Superstar Captain Joe Sacchetti, author of Guts, Smarts and Love: Live Your Life The Army Ranger Way

I'm right outside of Philly.

Are you— oh, outside of Philly. Hi everyone, it's Adrienne. I hope you like my new page, by the way. So I am so excited. I get so excited, it really— my blood starts pumping up. So we have with us Captain Joseph Sarchetti, outside of Philly. His book just came out on Veterans Day, and You are an Army Ranger, which I have to tell you, I, I, my son was 2 tours in Afghanistan, infantry. He's my hero at 37. He's an amazing young man. I, I did not even know about the Rangers. It's kind of, it's not talked about a lot. Can you just give us a definition of a Ranger, an Army Ranger?

I, I'm so happy to, and, uh, it's great to be on your show. Thank you. Uh, Captain Joe Sacchetti. And, um, it's, it's, uh, it's really amazing and not, you know, not that different. You know, uh, the US Army Rangers are elite forces. Uh, they fall under the realm of special forces. And, uh, all of the major branches, uh, have some type of elite force. Navy, of course, has the SEALs, and they, they've done well. They got out with a lot of good movies and books and stuff, so they've got good mindshare. And then the Army has 3 types of special forces. One, the Green Berets. We've seen movies about them. And then there's this super secretive awesome unit called Delta Force. And then the US Army Rangers. And you may know that they scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc during Normandy. They get the worst missions. And it's force on force. And they are really just a tremendous group of individuals. And the only way you can get to become an Army Ranger, you have to go to Ranger School. And that's 61 days of 2 hours sleep a night and 1 meal a day.

Wait, what? Are you volunteering to be a Ranger?

Whoa, what a great question. You absolutely are a volunteer. Not only are you just a volunteer, Adrienne, but you're a 3-time volunteer. Because as you know, the Army or our forces hasn't had a draft since Vietnam. So you have to volunteer for the Army, just like your son. And then you have to volunteer to be airborne and jump out of planes. And then after that, you volunteer to actually be a Ranger. So it's for the hardy folks, people that want to make a difference. There's just some of the finest human beings that I've ever met are U.S. Army Rangers. And they embody the 3 elements that are right behind me: guts, smarts, and love. And the bravery, and then the knowledge of what to do and when to do it, and wisdom. And then the absolute love of your fellow man and brother.

And country, right?

Mm-hmm. That's right.

I'm not going to cry. I am going to cry. Because when I look at you and I think, OK, here it is. You go off to change the world and fight for our freedom. Which I don't take lightly. And I'm a mother of a soldier. So tell me about your family, like your parents alive when you were serving in Iraq?

Well, I'll tell you this. People hear me say this all the time. Toughest job in the Army, the military mom. Because moms are home and, you know, keeping the home fire going and writing letters and doing all this kind of crazy stuff. and they, you know, no one, no one knows, uh, so the military mom and the military spouse, uh, are the, are the toughest jobs in the military. Yet when I was in, um, I, uh, I was married at the time. I, I should say I was already married because I was, I was an officer and I was 26, a little bit older than some of the young troopers, um, and I, I commanded a, a scout platoon of, uh, 30 men and they were all Rangers and, um, Mom and Dad, you know, were home back in Pennsylvania and I was in Iraq. And during Desert Storm and Desert Shield, we didn't have cell phones. I mean, I know this sounds crazy to the young people today, but cell phones had not been invented yet. So, you know, we got the benefit of making 2 phone calls. I was allowed to make 2 phone calls home in 7 months. And they had a phone. They had 2 phones in our battalion for 1,000 men, and they kept the phone going day and night, day and night. Every soldier got a 10-minute phone call, so that came out to— you got your call, you got your next call like 3 months later.

Wow, I can't even imagine. We got to communicate on MySpace, and that like really did help in getting a lot of letters back and forth. So I want to ask you, so So I understand that with serving in the military, it really does help leadership. Like, I get that. Like, leaders are really formed. They're made when you leave. So first of all, I'm a little confused with the MIT. Were you going to MIT before you went in the military or after you went in the military?

