Son of a Blitch
Ep. 71 - MATTY NELSON (Former Green Beret, Seekins Precision, Hat Creek Training)
The latest podcast episode offers a fascinating and entertaining account of Matty Nelson's extraordinary transition from a childhood enveloped in Utah's orchards to the rigorous and esteemed ranks of the Green Berets. Nelson's early exposure to nature's raw beauty and the values instilled through family outdoor activities (and sports) provided him with a profound respect for the environment and a robust work ethic, elements that would later become pivotal in his military endeavors.
Nelson shares a few interesting stories about his time in Brazil, first as part of his mission trip with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and later, during his foray into the Brazilian Jungle Warfare School (CIGS). The CIGS, known for its exacting training regime, was a crucible that tested Nelson's mental and physical limits, further shaping his capabilities as a soldier, and a man.
Nelson's recollections of camaraderie and resilience during missions in Colombia bring to light the unpredictable and chaotic nature of military operations. It is also serves as a vehicle for one of the funnier stories shared by any of my guests, as Matty tells a glorious side-splitting story for the first time, publicly. I was happily brought to tears from laughter. You’ll appreciate this one!
These experiences illustrate the importance of adaptability and the strong bonds formed under such circumstances. The narrative doesn't end with his military career; it seamlessly transitions into his role as a top-tier shooting instructor, demonstrating how his sniper training and competitive shooting passion led to influential leadership and instruction roles at Hat Creek Training Facility and with Seekins Precision, as the Director of Business Development.
His story is filled with valuable insights for those intrigued by military careers, outdoor adventures, or the intricacies of sharpshooting. It is a compelling account that blends personal triumphs, professional milestones, and an unfaltering commitment to serving others, whether in uniform or in civilian life.
The latest podcast episode offers a fascinating and entertaining account of Matty Nelson's extraordinary transition from a childhood enveloped in Utah's orchards to the rigorous and esteemed ranks of the Green Berets. Nelson's early exposure to nature's raw beauty and the values instilled through family outdoor activities (and sports) provided him with a profound respect for the environment and a robust work ethic, elements that would later become pivotal in his military endeavors.
Nelson shares a few interesting stories about his time in Brazil, first as part of his mission trip with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and later, during his foray into the Brazilian Jungle Warfare School (CIGS). The CIGS, known for its exacting training regime, was a crucible that tested Nelson's mental and physical limits, further shaping his capabilities as a soldier, and a man.
Nelson's recollections of camaraderie and resilience during missions in Colombia bring to light the unpredictable and chaotic nature of military operations. It is also serves as a vehicle for one of the funnier stories shared by any of my guests, as Matty tells a glorious side-splitting story for the first time, publicly. I was happily brought to tears from laughter. You’ll appreciate this one!
These experiences illustrate the importance of adaptability and the strong bonds formed under such circumstances. The narrative doesn't end with his military career; it seamlessly transitions into his role as a top-tier shooting instructor, demonstrating how his sniper training and competitive shooting passion led to influential leadership and instruction roles at Hat Creek Training Facility and with Seekins Precision, as the Director of Business Development.
His story is filled with valuable insights for those intrigued by military careers, outdoor adventures, or the intricacies of sharpshooting. It is a compelling account that blends personal triumphs, professional milestones, and an unfaltering commitment to serving others, whether in uniform or in civilian life.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Son of a Blitch podcast. I'm your host, George Blitch, and I just had a thoroughly entertaining podcast that you guys are going to love. I got to sit down with the one and only Maddie Nelson. Uh, for those who are not familiar, maddie Nelson works with Seekins precision as well as hat Creek training facility and, uh, man, we just had a wonderful chat.
Speaker 1:Uh, kind of went through the chronology of his lifetime, right, you know where he was kind of born and raised. Uh, you know how he got involved in being a green Beret and some of his missions some really fun ones, especially the Colombian story and there is just a world of great knowledge that this guy has to share. He is truly an amazing man, a great human, great father, great husband, great soldier, great trainer, great leader. You know he really exemplifies all those, wears a lot of hats, as you'll see in the podcast, and really just had such a great chat with him. He really embodies a spirit of just goodness and man, there's something about him. Every time I ever see him on the videos and things too, I don't know, you just can't help but smile. He's just a real positive guy and you know he's done a lot for our country. He's just a real positive guy and you know he's done a lot for our country. He continues to do a lot helping, training and sharing his knowledge and leadership all across the board. So I really had a great time.
Speaker 1:I think you guys are going to really enjoy this podcast, this interview, and, once again, thank you all for your support. Make sure you go down the links below to learn more about Seekin's Precision as well as Hat Creek Training, and I think you'll be glad you did. Those are really some top-notch people and you know Matty's just one of them. So you guys, enjoy this podcast. Let me know what you think, leave a review at the end and, yeah, thanks again for all your support. Without further ado, here is the podcast with Matty Nelson. Y'all enjoy. Hey, matty, how you doing today, man.
Speaker 2:I am fantastic. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I love being a fan and I'm happy to be finally doing this in person. Great.
Speaker 1:Cool man. Well, yeah, me too. I know we've been talking about it for a while and you know both busy guys, so it's cool that we get to knock this down. Look, I think you know I, you know where you were born and raised and just kind of I know you kind of got into the outdoor lifestyle a little bit later in the life but there was definitely a as far as hunting, but I know that that was a part of your life with your family, uh, kind of early on. So maybe just kind of start a little bit, tell us a little bit about you know kind of the one-on at least appreciation and love in the outdoors, and then we'll kind of thread this through to your military career and beyond okay, sounds, sounds good.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I was, I was born and raised in in, uh, utah, so kind of uh. The town that I was born in, um, was a pretty small town to start, with, just a bunch of apple and and cherry orchards, so, like the dirt, the road I originally like my parents still have the house was on a dirt road, uh, but it's all built up now and kind of turned into suburbia, big metropolis, from salt lake all the way down to santa quinn now. But, um, so I grew up in a pretty small town and my, my parents were avid outdoors people. My mom grew up in southern utah, in in blanding, uh, racing around on horses and jeeps down there. My dad grew up, you know, jamming throughming through the what's now Draper, but back then it was like three dairy farms and just foothills into the mountains. He grew up running around in the hills with his friends and so, all growing up, every time we had a vacation, anytime we had anything, they loved to be in the outdoors. So we went camping for, you know, two and three week periods at a time, a couple of times a year, and it was always uh, hiking or mountain biking. My dad's not a big, not a big motorized guy. It's too loud, can't? You, can't observe the scenery, uh, which I used to really like, going up some of those big Hills in in Southern Utah, the mountain bike man I used to hate that but uh, it was a. It was a great way to grow up and learn a lot of things in the process that I didn't really realize were such great teaching points for my dad. You know how to, how to dig a little deeper, how to get to the top of the hill, how, not, you know, just to push myself and test myself in ways that would, you know, pay back a hundredfold as as as a man in a green beret and my professional career since then, et cetera. So super cool way to grow up. You know, just in the outdoors we played a lot of sports. If we weren't, you know, on these camping adventures then.
