No Sanity Required
No Sanity Stories | 25 Years Protecting Presidents in the Secret Service
In this episode, Brody sits down with his first cousin, Scott Bryson, a recently retired Secret Service Agent. During his career, he’s served to protect five U.S. Presidents, from Clinton to Biden. Brody and Scott walk through childhood adventures and discuss what led Scott to join the Secret Service.
They also touched on the recent attempted assassination of Trump. Scott shares some insights on what happened from his 25 years of experience in the field.
Let’s pray for our country and thank God for protecting Trump.
Photos of Scott Bryson's time in the Secret Service
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
In this episode, Brody sits down with his first cousin, Scott Bryson, a recently retired Secret Service Agent. During his career, he’s served to protect five U.S. Presidents, from Clinton to Biden. Brody and Scott walk through childhood adventures and discuss what led Scott to join the Secret Service.
They also touched on the recent attempted assassination of Trump. Scott shares some insights on what happened from his 25 years of experience in the field.
Let’s pray for our country and thank God for protecting Trump.
Photos of Scott Bryson's time in the Secret Service
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
Hey, welcome to this week's episode of no Sanity Required. In the last few days, a lot of crazy stuff has happened. At this point, everyone should be aware of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and current Republican nominee and candidate for the presidency of the United States. I remember when I was in fourth grade is when the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt occurred in 1981. And I can remember what a big deal that was and I told my kids a few days ago when this happened. I told them that on Saturday evening we sat, we got around the TV, my younger children and we watched various news outlets and footage. And we watched, you know, conservative sources, liberal sources, fairly neutral sources, just trying to get every sort of take and angle we could from people on this and just to try to capture this moment in their memory. One of them is going into the fifth grade, one's going into the ninth grade. I have one going to the eighth grade that was not home. He was spending the night with a friend and he wasn't there, but we spent a lot of time and then I was texting, communicating with my adult children. It's a big event in our nation's history the attempted assassination of a former president, current candidate. And so I sat down today with my first cousin, scott Bryson, who is recently retired from the United States Secret Service. And Scott had a storied career. He did everything from uniform detail to counter-assault team. He was in the Secret Service beginning with the Clinton presidency and he retired under the Biden presidency. So you do the math Clinton, bush, w Bush 43, obama, trump and Biden that's five presidents, 25-year Secret Service career. And so we get into a little bit.
Speaker 1:I want to just say the audio is not great on it, but we do the best we can with what we got. We had planned this, uh, several months back to do an in-person interview, to just go through his career and do a couple of episodes. But there was a death in our ministry and I was tied up with ministering to that family and so it didn't work out for us to do that. But I I reached out all of the cousins and brothers and uncles, we're all in a text thread together and on Saturday we were all just texting back and forth and I just said hey, scott, can I get you on? Just, we can do it, we can do it Monday, I can do it through a phone call. So audio's not great. That's not on him, that's on me. It's just living in the mountains, north Carolina, you got. We have major hurdles and so there there are a few points where the audio is really really uh, it was the. The signal was so bad. Y'all just bear with it. Bear with it and and it gets better because I moved and I made some adjustments. It was on my end, like I said. So don't get frustrated, we'll get through a couple of glitchy spots and then it kind of smooths out and we're able to get through the rest of the episode. Just be patient.
Speaker 1:I know we have a lot of people that work in law enforcement that listen to this show, listen to this podcast. I think you'll appreciate Scott's sentiment If I said that word, right sentiment. If I say it the way I say it, it sounds like cinnamon. Cinnamon sentiment, but in terms of the ridicule and some of the criticisms that law enforcement has taken, and just taken a whooping and a beating over the last four or five years and I just appreciate his candid approach to it. It's also good to get his insight on the things that happened on Saturday. He can't go into a lot of the tech. It's an ongoing investigation. You know he wasn't there and he's real hesitant to speak super personally about everything that happened last Saturday, but I do appreciate his insight and it's real enjoyable and helpful to just talk to him.
Speaker 1:We're going to follow up with another episode. He's agreed to sit down and do a second episode that'll come out here in a few days. Well, we're just going to get into some of the stories and adventures that he had in that 25-year career and I enjoyed following it and we text and talked a lot during that time and I really enjoyed following his career from a distance and so that's a long intro but we'll go ahead and get into it. This is my cousin, scott Bryson. Appreciate him taking the time to sit down and talk through this. I'll come back at the end, close this episode out. In the next episode we'll talk a little bit more about his family and then just some personal data points and milestones in his career. Welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. A podcast about the Bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:So let's dive into it. What are you so? What are you doing right now? You're, I know, so I want to get into a little bit, into your sro uh work that you've just started in the last year and a half. But what are you doing with school out right now?
Speaker 3:um, you've got classes going on, or something so, yeah, just a lot of in-service training type things. So in the summertime it's a good time to get caught up on all the in-service training and some, you know, requal. It's not that we can't miss school, but it's hard to have, you know, your entire SRO division go to the range all at one time, because then no school would be covered, right. So we try to go to the range, get some requals done, some in-service training, some division training. It's a good time for people to take leave, like I'm taking leave in a couple weeks. I haven't taken a vacation in a while, so I'm going to take a week off and go to the beach. We do sex offender checks. There's over, I think there's over 300 registered sex offenders in Cabarrus County and so we help that unit, that division, the sex offender division, which is pretty small. We help them do sex offender checks, basically just going knocking on doors confirming, hey, you're Joe Blow, you still live here, yes, and then that's pretty much it.
Speaker 3:Stuff like that, or we can help out, help out with patrol or whatever.
Speaker 1:So in North Carolina is it County by County Like are you? You are under the Cabarrus County Sheriff's department. Is that how it works?
Speaker 3:Yep, yep. So I work for Cabarrus County Sheriff's office and they're uh, under the uh I may say this wrong, but I think it's under the sheriff's standards. So, like you've got the North Carolina Department of Justice, which is like the criminal justice you know what do they call it yeah, the Department of Justice, the DOJ. Department of Justice? I guess, yeah. So the DOJ for North Carolina? State attorney yeah.
Speaker 3:And so there's also one for the police and there's the Sheriff's Association. We fall under the Sheriff's Association, okay, which is why I had to go back to BLAT last year at 51. Yeah, because they didn't recognize my federal time, which I thought was a little crazy, but I did it.
