The Duratus Mind - Titch Cormack

The Duratus Mind - A podcast exploring all things performance, mindset and motivation.  Gaz, a former Special Missions Unit Sergeant Major but now personal coach, opens up his network to try and understand what motivates some to risk so much, why some are so driven, and what it really takes to achieve success. 

Titch Cormack is a former Royal Marine and then UKSF Sergeant who pushed himself and his body to the limits through his military career.  His career was brought to an end after 21 years due to a number of injuries beyond his control.  But Titch didn't pause for a moment and he used the same grit, determination and motivation which brought him his success in his former career into converting an old fish processing factory into one of Poole's and also the UK's most fascinating cafe's and motorcycle workshop - The S Bomb!

Follow Titch on instagram and facebook @sbombvintageworkshop and @titchcormack.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

We're recording, mate. Titch. Good to see you again, mate. Good to see you again. So a bit of overview about what I'm doing. So today, the people that the five people that are listening, I'm growing an audience, mate. It was three last week, it's probably five. If I've not lost too many. Hopefully. If you listen, that'll be six, mate. Um growing an audience around what is it that drives people to do the things that on the face of it seemed difficult. What is the motivation, the uh the mindset that it takes to have success in whatever field? You know, you I'm interested in what you've got to say. You're someone I've worked with previously. Um back at my old organization, you know, you've had success on the face of it. That is what you unpick that in at the time for you, why you did what you did, and now how you're translating that into this successful business brand empire, that the S-Bomb. The empire of S-Bomb. That's going to become. Yeah, there's plenty of people rolling round Paul Key with S-Bomb t-shirts. I've seen famous stars, Hollywood A-listers wearing Tom Hardy, etc. Yeah, wearing the S-Bomb t-shirt. That must make you feel pretty.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

It fails to surprise me when these things pop up and I'm like, oh cranky.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yeah, but remember, that's humility, mate. So that's awesome. That's awesome. So it's good to hear. So, yeah, Tich, I'm mega interested in picking your mind today. And I know people have messaged me on social media to try and uh get you on the show. So I wanted to anyway. So that's a double bonus that it's working for uh two of the people that are listening and and me as well. So um so yeah, we'll get under it, uh get into it, mate. So do you want to sort of uh if you don't mind, um for the people listening, some may have seen you, some may have not, but yeah, he's beautiful. So if you get a chance to see him, see him. But uh could you unpick sort of your little bit of life story? I do want, you know, people say I don't want your life story. Well, today I do want a little bit of your life story, how you got up to the point of joining the military basically, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yeah, sure. Um so brief overview. I was born in Hull and I lived in Hull till I was 12 years old and then moved down to Grimsby. I'd say south. Slightly up in the world, really. I mean it's south, but it's south, but it was slightly up in the world because um currently I think Hull was the second worst place to live in the UK, and I went to the third world supposedly place to live in the UK, Grimsby. Wow. Um so I moved there and that's resilience and a nutshell, man. That was it straight away. So that was it, that's done. That was explained everything that I've done in my life. Um, and then uh I I grew up there in secondary school, and uh I know a lot of people when I've sort of uh uh listened to people talk about um motivational things and stuff, they're always seemed to sort of focus quite heavily on I was on a uh I was really underprivileged background and I came from nothing and all this sort of thing. Well, my parents were both teachers, um, so actually we we had a really good life, you know. Um it was fantastic, both my parents were together, and they still are, you know, um to the point uh when I joined the military, etc., they kept on pushing their careers and they both ended up as headmistress and headmaster, respectively, you know. So that's why what went wrong now. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