Speaker 2:I'm the oldest of three boys. We all played baseball at a pretty competitive level from the time we were young, all the way through high school ball. So I played on the high school team for baseball and basketball, which was a big deal for for the the high school then, which was a lot of fun, um, and and again just helped bleed into that work ethic. You know, I never got to quit, had to keep my grades at a certain point. That was my, not the schools.
Speaker 2:You know like, oh, you have to. You know, come to school and have a pulse and you qualify to play on the team. Like mom's rules were it's got to be a B plus or better or you can't play, which is a big deal. So, yeah, I had tried to try to make good grades and tried to play hard and quitting was never an option. If you signed up, then that's what you had to do and you had to hoe to the end of the rope and fulfill your commitment. So that's kind of how I grew up and it was. It was a lot of fun I had.
Speaker 1:I had a really good, a really good childhood. I can't I can't complain about it at all. So that's awesome, man. Well then, how did you end up? After high school? You went and took a quite a big trip over there. You went over to Brazil working Jesus Christ, latter-day Saints. Tell me a little bit about that. How did that uh, you know kind of start, was that something you always had kind of in the back of your mind, is something you wanted to do? How that opportunity arise, and how did you go after that?
Speaker 2:So, uh, as part of the being a member of the church Jesus Christ, right, that's a when you turn 19,. Back then it was 19. I think now it's 18. Uh, it was kind of a thing that that was expected, uh, from my parents. Like, hey, we've raised you with these certain principles and these things and this is one of the goals to have in mind is to get you out there on this two year experience. It's a two year long thing Back then. Nowadays it's way different. Right, like everybody's always, we had the last hard class type deal, but today, like they got all kinds of social media stuff that they're doing and everything else.
Speaker 2:Like when I went, you got to call home twice a year. That was it. The rest of the time it was just letters uh, I think like halfway through my mission they finally let guys use email, but it was still just once a week, like you couldn't do that, was it?
Speaker 2:right so it was a pretty limited contact with, with home and you kind of it's. It was a it's a good environment to go out and and stretch your wings and figure out kind of who you are and figure out your own personal work ethic, without being, you know, completely hung out to dry, as it were. But so it was a good experience. I always wanted to go and so when I submitted my paperwork and you have to take you know, different health things and whatever, they review all your status and then, based off of inspiration, they call you to serve in a different area of the world. So I went to Brazil, my brother went toway and my youngest brother that works with me now, secans, went to toronto. So we went all over the place, but uh, so I got to go to brazil, which was a crazy adventure the whole time I was there.
Speaker 2:It was it was not the, the, how you know immersed in mormon culture.
Speaker 1:Uh, you or your followers are.
Speaker 2:It wasn't the typical like two-year missionary experience where guys come back and they're like that was the greatest two years of my entire life.
Speaker 2:Like it was not at all like it was. I got arrested twice while I was down there. I got in a fist fight probably once a week. It was crazy. It was yeah, it was bananas. We had all the missionaries were getting robbed and uh, our, my, the guy that was in charge of all these 19-year-old knuckleheads running around the country. He had like 218 of us he was responsible for and he pulled eight of us in. We thought we were in trouble. He just called us like hey, come to my office. So we got on the bus and made the two-hour trip or whatever, to his office and he was like hey, all the missionaries are getting robbed. It's becoming a problem. No-transcript, give me your passport. We don't carry our passports, dude. Like give me 50 bucks. So you just just just crank them right in the noggin. And they would all say the same thing. They'd be like oh, they'd lay on the ground, they're, you know, bleeding out of their nose. You're not supposed to hit people like we're not supposed to rob people neither.
Speaker 1:Like it's in the bible fair is fair, right yeah right like it was.
Speaker 2:So it was a. It was a crazy, crazy experience, but like became super proficient in portuguese reading, writing, speaking, uh all of of that stuff, and it was a fantastic experience. I had a blast doing it and it really allowed me to kind of fine tune a couple of things from my youth my work ethic, some of the you know, some of the experiences of digging deeper and really becoming personally invested in a project or a program and seeing that through to the end and being the best version of myself. I used to.
Speaker 2:I used to, you know, tell myself all the time, like, try and be the try and be the missionary that your mom thinks you are so which is a pretty impossible standard, right like sure that as long as I was striving for that then it really allowed me to kind of fine-tune some of that sportsworth ethic and that outdoorsman mentality and really refine it and fine tune it to fit a day-to-day type of style and that really helped my leadership as a missionary grow and blossom. And I got stuck in several different positions where I was in charge of, you know, 20 or 25 of these knuckle knuckleheads running around down there, um and and and being sure that they were, you know, doing the right thing and leading by example and et cetera. But that, you know, continued to be a super fine edge sharpening point for my military career that I jumped into after that.
Speaker 2:So it was a crazy experience, but a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:I was about to say combat training, and then you go to the military.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Hand-to-hand was pretty good to go. By the time I got out of there for two years, You're like I've already done boot camp, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what did that look like? Did you already have an idea that you wanted to go into the military? Is this like something with your family background and those who have served? What was it that you decided to go? What was your goal going into it and how did you kind of arrive there?
Speaker 2:So I came back from my mission and did like the typical, like hey, let's, let's go to school, let's get serious about life, whatever. And I got about a year into college and just I just hated it. I couldn't like. It was just not for me Right, like just constantly kicking against the pricks. I was sitting in a math class and I couldn't understand why we're talking about you know the upcoming who the president's going to be and how messed up the government is.
Speaker 2:like this is calculus, like what are we talking, like what am I paying for? And so I became like pretty upset with how it was going, and so I took a small hiatus. I took like a six month break and I was a tour guide in alaska. Um, and while I was up there I thought you know like nobody in my family has really served one of my my uh.
Speaker 2:My dad's dad had been drafted in the korean war, um and he was on the boat to go over and they found out he played the french horn and they pulled him off the boat and stuck him in the army band so probably for maybe fortuitous yes yeah, right, thank goodness, but but uh, anyway, um, that was really kind of the only military service we'd had, uh, in the in the family, as far as I could remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and, and I thought you know that I think that might be something I'm trying I just came off of serving a mission, or I was serving a than myself, et cetera, like for the church, and so maybe I can, maybe I can apply that in a professional setting where you know I can check that box. I can say I, you know, did some cool stuff for Uncle Sam. And so when I got back from that tour guide job, I went into the recruiter's office and I talked to the guys like hey, man, I want to be that guy on the wall right there. And he like well, we only have like pastry chefs and truck driver positions open right now.
Speaker 1:And I was like that ain't for me, so I went to leave like whoa well, we have this program they don't even have it anymore, it's just an 18 month program.
Speaker 2:You did three months of basic, 12 months in afghanistan or, uh, in iraq at the time yeah. And then three months of demo and you wrapped. That was it like, unless you got actually shot or blown up, like you didn't even qualify for veteran status. It was just like you want an adventure, we got one, that's 18 months. Here you go. So I I said, hey, that sounds that sounds good.