Speaker 1:So real quick touch on that. So you did what was. We're going to get into your career, but I want to start off. By how many years were you with the United States Secret Service?
Speaker 3:I did 25 years with the service.
Speaker 1:And prior to that you spent a year or two as a local Two, Two years on the Two years at. Concord Police Department. So you did all of that 27 years in law enforcement, you retire, you come home in your early 50s and you have to go through the, the basic law enforcement training that 20 20 year old dudes are going through yeah, it was funny because I, uh, I had a 20 year old kid in the class.
Speaker 3:They used to make them you had to be 21, now that you have to be 20. So I, I think we had two 20 year olds and I was actually the third oldest. I thought for sure I'd be the grandpa in the class. I was 51. There was a buddy of mine in there who had switched over from the fire department. Uh, he's 52. And this other guy who had kind of bounced around careers was 57. Uh, and so we were the three old guys, but we all made it.
Speaker 1:That's so great. So I want to give NSR listeners a little idea of our background. So you're me and your first cousins. Our moms are sisters. Basically all of our family was from the mountains, but your mom married your dad, who was from the Piedmont, and so before you were born, before I was born, your mom had moved out of the mountains and so you grew up just north of Charlotte in Cabarrus County, and so you would come up and visit a couple times a year. I would usually come out there once a year and stay, and I always I'll tell you I don't know if we've ever talked about this, but I always loved coming to stay with y'all, because y'all lived in a and it was like a subdivision but there was a lot of woods. It wasn't like a city subdivision, like a rural subdivision. Y'all had forts and bike trails and there was a bunch of kids and I felt like we were living out that ET movie when they'd ride around on their bicycles. I loved it, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was a good place to grow up. We lived out in the country. They probably had about an acre acre yards. It was back in the 70s. The homes were all ranch-style homes but every house probably had about an acre. So it was like a small subdivision with maybe 15 or 20 homes in it. But, like you said, the railroad tracks were right up there, which I may or may not have ridden my dirt bike on. I always told my mom I wasn't doing that to get to my buddy's house, but there was really no other way to do that. Bunch of woods, bunch of trails, playing out in the woods, army, you know army, and good guys and bad guys riding dirt bikes and just having a good time.
Speaker 1:I remember coming to stay with you one time. I would usually come in the summer for a week and I remember, uh, this would have been we were probably about 13, 13, 14 and you had, um, you had something school related, and so the whole week I was there it was like in july you had, you were gone for a couple hours every day for something at school maybe, maybe a sports thing or band thing, because you, you played, you played football, but you were also a drummer and so so so you're close.
Speaker 3:So the kid across the street with the pool, um, he was, I don't, you know, I'm not going to use names, I guess, but it was, nobody would know him, but he, he was not really the problem.
Speaker 3:He was my same grade, he was our grade, but he was kind of, you know, he was easy to take care of, if you get what I'm saying. And but his next door neighbor was older than me. Uh, and you know, when you're that age, when you're 8, 10, 12, you know a year can make a difference. And so his name was eric, uh, but uh, and he was a good guy, we were friends, but he was a little bit of a bully because he was a year older and they had moved down. I guess he's in fifth or sixth grade when they moved down and they were from Rhode Island and so you know I would get in fights in the neighborhood, not a lot.
Speaker 3:So the kid next door to him with the pool, his cousin lived up the street. So they kind of ganged up on me and his cousin was Eric's age. So you had these two guys that were a year ahead of me and they could handle me pretty good because they were a year older, especially when they teamed up on me, and then the younger guy that was my age. He was easy to take care of, so he was never really a problem at all because he got out of the way. But you know, I think what happened is we built a treehouse and my sister and I had climbed up in the treehouse and Eric was standing up in the treehouse with like a knife Like he had a butterfly knife or something. He had it open and he was dangling it over her head. And then I went home and told my dad about it and my dad got really mad at me because I didn't do it. What am I supposed to do? I was already scared of the kid anyway, and now he's got a knife.
Speaker 1:And then he came over to play the next day or whatever, and you looked pretty good. You looked pretty awesome. I just remember your dad saying and your dad was at work when I would be there, but he had come home and I just remember there was a lot of chaos and drama because parents were getting involved and he said, hey, he had it coming to him, your dad had my back.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, he's probably disappointed in his son. You had to have your cousin handle your problems for you.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, the dumb hillbilly who's going to get on the car and head home, and we don't have to worry about him. We let him do the dirty work and we can keep peace.
Speaker 3:True story. We got in several fights. I mean, hey, it's boys, man, it's just boys. But he was a tough, rumbling kid and so, eric, he usually got the best of me. We gotten in multiple fights that, like I said, came down the show because I didn't have to, you know, deal with it, but I had fought him several and I think I might have won one or two. We probably had five or six couples. So he, he usually got the best of me, but I wasn't afraid of him. I'd fight him. But one time he got me down in the snow and had me face down and was smothering my face in the snow and I thought he was going to kill me. I couldn't breathe.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I do remember playing. All we played was we would either play sports like football in the yard or we played Army, and then we talked about. Yeah, that was what we did, yeah, and our dreams of, and when we were at our grandparents' house same thing.
Speaker 3:I remember we were at. We were at Dudas' time, we were playing backyard football and I called the ball and turned and you were standing there and like like, I ran into the back of you. I didn't know you were there and I was running full steam and I broke my nose on the back of your head.
Speaker 1:I remember that too oh, the way boys are supposed to grow up, you know.
Speaker 3:I was like what is?
Speaker 1:I've got the worst luck man um, and then when you know, when I, when we went into college, I majored in criminal justice but never worked in that field. I did my internship with the marshals and just didn't, and then never went into that field and you majored, didn't you major in in phys ed, you were going to be a teacher and a coach.
Speaker 3:I did. I have, yep, yep, I have a. I have a PE degree from Appalachian state university, uh University. I walked on and played football there for two years until I got again, got tired of getting beat up. So I played for two years at App and wanted to be a high school football coach. Thought that's what I was going to do. My sophomore year I met oddly enough, I met a secret service agent at Christmas Eve service who was home on vacation for Christmas and I was just completely starstruck by this dude and and that's I just switched gears at that point and the rest is history, yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:And I can still remember when you got I mean it was it was a big source of fan, like family pride all of us were like when you got accepted, I remember I remember being shocked because to me that was like, oh no, only like I didn't think just normal people would get accepted into a job like that you know what I'm saying Like I thought, oh, that's like being an NBA all-star, like how do you get in the secret service? And when you got it, I remember being so excited and telling everybody like, oh my gosh, my cousin just got into the secret service. And and when you started your career, what year was that? 97?.
