No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
No Sanity Stories | 25 Years Protecting Presidents in the Secret Service pt. 2
In this episode, Brody continues his conversation with Scott Bryson, his first cousin who recently retired from the Secret Service. They discuss God’s sovereignty and some funny stories from his career.
They also get into how Scott managed to remain faithful to the Lord and his wife throughout his time in the Secret Service. For the believer, when we fail, there is grace. We have hope in Christ.
Let’s fight for our marriages and pursue the Lord daily.
Photos of Scott Bryson's time in the Secret Service
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
Well, I got a lot of good feedback on that episode from yesterday and so we sat down again. Scott and I sat down again and had a follow-up conversation on Tuesday evening, and I'm excited to share this with you. We'll get through the intro here and then I want to just give some thoughts on some of the Trump assassination stuff. Just my personal thoughts and as I've been mulling this over, like so many of you, and just thinking through what this means for our country, what a big deal it is and we didn't get into it a lot because Scott just couldn't Because of his position in the Secret Service and the fact that it's an ongoing investigation. Good thing is I can, because I'm not bound by any of that, I'm not affiliated, and so I want to give you some thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:I'm just sitting in my house. I can hear animals in the background, it's a Wednesday morning and later today we'll be dropping this. So we'll get through the intro and give you some thoughts on the Secret Service fiasco of the last few days, the Trump assassination attempt, conspiracy theories. It'll be very brief, but we'll do that, and then we'll jump into a conversation with Scott where we had a good time. I just steered the conversation towards what does it look like for a marriage to survive and thrive and flourish in that type of career, and then just tell some really interesting stories from his career and his time with the service. So thank you all for your feedback. Got lots of good feedback and so we'll jump into it.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters a podcast about the Bible culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, getting into this, there's a few things I want to say. On the front end I want to address you know Scott was not real comfortable addressing or speaking into the breakdown, what seemed like a breakdown in security on Saturday with the assassination attempt. I want to speak to that just as a spectator or bystander, just like a citizen, a concerned citizen, which is what most of our listeners are. I want to speak to that and speak to some of the stuff that's kind of buzzing around. The way the Secret Service handled it. And let me just say this I appreciate that Scott didn't want to throw the Secret Service under the bus, but I think we can separate the agents who did the best job that they could. The agents that were on the scene did a phenomenal job.
Speaker 1:But it's come out in the last 24 hours that the director of the Secret Service said we didn't have anybody on that roof because we weren't comfortable, because it was dangerous, the roof was too steep, to which you respond a 20-year-old kid with zero military training and no athletic background climbed on that roof and took shots at the president. By God's grace he didn't kill him. So that's just unacceptable to me. That doesn't make any sense. That's just crazy. It's literally unacceptable to me. That doesn't make any sense. That's just crazy. It's literally asinine. We have counter-assault guys, counter-sniper guys, dudes that train at a high level to do things like fast rope out of helicopters. They can lay on a 4-12 pitch roof or whatever that roof pitch was. It's just crazy. So that's very odd to me. By the way, I don't have strong opinions on what I think happened. No conspiracy ideas. Was this planned from the inside? Was this a CIA or Democrat party hit? I'm not there going there. I'm just saying that lady's comments were crazy, crazy and at the beginning of this episode we got into that just a little bit. But when we recorded last night, scott had just gotten off work, just gotten out of a training, and so he hadn't seen her press conference and so he didn't have any comments. Really, there we touch on a little bit, but y'all know that's crazy. For that lady to say that. That's just bananas to me and it seems like some kind of a weird deflection or cop out. I hope she gets fired. I think she will. I sure hope she gets fired.
Speaker 1:That lady is more focused on DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion. She's more concerned with gender ideology and sexual orientation than she is with putting the most qualified people on the job and the fact that there were two short, small women guarding a six foot one, 200 plus pound man and the way that I went down again the agents no shade on them. I think they did a good job, but what are we doing Like? What are we doing when we're when? I mean, it's just crazy to me that that's who we had. That needs to be big, strong men, and we've got pictures linked to this episode from Scott and his career. And when you look at the dudes that are on the teams that he served with, those are the men that I look at and I go, yeah, those are the guys we need guarding presidents and former presidents. We don't need five foot three inch incapable humans, male or female, guarding him. We need people that are passing the test and the physical test and that are training hard and that are capable of doing things like pulling up their body weight or carrying somebody equal to their body weight. I think three characteristics of someone in that position should be that they can carry someone equal to or greater than their body weight out of harm's way. I think the second thing should be that they can shoot straight and hit hard. They should be able to hit somebody so hard with their fist or their hand that it puts them in a comatose state, and then they should have the tenacity to run towards the sound of gunfire and the nerves to do it. And then on all of that they should be trained at a high level of proficiency so that it's muscle memory and second nature.
Speaker 1:I'm not casting shade on that lady for not being able to holster her pistol. We talked about that in yesterday's episode. I get it, man. The stakes are high. The fine motor skills are struggling. I take a couple training classes a year for active shooter defense and response. One of the things they always tell us is don't be in a hurry to reholster your weapon if there's a shooting, because that's where a lot of times accidental or negligent discharges occur. Gun goes off. So I'm not casting shade on her for that. I'm just casting shade on the director and the people in leadership for the direction they've taken the Secret Service.
Speaker 1:When we talk about the physical ability of the people that are guarding the president, look at the pictures that Maddie has linked to this episode, pictures of my cousin and his team and his teammates when they're you know, when they're with when the counter-assault team is with SEAL Team 8 guarding the First Lady. Look at those dudes. Ain't nobody shooting through those guys. When Scott and his teammates are guarding different people from the Trump family, just look at them. Look at the physical size and ability that's implied by these guys. You know what I mean. The people that guard the president should at least be big enough, strong enough, powerful enough to do the job. That's all I'll say about that.
Speaker 1:The other thing, before we get into the second part of our conversation, is I got one message from a guy that listened yesterday and he said okay, we say that God's intervention and sovereign hand protected the president, but what about the man that got killed? It was a good question, a very thought-provoking question. Let me just say this from my understanding and I forget the gentleman's name, I don't know that, I've read that but my heart breaks for that man's family and I feel for him and I feel for them. I don't feel for him. If he's a believer, from what I've heard, then he's with the Lord. But let me just say this about that situation.
Speaker 1:When we talk about the sovereign hand of God and divine intervention and keeping the president from dying the former president we can say that because that's our theological understanding. We can say the same thing about the gentleman that passed away, that was shot. We can say it is appointed unto man once to die. There is an appointment with death that we all have, and that's Hebrews 9. And so it was that last Saturday was the day of that man's death and he goes and stands before the Lord and thank God. He was a believer, from what I've read and understand, and he will be reunited with his family one day in the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1:And so when we say something like divine intervention or the sovereignty of God, it doesn't mean that God's plan is not that Donald Trump, that he wouldn't die, it's that he wasn't to die on that day. And I do think that we can lean in a little bit to the fact that, as a nation, losing that man is is horrible and terrible, but it didn't create civil war or civil unrest. You know there's a lot of speculation about if that bullet had killed trump, what would have happened. You know, in the days following, what kind of chaos would this nation have descended into. So when we say that God was sovereign and there was divine intervention, we're not saying that that applies in some cases and not in others. We're just saying we trust it, we trust the Lord and we've got to be ready for whatever happens in any given situation and our theology needs to be intact. It's important that we have solid theology. So there's that. So before we get into it, just there's gonna be some funny stories and some of the pictures linked will shed light on some of the stories he tells.
Speaker 1:But the bulk of his one-on-one relational interactions were with george w bush and don Trump, those two presidencies. During most of the Obama administration you'll hear him say that he served just a couple of days and then he was transferred to London where he ran operations in London for the US Secret Service out of the US Embassy, and then when he came back he worked counter surveillance on the streets of DC. So he was not on presidential detail with Obama and so and then he and he wasn't with Biden when Biden came in and 20 Scott went into his last two years, which is when he was stationed in Hawaii. I think towards the end of their career they try to really let those guys land in a good spot to kind of finish out the way you know, the way they should. Um. So anyway, um, today I'm excited for you to hear today's episode there.