Way after. I got out. I graduated college, as you know. ROTC, get my commission. And then I served my time in the Army. You generally owe 4 years. During that time was Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Then, and that was '92, fast forward many years, a couple of decades, and I went to MIT Business School really just a few years ago. And God bless them, they've carved out a niche for military combat veterans that they think they can add a little spice to the program at MIT, which is, I think, a wonderful thing.

MIT is almost like an Ivy League school, right? It's not an easy school to get into.

It's the number one technology school in the country, some say the world, and it's one of the very best business schools. So yeah, it is, while not Ivy in name, it is absolutely up there. And it's usually, you know, the top, within the top 2 or 3 universities every year when the ratings come out.

Were you working on your book when COVID-19 hit?

I sure was. So I have to say that the COVID slowdown helped me to finish, and I put just so many 10 or 12-hour days in. I was really in the thick of it around November and December. I was finishing up my last interviews. So last year, my travel took me to Africa and Asia twice and Israel to do a few last interviews that were in that time zone with a couple guys who were in Iraq. And so then I got back. So I was in the middle of writing, and then this is when everything hit in January, February. But I had a place to be. I had my trusty laptop. And so I finished the entire manuscript by about June.

Amazing. Amazing. So everyone, the book is out right now, Guts, Smarts, and Love. And Captain Joe is going to share with us that it's actually getting amazing reviews and right on top. Do you— so when you, when you are serving for us and, and being a leader in the Rangers and in the Army, do you— are you more critical of leadership styles? And when you look at different leaders, is it more like, oh, they should have done this differently? Or what goes on when you, when you watch other leaders perform?

Well, that's a great question because when you're in the military, you are just surrounded by good leadership and leaders of all types. And leaders have different styles. And I think you find in the civilian world there's a greater breadth of styles. And which is to say, in the military, there's a little bit more narrow width of style of leadership. And that is, it's got to be head-on. For instance, sometimes it's a really good leadership style to consider your options. Like Socrates, the great philosopher. Let me consider going left, and let me consider going right. And you know what? I'm going to add consider— I'm going to consider going straight and maybe even staying put. And that takes a while, and you come up with a good decision. However, in the military, there's certain tenets, and one is you've got to make quick decisions because no decision will almost always get men killed. And so you have to make the decision to go left or right, right away. and, and you hope it's the right decision. And if it's not, at least you've made it very quickly enough so that you can turn back and go the right, the correct way. And so you find a very direct way of, of leading, uh, when it comes to feedback, uh, I've learned to be a lot softer now that I'm in the civilian world, uh, but in the Army, um, you get pretty direct feedback. If, if you were not doing something, uh, to standard, uh, a sergeant will let you know. And if you're not doing, you know, being where you're supposed to be on time, there's plenty of people, they're gonna let you know. So it's a really good environment. And there's such good leaders in the armies today, I should say the military today, that we're surrounded by great folks. Are we critical once we get out? No, the Army way or the elite Ranger way is not to be critical about something that's going wrong. It's to offer to help fix it.

Oh, I love that. So the 5 philosophies of the Army Ranger, can you review those with me?

Okay, are we talking about the Ranger Creed?

Yes, the Ranger Creed.

Okay, so the Ranger Creed is a mantra, 6 paragraphs that was— people really were living for a couple hundred years because, you know, the Rangers actually started just before the Revolutionary War. and, um, we had, you know, Rogers Rangers. And, um, and so that sense of elite forces that, that is a compendium to, to the, the, the line forces has always existed. And they just believe, you know, everything that the reg— the rest of the military does, but a little bit more, um, a little bit more exaggerated, you know, a little more, you know, uh, intense. Like, never will I leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy. And recognizing I volunteered as a Ranger, which really means recognizing that I've chosen the most difficult mission and sometimes the near impossible mission.

