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A production by and for veterans to learn how to help one another task a bite out of veteran suicide. We take with veterans about their service, things they would have done different, and what advice they would give their younger self. We also highlight community resources for veterans and provide an opportunity to connect veterans with community projects to help seniors and children.
Ed, welcome to the Veterans
Club, a production for and by
veterans and first responders.
Each week, we gather as a
community to share stories,
laugh and build friendships that
can stand the test time
together, we can help prevent
veteran suicide one cup of
coffee at a time. Thank you for
taking time out of your day to
tune into the Veterans Club
podcast. The Veterans Club, we
are well, we're setting our
sights on ending veteran and
first responder suicide one cup
of coffee at a time. We discuss
local issues and well, engage in
our community, finding the areas
that need fixing. In Coeur
d'Alene, Idaho, we started a
weekly coffee group for vets and
first responders and well, it
quickly became my favorite
meeting of the week. It's my
time to remember service to
country, the bright side of
America and the can do spirit
that men and women who've donned
a uniform share with me in
studio today is one of my
newfound friendships that
honestly never would have
happened without the Veterans
Club. Seth Horst, a retired
California CHP officer turned
north Idaho realtor. Seth, thank
you so much for taking time to
come in studio today. Thank
you, Ed, thanks for having me. I
guess you're right. It was kind
of fortuitous that we met, and
we met through the Veterans
Club, didn't we? We
did. We did. That was first time
I ever met you and Dave put us
together. Yep, yeah. It's been
fantastic. So let's start off
with CHP, you. You served in
California, in Northern
California, what prompted you to
become a law enforcement
officer?
Yeah, well, first off, let me
address CHP, because someone out
there is thinking it the
acronym, the acronyms that I
often hear are can't handle
police work. Coffee has
priority. Let me see, I'm sure
there's some other ones in
there, but I I got into the CHP,
let's so I had been for several
years testing with other
departments. I was living in
Boston, so I tested for Boston
Police Department, NYPD, and I
kept moving before, like
physically moving to a different
state, before I could get too
far in the process. So I found
myself in California, and my
wife was pregnant. I needed
health insurance. I was working
construction at the time. I
said, let me take another run at
it. There was the CHP office
like a shining beacon with a big
banner up front that said, how
hiring. So I walked in there and
filled out the application, and
within one year, I was in the
academy in West Sacramento,
California. So it they moved me
along the process the fastest. I
had never dreamt of being a
highway patrolman. I didn't and
have, you know, fantasies of
driving fast down the freeway,
like some of these guys did, I
kind of just fell into it, and
they were the quickest one to
pick me up. So it wasn't a
childhood dream. You didn't wake
up as a 10 year old saying, I
want to be a cop. Nope, boy,
I bounced around from a million
different careers as a kid. You
know, I thought about military,
I thought about, you know,
outdoors type activities,
guides, things like that. Never,
ever dreamt of being a cop until
I was in my early 20s, and it
started hit me, Wow. Now, what
did you think of cops when you
were a kid? Just out of
curiosity, oh, I
had, I had good respect for
them. You know, like most late
teens, I went through a rather
rebellious phase. I was better
at committing crimes and not
getting caught than other
people, so I made it through
unscathed. Thankfully, clean,
record, clean, record, clean
record, yeah, yeah, critical.
So, you know, but, but it's one
of those things. I have respect
for them and but I never
considered myself in that role.
What? Let's talk about going
through the academy. Let's start
there. What? What's one of the
most memorable activities, days,
events? What's something that
you remember the most from your
academy days?
Yeah, there's a, there's a sign
at the at the CHP Academy on the
way out that said the finest Law
Enforcement Academy in the
world. As you're there, I don't
think you ever realize that,
because it sucks so bad. It's
soul sucking. It's, it's, and
I've never been to boot camp,
but it's described by guys that
were as boot camp and college
rolled into one. And I think
that's pretty accurate, because
I did go to college. So you have
a tremendous workload, as far as
you know, learning, law,
procedures, policy, things like
that, and then you're also
belittled multiple times a day
by what we call staff officers.
So they're they're there to put
the fear in you, and they do a
damn good job of it, because
most of them probably can't.
Now, I looking later back, they
probably came from the Marine
Corps, because they were
extremely good at just
destroying you mentally. So that
combination at plus, it was a.