Speaker 1:Last thing, oh, last thing I will say there's a nugget in the middle where I asked him a question about how do you keep a strong and healthy marriage in this kind of a career Cause there's a moment where he says he didn't know week to week what he was going to be doing. They get their orders and their assignments on Friday and that's for the next seven days, and so you don't, you can't plan ahead, you don't, and I love the way he answered when I asked him how did you keep your family intact and your marriage intact? Did a great job, but that was the nugget in these two episodes for me, and so I'm excited for you to hear that. So's, let's get into the second part of our conversation and then I'll come back and close it out at the end.
Speaker 1:After we talked yesterday and I wanted to be real mindful of and Maddie did a good job of editing and and and making sure nothing was said that would get you into any kind of compromise situation or get you in trouble with with the powers that be. But some stuff has come out since yesterday. You know we were sort of defensive of law enforcement and Secret Service but I'm curious now, 24 hours later, what your thoughts are, if you can say anything. It seems like this is public knowledge because it was on every major news outlet. But the director of Secret Service I don't know if you worked under her, but her comments in an interview that she had earlier today, did you see that?
Speaker 3:No, I haven't been in training this whole week and I have not seen or heard. I got to watch a little of the RNC last night but I haven't seen anything today. I did see an interview with Corey Mills a while ago on Instagram, but I haven't seen a whole lot just because I've been in class. I came home yesterday and jumped on the call with you and then doing it right now. Let me see if I can find this. I will say that it is an ongoing investigation, which is it sounds like a company line, but it's true it is. So we'll be very careful and I'm just a guy who used to do a job that's retired, so I have an opinion, but I don't have the facts because I wasn't there. I will just tell you, like I talked a little bit yesterday, I know what goes into it in any outfit, whether it's police work, military, swo, whatever we're only as good as our weakest link right, and that sounds really bad. And I'm not throwing shade on any particular outfit, whether it's the Secret Service or locals or state. I'm a Sheriff's Department guy again, so I bleed blue. You know. I would never want to disparage local law enforcement because we Secret Service cannot do their job without the help of state and local officials. We're just manpower just don't have enough Right, we're not the FBI, we're not 20,000 deep or whatever. Manpower just don't have enough right, we're not the FBI, we're not 20,000 deep or whatever. Somebody, you know somebody, somewhere, probably again, air quotes probably dropped the ball. I don't was, or why. I just I can tell you that in my 25 years I have never seen anything like that not be posted, uh, or quote-unquote, taken care of by the snipers, which the snipers did take care of the problem. Obviously, uh, I'm not a sniper, so I'm not gonna, definitely not gonna say anything negative about those guys because they're very, very good at what they do. They're very professional. Um, you know what they do, they're very professional.
Speaker 3:The problem is in a perfect world. I wish the local cops would have intervened or could have intervened, or the Secret Service surveillance guy, or maybe the PID guys, the Protective Intelligence Division guys, would have interviewed him or whatever. I mean, obviously anything would have been better than what had happened. But mean, obviously anything would have been better than what had happened. But having said that, you know law enforcement is under scrutiny Anytime there's a police-involved shooting.
Speaker 3:You know the media releases what they want you to see. Until the body cam footage comes out, you kind of only get a glimpse of it. And nine times out of ten the cops make good shoots, sometimes they don't. Nine times out of ten the cops make good shoots, sometimes they don't. But there's not really rules of engagement. But you do have to follow the law right, and a guy on the roof without a weapon visible is not a threat. It's not a threat until it's a threat.
Speaker 3:It could have been a 20-year-old kid with autism. It could have been a SWAT guy who was somewhere he shouldn't have been. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we could. What if it to death? You know I'm going to have to start coming up with some new conspiracies because all the old ones are starting to come true with COVID and all that stuff. But it's like no, I'm not a flat earther, for sure, but like I think the deep state is real and I think bad things do happen. I mean we know now, all these years later, that the cia killed kennedy. You know, we're not the cia, we don't kill people. That's not what we do now did. Did somebody orchestrate that? I don't know. Was this a lone wolf?
Speaker 1:don't know, you know. No, that's good, I appreciate all that. That. That brings a lot of clarity. And so, while you were at work, while you're in training, today, um, a couple things came out and I've been tracking it throughout the day and I'm sure a lot of our listeners are and we're recording this. Uh, on tuesday the 16th it'll drop on wednesday the 17th. So when I'm saying today, I'm talking about the 16th.
Speaker 1:But so so the secret service director, um, sat down with, I think, an abc um reporter, like a sit-down interview, you know, like very polished, prepared, and um, and and when she, you know, basically when she was put on the hot seat, um, and she stayed very composed. I don't know anything about the lady, I don't even remember her name right now, I don't know anything about her. Now I'm not defending or attacking her, but she, she, basically the point of the interview where I, literally I, I yelled out loud you are freaking, kidding me. I was sitting by myself drinking a cup of coffee about an hour ago at my kitchen table, preparing for this second part of our conversation. She said the roof that. She said yes, all. So a lot of more footage came out today of people using their cell phones to video the guy crawling across the roof. And yeah, and I appreciate what you said a while ago, a sniper can't just start shooting people on the roof.
Speaker 1:What if it's a autistic kid? And I'm going to pause here and say last week at camp we had a couple of young men here who had some almost comical episodes because of the severity of their autism. One of them went into our main office while the gal that runs the front office like the first person you meet when you come into the snowbird office she had stepped outside or stepped out. She comes back in in the main snowbird office. We're talking about Command Central. A 16-year-old autistic kid is sitting at her desk watching YouTube videos and asks her if he can help her as she walks into the main office. Yes, may I help you? He says I'm the boss here. I help you. He says I'm the boss here. And then I don't know if it was that kid or the other kid that we saw him go driving through camp on one of our maintenance golf carts. He's driving a golf cart or a John Deere Gator or something, just driving around cruising around. Somebody left the keys in it. So God forbid you shoot a kid like that.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you saying that, because I have not thought of that, because last night, even after you and I talked yesterday, I was thinking why didn't they just shoot this dude? He's on there, but that that makes good sense to me. So what came out today was that, uh, there's all these phone footages of people you know filming this kid crawling across the roof. And then it came out that, um, that they, a minute and a half before the first shots were fired, that they were trying to get to this guy on the roof, that deputies tried to get to him. They couldn't get to him because he took shots at him. But then here's where I yelled out loud when the director of the Secret Service was being interviewed today. She said the roof was such a steep slope we felt like it was too dangerous for our guys to get up there. It was a liability issue, so we didn't allow any law enforcement to get on that particular roof because it was so steep. We were afraid somebody would fall and get hurt. She said that, scott.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I don't have anything good to say about that. What in?
Speaker 1:the world.
Speaker 3:What in the? World man I don't have anything positive to say about that. What in the world? What in the world, man? I don't have anything positive to say about that comment. But you know, listen, I wasn't there. I think that's a bunch of hogwash. That's just a personal opinion. You know, that's not from a tactician's perspective, that's just my opinion. I think that's crap. But you know, if you look at the photo where they were on a slope I mean most roofs have a slope to them- right. That's right.
Speaker 3:So that doesn't make a bunch of sense. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You know, but I'll just kind of leave it there because I don't have anything nice to say about that. That's good.
Speaker 1:No, that's good. I appreciate it. I don't want to get you in any kind of trouble or compromise, but I appreciate your comments on it. I think what would be fun. I only know the stories from your career that you've told me and I'd like to tell some of those and see if it opens up the door to some other ones.