Wow. Wow. So you know what people say, do you have like your favorite kid? And we all say, no, we don't. So Alex, don't be mad at me. My son's Alex. All my kids are the same. But do you— is there like a favorite story, one of your favorite interviews in Guts, Smarts, and Love that like does rise to the top of like, you know, your favorite stories?

Well, readers are going to enjoy such an incredible breadth of different types of stories. And of course, as you would imagine, there are some stories of great heroism in combat. But I think for your audience, I think folks are, you know, might be interested in, in a story that, that resonates in a different way. One of the chapters is called But Nothing, and I start off the chapter by saying, you know, that little 3-letter word that's in the English language, it's just, it's just a nasty little word, but it really should be, be removed, because anything nice that you said before that is immediately removed by the word but, you know, hey, you've done a great job But, you know, and so I had, and some folks, you know, decide, especially Ranger types, they're not going to listen to people that give them buts, to tell them they can't do what they think they can do. And so talk about a story of achievement. My radio operator, his name was Dale. And, you know, every leader has a person that stands right next to him, and he's got the radio. You've seen it in the movies, right? He's got it and it's got a cord going into the pack. And it's kind of a dangerous job because you got to be standing right next to the biggest target in the platoon because everyone would love to, you know, shoot the leader. And here is such a trusty guy. And he wasn't the biggest, he wasn't the fastest, he wasn't the strongest, but boy, he was loyal. And Dale was inquisitive. And I just, I knew that he was the kind of person that was worth investing my time and energy in. And, you know, because he couldn't run the fastest mile in the platoon or do the most push-ups or whatever, that he asked questions. You know, the guys, of course, in the military made good-natured fun. But he vowed he wasn't going to just, you know, settle for being average. And as the years went by, he had a very nice career in the military. And then when he got out years later, 20 years later, he finally went back to college. He had never gone to college at all, as most of the troops have. He decided he's gonna go to college as a grown man. And I remember he called me about 2 years ago, and we're in touch, but we're not in touch every day. He called me and said, guess what? I've just finished my junior year at college, and I made the Dean's List. I, they said I couldn't. I said, no way, I'm going to do it. I'm going to triumph. And then fast forward even from there, Dale not only got his bachelor's degree but was accepted into the graduate program. And he's got a job at SAP. And it's like being reborn because he wouldn't take no or but for an answer.

Oh, I love that story. You're right, friends. That is really a great story. So was Guts, Smarts and Love your idea, or did someone say to you, you should be writing a book on your stories?

Well, the stories that were super impactful to me back in the war and when I served— and believe me, everything about Guts, Smarts and Love isn't just about one small period in time. It's, you know, military stories that span from Vietnam to current day. And the stories aren't about me. I'm just a guy who writes them down. But the thread of continuity is that these are folks that I served with and some really fine human beings. But to answer your question, these super impactful events in my life really formed all of the leadership principles that I, that I live by. And I realized that 20 years later, that they were just as impactful now as they were then, and that we should share them. So I started them as vignettes. Now, the crazy thing, Adrian, is that I thought there might be about 10 people that would be interested in something like this. And then come to find when I did my interviews of the folks that I thought were so great, it was incredibly cathartic to them. And the stories came alive again. And when I started to share them with other people, uh, they, it just bubbled and bubbled. And, um, it was hard to bubble, uh, to get the title down, but I think it really worked out well because this is the embodiment of somebody. Wouldn't you love to have someone, you know, working with you or come over to your house that had, that embodied guts and smarts and love? Um, and, uh, as we found out, uh, you were kind enough to mention that the book just was released on Veterans Day, which is 2 days ago. So let me put this a different way. The book was released 48 hours ago, and as of this morning, it has made the Amazon, uh, Kindle bestseller list.

So amazing, amazing. And, you know, it really is like 2 different worlds, right? Like being in the armed services and then being a civilian. And I've always wondered that even as a kid when I was watching different, the different movies. And I remember thinking, how can someone take a child away from their family? Like, I didn't really get that. But the minute my son said that he was going to go in for service, I never thought to ever say anything but, I'm proud of you and I stand behind you, no matter how we all thought. You know, my dad was so cute. He would tell the stories of he was in the, he was, what was it called with the pigeons? He would tie the little things on the pigeons.

