2022-01-20_Listener_Disagrees_With_Me
00:00:00.000 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge,
00:00:04.120 | skills, insight, and encouragement you need to live a rich and meaningful life now while
00:00:08.120 | building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less.
00:00:10.880 | My name is Joshua.
00:00:12.060 | Just recently on a Friday Q&A show, I had a caller who called in and asked what I thought
00:00:16.760 | about the idea of joining the military reserves, the army reserves, or the National Guard with
00:00:23.640 | the goal of gaining some experience, with the goal of having his career enhanced by
00:00:30.920 | joining that.
00:00:31.920 | I gave my opinion, which was a quite vigorous and strong no, that I didn't think it was
00:00:35.760 | a great idea.
00:00:36.760 | A listener named Brian chimed in and said, "Whoa, I think, Joshua, you made a few decent
00:00:40.880 | points, but I think there's more to the story, especially in that situation.
00:00:44.800 | Joshua, I think you missed a few important things."
00:00:48.320 | I wanted to bring him on and give him a chance to talk about it so we can give better, more
00:00:53.480 | fully rounded out advice.
00:00:55.360 | Brian, welcome to the show.
00:00:56.360 | I'm glad you're here today.
00:00:57.360 | Hi, thank you for having me.
00:01:00.920 | Just a quick background.
00:01:02.440 | I've been in for almost 20 years now.
00:01:05.080 | I've done multiple different components.
00:01:09.000 | The army is made up of three different components, the active duty that everyone knows, the reserves,
00:01:13.800 | which is a federal reserve force, and then the National Guard, which are primarily state
00:01:17.920 | military forces.
00:01:19.160 | I've spent time in both the active component and the National Guard of the state, and in
00:01:24.000 | full time and part time capacity.
00:01:26.520 | You feel like this has been a helpful experience for you, and you think that it's actually
00:01:31.560 | a very strong and valuable thing to consider.
00:01:34.960 | Tell me more.
00:01:37.240 | I think it can be very valuable and useful depending on what exactly you're looking for
00:01:42.000 | and what you're trying to get out of your military service.
00:01:45.600 | If you just want money for college and you're trying to do the least amount possible to
00:01:48.640 | just get access to federal benefits, yeah, there are other ways to do it other than the
00:01:53.360 | military.
00:01:54.360 | That doesn't mean that you can't do it, but that might not be the best motivation for
00:01:58.680 | entering service, like you said.
00:02:00.880 | If you want to work in particular areas where it is difficult or illegal to do so in a civilian
00:02:07.600 | capacity, then there are certainly options that are available to you through military
00:02:11.600 | or federal service that are not available to those who are not part of that service.
00:02:15.720 | What would be some examples?
00:02:17.280 | I work at—oh, sorry, go ahead.
00:02:19.200 | No, what would be some examples of things where you literally couldn't get the job if
00:02:23.720 | you weren't involved in the National Guard or the military reserves?
00:02:30.240 | Some of these areas include, particularly, fields where you need security clearances.
00:02:35.160 | Those are very difficult to get outside of military service.
00:02:38.080 | It's not impossible, but it is certainly more difficult and more time consuming.
00:02:41.760 | It is far easier if you're looking to work in a field that deals with classified information
00:02:46.360 | to do that via your military affiliation first.
00:02:51.000 | The colleague that was a defense contractor, I don't know exactly what he does, but if
00:02:55.280 | he has a need or an area where he would like to work in a certain field, or he needs a
00:03:00.560 | different or upgraded version of a security clearance, it will be much easier to do that
00:03:06.800 | through a military affiliation than through your private contractor affiliation because
00:03:11.320 | it costs them a lot of money.
00:03:13.320 | If you're doing it through your military affiliation, it's much, much easier.
00:03:16.200 | That's a pretty niche application, but it is one of the circumstances that could affect
00:03:21.760 | that caller individually.
00:03:22.760 | Yeah, and because he mentioned—that caller mentioned that he was already working as a
00:03:26.080 | defense contractor, that could be a very important detail for his personal situation.
00:03:32.400 | How else have you personally benefited significantly by your involvement with the National—with,
00:03:38.960 | let's see, Military Reserve and active duty?
00:03:43.520 | So from a personal perspective, I should have started off with all opinions expressed are
00:03:49.760 | my own personal opinions.
00:03:50.960 | They do not represent the views or positions of the Army, the National Guard, or the Department
00:03:56.040 | of Defense in any way.