Speaker 1:One of the things I always appreciated during your career we would get together, and I hate that. You know we don't get together as often as we should. Um, just, life is busy and there's miles between us, but when we would get together, you know, I remember sitting up at your house before before we flew to uganda. We flew out of dallas back 10 years ago, 2014, and we stayed a couple nights at your house and I remember sitting up late just listening to stories and and then I can remember being at my house and sitting around the fire late at night.
Speaker 1:But I, I I'd like to tell some of those stories, cause, um, I think they're just so fun and and you see, there's there's a comical side to a very serious job in some of the stories, and then there's a very serious side, you know, like when you were working detail. You referenced this yesterday when W when Bush 43 was giving a speech in Charlotte and somewhere that week in the buildup or the leadup, that day or two or five or whatever it was before that, a local Charlotte Mecklenburg officer got shot through the head on a call that maybe y'all were there. Do you remember that?
Speaker 3:You know what that sort of rings a bell. But man, I have a bad memory, dude, I don't remember. I kind of remember that a little bit, but I don't know Well what it was.
Speaker 1:I just remember we were talking, we were sitting around the fire one night, we were talking about training, training, training, and I trained with my carry gun and we bring in twice a year. We do pretty extensive trainings at SWO with our active shooter defense mechanism and somewhere there you were saying hey, sometimes a bad guy just gets super lucky. And it was a scenario where Charlotte Mecklenburg was on a call. This would have been gosh, probably 2006, something like that, 2007. And a bad guy points a pistol out of a window and pulls a trigger and hits a guy in the head. Just like how does this happen? This guy's not trained, he doesn't know what he's doing. But so I bring that up to say there were some serious stories that you told along the way, but some of them were just fun, like um, uh, I got. One of my favorites was when you talked about um when you would, when you would travel with W, with Bush 43, and he would detour and go to his ranch. Didn't he do that pretty regularly?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we called it the Western White House. It was awesome. He had about 1,600 acres down in Crawford, texas. For anybody that's familiar with Texas, that's in the middle of nowhere. We all stayed in Waco. It was about a 45-minute commute from the hotel down to this ranch and so he was there obviously for eight years and so Secret Service really spent a lot of money in that town with food and restaurants and bars and hotels. So you know we would go down there and have a good time and he would. One of the things I'm kind of one of the well, I'm only proud of a couple. I guess I'm proud of a lot of things, but I don't like to talk about it because it sounds like a weirdo. But one of the things I'm really proud of, I'm proud of the fact that I made it onto the cat team.
Speaker 3:You know, that was something. A lot of times, as you know especially we're talking about DEI stuff now like things are just handed out to people like candy, like oh, you get a job and he or she maybe not be qualified. So there's still a few things in this old world that you have to earn, you know, and at the Secret Service you know one of the things is the polygraph program. You don't just become a polygrapher I was not a polygrapher, but you know the polygraph programs. The rescue swimmer program is super hard. The counter assault team stuff was hard. So I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 3:And I'm also proud of the fact that I was a shift runner back in the day. I couldn't do it now if I had to, but I Debbie was running seven minute miles and I could do that. Oh, not many people could, and so I was really proud of that. And then in the summertime he would call the mill late about every 30 minutes, asking what the temperature was, and he wouldn't go out until it was 100. So he had this thing called the 100-degree club and if you could run with him or bike with him in 100 degrees, you made the 100-degree club. He took a picture with you and you got these little Peloton socks and a certificate. It's kind of silly, but it was fun. That is cool.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's the kind of thing the guy.
Speaker 3:Hey, that guy was a savage man. I mean that for a 67 year old man, that brother was in shape well, that that's the kind of thing that makes me go.
Speaker 1:Regardless of what I think about him as a, as a person, or his, his policies or his politics, that's the kind of guy you want in charge.
Speaker 3:I mean that dude, that's the real deal 100 degrees in his 60s, going out when it gets 100 degrees and biking and running hey, since we're talking about him real quick, this isn't my story, but I I have an awesome story that I think your audience would really love. So I won't say the guy's name, but, um, he was former delta force, which doesn't, of course, but if it did exist, he would have been a Delta operator for 12 years prior to coming to us. A stud of a human being, obviously. And she was down there at 12th day running and W very, and I like, listen, I like he's a ball buster, he's cocky, I mean, he's just, he's the man, he's a ball buster, he's cocky, I mean, he's just, he's a man, he's a dude's dude and he would like he was.
Speaker 3:He'd be out fishing and cutting in all these cedar trees because they sucked up all the water. He was just, he was just a guy. And and so this guy well, I about said his name this guy showed up one morning with combat boots on to run with him and he's like, because he had been talking junk to him the day before. And so this individual showed up with his old combat boots on and he's like, what's that? And he said it's your handicap. So the guy talked junk right back to him. It was awesome.
Speaker 1:That's cool, that's very cool. Yeah, yeah, that makes you respect the dude and, like you said, he's a dude's dude. You look at the president we have in office right now and you don't have to say a word about this, but I'll just say it. He's so like I have zero respect for him as a man.
Speaker 3:You talking about currently, yeah, biden, oh yeah, yeah. I have no respect for Joe Biden as a man, and a lot of it has to be Currently yeah, currently Biden. Oh, yeah, yeah, I have no respect for Joe Biden.
Speaker 1:As a man, I respect the office of president, yeah. And let me say this I don't buy into the mantra that respect has to be earned, not given. I believe you start with a certain level of respect that, as a man, you extend to all other men. From there they can earn a greater deal of respect or you can lose respect if that makes sense. So like if I meet a dude on the street, I'm going to respect that dude because he's a man. It's a man-to-man respect that's given and from there we can either build on it or it gets torn down.
Speaker 1:And with Biden I have no respect. A dude that'll put a cross-dressing transvestite yeah, man in charge of any department, you know that'll that'll hire a homosexual man, just because he's a homosexual man, to be in charge of transportation. That that said, going in, I'm gonna put transgender people and homosexuals across the board on my cabinet and that's what he's done. Like as a man, I can't. I have no respect for that dude. With bush, there were things with his policies and politics, especially as it was related to the war, that I now look back and go. Man, I think. I think we were, we weren't, everything wasn't on the up and up on this particular thing or that particular thing. But as as a man, as a dude, I respect a guy like that that's out there with the chains. He's doing what we do on our off days he's fishing, he's working, he's sawing firewood. I appreciate that. It's like as a Secret Service agent. That has to give you a different sense of pride in the guy that you're providing protection for.
Speaker 3:Yep, oh yeah, was 100%. Just to kind of go back to what you said about the current guy, I mean, it's biblical. I just read this, I think yesterday or the day before. Of course I'm not you, so I can't quote chapter and verse like I should be able to, but it was talking about authority. You have to respect those in authority, but only to a certain level, right? So it's like I have a chain of command at work. I'm going to do what my sergeant tells me or my lieutenant tells me, unless it's unethical or illegal. You don't just do things with blind obedience, right? So I think that's one of the things I was really struggling with, especially yesterday when we were talking about the deep state and this, that and the other thing.
Speaker 3:The thing I loved about working at the service was most guys in law enforcement are conservative not all, but most are. But I had some friends that were liberals or whatever. But I had some friends that were liberals or whatever. But the thing about them and me and whoever else, we were able to check our politics at home when we compartmentalize, and I'm protecting the leader of the free world, I'm protecting the office. It could have been Hillary Clinton and I would have hated that, but I would have done it. And to have the thought that somebody would their job, it's just not possible. I've seen it time and time again, you know. Like, for example, you know I was with Trump for three years. I rotated out, I took a transfer, but had I stayed there and Biden would have come in, I wouldn't have stopped doing my job. That's a huge insult, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. That's that would call your. That would be to call your character and integrity into question and your and your mental and emotional toughness, your spiritual you know compassion, your physical hardness and toughness. Um, yeah, I remember asking you that, Gosh, this was years ago, this was early in your career, and I said you know what is the training like in terms of what's it look like to take a bullet? For I think you were working Al Gore's campaign when he was running against W in the 2000 election and I remember just saying man, what's it going to be like to have to take a bullet for a dude like Gore? And you're like it ain't no thing. I'm committed to that. I'm committed to protecting the office. So that's pretty cool, that's horrible.
