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Travis Bader: Join today by a decorated
Canadian Armed Forces sniper, a

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man who overcame life altering
injuries with incredible resiliency.

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And he was a passionate advocate
for veterans from competing in the

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amazing race Canada to serving as a
city councilor, inspiring countless

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people through his bestselling books,
unflinching and everyday heroes

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and founding green army coffee.

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He has dedicated his life
to making a difference.

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Welcome to the Silvercore podcast.

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Jody Middick.

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Travis,

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Jody Mitic: what a
terrific introduction, sir.

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I'm just having a little, a little
tea out of my green army coffee mug.

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Thank you for that.

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Uh, First I want to say thanks
for having me on the show.

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It's an honor.

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I've, uh, I've seen some
of your stuff online.

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I love your, like, you have a
terrific podcast voice and, uh,

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your, your chosen subjects tend
to be things I'm interested in.

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And, um, you know, we were talking
on the phone a little bit earlier,

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just, uh, just to, so I could warm
up with you and, you know, my life,

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despite everything you said, that's.

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You know, that's barely the tip of the
iceberg when, you know, like, those

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are the things I'm known for it, but
there's a lot of things, you know,

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professionally that I was doing in my job
that haven't been fully, uh, unpacked.

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Yeah.

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And then, uh, you know, as you said,
I became a city counselor and you

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want to know, I did that because.

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In Ontario, there's no, uh, party
affiliation technically at that level,

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even though we all know who we vote for.

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And so I thought that might give
me some room from, cause I wasn't

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necessarily sure which side of, you
know, I grew up in an NDP house,

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um, you know, think conservative,
but lean liberal in a lot of ways.

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Um, yeah.

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And you know, the politics thing has had
an incredible impact on my life overall.

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And, you know, it's, uh, it's one of those
things that Looking back on it, uh, I'm

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getting back into politics, no doubt.

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But, uh, you know, looking back on the
impact it had on my life on top of all

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the other things that, you know, I'm known
for, um, it certainly wasn't as neutral.

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As I thought it would be, you know,
even though I tried to stay out of

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everybody's way for the most part.

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Travis Bader: Yeah.

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Jody Mitic: It can't be a

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Travis Bader: politics to
stay out of people's way.

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Can you?

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Jody Mitic: Hell no.

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That's like trying to be the
neutral guy in a gunfight.

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Yeah.

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Hey, no, somebody's going to
shoot you just to, just to

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make sure you're not a threat.

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Well, you took a step
back from politics, right?

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I had to.

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Yeah.

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Massive.

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Yeah.

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So I had, I don't know if you, if you
heard of this thing called cocaine.

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Uh, I've heard of it.

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Yeah.

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So unfortunately, uh, you know,

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Part of the recovery, you know, I had
dabbled in it a little bit prior to being

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wounded, but, uh, you know, I had, I had
a therapist tell me once, you know, you

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have an anti addictive personality, you
know, this and that, but, you know, I do

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have thrill seeking tendencies, especially
as a younger individual, you know, I'm

00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:28.530
48 now, as of January 3rd, and, um, but
anyway, so yeah, the cocaine, uh, became

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a real issue, Uh, back in, you know, 2016,
2017, and, you know, as well with that

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comes a little bit of, uh, alcohol abuse.

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Um, so, I realized that I couldn't
do the job I was elected to do

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under, in the condition I was in.

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Um, and, you know, my personal
life was far from optimal.

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Um, you know, that still
need to be debated today.

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Uh, but that aside.

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You know, uh, the politics was
such an eye opener, you know,

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because the reason I, you know,
ultimately the reason I didn't do it.

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was because the new veterans
charter, which was introduced

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right before I got wounded.

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Um, and you know, even today,
you know, nevermind what we

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talked about on the phone,

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my, my resistance to this legislation
from day one as a wounded master

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corporal laying there in a hospital bed
being told, no, we're not going to give

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you some such and such dollar amount.

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Per month, because we're going to give
you this lump sum amount at the time,

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250 grand, if you do the math to today,
I'm down a million bucks on that deal.

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So, so let's back up,

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Travis Bader: let's back

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Jody Mitic: up a little

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Travis Bader: bit.

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So, so, um, just so people get a bit
of a flavor for who you are, where you

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came from, those who don't know, or
haven't read the book and as well, those

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injuries that we kind of glossed over are
absolutely life altering and you have.

00:05:02.224 --> 00:05:06.014
Man, the things you've done since
those injuries, a lot of people

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haven't done with both of their legs,
but let's, let's back up and, uh,

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get a little bit of insight into you.

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So, uh, uh, what, what
was life like growing up?

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What, uh, got you in, in, uh,
interested in joining the army?

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I've got my theories from reading
the book, but, uh, I want to

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hear it straight from the story.

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Jody Mitic: Yeah.

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Um.

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I mean, one of my uncles was
in the Royal Canadian Regiment,

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my mom's younger brother.

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Um, my grandfathers were both veterans.

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My, my mom's dad and mom
both died when she was 10.

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And then my dad's dad was a,
I think he was a Chetnik with

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the Yugoslavia, he's Serbian.

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The story is at some point he
got captured by the Germans,

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repatriated by the British.

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Became a British, uh, translator,
like worked with the British

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or however that worked out.

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This is the thing, like the, the less
detail there is, the more you want to ask.

00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:08.419
Was grandpa, you know, uh, you know,
SSF or something, he's just hiding

00:06:08.419 --> 00:06:11.039
it, which is totally believable.

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So regardless, lots of.

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Military lore.

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We had like old machine gun belts
from like the original machine guns

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made a cloth in the house as a kid.

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Oh yeah.

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It was really dope.

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So we'd, we'd like strap
them to hockey sticks.

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It'd be like, you know, in the basic.

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And I can totally see that.

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Oh yeah, me and my cousins and my, my,
you know, my siblings that joined in.

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Yeah, lots of, lots of blood
spilled in grandma's basement.

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Uh, but anyway, so
grandpa was a war veteran.

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Um, and then, you know, they moved
to Canada from Germany, you know, uh,

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however that worked out a Serb Slav
marrying a German blue eyed German girl,

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uh, from the coast, which is grandma.

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Grandma's German.

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Anyway, so she passed, actually she
passed on the tour where I got wounded.

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Uh, but regardless, so in my family
though, there's just always talk

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about war, war, war, I guess, you
know, it's always in the background.

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And then, uh, at grandma's house, the
black and white reels from World War II

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and World War I would always play when
we were there on whatever channel, A& E

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back then when I was a little guy, maybe.

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Um, and I just always had this
desire to serve and be in the

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military and be, you know, Back
then you read the comic book Sgt.

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Rock, and then there's movies like
The Longest Day, The, uh, Bridge Too

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Far, uh, just You're inundated with it
as a young guy, especially back then,

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you know, we had the beta max machine.

00:07:49.134 --> 00:07:51.784
So we were always writing
movies and of course, you know,

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Arnold Schwarzenegger commando.

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Yeah, that's the guy I wanted because,
you know, all these one man shows, right.

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Uh, you know, uh, rigs and lethal weapon.

00:08:01.614 --> 00:08:07.264
Oh, remind me later to talk about
my theory on the fact that rigs and,

00:08:07.354 --> 00:08:12.664
uh, Murtagh are actually bad guys in
the overall scheme of Los Angeles.

00:08:12.714 --> 00:08:12.964
Yeah.

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But anyway, back to me, um,

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uh, you know, even as a little guy I'd
play game, we played soldier, right?

00:08:22.684 --> 00:08:25.074
We'd go with the pellet
guns and do target shooting.

00:08:25.904 --> 00:08:27.634
Um, yeah.

00:08:28.354 --> 00:08:33.354
So eventually, uh, I grew up and at
17, I joined the Lawrence Scots, which

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is a reserve infantry unit in Brampton
where we had moved from Winnipeg.

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Uh, when I was, we moved
there, we moved from Winnipeg.

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To Brampton when I was nine,
but I was born in Kitchener.

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Uh, so joined the Lawrence Scots, uh,
in managed to get into the infantry in

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the 90 and 94, right in the middle of
what was called force reduction plan.

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And it was the post cold war,
just reduction of forces, right.

00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.319
As quickly as they could chop it.

00:09:02.669 --> 00:09:03.779
Just like post World War ii.

00:09:04.049 --> 00:09:04.079
Mm.

00:09:04.709 --> 00:09:07.829
You know, as quickly as they could cut
it off and get rid of it, the better.

00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:10.619
You know, I wasn't really aware
of the politics at the time.

00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:17.319
Um, I just wanted to serve my country
because, you know, uh, even movies

00:09:17.319 --> 00:09:21.919
like, uh, I know I keep talking
about movies, but you know, is 2025.

00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:23.149
Dig, look at this rod.

00:09:23.359 --> 00:09:23.479
Yeah.

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This is magic.

00:09:24.289 --> 00:09:25.124
Totally is great.

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So.

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What is the one where they invade?

00:09:28.474 --> 00:09:29.294
Oh, Red Dawn.

00:09:29.424 --> 00:09:30.294
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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And then you're sitting there
with your cousins, right?

00:09:32.904 --> 00:09:32.924
Yeah.

00:09:32.924 --> 00:09:34.414
It's like, fuck, well, which one are you?

00:09:34.424 --> 00:09:37.894
Which one of what, like, you know, never
mind the Sex and the City girls, like,

00:09:37.894 --> 00:09:41.584
you know, which, which guy are you in Red
Dawn with all your cousins and friends?

00:09:41.624 --> 00:09:42.004
Mm.

00:09:42.904 --> 00:09:47.599
And that's the world we grew up
in, man, and, um, Now I'm 17.

00:09:47.599 --> 00:09:49.649
Now I know how to shoot machine guns.

00:09:49.649 --> 00:09:52.529
I'm learning how, you know, they
teach me how to use the C7, which

00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:58.129
I qualified as marksman first time,
uh, a little hand to hand combat.

00:09:58.149 --> 00:09:59.319
And now you're an infant here.

00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:00.529
Yeah.

00:10:00.529 --> 00:10:03.489
You know, and the first thing I
wanted to do is quit high school and

00:10:03.489 --> 00:10:07.419
join the reg force because, uh, one
of the guys on my course had done

00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:08.979
that and he went into the regiment.

00:10:09.164 --> 00:10:12.054
And then, you know, you get talked
into things by your parents.

00:10:12.054 --> 00:10:17.574
And when it was time to go to
college, suddenly there was no money.

00:10:17.884 --> 00:10:18.194
Right.

00:10:18.684 --> 00:10:20.694
So, uh, and then, you know, it was.

00:10:21.374 --> 00:10:23.594
You know, my dad being a union
guy is like, Hey, why don't

00:10:23.594 --> 00:10:24.794
you go work in a factory?

00:10:25.554 --> 00:10:27.294
Travis Bader: Um, that
didn't appeal to you.

00:10:28.834 --> 00:10:29.594
Jody Mitic: It was okay.

00:10:29.594 --> 00:10:30.044
Money.

00:10:30.044 --> 00:10:36.094
Like, frankly, it was great money at
1918, but I'm like, my goal in my mind

00:10:36.094 --> 00:10:39.594
was always, you know, I remember being
younger and them being like, well,

00:10:39.595 --> 00:10:40.524
what do you want to do with your life?

00:10:40.524 --> 00:10:41.824
I'm like, well, just be in the army.

00:10:43.244 --> 00:10:44.644
And they're like, what
are you going to achieve?

00:10:44.654 --> 00:10:47.914
And like, I don't know, sergeant, like,
you know, I didn't know the rank structure

00:10:47.924 --> 00:10:51.854
for real, but you know, um, you know,
it was always kind of downplayed, you

00:10:51.854 --> 00:10:56.674
know, and then, you know, uh, you, you
look at the, in the force reduction

00:10:56.674 --> 00:10:59.494
plan, uh, salaries were frozen and stuff.

00:11:00.249 --> 00:11:03.179
So basically it's, yeah, do you
want to make a thousand bucks a

00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.669
week or a 500 bucks every two weeks?

00:11:06.239 --> 00:11:11.069
Um, and I worked in the factory for a
couple of years and it was brutal, not

00:11:11.069 --> 00:11:12.749
brutal, like heart, like it wasn't hard.

00:11:13.029 --> 00:11:14.749
It was great work.

00:11:14.979 --> 00:11:16.849
A lot of the attitude there sucked.

00:11:16.930 --> 00:11:18.819
Uh, you know, I'm, I'm a young guy.

00:11:18.819 --> 00:11:23.390
I was 19 and, uh, you know,
just a lot of the older workers.

00:11:23.390 --> 00:11:27.030
I just, man, I was, I was just, I
didn't like the energy, you know, I

00:11:27.030 --> 00:11:27.430
Travis Bader: can see that.

00:11:27.550 --> 00:11:28.089
I can.

00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:32.430
Jody Mitic: And, um, 'cause Well 'cause
they, you get a target from the company.

00:11:32.520 --> 00:11:35.750
Hey, we need a thousand because
I, so I put together the,

00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:37.370
remember the Chrysler Intrepid?

00:11:37.395 --> 00:11:37.595
Yeah.

00:11:37.910 --> 00:11:38.210
Yeah.