00:03:57.280 | So from my own personal point of view, I have found the mission and the work that we get
00:04:02.120 | to do to be much more satisfying than what I did in the private sector.
00:04:06.320 | So I did active duty for a while.
00:04:08.040 | I got out because I was a frustrated junior officer, much like Mr. Reid.
00:04:12.720 | I did make sure to go back and read some of his articles.
00:04:16.240 | And I got a good paying private job.
00:04:19.960 | I was actually a supply chain manager of a large facility.
00:04:23.840 | I was making good money, but I did not find the job filling.
00:04:28.440 | I didn't find making money for other people and working that nine-to-five job to be meaningful
00:04:34.920 | enough.
00:04:36.760 | So after several years of doing that, I looked for ways to get back into doing the military
00:04:42.680 | on a full-time basis again.
00:04:45.760 | That money was fine.
00:04:46.760 | It just wasn't fulfilling.
00:04:48.400 | I definitely prefer the fields where the work that you're doing has impacts on a national
00:04:54.600 | or international scale.
00:04:56.520 | And that's something I find hard to do through the private sector.
00:04:59.960 | Again, that's not going to impact most people, but I have found that work to be much more
00:05:04.120 | satisfying.
00:05:05.120 | >>Steve: So obviously I said some pretty things that could be inflammatory with regard to
00:05:12.560 | the mission, the activities of many of the branches of the military, my frustration with
00:05:20.000 | military actions around the world, undeclared wars, questionable moral foundations for some
00:05:25.640 | of the wars, etc.
00:05:27.280 | So my goal was not to be inflammatory with those things, obviously, but to state my perspective.
00:05:33.680 | But I think there is—but you, however, you feel like there is a higher purpose.
00:05:39.040 | You're gaining a significant sense of satisfaction from your work, and that's actually actively
00:05:46.640 | why you chose to go back into the armed forces.
00:05:50.240 | Is that right?
00:05:51.240 | >>Jaymee Yes.
00:05:52.240 | And your positions, I don't think you're inaccurate.
00:05:55.880 | I mean, there have been many undeclared wars.
00:05:58.800 | They've all been undeclared wars.
00:06:01.200 | In a blue sky scenario, I would much rather have Congress reassert its authority to declare
00:06:08.080 | war.
00:06:09.080 | And if we're talking blue sky, then yes, I would also prefer a very small standing army
00:06:15.320 | with minimal—and the U.S. has minimal overseas commitments compared to what we do now.
00:06:20.560 | But we can't snap our fingers and make that happen, and we are in the world that we are.
00:06:25.740 | And in that world, there are lots of places that being in the service allows you to impact
00:06:32.500 | things that you can't do from the outside as well.
00:06:35.660 | You see in the news different events going on in Ukraine and China and other places,
00:06:41.580 | and you get to have some impact, depending on your job, in how those events play out
00:06:46.740 | and how you inform the leadership that does exist in the military and the political classes
00:06:52.220 | and helps inform their decisions that they make.
00:06:54.820 | And hopefully, you can turn some of those decisions to be better than they would if
00:06:58.140 | you were not participating in that situation.
00:07:00.660 | Yeah.
00:07:01.660 | No, there's no question that—and this is kind of the classic moral conundrum, and
00:07:07.260 | I'm trying to be careful here.
00:07:08.500 | You're welcome to say anything that you would like to say publicly.
00:07:11.380 | I'm trying to be careful in a public context not to ask you too many questions along these
00:07:16.980 | lines that could just potentially be difficult for you.
00:07:19.940 | But again, you're welcome to share any opinions that you have.
00:07:24.340 | The thought that I have on it is certainly, you want the good guys to be involved.
00:07:31.940 | And so if you take the tack that I advocated, which was basically to abandon the "don't
00:07:40.820 | go and be involved in the military," then there is a risk that the entire organization
00:07:46.780 | is abandoned to people who may not have our best interests at heart.
00:07:54.940 | So that's always a risk.
00:07:56.260 | The problem is, I guess, it's always a judgment of where are we in that cycle, right?
00:08:01.740 | Is this a redeemable organism?
00:08:03.540 | Same thing happens in any company, any church, any relationship, right?
00:08:08.060 | You look at it and you say, "Okay, I can be involved here, and is there an opportunity
00:08:14.300 | for me to make a difference in a positive direction?"
00:08:18.820 | But I'm not sure.
00:08:21.360 | And so sometimes you just simply walk away.
00:08:23.660 | Sometimes you stay and you fight.