No, mate. I that's interesting, you're right, because a lot of people do, and there's a there's I think there seems to be a focus on that kind of difficult upbringing. That's why you've ended up in the military. I'm the same, mate. I was brought up in a loving family, there's no military connection, and I don't I've I've unpicked why I ended up in the military, but it wasn't because there was some struggle and I wanted to get out, and I learned a hard way and hard knock life. It wasn't me, I had a really easy, loving childhood.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, um yeah, I think a lot of people sort of focus on that, and uh and and that was one of the things I wanted to talk about was actually uh you know, my my life my life was good, however, um certainly I learned a lot from an early age, and this was due to my parents, both my mum and dad. Uh nothing was given for free, you know. Uh everything was earned, you know. They uh we didn't get pocket money, etc. Jobs were done. Jobs were done to get that, and uh and that's the way we brought they brought us up. Um it was it was really sort of a heavily uh education focused uh sort of upbringing, which uh I sort of did not enjoy too much, you know. Um and in fact I probably sort of rebelled from it, as did my brother when some when something when you're told to do something all the time as a kid, yeah. Uh it's it I think it's one of those classic things. You know, you say to a kid, you're gonna do right, you are gonna do this. Yeah, inevitably gonna do the opposite. Yeah, why are you telling me not to do that? I'm interested in that now. Yeah, I'm gonna go do this. So um my brother left and became a joiner, and uh and I left to join the military. Now now this was uh an interesting thing, was uh because my my parents wanted us to go into education and stuff like that, and uh I really wanted to do something to uh gain my father's respect and uh and do something that he would uh uh look up to me and uh because I was really struggling to try and to try and gain any uh any kudos with with my father.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Were you conscious of that at the time?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, yeah, massively. And um what age would you have said? I was at this time. I was sort of 16, um, 16, 17, and uh I I was trying to prove to my dad to my dad that I I was capable of something. I didn't really want to go into further education. Uh and I came down to a point with my my dad's dad, so my granddad on my father's side, I'd never met him, he died the year I was born, but he was a corporal 4-5 commander actually. Ah, top three, yes, indeed, yeah. And he had um carried out uh was in involved with the D-Day landings, landed at Sword Beach on D-Day. Uh you'd heard these stories from your dad. Absolutely, uh, and talked about it with my grand, and I knew my dad had a massive amount of respect for his father. So that was uh actually one of my main reasons. I mean, I don't think he even knows this. Yeah, you don't talk about it, this is why I love doing it. We don't talk about it. That was one of my my main reasons, the drive to actually go and uh join the Marines. Now, interestingly, I did my pilots' exams at um RF Bigginhill when it was open, uh, and I went away because I was sort of I'd I'd looked at um uh becoming a pilot and stuff like this. Um pilots, you would then go you'd go this, uh go down and do the sort of tests where they checked uh see if you were um capable of becoming a pilot and then they potentially would fund you through university and stuff like that. So I did that and I passed those. Oh yeah, uh surprisingly, and then um once I passed them, I then applied to join the Royal Marines and joined the Royal Marines. Brilliant, what an idiot! What a stupid idiot! What does he do?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Died in a paragliding accident, so yeah, what a fool.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Um and uh yeah, so I could have been uh zipping around in jets, but no, uh, I think I've just got a question on that.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Would you change things now?

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Oh no, no way, no, that's not at all glorified taxi drivers. Hey, who's ringing?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Go answer it, mate, if you need to.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

No, it's okay, but uh Billy, good old Billy Bill on the phone.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Billy the receptionist.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Billy the receptionist, that's that's what you do. Yeah, so um yeah, so then uh having done that, I uh I went for the Royal Marines and joined in 1993, in February 1993. Um way back now, mate. Yeah, way back 656 Troop, the Eye of the Storm is the name. Cy Paul was my DL. CyPool, what a cracking guy. Uh I've actually got in touch with him on Facebook. Awesome. Yeah, amazing boy.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, a bit of a shout out there. So yeah, you mo why the Marines do you think? So you you're sorry, you mentioned your granddad, and there's that connection there. So what was do you think you mentioned your dad? What I like to understand is sort of people's perceptions when they start. Did you join thinking I'm gonna crush this? Did you join with a load of fear about failing, going back with your tail between your legs, or somewhere in between?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Um I certainly had that that huge sort of impending doom, really. Um and and it's such as you'll eighteen, did you say? I was 70, I turned 18 in training. So I only had the little tiny bit as a uh as a junior. But um Yeah, you'll affiliate with this, is that that whole thing of getting off the train. You know, when you get off the train at Limpston and all of a sudden the reality hits.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Different world, different environment.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