Speaker 3:Yep, so I started with them in December of 97.
Speaker 1:And you started off, your first job was like working counterfeit. I didn't know this, but you were doing stuff with counterfeit money. Is that right?
Speaker 3:I was Do you have time for me to digress? Just a second.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I want to tell this story and I'll give you the super cliff note version because it's very, very long. But I only want to tell this. This is not meant to poor me, poor little Scott. None of that nonsense. I've never felt sorry for myself. I think my life story, much like yours, is just data points to us, right? That's what I love about math. Two plus two is always four. It's just data points. They're not a poor me story. So, anyway, I only want to tell it. So if there's somebody listening it might help them, because perseverance is a real thing and resiliency and all that stuff is very important.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I met this guy, bob, when I was in college at Christmas Eve service and he was a Secret Service agent. I was like, wow, to protect the leader of the free world, that's pretty awesome. And I was like, well, I need to change degrees. And he goes no, no, no, we're very diverse, you don't need to. You know, if you switch degrees to a criminal justice degree, you'll probably lose a whole semester. Just stay the course. We're very diverse. We're not like the Bureau. The Bureau has a bunch of lawyers and CPAs and stuff like that, but we're very diverse. Just keep your education degree get you some experience and then come on so that's what I did, so I stayed the course, got my PE degree. I was a December grad, so I taught school at a middle school for six months, which is probably what ruined me, because I was like I'm definitely going to law school. These guys are driving me crazy.
Speaker 3:But if I'd have been in a high school I'd have probably fallen in love with that. But anyway, I went to a middle school and it was no sports season, so it was just kind of miserable. But anyway, I go. I had shotgun. At this point I was like, ok, I have to have a job because Elizabeth and I had shotgun. At this point I was like, okay, I have to have a job because Elizabeth and I had gotten engaged or we were getting close, I can't remember, but I need a job. So I shotgun law enforcement.
Speaker 3:I really didn't want to be a cop in my own hometown, I just didn't want to arrest people I knew and stuff like that. So I had to apply with Charlotte Mac, the Highway Patrol, the FBI, the State Bureau and the Secret Service, because the Secret Service was my ultimate goal. But, much like what you had said a while ago, I just didn't think that was going to happen. So I thought, well, working for the state, that's good, right. So if I can get this federal job, great. If I don't, that's okay too. So, charlotte Macklemberg, I got one interview with them. But when you're 23 and you want to save the world, I obviously didn't do good in the industry During the 90s.
Speaker 3:You have to remember people that are old enough to remember the Bill Clinton era. He was the affirmative action stuff and I was a heterosexual white dude who wanted to go to vice and SWAT and that's not what they wanted to hear. So they passed on me because they were doing that community policing stuff which is important. The FBI I never heard from, and the highway patrol. I went through the process but it was a long process and so that hadn't come to fruition yet. When I tell the story I know you're going to remember it. But so I went to the Concord Police Department and they didn't have anything open. So then I went over to the Sheriff's Department, the Bears County Sheriff's Department, which is where I'm working at now, which is kind of funny because that's full circle. But I got hired by those guys and went to BLAT North Carolina BLAT in September of 95. I'm getting married in June of 96. So I'm the stars are starting to line up for me.
Speaker 3:Well halfway through, the high patrol called me, tracked me down at the sheriff's department I don't know how they got that number, I must have given it to them, I don't remember and they said I need you to be down here in Raleigh tomorrow to take your physical and if you don't come, you're not going to get the job. So what did I do? I told the truth hey, I need to miss tomorrow. I had this opportunity and in hindsight I don't really blame the truth. Hey, I need to miss tomorrow, I had this opportunity and in hindsight I don't really blame the sheriff's department. They're like if you go, you're not working here anymore. And I'm like well, I'm going to Raleigh. So basically, they fired me halfway through BLET and I went down to the highway patrol, took my physical pass, got my conditional offer and then I don't know if you remember, but I came up there for Thanksgiving and I was going to be a trooper and I was so excited and everybody congratulated me. And that Sunday night, when we got home from Thanksgiving, I had a Dear John letter in the mailbox saying that my conditional offer of employment had been withdrawn and I was devastated.
Speaker 3:So long story long is, my dad and I go to Raleigh the next day ask for a meeting. We got it and basically they had made an accounting error. They thought they had enough money in the budget to hire 60 people, but they only had enough to hire 45. I was one of the 15 unlucky souls that got cut. That was very devastating to me because I had told the truth, I had lost my job, I was losing my opportunity to be a trooper, which was my second thing I wanted to do and I was just devastated. And then I ended up graduating BLAT, got picked up at Concord and then two years later I went to Secret Service. So I only tell that story because it was really hard to break in in the mid-90s and it doesn't have really anything to do necessarily with the 90s.
Speaker 3:I don't think that was my experience with affirmative action and all that good stuff. I think my takeaway for me was, though, all these years later, I'm glad it worked out. I know things happen for a reason and God doesn't do random. So for me, the takeaway for me was I could share with my children, as they've gotten older, that I told the truth. My word is important. My integrity is important. It cost me my job, but I didn't lie, but I could have banged in sick and nobody would have been the wiser. But God knows what you're doing. You know that's. That's your true definition of character what you're doing when nobody's looking right. So I felt like I got that right yeah, yeah, man, that, no, that's.