An Academy, so you're there for
seven months. I would, I would
go home on the weekends if you
weren't in trouble. So that was
good, but you're in that
environment, you know, 24 hours
a day during the week, and it
was just hell.
You know, I remember you talk
about boot camp, and I remember
in boot camp, it's like, this is
really the first time as an
adult that I'm away from home, I
remember, okay, there's no going
back. I'm gone. I'm gone. For
good. Did you have a sense of
isolation? Because now you're in
your 20s when you go in there,
so you're not this fresh kid out
of school,
right? Which, which was probably
good I went in. I was 27 when I
went in, so I'd have some life
experience, you know, I had a
college degree. I'd worked
multiple jobs. I was married at
the time, and my wife was
pregnant. So, you know, I was
there were plenty of guys that
were 21 years old going in fresh
young guys, but there's also a
crowd of older people there too
that. So I think that helped get
me through the experience. It
was definitely difficult. You
know, they take your phones away
from you. And this was back,
really, before iPhones. So you
know, you didn't really have
that option anyway. But yes, you
felt pretty isolated. You know,
I couldn't really talk to my
wife very much during the week,
a couple of times, maybe. And
you know, she's pregnant, so I'm
trying to deal with her emotions
and my emotions, because life
sucks for me at the time. So you
really, you learned to rely on
your roommates. You know, I had
two roommates that, you know, we
slept in the same room, and then
your squad. So you had, you
know, 10 or 12 people in each
squad. That kind of is your,
your probably in the same in the
military, right? That's your
safety net. There, no, there
were 50 in the room. But, yeah.
So looking back on your days
again, just focusing on the
academy, let's start there,
because we're gonna, we're gonna
talk about the the time in the
field. But are there things that
you learned uniquely from the
academy that you use still to
this day? If so, what are they?
Yeah, you know, time management
and moving with a purpose. I
still eat like I'm in the
academy chow hall, and that's
been a problem in my life, which
I cannot seem to shake. My wife
reminds me, I wolf it down in
like 30 seconds, right? Because
that's how it was. It's probably
the same with boot camp, right?
You have, you have a very short
amount of time. There's staff
officers staring at you in the
corner. And, you know, if you
make eye contact, God forbid you
make eye contact with you know,
the lieutenant across the chow
hall, because you're done for so
it's like eyes down. Jam your
food in. You're done, move on.
So that's probably not the best
thing that I took, but I still
have that attention to detail,
though. I think that has
provided a lot of value for me,
right? And it carried on into my
career while I was working in
the field as a CHP officer,
because those little details do
matter, like sometimes it's life
or death, it matters that much.
So it's that's probably the
biggest thing I took away.
Let's come out of the academy.
Let's go into the field. What's
something that you remember most
about your early days serving as
a new CHP officer. When
I started, I had this naive idea
that I needed to expose myself
to as much trauma as possible to
harden myself. So that is
probably my biggest takeaway, is
like and this is something I
learned. It took me a few years
to figure out, but you don't
always need to look at the dead
body. You don't need to get in
there. You don't need to think
about what music was playing
right when the car crashed, was
the last song they heard, or
what was the last thing they
said? You know, if you dive into
that road too much, you'll carry
that trauma with you the rest of
your life. And I think that that
is an idea that I had early on.
So I intentionally exposed
myself to as much as possible
feeling that I needed to do it
kind
of desensitize you from the
whole process. Yeah, I
found that it doesn't
necessarily desensitize you. It
just, it just Jacks you up for
the rest of your life. So you
got to be really careful with
that, right, right? Wow. Um,
what did serving as a CHP
officer mean to you on a
personal level.
So I love helping people. And I
know that's very cliche to say.
Everybody says that I just want
to do it to help people, but
like, I get a legitimate concern
exactly. I get a legitimate joy
out of helping other people,
especially people that need it.