Speaker 3:Leader of the free world is the way I look at it, and I think you know, are there some knuckleheads? I mean, you know, yeah, there's some knuckleheads that might have an ax to grind, but I mean, by and large, 99% of what I experienced over the course of my life. I have a really, really close friend of mine. We couldn't disagree more Like he's. I'm not sure he's saved or whatever, but he's a Catholic dude and so he believes in God and all that good stuff. But politically we disagree on everything. But he never didn't do his job and he was with me on Bush the whole time and I would not do my job. You know, I mean, it's just. It's just not a thing. Guys are really good at compartmentalizing and and doing their job. It's the same thing in the military you know you may have.
Speaker 3:You may have a, you may have a commander you don't like, but you're still gonna do what he tells you, as long as it's ethical yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:What about, uh? What about that time that bush got into the fire ants?
Speaker 3:I was, I didn't know I was going to bring that up. So yeah, so he was fishing one day and and uh, he had I don't know if anybody remembers his little dog. He had a little scotty terrier named barney and he and barney were down at the pond and I guess he stepped in that ant hill, uh, fire ants and I next thing, you know, I saw him taking his shoes off and he was in the pond about knee deep trying to get the ants off.
Speaker 1:It was pretty funny when you would go, like when you would be at the crawford ranch and you're there and he's fishing, will you just? Are you just standing there hanging out, because he's always got to have detail with him?
Speaker 3:Yep Got a lot of sight Shift works out of a generally suburban nowadays. Who knows that might be a Polaris or something. Always got vehicles around and assets around. Guys are always in proximity. Of course down there it depends. You know it's like he's at his ranch. You know we're not going to be two inches from him. I mean that would drive him crazy, but you know we were always within. You know, striking distance of him. I would never seeing behind the curtain, I would never want to be, I would never want that job. I don't even know how a guy goes to the bathroom in peace. I mean, I'm serious, people are always around that guy, whoever it is.
Speaker 1:Whoever's in that office.
Speaker 3:Yeah, whoever POTUS is, and probably VP too, they're just never alone. They've got the chief of staff and they've got the staff and us. It's too much man.
Speaker 1:Did you guard any of the VPs other than Gore?
Speaker 3:So I started the job in 97, got out of school in 98. So Clinton was obviously in. So I've done temporary, like TDY. People know what that is temporary duty assignments. I've done TDY assignments for Clinton and Gore Cheney, things like that, but I was permanently. I was only ever permanently assigned to Bush. President Bush and I was permanently assigned. I had him for five years I think I said this yesterday five years and 10 months. I had Obama for five years I think I said this yesterday five years and 10 months. I had Obama for two days because I got transferred to London and that was just timing, and then I got promoted and I was with Trump for three years. I've done temporary duty assignments for, you know, the prime ministers of the UK and anybody that you can think of, really. But as far as permanently assigned to, I've always been assigned to the White House, which is why I took the job.
Speaker 1:Okay. So when you went to London, what was that job? What did that entail? To be in the Secret Service and to move to London.
Speaker 3:So they have offices throughout the world. We're pretty small. I don't even know how many guys there are.
Speaker 3:Maybe 3,500, 4,000. The Bureau is 15,000, 20,000. I don't know. They're huge but pretty small footprint worldwide. But basically a liaison role.
Speaker 3:So I had been on PPD with Bush, which is why I loved it. But I was tired man. Five years and 10 months of nonstop. You get your schedule every Friday for the next week Just couldn't really hardly plan hard to have a life. Work-life balance was tough. Three little kids, wife that's trying to hold the fort down, and the kids were like if I'm ever going to do anything adventurous, now's the time. Because they were all in grade school. I didn't want to move them in middle or high school. So we went over and basically put in for it and I felt like my time was pretty good because I was, it was time for me and I felt like my resume was decent at that point. And you know I got it.
Speaker 3:So basically it was stationed at the American embassy in London and basically did a lot of liaison, had basically no real authority, couldn't you know? I had to ask the cops to do everything for us, like I had no arrest authority. I didn't even take my gun and that felt weird. I had to leave my gun at the office of training and so that was the first time in like a decade I had, you know, walked around without a pistol, so that felt weird for a little while. But yeah, it was good. It's probably the best assignment I ever had.
Speaker 3:As far as like family, you know, my kids got to experience Europe. They went all over the place, vacations, and the kids learned to ski down in Garmisch, germany, uh, when they were little bitty, and if anybody's ever been to the Alps over there, you know it's gorgeous. Um, so I got to my family, got to experience some really cool things I had. I've made some lifelong friends I still stay in touch with. I made friends with a lot of the cops over there and the bee feeders which are which was the queen is the king now, but it was the queen's guard and just just amazing experience, lifelong friendships. Got to experience a lot of different cultures. You know, living in a major city like that, it was just an all-around good experience for the family. The children got an outstanding education. They went to the American school in London and I just think it put them ahead of the curve when we came back, you know, academically and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:What do you say to a young dude that wants to pursue this type of career? Maybe it's in the secret service, maybe it's in the bureau, maybe, but where? What is the divorce rate First off? What's the divorce rate roughly? And then what do you say to a young guy, like, clearly you did this, you have no regrets, this was God's, you would say. God led you into this career path, but your marriage is healthy and whole and your kids are adjusted and they're good humans, they're good adults. You know like. And so what? How did you balance that? I mean, when you're saying from Friday to Friday, you don't know where you're going to be, saying from Friday to Friday, you don't know where you're going to be, how did you like what is the typical divorce rate slash? What's the typical marriage look like? And then, how did you rise above that?
Speaker 3:Well, that's a really good question. It's a fair question. So yesterday we talked about the in-home interview. You know, they kind of come in, you're basically they're getting ready to give you the job. They just, you know, hey, kind of come in, you're basically they're getting ready to give you the job.
Speaker 3:They just you know, hey, this is bad, it really is. So I can remember the two gentlemen that came to my house. Elizabeth, like I said, she's about seven or eight months pregnant and they're like, basically, if you go to PPD which not everybody gets to do, which I was fortunate to get to do that so the divorce rate at that time, according to those two guys, was about 75%, which is ridiculous. So I would say that having an awesome spouse, I mean you could not do this job if you don't have whether you're a woman or married to a man, or man married to a woman your spouse has to buy in and they have to be supportive. If you don't have a supportive spouse, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 3:As a Christian, you got to put God first and my little mantra that I've always tried to do and I don't get it right all the time, I don't want to come across like some holy roller that thinks he's perfect because I'm no Billy Graham, trust me. But you know God first. So faith, family country, that's my little mantra. And when I was coaching football, I would say faith, family country, that's my little mantra. And when I was coaching football, I would say faith, family football, right. So you got to have this pecking order. Things can't become a God. You know, once you make football your God, or alcohol your God, or sex your God, you're in trouble, right. So faith, family country, kind of how I tried to live my life, not saying I got it right all the time, but I will say that I didn't get divorced. My kids don't hate me. My oldest boy, as you know, is a lawyer. He works for the DA's office down here. Ashley's got a master's degree. She went to Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1:Go Hokies, go Hokies.
Speaker 3:And then she got her master's from Liberty, and then Luke got his undergrad at Liberty. Elizabeth got her master's from Liberty, and then Luke got his undergrad at Liberty, elizabeth got her master's at Liberty, living in Hawaii during COVID. So everybody's going to Liberty but me. But I think I built a couple of buildings over there with all the money I gave.
Speaker 3:But that place is awesome, but shout out Liberty. But Elizabeth, just having a godly wife, you know, having a godly wife is key, right. I have a friend we're not that close, but he was a Catholic guy and his wife was a Jewish lady. And I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that can't work, I'm just saying it's hard, right. So if you're not, if you're not kind of on the same page with your religion and your faith, then of course politics comes into play and how to raise a child and what to do and what not to do and punishment and family time, and we always tried to.