Speaker 1:That's such a good story. Especially, you know, so many of our listeners are young adults college age, early career and and just that principle of if we really believe God is sovereign for you and me, we can look back and see, oh yeah, his hand was 100% on every one of those moments and seasons of our lives. It was what you call data points, where when you're 21, 22, and you're looking down the corridors of your 20s and 30s, it can seem overwhelming. But if you follow the steps the Lord lays out for you and remember he's sovereign, then you're going to be fine. I, um, you know, I do remember all of that because I was a criminal justice major and I remember getting shot down, boom, boom, boom. Back to back to back to back applications, because I remember, um, you know it was, I think it was the, the, the 90,. When did Clinton signed the crime bill? 94, 95, somewhere out in there 94.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got married in 94 and graduated in 94. And I couldn't get a job because and I remember one accredited agency that was a really good agency to work for and I remember going and trying to get on and they were hiring six people and I remember they hired all women and minorities. Remember they hired, um, they hired all women in minorities and, like you said, that was the first time when being a white heterosexual male was like okay, you, you're, you're now going to be fighting an uphill battle. I'm not and again, I'm like you, I'm not whining or complaining, it was just the reality. And I look back now and the lord totally was guiding those steps and took me in a different direction as well. So, oh yeah, so so you landed in the Secret Service. How was that application? Because I know there's some of our listeners that would be interested maybe just in that process. What was that like?
Speaker 3:Sure, Well, back then it was a lot different than it was then. You're probably similar to me. I went all the way through college and never had a computer. I did all my typing on a typewriter, but basically like a 14 or 15 page application. My wonderful mother-in-law helped type that thing out for me because it was very lengthy and we mailed it in and it took about two and a half years, which doesn't take that long now with technology and the way they've kind of revamped the hiring process. But basically the first thing you do is you have to apply. Then you apply, okay, fine. Well, then you get this packet and then I think did I get a packet? Now you go to a testing center. But anyway, I think I went in.
Speaker 3:I don't know, but I had to go take the Treasury exam because back then Secret Service was under the Department of Treasury, because there was no such thing as DHS. That didn't start until like after 9-11. So we were under the Department of Treasury. So I took the Treasury exam. Well, guess what, I didn't pass it by like a point or two. I think I missed it by like a point or two. Well, back then they made you wait a whole year to reapply. So now I'm behind the curve a whole year because of a test. So I retake the test next year. I pass it, which is fine because I was a cop and I was getting good experience, so I pass it.
Speaker 3:Then I go through the process of the initial interview the panel interview, the background check, the polygraph, the physical and all that good stuff. So, yeah, took the polygraph and got the job offer. That whole process took me two and a half years. It should have taken a year and a half because, like I said, I had to retake the treasury exam. But now I think they're pushing guys through in four, five, six months, eight months. It's under a year. It depends on you know how many places you've lived and all that stuff, because they they're obviously very thorough with with your background investigation. So they have to go interview people. You know at all the places you've lived since birth. But they're doing it. It's a lot faster process now that's wild man.
Speaker 1:That is so crazy. That's just wild. Yeah. So two and a half years. I didn't know that, I didn't realize that I was a cop.
Speaker 3:I had applied with a service before I even went to Concord. So I was a Concord police officer for two years, which means I had started that process six months prior. And of course I didn't tell anybody cause I didn't want to get blackballed, but that had already happened to me at the sheriff's department. I was like all that had already happened to me at the sheriff's department, I was like you know, I didn't tell a soul. I was like you know, I don't want them to fire me or you know whatever. So it was kind of hard to keep that to myself for two years but I did.
Speaker 1:In the nineties, what were y'all carrying in Concord Berettas.
Speaker 3:Beretta, I think it was a 96 C, something like that, if my memory is correct.
Speaker 1:Beretta, I think it was a 96 C, something like that, if my memory is correct. That's cool, yep, the 40, the 92 was the nine and the 96 was a four, that's cool, so all right. So you get you, you make it in, you go what, what was? What's the pipeline once you make it into the secret service? So so after that two and a half years, you get the what was it? A call, a letter? How did you know?
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm in half years you get the what was it a call? A letter, how did you know? Okay, I'm in, so took the polygraph past that. Then they do what's called the very last thing they do after you do the polygraph and they take, take the physical and the polygraph and I may be getting the order out, but it's all that stuff's very.
Speaker 3:At the end, take the polygraph and then they do what's called an in-home interview and a couple guys come out to your house and sit down with you and your spouse or whoever, and tell you all the bad things about the job, because they're they're trying to scare you off because they don't want you to. You know, if they, if they hire you, they have a lot of time and money invested in you. They don't want you to be on the job a year or two and then and then leave. Right, so they, they paint this very worst case scenario, talking about the divorce rate and all this other stuff and the travel, and blah, blah, blah. Now elizabeth is probably eight months pregnant at this point with lane, our first child. So you know she's sitting on the couch listening to all this horror story stuff and they leave and I'm like, what do you think? And she's like, let's do it. And I'm like because I wasn't making any money.
Speaker 3:I think I was making peanuts as a cop, you know, in like 96 or whatever 97. So she's like let's do it. So they called and offered me the job the next day and they said we're going to probably send you to New York. I'm like we're good, we're going to go, we're good. We're going to go.
Speaker 3:Then they called me back the next day and said hey, the boss, the special agent in charge, said he wants to offer you a job here in Charlotte because he's trying to staff his office with a bunch of former cops. So you guys can all hit the ground running and I'm like, throw me in the briar patch. So that was a godsend. I thought I was on my way to new york and you know she was, she was gonna do it and I was gonna do it and next thing, you know, I started in charlotte and so then I go. So then lane is due. This is all in these. This is now approaching up on december, so lane is due january 6th of 98 and I have to go away to school for six months.
Speaker 3:So we induced her on the day after Christmas and Lane was born the day after Christmas and she had some complications. So she ended up staying a couple days in the hospital, which is kind of unheard of. She was there two or three nights. I I think I didn't even get to bring them home from the hospital. Her brother had to bring them home because, like on, that was the 26th, I think I left on the 28th and my sister had gotten married on the 27th. It was just a lot going on, and so this job I had waited on for two and a half years now. I didn't want to go, and so my mom and dad took me to the airport, and I think Jacob went with us.
Speaker 3:That was back in the days when you could go all the way down to the gate, and I'm pretty sure there's a picture of me crying with my mom and dad and Jacob and maybe Duda, and so I get on the plane, I go to New York sorry, dc and so I'll go up there for about a week for some orientation stuff. Then I'm able to fly back through Concord, spend the night, or through Charlotte, spend the night in Concord. And then I went and spent three months down at Fletzy, which is down in Glencoe, georgia, and so I would come home. It was about a six-hour drive and I would come home as soon as we got out of class on Friday I would make a beeline for North Carolina.