So I found that it gave me the
ability to do that on a daily
basis. The good thing about
being a highway patrolman is not
everybody you deal with is a
dirt bag. You know, city cops,
county sheriffs, most of their
calls, they're dealing with just
shitty people, and that wears
down on you. There was a decent
percentage of my calls that were
helping an elderly couple on the
side of the road that broke down
or got a flat tire or needed
tire chains and the snow was
coming down. So you had that
mixture. And I think that really
made the job a lot more
satisfying for me, because I
could go out there and help good
people. And it reminded me that
not everybody's bad. Yeah,
interesting perspective. I mean,
I've talked with other Leos that
come out of it, and it's like,
Man, I'm more convinced now that
the world is just a crummy
place. So
yeah, common, common thought for
a lot of these guys, right? And
I think that generally is more
of the city cops and county
sheriffs, right? That is
predominantly what they do.
So let's, were there some
moments during your service when
you faced a significant
challenges? And can you share
one of those times and talk
about how you pushed through it?
I had a few. I, you know, I've
got, if you ask any cop or
firefighter, I'm sure they've
got, like, their number one
call, right? The one that sticks
with them. I have a few, and
they tend to be the natural
disasters. So I've been involved
with the evacuation of a town
because of a failing dam, the
largest earthen dam in the US,
which was in Oroville,
California, and then involved in
the evacuation of a town because
of a wildfire, which was one of
the most destructive wildfires
in California history, and the
one that my house were. That my
house burned down in. So those
two really stick with me. Both
times. Let me backtrack, so
probably multiple times in the
career, I've had experiences
where I thought I was going to
die for sure, those two were,
like, the number one definitely
gonna happen. Say goodbye to the
wife and kids, because it's,
it's like, pretty serious. So,
you know, having those in the
back of my mind, I say those
stick with me the most.
So looking back on those
experiences, how have they
impacted you today?
Let me think if there's a
positive way here they, you
know, okay, here, here's, here's
one lesson I got out of that,
and this is a really, really
important lesson. So take it.
Take it as you will. But I've
learned in a natural disaster or
any type of large scale
situation, you need to make hard
decisions fast. You need to make
them faster than anybody else if
you want to survive. So the
people that were able to make
the decision to evacuate first.
They did not get stuck in
traffic, and that's where people
got in bad positions. So if you,
if you find yourself in a
situation, maybe a natural
disaster, maybe a terrorist
attack, I don't know, make the
hard decision. Recognize that
something is happening and that
you need to make a move quickly
and do it before anybody else.
That was probably the number one
lesson. Now
the fire, you're talking, of
course, with the paradise fire,
right? Yeah. Now I owed it, I
would imagine that you knew some
of the people who unfortunately
perished.
No, actually. So I think, I
think the number was 86 a lot of
them tended to be elderly
people. There were some others,
of course. But I don't, I did
not know anybody personally
there. Now, throughout the day,
there were a few cops that I
knew very well that I had I
thought they had died in the
morning, and I carried that all
day until I found out later that
evening that they had not died.
So I guess I did carry that
weight for a bit, but
ultimately, nobody I know passed
away in that
and let me just share a little
bit some folks who listened to
me before they've heard part of
this story. But I have a genetic
heart condition, and I went in
for heart surgery, but I didn't
expect to survive it. I have
that condition where you hear
about a kid who dies on a
basketball court. That's what I
have. I have that disease,
hypertropic cardiomyopathy. I'm
just lucky that I survived so
long because I'm lazy, never had
to fight with that playing
basketball crap. But, um, I
remember going into surgery. I
kissed my wife goodbye. I didn't
expect to wake the next time I'm
going to see her is in heaven.
And I know that that experience
when I woke up and, you know,
everything was a blur for the
first couple of days and
intensive care in the ICU. It
changed me as a human being. I
my wife has even said, I just
became a better person, having
that, that near death, what I've
thought was a certain death
experience. How has these
experiences, the dam and the
fire? How, or if, did they
change you as a human being? If
so, how
good question, I think it, it
refocused me quite a bit on my
family. Yeah, I've always been
very family oriented. We have a
great dynamic, dynamic with my
wife and kids, but, and here's
the perfect example. So the fire
I was working. I was doing
evacuations during the fire,
obviously, and my wife got out.
My wife got the kids out pretty
early, because I had the
information, and I gave it to
her, and we made the hard
decision, grab the kids and go.