00:11:38.330 --> 00:11:40.910
So I put that together 'cause
it was built in Brampton.

00:11:40.910 --> 00:11:41.330
Okay.

00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:47.350
And then I graduated to, uh, the Lear seed
plant and they built the seeds for, uh,

00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:50.500
we built the seeds for the pickup trucks
and the minivans coming outta Oakville.

00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:50.950
Mm.

00:11:51.010 --> 00:11:53.380
Got my first scars
actually from that plant.

00:11:53.380 --> 00:11:56.795
Not combat . You had an
injury there too, did you?

00:11:57.770 --> 00:12:00.180
Oh, just a little nick on the
elbow, but I laughed as my

00:12:00.190 --> 00:12:01.530
first stitches of my whole life.

00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:01.920
Okay.

00:12:02.030 --> 00:12:04.610
You know, I'm like, Oh, from a
little metal piece from the seat.

00:12:04.670 --> 00:12:09.600
But, um, yeah, the money was
great, but, uh, I just couldn't

00:12:09.670 --> 00:12:11.380
deal with the attitude.

00:12:11.380 --> 00:12:16.759
And then, um, I just couldn't get
rid of the, the more I didn't parade

00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:22.150
at the unit because of being at this
job, the more I hated the job anyway.

00:12:22.190 --> 00:12:23.750
So I just, eventually I flipped.

00:12:24.370 --> 00:12:28.720
I did the application and I got accepted
into the first battalion of the Royal

00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:32.460
Canadian Regiment, uh, in 97, fall of 97.

00:12:32.550 --> 00:12:37.040
And that wasn't exactly
a smooth transition.

00:12:37.290 --> 00:12:39.889
Um, you've read the book, right?

00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:46.060
Um, so yeah, I fell in with a unsavory
crowd, you know, as I did as a younger

00:12:46.060 --> 00:12:51.220
man, uh, when I ran away and stole
my mom's car before I had a license.

00:12:51.260 --> 00:12:53.260
But you know, we'll save
that for another time.

00:12:53.750 --> 00:12:55.450
Um, who doesn't do that?

00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:55.960
Come on.

00:12:56.725 --> 00:13:01.995
You know, frankly, uh, most people
are driving by 12 back then, uh, you

00:13:01.995 --> 00:13:03.365
know, especially if they have a farm.

00:13:04.525 --> 00:13:07.045
So, yeah, you know, I, I still
remember when I was driving, cause

00:13:07.045 --> 00:13:09.560
I had a bunch of these kids I hung
out with at high school with me

00:13:10.204 --> 00:13:12.215
and a cop, we cut, I cut off a cop.

00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:15.400
And he was an older guy and you could
see he looked at this and he just like

00:13:15.400 --> 00:13:17.560
rolled his eyes and did that to me.

00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:21.130
And I'm like, whoo, cause I
was like six foot tall at 14.

00:13:21.540 --> 00:13:24.540
So I always kind of like
could get away with looking a

00:13:24.540 --> 00:13:25.740
little bit more like an adult.

00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.949
Uh, but then they look at my
face and they're just like,

00:13:29.509 --> 00:13:30.499
nah, there's no way you're 21.

00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:31.610
Um.

00:13:33.260 --> 00:13:37.010
But, uh, you know, one thing when
I, so what school was a disaster,

00:13:37.010 --> 00:13:40.470
you know, my parents didn't
exactly get along and stuff.

00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:47.189
And, uh, regardless, once I joined the
reserves at 17 and, you know, I'm a couple

00:13:47.189 --> 00:13:52.059
of years into high school, hating it, uh,
and stuff, uh, you know, I was able to get

00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:54.190
my life in order and I was craving that.

00:13:54.190 --> 00:14:00.050
So when I got to battalion, um, in
97, it was a whole new start to life

00:14:00.060 --> 00:14:05.680
for me because the army, despite my
trouble, transitioning from the reserve

00:14:05.680 --> 00:14:08.940
force to the regular force, which
was a transition of its own, just an

00:14:08.950 --> 00:14:12.230
attitude and application of justice.

00:14:12.230 --> 00:14:16.049
And, uh, just, it's a, it's
the same, but different.

00:14:16.049 --> 00:14:19.000
It's kind of like, you know, it must
be this, what it's like going from the,

00:14:19.170 --> 00:14:23.540
uh, triple A to NHL or something, you
know, like it's just, it's just, that's.

00:14:24.415 --> 00:14:27.215
You know, that's the job now,
this is a professional area.

00:14:27.215 --> 00:14:29.275
There's no more of this civilian bullshit.

00:14:29.855 --> 00:14:29.975
Travis Bader: You

00:14:29.975 --> 00:14:32.955
Jody Mitic: know, we cut our hair, you
know, we shine our boots and, you know,

00:14:32.955 --> 00:14:37.754
of course, like you think, of course, but
reserve training, you know, uh, my first

00:14:38.055 --> 00:14:42.985
barrack was a mod tent, if you ever used a
military, are you in the army or anything?

00:14:42.994 --> 00:14:43.685
By the way, sorry.

00:14:43.715 --> 00:14:44.695
Travis Bader: No, no, I wasn't.

00:14:44.895 --> 00:14:45.705
That's when I was younger.

00:14:45.705 --> 00:14:49.800
So, uh, let's see the extent
of my, uh, Experience.

00:14:49.800 --> 00:14:49.850
I

00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:51.330
Jody Mitic: didn't want to tell
you anything you already knew.

00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:52.870
So it's good for the audience

00:14:52.870 --> 00:14:53.070
Travis Bader: too.

00:14:53.070 --> 00:14:53.280
Right.

00:14:53.280 --> 00:14:54.310
Not everyone knows what a mod tent is.

00:14:55.790 --> 00:14:58.960
Jody Mitic: So army tent, just
picture a big canvas tent with a

00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:00.730
bunch of like folding cots in there.

00:15:00.730 --> 00:15:02.530
That was like the reserve barracks.

00:15:02.540 --> 00:15:03.830
Cause it's the reserves.

00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:07.889
And then, you know, you get to the reg
force and you know, you're expected

00:15:07.890 --> 00:15:10.700
to have an actual barracks room.

00:15:10.700 --> 00:15:13.930
And it was just the culture
change there was, was like, Oh,

00:15:13.930 --> 00:15:15.130
it's not like my room at home.

00:15:15.150 --> 00:15:15.550
I can't.

00:15:15.845 --> 00:15:20.695
Leave my bed unmade because you just
can't, uh, and that's just the way it is.

00:15:21.085 --> 00:15:27.544
So once I got my feet under me though,
um, cause you meet some of the best

00:15:27.565 --> 00:15:34.325
people, uh, in the military from all
walks of life and we're all coming from

00:15:34.325 --> 00:15:38.224
the same spot and that's the one thing
I always appreciated about the military.

00:15:39.075 --> 00:15:44.335
Well, the infantry more than the
military, um, you know, you're

00:15:44.345 --> 00:15:48.085
recognized for your ability to do
the job regardless of anything else.

00:15:48.925 --> 00:15:53.924
And the right people will pay the
right kind of attention to you.

00:15:53.924 --> 00:15:54.444
If you put out.

00:15:54.900 --> 00:15:57.680
The right energy and the right attitude.

00:15:57.730 --> 00:16:01.430
And, you know, I did, I, I remember
I had a shitty attitude at one point

00:16:01.430 --> 00:16:05.070
because of just the, you know, the way
I was treated when I got the battalion

00:16:05.070 --> 00:16:09.069
and the way I treated back, you know,
I'm only half of any situation, right.

00:16:09.300 --> 00:16:09.690
Sure.

00:16:09.770 --> 00:16:11.420
Um, and it's a tough guy.

00:16:11.725 --> 00:16:16.545
Attitude, uh, environment, you know,
you kind of got to be, and so, you know,

00:16:16.545 --> 00:16:22.595
I was able to come back from a pretty
significant, um, you know, incident

00:16:22.605 --> 00:16:26.774
when I got arrested with a buddy who
had a bunch of drugs on him, uh, and

00:16:26.775 --> 00:16:28.614
that was able to be pushed aside.

00:16:28.625 --> 00:16:33.445
And I was able to go from that to,
you know, a master sniper within

00:16:33.445 --> 00:16:38.245
a decade, which is a pretty big
accomplishment back then it was,

00:16:38.335 --> 00:16:40.844
um, certainly I think because I've.

00:16:41.350 --> 00:16:45.510
We didn't have, like, uh, if anyone who
knows structure of the CAF, Canadian Armed

00:16:45.510 --> 00:16:50.630
Forces, currently the Canadian Special
Operations Regiment is what they call

00:16:50.630 --> 00:16:55.740
our Tier 2, but there's a lot of blurry
lines in between all the tiers, right?

00:16:56.570 --> 00:17:00.750
And the Airborne had been disbanded
right as I was going Regforce, or just

00:17:00.780 --> 00:17:04.630
before I went Regforce, which was my
goal, was to go Airborne Regiment.

00:17:06.405 --> 00:17:11.615
Uh, and then, so once that was disbanded,
there was technically no tier two.

00:17:12.055 --> 00:17:15.915
And when I had first joined, you know,
I remember JTF was stood up, right.

00:17:15.915 --> 00:17:18.295
As I joined the reserves.

00:17:19.105 --> 00:17:24.924
So all that to say, to become a
sniper, a reconnaissance pathfinder,

00:17:25.005 --> 00:17:27.835
uh, back then, those were the big
ones and you had to have recce to

00:17:27.835 --> 00:17:30.445
get sniper or pathfinder, right?

00:17:30.445 --> 00:17:35.765
So these were our tier two, so to
speak within the battalions, right?

00:17:35.775 --> 00:17:36.805
Cause there was no.

00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:44.570
Um, tier two regiment, the each battalion
had a component of these capabilities

00:17:44.570 --> 00:17:48.680
and a lot of things got pushed down
even from, you know, the regiment, the

00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:52.980
airborne regiment that just got pushed
down to the battalions, all of them.

00:17:53.325 --> 00:17:58.475
Uh, and then the snipe, the wreck,
the recce, and then the snipers, and

00:17:58.475 --> 00:18:03.005
then there was combat support company,
uh, which had mortars and pioneers.

00:18:03.005 --> 00:18:06.495
And like, so these were the fillings
to that space, you know, and so to be

00:18:06.495 --> 00:18:08.745
qualified, any of these was a big deal.

00:18:09.354 --> 00:18:12.654
Um, and then every now and then
some guy would vanish and you

00:18:12.654 --> 00:18:13.675
heard, he went to the hill.

00:18:15.325 --> 00:18:17.605
He's with the unit and you're
like, Oh, what's the unit.

00:18:18.915 --> 00:18:24.144
Um, so yeah, you know, I almost got
out, uh, because of some of that.

00:18:24.655 --> 00:18:29.555
shenanigans I got into, and then the
snipers became a thing because of the,

00:18:29.595 --> 00:18:33.225
you know, the, the extra money was there,
the extra time that used to go to the

00:18:33.225 --> 00:18:35.015
airborne went down to the battalion.

00:18:35.025 --> 00:18:40.004
So we developed, uh, great sniper
programs in the reg force, Canadian

00:18:40.004 --> 00:18:44.324
army reg force, and I just happened
to be coming along at the right time

00:18:44.324 --> 00:18:48.714
with, you know, the right people were
paying attention and, uh, because you

00:18:48.715 --> 00:18:50.664
had to be reconnaissance qualified.

00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:54.819
You had to have good standing within
the regiment or the battalion, at least.

00:18:55.849 --> 00:18:58.099
And you know, all that for
a while was questionable.

00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:01.429
Like they, you know, uh, cause the
military discipline is serious.

00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:05.609
Travis Bader: Well, how did,
how did you, how did that work?

00:19:05.629 --> 00:19:08.829
How did you come with
that mark on your record?

00:19:08.890 --> 00:19:10.469
And I'm going to.

00:19:10.974 --> 00:19:12.084
Chip on your shoulder.

00:19:12.114 --> 00:19:14.374
Cause you're like, you're saying
a little bit more oppositional

00:19:14.404 --> 00:19:16.304
defiant sort of, uh, mentality.

00:19:16.354 --> 00:19:18.704
Jody Mitic: Well, cause yeah, I
had three years in the reserve.

00:19:18.704 --> 00:19:20.084
So I was like, okay, I get it.

00:19:20.094 --> 00:19:20.824
We're in the army.

00:19:20.824 --> 00:19:21.244
I get it.

00:19:21.344 --> 00:19:21.654
Right.

00:19:21.824 --> 00:19:22.144
Yeah.

00:19:22.224 --> 00:19:26.264
And so I'm just redoing training now
when I'm sent back to the regimental

00:19:26.274 --> 00:19:30.254
battle school, because, you know,
I, I remember back, it was like,

00:19:31.104 --> 00:19:32.404
regardless of what it was, right.

00:19:32.464 --> 00:19:34.234
It was something I had to overcome.

00:19:34.514 --> 00:19:37.194
Uh, and you did the politics, right.

00:19:37.224 --> 00:19:39.294
Cause the politics of the time was that.

00:19:39.699 --> 00:19:40.469
This is what it was.