Speaker 3:And I would drive home every weekend and I'd get home about midnight on Fridays and then I would leave on Sunday right after church and go back, and I did that for three months and then we moved. Then the next three months the training was up in Maryland and Elizabeth and Lane were able to come up there and live with me at a little apartment in Georgetown, because they put us up in some really nice apartments in Georgetown called the Georgetown Suite and that was super, super nice living on the government's dime. And so Elizabeth and Lane got to live with me up there for the next three months. But at the last minute we had to get roommates, so that was kind of a monkey wrench we weren't expecting. So there's a one-bedroom apartment, so tim, my roommate, I let tim take the bedroom and then elizabeth and I slept on the pull-out couch with lane in the crib in the den for three months that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I did not know that. I don't remember that you had a roommate.
Speaker 3:It was crazy Because we were so excited I can do this for three months, I'm good, I'll drive back and forth for three months and then the night before we graduated down at Fletcher they're like, oh, the budget's tight, we're going to make everybody have a roommate. So this guy, tim, and I, had a room together and even if elizabeth and lane hadn't been in the picture, like this guy was a single guy, it was still kind of crappy because it was a one bedroom apartment, like who gets the bedroom, who gets the couch? It was it was. It was bush league man they didn't care.
Speaker 3:They didn't care no, they didn't give a rip. Clinton was present.
Speaker 1:Clinton was present. He didn't care about you.
Speaker 3:He didn't care about me at all.
Speaker 1:Him and Monica had date night. Man, he wasn't worried about where you were sleeping.
Speaker 3:He was busy, he was preoccupied, he was in the Oval Office.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. So what about? This is side trivia. Did Tim run a career like you? Did he stay in?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he did. I think he just retired. I think he just retired because we're all about the same. You know we're all about the same age. He was a little old. Tim came on the job late. I remember I was like 25, 26. I think Tim was like 31. So he was a little bit older than me. But yeah and he did well. I think he retired as a GS-15 or something like that. He might still be on the job, I can't remember.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he made a whole career of it so if you laterally compare GS-15 to the military, that's like a colonel depends on who you're asking. So yeah, colonel, or one star somewhere in there, full bird, I made 14, depends on who you're asking. So yeah, colonel, or One Star, one Star Somewhere in there, dang, that's impressive Full bird.
Speaker 3:Full bird Because I made 14. And so some people have said Lieutenant Colonel, some people say Colonel, whatever Doesn't matter. So somewhere up in there, Okay.
Speaker 1:And so then I remember you getting stationed in Charlotte because we were all just like no way and I got to see you and um and we got to interact with you some, and that was when you got to charlotte. Um, I remember you telling one of my favorite stories through your whole career to this day. One of my favorite stories was I think you were working a counterfeit ring and y'all in your suits and you went into some little dive bar somewhere. Do you remember that story?
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, and the funny thing about that story is and listen, man, I guess we'll figure it out when we get to heaven one day. I don't know what all God's going to reveal to us, but my buddy, Alex, who was a full Italian guy, did I blah the whole thing. We were working an undercover counterfeit ring and so we went to some little dive bar somewhere up I forget where, but it was. It was near Rangeville, it was way up. It was up there Cause we had a lot of, we had a lot of cases in like four city and rather we worked a whole bunch of stuff up there. But this one took us a little further.
Speaker 3:I know we were past Asheville, I can't remember where we were, but his little snitch who we were working, you know, which was fine, we worked the counterfeiting, it was great.
Speaker 3:But he, you know, the problem with snitches is, you know, you don't know when they're telling you the truth and when they're, you know they're just full of crap anyway.
Speaker 3:But he's like, I know where Eric Rudolph's at and I'm like, okay, you know, I didn't, of course, get really believing, but he started talking to us about Rudolph and so he was telling us that Rudolph was still in North Carolina and I honestly thought he was out west somewhere and of course we know he was caught near your place, but I just always wondered. So he started giving us some credible information that we kind of ran out. And it got so credible that Alex and I went to our boss's house on a Sunday. We called him up and said John, can we come? We've got something we want to talk to you about. So Alex and I went to John's house on a Sunday over in South Charlotte and briefed him and we're like we don't know if this is true, but I think it's worth investigating. And he shut it down. He's like I don't care about that guy, I let the FBI have him, we're just doing a counter. I'm like, dude, we could have caught Eric Rudolph.
Speaker 1:What's wrong with you? No way, that's crazy. Oh, that is wild.
Speaker 3:I'm like, how funny would it? I said John, think about it. You got like hundreds of FBI agents roaming around and then you got two wing nuts. You just look up like dude, we could steal their thunder brother and he wouldn't go for it.
Speaker 1:Secret service guys doing treasury stuff and find Rudolph. Listen, I'll tell you, man, that was a wild time living in this Valley because we had 300 agents. Now some of them were Georgia GBI. So Georgia Bureau of Investigation had a. Really they had a legit woods team that that was pretty good in the mountains. And then North Carolina our SBI didn't have. They were okay, they didn't have as dedicated a team but the FBI and I have four really good friends. One of them's daughter works here at SWO. Then he's retired. He worked gangs. He's an FBI agent.
Speaker 1:And then another guy that did counterterrorism stuff like I, like I I don't want to talk bad, but those guys were knuckleheads when they got up here because they were all out of these city field offices, yeah, and all the local boys. I remember I was deer, I was deer hunting an opening day. I was deer hunting opening day 98, um. I'm up in the mountains and um, and I was going to leave the area I was hunting and walk a mile and make me some lunch and then go back off another set of cliffs and go into a different base in a different canyon and it's rugged country and I'm by myself, I'm walking up through the woods and I see all these guys in camo like all of a sudden, just try to hide behind trees and I was like what are these guys doing? I walk up there and I'm like hey, fellas, you know just, and they were looking for him. You know it's crazy, but that was a crazy time 300 agents they stretched that.
Speaker 1:Louis Freeh was the, was the FBI, the the head of the FBI under Clinton and they, yeah, I remember that yeah, and they stretched our little runway so he could come in here and do press conferences in his, in a jet, you know, and the little airport here it was wild man, that was a crazy time.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and who knows, it probably would have never come to fruition, but it was funny because, as we all know, fast forward he was caught a couple of counties over and I was like man, that guy might have been telling the truth. We'll never know.
Speaker 1:That's wild. What if? Yeah, crazy. So what was the story? Where you went in some bar. They were making money or something they were counterfeiting.