Speaker 3:We went to church on a regular basis, went to the American church in London. We made going to church a priority when I was in town and we tried to have at least one meal together. I think having a meal together is important and of course this was before all the technology and stuff like that, so it wasn't quite as hard and the kids were little. But you know, I think, praying together, going to church together, trying to have a meal together and again, we didn't do this. We're not the, you know, leave it to beaver family or whatever. But we, we have flaws and we have things that we struggled with too.
Speaker 3:But just loving each other, putting God first, having, you know, transparent relationship, communicating all that, all that stuff that everybody listening probably already knows. But it takes work, man, and having, uh, all the married folks listening. It's like it's not always great there's. There's ups and downs, but that's, that's life, right, and you just have to to be willing to fight. You can't, when trouble comes knocking, you can't just lay down, you know. You just can't lay down and give up. You got to fight, man.
Speaker 1:That's gold man. That last thing you just said was solid gold. People just quit, they just quit and they roll over and they walk away.
Speaker 3:Can't take the easy way. Listen, sometimes quitting is easy, right, quitting is super easy. One of the things I'm going to get on my soapbox for a second. One of the things I tell my football players is like, hey, it's easy to win, winning is so easy. Losing is when it takes your real character. Like you know, other team practice, other team wants to win. Okay, so we didn't win tonight. Act like a man, shake their hand and we'll get after it again on practice.
Speaker 1:So it's the same way in life losing is hard, but you got to fight. Man, that's good. Yeah, man, that's encouraging. I I just there's so many dudes, I know so many dudes. I hope this speaks to the heart of guys that you know. You, you said you've a couple times you've mentioned, quote, unquote, our audience. But, man, you'd be surprised the the people that I get emails from and messages from on our social media stuff, that that, because of the way the Internet works now in this world of social media, nsr is being listened to by people. I got an email from a dude who's a police officer in a sex crimes unit in a major city and he's like dude, I don't know, I just found this podcast and it's like dude, I don't know. I just found this podcast and it's and it's changed my life and it's a guy that was dealing with alcoholism and, and I think you know, a blown marriage and he's trying to make the second marriage work and so that that's that's golden nuggets that you're putting out there, like for dudes to hear fight for your marriage, all the stuff you just said.
Speaker 1:What it comes down to is be intentional every day and be faithful every day. There is not one moment in your life where you're going to look back at the end. There's not one day that you're going to look back at it and go. I nailed it, I was perfect today, but we're going to strive for that. And what we can do every day is be faithful and be intentional, and that's what. Having a meal together, that's intentionality. Putting our problems out in front of us and addressing them, that's intentionality. And saying no career, no dollar amount. Nothing is going to be more important than these relationships and this circle that God's put me in right here, this inner circle.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and I appreciate you saying that and that's a very valid point. I do want to just say, for the sake of just completely being transparent, like we're not like the Brysons. We are far from perfect. Just ask Elizabeth, she'll tell you what's wrong with me. But I'm like, I don't want to paint this picture like, oh, it was blissful and perfect. No, it's hard, like life has been hard.
Speaker 3:I've been married for 28 years. I mean, you know, you've been married a long time too. It's hard, but that's OK. Anything worth having is worth working for Right, and so I just want to make sure that the people listening don't get discouraged. If you've been divorced or you've made mistakes, and it's okay. That's what grace is for right, that's what Jesus is for.
Speaker 3:And so it's like Scott Bryson's not perfect, Trust me on that. We don't have time to go into all my stuff but it's like and nor do I want to it's between me and God, but it's like, you know, you have to work and you have to fight, and it's not always pretty. I mean, elizabeth said to me one time you know, I don't know if I really want to share this, but I'm going to like because this isn't to make her look bad. It was about because I was being a jack leg. She's like I hope Ashley doesn't marry a man like you. So I just want to say that to your audience because I don't want to come across as some pious guy who thinks he's so cool and you might be struggling with something, and this guy that I'm listening to thinks he's a saint. I don't think I'm a saint. I have been a real jerk at times and so you know.
Speaker 3:But you come out on the other side of that If you're willing to fight for each other and you're willing to self-reflect. I can't tell you how many nights I've been to bed and just self-reflected and just felt so miserable with myself. I always felt like I was a good father. I really felt like I was a good father. I don't know that I was always a good husband, but it's worked out right. I can tell you how many times I've laid in the bed looking at the ceiling going man, you're an idiot. Why did you say that? Why did you do that?
Speaker 3:But the thing about it is for the believer, just like with death, we have hope, right. So the people that pass away and don't believe that this is devastating and death sucks right. I mean I'm not going to act like death, but like when you make a mistake or when you sin or when you die, like we have hope because of Jesus. You know, and that's, that's all it is, man, you have to like this. This whole thing that happened with the service this past weekend, like I had a tough time on Sunday. I was overcome with emotion. I'm a pretty emotional guy. I feel like Dick Vermeule sometimes. I'm surprised I haven't cried during this thing yet, but we've not gotten sappy, but I just I'm like I had a really hard time Sunday and I went down front man and I just left it at the altar.
Speaker 1:That's good. Oh man, that right there is worth both episodes. There's a lot of people listening to this that that's exactly what they needed to hear. Their marriage is struggling. They're feeling like a failure. They're like man, what, what do I got to do here? And it's like, just fight, be intentional, just fight for it. It's worth it. It's God's, it's God's plan and calling for you to be faithful as a husband, as a wife. So, oh man, it's good. Well, I want to. I want to wrap up this second episode with a couple of things, one funny story that I want you to tell. That's my all-time favorite. Well, my first all-time favorite, by the way, is when you called me from Air Force One. That's just the coolest. I mentioned it yesterday, but I don't know anybody else that's ever got a phone call from Air Force One else that's ever got a phone call from Air Force One and, if I remember, the way it went was like a collect call kind of.
Speaker 2:It wasn't a collect call the way the operator talks to you.
Speaker 1:I answered I had this scrambled number and we have so many international, we've got these international partnerships and missionaries and mobilized people and so I thought what is this number? And I answered and it was like you have a call from Air Force One, will you accept it? And I'm thinking anybody else in their right mind would think this is a scam call. You know, like this is spam. And I yelled Mooch Because that was your high school nickname and I was like all of a sudden two redneck idiots from North Carolina are talking, one on Air Force One and one in the mountains in North Carolina. That was cool.
Speaker 3:The service must have been really desperate when they picked me up, man.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so funny. That was so funny. Okay, here's the funny story. You got to tell the poop story when you were I don't remember when- you were oh, come on man. Yeah, you got to tell the poop story when you were. I don't remember when you were. Oh, come on man. Yeah, you got to tell the poop story because that's my favorite you got a 25-year Secret Service career.
Speaker 1:Counter-assault team worked with SEAL teams worked with, I mean, every elite unit in the world. This is my favorite story. It's better than any other story you've ever told. You got to tell it.
Speaker 3:Dude, you did me so dirty man, I'm going to get you for that, but you, rascal. So I'd been on the job about five minutes. I think it was like December of 98. I'd been out of the academy like six months. I'm working some foreign dig, I think I mean I could Google it. I don't remember. It was a female protectee from, like Ghana I don't know if it's the president or prime minister or whatever of Ghana and it was down in Miami. She had a sister or cousin or something that lived in the area. So she was in town and was going to go over to the house and have supper. So I was working evening shift, which is basically two to 10 generally. And so it's Miami.
Speaker 3:It's a nice little subdivision but it kind of butts up to an apartment complex was. You know, apartment complex has got a big parking lot, a bunch of streetlights and no, no real trees, and that the trees down there are palm trees. It's not like there's any cover. So I'm sitting in the truck and I'm like, ooh, I got to go to the bathroom, man, and I'm I'm brand new. Like I don't know, and these guys are got I don't know anybody, like I don't know the boss, I don't know the guys I'm working with, it's just random dudes sitting in the truck and and so I'm like, well, I have to cause it's. It's dark out, but like I don't, we came in. I remember going past the Wendy's and I was like I'm going to run down. It was like five minutes. I said do you think I have time to go to the Wendy's?