And so she beat the traffic out,
and that was very relieving. But
I spent the rest of the day
doing evacuations. I don't even,
I don't know what time I got
there was no home to go to,
right? So I went to her dad's
house down in Chico, and that's
where she was. And I remember I
laid down and, gosh, it was
late. I had not, I had literally
not. Thing about the clothes on
my back that I wore to work that
day, everything else was gone,
and I like, curled in the fetal
position, and I sort of slept
for a few hours. But I've never
had, and I've had plenty of
acute stress, but I've never had
an acute stress like that that
affects your whole body like
that. I mean, it was, it was
unbelievable how tight I was. I
went back to work the next
morning, right? That's what a
good good cop does, no
questions. I worked for the next
three days, 60 hour days, I
don't know, long days, and they
were miserable days, right? It
was the entire day. Was me
getting texts from people I
know, hey, can you check on my
house? I go to their house.
Their house is burned down. Now
I have to let them know. So it
was a constant string of
notifications on your house is
gone, there's nothing left,
whatever. So three days of that,
I was in work mode. I could have
kept going forever. I didn't
want to deal with the home life.
On the third day, my wife said,
Hey, I'm struggling. I need you
home. I was like, Okay, I don't
want to. I don't I don't want to
think about this. I don't want
to think about rebuilding an
entire home and every little
thing that you own right down
into the freaking nail file that
you have in the drawer in your
bathroom, right? So that's where
she and really she brought my
focus back. You know, my work
was fine. They had been telling
me all along, hey, take us, go
home, take as much time as you
did. And I'm like, No, I'll go
to work. I need, I need to stay
busy. And I think her smacking
me upside the head figuratively
is, is kind of what refocused me
on. All right, my family's the
most important thing right. Now,
you know, I've done I've done my
share. Now it's time to pull
back and really hone in what we
need as a family to grow.
And when we're in service like
this, there's often bonds
created with your co workers.
Can you talk about a particular
friendship or group of people
that you served with that had a
lasting impact on you?
Yeah, and I've been fortunate,
and I've been involved in some
special teams on the CHP. One
was a high risk warrant service
team, and one was a special
response team that we did
natural disasters and riot
control. And being around those
group that that group of people,
both those groups, it's
different than normal road work,
as we would call it, right?
You're around people that
volunteer to be there, that are
chosen because they have a
particular skill set, or
they're, you know, whatever
their work ethics, good that
those people are the ones that
stick with you. And I've worked
with hundreds of different cops,
but I don't maintain contact
with any of them, but I maintain
contact with those, those crews,
and of course, have, like, some,
some special guys that I work
graveyards with for years,
right? You spend enough time in
a patrol car with one man in the
middle of the night when you're
bored as hell and doing
shenanigans out nobody cares.
You know that that will build
bonds, right? That those are the
good times and at the same time
with those people, you're
sharing really traumatic
stories, and that also builds a
bond, you know, because you have
that shared trauma, like
nothing, nothing brings people
together like shared trauma. No,
that's the true that's the
truth. You still have those
relations to this day.
Yeah, my old graveyard partner,
he actually moved up here. He
lives up in north Idaho as well.
Sam, I've I would say, if there
was one person out of my entire
career that like I maintained a
deep connection with it would be
him and and for good reason,
we've shared. You know, we work
together through the campfire.
We work together through the
dam, plus numerous other
traumatic and sometimes fun,
stressful, funny, different
things all across the board.
This
is an odd question. I've never
asked anybody this one, but you
kind of prompted me on this.
When I was serving overseas, I I
was in a unit. I was a little
odd. Honestly, I was a musician,
and the Army band wanted
drummers. When I was a
percussionist, I played a
different instrument, but in the
army, I had to play drums. And
okay, I was good enough, but I
wasn't good enough. I wasn't
that flashy drummer. So as a
result, I cut quite a bit of
flack from my fellow soldiers. I
look back on those
relationships, I hated them,
then, at the time going through
it, man, they were, they were
asses to me. They they just
chapped my hide, but I look back
on it now, and yeah, there was a
callous left by their treatment
of me, but it hardened me into
the person I am today. The
success that I have today is due
in large part to that strife
that I had. Did you have those
kind of people in your life
serving in law enforcement that
changed you and made you who you
are today?
Tons. Some of it comes from
love, some of it comes from
jealousy. Some of it comes. From
hate, you run the gamut, but I
would say the result is very
similar. That hardening process
that you talk about guys giving
each other shit, and there's a
purpose to it, right? We're
subconsciously testing each
other. Like, does this guy rate
when I'm in the worst moment of
my life, I'm shot and I need to
get dragged out, is this guy
going to be tough enough to do
that job? And you know, we play
these childish games honestly,
of putting each other down and
and that kind of interaction,
and that's how we test for that.