Speaker 3:So that was tied in with this. Yeah, we were just trying to find the printer, you know, and we went in some pool hall and I was like dude, my suggestion was let's go in looking like you know, just country boys, because that's what I am and Alex was like I can't pull that off. But he could speak Italian and the snitch was pretending, like he thought he was pretending to be Italian. I was like this guy's not Italian, he's lying. So Alex would talk Italian, he goes all you do. So we put on really dark suit. He said you just be quiet, you don't talk, because if I start talking it's over, right, you know, I sound like a redneck. So he's like you don't talk, you're the muscle and I'm the, I'm the gangster guy from new york and I'm going to do all this talking in italian while we shoot pool. And we walked in. It was just like that scene from uh, what's the, what's the movie when the record stops, like the blues brothers or something.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, the blues brothers, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like the two guys in suits walk into a pool hall at two o'clock on a Tuesday and everybody's in there smoking and drinking, um, and you could have heard a pin drop and I was like, oh, this is weird, this is a, this might have been a bad idea. Federal agents that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's stupid, so um, so you spent a couple years in charlotte, I think I did five yep, just over five yep what was that long?
Speaker 3:okay, I don't remember being that long yeah, five years and about three months or something like that.
Speaker 1:And then you moved to DC or to Haymarket.
Speaker 3:Yep. So I got on the job. Clock started December of 97, got out of the Secret Service Rookie School in June of 98. And I left Charlotte in March of 03. Okay. And I went to PPD, presidential Protective Division, with George W Bush and I did that five years and ten months.
Speaker 1:And that's when you got on the counter-assault team.
Speaker 3:Yep. So when I went to PPD, I took this job because I wanted to protect the leaders of the free world and I also wanted to be on the counter-assault team. And the only way to get to CAT back then was to go to PPD, because it was like a satellite of that division. And so I went to PPD because I wanted to work POTUS, you know, but I also wanted to try out for the CAT team and so I did that and I did that for three years. But while I was there they created a division called Special Operations Division, which was a good idea. It just got too big and so they created a whole nother division called Special Operations Division and it housed counter-assault team, the snipers, the ERT guys, emergency response team, which is the uniform division side of the house that protects the White House. Like the CAT team goes wherever POTUS goes, the ERT guys maintain the integrity of the White House at all time and then the CF guys.
Speaker 3:They kind of do both. What's CF Counter sniper? Sorry, secret Service uses the word counter. They counter like because you're counter sniper, because you secret service uses the word counter. They counter like cause you're counter sniper, cause you're going to shoot the sniper. You know like, so which?
Speaker 1:okay let's, let's, let's jump into that. I know we can't, I know you can't say much about what went on, but I know as much as you can say what. How does that work? So the shot that sniper last Saturday who who tried to kill president Trump?
Speaker 3:That that those are, those were secret service counter snipers. So those, yeah, those have got those called CS cause, so counter sniper. So secret service is divided into two, well, more than two, but the two main entities are the special agents and then the uniform division, and so the snipers, the counter snipers and the emergency response people and the K-9 and all that stuff they come, they fall under the uniformed division side of the house and the counter assault team falls under the agent side of the house. So like I could have never been a sniper if I wanted to, they could never do what I. You know, it was just like like in the military, just a different MOS.
Speaker 1:So when everybody saw the videos of Trump getting shot, the counter-assault guys were the dudes that were kitted out, that jumped up on the stage with little MP5s or M4s Was that? Was that cat guys?
Speaker 3:That was cat guys. So the guys in the black that hopped up on the stage were the. I think I only saw two get up there. I think a couple were in the back, but basically, yeah, that was the counter-assault team, the guys on the roof that were doing the shooting. They were also in black, but that's the snipers, the counter-snipers, that's the uniformed division side of the house.
Speaker 3:You saw the guys in the military clothes. I'm guessing that was like the local SWAT team. That was probably just their kit. You know, hrt has the everybody's got their own little you know uniform or whatever. So I don't a lot of guys are like, oh, was that the military? I mean it could have been the military, but I don't think it was. I'm pretty sure that was just the local SWAT team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was just the local SWAT team. Yeah, that's what I assumed. The guys in the green-colored stuff were Highway Patrol SWAT or local SWAT or something like that. Yeah, yeah, so counter-assault, like on a day like Saturday. Let's break down what guys are doing. So if you're uniform division, what does Saturday look like for you?
Speaker 3:So Saturday, let me backtrack just a wee bit. So we're Secret Service, our bread and butter I keep saying our, their, I'm out, I keep forgetting I'm out their bread and butter is the advance work, the preparation, which, of course, is under scrutiny right now, and I'm going to be very careful. Their bread and butter is the advance work, the preparation, which, of course, is under scrutiny right now, and I'm going to be very careful. I'm not going to say too much, for a couple of reasons. Number one is an open investigation and I wasn't there, so I don't really know what went on and I don't want to get jammed up for saying something like put the cart before the horse type of thing. I will say that their bread and butter is the advance work which is under scrutiny right now because of the building in question, which we can talk about in a minute. So that's where we kind of earn our keep.
Speaker 3:Game day comes and you have just an amalgamation of post standards that have been flown in from around the country. You have a local and state police standing post, you have magnetometers, you have canines, you have the snipers, you have the caddies, so the working shift, so the counter-assault team, the guys that were in the black, that kind of popped up on the stage. They're always working in conjunction with the shift, and the shift are the guys in the suits, right, the guys that you saw on the stage, the guys and the girls that were on the stage in the suit. That's the working shift. They are stationed in Florida with Trump 24-7. And he's got a team that goes obviously everywhere.
Speaker 3:Then you saw some other agents around the cars and different things like that. I'm assuming those were poststanders, I don't know. But, um, the guys are going to be in the motorcade, they're going to be on, they're not going to be on the airplane, but they're going to be kind of like a pitch and catch type of thing. So, you know, I'm talking about like they're going to be pre-staged at the airport, so when he lands they're going to already be there, because you can't clone yourself right, and we only have so much resources.