And you're there, this skinny little civvy with your with your bags, and and there's some bloke, just starts right, you get bang it, and it's just straight into it, isn't it? And you're like, Jesus, but before you know it, you're in the barbers having a skin edge.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Straight off the the opening scenes of full metal jacket into it's exactly the same thing. Yeah, what's happened? I always remember, I always remember there's a guy, there's a guy that I caught the train down with. I didn't know it at the time, but as we got closer to the train station, dun dun dun, then I uh we kind of worked out that we're going to the same place. He had like these long curtains, much like yourself. Yeah, got these long curtains back in the uh back in the 90s, and uh he was like when we were walking up, he goes, I was like, you know, you know we're gonna get a haircut when we get this. No, I've had it, he said I've had it cut because I knew they were gonna cut it short. So this is this is me having just had it cut, and I was like, I know, mate. And when he sat down in this literally straight out the the first scene of Full Metal Jacket, and it was like this is and I understand it now, do you know what I mean? Because it's they're bringing you in, and it's we were I'd love to think I wasn't indoctrinated, yeah, I was massively indoctrinated, but now we understand not all negative because I was bought into this purpose. I wanted to be this Royal Marine for whatever reason. Yeah, I wanted to be this Royal Marine, I didn't know anything, I didn't know my arse or my elbow, to be perfectly honest, and again, left college, but we went into it and I was no military experience in my family, and they have to turn you into this something, whatever it is, at the end of this process, and they've only got 30 weeks to do it. And the that starts with right, you fit our mould now, and everyone's losing their hair, and you're like, Okay, this is extreme, but this is it, and I'm all in. And yeah, it kind of it's uh it's changes the tone, it changes the mindset, doesn't it? I mean straight away, you know. Uh those first few days. So, what were they like the first few days for you?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Uh it's interesting. I've I've got one vivid memory of uh of uh in induction. Can we talk about this? Yeah, of course we can. Um in induction, you know, when you first get in there and you're there and you have these little orange tabs that you put on Luminod. Yeah, Luminod, which means you're you're an absolute novice. Yeah, you know, uh, there you are uh in in there and you'd be getting taught how to you've got to fold your clothes and it's gonna be the same size as the Globe and Laurel magazine from the Royal Marines, all this sort of thing. Uh and it and it was absolutely bizarre. The different people that were there from all walks of life that were uh attempting this huge thing for these young guys, really. I think the oldest person there we had was uh probably about 25, 26. Booksters, really youngsters. The majority were sort of uh 18, 19 year old guys, you know. I was 18. Uh, and and there you are in the induction block, being taught everything, being taught being taught how to wash. Now being shown, yeah, how to wash, how to wash your penis, you know, and less than one. Less than what? It's a five-part lesson how to wash yourself, you know, and there and there it's done by the DL. So it's a side pole and they're style out, right? Okay, this is how you wash yourself because that they're teaching you all this stuff. It's true.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I I remember that vivid is a vivid memory of mine. Don't you think it's like fair play on the DLs being the person in front of 30, 40 lads? This is how you wash your bumhole. Yeah, you know, you start on the head, we know how to do it. You start at the top, you work down, and it's like you've got to be fast because we're asking to be asking you to quick change and go from PT into drill into all this other rubbish, and it's about being speedy and doing being efficient. And I was like, this is weird. I mean, looking around thinking, I'm gonna have to shower to 30 other blokes, it's just weird. And this man's showing me how to wash his penis. Like my dad's never even showed me that. I thought I was doing it right. Yeah, so weird, isn't it? It's so weird, but that's I think it's all part of the process of indoctrinating you into the way that they need to do things. Yeah, and you buy into it, you start, you listen to the language that they're using, not the necessarily the bad language, just the words, you know, uh threaders, pusters, all these words. I'm like, what does this mean? Yeah, a whole sort of new language within a few days. You're using it, aren't you? You you're out down Exeter uh in the local boozers and at the weekend and join your one day off and just like using the board. In your tie. In your tie, and you're crazy with the convict haircut. Not that you stand out, not at all. But we don't want you to stand out, lads. With an ironing board. Yeah, with it. Because you've just bought an ironing board as well. It's just bizarre, isn't it? You look back. I mean it's I've had the pleasure of uh not so long ago being in Exeter. And you still, it's exactly nothing's changed. Is it the same? Nothing's changed, that's a good thing. It is. I think it's a swanky uh restaurant or something else. It might have been turned into something else now, but it's uh yeah, it was a yeah, that was a haunt, it wasn't. But uh yeah, so your experiences as a as a Marine, and then you you you went through the process fairly comfortably, struggled every day.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Well, yeah, certainly yeah, um no, do you know uh actually a couple of interesting things happened to me in training? Um I broke my eye socket, and um this was just before the Nine Mila, and uh I was I remember phoning home and uh on on a landline, by the way. Payphone, yeah, on a pay on a mobiles. And and the training team had told me I couldn't run the Nine Mila, you know, and this is uh for anybody who doesn't know the Nine Milo is the transition point from uh you had this sort of uh black beret with a red patch on it, um, and then you transition into what's called a cap comforter, which is the old classic commando woolly hat.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