Yeah, the carrier pigeons, right? Wow, communication course.

Oh yeah, the communication course, the pigeon course. That's right, that's right. So we're also polyvalent, but it didn't, I understood, you know, that it's two different worlds, but my son has a leadership role in his business. And we often talk about actually what your book talks about, like the stories of leadership. And, and that's why I was mentioning about COVID because during this time, a lot of these leaders in businesses, civilian businesses, have really rose to the top. And a lot of them have had— they've been in the service, right? So can you just talk about that? Like, because I get like leader— I love teaching about servant leadership. I love that. But the leadership style that you're teaching is completely different. And if you could just give us a couple of those tips on how and what makes the book so special, but really what also makes you so special and how you can now go take— transition your book into the actual business world to teach leadership. And there's so many— and I apologize for saying this, everyone, and I'm gonna say it very quietly— there are a lot of crappy leaders in the world. So really, we need everyone— even if you're a great leader, you need this book to learn. So share with us some good tips.

Well, you're going to be able to see about 82 chapters. They're only a couple pages each. It's very, very easy. They're just, they're just nuggets. You could literally, you know, look, leaf through them in the morning because each chapter is a leadership principle, uh, like being the hero of your own story. And, and that's— that just reminded me of that one when you were talking about your son, because, um, the generation today isn't the greatest for advocating for themselves. And, um, And that's a good thing. I mean, we're not talking about bragging and so forth, but I think you need to be able to advocate for yourself and realize that being the humble professional is tougher today than it used to be then. And so it's great to continue to learn, continue to get your certifications and all the stuff that helps you advance, but then you know, present that in the professional way possible so that people can know that they can rely on you. So it's not really bragging. You want folks to know, hey, listen, if anyone has trouble doing this thing, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or forecasting or whatever you find in business, I can help. It's something that I like to do, or, you know, I took this course. And so advocating for yourself is a great story. And it's a nice lesson. And then each of the chapters brings you that little lesson, but it, it, um, it's illustrated with a story. In this particular one, I mentioned that Matt McConaughey, uh, accepted an acting award in 2018, and he said, my dad told me, uh, that you ought to be the hero of your own story, you know, build it so that you're going to continue to be successful. And, and once you get this success, you keep on going for others. And like your own You're like your own life is a movie and you're the hero of it. And I had one soldier who was a young soldier and we called him Merc. His last name was Mercadante. And Merc went to Ranger School and he had this magnetic personality and he was sort of embodied, I'm the hero of my story. I want to do this and I want to do that. He wasn't afraid to tell you what his next role in the company was going to be or what he wanted to do and accomplish and darn it, That draws people in and it works.

I really— that's interesting that you say this. I agree with this. There's always a place for humility, but credibility and being authoritative is really— it's important. And then you help others to do that by doing yourself. So, you know, so if people are watching you right now, they're realizing, wait a second, this is great. First, I really have this— I can't help— I'm sorry that I'm crying. I just have such a love for And the men and women in our military and the women. So tell me about the women in the Army Rangers. Were there women serving during Desert Storm?

That's a great question. You know, for about 50 years, there were no female Army Rangers. And luckily the Army just changed their position where as of 2015, only 5 years ago, they started to allow women to compete for the Ranger tab, which is great. I think everyone should be able to compete. And to the Army's great credit, and these are some super fantastic female soldiers, the Army now has about, they've graduated about, I think the number is 19. I think we have 19 female Rangers since then. And I think maybe that's about 6 or 7 that are serving on active duty today. So that's a pretty cool story. In fact, I wish I would've been able to reach out and interview one of today's female Rangers. Maybe that'll be the sequel because I think that it's great to have an opportunity to do that. Anyone who meets the standard deserves the reward. And that's the great thing about the military is that they literally post the standards up on the wall. If you want to do this, here we go. And that's a bit different than civilian life. I mean, imagine having your salary and your, or your test grades up on the wall where everyone can see it. Oh God.