Speaker 3:So the shift is always with him, whoever the protectee is, and then the counter-assault team is kind of already there on the ground waiting to catch him, and then they get in the motorcade and do their thing. The snipers, of course, are already there. So on game day you have massive crowds coming, so you have sweet time, tsd, the technical security guys, they have their suites and all that stuff. So there's no point doing a sweep if you're not going to post it and hold the integrity right. So you have all this stuff going on on game day and once they have everything swept for bombs or whatever, um, then they open the mag, the people come in and the place is already posted up and then of course, you know. Then then he gets there and and it's showtime. I don't know if that really was a good enough. Yeah, that was explaining it that.
Speaker 1:You know that was great and I remember I think one thing you could talk about that wouldn't compromise anything from Saturday. I remember you walking me through one time when W when Bush what was that? Bush 43?, 43, yeah, when 43 was coming to speak in Charlotte. And because you had spent five years in Charlotte but had also grown up in that area, didn't you run you, you went down there from DC, you were, you were on presidential detail, you weren't cat, I don't think.
Speaker 3:And so not yet. So at that point I was not cat, I was just a working shift. So they try to take care of guys, but it doesn't always work out. But, like you have like a little preference, you're like, hey, or I'm from LA, let me go out there, I'm from Charlotte, you know whatever. So I was from here, so I had on my little preference sheet hey, if there's ever an advance to North Carolina, I'd like to go on it just to get home. And so my shift leader was a good guy and he put me on it. You can't always get it, but they do a pretty good job, and so I was able to. I think it was at CPCC, the community college, central Piedmont. I was the site agent. I was on PPD, assigned to Bush permanently, but I was a site agent in basically my hometown and my mom and dad got to come and they got a photo. So they do a good job of taking care of people and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So like on that deal, what did your week look like? You get there a week early or several days early, something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Start doing the groundwork.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and again, please don't and I don't have to preface this with you, I'm not trying to. You know I don't want to be pious or whatever, but like, I'm not going to talk about numbers or time frames but, yeah, several days out, cut the advanced team comes in and they'll do their thing and you're working around I mean, you're working till the job is done. You know what I mean and you're planning and it's very thorough. It's extremely exhausting. That's why I took a little well, not a little.
Speaker 3:I took a lot of exception to what I call the shade that's been thrown on the outfit in the last few days by people that I like and I'm not going to name names, because there's some big names and I like these people.
Speaker 3:I follow them on social media, but some of the people are pontificating on stuff that they don't really have all the facts and I'm like I gave not just me, but 25 years of my life to an outfit where I, if it exists, I've missed it.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean Birthdays, holidays, christmas, whatever, like anniversaries. One year I missed everything when I was, when I got promoted, and I went back to the detail. I missed every single event that whole year, and again, I'm not crying a river. Nobody put a gun to my head and said go do it. But it's a fact Like I Again, I'm not crying a river, nobody put a gun to my head and said go do it. But it's a fact Like I should be able to say I missed a bunch of stuff and I know what kind of work goes into that. The product that we put out and it's just very it's like a gut punch when one little wasn't little, obviously it was a bad day, but when that one thing happens it just looks like makes them look like the Keystone Cops and it's just disheartening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good to hear you say that, because, as just a civilian who's reading headlines, the Secret Service has taken an absolute beating, a drumming, and it doesn't set right. For instance, I've heard people making fun of we're not making fun criticizing things that um, like the, there's one female agent that was trying to reach she started to reholster her weapon, then she didn't. And then she and I'm like look, I've, I've, I've spent a lot of time on the range and and and sweeping your garment and reholstering and doing all that. She just it wasn't like she couldn't find her holster, it just seemed like overly critical. And they're just blasting away.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was. I mean, listen, anybody that's listened to this that's done any type of stressful event on the range or otherwise. You're finding motor skills leave, right, they just do. And so that's why it's important to train to a high level, because you're going to fall to your lowest level of training, right, so you're going to fall to your highest level of training.
Speaker 3:So you know, did it look bad? Yeah, Dude, so what? I mean she was completely stressed out. I mean, the last time this happened was with Reagan. It's not like this happens all the time.
Speaker 3:So you know, I people are going to be people. I understand that. But I think for me, what's really, you know, what's really just been the driving force for me is like you can't win for losing. And I've been like I'm on my 29th year as a cop. So all these people, these cops that get a couple years ago it's like cops were the worst thing ever. Oh, we're killing. I'm a black man, I'm going to get killed. That's not true, dude, that's not true. It's like they're vilified, and so it's no different.
Speaker 3:And Elizabeth was reading some of the social media stuff to me while I was watching. I was like you know what? I rewound it. I got my phone out and I timed it. It took the shift two seconds to get on top of it like he. He dropped down and the shift was on top of him in two seconds, literally two seconds. They held him down for a minute and one second before he ever stood up. So the point I'm making is all this stuff on social media. They were too slow getting to him, Then they held him down too long, Then they stood him up. Well, how's a guy supposed to get to the car? I mean, how's he supposed to get to the car? And I'm not going to talk about the assets that were up there, but let your imagination on the blanks, he was fine. I mean mean he survived the shot at that point.
Speaker 3:He's good, you know, and you make sure he's good. The comms were good. I felt like all the reactionary stuff was good. I think the shift did a great job. I think the the tactical aspects did a good job. I wish they would have shot him a little sooner, obviously, but they did get him. You know, and I think what's bothering me too is everybody's wanting to throw shade on the sir and listen. Here's the thing I call balls and strikes. I'm very hard on my family, like I know you are on yours. I call balls and strikes. I don't play favor to them. And so if the, if the investigation reveals a weakness or a link, hey, by all means, hold people accountable and let's fix it, because that is bad. But here's the thing why are all the Christians and I'm assuming most of the people listening to this are? Why is nobody thanking God? For? Because it was divine intervention. The secret service dropped the ball. The secret service dropped the ball. What about? Hey, god, protect that man.
