The Construction Veteran Podcast
Welcome to the Construction Veteran Podcast. This is a podcast connecting and celebrating veterans in construction, those who have the desire to be in the industry, and those who support them to create the built environment.
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The Construction Veteran Podcast
From Marine Veteran to Welding Innovator: Jason's Inspiring Journey from Service to Success
Join us as we welcome Jason, a Marine Corps veteran and the inspiring leader of a welding school in Orlando, who takes us on a remarkable journey from military service to a dynamic career in construction. Jason shares his compelling decision to join the Marines, driven by the desire for challenge and the life-altering impact of the September 11th attacks. Discover how he reassured his worried mother by choosing a non-combat role and nurtured his welding skills from high school through his military service, setting the stage for his current success.
Explore the vibrant offerings of Orlando's welding school, where a variety of courses cater to different passions and schedules—from hobbyists to career seekers. Hear the heartwarming tale of two brothers making their way from Connecticut, with their unforgettable dog Meatball, to pursue their welding dreams. The program’s flexibility and affordability make it accessible to many, providing a solid stepping stone for veterans transitioning to civilian life, aided by initiatives like Operation Next and SkillBridge.
The world of welding opens up thrilling adventures, from flying with the AeroShell acrobatic team to international assignments. Jason shares personal stories of seizing opportunities that showcase the trade's potential for unexpected adventures, emphasizing the financial savviness needed when working in trades. As we discuss mental health and the importance of community support, Jason highlights how welding serves as a therapeutic outlet for veterans, fostering pride and joy in creating lasting projects. Don't miss our insights into the Fabtech event and the vibrant online welding community, where creators like Jason and Stephanie offer invaluable resources for enthusiasts and novices alike.
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If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
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This is the.
Speaker 2:Construction Veteran Podcast Construction.
Speaker 1:Veteran Podcast Connecting and celebrating veterans in construction. Now here's your host, scott Friend. Hey, jason, what's going on, man?
Speaker 2:Not much man Doing good how you been.
Speaker 1:I'm good, very good. I appreciate you doing this. So Jason and I haven't had the opportunity to officially meet yet. Maybe, if I can get my butt down to Fabtech or something or uh, or get out there to Orlando to his school, I'd love to meet in person. But you guys heard me interview Stephanie Hoffman. Um, and her and Jason are good friends and Jason will go into it in a little bit, but he actually runs the school that she started, uh, so hopefully we'll meet up at some point.
Speaker 2:Man, yeah, I mean definitely. If you come down to Orlando, let me know. You know I'd love to have you at the school. Or if you're coming out to Fabtech, I'm going to be there the whole time.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So before we get into your service background, so what is Fabtech?
Speaker 2:Fabtech is North America's largest welding, metal forming, shaping, polishing. The list goes on and on. It's all about metal and everything that surrounds it, whether it's manufacturing, construction, it's all equipment, tools, new technology everything all under one roof for about three days.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, and so that's in October, is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, october, I think it's 15th to the 17th.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you guys are available or you happen to be in Orlando, I would definitely check it out. There's a lot of cool people I know that are going to that, and then Jason will be there as well. So obviously it's the Construction Veteran Podcast. So I want to ask you what is your service background?
Speaker 2:So I joined the Marine Corps in 2000. I didn't actually go to boot camp until November 2001. So shortly after 9-11 incident. Oh wow, I was actually slated to go on. I think my original date to to go to bootcamp was September 16th, but after September 11th happened, they did a stop loss, stop move. I didn't end up going to Paris Island until, yeah, november 25th.
Speaker 1:Man, that's wild. So I got to ask. So you you enlisted before you left and you said 2000. So when all that went down, I mean what was going through your mind? Like you're already pretty much locked in and you're leaving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I had dipped in like December 9th 2000. Like, I knew I was going to join the Marine Corps, I wanted to graduate, spend that summer with my friends and you know, hang out with my girlfriend at the time and then I was ready to, you know, go off to boot camp and it was a time of peace. You know, nothing was really going on. I was like, you know, I knew I wanted to join the military since like a young age and it was just you know that time in my life and I planned everything out to where you know it was going to work out for me.
Speaker 2:And then September 11th happened and that kind of threw a wrench in things. Not really, but I mean I was like, wow, you know things, uh, things just got real. You know, I woke up at nine o'clock that morning and seen you know the news footage and everything and I was like, oh crap, we're going to war. Um, and I mean that's not the reason that I signed up, obviously, cause I didn't know that was going to happen. But um, I was like, well, I'm know I guess it can be a little bit different, a different trip than I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So, out of all the branches, what is it that drew you to the Marine Corps?