00:19:40.489 --> 00:19:41.659
The regiment was mad.

00:19:42.664 --> 00:19:46.864
It's the Royal Canadian Regiment,
because our reg, it's reg force

00:19:46.874 --> 00:19:50.504
soldiers were being replaced by a lot
of reservists at that time, because they

00:19:50.504 --> 00:19:54.034
were ordered to take like 30 percent
reservists, which had never been done.

00:19:54.814 --> 00:19:58.084
So their buddies weren't getting
to go over and get the bonus pay

00:19:58.104 --> 00:19:59.324
and get all the good goes, right?

00:19:59.324 --> 00:20:02.854
So this is the thing, this is the
internal politics to the situation.

00:20:03.594 --> 00:20:04.234
Um,

00:20:06.334 --> 00:20:10.259
the biggest thing One of the biggest
things that happened is that for me, I

00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:14.639
was there to be a professional anyway,
regardless of all the side, side show

00:20:14.639 --> 00:20:19.059
stuff, you know, I like sports, but I,
you know, I was never any that good at

00:20:19.699 --> 00:20:23.719
ice hockey anyway, so like that's out
the window for politics is, you know,

00:20:23.739 --> 00:20:25.489
playing ice hockey gets you the good goes.

00:20:25.509 --> 00:20:29.569
But to me, a good go was
more time on the range.

00:20:30.009 --> 00:20:35.419
More time learning actual
functional modalities of training

00:20:35.429 --> 00:20:37.279
that will make my body more fit.

00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:41.849
Like I used to do CrossFit and all that,
like before it was called CrossFit,

00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:43.229
we just called it circuit training.

00:20:43.869 --> 00:20:48.059
We focused on our, you know, our
spine, our mobility, like, cause

00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:51.929
you know, I got, you know, you do
the workout thing, but, uh, sorry,

00:20:51.929 --> 00:20:53.139
I feel like I was getting off track.

00:20:53.619 --> 00:20:54.699
No, no, it's Where was I going?

00:20:54.749 --> 00:20:57.579
Well, you, you, so you went to
Sniper School Oh, so, I focus, yeah.

00:20:58.129 --> 00:21:02.649
Well, I focus How did I get
there from such a poor beginning?

00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:05.049
Was I just shifted my whole focus?

00:21:05.219 --> 00:21:07.139
You know, I almost went samurai with it.

00:21:07.139 --> 00:21:07.449
Right?

00:21:07.459 --> 00:21:13.269
Like I just felt like the job
is not all that other stuff.

00:21:13.769 --> 00:21:17.719
And when I focused on the job, I
got really great results and I'm a

00:21:17.719 --> 00:21:22.559
quirky guy, you know, uh, you know,
I'm, I'm being a sniper already.

00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:23.939
You're in quirky company.

00:21:24.459 --> 00:21:27.379
Um, and so, you know, quirky how,

00:21:29.484 --> 00:21:29.954
I don't know.

00:21:29.974 --> 00:21:32.964
Like, I just, uh, you know, I look
at things maybe a little differently

00:21:32.964 --> 00:21:37.494
sometimes, uh, you know, you know, there's
not a sniper you'll meet that'll think

00:21:37.494 --> 00:21:42.094
the same way about anything except,
you know, ballistics or ballistics,

00:21:42.094 --> 00:21:46.814
um, just to get into that line of
work, you know, nevermind the first,

00:21:46.834 --> 00:21:49.654
like, one of the things I was trying
to get at earlier is the Canadian

00:21:49.654 --> 00:21:52.184
regular force infantry is right there.

00:21:52.184 --> 00:21:56.304
You're like, we're dealing with
a serious organization, you know?

00:21:56.414 --> 00:21:58.434
Um, and so.

00:21:58.884 --> 00:22:02.864
You know, now you want to be one of like
one of the baddest motherfuckers in the

00:22:02.874 --> 00:22:07.594
regiment, which is, you know, snipers,
master snipers, uh, pathfind, you know,

00:22:07.594 --> 00:22:11.644
there's all these other qualifications
within the infantry that help you

00:22:12.494 --> 00:22:16.224
work with a group of more and more
professional legs, even if you don't get.

00:22:17.009 --> 00:22:18.069
A bigger paycheck.

00:22:18.149 --> 00:22:21.809
Um, you might get a few extra days
off, so to speak, because you could,

00:22:22.409 --> 00:22:25.569
uh, you know, pick and choose some of
your timings, but you know, you spend

00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:30.789
eight months of the year gone when you
don't have to for the same money, right.

00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.589
In the same promotional opportunities.

00:22:33.589 --> 00:22:38.059
Um, because that's, you know,
that's the kind of career I wanted.

00:22:38.069 --> 00:22:39.469
I wanted to keep progressing.

00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:46.044
Um, And then, you know, also once I
was in the military culture from the

00:22:46.044 --> 00:22:50.614
reserves to the regular, I realized
what a smorgasbord of opportunity

00:22:51.139 --> 00:22:51.684
Travis Bader: it was.

00:22:51.684 --> 00:22:54.974
Jody Mitic: And I still consider it,
uh, personally haven't been through it.

00:22:54.994 --> 00:22:56.294
I wish I'd never gotten out.

00:22:58.644 --> 00:22:59.004
Yeah.

00:23:00.024 --> 00:23:00.254
Travis Bader: Yeah.

00:23:00.254 --> 00:23:04.944
I, I hear that, you know, in the
transitioning program from being in

00:23:04.954 --> 00:23:10.164
military and, uh, getting out, I think is,
uh, something that could use some work.

00:23:10.704 --> 00:23:11.394
It's, uh,

00:23:12.954 --> 00:23:13.974
Jody Mitic: it's a challenge.

00:23:14.034 --> 00:23:14.754
Certainly.

00:23:14.824 --> 00:23:21.329
Um, You know, but they get to, you
know, we, we have to take ownership

00:23:21.339 --> 00:23:22.799
of our outcomes, you know, and

00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:27.749
one thing that got me through
my troubles back then.

00:23:27.749 --> 00:23:32.209
And my recent ones was knowing
that I knew where I wanted to go.

00:23:33.139 --> 00:23:36.049
And, you know, in the last
few, you know, not I'm over it

00:23:36.049 --> 00:23:37.299
now, but, you know, like five.

00:23:37.664 --> 00:23:42.344
2019, yeah, five, six years ago, you
know, I'm, I knew I didn't want to be

00:23:42.344 --> 00:23:47.624
this raging coke head, angry, losing
control of my life, but that's where

00:23:47.624 --> 00:23:51.304
I was, you know, and I wanted to get
out of that and get, you know, get to

00:23:51.304 --> 00:23:53.234
the places that I, that I wanted to be.

00:23:53.984 --> 00:23:55.574
Um, so,

00:23:56.094 --> 00:24:00.494
Travis Bader: so how can you talk us
through how you were injured, what that.

00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:06.024
Uh, what that was like, the support
you received and your mental

00:24:06.034 --> 00:24:07.584
process of dealing with that.

00:24:07.594 --> 00:24:10.254
How, how you, uh, worked
your way through that.

00:24:11.064 --> 00:24:11.234
Jody Mitic: Oof.

00:24:11.774 --> 00:24:12.204
Okay.

00:24:12.204 --> 00:24:16.694
Well, so I was wounded January 11th, 2007.

00:24:16.694 --> 00:24:22.364
So 18 years ago, the other day, uh, at
the time I was a sniper team leader.

00:24:22.654 --> 00:24:26.114
Uh, I was one of three master
snipers with the regiment, with

00:24:26.114 --> 00:24:27.934
the battalion, sorry, one RCR.

00:24:29.124 --> 00:24:30.074
We went out on a.

00:24:30.399 --> 00:24:34.979
What we thought was a pretty routine
patrol, uh, And unfortunately,

00:24:34.989 --> 00:24:40.539
in the math of the battlefield,
three of my buddies stepped over a

00:24:40.539 --> 00:24:45.029
landmine with a mortar bomb strapped
to it, which is technically an IED.

00:24:45.629 --> 00:24:50.629
And when I turned to follow, because I
was, uh, in S Patrol, I was the second

00:24:50.629 --> 00:24:55.269
in command because my sergeant was with
us for this, even though it was my team.

00:24:56.019 --> 00:24:56.489
So anyway.

00:24:56.819 --> 00:25:00.639
Uh, I turned to follow and,
uh, I detonated the device, so

00:25:00.889 --> 00:25:02.559
immediately lost my right foot.

00:25:03.779 --> 00:25:09.549
Somehow survived that for an hour until
they got me to the Roll 3 Hospital.

00:25:10.529 --> 00:25:14.339
Um, and by somehow, I mean,
like, my friends did first aid.

00:25:14.659 --> 00:25:18.529
Reccy Platoon came and rescued
me, brought more first aid.

00:25:18.529 --> 00:25:21.709
But, you know, like, you
know, our government hadn't

00:25:21.709 --> 00:25:23.049
sent any helicopters, right?

00:25:23.049 --> 00:25:24.339
So there was no helicopter.

00:25:24.589 --> 00:25:28.029
And the one helicopter that could
have come to us was American and

00:25:28.029 --> 00:25:30.149
had I've been deployed already.

00:25:30.159 --> 00:25:34.539
So, you know, there is a lot of, a lot
of hard, you know, you know, I have a

00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:40.539
lot of heroes from that night, um, but
ultimately like somehow I lived through

00:25:40.539 --> 00:25:45.239
something that in the moment most people
thought I was going to die from, you

00:25:45.239 --> 00:25:47.659
know, I just, I kind of joke about it.

00:25:48.569 --> 00:25:50.689
I just knew I just had a lot to do.

00:25:51.349 --> 00:25:56.279
You know, that I, I, I had a lot, I didn't
want to, a lot of unfinished business.

00:25:56.639 --> 00:26:01.419
I felt, Oh yeah, yeah, man.

00:26:01.469 --> 00:26:06.469
Uh, I never, like, I didn't lose
consciousness until they, uh, like put

00:26:06.469 --> 00:26:11.929
me out for surgery, like about an hour
and probably maybe two hours later.

00:26:12.869 --> 00:26:17.989
Um, I almost lost consciousness right
before they plugged an IV into me.

00:26:20.199 --> 00:26:24.999
Um, which was at about an, an
hour post in, cause it was just

00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:26.379
me and three other guys, right?

00:26:26.379 --> 00:26:28.909
Like, uh, it's not like there
was a platoon there or a company

00:26:29.379 --> 00:26:30.849
cause we're doing sniper stuff.

00:26:31.209 --> 00:26:31.429
Yeah.

00:26:31.429 --> 00:26:33.509
They just, you know, they had
to like get me out of there.

00:26:33.609 --> 00:26:39.699
So they had to like drive in and have
wheeled ambulance down a plowed road that

00:26:39.699 --> 00:26:44.109
they literally plowed themselves with
a combat bulldozer, like in the moment.

00:26:44.494 --> 00:26:45.084
Wow.

00:26:45.194 --> 00:26:49.854
Um, yeah, like heroic work for like all
for me, you know, I kind of, I remember

00:26:49.854 --> 00:26:53.374
when they put me on the stretcher, I
made a joke like, whoa, because there's,

00:26:53.424 --> 00:26:57.834
you know, a lot of soldiers, uh, there
for me, you know, I said, Oh, look at

00:26:57.834 --> 00:27:01.834
the party and everybody came, you know,
and nobody laughed, nobody laughed.

00:27:03.244 --> 00:27:04.524
It's like, shut up, that

00:27:04.554 --> 00:27:05.384
Travis Bader: awkward moment.

00:27:05.394 --> 00:27:06.864
Nobody knows what to do or say.

00:27:07.944 --> 00:27:08.474
Jody Mitic: Yeah.

00:27:08.474 --> 00:27:09.964
You know, what do you, I don't know.

00:27:11.554 --> 00:27:14.884
That's a long time ago now
though, you know, uh, 18 years.

00:27:16.424 --> 00:27:19.994
Well, and then so part of your
question was how do you get

00:27:19.994 --> 00:27:24.384
through it, you know, not to, you
know, not to gloss over it, but

00:27:27.564 --> 00:27:29.144
getting wounded was part.

00:27:29.459 --> 00:27:32.029
Of the job description,
if that makes sense.

00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:32.629
I understand.

00:27:32.629 --> 00:27:36.379
And I'm not, you know, not that I'm
pro, pro, uh, prolific or what's

00:27:36.379 --> 00:27:37.489
it, what do you call it, prophetic?

00:27:37.489 --> 00:27:38.179
Where you Yeah.

00:27:38.989 --> 00:27:39.679
Prophesize or whatever.

00:27:39.919 --> 00:27:40.009
Sure.

00:27:40.679 --> 00:27:43.529
Uh, I speak English , um, heat card.

00:27:43.529 --> 00:27:44.039
We good?

00:27:44.749 --> 00:27:45.049
Yeah.

00:27:45.979 --> 00:27:50.819
. But, um, you know, if you're, if they're
gonna get you, they're gonna get you.

00:27:51.199 --> 00:27:54.819
Um, it's not like I didn't
give them a lot of chances.