Speaker 2:maybe I can come back from that and then college will be a better fit and I'll be more grown up or whatever. Um, and thankfully halfway through basic training had a drill instructor came up and I still remember he had it written on his hand we're the machine gun range, so nobody could hear anything all the time and he had one SF written on his hand and I didn't even know what it was. I was like what's SF? And he was like he handed me a book and said read this tonight and get back with me tomorrow. So I read the book and realized like hey, I'm, like I'm pretty good at being being a soldier, right, like I'm in shape, uh, and I'm a little bit older than a lot of these guys here basic training I have a little bit more leadership, uh background than they have already. And it kind of fell in line with what what green berets are looking for. And so I went from there, I changed my contract, went straight to airborne school and then straight to selection right after that.
Speaker 2:so just, I mean like just looked out for for and blessed and lucky um, but got all the way, like I selected um, which is, you know, 21 days of suck. So, and then, yeah, I went straight into the q course after that um, which is normally uh, like 18 months long for for 18 bravos and a little bit longer for Deltas, but like Bravos, charlies, echos, those MOSs are about 18 months. But because I spoke Portuguese, I did the Bravo course and then skipped all of language. So I only went to the Q course for like a year and three months. So I fast-tracked, yeah, blew right through the Q super quick, which is great.
Speaker 2:They gave me seventh group. So, because I begged, I was like I already speak and read and write portuguese, like let me do spanish, that'll be so much easier than trying to learn arabic or some craziness. Uh. So, so again, like just lucky, uh, they, they chopped me to seventh group and so I tested out a language and went straight to seventh group after graduation and was, you know, fixing to get married and get deployed all inside like the next two and a half months.
Speaker 1:So it was wow it's a big deal, but yeah, a lot of fun, a lot of fun so tell me about this is as far as when did you join the six program there? And because that I want to hear about that and how you kind of got involved. It was like a I mean initially a four month long course, right, you had some 600 dudes in there, but they found out you spoke Portuguese and they're like we've got a mission for you. Was that at the very beginning of all this, or is this kind of you had served, you went around to different places and then they, they brought you into that. How did that?
Speaker 2:that timeline work out. I wish it would have been like middle to end, but it was right at the beginning. So we were halfway through. So my first pump to Afghanistan was 11 months. It was only supposed to be like seven but we got extended and blah, blah, blah. So we ended up being there for 11 months.
Speaker 1:And what timeline is this?
Speaker 2:I was in Afghanistan every year from 08 to 2013,. Like at, some point every year.
Speaker 2:So this was right at the beginning it was 2008. It was my first pump, um, and I was still brand new on the team. I was, you know, the junior bravo, just like. Keep my mouth shut. Learn from the guys that have been there. Uh, they had already had multiple deployments already, um, so I'm we're about halfway through this deployment and the sergeant major and his, his, his b team guys like came out to the fire base we were at, which was not a, not a very frequent occurrence, right. So they came out and he gets off and he's immediately like hey, where's Nelson at?
Speaker 1:And I was like that's not good, I don't know yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So this is the same Sergeant major. Like right when I showed up at the seventh group they were in the middle of their train up to go to Afghanistan and they were almost all the way through. And so I show up to the company like I didn't have orders, nothing. Like one of the seventh group colonels said go look for a job, don't wait to get handed one. So I went to this guy's company. I was like I hear, you guys are the best, I want a job. And he was like cool, caused some headache because that's how I did it. I was like I was't know what Fulbert told me to do. It's not my fault, so. But the day that I reported that company they were doing a big full mission profile, hit in the dark and so the Sergeant Major comes out. I was like Nelson, can you drive this out on TV?
Speaker 2:And I was like Roger that's our Major, so he figure out how to start at the brakes, whatever. Long story short, the brakes on them are either like 100% or none. So we didn't have to hit the brakes for 10 miles after this objective. I hit the brakes at the objective, throw the Sergeant Major out of the passenger seat, bust his face on the window. Like brake is not.
Speaker 2:So, like off to a great start, right Like what the shit, nelson, I can't what's going on? Like like I'll just start pushing now. He told me what to stop, right like so, so, um, it was a pretty good icebreaker for me, and Sergeant Major Fields was the name he was, this little guy that was just full of fire.
Speaker 2:So he comes out to the fire base and he's like where's Nelson at man? Like here we go again. We got to go through the hole. Like yes, I broke your knobs, I bounced your face off the window. Like oh, and he's like, hey, you're gonna go to brazilian jungle school and it's called six. I was like, okay, sounds great, like whatever you need. And uh, he's like you're volunteering to go. Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 2:So, uh, I do a little bit of homework on it. Like we didn't have the like the same internet and connectivity in in 08 that we had there. So I started doing some, some big homework on it when I got home and it's the, you know, the center of instruction for war in the jungle, and the abbreviation in portuguese is six c-i-g-s and uh, so I started doing homework on it. The more homework I did on, the more I was like man, I don't, this sounds crazy. Like these guys are out of control down there.
Speaker 2:And so the whole deal was the SOC South general and Sergeant Major and some two star equivalent in the Brazilian Army were high fiving each other. So they sent a couple of guys to Ranger School and they sent my ass to Brazilian Jungle School. So they could high five and be like look at us, aren't we great? So I got a call from the SOC, south Sergeant Major, two weeks before I left and I was at Texas Roadhouse with my wife right and my phone rings and I was like I don't know who this is so I answered.
Speaker 2:It's like, hey, this is a SOC South Sergeant Major and I was like standing at parade rest in the middle of, you know, Texas Roadhouse in north carolina like roger, that's her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and he's like, hey, man, you can go down there and you have two choices like you can get medevac or you can graduate. That's it. Like you can't bail out, you can't do anything, like you. Like you got to go down there and put like america's best foot forward and I was like, sure thing, like whatever, you need three backs full. So fast forward. Two weeks I fly down there and it was crazy, there was. We started with 600 and 650 ish guys the first week, and the first week was all like handwritten tests and all this stuff and like like there was five foreigners in the class.
Speaker 2:There was me, there was two Peruvians, there was this old crusty guy from Spain and there was this little tiny kid like the size of my monster can from Guyana. Right, that was the only foreigners, and then 650 Brazilians, so they had all this stuff is like, and a lot of this stuff was supposed to just wash guys out, right, like how do you build this? You know, how do you make a Uli knot with that cord and put it in a stick of c4 stuff, which I'd been doing now for, for you know, 11 months on deployment for reels, but then all the training prior to that. So I'd, like I knew a lot of stuff set up this mortar system, take apart this 240, bravo, uh, you know assemble this tripod and shoot this and like super like stuff. That I'm okay, I got it perfect. And then it was a bunch of physical fitness stuff on top of that, but for a regular brazilian guy like they may not have known how to tie a Yuli knot in dead court and throw it in a block of c4.
Speaker 2:So there goes 50 guys right there. Um, so there was like a specific time. They had like certain blocks that you had to hit. So they had a five mile run which the two Peruvians failed, and I'm pretty sure they did it on purpose, because those jokers are just like. Brazilian. They've been playing soccer since they were fetus they got lungs for days.