Speaker 2:It was the hardest one. I don't like taking the easy route in anything that I do and I had a couple uncles that were, you know, former Marines and you know I watched a lot of Full Metal Jacket and my buddies and I we were all in ROTC, but it was Air Force ROTC. I kind of didn't want to go that route. I liked things a little bit, like I said, harder things, more difficult things. I decided to go the Marine Corps route. A lot of the guys that I was in ROTC with they were all joining up. I was actually slated to go down to see the Army recruiter One of my buddies, neil Walker. He's like hey, man, come down here and talk to my recruiter. You know I'm getting ready to join the Marines. I was like okay, you know. So I went down there to the Marine Corps recruiting station and talked to them and I mean that just made up my mind right there. That sealed the deal.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, it's funny. You look back, obviously the Marine Corps is the toughest branch at its base, right, but you look into like special tactics in the Air Force and you go man, the Air Force has that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the PJs man. Those guys are no joke.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so what did you do in the Marine Corps?
Speaker 2:I was a welder, conveniently enough, because I was taking welding classes in high school. And so I promised my mom because she was like dead set against me joining the Marine Corps she, she wasn't really too keen on me joining the military, but she kind of made me the promise she's like, ok, I'll support you joining the military if you join any other branch other than the Marine Corps. And when I came home and said hey, I'm joining the Marine Corps, you know, we kind of we had some mixed words. But yeah, it was, you know so, my recruiter. He guaranteed me one of two jobs and he said I could be, you know, you pick two jobs.
Speaker 2:So I promised my mom, because I was her only natural born son, that I would not pick a combat related MOS. So I picked a welder or combat engineer. I figured, combat engineer, that's kind of, you know, splitting hairs at that point. You know, yeah, I could get away with that one. And I ended up going through Marine combat training and right after that they issue your uh, your MOS and I was slated to be a welder. So that kind of that worked out perfect for me, cause I already had somewhat of a background related to welding because you know I got certified when I was in high school and then, um, you know, they sent me up to Aberdeen Maryland, to go through additional training.
Speaker 1:Very cool. So you, did you happen to go through any training with any Navy guys, any CBs that were welders?
Speaker 2:Yes. So, uh, up at Aberdeen, maryland, it was kind of it was mixed. So we had, um, we went to school with, you know, we had Army, Navy, air Force, marine Corps, I think even a couple of Coasties, um right there. So you go through like the first couple of months, um kind of months, with all the different branches, and then the last five, six weeks we went to what's called Marine Unique so we learned how to weld on armor plating. The Air Force they split off, they learned how to do titanium.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure what the Army and the Navy did or the Coast Guard, but everybody the last portion of it they went to their own, like specialty type training for the branch of service that they enlisted in. Oh cool, yeah, we had something similar. So the builder school. I was trained by an army guy and a civilian, but we had everybody in the same class. We had, um, you know, army Navy. We didn't have any Marines down there, come to think about it. We did have some Air Force, but we didn't split off just because building is building. It's kind of carpentry is the same, right. So we didn't really specialize until you get to your battalion. But that's neat. So, jason man, you've got your fingers in everything. You got out of the Marine Corps. I want to talk about that a little bit. You went back into welding. But what do you do right now? What would you say out?
Speaker 2:of the millions of things that you're doing, what is considered your day job? Oh man, it's weird because my buddy, charlie Cross, labeled me this one day as he was introducing me to somebody, and he introduced me as an entrepreneur. I was like, man, I'm not an entrepreneur. And then I started thinking about it. I was like, oh wait, yeah, I guess I am. So I set up my own welding school. So we do short-term welding training. I got a school called Underground Metalworks. My business partner and I he's a retired Navy chief we set up a short-term welding school for, essentially for home hobbyists, makers, diyers and stuff like that. I also set up another business called Weldworks Training Center that specializes in weld procedure development and welding certifications. We're also an accredited testing facility through the American Welding Society. And then, in addition to all that, I run the Arc Junkies podcast, which is, you know, an LLC. That's also, I guess that's the third business that I kind of operate. So I guess you could say entrepreneur, but everything is kind of centered around the world of welding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd say a lot of people know you from arc junkies. Um, I'm a listener myself. If, if you guys haven't checked that out, awesome show, um, I, I really appreciate just the wide breadth of people that you have on there. You got, you know, metal artists. You've got people that are engineers, inspectors, teachers, like yourself, um, but yeah so, so, entrepreneur, I'd say that's a fair assessment, that's a fair label to put on you, because you kind of got involved in everything. So where's the school at? We discussed that a little bit.
Speaker 2:So we're located in Orlando Florida.
Speaker 1:Very cool. And so what do you guys offer down there?
Speaker 2:So basically we do a one-week course. We cover stick welding, mig welding, tig welding on steel, stainless and aluminum. We touch on flux core, a little bit of spool gun for aluminum, and then I run, uh, weekend classes as well. So we have a weekend mig class and a weekend tig class, and then I have a nighttime track that kind of emulates the daytime program, but they only meet twice a week, tuesdays and thursdays, 6 pm to 9 pm, and that class goes for six total weeks for a total of 12 sessions.
Speaker 1:Cool. So would you say that you see more of people like myself that are mainly interested in just hey, I want to weld on the side, or do you also get a fair amount of folks that want to do this as a career?
