm just so proud that you're going to shape the next generation of war fighting.
00;39;07;29 - 00;39;29;24
Unknown
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thanks for locking 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. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content and extended cuts of your favorite episodes.
00;39;29;24 - 00;39;39;00
Unknown
Until next week. Stay tactical. Stay driven.
00;39;39;03 - 00;39;58;02
Unknown
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 and offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities.
00;39;58;02 - 00;40;07;27
Unknown
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. Disclosures.