Speaker 2:Right, I think they were just like we got enough jungle back home, like we don't, we don't need to be here. So they failed. The five mile run um, and there was, and I came in like fifth on the five mile run, like turn some heads, like what is big whitey can freaking get? So then we did a. That was a five kilometer surface swim with like all of your uniform on right bd, use boots, the, the whole smash and they hit, go and these dudes take off like it's the Olympics, right, they're just. And I was like there's a reason I joined the army, like if I wanted to swim I would have been in the Navy. So this is terrible. So I finished dead ass last of the swim, like quite literally, I swim for a little bit and then roll over on my back and just do like the old, like monkey airplane but then you know just like we're gonna make it and it just came in dead last but you, you meet.
Speaker 1:You met the time right I did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I beat the time by like four minutes. I mean barely beat it, right, that counts yeah, yeah and then they had this crazy obstacle course that was I mean like it.
Speaker 2:It was right out of like picture, a third world obstacle course that. And that's exactly what it was. There was like sharp tin sticking out of the ground and rusty rebar coming out. I mean guys were falling and, just you know, skewering their entire leg, just like it was. Yeah, crazy, crazy obstacle course stuff. And then they had an 18-mile ruck and I came in first on it. They had an 18 mile ruck and I came in first on it and, uh, that was like there was, you know, every mile marker. They had four or five instructors with a clipboard and you just yell your numbers, you ran by. So I was number 29 forever you know the whole four months of the course, I was number 29.
Speaker 2:So I'm running by like 29, 29, 29. And there was about 10, 15 guys that woke up with like yeah, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to stick with this dude.
Speaker 1:So we took off and by the time we turned around and come back, there's only like four or five guys still hanging at the pace that I was keeping and all these hundreds of guys right, we were just blown by 400 guys.
Speaker 2:So now the instructors are like chirping right, like they're telling all the other students like if the American finishes first, this course is canceled. Like we're done. Like none of you guys will graduate, none of you guys will be jungle, jungle warriors. Like we are done.
Speaker 2:And so I was like going home early, man, like down and take off. And uh, there was one guy who was number 28. We hung together the whole course and he was this young kid, super in shape. He was almost as tall as I was and he made it all the way to like 15 miles. Then his hip flexors finally gave out because he had used like this huge water jug to make weight and just dumped a bunch of water out.
Speaker 2:so his every step was like so like 15 miles, his hip flexors were like, nah, I'm out. And so I was like I'm starting to pull away. I was like, come on, man, like let's, let's make it close. You're like I'm still gonna beat you, but let's make it close yeah, yeah yeah and were y'all?
Speaker 1:were y'all checking weight along the way, or is it just at the beginning?
Speaker 2:it didn't have any any weight along the way. They didn't even have any beginning, just had it at the end.
Speaker 1:So yeah, oh, okay, okay pounds dry.
Speaker 2:so I made sure I had 50 pounds in my rut, sure, and so I rolled in and they weighed it, like you know, four or five times, cause I beat everybody by like two or three minutes. I came in first by a long shot and yeah, those, those sons of bitches that didn't cancel the course, of course not.
Speaker 1:Of course not. That was just inspiration.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, but yeah, the, the kid from Guyana couldn't. He had to do like a 50 meter swim underwater. He couldn't put his face in the water and swim. So he, he bailed out. And then the second week. The first day of the second week was land nav and the old Spaniard guy slipped off a log, landed on the handle of his machete and broke a couple of ribs. He couldn't carry his rucks. So they were like hey, man, you're done, like love you, but you're out. So it was just me. And like, by the time we finished that first week, there was about 375 of us left, and by the time they finished land nav, they whittled it down to about like 275, 300 somewhere in there. Um, and then four months later, when we graduated, there was 62 dudes. That was it. So it was, yeah, it was insane, it was super.
Speaker 1:Was it four months or was it longer than that? What was that? And then? What was like after that? What was your transition back into redeployment or back home? What did that look like for you?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, the school was four months long and they started with like sleep dip and food dip like day one, so it was a little bit different than military schools on the US side. Right, we learn a task, we learn skills, and then they deprive you of food and sleep. You have to recall those skills and tasks that you learned, or mold them to fit the scenario that you're in. But you're supposed to have them, kind of you know wired before you go and get put in those adverse conditions.
Speaker 2:So they start with adverse conditions right out of the gate no food, no sleep. So for for four and a half months I slept like two and a half hours a night. That was it. So, like guys, like we were all completely messed, I mean just trashed, messed up, you know, I'd like. When I got home I fell asleep talking to my wife like in the spaghetti, like they have mid-con like a ton mid-conversation just out.
Speaker 2:You know like I was screwed up for months because of the sleep deprivation alone. Um, yeah, it was. It was bizarre. And then you never drank purified water. Uh, like, we all had like the little tablets and everything you put in your canteens but you couldn't drink your water during the day because that's a weakness for for those guys. So they'd come by and shake your canteens and if you had slosh in your canteens you got a negative assessment. You can do the math right 275 guys down to 62. You didn't get very many negative assessments and you were out.
Speaker 2:So everybody carried around like clear surgical tubing in their front pocket and then anytime you cross, the river yeah, you're just like you hoped you were one of the first guys across, because, if not, if you were, you know, know, 25th guy in line, you're just sucking mud, you know, it's just so. Like, no purifying water, like I don't, like, I don't even want to know what I have going around.
Speaker 1:I was gonna ask have you run the tests?
Speaker 2:no, yeah, I got back and they were like hey, like like you know, get your shit spun and do a bunch of stuff and see what you got, and uh, like it immediately went from like brag to somewhere else and they were like just just don't worry about this, yeah, you don't want to know what's going on.
Speaker 1:Statute of limitations on suing any of us for this is over. You've already signed up, it's done. You're parking the conda somehow, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, it was. I mean it was, it was, it was it broke all the rules for for us stuff right like they sent me down there alone, like you're not supposed to travel anywhere by yourself, like you're always with the Alibuddy team, you're doing something right.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, they kicked me down there alone and they were like, hey, we'll see you in four months, so but it was. I mean, it was a super cool course. They had a bill to come up for an instructor position right after that for a foreigner to come be an instructor. And I put I pushed hard for that and I was like, hey, man, you don't have anybody.
Speaker 2:The last guy to do that course before I went went 10 years before I went and to my knowledge, since 2009, I'm the last guy to go from the army side. So there may have been somebody else from a different branch that's gone down and and gone through six and there's there's a couple like abbreviated two weeks or three and a half weeks or whatever. But like, as far as like the legit going through the course, I'm the last guy to go since since 2009. So I would I would have loved to gone back and like actually learned, like the stuff they were teaching, because you retained a little bit of a but what two and a half hours of sleep a night like, yeah, you were just in a fog the whole time.
Speaker 2:So I for sure learned really cool shit about the jungle. I don't remember any of it because you were just in a just, you know, just zombie mode the whole, just straight survival mode the whole time. So but, uh, seven crew was on it hard in afghanistan then. So I got back, um and back and they, they, they gave me a month to kind of recover, which is good because I was a mess. And then my team was in Colombia, so I got on a bird, went straight to Colombia and our mission there was.