Speaker 2:It's a good mix. So every class is a little bit different. It's each class is kind of made up of you know, I usually get one home hobbyist, an artist, somebody that's recently retired or getting ready to retire, and then somebody that's kind of wanting to take a welding program out for a test drive. You know, so, like, if you want to take a welding class, that can be a big commitment. You know, if you don't know that you definitely want to get into this industry, if you kind of like just want to dip your toes in it to see, if you want to spend, you know, 15, $20,000 on a welding education and anywhere from six months to 18 months out of your life going to school full time. You know, come down, take a class for a week and see if you actually like welding. You know, see if you like the environment you're going to be working in, the tools you're going to be messing around with. You know, all the safety aspects.
Speaker 2:So it's been a good mix of, you know, people from all different backgrounds, that everybody's got a different goal when they come in the program. And the cool thing is, now that I own and run the program, I can focus in on what everybody is there for, whereas if you go to a traditional welding program, you know they've got a set curriculum. There's a guideline, a content calendar, whatever. You've got to follow that to a T. You know I've had students come down they're like, hey, I want to take the week-long class but I don't want to do this process, or I'd really like to, you know, spend a little bit more time in this process. Each station is capable of doing everything that we teach the program, so it's kind of easy to cater different processes to the folks that are coming in?
Speaker 1:Yeah, neat. Well, hold me accountable, man, because I want to come down there and take the TIG class, at least at a minimum.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So I would assume these are not just folks coming from Florida. What's the furthest you've seen somebody travel to take a class with you?
Speaker 2:I had two guys come down from Connecticut. Oh, cool, yeah, they drove down and they brought their dog Meatball so they're brothers. And the one guy brought his dog down Meatball and he's an American pocket bully, one of the coolest dogs I've ever seen. Man, I'm a big fan of dogs, I love dogs, but this was like one of the coolest dogs ever. Uh, just great personality and demeanor.
Speaker 2:But yeah, they drove all the way down from Connecticut to take this program because one of them had taken a class with Stephanie. So the program used to be located in Fork River or Forkwood River, new Jersey, and I bought it from Stephanie Hoffman and moved it down to Orlando, florida, but they had already the brother had already taken that class and he's like, well, he was telling his brother you know how, you know how much of a good time that he had and all the stuff that he learned. And then he found out that, oh, the program moved all the way down to Orlando. So he got his brother interested and they just decided to, uh, to drive all the way down and take the class for a week.
Speaker 1:Man, I would say the class price also is extremely reasonable. Um, so, if anybody's listening and they're interested in that, I would love it if you could make like a satellite program in Texas. That'd be a little easier on my wallet, but I would love to come down there and you know you got universal studios and everything down there. So take the whole family, make a deal out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've had some folks come down that you know they stayed like in the Tampa area, uh. But the one, the gentleman, he came down from Pennsylvania. He was a small business owner and he just wanted to get more proficient at stick welding. So that's kind of what we focused in on that week and then we did some open route applications but he just wanted to come down and take the program so he brought his entire family down. You know they were doing you know fun stuff to do in Central Florida in the evening and then he would come back in and do the day class, you know during the day. And then that weekend they went out and hit up some of the theme parks and stuff.
Speaker 1:If my wife listens to this episode you heard it first Help me out, there's plenty of time to go to the theme parks and take a welding class.
Speaker 2:I'll have you out the door by three, 30.
Speaker 1:Nice. Yeah, she doesn't even listen to this, though, my wife doesn't listen to my podcast either. Um, so let's back up. You go, so you welded before you got into the Marine Corps and, uh, as you're getting out, I mean, was this something on your mind that you wanted to go back into welding, were you not sure?
Speaker 2:I had. Honestly, I had no idea, Like I, we just got back from a deployment in Iraq and I was right up against my EAS when I came back uh, you know, including my terminal leave I came back, went to SIF, turned in all my gear, went through steps and taps, did that whole nine yards and then I got out and I really didn't have a plan, because my original plan was to re-enlist. And shortly before I left Iraq, I was like you know what? I had some issues while I was over there, Nothing too bad, but I was like you know what?
Speaker 2:I've completely changed my trajectory. I'm going to, I'm going to get out of the military, I'm going to go back home, and so my immediate first thought was I'm going to get into law enforcement. One of the things I always wanted to be when I was growing up was, you know, I knew I wanted to go military, and the other professions that I was thinking about was either a police officer or a lawyer. There's a lot of reading involved with it and I'm not a. I like pictures. You know, I'm a Marine, right.
Speaker 1:I eat crayons and stuff, so you know pictures are great.