00:27:55.059 --> 00:27:56.649
Travis Bader: Did you have that in the
back of your head that you're gonna

00:27:56.649 --> 00:27:58.179
get injured prior to it happening?

00:27:59.579 --> 00:28:02.369
Jody Mitic: It occurred like it's
I wrote in the book at one point,

00:28:02.379 --> 00:28:06.599
actually, I think about I was
standing on top of spur one as we

00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:10.069
do, and I was just me at that moment.

00:28:10.069 --> 00:28:13.539
There was nobody else up there
for whatever reason is trying to

00:28:13.549 --> 00:28:17.089
remember is right before we went
out and did the big long assault.

00:28:17.444 --> 00:28:22.024
With the green berets for days and
days, we were gone, but I had this

00:28:22.174 --> 00:28:26.414
feeling, just this feeling, and I
didn't want to be weird, you know,

00:28:26.414 --> 00:28:28.884
I didn't want to be like, uh, like,
you know, what do you mean a feeling?

00:28:30.024 --> 00:28:31.154
I kept it to myself.

00:28:31.184 --> 00:28:33.084
Like, like, uh, like you're supposed to.

00:28:33.474 --> 00:28:35.534
I just, yeah, it just seemed like it was.

00:28:36.089 --> 00:28:38.839
It felt like, you know,
get ready, get ready.

00:28:38.859 --> 00:28:39.459
Cause it's coming.

00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.009
Interesting.

00:28:41.719 --> 00:28:45.319
Uh, it was like not almost
a premonition in my opinion.

00:28:45.749 --> 00:28:46.999
Travis Bader: I find that interesting.

00:28:47.369 --> 00:28:47.539
Yeah.

00:28:47.539 --> 00:28:51.029
I always wonder if it's something
that we pick up on, if there's an

00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:54.219
energy, if somehow we manifest that.

00:28:54.499 --> 00:28:59.139
Our destiny by thinking about it or,
or if it's something that our brain

00:28:59.139 --> 00:29:03.029
does after the fact where it kind of
rewires everything and it's like, yeah,

00:29:03.309 --> 00:29:08.449
you know, I had an upset stomach and
that was probably my premonition and it

00:29:08.449 --> 00:29:12.799
doesn't change whatever the outcome is,
but I've, I always wonder about that.

00:29:12.819 --> 00:29:19.729
And if it is the former, if it's something
that we're picking up on that vibe, uh,

00:29:19.899 --> 00:29:21.849
are we able to tune into that faster?

00:29:21.909 --> 00:29:23.039
Are we able to.

00:29:23.340 --> 00:29:24.760
Well,

00:29:25.909 --> 00:29:30.349
Jody Mitic: I think it certainly helps
grease the wheels of acceptance, you

00:29:30.349 --> 00:29:33.319
know, uh, I knew this was going to happen.

00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:38.089
I, you know, you hear that people say
that you say that, um, you know, we

00:29:38.089 --> 00:29:42.729
say that to ourselves all the time
and that doesn't change, you know.

00:29:43.384 --> 00:29:47.314
Well, the next corner, we, because
of the village we were patrolling

00:29:47.314 --> 00:29:48.514
through, might have vaporized

00:29:48.584 --> 00:29:48.804
Travis Bader: all

00:29:48.804 --> 00:29:48.954
Jody Mitic: of us.

00:29:49.044 --> 00:29:49.894
Travis Bader: Sure, totally.

00:29:49.924 --> 00:29:54.054
Um, The universe unfolds as it should,
is it saying that I, I say quite often?

00:29:54.054 --> 00:29:54.654
I think it's from,

00:29:55.414 --> 00:29:56.294
Jody Mitic: I believe so.

00:29:56.354 --> 00:29:57.124
Travis Bader: It does, yeah.

00:29:57.634 --> 00:29:58.114
Um.

00:29:59.985 --> 00:30:03.435
It, and I think it's a much healthier
way for people to look back on things

00:30:03.435 --> 00:30:07.945
as well, man, if it wasn't for that
IED, if, if man, everything would be

00:30:07.945 --> 00:30:13.014
great, well, maybe it's because of the
IED that it's now put you in a position

00:30:13.494 --> 00:30:17.914
to be that advocate for others that,
that you are now, maybe it's because.

00:30:18.375 --> 00:30:18.725
Jody Mitic: Yeah,

00:30:18.845 --> 00:30:19.935
Travis Bader: it was almost seemed

00:30:19.935 --> 00:30:20.575
Jody Mitic: inevitable.

00:30:20.575 --> 00:30:20.845
Yeah.

00:30:20.895 --> 00:30:23.355
Now that you put it that
way, you know, like, uh,

00:30:25.465 --> 00:30:30.255
when, cause when I'm, when I was still
in battalion, after I got back to the

00:30:30.255 --> 00:30:33.504
battalion, after I got wounded and I
was trying to tell everyone about the

00:30:33.505 --> 00:30:37.554
new veterans charter and what, like how
terrible it is and how much money we

00:30:37.575 --> 00:30:40.254
were going to lose as combat soldiers.

00:30:40.814 --> 00:30:44.235
Uh, you know, right there, you're
told, well, you can't talk about that.

00:30:44.935 --> 00:30:47.695
You know, you're not allowed
to do that, just accept it.

00:30:47.695 --> 00:30:48.315
Just shut up.

00:30:48.335 --> 00:30:49.595
You know, like, who are you?

00:30:49.605 --> 00:30:50.565
You're just a master corporal.

00:30:50.785 --> 00:30:54.525
And it's, well, yeah, but who,
who's going to lose out on literally

00:30:55.765 --> 00:30:58.095
today's date over a million dollars.

00:30:58.214 --> 00:30:58.534
Travis Bader: Yeah.

00:30:58.624 --> 00:31:00.324
And if not you, then who?

00:31:01.874 --> 00:31:02.204
Jody Mitic: Yeah.

00:31:02.204 --> 00:31:04.555
Like, you know, my dad was a union guy.

00:31:04.734 --> 00:31:09.975
We might not get along, but what he,
what he told me and, or showed me was

00:31:09.975 --> 00:31:14.325
if you advocate, you know, you get
results and, you know, my results.

00:31:15.185 --> 00:31:18.805
Thus far, I've been a little suboptimal
with, you know, the stuff we talked

00:31:18.805 --> 00:31:22.165
about through the political stuff
and the, you know, but that's.

00:31:23.630 --> 00:31:25.420
Just like that's combat, man.

00:31:25.420 --> 00:31:31.640
Like the enemy gets to say, um, just
because I have intention or thought I was

00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:36.809
going somewhere, you know, people think
that what I hate, what like it, cause

00:31:36.809 --> 00:31:41.919
it applies directly to me, this, this
charter thing that I advocate so strongly

00:31:41.919 --> 00:31:45.330
against, which is why the political.

00:31:45.840 --> 00:31:52.250
Um, stuff is, is, it's to save my
own pension in the biggest way.

00:31:52.970 --> 00:31:59.139
Um, but also every other combat individual
who's wounded from ever since they passed

00:31:59.139 --> 00:32:05.719
this legislation has been just shorted,
literally millions of dollars per person.

00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:09.300
The way, the way these
governments spend money.

00:32:10.590 --> 00:32:13.990
And even today I'm being
disputed by veterans affairs.

00:32:13.990 --> 00:32:18.790
I'm not getting, uh, like half the money
I'm supposed to because they want a

00:32:18.790 --> 00:32:23.980
piece of paper to, because they want to
deduct anything I make off my books or

00:32:23.980 --> 00:32:29.540
off my talks or, you know, the coffee
from the money that the, that the,

00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:33.740
this charter allows me, and it's just
a total violation of the agreement.

00:32:34.615 --> 00:32:39.685
I thought when I raised my hand and took
a oath, I thought this was the deal.

00:32:39.685 --> 00:32:42.055
Cause my uncle told me, don't
worry if you get hurt, it's a

00:32:42.055 --> 00:32:44.645
decent, it's not a ton of money.

00:32:44.655 --> 00:32:47.824
Like it's not even 80 grand
a year, but it's for life.

00:32:47.855 --> 00:32:47.905
But

00:32:47.914 --> 00:32:48.955
Travis Bader: you'll be looked after.

00:32:49.025 --> 00:32:51.004
They'll make sure we
don't leave one behind.

00:32:51.005 --> 00:32:51.135
It's

00:32:51.135 --> 00:32:55.145
Jody Mitic: money, dude, money in your
pocket, because this is what they do.

00:32:55.175 --> 00:33:00.205
They say, no, no, we'll keep that money
and we'll spend it on stuff for you.

00:33:00.215 --> 00:33:01.585
It's kind of how they've explained it.

00:33:01.655 --> 00:33:02.205
And I'm like.

00:33:03.310 --> 00:33:06.170
So it's 18 years in, I've
almost gone homeless.

00:33:06.280 --> 00:33:08.630
I can't get any action
out of these people.

00:33:09.030 --> 00:33:12.730
And yeah, like I said, I, the homeless
thing was, uh, there was a lot to

00:33:12.730 --> 00:33:17.170
that, but regardless, I shouldn't have
the money issues I have right now.

00:33:17.290 --> 00:33:17.859
Travis Bader: I just shouldn't.

00:33:18.540 --> 00:33:22.639
So they're looking at book sales
and saying that they want to offset

00:33:22.639 --> 00:33:26.070
what they're providing you because
you're generating income or I'm

00:33:26.070 --> 00:33:29.640
going to put one more question in
there, uh, because I've seen this

00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:32.699
one used before, uh, because of us.

00:33:33.170 --> 00:33:36.800
, because of the role we played
in your injury, you are now

00:33:36.800 --> 00:33:38.120
able to profit off of it.

00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:39.080
Has that ever come up?

00:33:40.660 --> 00:33:41.050
No.

00:33:41.050 --> 00:33:44.520
Jody Mitic: But could you imagine
if, I don't have to imagine that's

00:33:44.520 --> 00:33:46.470
something, is that something that's
been said to a service member?

00:33:46.620 --> 00:33:48.580
Travis Bader: Uh, it's, it's something

00:33:48.580 --> 00:33:53.000
Jody Mitic: I've that I've, I've
heard that is, that is psycho talk.

00:33:53.060 --> 00:33:53.695
It is psycho talk.

00:33:53.695 --> 00:33:54.230
Listen to that.

00:33:54.350 --> 00:33:54.590
Travis Bader: Yeah.

00:33:54.590 --> 00:33:56.960
No, that, that's something
I've seen in civil actions.

00:33:57.020 --> 00:33:57.140
Uh.

00:33:57.870 --> 00:34:00.260
I've, I've personally
seen that afterwards.

00:34:00.260 --> 00:34:02.350
They say, well, look at,
look at where you are now.

00:34:02.370 --> 00:34:04.760
If not for us, you wouldn't
be in this position.

00:34:04.760 --> 00:34:08.390
So, um, all your hard work
you've put in, we, we helped you.

00:34:08.439 --> 00:34:09.960
We helped you do that hard work.

00:34:11.290 --> 00:34:15.020
Jody Mitic: Boy, that's a, can you imagine
having the balls to put that on paper?

00:34:15.099 --> 00:34:15.660
I've seen it.

00:34:16.455 --> 00:34:19.915
I, I believe you that's the, that's
the mentalities that, uh, that we

00:34:19.915 --> 00:34:23.215
seem to be up against, you know, no
matter how much you talk to these

00:34:23.785 --> 00:34:27.115
and they're all bureaucrats who
are of unions or, you know, long

00:34:27.115 --> 00:34:28.905
careers behind them, great pensions.

00:34:28.964 --> 00:34:32.825
And you know, they'll say, Oh, you don't
have the time in, or you don't like when

00:34:32.825 --> 00:34:37.987
he, when I stepped on the high explosives,
the meter started and the meter at the

00:34:37.987 --> 00:34:45.235
time was 6, 400 after taxes per month
in my bank account every month for life.

00:34:46.275 --> 00:34:49.925
And they were like, no, no, here's two
50 and we're good for anything else.

00:34:49.925 --> 00:34:51.075
You need, well, guess what?

00:34:51.105 --> 00:34:54.515
They're not, I've worked
for veterans affairs, man.

00:34:54.535 --> 00:34:58.775
I was, uh, transparent with
them from the beginning.

00:34:58.785 --> 00:35:00.804
Cause the 10 check was working there.

00:35:00.815 --> 00:35:01.695
General, the 10

00:35:01.695 --> 00:35:02.424
Travis Bader: check,

00:35:02.424 --> 00:35:06.285
Jody Mitic: uh, Aaron O'Toole was the
minister of veterans affairs for a bit.

00:35:06.295 --> 00:35:06.885
He gave me a

00:35:07.965 --> 00:35:08.405
Travis Bader: commendation

00:35:09.055 --> 00:35:12.515
Jody Mitic: on behalf of the, my
advocacy, but they've never listened.

00:35:12.895 --> 00:35:13.195
Right.

00:35:13.245 --> 00:35:17.075
And they don't want to
hear that they're failing.

00:35:17.720 --> 00:35:22.860
I am exactly who they're supposed
to look after and they don't.

00:35:23.085 --> 00:35:27.045
Well, the money's a big one.