Like I said, sometimes it's
sometimes it's out of love. It
might be a mentor, and I have
plenty of those. I had some
great ones, and they're hard on
you, but, you know, they love
you, and they're doing it
because they want you to survive
in a very difficult field. Some
of it's jealousy. People don't
want to see you better yourself.
There's plenty of that in the
first responder and I'm sure the
veteran world as well. And you
know, it all achieves the same
result, I would say. So,
looking back on one of those
mentors, what was probably the
most important or most impactful
lesson you you learned?
So I had a mentor, Chuck. Chuck
actually passed away. I think it
was last year, right after
retirement, of course,
unfortunately, but Solid Dude, a
legitimate door kicker. And I
know I say that for CHP, but
that dude was a legitimate door
kicker stud, and he mentored me
on the warrant service team and
on the special response team. He
really opened my eye. I mean, he
taught me a lot of lessons on
how to survive as being a cop
and not get shot and be dumb,
but just, just being aware, that
man had situational awareness
like nothing I've ever seen. You
know, we'd be in a training
environment that was set up
where we would fail and he would
catch stuff, and then we
wouldn't fail. And was like,
damn, wow. Like, how did he see
that coming? And it's
experience, and it's, you know,
he'd done the job for a long
time. He's booted more doors,
and most people on the CHP by
far, and you know, he just, he
just knew how to read a
situation. And I think that was
one of the bigger things. And it
just really involves, like,
keeping your head on a swivel,
opening your eyes out beyond the
the funnel that we all fall into
when we're in a high stress
situation, and then seeing, you
know what's out there on the
peripheral, that's where the
real threat is
right now. After your service,
how have you continued to lead
or make an impact in your
community? Could you share, I
don't know, an initiative or a
project that you've been
involved in and that has had a
real positive effect on you.
Sure,
I was coaching jiu jitsu for a
while. I actually just coached
my last class, and that came
down to me not having time, and
really trying to manage my time
better. But coaching jiu jitsu
has I fell into that role. I did
not intend to do it, but no one
else wanted to run the 6am
class, and that's when I could
train. So there I was, and over
two years, I built up a amazing
group of guys that wanted to
insanely work out at 6am in the
morning in a in a sport that's
not necessarily easy, and it's
it's an incredible community.
I'm, like, extremely proud of
it, and I love it. Was sad to
see it go. But you know, having
that, that experience was huge
for me, just being able to be a
leader in that role and impact
guys lives. We had a lot of
veterans and and other first
responders that came in and they
they needed that community in
their life. And I, you know, I
didn't, I didn't start it with
that goal, but I started to
recognize it. You know, guys
that were struggling personally
and they didn't know that's what
they needed. It's just like this
community of guys, and honestly,
half the time, we sit there and
talk shit and, you know, do what
guys do, but people need that
they do
Absolutely. What do you believe
veterans and or first responders
uniquely bring to their
communities when they get
involved
experience, I think, experience
and wisdom. You know, having and
I always fall back, hey, falling
back to this every time. But you
know, living through trauma
teaches people more than
anything, I think, in the world.
So when you have a sector of
society that has collectively
lived through a shitload of
trauma. That wisdom and
experience are invaluable, you
know, and whether that wisdom is
to, hey, put the brakes on
everyone's having a very
emotional reaction on whatever's
going on, maybe we need to pause
for a second. Maybe that's the
maybe that's it, and that comes
from experience or or having,
you know that I hate to go down
the conspiracy theory route, but
you know having the sorry Ed,
having the, you know, the
experience to handle yourselves
in a violent encounter, for
example, that that that's where
my mind goes. I. Know, there's
other avenues. But, you know, I
guess with my background, that's
kind of where I tend to go with
that crowd well,
and I would imagine in your
profession, I mean, that's what
you're looking for all the time.
You walk up to a traffic stop
and you're looking for, how are
they going to kill me, right?
You know, let alone, can I just
give them the ticket and go home
and live with my wife again,
right? So, yeah, I would imagine
that the job itself kind of
creates the the type of outlook
on life that you might have,
right? Can you share a time when
your leadership was tested in a
real world situation, either
during or after your service,
and how did you handle it?