Speaker 2:But you know I got back and I think I was getting ready to apply for Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office and like the pay was ridiculously low and I was like man you're telling me I got to get shot at for $28,000 a year. I was like that's not going to work. Yeah, I was making more. When I got out of the military I was like I got to find something to you know, equivalent to you know what I was doing in the military. And so I just started going through the classified ads because that's kind of how you would find a job. You know, back around 2005, you just open up the local paper and there was a shop hiring. They were looking for somebody that could do aluminum spool gun work. And I was like man, I just got done welding howitzers, you know, out in the middle of the freaking desert for, you know, months on end. You know I'm pretty handy with a spool gun. So you know I applied, went down there and you know they put me to work right out of the gate.
Speaker 2:I think having my background in the military definitely helped. You know you got discipline, leadership, integrity, all that stuff. That kind of helps out, looks good on a resume, and I started off with this company doing handrails and putting in stairs and stuff like that. Well, it turns out they weren't a stair and handrail company, that's just one of the jobs that they had. They were actually a structural steel ironworking company, and so when we got done with the stairs and handrails or when we slowed down with that, they put me out with these other crews doing structural steel and so I kind of I just kind of fell into iron work that way and I I fell in love with that.
Speaker 1:Iron workers are definitely a special breed, so I'm sure you fit right in getting out of the service.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love. I love our iron workers. Um, so I got a question about taps real quick. It seems like everybody has their own kind of take on it, or what did they talk about when you got out? Did they mention this industry whatsoever?
Speaker 2:Not really. I want to say like the only thing I remember from Seps and taps was they were like okay, you got to kind of transition from being in the military. So you know, drop off all the military jargon. You know all the acronyms and stuff that we use. Don't use the F word like it's a comma. You know went through like some of that stuff. I think they went over like how to write a resume or some of the transferable skills we had because we're in the military, like very general. And then they gave us a bunch of pamphlets and brochures.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm not big on reading, I like pictures about some of the benefits you know for through the VA and some of the different programs that were out there. But it wasn't, I don't know. I think they could have done a much better job. I think Seps and Taps was in total five days. I think it was like two days for Seps and three days for Taps or something to that effect or vice versa.
Speaker 2:But the military spent, you know, four years turning me into a Marine right and then they spent five days trying to turn me into a civilian. Yeah, to try and reprogram somebody within five days and set them on a path to success when they get out. You know, I think there should be a lot more. It should be a lot more time and effort put into that, and I think they're changing a lot of that now.
Speaker 2:I know there's programs like Operation Next and you know they've got all these different programs where you can get out and you can get into a trade school the last six months of your enlistment and you can go learn a skilled trade. I think you know that that's definitely a step in the right direction. Or you know you can start taking college classes prior to your EAS. You know, I think that's definitely something that more people should be taking advantage of as they're trying to transition out, because there's a lot of things that you know they don't cover. In steps and taps you lose your entire network. You know, like once you EAS, like your buddies from you know they're not calling you, your fire team's not calling you, your platoon's not checking in on you. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had. Uh, ours was pretty quick too. I don't I don't think it was during taps, but I do recall like getting out it was well, you know, you're going to end up digging a ditch or you're going to end up in construction. That wasn't what people wanted to do at the time. So, a lot of it when I got out I got out in 2011, a lot of it was like it and I didn't want to do that whatsoever. And I hear you with the five days, like there's a lot to cram into that.
Speaker 1:And skill bridge is one of those programs I think you're talking about too, where they get the internship. Uh, that was not around when I was in. I'm sure it wasn't around when you were in, no Um, but yeah, they're, they're doing a lot better, and that was kind of the impetus of why I started the show was just to expose people to this industry and just how beneficial it can be. So I want to ask how do you think you listed some of those soft skills? But how do you think your service really helped you to get to where you're at today?
Speaker 2:I think just the impression that people have, you know, from military folks in the blue collar world you know mostly construction. They're very patriotic people, you know. So they really appreciate your service. As soon as they find out you're in the military, you know they're oh, thank you for your service. So when you walk in and you have that listed on your resume, they're like oh, I already know right off the bat that this person's going to show up, they're going to do a good job.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to have to explain things a hundred times or you know why we need to do things, I'm going to be able to. They're mission oriented, like give me the mission, give me my materials, or let me know what my materials are, the logistics, and I'm going to go, I'm going to handle the mission Right, um, so I think a lot of people they see that and they anticipate that and they expect that from people when they, when they bring them in from the military. Uh, so I mean, that's definitely something you want to have listed on your resume. I probably didn't need to list all the stuff that I did while I was in the military Because, like I said, most of the blue collar folks they're very patriotic. So as soon as they see that on a resume like they want you to come work for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one piece of advice I got that really stuck out to me was at least quantify, uh, what you did, like how many. You know how many linear feet of this type of well did you do? But what I was doing was okay, we built this many square feet of logistical housing or we did this. I quantified that kind of stuff so I was like you had. I can go into every single little detail, but it was at least. I wanted people to see the numbers and that might. You're right that it comes, uh, getting out of the service. It comes with that, with that automatic level of respect, which 98% of the people that get out of the service are probably very good, upstanding people. We know some knuckleheads, I'm sure you do.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but yeah, there's that automatic expectation of, okay, this person is going to be on time. One thing I was taught as we're talking. This reminded me that one of my chiefs, when I was in. He said something to the effect of hey, look like, if you screw up, just take responsibility, Just don't have excuses. Look, you sucked, you did something wrong, just own up to it. And that's helped me personally in my professional career as well. As hey, I'm not going to do that again. I screwed up, I didn't know it was an accident, and move on. And I think there's a lot of people that are afraid to do that Like they're afraid of the repercussions.