Speaker 3:And he goes yeah, go do your thing, man. So I went walking down the side, uh the driveway to get the car keys from our intelligence guy. You know, he had a car, uh like a G-Ride, and I was going to get his car and I was going to go to the bathroom. I got about halfway down the dog-gone driveway I was like, oh, big boy ain't going to make it. So I went. I was panic mode man, and I went.
Speaker 3:I saw next door. I could see through the sliding door there was an older lady, probably 75 or 80, sitting there reading the newspaper in the kitchen. Her husband was in the den watching tv and I was like, oh my gosh, I was panicking. So I went up, knocked on their sliding glass door. They had a little ankle biter dog. You know, a little yappy dog was barking its head off and I take my credentials out and I smash him onto the window and the car. They're, they're, they can't believe this dude's doing this and I don't know that. They're making fun of me and laughing at whatever. So I go in, I let her hold. I said, ma'am, you can hold my credentials, for I don't. So you don't think I'm some like weirdo. And oh yeah, we know y'all are next door, blah, blah blah.
Speaker 3:She wanted to talk. I said, man, I got to go to the bathroom, so it gets a little better. So we go in. She's like, hey, harry, or whatever his name was, show this young man where the bathroom is. So instead of taking me to the hall bathroom, homeboy decided to take me to the master bathroom, which has orange shag carpet in it, and and I'm like, oh, thanks, and so I do my thing. And then I realized, oh, there's no toilet paper. And then I hear, and then I, and then I hear I'm like, uh, yeah, he goes, here you go. And so I had to open the door and take the toilet paper from this guy oh my gosh you want to talk about feeling like you were one inch tall.
Speaker 3:I was so humiliated. I was so humiliated and I couldn't get out of the house fast enough. She's wanting to make a small talk about the big thing going on. I'm like, yeah, thank you bye. And I got back to the truck and those guys were horse laughing.
Speaker 3:And so I get back to my office the next week and my ASAC, the number two guy, calls me. He's like, hey, Bryson, come down to my office. I was like, okay, I don't think nothing about it. And he's like, did you crap in somebody's house? And I'm like, you know I did so head. So somebody had snitched on me.
Speaker 1:So it didn't take long for the rumor mill to start up and I was the butt of a lot of jokes. Oh man, no pun intended. Oh, that's hilarious. I love that story I love it.
Speaker 3:It's mortifying, it's ruined me man oh, it's so funny.
Speaker 1:It's so funny. Um, and the last thing that I I was, I thought I remembered I wanted to ask you this just personally. I could ask you this offline, but didn't you say when you would go out with Bush, when y'all go out with him to run or mountain bike, that he had to be in front? He wouldn't lay in front of him.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, that joker's super competitive Now. So you know, obviously it makes a little sense because you know you're kind of flanking him or whatever. And I got to go on some amazing. I was so, so thankful that guy started biking, because running for me was hard and because you're wearing all your gear too and I just would have never been. You know, I'm not Dwayne Johnson but I'm not small, right, running is hard. And so I was like, oh, thank God, we got a bike, so uh, but the thing with running was we would do three miles in about 21 minutes. The pain was over, but mountain biking dude would go for an hour and a half or two hours. So it was. It was pretty hard too, but um, we, he. Yeah, we got to go on some cool places I'll never forget.
Speaker 3:We were in Maine and that was an awesome ride because we were out in this evergreen forest. It was awesome. And he took a hard. I only saw him wreck one time. He took a really hard spill. I don't know if his tire caught a root or a rock, but he went over the handlebars and so I was. We were so silly, like I was in my prime, you know, I was early 30, 33, 34, I don't 32 or something so we were all kind of in our prime and I was this one guy that I always rode with was this guy named frank and he had played in the nfl he's a really big guy and frank was obviously super competitive too, and so we were always kind of jockeying for pole position because we wanted to.
Speaker 3:You know, like alpha dog nonsense, just being silly while we're working but I was about two inches from, uh, bush's back tire. My front tire was and when he wrecked. I wrecked because I didn't want to run over him, so I I like slammed to the right. He wrecks. I I wrecked Frank.
Speaker 3:Everybody's on like it's a dog pile of bicycles and people and I'll never forget the only time I ever saw that man. He just kind of laid there for a second and he hit the ground so hard he's like, oh. And then, of course, the middle leg came up, or the doc or whoever it was, I can't remember and he's like, just give me a minute, he had the biggest bruise you've ever seen on his leg, on his upper thigh, his outer thigh. He knocked the soup out of himself. You know what? This is why I like the guy Politics or not, whatever, that is a tough old man. He got up and we finished the ride. Dude, one of my gear shifts I was stuck in the same gear so I couldn't shift gears, which made it hard. One of my brakes I think my front brake broke. I mean, everything was jacked up. He was riding about an $8,000 bicycle. I obviously was not.
Speaker 1:So we finished the ride, but he's a tough old guy man and you said, uh, I remember you saying one time, like in the morning, when, when you were like when he would come in, when y'all were in town and he was coming into the oval office. I mean, the oval office is literally like the president's office, like when he goes to the office, that's where he goes and he would be there like he would go work out beforehand and then like what was his morning routine.
Speaker 3:So the one thing I did. Of course I think we all got duped a little bit on the WMD, because you know we could always dissect that later. But, like you know, at the time I'm like. This is the man. Like you know, I agreed with his politics back then. I probably don't necessarily agree with his politics as much anymore as I used to, but regardless of that, his work ethic is second to none. Now Trump he and Trump are very similar in regard to their work ethic.
Speaker 3:So Andy Card was his chief of staff and I was assigned to Andy Card for about eight months and, like I said, the shift normally works six, two or ten, but obviously you can't show up at six to work at six. So you work, show up at 530 to do your brief and get on post and blah, blah, blah. Well, andy Card was such a hard worker too, because his boss was a hard worker. We had in our 5, 1, and 9. So I would have to be at work on day shift at 5 so we could be at the White House by 5.30, because Bush was going to be in the Oval Office between 5.30 and 6 every day like clockwork that dude hard charger bro. And I loved it because in the wintertime he had his big black felt cowboy hat and he'd come walking over there with his little cocky walk and the stewards would have the fire going. It was, I was like man.
Speaker 1:I like this job that's so cool, that's like nobody's, that's that's looking behind the curtain man, nobody sees that stuff. It's just so interesting to me to hear. It gives some realism. Like I remember even you telling stories about him and Laura Bush getting in like a husband-wife spat over invitations to the presidential dinner or gala or something and it's just like a husband and wife arguing in the hallway. Like you didn't invite. I think it was Alan Jackson and she's mad because he's mad.
Speaker 1:One of them's mad because the other one left Alan Jackson's name off the invite list or whatever.
Speaker 3:It's just very rude, I'll tell you. I know we've got to play a rap, but I'll give a quick one on her, real quick.
Speaker 3:I hope these people don't get mad at me, but these are just funny things. So she called him Bushy that was her little nickname for him and so I was never assigned to her, but I was around her a lot, you know, and so we'd be down at the ranch or something and she was kind of like a closet smoker and she'd go out on the back and she'd have her little cocktail and a cigarette and she'd be like, don't tell Bushy.
Speaker 1:That's so funny, Bushy, she called him Bushy.
Speaker 3:That's so good dude Bushy she called him Bushy. That's awesome. Honestly, until Trump rolled around, she was my favorite protectee of all time. She was the sweetest, nicest lady. I mean she was a librarian. I mean she was the nicest person you've ever been around.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. That's just fascinating. What about? There's one thing I forgot to ask you about in your career. There was a stretch. You sent me a picture, so I think the first Obama inauguration you were either still with Cat or you were in the protective detail. But then the second time around, you had moved back from London and I remember you were in the crowd. You sent me a picture. You had a big full beard and a camouflage hunting jacket on. You were doing some line of work that was undercover. What was that?