Speaker 2:We had a group of Colombians, one soft unit similar to Green Berets and one elite ranger similar to like an elite ranger unit that we're supposed to take to Afghanistan and just get them shot at. That was the whole mission set. We were going to be the quick reaction force, the QRF, for the whole country, so we'd be based in Bagram. Anybody got in a firefight like we're on a helicopter flying out their way just to get these guys some combat experience. But what ended up happening is and this is a I've never told this story, I'm like.
Speaker 2:We're going to leave a lot of names out of this one. So we, we, we like for four months, five months, it was hey. In two weeks all your paperwork will be, all your paperwork will be cleared up and you can take this team. Glenn Seek is flashing me in the hallway right now.
Speaker 1:So but but timing love it, yeah Right. Glenn Seek is flashing me in the hallway right now. Timing Love it, yeah right.
Speaker 2:So for five months it was hey, in two weeks your orders will be approved, you guys take them to Afghanistan. And what ended up? The delay was the Colombians wanted the same SOFA agreement the Americans had in Afghanistan, which means if, if you go over there and you get in trouble, they bring you back and they try you in the states you're not subject to afghanistan. Right in afghanistan was like absolutely not. Like america came over here and started this whole smash, so like we'll let them have it but nobody else gets. So. But it was this big kerfuffle paperwork. Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks. So for five months we had no op fund and it was just this waiting game of every like. In two weeks you're leaving intuition. So our stuff stayed palletized on the runway ready to load on with c17 for five months, right, and every week it was two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks manana, manana, yeah yeah, come thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:My team's like okay, we've been down here for seven months now on this two-week standby like, or a three-month train up, and then two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, we're going home for Thanksgiving. If shit pops off, we're on a bird, we're coming back. The embassy approved it, everything's good. You guys hit it. So my whole team flies back home. It was just me and a couple guys that were there and they took a little bit of a vacation while they were there. That's why we're leaving names out of it. But as soon as they left, the embassy called.
Speaker 2:So the talk phone starts ringing and he answered. He's like hey, the ambassador and his four-star, like a four-star general, and then the Colombian's counterpart, four-star guy, I want to come down and see like a demonstration of your capabilities. And I was like okay, so when are they coming? So this is the week of thanksgiving, right? So they call on tuesday. Hey, we're coming down on friday. I was like, oh boy, okay sounds great we'll get it done.
Speaker 2:so I leave like 9 000 messages on my teammates phone. Of course they're not answering, they're off doing whatever they're doing, right? So I get the guys and I tell them OK, here's what we got going on. We're going to put on this, this kind of dog and pony show. So this will be assault team one, this will be assault team two. Here's this little compound. They have this big bleacher set up where they're looking kind of like down into this compound, kind of like down into this compound. And it was all paint rounds but they wanted live explosives. So I was like great, I don't have any op fund, right. So I get in the truck, go downtown and buy, like on my own dime, right, I'm buying two by fours and plywood to make doors so that we can blow these doors up for this demonstration. But it's my dime, right. So I roll in and I'm like the shittiest plywood you got right. This dude sold me this plywood that was so thin like it only had one side. It was ridiculous right.
Speaker 2:So we get up, my guys are training, like here's what we're doing, this guy's going to be a casualty, you guys will fix them, but we this whole thing's all choreographed out so it looks sharp, and I build these doors and then I call a sister team that's in country, on another part of the base, and I was like, hey, I need one more guy to run the stack because we can't have these guys doing the demo so they sent a guy over that at the time I didn't know.
Speaker 2:We became real good friends after this because of kind of what happened, and then we rubbed shoulders on a couple other deployments and a couple different things. But super, super cool, dude. But so keep in mind, right, maddie nelson's entire green beret career is graduated. Q course got to group, went straight to afghanistan, wrecked shop in afghanistan doing just direct action stuff, went to brazilian jungle school, got a month off to get some sleep and now I'm in. Now I'm in columbia doing this event.
Speaker 2:For this the ambassador and a couple of four-star generals on both sides of Columbia and America fence Right. So I've never built wraps, like I've never built door charges that weren't for like big metal Afghanistan doors. So. So I build these flex linear charges which is like a sticky tape roll up charge and in Afghanistan to blow these big gates and hinges off and stuff, you do a five, 80 inch pieces of deck cord with kickers at the top and the bottom and a kicker for the lock in the middle so it caves, the door and the lock and then the rest of it just pushes in. But that is like for people that don't know this, five 80-inch pieces of deck cord is a lot of explosive. So I build these, char these charges.
Speaker 2:My buddy comes over that we aren't friends yet, but he's a demo guy and he looks at it. He's like five reps, huh okay, doesn't say shit, doesn't like that's just like the new guy's gonna learn today. So we, we get everything going. It's thursday night. I tell my guys like we've run through the rehearsal, you know, 50 times now everybody's got everything down and they're like hey everything looks good.
Speaker 2:We just have to add the music to it. And I was like what we're professional soldiers Like we're not assaulting to music, and they're like you're an American, you don't get it.
Speaker 2:There's 50 of us, there's one of you, we're assaulting the music, okay Deal. So the morning of right, like we're like a quarter mile away from this little spot that we're going to assault these big bleachers, and at a quarter mile I can see the speakers they've set up, and I was like, oh my Lord, like we see the Ambassador's helicopter flying, we see a couple more helicopters flying, the whole entourage arrives, get the call on the radio, like, hey, they're here, they're set up, let's hit it. So it's me and two Humvees full of Columbians for one stack. And then it's my buddy and two Humvees of Columbians for his stack, and I mean these guys are just, they are. So I mean just adrenaline's through the roof. They get the call and they're just wide open on these Humvees, red line as fast as they can go right. And at that speed, with four Humvees at a quarter mile, we could still hear the music they were playing.
Speaker 1:Who were they playing? I got to know what kind of music my buddy looks over and he is furious.
Speaker 2:He's just mouthing horrible obscenities. At me. All I can hear is these Humvee motors screaming and the opening music to Top Gun. So we're flying oh my gosh, just bury me now. What are we doing? So we get there, guys pile out, dudes stack up on the door. They've never had a charge go off in like close proximity, right. So you're supposed to open your mouth, you're supposed to do all this stuff? I hadn't thought about any of this, because everybody I've been around for the last year and a half is used to that stuff.
Speaker 1:They know it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is used to that, they know it, yeah, yeah. So, like my guy stacked up, I look at him. He's like tia, two, five, four, three, boom. And like the entire first room on both compounds just evaporated, gone. No, all the guys, all the wind knocked out of immediately, like schnapps coming out of their nose, the number two man's puking. I was like, oh boy, like and like there's no room. I'm telling my guys like, get in there, get in there. And they're like get into what? And I was like boom, like that one's still standing.