Yeah, I'll refer back to the
fire again, but it was a
leadership of my family, not
necessarily of but I guess that
counts, right? Because it's
important to be a leader in your
family, for sure. So
says that somewhere in the
Bible,
there we go. So, you know, I
didn't have, I didn't have,
necessarily leadership roles.
When I was a CHP, I was just a,
I was just a lowly Road Dog, and
so, you know, I'm sure, on an
informal level with new guys,
I'm sure there were times,
right? But I think the biggest
role for me was in my family
after the fire, and it was about
maintaining a positive attitude,
right? I had two young kids at
the time. My wife was pretty
Trump. She's tough too, for
sure, and I owe a lot of this to
her, but, you know, she was
traumatized. The kids were were
vulnerable to whatever mood we
presented. So we adopted an
attitude of, hey, this is going
to make us more resilient. We're
not victims. We're going to
persevere, and we're going to be
better off than ever. So my wife
and I intentionally adopting
that mindset and passing that on
to our kids has made them come
through it with very little side
effects, and I think, an
attitude in life of no matter
what happens, we can rebuild, we
can stick together as a family,
and we'll get through anything.
So okay, without getting
political like I want to go down
a path, especially about law
enforcement. This is particular
to law enforcement. Police
Officers, these last four, five,
maybe six years haven't been
treated all that well, in my
opinion, defund the police.
Police are the bad guys. It just
seems like there's a political
bent. I'm not going to go down
the the ideological identity,
but there's a political bent
that is hell bent on destroying
that profession in America as a
retired police officer, how does
that make you feel?
It pisses me off. It pisses me
off because I personally have
met 1000s of men and women in
law enforcement, and they are
some of the most fantastic,
selfless people that I have ever
met in my life, and the things
that I have seen them do this,
the acts of bravery for the
public that they don't know,
purely just being good human
beings, just knowing that
background. It pisses me off
when I see that. I hate to see
public opinion turn against cops
and firefighters and you know,
everybody, but I think, and
that's from my personal
experience with all these
amazing people. Sure, there are
a few that suck. I have
personally caused one of them to
be arrested, right? Like we
police our own. I think that's
another common misconception, is
that, you know, there's a good
old boy network and and bad cops
can get away with it. Bad cops
don't get away with it, not in
my experience, they get rooted
out because nobody wants that
embarrassment. And they're gone.
They're fired, imprisoned,
whatever. We get rid of them. So
that, you know, I hear that
argument to like all cops out
there, okay, there's bad
everybody out there. The
important thing is that they're
getting weeded out. So yeah,
ultimately, to see that public
opinion, just it, like, breaks
my heart a little bit, just
because I have personally seen
the sacrifice of so many people
to be put down like that. It's
like a slap in the face.
You know, I look at the 10 year
olds today, you know, I remember
when I was a kid, I want to be a
police officer or fireman. I
wonder today, are kids having
those dreams? If they're not,
what would you, as a retired
police officer, advise a child
who might be thinking about a
career in law enforcement? I'm
guilty of I'll say it straight
up, turning my kids away from
that field. And I hate to say
that, because good people need
to do that job, and if I'm not
willing to let my not that I can
let them or not let them, but if
I'm willing to talk my kids away
from that job, that's scary to
me. Yeah. What does that say
about the nation? What does that
say about the nation? I don't
know. I. But we need to see a
fundamental shift in that
support, because currently,
what's happening is now there's
still many amazing men and women
getting hired on, but there,
there are gaps that need to be
filled, and they are being
filled with people that are not
qualified to do the job, and
that is going to present more
problems. So we have a
generational problem here that
won't be fixed in 10 years. It
won't be fixed in 20 years. It's
going to take time,
unfortunately. So what we'll see
is worse policing, or more
mistakes, more lawsuits, more
things like that, which will
piss the public off even more.
And it's going to be a downhill
slide for quite a while, in my
opinion,
almost like they're creating a
self fulfilling prophecy, almost
like interesting, yeah, I
always defer to incompetence
first, but I'm running out of
that, right? Yeah, sorry. Would
they possibly be that
incompetent? So what advice
would you give to those veterans
and first responders out there
who might be looking to step up
as leaders in their communities?