Speaker 2:No, a hundred percent. That's the first thing I do when I screw something up. I'd go to the boss man and tell him myself hey, I, you know I screwed this up. Or you know I wasn't paying attention and this happened. And like I would go tell him myself just because, like same thing you were, you know you were saying don't try to hide it. You know, if you screw up, you know, just make it known it's, you know, a lot easier. That way you build a lot more trust, that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, in our industry too. I'd rather I own up to it than like an inspector find it or an architect or engineer find it. Hey look, man, I got to, I got to fix this. I know what I did, I got to fix it. So, uh, if you, if you came out of the service again, we're backing up, um, do you think you would go straight into welding? Or do you think, knowing what you know now, you might've taken maybe a different path? Maybe not outside of welding as a whole, but instead of going to like ironwork and what you did, do you think you would take a different path?
Speaker 2:Knowing what I know now. No, I probably would've jumped in a little bit harder, uh, just, I probably would have started looking for structural steel, iron work. Yeah, it's kind of different. Everybody's got like a different path when they get out. But I mean I really enjoyed the, you know, getting into the welding industry. I mean, like I said, it's something that I had before I got in the military, never as a profession, just more as a skill set, never as a profession, just more as a skill set. And then while I was in the military, I mean it was a super valuable skill set to have because you got folks from all over the base, you know, coming to get stuff repaired and fixed, uh, so it makes you feel valuable. And you know like, welding's taken me so many different places, uh, and I've done so many cool things and met so many awesome people that I I couldn't see myself doing anything other than welding.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to call you out on the spot. So tell me like the coolest spot you think you've been or the coolest job that you got to do.
Speaker 2:Well, because of welding, I got to go to the Sun and Fun Air Show and I got to ride in like an antique T6 airplane with the AeroShell acrobatic team, oh cool. So Lincoln Electric asked me. They were like hey, can you do some weld demos at our tent and everything like this, where, you know, we've got a booth set up for the distributors are selling equipment and you know, oh yeah, by the way, we sponsored the aeroshell acrobatic team and we have a couple of spots. If you want to jump in one of these airplanes, like you know I can, I can probably get you a seat.
Speaker 2:At the time I was like, yeah, no, I'm really not interested in that. Then I got to thinking about it and I was like, you know what, screw it. Yeah, let's, let's do this thing. So I got to go, I got to go with them and they did like their whole show, you know. So we got to do like the barrel rolls and the loops and all that stuff and you, you look out and the other plane industry and met some of the connections that I had. I don't think I would have been able to, you know, ever do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's neat. Yeah, I don't think a lot of people realize just how many opportunities are out there. Like I got to go overseas for a year on contract to Germany. My wife and I had just gotten married, so we got to explore Europe.
Speaker 2:What are, what are some of the cool places that you've heard some other welders go and do? I had a buddy when I was in the iron workers. He got slated to go to Belgium, uh, brussels, to go do some welding on uh Inconel. So he had to do a bunch of tests prior to leaving here uh to prove that he was proficient, you know, before they put him on an airplane and sent him over there. But I want to say he was over there for like six months and like once a month they would fly his wife over and you know they could go tour around the country and all that stuff. Um, I mean, that'd be a kind of a cool trip. You know that welding enabled him to uh to have it. You know, an experience like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Very cool. Yeah, there's a lot out there for folks, uh, that are in the trades and you know, when you've got bigger cities like I'm I'm just South of Dallas and Dallas is booming, so I know there are some people. I'd say it's a mixed bag. There's some people that do want to go out and see the world, Uh, but there's also people that want to stay close to home. But I've heard you talk previously on your show it's. You know, a lot of guys chase the money early on and that's fine. I would say, if you're going to chase the money, definitely do it while you're young. You know you don't have commitments, or maybe it's just you and a spouse, but there are some good jobs close to home too, if you know.
Speaker 2:If that's, if money's not the goal, I guess yeah, yeah, you can make a lot of money going out on the road and doing it. But, like you said, you know, do that while you're young, while you don't have any commitments, while you're not tied down before you get married and start a family and all that stuff, because then it's twice as hard, because then you're constantly leaving your family to go out and put food on the table and then you you get used to making this money and you kind of start living this specific lifestyle. Now you have to maintain those funds coming in to live that lifestyle, but you're never home. You're constantly working to support your family back at home, you know, to pay off the house, the nice truck, all that other stuff that goes along with it. Um, do that stuff while you're young and save it up Like there's. I've met so many welders out there that they go out there and they make ridiculous money for years on end and they just piss it all away, you know, while they're out there on the road.