Speaker 2:I like just flash a glance up at these big bleachers and the first two rows, all I see is like the bottoms of people's feet, like I have exploded. The crowd right the ambassador's bodyguards are like jumping on him. They don't know if it's like water round from the fark. I'm like I am. I have like here's my beret, like I am fired forever. Right, we get through. My guys do their thing like they recover from, you know, just getting smashed by these two explosions. They get through, jazzed, they all line up. You know like freaking, dress, right, dress. And I'm like I am on the end of this line, just like head down, not at attention, not a parade rest, just like like I'm on my way to make rocks at leavenworth for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:Right, like I just endangered this whole crowd of people, like I can't believe it, and my buddy his like pop smoke. Right, like he knew what was going to happen, he set the charges off and, just like it's done, he went into straight like escape and evasion mode, right out of the back of the speed. They're just so I'm looking around, I'm the only american. They're like great, so I'm just like. Oh, I'm toast. Right, the four-star general from the American side happened to be from the Air Force and he was a dentist, so he hadn't been a practicing dentist for a while.
Speaker 2:He was obviously an administrator or whatever, but he had no idea what was supposed to happen.
Speaker 2:Like the ambassador got evac'd and exited by his crew of bodyguards. So it's this Colombian four-star and he's shaking everybody's hand, kind of muddling through his Spanish, and he gets to me and he, like his, he's got splinters in his face like he's bleeding, and he hands me this coin. He has me that's what we like to see, sergeant Nelson and then like stumbles off, all like just just blown to pieces, and I was like what just happened? Like I cannot believe I got away with this. Oh my gosh, like I was in, like thank goodness, because I would have been, like so it's just, but, but that was like your brazilian jungle school, straight to this.
Speaker 2:That mission got canceled after I blew the ambassador up and the four star general and their whole like Colombian entourage with enough ribbons they have a hinge on it, you know just smoke the whole crowd. And then that mission ended up getting canceled like a month later and I got pulled out of country and we ended up going back to Afghanistan just by ourselves, without that, without that unit. But just, you know, man, yeah, yeah, I don't think I've ever told that story before on a.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I am so glad you have I. I feel like I'm dehydrated now, though. Oh my goodness, that was amazing.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you for sharing that. That was a. That was a. That was a fun one.
Speaker 1:but so I I need to know, like, how did you? Obviously you you did sniper for, like I think, seven of the ten years that you were out there right, Like, because obviously that translates into some of this training and the things you got going on now or the Hat Creek training, and then you know, obviously, with with working with Seekins and I know I know that was kind of around that timeline of 2018 after shot show that you kind of got introduced there. What was, what was your timeline where you left and you were coming back home and then how did you, what was your kind of period of time to where you ended up working then with Seekins and getting that call? Like I'm just curious about the transition out and then, you know, into civilian life and kind of how those merged and what that was like for you. Were there some challenges and you know you can kind of tell your story as it is, but those are some of the things I'm kind of curious about with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was an interesting time. There's a bunch of details I won't go into, but like I mean being the Mormon guy like a seventh group, right, if you didn't drink and screw around they sent you everywhere. So I was gone like like 300, 320 days out of every year between deployments or stateside training or whatever. Um, and I'd been to sniper school pretty early on. I got lucky to go pretty early on and took shooting, uh, semi-seriously at distance uh after that. But then really got into it the last two years I was in I was in the SIF unit, which since got evaporated, uh for for whatever. But like those last two years all I did was skydive and shoot long distance right, got super serious about it. And then and started taking instructional classes and and and got serious about shooting with Brian Morgan in Florida at his range that he had there and was lucky enough to get picked up by him as a part-time instructor.
Speaker 2:So when I went to get out, that was really, uh, like I have such a great wife and such a great I mean just such a stand-up lady to run everything at home for for 10 years while I was in the military, gone 300 plus days every year, somebody that you know it's just knew what she was about, knew what she was doing, had two kids while I was still active duty, raised them like I was almost more of a hindrance when I was home because I was disrupting her schedule, right, right, right. But uh, that was really the only thing that she ever asked for and and I it. We sat down and said, hey, we're right, at 10 years I have a pat. I made rank real fast, um, partly because I was sf, but also partly because I got to do some really neat things because of never saying no. So my packet as far as my resume went as a soldier, was stacked. I looked really good on paper. So I was at 10 years and I had a packet at the E8 board.
Speaker 2:So I was looking at getting picked up as master sergeant and then I would be maybe 24 months more on a team and then the next eight years to retirement, I would not be doing green beret stuff anymore. I would not be being a force multiplier and linking up with indigenous forces and teaching fit or whatever I would be. You know, hey, you're in charge of the motor pool kids and then we'll try and get you back in as a first sergeant for another support position and then maybe you can run one of the S shops as a Sergeant Major. Maybe you get a company, maybe you don't, but your, your days of being like a real green beret are are done once you're done with your, your Master Sergeant. So I was only looking at a couple more years, at most, of of doing what I really, really love to do. So I had some real big, long talks with the wife and we decided like, hey, like you're young enough now, like you're going to run out of luck. Eventually I've been, you know, stepped on an IED, got blown to pieces, lucky enough to walk away with everything that happened in 2011. Been in a lot of firefights, I mean just like I was eventually going to run out of luck. And so we decided, hey, it's a good time to, it's a good time to get out. So we punched it 10 years, which is terrifying. I was walking away from a really good paycheck as a green beret with all the special duties, pay and guaranteed retirement.
Speaker 2:If I did 10 more years contracting for the air force, teaching uh their soft pipeline uh, ground crew and pilots how to do army stuff, land nav uh, pistol carbine instruction, um, you know offensive driving. So I mean it was a fantastic job. They paid me to shoot their ammo and crash their cars and run around. It was yeah, it was a great. It was a great transition job. But through all that, I was continuing to work for Brian and his range in Florida and he had moved out and bought this land here in Idaho and started to establish Hat Freak and was looking for a way to get me out here. And the job with the Air Force was super fun. But it it was. It was starting to, the sparkle was starting to wear off and I was realizing like, hey, this isn't a gig that I can. You know, it's just a contract.
Speaker 1:It's going to dry up.
Speaker 2:We're going to have to go hunt another one. Do I want to just keep hunting contracts? I was still out of the house quite a bit. So we're looking for something that would be a little more stable, a little less travel, a little less time away from home and the kids a little less travel, a little less time away from home and the kids. And Glenn was in need of some guys. Through a happen circumstance at SHOT Show he fired his whole sales team in the booth at SHOT Show and was having dinner with Brian Morgan that night and kind of airing his complaints and worries and Brian said hey, man, I guy don't, don't hire anybody just yet. And so I came out in February and interviewed with Glenn and happened to be a good fit for the company and the position that they needed and started four weeks later like box the house up, put it on the market, drove everybody out, found a house, bought it in Lewiston, so moved from Florida to Lewiston, idaho, and started to work at Seekins and was hired more as the military law enforcement sales rep.