Speaker 3:Again, we call everything counter. That was our counter surveillance unit. Basically, I liked that because I could wear shorts to work in the summertime. I could grow my beard out in the wintertime and wear a Carhartt and look like a construction worker downtown or whatever. And I pulled that off pretty easy, so just blending in into your environment. You know what I mean. You didn't have to grow a beard out, but you could, and so I took full advantage of it, because most of the years I was there I had to be clean, shaven and in a suit. So I worked in that unit for four and a half years and so I didn't keep a beard the whole time. It gets pretty hot in the summertime, you know, but I'd let it grow for a while and cut it and just try, you know, just to have an opportunity to blend in.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you a cool story about that one time. So again, since we talked about my poop story a while ago, I knew where all the good bathrooms in DC were. So I had all the, because I did a lot of stuff on foot, so I had all the nice hotels. I knew where all the good bathrooms were and all the nice hotels. Of course I look like a woolly booger. And I can remember one time I went into a Starbucks and they're like I said I need to get the key to the bathroom and they're like, no, I'm like like, I said I need to, can I get the key to the bathroom? And they're like, no, I'm like, listen, I'm going to buy a coffee, I just need to go to the bathroom. Like I promise you, I smell better than I look and I look like a homeless dude, you know. And so they finally like realized I wasn't a bum or whatever.
Speaker 3:But I was in the bottom of the Willard I think it was the Willard right there on Pennsylvania Avenue and I had to go to the bathroom. So it was nice and clean down there. I was tired of getting harassed at Starbucks. So I'm down in the basement, going to go to the bathroom and there's a conference kind of going on in one of the ballrooms and I see this dude standing in the lobby and I don't listen.
Speaker 3:Man, it takes a lot to get me excited. I'd probably get excited if I saw Michael Jordan, but like I had a key to the White House, I walked around with the info like it took. I just did. I don't get excited about much and so I saw this dude standing there I'm like holy cow and I said, hey, are you Jeremy Camp? And he said yeah, and I mean I was. So I was thought that was so awesome and he took a. He was a cool guy too and I took a picture with him and I was wearing like I'll send you the picture I was wearing camo shorts and a ronald reagan t-shirt with the sleeves cut out, and so I just you never know who you're going to run into, what's going to happen.
Speaker 1:It was just really cool um, so, and the point of that job? You just walked around just looking for suspicious stuff looking for. Yeah, you know um, and you're carrying just your pistol yeah, I did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you could uh. I mean, in the wintertime it's obviously a little easier to conceal some stuff, but in summertime it's hard, you know so I just I felt like, yeah, I just I felt like I was more of a. I mean, I could have interacted, but it's more of a like a report type of thing, you know, like if you see something, you would report it and get the, get the boys on it.
Speaker 1:Hey, let me tell you a funny jeremy camp story I have a I have a. I have a jeremy story, very different. This kind of goes back this is your hillbilly cousin. This goes back to the first story we told yesterday about me and that boy across the road. So I went, Jeremy.
Speaker 3:Camp when he first came on the scene.
Speaker 1:he was kind of an independent. He didn't have a lot of notoriety and one of the things being in full-time student ministry in a parachurch student ministry we're constantly we have a team that's constantly looking for the like, breaking up and coming music that's maybe not even mainstream yet. So we we had a guy that had had found Jeremy camp, when he before he had signed with a big label and he had he was playing small venues and and so it was kind of like, right in the, in the pivotal moment where he was becoming sort of a mainstream, you're starting to hear him on the radio. He's starting to become. It's before. He's going around leading worship. He's still doing shows and concerts and uh, and so there's a venue over in Chattanooga and and we love Jeremy camp because his first album was just kind of that late 90s like Creed or on the.
Speaker 1:Christian side, third Day. You know that kind of rock sound.
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely Great boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're going to go listen to him. And he was opening for I don't remember who it was, but it was a more contemporary kind of hipster kind of guy. So we go to this venue and I don't remember what the venue was, but it wasn't a big venue. There's maybe 300 or 400 people packed into this room and it was an old bar and they had converted one part of it upstairs, an upstairs room into a little concert venue. So he comes out, he's the opener, he plays, he does about six or seven songs. We really enjoyed it. There was about six or eight of us from snowbird and so then he goes backstage and you know he was.
Speaker 1:I don't know what he looks like now, but back when he first came out he was kind of like a bodybuilder he was.
Speaker 1:He was a little he's not a big dude, but he was a little muscled up guy and he comes out on stage and he's got a little tight V-neck t-shirt on and the girls are all yelling and it was mostly women at this concert. And so then when he's done, the other guy comes out and they were hamming it up, they had come up with a pretty. The guy comes out and he's making jokes about Jeremy camps muscles and his tight shirt, and he's you know something about. You go to his merch table. He's got size medium because that's what he wears, and and, uh, and you're making jokes. Well, and then jeremy camp sneaks out from backstage and he comes right up behind this artist I think it was bibo norman and he's right behind him and then all of a sudden he realizes jeremy camp standing behind him and he acts like he's scared. And jeremy camp puts him in a headlock and said and says you want to?
Speaker 1:you want to fight you want to wrestle or you want to fight it out or something like that. Okay so, and then that's the end of it. Well then, jeremy Camp goes out to his merch table and I go out there and stand in line and it's like I'm eighth or ninth in line behind all teenage girls. These are 16 to 20-year-old girls waiting in line to get him to sign CDs and t-shirts. Then there's me 6'3", 220-pound hillbilly. I'm standing behind him, the last thing he does. He had challenged Bebo Norman to wrestle him or something on the stage. I stand in line, I wait patiently. He's getting pictures with everybody. I get up there and Mooch, I rolled him up. He's telling this story somewhere right now. I tackled him.
Speaker 1:I just went in like I was going to shake his hand and I sucker didn't sucker punch him, but I sucker tackled him. He didn't know what was coming and I went like and he's considerably shorter than me and I went in like I was going to shake his hand, same what you were saying earlier. I was in my prime, I was probably 32 years old, and I heel, picked him and dropped him and went belly to belly on top of him and just rolled him up and said you say, you want to wrestle, let's go, or something like that. And his eyes were as big as saucers as big as saucers. Now he may not remember this, but I would imagine it's one of the things in his career that stands out.
Speaker 1:So that's my Jeremy Camp story. It's really funny, but I was a big fan. So then we laughed and I helped. I pulled him up it was super quick and I just said, hey, I appreciate it. I told him I was like I appreciate your music, I love the message. I was very positive with him. But yeah, that's my Jeremy Camp story.
Speaker 3:That's a good one.
Speaker 1:Pretty funny.
Speaker 3:That's a little bit more dynamic than mine. I just sort of said hello to him.
Speaker 1:I rolled him up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's awesome. But it was funny because I normally wouldn't have done that, but I was like, oh, he's cool.
Speaker 1:That is very cool. I didn't think about what you said a while ago, that you don't get excited about meeting people, because you saw so many people. The people you met and ran in circles with hard to impress you. It's wild just to think about.
Speaker 3:Yeah and I don't say that, Listen, I don't say that. I don't mean that to be cocky. It's just really hard to impress men and I think that's probably a good thing, because I think society we put too much value on athlete this or star that. So I mean like if I had a chance to meet Michael Jordan, I'd probably take it, but I'm not. You know, it's just super hard to impress me. And I don't mean that to sound cocky, it just is what it is.