I
would say, find, find that
activity that you love to do,
like for me, it was Jiu Jitsu,
and just start doing it, and
then build that community. And
that's easy, that's just
inviting people to come do what
you love to do, and maybe it'll
stick. Maybe that maybe it
won't. They might move on, but
that's fine. Some of them will
stick. And then as you build
that, you know, it's good for
people's souls. So I think that
alone is an excellent community
builder, and it's good for the
community as a whole. Like I
said, I had guys in jiu jitsu
that, you know, and I hate to be
blunt about this, but I think
there were some that may have,
you know, gone the suicide
route. Had they not found a
community to get a little
brotherly love and some shit
talking, because everybody needs
on and like fills the soul,
especially if you come from that
background. You're used to being
tested. And, you know, that's
what we're doing. We're talking
smack, and we're having a good
time. We're testing each other a
little bit. And I think that
just that alone, that alone, it
sounds stupid and it sounds, you
know, maybe a little over,
overly dramatic, but that
literally saves lives.
Absolutely
no. I now we met at a program
called The Patriot poor, which
is part of the Veterans Club and
and your efforts that you've
been working in the community.
Let's talk a little bit about
how the Patriot poor,
specifically this weekly coffee
get together with veterans and
first responders. How has that
impacted your life? Yeah,
so I've done several other
coffee meetups. I never had a
cool name for it before, until I
asked chatgpt And it came up
with the Patriot pour.
But so chatgpt, ai came up with
the name for the Patriot pour.
But you know, these other coffee
meetups I would just, I missed,
I missed the environment of
getting out in law enforcement.
It's hard, man, I deal with it.
You know, a lot of our real
estate clients are retiring cops
or retired or veterans or
whatever, and they're coming out
of that field, and they don't,
they don't even know what
they're in for. I've gone
through it. It took me a solid
year to kind of transition away
from that public safety life to
civilian life, and it's a tough
and if you don't have people to
share that experience with, and
you know, kind of grease the
wheels of that, it's it's way
harder. So I started these, I
did at least two different
coffee meetups, and it was just
any first responders, come on
down. We're just gonna have
coffee. There was no plan to it.
We just sit around and bullshit
and tell stories. And the
feedback was amazing. Guys were
like, Oh, man. Like, that was
good. Once a week, like, come
down and shoot the shit. You're
in a, I hate to use the word
safe space, but you're in a safe
space because you're around
other people from a similar
background, so you can be
yourself. You know, we'd shut
the door so we don't traumatize
any of the patrons outside. And
that's kind of where it was
born, and then, you know, Dave
put us together, and then it was
like, Well, why don't we do
something bigger? And it's grown
from there. And, you know, it's
the same, same values and the
same purpose, right? You're
bringing people together from
really, all ages. We've got
Vietnam vets there right up to
guys that are still in law
enforcement or in the military,
well, and I think Randy served
with the Confederate Army, good
old Randy. Perry, yeah. I think
Randy, yeah. So what would you
say to other veterans and or
first responders, listening to
your voice right now, who are
not in a coffee group? What
would you say to them to get
them going
start one and it can only be, it
can be as little as two people.
You could go by yourself, but
you'd be talking to yourself.
That might be weird, yeah. But,
you know, I found in my new
career in real estate and just
building community connections,
all I do now is, I call it
pulling on threads. I'll meet
somebody, and, you know, I'll
just pull that thread a little
bit to see where it goes, you
know. And often I'll exchange a
phone number and like, hey,
let's grab coffee. And then you
sit down. Who knows? Like, I've
met the coolest people, just
just taking that one little
extra step so, you know. And
then, yeah, I'm fairly outgoing.
You don't have to be super
outgoing to do this. You just,
you know, take the little extra
step. You meet somebody, you say
hi to them in the line, like,
hey, let's grab coffee,
whatever. It feels weird the
first few times. Then you get
used to it, and it's like,
awesome. You'll meet the coolest
people. So I think, you know,
pull those threads and see where
they go.
So last couple of questions that
I've got for you. Now, you're in
real estate, you're you've got a
brokerage here in North Idaho,
very successful, looking back on
your law enforcement days, how
much of an impact did what you
did as a law enforcement officer
have on your profession today?