Speaker 2:But there was just so. It was such a young company and we were just starting to get big. There were so many areas they needed a sales guy, they needed a customer service manager, they needed somebody to do marketing, they needed all these holes to start getting plugged. And I realized real quick like I'm not super awkward on camera, so they made me that guy, which is a huge amends to Glenn Seekins. I mean, he started this company in his garage back in 2008. And to go from there to where we are now and then just handing those reins over to some dude, like yeah, man, you're the face of the company. Now, right, like go hit it. That's like that's a super secure man to hand that off to somebody and let them be the face of something that he created, um, which is that's why I love working for him. He's, he's an amazing human, just a, just a solid, solid man and man and a great example of of someone I'd strive to be like.
Speaker 1:But anyway, well I I see all the hats behind you that you've worn, uh as well.
Speaker 2:Marketing this teaching, whatever it is the general joke is like I come in with five things that I have to get done today and I don't get to any of them because 15 things come up that have to get done today.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like. I mean, you know your background. It really does make you perfect for that. And whenever you have organizations where you lean on people to build their own leadership skills and build the team around you, like you said, it does take a special person to go ahead and kind of let go of the reins and let ever the people do it. But it's amazing what can happen when you have that kind of organization. I mean, look at the growth, uh, sequence has just blown up and you know what is it. You know six years now too, and, like you said, from the garage to what it is now, um, it is.
Speaker 1:I use rings, seeking rings, all the time. I don't have a rifle yet. It will at some point in time. But all my friends like that is the go-to, we're like this is going to be the thing that we know is going to, uh, you know, help us in the field and make sure that it's something that we can, uh, you know, rely on. And so I I know about that reliability and professionalism and it's really great that you know that that they put the right kind of people in the team around that. And I was just curious too. I know that there's, obviously there's, you know, some cross correlation there too with a hat Creek and you know you guys are doing some training. But kind of walk me through a little bit about you know hat Creek training, tell me a little bit about the facility. How long out are y'all shooting? Are you training different? You know, uh, you know, civilians as well as military. What does that look like kind of on a day-to-day when you're out there in that field?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Hat Creek is owned by Brian Morgan, his wife, misty Morgan. They're a fantastic. I mean. They've been second parents to me, right, like grandparents to my kids. They're just, they're awesome humans. I love them to death.
Speaker 2:Construction, um, which is a funny story. How I got there, like he's a, he's a, he's a, him and his brother had a huge construction company, um, and he was, he's been a competition shooter since he was 12, right, I mean just started at a young age, loved to shoot and uh, one of their sites happened to be close to a competition. So I went shot this competition and it was south carolina, north carolina, I can't remember. But uh, I mean just skull drug everybody there and then evaporated, right, like, went back to the job site working. So his phone started ringing. What he didn't know is that that match was a bunch of Delta recce guys, like the big boys, right, and he skull drug all of them and they were like why is this guy so much more accurate and so much faster than we are? Like, what are the? Like we need to have this guy train us. So they called him up, uh, and uh, he didn't even know like he was getting paid for it, he just thought they were gonna go. You know, like, shoot at the range. So it started, um, like that, and his he's just maintained you know the leading edge he's. He's there's. There's only a couple. When you start talking long range, there's only a couple names that get thrown around as like you need to go to this guy for the answer, and he's one of those few guys. And so he's been doing it for 20 years and I'm just lucky enough to have the relationship with him that I do, but also have the skill set and the passion to continue to pass that information on to others. So I mean, he's had his pick of who he wants over 20 years to come instruct for him, and I'm lucky to be one of seven guys that that is a go-to guy for him. So there's there's a group of of of six or seven of us that then they're great guys Corey, jeff Jordan like if you've been to Hat Creek, you've met them. Travis, john Neil just a stand up, stand up guys. But he's looking for a very specific personality, type, work ethic, skill set, like there's got to be all those things put together and I'm lucky enough to have those line up and be somebody that can be an asset to them out there as an instructor.
Speaker 2:So they do at Hat Creek. They do about 40, 42 weeks a year of training, but a lot of them are double booked weeks, so there'll be two teams in at a time. So if you add them all together it's like 60 to 70 weeks of training a year and it's a it's a super elite place. It's just soft guys.
Speaker 2:We do do a couple of civilian classes, but it's only when, like real world stuff cancels class. So it'd be like, hey, we can't make it in the next three weeks because, like you'll see it in the news, see you, and so we'll open that class up and they sell out, I mean immediately, they sell out super fast. So but they're, those are fun courses as well. Like it's fun to do the civilian courses because you get in there and you like they come from all over the country and you realize like man, they're still, they're still red blooded, like freedom loving Americans out there that are passionate about you know the, the what we do there at hat Creek for the military, that are passionate about being a Patriot, that are you know, just, they're good people. So I love those classes. Uh, the, the few that we get to do, because I've met just some fantastic people uh on the civilian side of the house that are just great friends and good people to be around.
Speaker 1:That is awesome, man. I do want to focus on one other thing, too, that I looked up on the website and saw this a while back, and that's the Nasty North American Sniper Team Invitational Dude. Lay that out. Tell me a little bit about that. It's like an every other year thing, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an every other year thing. We don't do it every year mostly because it is a ton of work, right, we have to take off like two or three weeks of weeks that we could be training guys, just to get it set up and conducted. So it starts planning like already so it won't be this year, It'll be next year. But we're already like all right, here's how we're going to change these different scenarios. Here's the new targets we need. We're getting stuff ordered in. We're already planning like all right, we'll have a helicopter, come in, We'll drop targets here, here and here. So we add to it.
Speaker 2:Every year it's a little different, but it is one of the coolest events that I've been a part of up at Hack Creek. So it's an invitational only. So they call certain guys or certain units and say, hey, we're putting on this. Would you like to send some guys? And it's booked as a training event. So they come and it's two days of training and then it's three or four days of competition after that. So it's, it's a. The guys that are there are just top notch best of the best operators and long distance shooting green berets, the big boys up there, you know seal teams, Like it's the who's who of of long distance from their unit that gets invited to this, it's not just's who of long distance from their unit that gets invited to this, it's not just like they put it out for like hey, if anybody has this week you guys go.
Speaker 2:It's specific invites. If that unit can't make it, then it's not like no, somebody else can piggyback on it and send somebody. If you can't make it, then you guys can't make it and we don't fill that slot. It's a very elite group of guys that come through there, but it is all. It's so cool because all these guys get together. Uh, they, they perform one stage a day, um, so this last one we did was one stage a day, and then each team had one night shoot. Um, so the stages in and of themselves had 30 different targets, from 10 to 18 different shooting positions within the stage.
Speaker 2:There's a huge physical movement to get from point A to point B and finish the stage, but then along that you have to carry all your ammo. You have to carry everything you're going to need. You can't just like cache stuff or leave something or pick it up later, like the rule is, if you need it that night, then you got to carry it during the day. So if you had that night shoot at night, then you had to carry your pistol all day. We wouldn't let them like, oh, let me dump it here. Like, once it's dumped, it's dumped, you don't get it for the rest of the day right.