00:08:26.260 | And obviously, that's a personal assessment that everyone has to make.
00:08:29.100 | And you and I would probably make different assessments.
00:08:31.900 | You're saying, "I believe I can impact things properly here."
00:08:35.060 | And from an outside perspective, my having zero experience inside the trenches, I'm looking
00:08:39.120 | at it and saying, "I'm glad you're there.
00:08:41.180 | I'm glad you're there.
00:08:42.300 | And I want to be faithful to raise as many good questions as I can so that you and others
00:08:49.780 | who are involved on the inside will look at it."
00:08:51.700 | But I look at it and I just don't see how the inertia seems too strong to me.
00:08:59.140 | So that's, I guess, just a difference in judgment.
00:09:01.540 | Do you want to comment on anything I said there or add any personal opinions on those
00:09:06.100 | moral quandaries that I talked about?
00:09:08.380 | Well, just to start with, I don't find what you're saying to be inflammatory in terms
00:09:14.500 | of your positions.
00:09:15.900 | There are examples of everything you've said that mostly, largely accurate.
00:09:21.180 | There are, the military is made up of humans.
00:09:24.060 | Humans do good and bad things.
00:09:25.540 | There's no universal brush that says all military folks are all heroes and they never do wrong
00:09:30.880 | and they should never be questioned.
00:09:32.020 | I don't agree with that.
00:09:33.220 | And I don't think most people in uniform would agree with that.
00:09:35.700 | So it's perfectly okay to have positions that are not 100% raw, raw support groups.
00:09:41.140 | I don't think that's a bad thing at all.
00:09:44.500 | That's fair.
00:09:45.500 | That's fair.
00:09:46.500 | And I appreciate that.
00:09:47.500 | So with regard to other benefits, what other, so I actually, after I answered that question,
00:09:53.660 | that was a spontaneous response.
00:09:56.260 | One of the things that I have admired over the years, I have thought that even from the
00:10:00.660 | perspective of early retirement, the military, and I guess the more traditional way that
00:10:08.300 | the pensions are structured, et cetera, can provide a remarkable foundation for the right
00:10:12.700 | people.
00:10:13.700 | I have outlines in my notes of a show that I've never done, but basically how to use
00:10:18.900 | the military for the purposes of basically building a foundation under yourself.
00:10:23.740 | So join active duty as young as possible.
00:10:26.680 | You're getting training, et cetera.
00:10:28.300 | You have your housing expenses paid for.
00:10:31.060 | You have a very interesting job for the right personality.
00:10:34.580 | I personally think I would love to be in the military in terms of sense of camaraderie,
00:10:39.780 | working with my buddies towards a common project, all working together.
00:10:45.180 | And so you have in many ways a very rewarding job mixed with a unique set of benefits, financial
00:10:52.180 | benefits, pension benefits, access to other programs like VA programs, lifelong health
00:10:59.420 | care, et cetera.
00:11:00.420 | I think there are some compelling ways that you could structure that kind of approach
00:11:04.960 | and use it very well.
00:11:07.700 | Comment and give my listener that was considering, give him the strong case of ways that you've
00:11:13.620 | benefited by that and how he might benefit from considering joining even the Guard or
00:11:19.660 | the reserves.
00:11:20.660 | Well, if you want to go with a just straight financial calculations, and I know you've
00:11:26.940 | done the math on what a military retirement is worth, depending if you come in as an enlisted
00:11:31.260 | member or an officer, your pension figure is well in excess of seven figures between
00:11:37.620 | the time that you're likely to retire and the amount that you're likely to collect before
00:11:42.140 | you pass away.
00:11:43.580 | And following that, half of it transfers then to your spouse who is, you know, women are
00:11:48.260 | on average, it's more likely to be a man joining the military.
00:11:51.700 | And on average, most women outlive men.
00:11:53.620 | So your spouse is then taken care of with a half of your pension until they pass away.
00:11:58.820 | So from just a strictly retirement or remuneration, it is very, very valuable.
00:12:04.580 | Beyond that, by and large, we are well compensated for the most grades and most locations at
00:12:10.300 | this point, grade being your rank in the military.
00:12:15.100 | At this point, I am a more senior officer, and I feel that I am quite well compensated
00:12:20.460 | for my position at this point.
00:12:23.220 | And most folks along the way, junior folks do definitely have a tighter budget, no doubt
00:12:29.140 | about that.
00:12:30.140 | We've all been there.
00:12:31.420 | But for the most part, your day to day monthly pay is quite good.