Speaker 2:They buy the brand new dually. Yeah, they just they waste all their money and then they come back and they got nothing to show for it. But if you put that money aside, you know I've had a financial advisor come on my show a couple of times and talk about you know, here's how to set up a will and trust. Here's how to set up life insurance. Here's how to save up money and pay off debt. And you know, be smart and financially intelligent with your money versus. You know, just spending it on just because you got the money doesn't mean you need to spend it. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, that's wise having that out there, cause you know, I don't know, when you were in, it's like the financial stuff was available, but I don't know if many of us actually took advantage of it and went and sought out a financial advisor.
Speaker 2:No, I should have though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, dude, amen, especially with the uh like deployment pay you get back. I bought like a guitar and a brand new computer. I didn't know how to invest my money or save it, and you know, speaking of the travel too, it's not like the money's bad, close to home it's. It's not a bad living, and that's, that's welding, that's really any trade you want to talk about, like getting into overtime pay, um, or when I say travel, sometimes that travel, uh, the companies will have that, that limit of okay, if you're driving over 50 miles you're going to get some sort of per diem. 50 miles in Dallas is like an hour drive, so it's bonkers.
Speaker 1:I'm saying that from experience. I'm 52 miles from the job site right now and it's roughly an hour to get there. So some companies have that, we don't, but some companies have that per diem. So, man, you could still be home every day having dinner with your family and making really good pay. So if you went back in this journey, so you know pre-Marine Corps after the Marine Corps, to get where you got, do you think there's anything maybe you would have? I know you said you would just like go all out, but is there anything you think you would have tweaked and given some advice to somebody younger or your younger self that might've taken you on that path a little quicker.
Speaker 2:It's hard. I probably would have like getting even though I had welding skills going into the military and then, you know, I got trained as a welder in the military. I think going back that probably would have put me on a much faster track to success would be to go to a trade school as soon as you get out of the military, even though I had all the you know, the skills and the knowledge and the abilities and stuff going to another school. I think that would have helped me develop another network. It would have given me time to perfect and hone my craft and it would get. It would have given me more opportunities, because a lot of schools they start with job placement. You know.
Speaker 2:So where I was going through a you know a newspaper trying to find something you know locally in the area that I could go out and you know, work, um, going through a trade school, they, they provide you with more options. You know I just there wasn't many options in the classified section. But going through a school, uh, working with a career counselor and all that stuff, plus, you know, stacking up industry recognized certifications and stuff like that, learning how to do it as a civilian versus, you know, being in the military. I think that would have put me on a much faster track than kind of fumbling through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's smart and you know the programs like they have. Now, if I were to go back I mean if you're doing a full time program let's say I wanted to be a welder and I wanted to do a skill bridge program, but I was going to go school full-time trade school full-time. How long would it take somebody before they come out as a certified welder?
Speaker 2:It really depends. I taught at a college for about nine years well, between two colleges for about nine years and when I left we had set up a new program that was 28 weeks long. So the students would come to class from 7.30 to 2.30 every day, monday through Thursday, and they could knock out the program in 28 weeks and they could get multiple certifications while they were in there. That's with STIC, mig, tig, fluxcore. You know, like, all the different processes, all the different positions. You know probably probably about six weeks, but I know there's other programs that they're full-time for 18 months. So it just depends on what school you get into. You know what their reputation is and things of that nature, but I would say anywhere from six months to a year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you, you pretty much do have the opportunity. You could do a skill bridge program or something of that type and possibly get out. You know, have the opportunity. You could do a skill bridge program or something of that type and possibly get out. You know, have enough school and, like you said, there's stuff as small as six weeks or short of six weeks, Uh, so they could in theory, do a school and get right to work within that six month period if they really wanted to. Yeah, yeah, it's like a no brainer man and there's, there's plenty of programs out there.
Speaker 1:I know our electricians here locally specifically. They've got where they work during the day and then they go to their trade school, Uh, I think it's like two or three nights out of the week. So these guys, even though the skill bridge program doesn't pay I think it's some weird conflict of interest or something the DOD won't pay you, uh, or they'll pay you but the company can't pay you at the same time, Something weird. But it's free labor, I guess, for them. Anyway, not getting into the politics of that, but so yeah, it's man, I wish I had that when I was back in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I know that there's another program. It might be part of the Skills Bridge, but I'm not sure exactly what it's called. But I had a student that he had his GI Bill and I lined him up with a position with the iron workers union when he graduated my program. So he'd already went through 44 weeks of the program that I had been teaching. That was the program previous to our six month track, uh. So he went through the class 44 weeks to join the iron workers union. They were going to start them off as an apprentice. Well, because he had the GI bill, the GI bill would pay him the difference between, uh, his apprenticeship pay and journeyman scale for all the hours that he would work. So I think he just had to submit his hours and stuff like that and then the VA would. They would pay him the difference between apprenticeship scale and journeyman scale, which is like six, seven bucks an hour.