Good question. There are
numerous levels to this. The
obvious face value impact is
that most of our clientele tend
to be first responders and
veterans, so it's given me the
ability to communicate with
them. There's an immediate level
of trust, and I love it, and it
works both ways, like I want to
trust them as much as they
should trust me, because that's
important to me. I never want to
waste my time, contrary to
popular belief, I don't want to
work for free, but I will have
someone's back to the end. And I
like it when that's returned,
because now it feels like a
genuine relationship and not
just a transaction. So that's
really important to me, having
that common background. And then
I would say, you know, the
skills you learn along the way,
attention to detail number one,
right? You fill out a ticket, a
ticket, left to right, top to
bottom. That's how you do it.
Every time, when you're doing it
really doing a real estate
contract, that's what you do,
left to right, top to bottom.
It's a lot of little boxes
didn't shit to check, and if you
miss one, that's a big deal. So
you have to have extreme
attention to detail. And I love
that side of it, communication.
That is probably the number one
skill lacking in this
profession, probably most
professions, the inability to
communicate sucks. So you know,
having the ability to talk to
anyone in the world, from the
lowliest tweaker to Mr. Banker
driving his Porsche while you
pull him over on the side of the
road, having the ability to
communicate with anyone in that
spectrum makes you excellent at
whatever you do in life.
Very good point. Finally, is
there one thing that you want
the listeners, especially fellow
veterans and first responders,
to take away from your story?
What would that be?
That's a big question. Ed, let's
see we only do it big here on
the Veterans Club. Appreciate
that. I would say who you're
gonna get me on a touchy, touchy
subject, but I guess we could go
down this road. I get a lot of
people that are in the first
responder world, and they're in
it, and they're waiting to
retire, and their lives kind of
sucks, because maybe they just
don't love it anymore, but they
are in what I call the pension
trap. This is not going to be
good, by the way. I'm not trying
to talk anybody out of that
field, but maybe you're that man
or woman out there, and you're
like, literally miserable, and
you've got 15 years left before
you can collect your pension.
It's not going to get better,
right? It gets worse the closer
you get to retirement, and now
you're just dragging along. So
to those people, there are other
options out there. You have the
skill set to do whatever the
hell you want. If you've been a
cop, firefighter, paramedic,
whatever. Like I said,
communication is number one. You
know how to communicate with
people, and if you can do that,
you can do any job out there. I
guarantee it. If you have
attention to detail, you have
good morals, integrity, all that
stuff that you learn. Being one
of those people, you can do
whatever you want. So like I
said, I'm not trying to talk
people out of doing the job, but
some people are suited for it,
and they'll do it 30 years and
they have no problem. Some
people are not and, you know,
they're 10 years in, staring at
1520, years to go. Maybe you
should explore some other
options, and that's okay. You
can do that. You'll be okay.
You'll be okay.
So now, if somebody is thinking
about relocating to the north
Idaho area and they want a
realtor who was former law
enforcement, how do they get in
touch with you?
The easiest way. Well, one you
should start following our
YouTube channel and our podcast,
which is called the North Idaho
experience. You'll see my
handsome face on there,
frequently doing videos about
the area. And our podcast is
very community focused, so it is
not the podcast itself has
nothing to do with real estate,
so don't worry about that. No
one actually likes to hear about
real estate that is just us
interviewing people from the
community, and they run the
gamut from grass fed beef
ranchers to Mrs. Coeur d'Alene
to Gosh, I don't even know
nutrition everything. And the
common thread is that they are
from North Idaho, where they can
currently live in North Idaho,
so that that is probably one of
the best ways to learn about the
area and decide if it's right
for you. Like we, we are very
relational in our business. We
don't try to sell anybody on
anything. I don't have to sell
it. You decide if you want to
move here. I'll tell you about
the area. If it sounds good,
then let's make it happen. If
not, that's fine. Our website,
which is www dot the North Idaho
experience.com that would be the
easiest way to get in touch with
us. Our contact information is
on there, and it's also all over
our YouTube. Channel, so you can
find my phone number and email
in there as well. Maybe Ed can
drop it in the show notes,
absolutely
well. Seth, thank you so much
for taking time to come on the
program and a heartfelt thank
you for all your help making the
Veterans Club through the
Patriot poor a success.
Thank you. My pleasure. Thanks,
Ed, thank
you for tuning in to the
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