00:12:35.060 | You have a housing allowance, you have a food allowance.
00:12:37.500 | If you're an enlisted member, there's a clothing allowance to help pay for uniform and equipment
00:12:41.340 | costs.
00:12:43.600 | Those benefits are quite valuable.
00:12:45.580 | On top of that, like you said, there are many other benefits, including education is always
00:12:48.980 | a big driver.
00:12:50.660 | So you've got what's called federal tuition assistance, which will pay for classes while
00:12:54.540 | you're in uniform and you can go to school at nights.
00:12:57.440 | If you get out, you then have new GI Bill, which is very, very generous.
00:13:01.700 | That includes full tuition at schools and basically a stipend to cover living expenses.
00:13:08.660 | It's called a modified BAH percentage.
00:13:12.380 | So all that is quite valuable.
00:13:14.420 | And then from an insurance perspective, again, very valuable.
00:13:18.300 | I'll talk about it from a traditional drilling guardsman perspective for a second.
00:13:23.620 | You can get private health care through your employer because as a drilling reservist or
00:13:28.020 | guards member, you're only performing about one drill per week, one weekend per month
00:13:33.060 | ish.
00:13:34.060 | I know that's heavy on the ish because there are some additional commitments that can come
00:13:38.020 | into play as well.
00:13:39.580 | But you can purchase that health insurance through your private employer and pay the
00:13:43.860 | full private rate for that.
00:13:46.420 | Or you can purchase what's called a tri-care reserve select plan, which is now I don't
00:13:52.220 | have the figures in front of me.
00:13:53.300 | So forgive me because I'm sure they're going to be slightly off, but around $200 to $250
00:13:57.940 | a month for full family coverage, which is a pretty darn economical choice.
00:14:03.020 | And there's a lot more like that.
00:14:04.660 | But those are some of the major incentives monetarily that do draw people into service.
00:14:12.260 | - If you were going to choose to get out, what would be the things that would drive
00:14:19.220 | you personally out?
00:14:21.020 | What are those things that are at the back of your head where you think, "Okay, listen,
00:14:24.060 | I can deal with this, but this does kind of bother me.
00:14:27.660 | And if this became worse, this is one of those things that would cause me to choose not to
00:14:31.260 | re-up my enlistment."
00:14:35.060 | - So I'm actually an officer, so we don't have enlistment contracts.
00:14:41.860 | You're free to go mostly when you want.
00:14:44.700 | I mean, you got to give some notice and get your release orders, but you pretty much can
00:14:49.080 | go when you want.
00:14:51.060 | Enlisted members do sign contracts, which do last a specified amount of time.
00:14:56.220 | Some of the things that would bother me would depend on what our military is being used
00:15:00.780 | for domestically more than anything.
00:15:04.340 | Now being in the Guard, we do lots of domestic response missions, most of which are quite
00:15:08.540 | positive.
00:15:10.740 | We respond to wildfires and hurricanes.
00:15:13.180 | And I mean, from my day job, we help coordinate some of those things.
00:15:17.580 | And I've got pictures of our helicopters pulling people out of a lake when everything around
00:15:22.060 | them is on fire to save people.
00:15:23.340 | And so there's a lot of good work that happens like that.
00:15:26.500 | But if politicians start trying to use those military assets in politically motivated ways,
00:15:33.540 | that would definitely be something that would be more or less a red line for myself and
00:15:37.380 | many others.
00:15:39.380 | - Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:41.300 | Last question I have, and then I'll just give you an open floor to say anything else that
00:15:44.100 | you want to say as we wrap this up.
00:15:45.740 | Last question I have is this.
00:15:48.100 | Is it true, so if I sign up, and I appreciate your clarification, I did not know that officers
00:15:54.660 | did not have contracts in the same way that enlisted men do.
00:15:59.860 | But is it the case that if I were to join, say, the National Guard, which for me was
00:16:05.660 | attractive, right?
00:16:06.660 | When I looked at it, I didn't pursue it, but I looked at it and I thought, "Ah, I would
00:16:10.660 | love to do this," when I was in my early 20s.
00:16:13.220 | If I were to join the National Guard, and if I were to join as an enlisted man, and
00:16:18.420 | I would have a contract, if I'm called up, including if I'm called up to go into combat,
00:16:27.220 | that I have committed myself to do that, right?
00:16:30.260 | I don't have an escape clause.
00:16:31.900 | I don't have an out.
00:16:33.580 | And so I don't get to exercise the right of veto power.