Speaker 2:You know you add that up for 40 hours a week Plus. You know, most of the time when you got with the iron workers union, that's kind of where I ended up right around 2010. You know it's probably $6, $7 an hour difference. We were working 50, 60, 70 hours a week. I mean there was times we were going out there working 7-12s, so banging lots of overtime.
Speaker 1:Well, in theory too, I guess you could use. Man, I'm having a brain fart with the funds tuition assistance. I mean because I used I got a lot of my basic, like community college classes, out of the way with funds, uh, tuition assistance. I mean cause I I used I got a lot of my basic like, uh, community college classes out of the way, uh, with my tuition assistance, which was free, it didn't, it didn't pull out of your GI bill. So I guess there's a possibility if you find the right school, you could start doing night school while you're in and, in theory, you could get out, as you know, a car hauling, welder or carpenter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good possibility, as long as they got a school. In your area we did have a guy that was active duty Marines and I think he was on some program where he had six months because I think he had to go back like two weeks before graduation, but he had already completed all of his coursework. So I mean he was pretty much graduated at that point. He just wasn't going to be around for the ceremony.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's wild man. There's a ton of opportunity out there now, for sure. Yeah, that was not there a decade plus ago.
Speaker 2:No, and I mean, and that's that's, that's a good thing, because it's it's getting better. You know it's it's never going to be perfect, but it's always, it's continuously getting better, which is, you know, a step in the right direction. For years, we did a horrible job of taking care of our veterans and it's still not great, but it's definitely getting better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, man, and I think that's like guys in our generation that are seeing the way that we transitioned out and didn't have a ton of that opportunity at least not that we knew of but we're the ones really pushing for that now. So I'm definitely seeing a change.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I want to take a turn and talk about mental health a little bit. Obviously it's a. It's a massive problem within military and it's also a huge problem in the construction industry. Um, so if we've got vets or anybody really listening, that's just the industry. I say it almost every episode. It'll eat you alive if you let it. Uh, because there's a lot of tough personalities, there's long hours, there's a lot of difficulty, it's rough on your body. If you had somebody that's just kind of struggling and trudging to get along or go day by day, what would you say to them?
Speaker 2:Find somebody to reach out to. A lot of times, especially men prior service and in construction, especially men prior service and in construction we're the last ones to talk about our feelings. So when you start heading down that dark path, go find a counselor or find a battle buddy that you can confide in. Find somebody to talk to. If you keep that stuff inside, you try to battle all those demons yourself. I mean, we're losing north of 22 a day to suicide.
Speaker 2:You take a transition out of the military. You add construction industry on top of that, like you were saying, with long hours, the demanding work, the physical task that's on your body, other bad habits to get into, to kind of cope with what they're feeling inside or, you know, mental thoughts or anything like that. Go find somebody to talk to. The VA has a lot of great resources. They can link you up with a mental health counselor. It's not a sign of weakness to reach out and ask for help and I think that's the biggest hangup is to know I'll do it myself. Well, you have to know when to ask for help and don't be ashamed.
Speaker 1:That's a good point. Yeah, our common joke at work is I'm like well, I'm a superintendent, I don't have feelings.
Speaker 2:Yep, leave your feelings at the house and all that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1:But thankfully, some of the guys I came up under before I became a super, the guys the superintendents I worked for were, I mean, just good dudes and hey, how's your home life, man? What's going on? And they could tell you know, you wear it on your face. So, yeah, some of the superintendents that I came up under, the guys were really cool, like, hey, if you need to take a day off, then take a day off, man, just just chill out. We can tell you're wearing it on your face.
Speaker 1:Um, I, I, I never understood the concept of what I got. You know, a hundred PTO days stored up Like that sucks, man. I met your personal life is horrible, dude, take care of your personal life first. We, especially you know now, as I got three kids, so as a dad and as a husband, like stuff happens man, kids get injured or you got big family events. So I think that's the one thing is we don't focus very well in this industry on the, on the uh, the at-home life, cause we're mostly construction folks, are very type A and, especially being a veteran, we want to get it done, get after it as hard as we can, but we tend to let the family fall by the wayside.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there's a lot of ego and pride involved in that. And, you know, taking time off from work whether it's vacation, paid time off, sick days, like I think I took maybe three days since I got out of the military, I think I've had three sick days and that's because my company that I was working for they're like no, you have to stay home until you get a doctor's note to return. I had the flu, but other than I mean, had they not barred me from coming into the facility like I would have been at work. You know, sick, tired, whatever, not taking vacation time it's a, you know, a sense of pride. You know you've got. You want to complete that job, you want to complete that task, you want to be there for your teammates.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Yeah, I get that. I think what I'm getting after is that I would much rather that individual come back like healthy and whole and then they can really get after it, than just kind of trudging along and then all of a sudden they snap, cause I've been there too, man, um, and I've had colleagues of mine that they take a sick day because and these are fellow vets they took a sick day Cause they're like look, my head's not in the right spot. I don't want to snap on anybody. Okay, cool man, I totally respect that, especially as a fellow vet Like I. Get that, take your time.