You're going from a nobody to a something in your mind, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

In your mind, you think you know this is the big thing, and I and I was unable to run the nine mile because the sick bed said no, he's broken his eye socket, he can't run. Uh that's it. And and I was facing being back trooped. Devastated, yeah, absolutely devastated. I'm not lying, I cried. Yeah, I cried. Yeah, man. I got on the phone to my mum and I uh burst out crying, and I was like, Mum, I'm I can't believe it, I'm not gonna be able to do this because I'm you I've broke my eyes. You know, I it's not because of uh uh I physically couldn't do it because I had an injury. No, this this thing had happened, and uh I was devastated about this. It looked like I was gonna get back trooped, but uh, I'm sure I'm sure I can say I can say this, it say this now, it won't affect the guys. No doubt the training team that took me through were are all retired or anything. Uh but those guys came in at the weekend. Uh because all right, so this is this this is the score, this is what happened. I turned up for the Nine Mile with my kit. A broken face and they said, right, Cormac, no, you've been told by this you cannot run this nine mile. Broke your face. I'll run it, I'll uh I'll run it staff, and they were like, No, you are not running the nine mileer, that's it. Sent me, sent me back, and I was absolutely gutted. They came in on the weekend uh when every everyone was everyone was uh uh out because I think you're allowed out that weekend after the nine mile, aren't you? The one weekend. I was I was still in the accommodation because I don't run the nine mileer. They came in, they were like, right, go, Matt, get your kit. We're running the nine mileer. And they're off the record, yeah. And they run the they ran the nine mile a women. Yeah, the training team all ran the nine mile away because they knew I would pass it and I'd smash it. But they came in off the record, sick bay's not here, and they ran round with me, massive amounts of them. I don't reckon that I'd be allowed anymore.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

I don't think the I don't think anyone in the training of I would take that risk now. That was the 90s, yeah. Different, it's it's only 20 odd years later, that's a different world in it. You know, we there was more risks being taken, you know. Um, but anyway, so that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

I mean, what what amount of respect for those blokes to take their time out as well, yeah, you know, their time, their own time, their weekend when they should have been having the weekend off because it was the one weekend they weren't in looking after the nods and that. Yeah, and they came with their families, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, that's awesome, mate. And so then you you went off, you joined, you got involved in Royal Marine stuff, um, and some years down the line there was something that's that motivated you to do something different, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

So I uh I was at 4.5 commando, uh, I've been at 4.5 commando for uh six years or so. So followed your granddad's boots. Yeah, you've got to do it. Exactly, and that was what I wanted to do, you know. Powerful. Uh and I actually uh I had an accident when I was up there. Um you broke your face. Another interesting my face has been broken a few times if if you look closely. I don't recommend that to anyone. Um but uh I actually uh fell off a building, punctured my lung. Wow. Uh now this was at uh a wedding in Edinburgh, so it was a uh Royal Marines wedding uh done at the uh been done at the castle in Edinburgh, fantastic. It was fair uh Phil's wedding, and uh we went uh back to the reception. There we are, all in uh in our blues, etc., at the at the reception. And I went back, we went up back to the hotel to go get chains to go out because we wanted to get out, get out, get into some um CV rig and go see if we could chat to some girls. Uh so I went back and I'd lost the key for my uh for my for the for the room for the hotel. Why not just go to the reception? Get a spur key, no, not an obvious thing to do. I'm a raw marine. What I'll do is I'll try and climb up to the window where my room is because I know which one it is, it's that one there. And I've left the window ajar. So I climbed up the front of the building. Can't see where this is going wrong. Got got to the window ledge, slipped straight off it. Yeah, bang, straight off the window ledge, uh, little instant of absolute flap stations, and realised there was uh like you know, the cellar at the front of the old buildings.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, the cellar with railings there, and I was like, and I was only one story up, but I was just like, I don't want to fall in the cellar. I kicked back and came down on the railings. Um which because I was that thin back then. I was that thin. I went between. Imagine there's what about five, six inches between the railings. I fell between the spikes, could have killed you, basically. Well, one went in my back, uh stuck in your back, but the side of it broke all my ribs, and my ribs went through my lung. What a clown!