00:16:38.060 | My veto power is simply whether I choose to join or not.
00:16:41.820 | And then if my commander calls me up, I have to go and do my job, regardless of my personal
00:16:50.020 | feelings about the specific circumstances.
00:16:52.180 | Is that true?
00:16:53.180 | >>JAMES HENRY: The short answer is yes.
00:16:56.860 | The longer answer is more complicated.
00:17:00.020 | So in the National Guard in particular, most of our deployments that come up, they're well-known
00:17:05.820 | years in advance.
00:17:07.460 | And folks that really don't want to go will be able to transfer out of those units to
00:17:12.260 | other units, mostly.
00:17:14.420 | Not everyone.
00:17:15.420 | I mean, say you have 70 or 80% of a unit that's more than happy to go.
00:17:19.620 | That always means there's some that don't want to.
00:17:22.340 | But for the most part, it is more or less voluntary in practice.
00:17:27.220 | Not by the letter of the law, but in practice, most people in a unit that mobilize do want
00:17:32.820 | to go.
00:17:33.820 | So how's that for a wishy-washy halfway answer?
00:17:38.100 | >>ADAM: Well, I think it's fair.
00:17:40.020 | And as I was considering that question after the call, I thought, why would I-- I think
00:17:48.340 | from observation, it would seem to me that the single most powerful thing that happens
00:17:53.460 | in the military is you develop this sense of commitment to your unit.
00:18:00.120 | These are guys that you've sweat with, you've bled with, you've served with, and you cannot
00:18:05.940 | help due to the simple circumstances.
00:18:07.700 | And it begins in the very beginning of training all the way through every single deployment.
00:18:12.400 | You cannot help but form an incredibly tight bond with people, with others, with whom you
00:18:19.840 | have served in any capacity.
00:18:22.640 | It happens in every context, right?
00:18:24.480 | You go on a team-building weekend with your company, you build a tighter bond.
00:18:28.840 | You go on a short-term mission trip and build an orphanage somewhere, you build a tighter
00:18:33.280 | bond.
00:18:34.280 | You go and you serve in hurricane relief, you build a tight bond.
00:18:37.440 | You go and go to war, you build an incredibly tight bond.
00:18:42.080 | And so you build this sense of dedication and loyalty to your unit, right?
00:18:47.720 | The men that are around you to whom you owe your life and you owe them a duty of care
00:18:54.120 | to them.
00:18:55.120 | And so that would be an incredibly powerful thing.
00:18:57.520 | And I think the degree of loyalty that I hear usually when I talk to people and just listen
00:19:05.320 | is often to their unit, to their commanding officers that are close to them.
00:19:10.200 | I guess at its core, I lack any confidence in the highest levels of military leadership.
00:19:19.560 | I lack absolute, I lack confidence entirely in the commander-in-chief.
00:19:24.720 | I lack confidence entirely in the highest levels of military leadership.
00:19:31.480 | I don't think that these are not people that I admire.
00:19:35.400 | These are not people that seem to me like they're chosen for their outstanding effectiveness.
00:19:40.600 | Rather they seem like they're chosen for their political savvy.
00:19:43.520 | And so at its core, being committed to a lifestyle of liberty, it's hard to imagine why I would
00:19:50.360 | sign up and voluntarily surrender my liberty to men that I don't admire or respect.
00:19:59.240 | And so I guess that, and since I'm unencumbered by the unit loyalty that is forged in the
00:20:07.000 | fires of training and deployment, then it's relatively easy from an outside perspective
00:20:12.000 | for me to see that like, why would I sign up for that?
00:20:14.820 | But I think for a guy who's got some exposure to that, who has those relationships, that
00:20:18.880 | would be a harder thing to say.
00:20:20.720 | >>JAMES: I see your position and for a lot of people, that's the right answer.
00:20:27.040 | Not everyone should be trying to join the military and the question of who should and
00:20:30.720 | who shouldn't is a real question.
00:20:35.120 | But in terms of that situation, political leaders are going to make good and bad decisions.
00:20:41.920 | And if I could make all political leaders make decisions I like, well, then I'd be king
00:20:45.680 | and that would be bad.
00:20:48.440 | But assuming that they will make decisions that will send my people into harm's way,
00:20:55.720 | would they be better off with me sitting on the sidelines or doing everything I could
00:21:00.000 | to help make sure that they come out the other side of it as well as possible?