00:35:27.365 --> 00:35:32.795
Um, like I said, just for like, let's
say, so I was wounded at 30 and just

00:35:32.795 --> 00:35:36.054
the rough math right now, it's one to 1.

00:35:36.054 --> 00:35:39.975
2 million that I'm still owed
just by that math, nevermind any

00:35:40.455 --> 00:35:43.814
indexing or whatever that might've
happened in the last 18 years.

00:35:44.765 --> 00:35:45.315
So.

00:35:46.200 --> 00:35:50.410
For me, if you look at my lifespan,
cause I plan to live for at least 200

00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:54.360
years, you know, we're looking at, you
know, four or five, 6 million bucks.

00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:58.410
I'm not sure, but let's say it's an
average lifespan of 80, whatever.

00:35:59.390 --> 00:36:02.260
By the time we're 80, it'll
be like a hundred by then.

00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:03.720
So let's say I live to be a hundred.

00:36:03.730 --> 00:36:06.040
That's at least another one to 1.

00:36:06.040 --> 00:36:09.380
7 ish million.

00:36:09.630 --> 00:36:13.280
And that's, but that's just, that's
just money I feel I earned and I'm,

00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:17.209
Oh, this thing, it's, they put all
these labels on this stuff, like the

00:36:17.240 --> 00:36:23.200
income replacement benefit or the,
uh, diminished earnings capacity.

00:36:24.069 --> 00:36:29.080
I earned a combat injury
pension upon injury.

00:36:29.529 --> 00:36:38.130
It's literally blood money that you owe
me, you being them, not you, uh, to,

00:36:38.549 --> 00:36:43.720
to compensate me for my, what I lost
doing the job you asked me to do, which

00:36:43.720 --> 00:36:48.330
at the time, by the way, you know, I
was one of few snipers in theater and,

00:36:48.399 --> 00:36:53.370
you know, just to get to that point
was a, was a slog, all that, just like,

00:36:54.240 --> 00:36:56.620
regardless of anything in my mind.

00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:01.490
If I got wounded, I was supposed to
get paid for the rest of my life money.

00:37:01.490 --> 00:37:06.960
I could use to raise kids and have
just a life, you know, and thus far all

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:13.440
successive, uh, liberal and conservative
governments have done is take money from

00:37:13.449 --> 00:37:18.190
me and starting with the conservatives
who passed this piece of junk, you know,

00:37:18.580 --> 00:37:18.760
Travis Bader: pretty sure

00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:18.889
Jody Mitic: Mr.

00:37:18.890 --> 00:37:20.860
Polia was there.

00:37:22.690 --> 00:37:22.970
Yeah.

00:37:22.970 --> 00:37:25.730
It's a real problem because he's
not going to want to address it.

00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:28.859
Because he voted for it, you know,

00:37:29.179 --> 00:37:33.429
Travis Bader: uh, interesting, you
mentioned something about being swatted.

00:37:33.449 --> 00:37:34.669
Is that something we can talk about?

00:37:36.549 --> 00:37:37.089
Yes.

00:37:37.189 --> 00:37:37.539
Jody Mitic: Perfect.

00:37:37.539 --> 00:37:38.219
Yeah, for sure.

00:37:38.819 --> 00:37:39.369
So.

00:37:40.704 --> 00:37:42.794
There's a thing called
politically exposed.

00:37:42.804 --> 00:37:45.574
So if you don't know what it
is, Google it, look it up.

00:37:45.734 --> 00:37:51.874
Uh, basically in a nutshell who I am
at the time of this definition being,

00:37:52.044 --> 00:37:57.084
uh, figured out, which was mostly by
the American intelligence, uh, system,

00:37:57.534 --> 00:38:04.644
a politically exposed individual
somehow has a voice like that is out,

00:38:05.134 --> 00:38:10.644
uh, what does a bigger proportion than
it should be in their opinion, right?

00:38:11.324 --> 00:38:11.824
Then.

00:38:12.414 --> 00:38:16.744
They, you know, went on to label things
like, you know, basically you're a

00:38:16.744 --> 00:38:21.414
far alt right, you know, cause I own
guns and, uh, you know, I, if I have

00:38:21.414 --> 00:38:24.484
interests and like, if you read it,
it's, you know, anything Jody does,

00:38:24.494 --> 00:38:27.704
it's bad a lot of ways and therefore.

00:38:28.334 --> 00:38:34.684
Um, you know, you might be involved, I may
have been involved in a lot of like crime,

00:38:34.974 --> 00:38:40.074
so to speak, and I can't, I can't counter
government activity of which I wasn't,

00:38:40.784 --> 00:38:46.424
uh, yeah, I was told after the SWAT.

00:38:46.434 --> 00:38:49.774
So, you know, here's the fun thing
about the SWAT is the cops put

00:38:49.774 --> 00:38:52.354
their hands up for me, you know, uh.

00:38:53.754 --> 00:38:57.624
I thought, you know, the SWAT team chased
me down the highway here in Ottawa.

00:38:58.364 --> 00:39:03.824
It was after I tweeted, Hey
veterans, this is a top of my head.

00:39:03.824 --> 00:39:06.544
I have a screenshot of it, but
it was, Hey veterans, let's get

00:39:06.544 --> 00:39:07.974
together on Parliament Hill.

00:39:08.529 --> 00:39:11.469
And I, I, I put like, it was
the Sunday before the election

00:39:11.619 --> 00:39:11.639
Travis Bader: of

00:39:12.459 --> 00:39:15.519
Jody Mitic: 2019, that was it.

00:39:15.729 --> 00:39:17.279
They weren't going to
put up with any more.

00:39:17.329 --> 00:39:19.959
Travis Bader: No, no, let's
get together and take action.

00:39:20.019 --> 00:39:22.939
No tweets before that about doing
violence or anything like this.

00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:24.489
Jody Mitic: Oh, no, no, nothing.

00:39:24.809 --> 00:39:26.369
Well, I had been, here's the thing.

00:39:27.399 --> 00:39:32.259
I was being surveilled and I knew
it and it was driving me nuts.

00:39:32.299 --> 00:39:35.639
So I was trying to like figure
out where it was coming from.

00:39:36.169 --> 00:39:38.909
And you know, you find out, how did
you know you're being surveilled?

00:39:42.934 --> 00:39:48.184
Cause you can, you know, you
see it, you feel it, uh, uh, uh,

00:39:48.214 --> 00:39:51.014
certain coincidences that happened,
you know, I just saw it anyway.

00:39:51.734 --> 00:39:53.264
Maybe I made it all up, Travis.

00:39:53.265 --> 00:39:54.974
I mean, I did do a lot
of drugs at the time.

00:39:55.514 --> 00:39:57.214
I don't think I made, here's the thing.

00:39:57.704 --> 00:39:58.964
It's in the police report.

00:39:59.139 --> 00:39:59.629
Is how I know,

00:40:00.539 --> 00:40:03.099
Travis Bader: fair enough, but,
but again, you had that feeling

00:40:03.099 --> 00:40:05.579
ahead of time and sure enough.

00:40:07.070 --> 00:40:08.110
Jody Mitic: Yeah, well,
that's what I mean.

00:40:08.110 --> 00:40:09.420
Like, oh, so I was right.

00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:10.490
I'm not hypervigilant.

00:40:11.439 --> 00:40:11.970
Oh yeah.

00:40:11.979 --> 00:40:13.680
I guess not, but you know, yeah.

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:17.809
Cause that's when you're, you know,
that's the tactical, that's my world.

00:40:17.820 --> 00:40:18.200
Right.

00:40:18.859 --> 00:40:23.130
You know, I can see that's
what I set my adult goal to be.

00:40:23.150 --> 00:40:23.680
I would look.

00:40:24.205 --> 00:40:29.545
I loved running the, the races, the
amazing race, but ultimately my life's

00:40:29.585 --> 00:40:35.105
passion and goal was to be a motherfucker,
like, you know, a Canadian version of

00:40:35.645 --> 00:40:40.114
Rambo, so to speak, and I wasn't too
keen on jumping out of planes, but I

00:40:40.115 --> 00:40:43.825
figured if I got good enough, they'd
get me there if they needed me there,

00:40:45.835 --> 00:40:50.295
but otherwise, Hey, four wheelers, you
know, uh, trucks, you know, the combat's

00:40:50.295 --> 00:40:52.345
combat, you get there, how you get there.

00:40:52.405 --> 00:40:54.095
Travis Bader: So you
were viewed as a threat.

00:40:54.600 --> 00:40:56.550
If there's a hundred percent,
they're surveilling you.

00:40:56.550 --> 00:40:58.850
They looked at you as
some sort of a threat.

00:40:58.900 --> 00:41:00.080
And if they said

00:41:00.080 --> 00:41:04.090
Jody Mitic: that I was capable of
assassinating the PMO because of what

00:41:04.090 --> 00:41:09.609
I'm capable of, and then they, I, uh,
I'm not, I keep trying to use bigger

00:41:09.609 --> 00:41:13.929
words than I should, but, uh, they
try, they basically gave me shit.

00:41:14.160 --> 00:41:19.280
For months and months through friends
and family and just random messages.

00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:22.500
Like you don't know the impact of
your voice, which is one of the

00:41:22.510 --> 00:41:27.450
things that the politically exposed
have and what it and what it's doing.

00:41:27.450 --> 00:41:31.740
And but that's the definition of a
government looking for something.

00:41:33.990 --> 00:41:37.970
Anyone who knows me or knew me knew
like, yeah, I had political goals.

00:41:37.970 --> 00:41:43.100
I have political goals, especially
after all this bullshit that, you know,

00:41:43.169 --> 00:41:47.730
I wasn't trying to compete with that
guy, that guy being our current PM.

00:41:48.399 --> 00:41:49.699
I'd met him a few times.

00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:53.620
I'd been offered minister of national
defense as long as I kept my mouth shut.

00:41:53.620 --> 00:41:54.148
Travis Bader: And then

00:41:54.148 --> 00:41:56.792
Jody Mitic: when I didn't and
Andrew Leslie got kicked out and

00:41:56.792 --> 00:42:01.023
he was my, you know, the guy I was
supposed to fall in place after I

00:42:01.023 --> 00:42:02.345
was still offered a senatorship.

00:42:05.670 --> 00:42:10.610
From Aaron O'Toole through the PMO,
just, just, you know, shut up, right.

00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:15.840
But nothing for the troops and
nothing for Mike, you know, like,

00:42:15.860 --> 00:42:19.449
and there was nothing on pay, you
know, like what's in it for me.

00:42:19.885 --> 00:42:21.325
And what's in it for the troops.

00:42:21.415 --> 00:42:25.265
So essentially it was, it was
just leave prime minister Trudeau.

00:42:25.365 --> 00:42:25.605
Travis Bader: Yeah.

00:42:25.605 --> 00:42:29.164
So they recognize you have a voice and
they want to try and control that voice.

00:42:29.385 --> 00:42:32.435
Either shut down that voice or
control how that voice talks.

00:42:32.745 --> 00:42:33.485
Jody Mitic: Basically.

00:42:33.514 --> 00:42:37.155
And the, and the thing that upsets
me the most about that particular

00:42:37.234 --> 00:42:38.654
part of like, this is politics.

00:42:38.654 --> 00:42:39.515
That's life, right?

00:42:39.535 --> 00:42:41.215
I got, I got kicked in the dick.

00:42:41.215 --> 00:42:42.245
I got shown my place.

00:42:42.245 --> 00:42:42.665
I get it.

00:42:44.205 --> 00:42:48.415
I was on a card carrying member
of the current party, right?

00:42:49.345 --> 00:42:52.665
All they had to do is talk to me and
I probably would have done things a

00:42:52.665 --> 00:42:57.165
little different, but they treated me
like an enemy from day one, just because

00:42:57.255 --> 00:42:58.695
of something I didn't even know I had.

00:42:59.515 --> 00:42:59.935
Right.

00:43:00.115 --> 00:43:03.374
And it was through all this action that
I've realized, you know, what they were

00:43:03.394 --> 00:43:08.374
talking about the whole time and has
made me twice as determined to achieve

00:43:08.374 --> 00:43:14.155
a goal that will allow me to rewrite
this ridiculous legislation that has.

00:43:14.415 --> 00:43:19.745
To this date shorted me millions of
dollars or a million plus dollars

00:43:20.575 --> 00:43:26.245
and also been used to diminish me and
keep me in my place and put a foot

00:43:26.285 --> 00:43:29.934
on my, on my neck administratively.

00:43:29.995 --> 00:43:33.974
Uh, you know, the, cause they control,
you know, I'm, I'm entitled to certain,

00:43:34.355 --> 00:43:39.125
uh, medical stuff and they, you know,
they control it to a point where, you

00:43:39.125 --> 00:43:43.635
know, like literally don't tweet or you
won't get your veterans affairs therapy.

00:43:43.795 --> 00:43:44.265
Paid for it,

00:43:44.525 --> 00:43:45.425
Travis Bader: which is crazy.

00:43:45.425 --> 00:43:49.885
And you've been, and they deleted
my verified Twitter account.

00:43:49.955 --> 00:43:50.565
Sorry to interrupt.

00:43:51.665 --> 00:43:53.194
Well, that was kind of where I'm going.