Speaker 2:Yeah you got to know your limitations.
Speaker 1:Oh, 100% yeah. And two, I would say humble yourself If somebody else is calling it on you, because I've had that happen to me as well. If somebody else is calling that on you like, hey man, maybe you should take a couple days off, like if they're seeing it, it's bad, and if you're not seeing it, at that point, like you should probably just suck it up and listen to them and don't complain about getting a couple of days off free, you know.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So the big purpose behind the show is I'm trying to encourage people, as they're getting out of the service or anybody out there listening to get into this industry. What would you say, like you're finding joy in, specifically like actually doing the welding. What would you say you find joy in and that you can encourage other people to want to join this industry?
Speaker 2:I'd say just the work that I'm doing. I mean you leave behind a sense of pride. You're building something tangible. You know you get in. I always use the analogy of an accountant, like nobody cares about the spreadsheets they're putting together. You know you get the final numbers and you're done and it's, you know, just a document that lives on a computer somewhere. But when I go out and I erect a building, or you know, have a hand in putting a theme park together, or you know welding up something for the neighbor down the street, like you leave a piece of yourself in every project that you're doing. There's a sense of pride to be able to, you know, say that hey, I worked on that or I built that or I did that. Uh, I think my kids and my wife they kind of get tired of hearing it because we'll drive all around central Florida I say you see that building I built that.
Speaker 2:You see that handrail, daddy built that, you know. Like we go to the theme parks, you see that that poster leaning up on that gate, you know daddy built that, you know. So I remember all the stuff that I got to work on and you know your, your legacy. Essentially, I mean welds last forever. If they're, if they're put in right and nobody you know does a demo on it, that stuff's going to be there for you know, it's going to stand the test of time. So you're, you're leaving behind a legacy, so it's something you can put your, your pride into. And one thing about welding is it's very therapeutic. So you know, no matter what I've got going on inside my head, as soon as I flip my hood down, everything else goes away. I can turn everything off as soon as that little arc lights up on the inside of the hood, like nothing else matters, it's just me and that molten ball of metal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know you've talked about it in the past and I've talked about it with buddies on my show. It's kind of like jujitsu, and so when you're in that position and you're getting pummeled like there's nothing else you can really even think about. If you wanted to and I would liken that to welding too you drop the hood and I got to concentrate on this. So I can't even I don't have the bandwidth to focus on anything else about, you know, except for what I'm doing right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially like going to work in the shop, you know I put my headphones in, find a specific group or you know song that I want to listen to and just kind of go to town. I'm off in my own little world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. Well, I want to give you some time, man, to give any kind of plugs that you want to. You're a pretty busy guy. So we've got the podcast, you got the school. We talked a little bit about that. Anything that you want to say about?
Speaker 2:those. Yeah, if you guys, uh, if you're interested in welding, come check out the arc junkies podcast. I put out new episodes every Monday. Uh, I do dabble in YouTube just a little bit. You know. A couple of those episodes are available on YouTube. If you're a visual type person, um, and then if you're interested in taking classes at underground metalworks, you can go to underground hyphen metalworkscom classes in Orlando. We have uh classes scheduled all the way out to end of 2024. Uh, some, there's something there for everybody, and I think that's pretty much it. And if you're, if you're coming down to fab tech, we're doing an arcs and ales event at the pub on the 17th, I believe, uh, so you know, come out and have a drink, rank, uh, you know, meet up. And then we're doing a well-porned blue demon meet up on the uh the 15th, I believe, that's that tuesday over at hard rock live at universal city walk cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't have enough pto saved up. I don't think to come down. Fabtech man, I wish next year maybe yeah, next year I'll be in chicago oh nice. Yeah, chicago is a good one.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping that they keep, or in the rotation. We'll see, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure you are. Yeah, it would be the first time it's ever been in Orlando.
Speaker 2:So, uh, I prefer the Orlando show, even though I haven't been to it yet, over Atlanta, just cause, uh, not a big fan of that city.
Speaker 1:Um, I mean it's you don't want to come to Dallas, then, man, Trust me. Yeah, Imagine out there that even just wants to get into welding on the side. Check out those videos, check out the school. Uh, between Jason, Stephanie, there's a handful of really good people out there putting out some really good content and it's it's helped a dummy like me, who's a carpenter, pick up a mid gun and be able to at least stick two pieces of metal together.
Speaker 2:That's the goal Make every well better than your last. Yes, sir, you got the tattoo.
Speaker 1:I got the shirt Exactly Awesome, Jason. I appreciate it. Man, Thank you so much for taking your time out and chatting with me.
Speaker 2:Oh Scott, it's been a blast man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:All right brother.