Or your weight.

Or your weight.

Or the fact that you— I think like, if you said, Adrian, go run a mile. Well, maybe after half a mile I'm tired and I just stop. But that is not the mentality of someone in the military. They don't just stop because their body tells them to stop.

That's very true. And it is a little shocking for some people to realize that. There's a style of leadership that, that says we're going to put everyone's age, weight, their mile time, how many push-ups they can do, how much they, how much they get paid, right on the board where everyone can see it. And the object of that is not to shock, it's to, it's so that everyone will, will compete with themselves. And, you know, and they'll, you know, in the extreme you know, you've got these other people that can rely on to pick you up and carry you off the battlefield. And that's the thing that where most of the lessons I think are completely applicable between the military and civilian life, with just an exception of just a few, because our heroes in the military are willing to give that last full measure. And they are amazing people. And when it comes down to a firefight, a lot of things fly out of your mind, and that is any politics is out, uh, and any, any, any content— almost everything is gone except that I know that Jimmy is on one side of me and G-Man is on the other side of me, and Dale with the radio is right next to me. And those are the three guys that you're fighting for.

It's just amazing. So what are you doing? So what is— I actually, I forgot to even ask you So scrolling on the bottom, it says— I took this from your LinkedIn, which I also, by the way, ask you to connect with me on LinkedIn. What is the America's Channel leader at Zadara? Is that, is that still—

it is.

That's on your LinkedIn.

So yes, it is still in force. Yes. Zadara is a software company. It's a software startup in California. And it's cool because it has to do with the cloud. And so our company sells, you know, essentially sells the cloud. Cloud services. So, uh, it's really cool, you know, put your data there and do stuff with it and it's safe. Uh, so it's a super relevant topic. Technology is great. And I run, uh, the, uh, Americas for North America. I run their channel sales organization, and that's when you go out and you find other companies, uh, that, uh, that sell products to, you know, sell yours as well. And of course, we, you know, we, we sell directly too. Uh, so it's, it's a fun place to be in. You get to talk to a lot of people. I run into a lot of military folks, and I just like being in a relevant industry. And I think a lot of military folks are coming out and they want to be in a relevant industry. And you mentioned something before that some companies, Power Home Remodeling is one of them. They're an interesting company that sort of galvanizes a large sales force of young people and into a business that hasn't traditionally been corporate business, you know, people putting up siding and roofs and windows and so forth like that. That's usually been a door-to-door thing, or you put an ad in the Yellow Pages and, you know, it's a guy named Tony and Benny who show up. And so, and that's what made America great, so we're good with that. But now Power Home Remodeling, they've got banks of guys, my son works for them, of 30, 40 folks hitting the phones and very well-educated and so forth. They have found that the military members of their company outperform the non-military in almost every metric. So they really look to hire veterans.

I believe it. And when you think about it— by the way, before I forget, I want to tell you, so I'm very active with SCORE, which is— used to be called the Service Corps of Retired Employees, but we're not retired anymore. I'm the new face of SCORE. But SCORE has a really great program too. So we do free mentorship. And with about 10,000 volunteers. So I'm the Vice President of SCORE Volusia Flagler, but we do have a Boots to Business program, which is nice. And there's a lot of different— SBA has some great Boots to Business programs. And I love also like here in Volusia County and like Daytona Beach, we're really working to make sure that technical school and technical jobs are what other, you know, coming out of school or if you, when you come out of the military to look at becoming a plumber and an electrician and the, and the jobs that are hard to like to, to keep employees in. Like, you— everyone wants to run off and be a doctor or attorney, but we need that and the pay as well. So I love that, that— and that you— fact that you mentioned that and MIT, I think that's great. So I want to ask you, what is your day-to-day like now as an author? So you got the book, you're promoting it. I see you are on a ton of shows. Whoa, why don't you have your own show?