00:43:53.285 --> 00:43:57.925
I mean, you've experienced this
throttling essentially in however

00:43:57.925 --> 00:43:59.744
you want to interpret that word.

00:43:59.745 --> 00:44:01.364
It sounds like from a few different ways.

00:44:01.895 --> 00:44:08.245
Um, and you can speak firsthand
about it, but it's not like it

00:44:08.345 --> 00:44:10.075
isn't happening to other people.

00:44:10.085 --> 00:44:13.725
I mean, didn't we just have Zuckerberg
come out recently and talk about the,

00:44:14.144 --> 00:44:18.505
uh, influence that government was
having on, uh, dissenting voices and

00:44:18.505 --> 00:44:23.365
how he's now going to have Meta operate
in a different way where they're, uh,

00:44:23.515 --> 00:44:25.895
going to allow a bit more free speech.

00:44:25.945 --> 00:44:31.935
But that was very American
oriented, uh, So, Canada's got a,

00:44:31.935 --> 00:44:34.215
Jody Mitic: uh Well, here's the thing.

00:44:34.775 --> 00:44:39.065
Politically, META has a deal with
every sitting government, right?

00:44:39.725 --> 00:44:43.065
I remember when the Twitter people
came through City Hall in Ottawa,

00:44:43.875 --> 00:44:46.565
when they bought, when they opened
the Canadian Twitter office.

00:44:46.565 --> 00:44:54.450
So Whatever agreement the Trudeau
government has with Twitter or Facebook

00:44:54.450 --> 00:44:58.390
or whatever, I'm on the blacklist
of politically exposed individuals.

00:44:58.950 --> 00:45:06.739
I think what saved my entire platform from
getting taken down, uh, was that Meta did,

00:45:06.780 --> 00:45:10.900
if you listen to the interview, uh, they
did kind of push back more than Twitter,

00:45:10.900 --> 00:45:15.795
whereas Twitter was a complete Uh,
partner in it and you know, the Twitter

00:45:15.795 --> 00:45:18.535
files Canada hasn't happened, right?

00:45:18.535 --> 00:45:21.785
So until Trudeau's out of office
and even then if the Liberals

00:45:21.785 --> 00:45:26.635
don't get voted out We I don't
even I don't even know perhaps Mr.

00:45:26.635 --> 00:45:28.315
Pualia agrees with this type of stuff.

00:45:28.355 --> 00:45:28.844
I don't know.

00:45:28.885 --> 00:45:33.705
We don't know that yet um You know, I'm
hoping if there's a change in government,

00:45:33.965 --> 00:45:38.015
South and North might, you know, I'll
be set free again because I did have

00:45:38.015 --> 00:45:43.315
a pretty significant social media
presence without monetizing it or using

00:45:43.315 --> 00:45:47.344
it as a, as a way to, you know, feed my
kids because I didn't think I had to.

00:45:47.654 --> 00:45:47.924
You're

00:45:47.925 --> 00:45:51.425
Travis Bader: mentioning that there's
a, uh, sort of a, a clever way that they

00:45:51.435 --> 00:45:53.625
were throttling an account through using.

00:45:55.390 --> 00:45:55.770
Oh

00:45:55.810 --> 00:45:56.200
Jody Mitic: yeah.

00:45:56.210 --> 00:46:00.610
So you know, the, the like sex,
sexy girl bots where it's like zero

00:46:00.620 --> 00:46:05.899
followers, zero posts, but it's like
a girl's butt and I would just get

00:46:05.900 --> 00:46:08.120
a ton of those like hundreds a day.

00:46:08.379 --> 00:46:11.045
Uh, and my followers would
go down and down and down.

00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:14.679
But there's this core group of
thousands of people that have

00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:15.989
followed me cause I have OG.

00:46:16.659 --> 00:46:18.239
I had an OG Twitter account.

00:46:19.320 --> 00:46:21.630
From Oh eight, you know, it's
probably one of the first million

00:46:21.630 --> 00:46:24.360
people to sign up maybe, you know,
and then same with Instagram.

00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:26.810
Cause I was bored, you know,
I'd had my feet blown off back

00:46:26.810 --> 00:46:28.170
then I just got an iPhone.

00:46:28.610 --> 00:46:30.000
So I was learning how to use it.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.720
And you know, it wasn't something you made
money with until the teens really, uh,

00:46:34.730 --> 00:46:38.040
unless you're on YouTube, I guess, but I
wasn't, you know, I was doing other stuff.

00:46:38.950 --> 00:46:42.320
And now, you know, I look at
what it is and what it's become

00:46:42.320 --> 00:46:43.590
and, you know, shows like yours.

00:46:43.590 --> 00:46:48.000
And there was a time when like, I was
one of the podcasts on Canada, I think

00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:49.700
like there was, yeah, I looked it up.

00:46:49.700 --> 00:46:49.930
So.

00:46:50.570 --> 00:46:51.650
There is so few of them.

00:46:51.650 --> 00:46:52.440
They're not very good.

00:46:52.440 --> 00:46:54.390
If you find it, it's a Jody medic podcast.

00:46:54.750 --> 00:46:55.900
Don't hold those ones against me.

00:46:55.900 --> 00:47:02.950
I was on a lot of drugs back then, but
the point is we all, you know, we have a

00:47:02.950 --> 00:47:08.419
message now and we are in this age where
you and I can do a show like this from

00:47:08.420 --> 00:47:14.440
my living room and we can expand our
voices and we can get a larger footprint.

00:47:14.665 --> 00:47:18.625
So that our views and how we see the
world can get out there because there's

00:47:18.625 --> 00:47:20.315
two versions of what happened, right?

00:47:20.315 --> 00:47:25.945
There's what they say and what I say You
know and thus far i've had law fair And

00:47:25.945 --> 00:47:30.435
all that used against me and all these
other backdoor tricks and you know in a in

00:47:30.445 --> 00:47:34.785
platforms that you know They're personal
there's something you think are yours and

00:47:34.785 --> 00:47:39.005
then when you go back and it's gone uh,
like my twitter was you you know, like

00:47:39.005 --> 00:47:40.725
whoa, geez, you know, I thought I was a

00:47:46.785 --> 00:47:49.924
Travis Bader: So you're using Twitter, you
put out a tweet, you say, Hey, let's get

00:47:49.925 --> 00:47:55.354
together, veterans, let's get together,
nothing about violence, nothing before or

00:47:55.355 --> 00:47:57.925
after that tweet saying, it's threatening.

00:47:57.944 --> 00:47:57.974
It

00:47:57.975 --> 00:47:58.494
Jody Mitic: says in,

00:47:58.704 --> 00:47:58.984
Travis Bader: yeah,

00:47:59.274 --> 00:47:59.675
Jody Mitic: it's sorry.

00:47:59.675 --> 00:48:02.175
It says right in the report,
he never said anything.

00:48:02.185 --> 00:48:06.805
He never threatened anyone, but, but, but
someone interpret at the prime minister's

00:48:06.805 --> 00:48:09.985
office, interpreted everything as threats.

00:48:11.100 --> 00:48:13.860
They said I was going to do
a coup if people showed up.

00:48:15.630 --> 00:48:17.090
I don't know who, that's the thing.

00:48:17.100 --> 00:48:20.330
Nobody's willing to have a
conversation about this, right?

00:48:20.390 --> 00:48:22.830
They were just willing to, it
was just redacted information.

00:48:22.839 --> 00:48:24.160
You had little bits and parts.

00:48:24.550 --> 00:48:26.500
Well, nothing I challenged.

00:48:26.510 --> 00:48:30.309
So like, if I talk about, you
know, the whole PMO being involved,

00:48:30.319 --> 00:48:31.500
that's just ignored, right.

00:48:31.750 --> 00:48:34.870
When, you know, when I was on the
stand with the crown, when they took

00:48:34.870 --> 00:48:41.055
my license for my firearms, uh, you
know, I said, well, Well, they said

00:48:41.055 --> 00:48:46.065
I was, uh, ultimately the judge said,
regardless of anything, you're a threat

00:48:46.195 --> 00:48:48.015
if you, cause you might hold a grudge.

00:48:49.005 --> 00:48:49.415
Travis Bader: Okay.

00:48:49.425 --> 00:48:52.075
Jody Mitic: I can, that's kind
of a, that's kind of a flex,

00:48:52.075 --> 00:48:53.425
but no, but that's the thing.

00:48:53.425 --> 00:48:56.854
Like what it, so what I'm like,
I'm a decommissioned weapon

00:48:56.855 --> 00:48:58.274
that might go off at any time.

00:48:58.274 --> 00:48:59.574
Or am I a hero?

00:48:59.595 --> 00:49:00.905
Like he also called me a hero.

00:49:00.905 --> 00:49:04.015
It's like, it's one of those
like a bait and switch type.

00:49:04.820 --> 00:49:08.110
You know, uh, decisions that they
give, you know, they call you a

00:49:08.110 --> 00:49:11.230
good guy and then they call you,
you know, nuts and a threat and

00:49:11.230 --> 00:49:12.745
they call you a hero at the end.

00:49:13.520 --> 00:49:14.932
Um, I get it.

00:49:14.932 --> 00:49:15.840
It is what it is.

00:49:15.840 --> 00:49:18.139
If it's, it's all politically motivated.

00:49:18.540 --> 00:49:21.869
Even this reduction in my
veteran's affairs pay is through

00:49:21.969 --> 00:49:24.600
the liberals, you know, because
I don't shut up about this stuff.

00:49:24.890 --> 00:49:27.320
So I'll take his keep take his money.

00:49:27.330 --> 00:49:29.380
And they, they know my personal life.

00:49:29.420 --> 00:49:33.480
They know what I'm really going through
and they still do this stuff to me.

00:49:34.099 --> 00:49:36.535
And, you know, So I'm at
the point where they've.

00:49:36.935 --> 00:49:38.665
You know, they've cut off my income.

00:49:38.665 --> 00:49:42.815
So I'm trying to challenge and
get a audience up at the top and

00:49:42.825 --> 00:49:44.365
get this legislation changed.

00:49:44.665 --> 00:49:46.424
You know, luckily there's
an election coming.

00:49:47.135 --> 00:49:50.745
I don't think I could run, but I can
certainly try to make it an issue.

00:49:51.525 --> 00:49:56.345
You know, yeah, that's what I'm hoping by
getting on the show here with you today.

00:49:56.345 --> 00:49:59.985
And I know I'm a, it's been an
interesting chat, but, uh, and

00:49:59.985 --> 00:50:02.575
I've been all over the place, but
you've been very patient with me.

00:50:02.685 --> 00:50:06.714
Travis Bader: Why don't you tell me where
things are moving forward to where's.

00:50:07.150 --> 00:50:10.240
Jody Middick, moving
forward to in the future.

00:50:10.740 --> 00:50:15.120
And, uh, and how, how do
you see that happening?

00:50:15.470 --> 00:50:16.100
I'm trying to get,

00:50:16.170 --> 00:50:18.790
Jody Mitic: so, uh, lots
of things happen, right?

00:50:18.840 --> 00:50:23.310
So I'm still in the process of getting
my personal life completely sorted.

00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:27.579
Um, you know, when you let
things go, it's amazing how

00:50:28.080 --> 00:50:29.820
fast things pile up behind you.

00:50:30.740 --> 00:50:34.839
And so as that's being sorted,
though, I'm trying to take steps

00:50:34.839 --> 00:50:38.080
forward in advocating for myself.

00:50:38.940 --> 00:50:44.620
And my kids and my, and my community and
get back on the positive path, you know,

00:50:44.620 --> 00:50:51.399
I, I have this, you know, I do, I know I
have this ability to, to be quite positive

00:50:51.400 --> 00:50:53.870
about outcomes because in my opinion.

00:50:54.190 --> 00:50:57.580
You know, and just how, you know, how
we're trained and how we look at things

00:50:57.680 --> 00:51:04.289
as, you know, as the, the snipers and,
you know, you have to be successful in

00:51:04.289 --> 00:51:08.510
whatever mission you're going out on, or,
you know, or you die trying literally,

00:51:09.709 --> 00:51:14.059
and, you know, that's, that's special
forces one on one, that's combat one on

00:51:14.060 --> 00:51:18.460
one, like the mission is your goal and
your strategy is how you achieve it.

00:51:19.910 --> 00:51:26.380
So, you know, my strategy is to, you
know, get my voice back, you know, As

00:51:26.380 --> 00:51:32.170
many, uh, people that will listen to the
situation, not, and I have to focus on

00:51:32.170 --> 00:51:35.689
myself here because it's about me and
my kids, you know, and like I said, I'm

00:51:35.690 --> 00:51:41.019
only 48 and I want to live at least a
hundred more years and I want to be sure

00:51:41.019 --> 00:51:45.320
that I'm going to be okay, you know,
and the last thing I want to be is this

00:51:45.349 --> 00:51:51.080
pauper, uh, living off a pension or a
payment or whatever they want to call it.