Speaker 2:So, um, it's, it's super fun and just excruciatingly physical, like the stage that I ran was stage three at Hat Creek and you gain and lost 2,500 vertical feet in four miles. It was, I mean, unbelievable Straight up, shoot across the top, straight down, shooting on the way up, shooting across the top, shooting on the way down All the time to vent. Four miles, 2,500 vertical feet up, 2,500 vertical feet down, like just a crusher. And these guys run it like they're just just it's fun to watch because they are machines, just super good guys that are very dialed in and for for all aspects of of that type of training and for for the nasty.
Speaker 2:It's. It's about as real world as you can make a training event with. You know you don't know what you need when you start. You know the number of targets, so you have to, but you have to ballpark what the math is for, how many rounds you should take. Am I going to miss every shot? Do I plan on hitting every shot first round, so you can kind of swag your load out. What are we going to need? What do we need to take, what do we don't need? So it's it's about as real world as you can make training for uh long distance guys and not have it?
Speaker 2:be an actual, an actual combat uh mission, so it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:That is phenomenal. So I guess you know, I, I want to know, I ask all my my guests this, and it's a question about legacy. And you know you've gone all around the world, you've done so many things, worked with so many elite. Uh, you know people and as well as yourself being elite, and you know I was curious about what kind of view you have towards your legacy in a professional and personal setting. You know, uh, how do you view that? Is there a kind of a, an idea on a day-to-day? Do you think about that? Or is that something that you know? You just hope by your actions and the things you've rippled upon, uh, your experiences, that you know, maybe that you remember by X, y and Z. I was just kind of curious about someone who's been at this high elite level how you view that?
Speaker 2:Uh, that's a. That's a really good question. Um, I think it. I think it's a combination of the two my professional and my personal life. Like, I tried to keep them pretty separated, uh, when I when I first started, because I didn't, I didn't want that stuff to follow me home. Um, like to the point of, like, I have a transformer tattoo on my back, like one guy at work and I transform, I'm a different guy at home. But I found those lines to to, to get blurred more often than not, and so I stopped trying to blur, I stopped trying to separate them. Sure, um, and just and just decided to be like, hey, we're gonna be, we're gonna be the same guy, right? So I'm light-hearted I'm talkative.
Speaker 2:I'm funny, like I'm, I'm happy to be, you know, the guy that's gonna, you know, stand up and make everybody laugh and do some things. But I can also flip that switch right now and and go into like, hey, now it's combat mode, right, like we're dead serious. It's not funny anymore like we're sending rounds down range. Bad guys are going down, type deal um, which is still, like you know, a mindset for the states. We live in a crazy world and it's dangerous out there. So I don't try to separate them anymore and I do try and think about the legacy that I leave. Right, like if I were to die today and somebody were at my UAG or at the funeral man, that guy was just, he was a really great shot Like I would feel like I failed.
Speaker 2:You know, I would like to be remembered as, like that guy was a good man, right, he was a good husband to his wife, he was a good father to his daughters, he tried his best to raise them right. He treated everybody with the amount of respect that they had deserved or earned and, and, and you know, treated strangers for the first time with kindness and caring. And, and you know, treated strangers for the first time with kindness and caring and held judgment in reserve until that initial ice had been broken and something you know, maddie Nelson, and the legacy of what Hat Creek represents, and the legacy of what Seekers Precision is about and being a all of those things by being a good person, but also keeping that, keeping those decisions in the forefront of my mind on a daily basis. Like you said, I'm trying really hard to be a good man every day and I hope that that bleeds into something that that can be used in the same sentences as a legacy, right Like what you remember prior, what you left behind.
Speaker 1:So Great answers, man. I mean I know you've done so much for our country, for your friends, for your family. You've left an impact and you continue. To Everyone who I've ever talked to, who has met you, has always had wonderful things to say, and you know it comes out in your personality, man, you just seem like a wonderful human being, great to be around, and I'm just so honored that you joined me today. Um, for those who want to learn a little bit more about you and the companies that you work with, why don't you go ahead and tell them where they can follow and uh, kind of join that and kind of you know, see some of the things that you're doing on day-to-day yeah, uh, so, uh, you get to seek his precision.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's seeking precision underscore official is because there's a bunch of different ones out there for you guys on precision underscore official sequence precision, uh, hat creek is going to be. Uh, at hat creek training. These are all instagram handles.
Speaker 2:Uh, they'll get into things, but I uh I try and stay off social media as much as I can. Instagram I do for that. Uh, my personal stuff is Matty M-A-T-T-Y, underscore, underscore, nelson, n-e-l-s-o-n, so you can find me there and it's just me. I try to keep my family off of it. It's just me doing stuff for Seekins and Riding Horses. Pretty much is my.
Speaker 2:Instagram handle, but that's where you can kind of find these companies and get to know a little bit more about them. If you're looking to take one of the civilian classes that Hat Creek has open, getting onto that Instagram page and direct messaging them is a great way to start. They'll get your email address. When classes come up, they have a list of guys that have requested the class and they just start calling dudes. So they'll tell you like, hey, it's in two weeks, can you make it? No, okay, no worries, next guy, they'll keep you on the list. For the next one that comes up they'll call you again and then hopefully your schedule lines up that way. Um, but that's where you can kind of follow me and the companies that I'm blessed to be a part of.
Speaker 1:So right on, man. Well, I'm definitely have all the links down below. Uh, on a on a Seekins related question. If someone's looking to buy one Seekins rifle that they're going to be able to use the rest of their life or lie on and be able to shoot out some long distance, which one are you putting in their hands first?
Speaker 2:man. So that's, that's a tough call. It's gonna be. It's gonna be based off a couple different things. So if you are a dedicated hunter, and that's all you're gonna do, but you want to shoot some distance while you're hunting, the element is going to be a real good one. That's our, that's our lightweight rifle. Um, it's five and a half pounds for the short action. Um, and it's uh, six pounds for the action. But it's like the weight savings is huge. If you're packing it around, you're running around, you're doing different things, like that's a really good one. If you want to shoot a little bit of competition, you want to shoot a little bit of pop cans on grandpa's back 40, you want to do some hunting, you want to kind of hit a few more areas on the hunting side.
Speaker 2:The PH2 is impossible to beat. So it is. It's a little bit heavier. So the recoil management is there. It's about a pound heavier than the element. So you're six and a half pounds or seven pounds for those ones in the long and short action, and that makes a big difference in those bigger calibers, especially for that recoil management. But that gun is more of a do it all type rifle. You can shoot NRL matches. You can shoot for enjoyment, not get beat up all day long, and you can still light enough to take out and pack for long distances hunting. So it would be geared towards a dedicated purpose of what that guy's looking for. But one of those two rifles is going to be really hard to beat on the hunting side of the house.
Speaker 1:Excellent man, excellent. Well, everybody will definitely have to go check out the links below, matty, once again, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a real pleasure, man. I have gotten some well-deserved laughs and some great smiles and some wonderful stories, and it's really great to kind of follow your journey. And, once again, thank you for your service and thank you for joining me today, sir.
Speaker 2:It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:All right, man, we'll talk soon. You take care. Yes, sir.