If I could, if I, you know, if I had a million dollars, you know that phrase, which doesn't really mean much in today's economy, but if I had a million dollars, I would just have my own show and I would travel around the world and teach kids, 'cause that's what I love to do. So as an author, I mean, you're asking me this question, it's so cool. Like 48 hours ago, my answer would have been different because there was no book released, you know, until the book comes out, are you an author? Yeah, you kind of are, you know, but now it's really happened. So I love to get out and preach the word. The word is leadership and it's love and it's bringing people together. And so I've got some speaking engagements lined up at colleges and some companies want me to come over and chat with them. And I'm really comfortable doing that. I'll tell you why, because I haven't written a book that's about me. So I'm not focused on me again. Great people did great things, and I was just there to write it down. And so I'm bringing it together as an orchestra leader. So I think it's a great message when you're, when you're bringing little stories about people. So what am I doing? I mean, I have this wonderful day job, and my company, the technology company, is fantastic. And in fact, they've embraced— they love having one of their executives as an author, and especially on a business topic. And so it really works nicely. And I get to do some cool stuff also in front of audiences with them. And I will, I'll be around. I think you'll see me again just talking and spreading the good word about leadership and mentorship.

And I wanted to say, I love the word guts. You know what? I really do. And first of all, my stomach guts, I always think of that. But I love the word guts, like the grit and the guts that you have to have. And then The guts for a woman that may be in an abusive relationship and she has the guts to leave or the guts to stand up for yourself and the guts to be a whistleblower, whatever that is. It's such a good word, isn't it?

It is.

4 letters.

It means stepping out of what you're comfortable doing and doing the right thing even though you know it's going to be uncomfortable or maybe cause you a lot of pain. But that pain is temporary. And the success you're gonna have is gonna last forever. And it's just taking that first step. And I think that's one of the things that just makes military guys and gals great. They have just, you know, they've taken that first step and they put their foot on the line when they show up the first day and they're, you know, getting indoctrinated by their drill sergeant and it just goes, it gets good from there on.

It really does. Thank you. And the smile, I guess you're amazing. Thank you so much for your time. I really, I want my friends that, okay. And also just to say this, because I agree with you, the book is amazing for leadership, for businesses, buy one for every employee and then have your own book club in your place. Leaders really need to do that. And I love that they're smaller. Thank you for my book. I got the free book from Carrie, but, but But you know what? Give every chap— I'm not talking to you, I'm really talking to the audience here. Give the book out, it's not expensive. Give it to your employees. And then before you start every morning, have one employee read what like the chapter is the most important to them or what they love and share that. There's not enough conversation. And employees really wanna make sure that they're able to learn and listen and share. And so I really believe that that that's a really strong leader. Also, for my friends that have children that are serving now, this is a great book to send to them. You know what, I know that people think, well, they're already living it, but no, because to read the stories while it's taking place, it's good because I think it'll give them some inner strength too and just more like, okay, I'm not in this alone. Obviously they're not because they're seeing everyone else, but to read it, I think it's great too. So for my son Alex, You're going to be getting a copy of Gut Smart in Love. I look forward to it. What about signing the book though?

I am thrilled to sign a book for anyone. I'm easy to find. I'm on LinkedIn, as you know, Joseph Cicchetti. I have a website also, ArmyRanger@MIT. And you know, when people are ordering on Amazon, you just have to leave a customer review that says, I'd love you to sign my book, and I will find you. Monitor it all the time. It's the easiest way in the world to do it. I see it and then I'll, I'll find you and sign it, or I will send a really cute, really awesome written leaf so you can put it right in the book.

I love that. Are you planning on doing any borders and books or any books?

I will, yes. We are going to get out and do some bookstores and coffee shops, and I'll definitely be around some of the military posts in particular Fort Benning and Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell, you know, the really the home of the infantry and the Rangers and a lot of friends. And so, yeah, I'll be around. I'm thrilled to sign a book anytime. And I think it's nice, by the way, I've had so many requests just this week of parents who want me to sign a book for their serving service member.