00:51:51.670 --> 00:51:55.720
Uh from the government that gets smaller
and smaller as you get older and older

00:51:56.490 --> 00:52:02.849
Um, you know, i'm 108 disabled Missing
both feet and you know in the meat

00:52:02.869 --> 00:52:06.820
wagon has you know, that's the hardest
hit it took but you know I i'm kind

00:52:06.820 --> 00:52:10.360
of like a truck that had a bent frame
once, you know, and you bend it back

00:52:10.360 --> 00:52:17.245
but it's never the same my long term
Uh, quality of life, my long term stable

00:52:17.305 --> 00:52:19.545
stability of life just isn't guaranteed.

00:52:20.465 --> 00:52:24.455
Um, with the new veterans charter
or whatever, they've renamed it.

00:52:24.555 --> 00:52:30.615
Uh, and so my ultimate goal is to get
into a position where I can correct this

00:52:31.195 --> 00:52:33.545
for myself first and then for others.

00:52:34.195 --> 00:52:38.415
Travis Bader: So after the injury,
I'm sure there is a lot of physical

00:52:38.415 --> 00:52:44.345
rehabilitation and what was the
psychological rehabilitation?

00:52:44.364 --> 00:52:45.405
What did that look like?

00:52:47.070 --> 00:52:52.640
Jody Mitic: It's ongoing, uh But first
and foremost, like I like I said earlier

00:52:52.740 --> 00:52:59.490
I tried to focus on Treating like the re
so the rehab immediately in toronto at

00:52:59.490 --> 00:53:06.009
the recovery center Uh, you know you go
in you do some yeah to me the exercises

00:53:06.009 --> 00:53:09.940
weren't that hard But that wasn't the
point you go there you do exercise you

00:53:10.580 --> 00:53:14.510
you get the medical care, you know I
treated it like uh, like a course just

00:53:14.510 --> 00:53:18.150
another like military Uh, course I'm
like a sampling, you know, when you go

00:53:18.180 --> 00:53:24.140
for, for, for job training for a three
month course, then at the time they had

00:53:24.169 --> 00:53:28.650
all these, you know, the wounded warrior
charity came up and there was all the

00:53:28.690 --> 00:53:31.590
talk about PTSD and OSI being a thing.

00:53:31.590 --> 00:53:38.610
And, you know, as the patient, as the, as
the casualty, as the soldier, you know,

00:53:38.610 --> 00:53:40.820
it's as much in my interest to recover.

00:53:41.320 --> 00:53:42.490
As it is in the militaries.

00:53:42.500 --> 00:53:48.010
Now, again, I didn't know at the
beginning that, you know, even so to go

00:53:48.010 --> 00:53:52.860
with that, there was this universality
of service thing that the army had

00:53:52.860 --> 00:53:59.700
just, or the military had just adopted,
which, you know, even that was, that

00:53:59.700 --> 00:54:03.954
punished me as well, financially and
career wise, you know, I didn't get out.

00:54:05.085 --> 00:54:10.025
I only got out because the career wasn't
going to progress in a manner that I

00:54:10.055 --> 00:54:14.075
thought seemed fair to the situation.

00:54:14.415 --> 00:54:18.085
And then especially with their, they
were going to try and stop me from trying

00:54:18.085 --> 00:54:20.225
to correct the new veterans charter.

00:54:21.644 --> 00:54:22.084
So,

00:54:25.175 --> 00:54:28.065
so, you know, regardless of all
that, though, it's still, it's

00:54:28.075 --> 00:54:30.945
my life, you know, I can't.

00:54:31.395 --> 00:54:37.355
I can't let what happened define, like
as much as it defines me today, it's

00:54:37.355 --> 00:54:43.335
not going to define me forever, you
know, and there's so much to do and

00:54:43.455 --> 00:54:47.265
you, you know, my mindset was always
to get beyond what's in front of me

00:54:47.265 --> 00:54:49.895
now and what are my problems now?

00:54:49.904 --> 00:54:50.685
Okay, well then.

00:54:50.765 --> 00:54:52.345
That's a challenge to overcome.

00:54:52.345 --> 00:54:55.705
You know, it's like every new mission
was, you know, a new challenge.

00:54:55.765 --> 00:54:56.465
And it was exciting.

00:54:57.375 --> 00:55:00.685
So when you go, when you challenge
your therapy or you challenge your

00:55:00.685 --> 00:55:04.954
recovery, you achieve the things they
say you wouldn't, Oh, you know, nobody

00:55:04.955 --> 00:55:08.975
goes running on two prosthetic legs and
then you go and run a half marathon.

00:55:08.984 --> 00:55:13.145
Oh, you know, and it hurts
really a lot actually.

00:55:13.145 --> 00:55:19.955
But, uh, you know, you, you put
these goals in front of you or I did

00:55:19.995 --> 00:55:21.405
and you, and then I achieved them.

00:55:22.040 --> 00:55:25.870
And, you know, and, you know,
same problem I had in politics.

00:55:25.870 --> 00:55:28.790
I was having in the military back
then they were monitoring all our

00:55:28.790 --> 00:55:32.869
social media, uh, but mine was
becoming a bit of a problem, right?

00:55:33.550 --> 00:55:34.949
And you don't know that, right?

00:55:35.380 --> 00:55:35.940
They didn't know.

00:55:35.970 --> 00:55:39.609
It's not like anyone said to me,
like, Hey, you got to stop doing it.

00:55:39.619 --> 00:55:42.609
Cause I was a little careful
on my social media back then.

00:55:42.609 --> 00:55:45.159
But, um, you know.

00:55:45.599 --> 00:55:49.879
You're just not getting any favors
within the forces, uh, or I wasn't.

00:55:50.319 --> 00:55:54.809
And so to me, it was the next challenge
had to come from outside the military.

00:55:54.819 --> 00:55:56.769
If they were, if they were going
to like, you know, if I was gonna

00:55:56.769 --> 00:55:59.819
be a master corporal forever,
what's the point, you know?

00:56:00.269 --> 00:56:03.219
Um, so, you know, I'm still a young man.

00:56:03.219 --> 00:56:03.689
I still had.

00:56:04.039 --> 00:56:08.699
I still have lots of ambition, you know,
I just, um, you know, I had to also in

00:56:08.699 --> 00:56:15.169
the last, you know, 10 years really had
to accept being wounded too, to like

00:56:15.169 --> 00:56:17.539
the full extent I had thought, just.

00:56:28.089 --> 00:56:31.149
You know, I talked about the drugs
earlier, you know, and my first

00:56:31.169 --> 00:56:34.829
narcotic really that I was addicted
to is the prescription pain stuff

00:56:34.829 --> 00:56:41.079
Right not to diminish that I became
an addict to cocaine is actually a

00:56:41.079 --> 00:56:43.119
pharmaceutical, but it's from the 1800s.

00:56:43.149 --> 00:56:52.789
But anyway um, uh when I was getting blown
up it's not an excuse right like, uh, You

00:56:52.789 --> 00:56:56.999
know, despite you know, cocaine's a good
pain management like I my legs never hurt.

00:56:57.909 --> 00:57:00.350
Uh, well when I was on Originally,

00:57:03.430 --> 00:57:07.290
you know, like that's not an excuse
dude, you know, I had to have these I

00:57:07.299 --> 00:57:08.770
have these conversations with myself.

00:57:08.860 --> 00:57:11.370
It just, you know, you know,
you're not doing the right thing.

00:57:11.919 --> 00:57:12.299
Yes.

00:57:12.309 --> 00:57:13.329
You can handle it.

00:57:13.439 --> 00:57:15.349
You can get one more bump.

00:57:15.369 --> 00:57:16.910
Not going to kill you or it might.

00:57:17.429 --> 00:57:18.579
You got little kids.

00:57:19.079 --> 00:57:23.949
Uh, you got, you know, you have this,
you know, like if you google my name

00:57:23.949 --> 00:57:28.459
and I know it sounds conceited, but
it's true for a long time, like my

00:57:28.479 --> 00:57:32.019
name appeared in a lot of different
places on a lot of different platforms.

00:57:32.819 --> 00:57:36.679
And so, you know, this book came out
that sold, it was one of the best

00:57:36.679 --> 00:57:41.939
selling books of the, of its time,
never got any best seller list because

00:57:41.939 --> 00:57:46.249
it was considered, I was considered a
tourist in the literary world, right?

00:57:46.809 --> 00:57:47.209
So.

00:57:48.430 --> 00:57:51.910
What are you going to leave this as
your legacy like, you know, like Elvis

00:57:51.910 --> 00:57:57.730
or something like you found dead on the
toilet and, uh, you know, people think

00:57:57.740 --> 00:58:03.649
that your base drivers were like sex,
drugs and like fast cars and stuff as

00:58:03.650 --> 00:58:08.529
great as all those things might be in a,
you know, in a moment, you got kids to

00:58:08.529 --> 00:58:13.180
raise, you got a country to, You know,
to, to be a part of, you know, like

00:58:15.279 --> 00:58:20.850
the, the mind shift because I had gone
so far one way that to bring myself

00:58:20.910 --> 00:58:25.429
back to an acceptable mindset, it's
just except you had your legs blown off.

00:58:25.709 --> 00:58:26.099
That's it.

00:58:26.589 --> 00:58:28.799
I smoke a ton of weed as you in your.

00:58:29.305 --> 00:58:31.335
Viewers can probably tell
with this discussion.

00:58:32.664 --> 00:58:36.804
Uh, but you know, the most I
take now is Tylenol and aspirin.

00:58:37.224 --> 00:58:43.534
Um, you know, I don't take any other pain
meds, uh, not yet, maybe in the future,

00:58:43.554 --> 00:58:48.024
but, um, you know, you know, that might,

00:58:49.034 --> 00:58:55.394
Travis Bader: 18 years ago now, you were
medically pulled from the fight, right?

00:58:55.454 --> 00:58:58.524
Well, yeah, but you're still
fighting your enemies just changed.

00:58:59.314 --> 00:58:59.754
Jody Mitic: Indeed.

00:59:00.484 --> 00:59:00.894
Yeah.

00:59:00.984 --> 00:59:04.144
You know, and, but that's, and that's,
again, when you transition out of the

00:59:04.144 --> 00:59:09.084
military, like you said, like you have
to, you know, the world is now your.

00:59:09.904 --> 00:59:15.074
Uh, AOR, your area of, or area
of responsibility, you know, my,

00:59:15.094 --> 00:59:16.574
like I am, I'm a whole homeowner.

00:59:16.574 --> 00:59:17.894
So this is my perimeter.

00:59:18.314 --> 00:59:22.124
This is my fortification, you know,
like you have to be happy with that,

00:59:22.154 --> 00:59:26.544
you know, yeah, you're not out chasing
bad guys or jumping out of planes or

00:59:26.544 --> 00:59:32.574
testing the latest firearms or driving
cars, you know, like breakneck speeds.

00:59:33.914 --> 00:59:37.994
Travis Bader: You know, but now your,
your enemy is a little bit more nebulous.

00:59:39.024 --> 00:59:43.534
It's not somebody that's right in front
of you that you can see it's a policy.

00:59:44.214 --> 00:59:44.494
Jody Mitic: Yeah.

00:59:44.494 --> 00:59:49.004
Well, I thought I, this, I found myself
looking for enemies at some time.

00:59:49.004 --> 00:59:54.654
Now, again, I have lots of them, but
not, not that kind of enemy, you know?

00:59:54.704 --> 00:59:56.374
And, you know, it's.

00:59:57.425 --> 01:00:03.535
You know, it's a, it was a mindset thing
that I thought I had under control,

01:00:03.535 --> 01:00:07.884
but again, accepting that I had been
wounded and I've been taken out of

01:00:07.885 --> 01:00:12.964
the fight, you know, and, and all that
was just a big part of, of getting off

01:00:12.964 --> 01:00:19.045
the drugs and getting back, even to
do this show today with you, uh, you

01:00:19.045 --> 01:00:24.520
know, I'm happy that I've made this kind
of progress with myself and I'm, I'm,

01:00:24.560 --> 01:00:30.910
I'm happy with happier with, uh, time.

01:00:32.520 --> 01:00:33.190
What does that mean?

01:00:36.290 --> 01:00:41.599
As much as it's as it's finite, it's
ours to own in the moment, so to speak.

01:00:41.619 --> 01:00:44.849
One of the things I loved about
sniping was he didn't talk a lot.

01:00:46.439 --> 01:00:48.069
If you did, it was to the point.

01:00:48.440 --> 01:00:53.210
And you spent all your time just
looking and looking and looking

01:00:53.250 --> 01:00:56.810
and trying to find a target, right?

01:00:56.980 --> 01:00:59.259
And, but in your mind, you're
allowed an internal dialogue.

01:01:00.980 --> 01:01:02.689
And so I kind of lost my train of thought.

01:01:02.790 --> 01:01:04.130
Where was I going with that time?

01:01:05.599 --> 01:01:10.360
So time becomes different when it's just
you and a buddy, maybe out there and

01:01:10.360 --> 01:01:12.040
you're just can't talk for three days.

01:01:13.895 --> 01:01:19.055
I had to kind of just sit back here
on my porch and realize like it's

01:01:19.055 --> 01:01:24.394
the same situation and I, I, I'm
putting time in for myself right now.

01:01:25.335 --> 01:01:28.774
And I know this sounds woo woo and
stuff, but uh, when you get to be a

01:01:28.775 --> 01:01:31.904
certain age and I, I, maybe I just
didn't get it when I was younger.