SPEAKER_00 18:54

That could have punctured your heart.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah, could have been indexed. Um, and and I remember I was there with Shane, one of my best mates, my Beszy Oppo at 4-5, and I'll never forget. I could tell you this is a great story. So he pulled me off the railings and laid me on the floor, and I've I've I've all of a sudden I'm very sober at this point. It's amazing, isn't it? How are you sober up when these things are instantly instantly, and I was that and I was trying to say ambulance, but I couldn't. I was like coughing up blood. What was coming out of that? Blood was coming out of my mouth, and I'll never forget it. Shane says, We'll sleep here, and it'll all be alright in the morning. No, Shane, no, Shane, it won't. This is not gonna be all alright in the morning. It feels serious, Shane. Might be a bit of a snag. You then phone, realising something wrong, phones a taxi, taxi turns up, and the taxi driver sees me, uh, absolutely flaps, rings an ambulance, like Jesus, rings an ambulance, the ambulance turns up, uh, and they sort me out, put me into the ambulance, Shane decides to come with me to the to the hospital. And uh, and we go straight into A and is he taking you serious, yeah, Shane? Uh he's I think he's still very, very drunk at this point, but he decided to accompany me to the hospital. So I'm straight into AE and straight into surgery because they've got to pull these ribs out of my lung and stuff. Uh, and I'm straight into there. At which point then the stuff the the story then goes into what my mum tells me happened. Yeah. So mum's know best, by the way. Yeah, mum, my mum's there at home, it's like three o'clock in the morning, the phone rings, and she answers it, and it's Shane. So she knows it's my mate from uh and uh he gets on the phone to her mum, but uh says, uh um and she says, everything okay? And he goes, Yeah, yeah, there's a problem, there's a problem with Titch. Uh and she's like, What do you mean? He's probably dead. I mean, oh fair play for the honesty. He's probably dead. My mum would tell me, she goes, I I'm not kidding you. My heart's out. Uh she's like, Bell wakes me down a bell, bell. There's a problem. Uh at which point I think one of the nurses took the phone off. Shane had heard this and was like, No, Mr. Corbin's gone. He is not probably he's in search of me now and then explains the whole situation. Do you know what I mean? Shane did it. He's probably dead. No, where's Shane now? No, Shane is still up in our breath, you know, lives up in our breath. Yeah, hey Shane. Nice, yeah. Shout out Shane. Yeah, learn from that. So what word from that one? So that was quite significant because I went then um for your mum, it was significant. No, it was significant.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Just getting over it now. What's this 30 years later?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah, hugely McCareer, because I've then got uh had this big lung injury, and it took me uh probably about a year to really recover from that to be able to.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

It's a trend, a bit of a trend with your body incidents. Yeah, we may come on to more.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

We'll yeah, we're we're just scratching the surface of my incidents, mate. But uh that massively affected me because I wanted then to uh go for SBS. Uh so I was quite keen to actually see, and my whole drive behind was that I wanted to see exactly how far I could go. Yep. Anyway, I'd achieved this thing, I'd achieved the Royal Marines, uh, which was a which was uh a real big goal in my life. However, there was this thing, this thing, uh the SBS, and uh it really, really attracted me because I was on this uh I was on this uh vehicle now that uh uh I had got myself into this mindset. Let's see exactly how far I can go. Uh I'd had lots of uh setbacks and stuff like that, the long and and things, uh and uh and I wanted to try and overcome them. I put in for some For SPS, but was turned down because I'd had a punctured lung.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