Speaker 1:Well, I think about how many people you know. Our listeners may not think about this, but how many people you've come in contact with because of the presidential uh um, like when they do like the concert or the gala or the, and all these superstars are around and you, just you see those people. There's a picture at my mom's house of you standing on your own presidential detail and there's the president of the United States and Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California at the time and they're both in there and you're you're front and center. I think that was on the cover of like one of the big magazines like time, and it's like the president, the governor and you're standing there on and it's like what famous people have you interacted with? That's something, I think, that that I like. When I think about them, I go, oh wow, it's not just these presidents and their wives, it's all the people that they interact with. You've interacted with those people. It's wild to think about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was. Listen, it was for all the things that were. You know I would like to see changed or different things like that. It was a wonderful career. It provided well for my family. I got to do a lot of cool experiences, my family got to do some cool experiences, so I think, all in all, it was a win. My wife didn't leave me, my kids don't hate me, so I feel like I'm winning. That's right.
Speaker 3:And you've been to SWO, to the Marriage Retreat. You follow us. You got the app. You're SWO family. You're not just my family. We worked with SEAL Team 3 or 8. I can't remember, but I had your I still have it the camouflage SWO hat and I wore that thing operationally, and so I was representing SWO in Afghanistan. That's so cool. I always take you guys with me, man.
Speaker 1:I love that. Hey, let me ask you one fun question before we wrap up. What are you carrying on duty these days and what do you carry for concealed carry these days?
Speaker 3:Yep. So Sheriff's Office, we're carrying the SIG 320 and the .40 Cal. I think we're switching to the 9, but right now we've got the .40. And then off-duty I carry, for my everyday carry, I carry a Glock 48. And the reason I like it is because it's the single stack. I wish in hindsight I wish I would have got the 43X, because it's the same capacity 10 plus 1. The barrel on the 48 is about a half an inch longer. I like to wear it appendix, so it sort of digs into my side you know my groin a little bit.
Speaker 3:Luke's got the 43X and I like it better because the barrel's a little shorter and I know some of the guys out there listening to you may disagree with this from a tactical standpoint. But I don't even carry a spare mag. I obviously have my knife and stuff, but I carry that thing solely for self-defense if somebody wants to carjack me at the gas pump or the restaurant, because I'm going to shoot 11 times or whatever it takes to stop the guy and then I'm getting out of dodge. So I'm not in it to fight, I'm just in it to survive.
Speaker 1:I agree, I don't carry a spare mag and you're right, that's the trend in concealed carry right now is you basically got to have a bat belt the Batman belt under your T-shirt, and I just don't do it. I carry just a Glock with no spare mag. And then I bought the 43X for Tucker when he graduated from high school and I bought the 43X for Laylee this past year when she graduated from high school. I've actually got both of them running red dots, so two of my kids are running red dots on Glock 43Xs. I run a dial, actually run a green dot on mine. So if you you haven't tried that, you're not running that yet. Are you the dot?
Speaker 3:So Luke does. Luke's got a really good setup. Luke's got the 43 X and he's got the Hallison. I think is a hey for that for Hollison Folks. You know they say once you practice and get you, that's as much faster, right. But I just, I've just never shot that, but that's going to be. You know, sheriff's Department's going to that as well. So once we go to that for work I'll probably go to my off duty. But I've been shooting iron sights, you know, my whole life, so I haven't done that yet. But I will say that when I travel like last weekend we went to Virginia and I took my Glock 19, because it's a little bit bigger, and my go-back. So when I'm on the road it's a little different you know I'll take around here, going to the restaurant, going to church, movie or whatever, I'll carry my 40, 48. When I'm on the road I'll take the 19 and you know extra ammo and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:That's a good setup. Yeah, I've got a med kit. I've got a large med kit in my truck and then an emergency trauma kit. I've got a trauma kit and an extensive first aid kit and that trauma kit's got tourniquets and stuff like that. But I'm the same and I did so. When I started Laylee out, I started her on a dot and she picked it up so fast. But I'm like you, I shot irons for so long. They say it takes you about 1,000 reps and it took me about 2,500 reps before I felt like the dot was natural. I'm a slow, maybe learner, but now I've got it, man. And once you get it and I'll tell you this, I run a green dot. Laylee and Tucker both theirs are set up with red dots. I decided to try green and that works better for me.
Speaker 1:And they say that's 50-50. Some people pick up the red better.
Speaker 3:Some people pick up the green better. Yeah, luke, his can do either. I think he might keep his on green. I'm not sure what he does, but yeah, it's just shooter's preference, I think, um, but you know what to your point, I think I need to start doing that because, as you know, we both wear readers now, and I started I knew I needed to get glasses when I my shooting scores started dropping. I've always been a good shot. I'm like what the heck man? And now I realized I couldn't see the. My front post was a little blurry. I'm like, oh, no wonder. So I think having the the red dot would definitely help me.
Speaker 1:Oh, it does, it does, and that's what eventually pushed me. I tried to make the change five years ago and I didn't need readers yet, but once that front sock started blurring I was like I've got to go to the dot and man, it's a game changer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm sure it is.
Speaker 1:Next time you get up here we'll hit the range it Next time you get up here we'll hit the range.
Speaker 3:It'll be fun, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Man, thanks for coming on. It's an hour and seven minutes and I could keep doing this, but I want to be mindful of your time and your evening. You're working a full schedule right now. We're wrapping this up just before 6 o'clock on Tuesday, so in a couple hours here I've got evening worship service. We've got a church here from your neck of the woods, pitts Baptist from Kannapolis. They're here this week.
Speaker 3:Elizabeth. When her mom remarried, they moved to Concord. She was not far from there.
Speaker 1:They've been coming here for literally 20. We're 27 years old. Swo is SWO started the year you went into the Secret Service it was the same timeline and they've been coming for like 24 years. So pretty wild.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, man. That's great, that's great.
Speaker 1:And then there's also a bunch of Boone churches here. We got two or three Boone churches here with a bunch of app kids.
Speaker 3:I know CC&P where I go to church. They were there maybe second week or something.
Speaker 1:Yep week two.
Speaker 3:they were there and then last week we were I think it was two weekends ago we were in Virginia and I got to go to Park Valley and so I didn't get to see Barry because he was out of town. But I got to see all the other pastors and they're going somewhere and I was was like are you guys going back to Snowbird? And that church is so big they can't even come to Snowbird anymore because they would take up all the space yeah, they wanted what it was.
Speaker 1:We have enough space for them, but we would have to turn away a bunch of our other groups. That's a good problem we have right now. They outgrew the spaces that I think they had 165 spots and they needed like 250. And then next year it was like they outgrew the spaces that I think they had 165 spots and they needed like 250. And then next year it was like 300. So we're not quite able to facilitate it, but we have a plan right now we're going to grow by 200 beds, so that's a three to five-year plan.
Speaker 1:Okay, I hope you all get some enjoyment out of that. And you know, just real thankful for Scott, proud to be his cousin and our whole family's proud of him and thankful for him. And I love his family, love his wife and kids. We're not as close as I'd like to be. A lot of our cousins, a lot of our family's, super close.
Speaker 1:I'm more on the bubble because of my line of work and maybe geographic location. I'm an hour and a half away from everybody, which Scott lives pretty, pretty far from everybody too. But um, just the flow of my life tends to keep me a little bit on the outside edge. But, man, I love my family, my cousins, my uncles and aunts, my mom's sisters, uh, and their, their children. We're all very close and I'm just thankful and we're all very proud to to have had someone like Scott from our family serving this capacity.
Speaker 1:And so it's kind of cool cool little bragging rights when you're sitting around a fire with some people you don't know, um, or people you do know and you get to tell those stories yeah, my cousin did this and my cousin did that. Pretty cool, um, but anyway, uh, I hope you enjoyed it and I sure enjoyed my time with him and let me know if maybe we'll have him on again sometime and I appreciate his insight and his time and we're going to hook him up with some sweet, slow merch. So I can guarantee you this the children and young people of whatever school in Cabarrus County, north Carolina that man is an SRO in, they are well protected, not throwing shade on any SROs in any schools, but I can tell you right now, when you've got a former counter-assault Secret Service agent as your school resource officer, I think they're pretty squared away. So pretty cool. Thank y'all, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to. No Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at sw outfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources and we'll see you next week on no sanity required.