01:01:31.915 --> 01:01:36.245
Cause I was, you know, I was,
we were action, uh, Action movie

01:01:36.245 --> 01:01:40.215
heroes back then, you know, as
they'd be in a pro football player.

01:01:40.215 --> 01:01:44.345
So you gotta have a certain aspect on
things and then, you know, when you

01:01:44.345 --> 01:01:47.624
get past it, you're like, ah, maybe I
didn't have to tackle that guy so hard

01:01:47.625 --> 01:01:51.794
or I didn't have to break that guy's
leg, you know, Or, you know, maybe I

01:01:51.794 --> 01:01:54.034
didn't have to sacrifice my own body.

01:01:54.515 --> 01:01:58.145
So much to do, but you just learn
how to be a little, you know, that

01:01:58.145 --> 01:02:04.065
veteran mentality sets in, you know,
and just be happy with the time you

01:02:04.065 --> 01:02:07.734
have to, to do as, as you please.

01:02:08.415 --> 01:02:12.494
Even if you're not doing exactly what
you want, you know, if that makes

01:02:12.494 --> 01:02:14.714
sense for me, like this is my internal.

01:02:14.945 --> 01:02:21.255
internal voice, uh, just focusing on the
kids being healthy, me being healthy,

01:02:21.995 --> 01:02:27.095
uh, you know, getting back to a mental
state where I can be a contributing

01:02:27.095 --> 01:02:30.625
member again, you know, maybe get
back into politics, as I've said,

01:02:31.244 --> 01:02:31.534
Travis Bader: write

01:02:31.535 --> 01:02:36.425
Jody Mitic: another book again, uh, get
the podcast back up, you know, start

01:02:36.435 --> 01:02:39.065
generating some, uh, income for myself.

01:02:39.065 --> 01:02:43.940
And, uh, Get a life, you know,
basically , basically, you know, uh,

01:02:43.940 --> 01:02:47.870
appreciate the time you have to, to
get a, to give a life, give a lot

01:02:47.870 --> 01:02:52.810
of guys, get into woodworking, uh,
all that stuff for me, you know, I'm

01:02:52.810 --> 01:02:58.745
good at gun fighting, uh, and talking
shit and politics and , you know?

01:02:59.460 --> 01:03:03.530
Um, and so I, you know, I might
as well stick to what I'm good at.

01:03:03.530 --> 01:03:04.310
I enjoy it.

01:03:05.125 --> 01:03:07.025
Um, you know, does it bring

01:03:07.025 --> 01:03:07.815
Travis Bader: you happiness?

01:03:08.975 --> 01:03:09.445
Jody Mitic: It does.

01:03:09.635 --> 01:03:10.305
I think so.

01:03:10.305 --> 01:03:14.325
Like, tell me you started a show,
you feel like a better person

01:03:14.325 --> 01:03:17.185
because of it and you know, right.

01:03:17.185 --> 01:03:18.615
It's the, it's so

01:03:18.675 --> 01:03:19.345
Travis Bader: rewarding.

01:03:19.605 --> 01:03:24.344
I specifically started this show to try
and bring some positivity into an industry

01:03:24.344 --> 01:03:26.444
where I was seeing a lot of negativity.

01:03:26.454 --> 01:03:32.394
So from my own, yeah, from my own
selfish standpoint, I thought I can

01:03:32.394 --> 01:03:34.654
try and look at a different area or.

01:03:35.160 --> 01:03:37.570
This is the area that I know,
is there a way that I can

01:03:37.570 --> 01:03:39.380
bring some positivity into it?

01:03:39.840 --> 01:03:45.620
I, as much as I can shit talk
and I can probably shit talk

01:03:45.620 --> 01:03:46.780
with the best of them out there.

01:03:46.799 --> 01:03:51.780
I, it's a very conscious effort
for me to try and be very solution

01:03:51.789 --> 01:03:53.969
oriented in my approach or.

01:03:54.950 --> 01:04:00.910
Uh, if I'm going to talk about issues
that are difficult, uh, try and find

01:04:00.910 --> 01:04:04.380
a way that I can approach it or offer
suggestions that there might be a

01:04:04.380 --> 01:04:09.030
layer of positivity because I need to
have those sorts of people around me.

01:04:09.499 --> 01:04:14.409
And I'm hoping that through the podcast,
we can help create other people who

01:04:14.679 --> 01:04:19.050
have a sense of personal agency and use
that personal agency in a way that's

01:04:19.070 --> 01:04:22.350
positive and productive for themselves,
which will bleed off into others.

01:04:22.410 --> 01:04:23.010
So that's.

01:04:23.265 --> 01:04:25.745
Really the crux of why
I started the podcast.

01:04:26.045 --> 01:04:26.465
Jody Mitic: Yeah.

01:04:26.575 --> 01:04:26.845
Yeah.

01:04:26.845 --> 01:04:29.555
And that's, and what, what
a great way to put it.

01:04:29.555 --> 01:04:33.515
It's, it's a way to give back to the
community while learning yourself and

01:04:33.524 --> 01:04:39.044
exposing yourself to like higher level
people, you know, I didn't go where I

01:04:39.044 --> 01:04:43.095
wanted with my show a few, like, you know,
a long time ago now, and, you know, I want

01:04:43.095 --> 01:04:46.225
to do a different one, a different format.

01:04:46.625 --> 01:04:51.525
But my goals are the same to, you know,
try and bring voices into the, into

01:04:51.525 --> 01:04:55.205
the atmosphere or get my own out there
into places where they, where it isn't.

01:04:55.855 --> 01:04:59.444
And because I realized like as a
soldier, as an infant here, as a

01:04:59.475 --> 01:05:03.464
combat guy, like that alone puts me
in a small group in this country.

01:05:04.044 --> 01:05:07.895
And for us to have a larger voice, you
know, we need our own advocates as well.

01:05:08.215 --> 01:05:12.165
You know, most of our advocacy
comes through the people of.

01:05:12.370 --> 01:05:14.440
Canada through the, you
know, through the taxpayer.

01:05:14.570 --> 01:05:19.130
So, you know, as, as much as we're
the silent profession, you know,

01:05:19.140 --> 01:05:20.820
that's changed since I got wounded.

01:05:20.820 --> 01:05:26.310
Now it seems if you don't have a GoPro on
as a SF guy, you're not doing it right.

01:05:26.390 --> 01:05:30.589
Um, well, but that's the thing.

01:05:30.590 --> 01:05:31.969
Like I I'm adaptable.

01:05:31.969 --> 01:05:33.969
I, I just, I'm trying to embrace it.

01:05:34.039 --> 01:05:37.200
Like I did 10 years ago when
I started, you know, my first

01:05:37.210 --> 01:05:38.360
podcast that never quit.

01:05:38.630 --> 01:05:39.460
radio show.

01:05:39.970 --> 01:05:44.730
Um, and then I had the Jody Middick
podcast and cause I, you know, got

01:05:44.730 --> 01:05:48.249
hurt and I was listening to Rogan
and I said, okay, that's interesting.

01:05:48.250 --> 01:05:52.240
And what a great way to like spend
time was listening to, you know,

01:05:52.260 --> 01:05:54.870
the, the new iPhone with the podcast.

01:05:55.745 --> 01:05:57.275
And it's, it's dirt cheap.

01:05:58.185 --> 01:06:01.065
You can just record it on your
phone and put it out there.

01:06:01.065 --> 01:06:02.265
And somebody will listen to it.

01:06:02.435 --> 01:06:03.035
Probably.

01:06:03.535 --> 01:06:05.775
Travis Bader: As long as you're
bringing value to others, like,

01:06:05.815 --> 01:06:08.195
like we talked about ahead of time,
what do you want to talk about?

01:06:08.214 --> 01:06:12.214
It says my goal on every episode
is to bring maximum value to

01:06:12.214 --> 01:06:14.345
the audience and to the guest.

01:06:14.595 --> 01:06:15.544
How do we achieve that?

01:06:16.355 --> 01:06:17.755
Jody Mitic: Yeah, beautiful.

01:06:18.275 --> 01:06:18.795
Travis Bader: Jody,

01:06:19.085 --> 01:06:20.405
Jody Mitic: is there any closing thoughts?

01:06:21.025 --> 01:06:27.264
I want to just say that I appreciate
you reaching out and being so patient

01:06:27.815 --> 01:06:31.685
and giving me a chance to try and
talk to you about a lot of this stuff,

01:06:31.705 --> 01:06:38.075
cause it is a little convoluted, it's
a little bit inside baseball, but if.

01:06:38.410 --> 01:06:43.000
If you can help me try to advocate
for myself and for others, uh,

01:06:43.030 --> 01:06:45.470
I, I can't miss that opportunity.

01:06:46.010 --> 01:06:51.900
And you know, uh, it's such a
difficult thing to try to get

01:06:51.900 --> 01:06:54.920
through that, uh, again, I just
want to thank you for your patience.

01:06:55.500 --> 01:06:59.010
Travis Bader: Well, I'm going to have
links to your social media in the,

01:06:59.549 --> 01:07:01.560
in the bio so people can see you.

01:07:01.735 --> 01:07:04.575
And follow you and see
what you have to say.

01:07:04.965 --> 01:07:10.565
A big message on here that I really
wanted to make sure that was put out was,

01:07:10.585 --> 01:07:12.265
you know, on the new veterans charter.

01:07:12.574 --> 01:07:14.195
Where can people learn more about that?

01:07:15.495 --> 01:07:16.835
Jody Mitic: Well, if you Google,

01:07:16.875 --> 01:07:17.015
Travis Bader: I

01:07:17.015 --> 01:07:17.945
Jody Mitic: hate, you know, right.

01:07:18.005 --> 01:07:18.854
Use Google.

01:07:18.885 --> 01:07:21.434
I just Googled new
veterans charter Canada.

01:07:21.925 --> 01:07:25.375
It's been renamed to the
veterans wellness act, I believe.

01:07:25.475 --> 01:07:30.625
Um, but within it, you'll find a lot of
talk about what's best for the veteran,

01:07:30.635 --> 01:07:33.574
but, uh, very little to back it up.

01:07:33.755 --> 01:07:40.145
Uh, a lot of, uh, uh, excuses why
money can't be given to veterans.

01:07:40.175 --> 01:07:47.285
Uh, a lot of money that goes to tons
and tons and tons of studies and study

01:07:47.295 --> 01:07:49.375
groups and conventions and events.

01:07:49.415 --> 01:07:51.464
Like they spend a lot of money.

01:07:52.080 --> 01:07:55.150
On a lot of other stuff,
except giving it to the actual

01:07:55.160 --> 01:07:56.910
veterans with this legislation.

01:07:56.910 --> 01:08:02.609
And it's not dissimilar to what they
did with regular healthcare and what,

01:08:02.730 --> 01:08:04.709
you know, got that guy assassinated.

01:08:04.710 --> 01:08:05.020
Right?

01:08:05.070 --> 01:08:14.240
They use magic smoke and mirrors and
googly gook talk to confuse the situation.

01:08:14.955 --> 01:08:17.765
Make you feel like a
victim of your own service.

01:08:17.815 --> 01:08:25.434
Make you feel like you don't have enough,
uh, personal, um, uh, what do you call it?

01:08:25.435 --> 01:08:31.485
Sorry, your own personal agency to make
decisions for yourself, blah, blah, blah.

01:08:32.385 --> 01:08:37.645
And they give all the money to a bunch
of experts that never solve anything.

01:08:37.645 --> 01:08:40.885
And, you know, there's just, it's a,
it's like I said, just myself, I'm

01:08:40.885 --> 01:08:44.864
out over a million bucks already,
you know, and that's ridiculous.

01:08:44.864 --> 01:08:46.935
That's just cold, hard cash.

01:08:47.680 --> 01:08:49.730
Anyone can use to live their life.

01:08:49.750 --> 01:08:55.660
And I earned it stepping on high
explosives for the crown of Canada and

01:08:55.660 --> 01:08:59.420
our, my own government, governments
of which parties I was a member of.

01:08:59.550 --> 01:09:01.870
I was a card carrying member
of the conservatives too.

01:09:02.999 --> 01:09:07.190
None of them want to fix this
and they, this is, this is

01:09:07.210 --> 01:09:08.280
the message I want to leave.

01:09:09.590 --> 01:09:10.420
Nevermind me.

01:09:11.550 --> 01:09:16.290
Every injured soldier since the
new veterans charter was put in

01:09:16.290 --> 01:09:20.070
in 2006 has been literally robbed.

01:09:20.740 --> 01:09:25.700
By their own government that they were
serving when they had their bodies

01:09:26.690 --> 01:09:32.350
damaged overseas, even at home, if it's
at home, but like, you know, there's

01:09:32.380 --> 01:09:39.120
more guys like me, you know, there's,
and girls, it is an absolute fast.

01:09:39.490 --> 01:09:41.430
Of literally money out of our pockets

01:09:42.900 --> 01:09:43.360
Travis Bader: jody.

01:09:43.850 --> 01:09:47.750
Thanks so much for taking the time to be
on the silver core podcast Appreciate it