00:21:05.320 | And that's really the, I think that's a motivating factor for most people that are in positions
00:21:09.960 | of leadership because you care about those junior people and you want to make sure that
00:21:15.680 | they get the best care that's possible in terms of leadership, whether that's in combat
00:21:22.600 | or just rough situations.
00:21:23.600 | >>COREY: Right, right.
00:21:24.600 | >>JAMES: May I comment for one moment on some of the senior military folks that you mentioned?
00:21:29.480 | >>COREY: Anything you like, anything, yes.
00:21:31.480 | >>JAMES: So I'm currently stationed out in the DC area and I've met and interacted with
00:21:37.200 | some of those folks that you've mentioned, like some of the members of the Joint Chiefs
00:21:40.480 | of Staff.
00:21:41.480 | And for the most part, and this is not speaking for all of them uniformly, but for the most
00:21:46.560 | part, they are very intelligent people and very capable people.
00:21:52.520 | And for the most part, not politically motivated.
00:21:56.440 | Now beyond that, when we get to the political classes, that can be a very different thing.
00:22:00.360 | But in terms of the senior military leaders, most are pretty decent.
00:22:04.840 | So levels of confidence, notwithstanding from your perspective, that's fine.
00:22:12.120 | But I don't know, most of the interactions I've had with them have been more or less
00:22:16.600 | pretty positive.
00:22:17.600 | >>COREY: Good, good.
00:22:19.160 | Well on this particular subject, Ryan, I hope that I am more wrong than right.
00:22:24.000 | And I hope that there are many, and I'm glad and I really appreciate hearing your perspective.
00:22:28.800 | I'm so grateful that there are so many men and women who are serving with duty, with
00:22:33.960 | loyalty, with a clear moral compass, who are interceding and seeking to interpose on behalf
00:22:40.080 | of their troops.
00:22:41.080 | I really, really appreciate that.
00:22:42.760 | Is there anything else that you'd like to say here on a public platform as we wrap up?
00:22:47.720 | >>ANDREW: No, Josh, many of the things you brought up are true.
00:22:53.440 | There are bad incidents that happen and there are good and bad people in the military and
00:22:57.960 | good and bad things can happen.
00:22:59.600 | Everyone's individual experience will be different.
00:23:03.000 | You have to, if you're going to join, you have to look at what is the right kind of
00:23:06.200 | service and component for what you're looking for and what you'd like to get out of your
00:23:10.680 | military service.
00:23:12.400 | For me, I did the active duty army thing for a while and I found my real home in the Army
00:23:18.040 | National Guard.
00:23:19.320 | That's the mission set and the people and the work that I...
00:23:27.760 | I think it depends a lot on each individual and what is going to be the best fit for them.
00:23:32.400 | There's no good one size fits all answer.
00:23:34.440 | >>STEVE: Agreed.
00:23:35.440 | Totally agreed.
00:23:36.440 | Well, Brian, thank you so much for reaching out to me.
00:23:38.400 | I love that you did it and thank you for coming on and being willing to do this quick interview.
00:23:42.840 | I will continue to...
00:23:44.280 | By the way, for any other listeners, I love to be challenged.
00:23:46.960 | >>ANDREW: Still there?
00:23:47.960 | >>STEVE: I love to be challenged.
00:23:48.960 | Yeah, I'm still here.
00:23:49.960 | Hopefully you can hear me.
00:23:50.960 | For any other listeners...
00:23:51.960 | >>ANDREW: I hope I didn't lose you.
00:23:52.960 | >>STEVE: I'm just going to mute you for a second here, Brian, while I finish up.
00:23:56.040 | I love to be challenged on anything.
00:23:57.480 | If you disagree with anything that I have said, I always welcome you to respond back.
00:24:02.840 | I always welcome you to let me know what you think.
00:24:08.080 | Share your perspective and I'll frequently invite you, as you've been invited, Brian,
00:24:11.360 | on today.
00:24:12.360 | So, Brian, thank you so much for coming on.
00:24:14.920 | Thank you for your service and I pray that God would protect you and your men and may
00:24:19.480 | you be a force for righteousness in the world and a positive force for all of us.
00:24:24.120 | We appreciate your work.
00:24:25.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:26.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:27.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:28.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:29.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:30.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:31.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:32.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:33.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:34.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:35.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:36.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:37.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:38.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:39.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:40.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:41.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:42.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:43.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:44.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:45.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:46.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:47.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:48.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:49.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.
00:24:50.120 | >>STEVE: Thank you.
00:24:51.120 | >>ANDREW: Thank you.