So the doctors wouldn't sign you off, basically. Wouldn't sign me off because And this again, this is a f this is the second time this has happened in your career. So the doctors wouldn't sign you off for the nine mile. You did the nine mile it. I know where this story goes.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Yeah. And this and this one, uh unfortunately, I I couldn't do selection. That's it. You can't you can't do it. Um at that point in time, they didn't have non-dive. Because of the diver. And the diving facilities. So they didn't have a. Oh, you're a non-diver. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Oh mate, shall we just end this now? You're not so you're not a number. You're not a number. Oh no, no, we haven't got the like this. I didn't realise you're a number.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

No, no, I ended up being a diver. Being a diver. Because it because actually, once uh you've got to have 10 years since a uh a lung injury um to actually be able to dive. Uh and funnily enough, I eventually went through because it was quite I was quite late through selection. Yeah, yeah. Uh I was actually on my 10-year point when I did uh when I did it, and I turned 10 years since the accident when I got badged. I did not know that. So then then I got the pleasure of doing the dive course. Winner! What a winner, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

So they changed the rules at that point that you could be a nutside. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

So I actually went in as a non-diver because of the lung injury. Uh this is a long time down the line, um, and uh as a non-diver, but as it was, when they looked through the records, they were like, Hang on, no, it's been 10 years since that, so you couldn't.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

There you go. Two minutes. Brilliant. Oh, collie, that's interesting, yeah. So that so it was about you testing yourself as to where you could take it. And this is a common theme. So again, um, I've I've been unpicking this with a few people in elite sport, elite police forces, lads that we've worked with, lads in other units and organizations. And it's the similar trend that there's this internal message of, well, how far can I take me? And it's that feeling that you're on an upward trajectory as opposed to stagnating any time, and you sort of can be sat in your old organization, the Royal Marines, and and you could sit there quite happily and continue your career, progress through the ranks, and on the face of it, progress, but are you challenging yourself every single day? I felt similar to you that I wasn't, and there was this bigger test that I could go. I mean, for me, it was the Twin Towers. That was the thing for me that knocked me to want to write, you want to go do it now. And a few other key personnel that I knew that friends that had been successful, and I thought, well, I'm as I think I'm as almost as good as him. If he can do it, I can do it. That kind of helped me. But uh for you, it was just that constant. Did you know people that had been successful?

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Um, I knew a couple of guys who'd who'd gone for it. Yeah, uh, I knew a couple of guys who'd failed, uh, and uh and one guy who actually pushed on and took himself off, um, which which was a shame because I think he was really capable. But I don't actually know anybody uh who'd actually gone through and and got badged at all.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yeah, this is so this is something that's quite common. Most people have only ever heard the negatives if you've served in the military. You hear the negative stories.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Yeah, this was something I was gonna bring up, and um we chatted about um uh potentially uh earlier when we sort uh what was one of the biggest mistakes you've made in your in your life, and one of the biggest mistakes I made was as a young, impressionable Marine, was listening to the negatives of people who'd failed. Yeah, and I listened to people and I listened to people on all these things, and uh these guys saying, right, no, you you won't be able to do it. You've got to you've got to do this, you've got to do uh a jungle tour, you've got to do a Northern Ireland, you've got to do that, you've got to have two Norways under your belt. Uh to be honest with you, mate, you know, I came off. I very much doubt you aren't gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

I'm obviously a legend and I didn't make it so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

And I didn't make it, what chance have you got? And and foolishly I listen to these people. That's what we do though, we do it in everything, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

We still do it. We listen to people that we look up to and go, You're you can choose your role models, can't you? You can look at them and go, I take your word, and you can listen to their rhetoric and you can take that in. Or, and I look to NIMS now, I look to NIMS as a fantastic example. I'm probably someone that if someone's done it before, I feel like if I applied myself, I could do it. Yeah, that helped me. Nims is someone that shout out, Nims. Nims is someone that uh can someone's never done it before, yeah. He doesn't even care. No, he's gonna go do it anyway, because and that the fact that nobody's done it before is the appeal to him, and I'm like absolutely next level.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