I see. I think that makes sense. If you decide to come to Daytona Beach, I'll hook you up with our orders of books. They're very, very nice. They create the signage, they set you up, they buy the books so that you have them there so that you can sign them. So I have another friend that I did that for, so it's very, very easy. So happy to do that. I'm happy to help you in any way that I can and anything I could do. I, I don't know if I told you, I sell promotional products. I've been in the promotional products business for 35 years, and so PromoProducts.guru sponsors this program, and and I'm powered by Halo Branded Solutions. But I wanted to say thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for just being a hero to all of us. It really means so much. Our freedom is because of you, and also our local police officers and first responders. They're able to do their job because you are protecting all of us overseas. So thank you so much too. So there's so much gratitude.

And we love our law enforcement officers. There's many chapters in the book. There's at least 4 or 5 chapters in the book that talk about, uh, my, uh, uh, Rangers that got out and went into law enforcement, and some, some great, really great compelling stories. We love our boys in blue, uh, that, that do a fantastic job. And I'll say this again, military parents, they're the best people in the world. We, we love them. Wouldn't be able to, uh, be out there, uh, if we didn't have mom and dad at home and, uh, to write letters to and stuff. If I knew you were gonna not break into tears, I would tell you one of the stories that's so beautiful. When I was in Desert Storm, we hadn't seen anything for, for months. We were in the middle, middle of the Sahara Desert— sorry, the Arabian Desert. Nothing. I mean, there's nothing. There's sand there for 1,000 miles. We finally moved into Iraq. It's the first time we saw any type of vegetation, and we were on a patrol you know, patrol with guns and, you know, things like that. And it's dangerous. And my line of walking took me right under a huge palm tree. It's a date palm. That's how dates grow, on palms, on palm trees. I was a kid. I didn't know that. And so right in my line of eyesight was an enormous date that was, you know, was as big as this right here, this mouse. And I pulled the date off of the tree as I was walking. I didn't even break stride. I had my finger on the trigger. I pulled the date off and I put it in my ammo pouch for later. And when I got home from that patrol— that, not home, but I got back to the patrol base— I wondered for a second what to do. And then I realized I wrapped it up as best I could in a napkin, wrapped it with a piece of paper. I put it in an envelope and I mailed it to my mom 8,000 miles away.

Wait, and how did she receive it? Did it come back?

2 weeks later. She got it with my note and she, you know, told my dad and they made that their dessert for that night's dinner.

That is so sweet. Oh my gosh. Yeah, let's just say bless all of our soldiers and thank you to all the women too that I know that they have double hard, right, to be out there and then to to be a female. I'm so impressed with every soldier. And what is the right thing to say? We all say thank you for your service, but what— is there something better that I should say?

It's wonderful. Yeah, people toss that around. That's such a great thing to say. I love thank you for your service. And when a soldier hears it from a little child, you know, I've seen in airports all the time, they get kneeled right down, right on their level and say, thanks, buddy. And, you know, and they'll say proudly served or whatever they whatever they, you know, can say. And of course, it's wonderful to say welcome home when people come. That, that is a phrase that you don't just need to see in the airport. When someone's home, say welcome home, and, and it has a lot of meaning. It's nice.

That's so beautiful. Thank you so much for today. I really appreciate it. You are awesome, and you're good looking too.

That's very kind of you.

I did say that.

Well, go find those— there's a lot of good eligible Rangers. And I'll say this for employers out there, If you get lucky enough to get a military person that you're going to hire, you are going to get a loyal employee that's never going to back down from a challenge and you can rely on them.

I love that. Thank you. That's awesome. Have a great rest of the day. Good luck. I look forward to pushing your book out, so I'll send you this copy and then everyone— I want everyone to buy it and then send me a copy that you actually purchased it so I know you did.

I love it. And I'll see you in Daytona. We'll make it— we'll make it a date. I'll come down there and we'll, uh, we'll do a, a bookstore signing and we'll get you a NASCAR. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Right.

Have a great rest of the day. Thank you everyone for joining