Speaker 3:Why don't we give credit where credit's at? And I know a few people have, but, like all these guys on social media that I do believe are believers, I think they're believers, but they haven't really gone out on a limb and said dude, I think that was divine intervention, Just like you can't get on TV. The other night I was watching Huckabee talk and I love Huckabee, by the way and it was like this world, this is spiritual warfare. This isn't right versus left. This isn't politics. This is a manifestation of spiritual warfare into politics. They want to put them in a straitjacket because they're not believers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I think it's a spiritual warfare and it's just manifested itself In 2020, it was COVID and they race-bait and politics. It's just evil is what it is, but we don't take time as a society go. You know what, and I know there's been some posts out there, there's been some good stuff, but it's like why don't we give the lord credit man?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's good, yeah, that, because, because, if I believe, if, if that bullet is an inch and a half over and hit and kills, that kills the kills. President Trump, yeah, we're, I don't know where we're at today. Civil War, people are saying, at the very least, it's complete chaos, it's, you know, I don't know so well this is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree. I mean, think about it. The bullet hit him right the top of the ear. I mean if you go like, if you go over an inch and a half or whatever, that goes right through his eyeball. I mean I mean the guy had, he had, he had the height right, his windage was off a little bit. But I mean I just believe it was divine intervention and I know a lot of people feel that way. There's a lot of people who think that's kooky. I don't whatever do you, but I believe it was divine intervention and I have been worried about our country for months, if not years now, and I keep telling my wife and myself and I pray about it. I'm like you know, are we a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah? Sodom and Gomorrah? Is God getting ready to get rid of us or is he going to revive us? And I believe he's going to revive us.
Speaker 3:That's what I think and I personally believe. And I don't know, I haven't talked to him about it. I have his heart and I don't have a way to see his heart, but I believe Trump got saved. I don't know when he got saved, but I believe the guy got saved. I hope he did. I hope everybody does. I wish Joe Biden would get the same. You know I just don't want everybody to get the same.
Speaker 1:And could you just last thing, and I won't let you go, it'll be an hour and I want to invite you if we could do this again, like maybe later this week or next week. I'd like to do a really quick follow-up. So it's like a part one, part two, but you served your last. One of your last stints was during Trump's presidency, 16 to 20. You worked. Your primary job was head of security at Trump Tower the Secret Service side of things. Is that right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, close. So a friend of mine, paul this guy named Paul was the head of security for Trump Tower, but I was in charge of Eric's detail, so I was the detail leader for Eric Trump. Okay, and my buddy, al, who you would? You should interview Al sometime too. Al is Al's a strong believer. He's a Georgia boy. You'd really love him. Um, we could do it together sometime. He's Al's amazing, and um, he was. He was Don Jr's guy and I was Eric's guy and um, I was in New York from January of 17 to April of 18. And so I've seen behind the curtain and here's my takeaway that entire family are just really hardworking, good people and I don't believe the apple falls far from the tree in any home, and I just don't know how in the world this guy could be so bad. All these people hate this guy so much and his entire family are off. I don't.
Speaker 3:I don't get that.
Speaker 1:That's yeah, that's cool to hear and and having that inside scoop into um, I think I remember you having me pray for, uh, eric and his family because they were going to dedicate their baby in like they were. They were, they were really taking strides towards walking in the direction of raising their child and the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So it's just encouraging. It's very encouraging to hear.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people don't like that family, don't like Trump, and that's fine. But having been on the inside, it's refreshing to hear you say that.
Speaker 3:Well it is, and it's frustrating too. I got a little revved up. I'm sorry I got off my soapbox. I just I I'm passionate about this stuff because I I know a lot more than the average guy, just because I've been fortunate enough to see some stuff. It's just like you know. I know it sounds kind of stupid, it's kind of like Rodney King, why can't we all get along? But it's like why can't we just get along? Man Like this guy's not that bad. He's really not like you. You you don't like his rhetoric. Okay, fair enough. Do you want your Navy seal going to Afghanistan handing out crayons or do you want them killing bag? What do you?
Speaker 3:want I mean, I don't know what you want.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you hear people say we're not electing a pastor. You should have a pastor or you are. We're electing a commander in chief and the leader of the free world. He doesn't need to be a Sunday school teacher. And so what happens? You know what does it mean for the economy, and for abortion, and for judge appointments and for a strong military and a legitimate presence on the world stage. And I think, yeah, that all matters to that, that that all matters to me.
Speaker 3:Well, it does to me too, and I and I really appreciate you having me. I know it's taken some logistics to get together. I wish I could have done it in person with you, but I would love to continue this at some point if you want to or whatever.
Speaker 1:But um, I don't know if I gave you enough of what you were kind of looking for, that's great, let's call this part one, and I want to circle right back and for our listeners, we'll get a second part up pretty quick after this and I'd like to get into just some of the points of your career where you were in London and then when you were serving in DC. Before you were on the Trump detail when you were in London and then when you were serving in DC uh, before you were on the Trump detail and you were doing that counter surveillance stuff like I'd really like to get into that, stuff's fascinating. And then, lastly, to just walk through how you walked and and you know, with such a high in a in a high pressure, high divorce rate world, how you stayed faithful to the Lord and to your wife. I'd like to get into that. I think it would encourage people. So let's come right back and do that and I think it'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Okay, so one of the things that I hope came through in that, in this first part, was that Scott is a strong believer. He's a man of faith. He loves the Lord, loves his family as as faithfully. Not only did he faithfully serve his country and faithfully carry out the duty that he swore to carry out, but he did it, while I think, doing a phenomenal job as a husband and a father, and I'm just proud of him for that and proud to know him and be related to him. I'm proud that my blood and his blood runs thick and flows from the same origins. You know I'm I'm proud to call him family, um and uh. I just appreciate him taking the time. So if you enjoyed it, uh, let us know and we're going to.
Speaker 1:We're going to be following up with another episode, um, here in a day or two. We are in week eight at SWO 24. It's hard to believe it's coming to an end, but I'm excited about some of the content we've got coming up. In the next few weeks we will follow this episode with another part, part two, and then we'll circle back and pick up. We've still got to pick up with our dwindling desire to become an adult. We've got more to cover there. We're going to sit down with the Element team and talk about Element, which is an important ministry here at SWO.
Speaker 1:I want to do an episode with those guys and gals and then we're going to coming off of the episode we did on the reality of hell. I want to get into some really cool stuff that we've been studying and talking about heaven and for an upcoming teaching series at Red Oak Church. So we're going to be covering some of that in the weeks ahead. I'm going to have Rob Conte sit down and go through some of that with me and possibly my pastor, joseph Tucker, the lead pastor at Red Oak, hoping to wrangle and reign him into that. So, anyway, that's where we're at right now. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. We'll see you here just in a few days. We'll have a follow-up episode. Thanks, y'all. Have an awesome week.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources, and we'll see you next week on no Sanity Required.