And and and the and the more people who told him he couldn't, because I remember how it first started with that and people were well it's pointless, it's not that's not gonna happen. And he was looking for people to back him, and nobody would even entertain the idea because it it uh they thought, well, no, I mean it's taken you know hugely world-renowned renowned climbers, yeah. Eight years is the is the right as if you're gonna do it. It's laughable, sir. Who are you? Who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, some young ex-gurker, XSF guy, I don't know who you think you are. You're not even a mountaineer, sir. And he's gone. Well, exactly. Do you know, and and and his sort of field as well is is very aloof, isn't it? The uh the elite mountaineers, and for him just to turn up as a you know, uh just your Joe Blog bloke saying, Well, I'm gonna climb eight. Well, who are you?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Well, it may be smart because again, in all the fundraising trying to raise all the money for his project, he approached all the big companies. People are like, How come this hasn't been funded? Well, because he approached all the big companies, they went to their advisors, their advisors go, no, absolutely no chance. This guy's got not enough experience, it's actually laughable, or he's gonna kill himself. So nobody would sponsor him because they just had no expectations of him, and also, even worse than that, the people that were doing the advising were being challenged by this upstart that has never, you know, and they were like, Well, I there's no way I their own self-limiting beliefs. I can't do that. There's no way this guy can do it, who's got not got our experience. Yeah, but guess what? Guess what? It doesn't work like that. And Nims obviously saw something, so I you know, I think where was I going with this? In the sense that you know, I kind of look to other people and go, Well, if they've done it, I can probably do it. That's helped me. What were the drivers for you to sort of just go, that's doable, and and and ultimately was it worth it for you in sort of rewards?

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah, I I I remember times uh we're gonna come on to another injury in a bit. Well, it's it was it was bound to happen. We just basically there's a lot of talk between injury stories and then another injury story, uh milestones in Titch's career, life, various brakes and pins and plates screwed into my body, but uh yeah, uh uh the actual uh selection process. Uh I had I had so you can't help but turn up to that uh that vicinity and and you're in that big sort of canteen looking looking around you and you're and you judge people, don't you? Of course you do. And you're looking around, and there's nearly 200 people there, yeah, and they're all going for selection, and you're looking around and you're like, God, look at him size of it, he'll smash it. Size of it, you know. Oh, look at that little skinny kid, he's not gone hope. That bloke's way overweight. Is that Foxy off the telly? Yeah, it's that fortunate. Is that Middleton? Yeah, um, but um, so there you are, judging all these people, and you know what? You could not be more wrong in your in your judging so it is absolutely amazing when those those guys that were built like tanks that you thought, God, that bike's gonna make it, he's gone in two weeks. Yeah, two weeks, max. He's he's out there, you know. Your little skinny whippet, he's still hanging in there, you know. There he is, away's about from being the three. Why do you start on West Road?

SPEAKER_00 29:59

You're right. I completely agree. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Um, I think inevitably, I think that's that's humans anyway. Um I think that that's just the way people are. Uh, I know people that there's this big thing, oh you know, um everyone's so judgy and stuff like that. Inevitably, I think I think people are, and people do take things uh people at face value. Um it's uh I mean it's it's it's certainly something I've learned is to not do trying to do that. Try not to yeah, try not to through this process because uh you cannot get the the full um knowledge of a person and that and and that human being just by looking at how they how they present themselves. No, not at all. You can you know, and um far far more often than not, you are massively way off the mark. Yeah, um, certainly those uh for those examples. I know one guy one guy that I I specifically pinged in in that canteen at the start of thing thinking that guy's way overweight. He got badged for Hereford, yeah. He got badged for Hereford by the end of RSM now. Yeah, but by the end of that selection, that bloke didn't look anything like that. Uh he was an absolute twig of what he but uh he he started out at. However, he uh there was me judging him for what he looked like, but his resolve and his mindset was equal to everybody else who was badged there. He did not want to give up. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

So, again, one of my jobs was to sort of find do a pre-selection course. Um, and the amount of times I've got it wrong, we used to run a little book of uh who we thought would badge and who wouldn't, never. And I I've seen thousands of people through the process, yeah, but never once did I get it right, and because this snapshot you get of somebody, like over time, but you need this process where over time you can judge people and you form a better picture, isn't it? And you know, again, I we talk a lot about um we'll take the right person, not the best person. We take the right, you know, and that that's important, but to understand who the right person is, it's not a easily measured test of the fastest speed, yeah, uh the fittest man. It's just not as simple as that. People train themselves to a level, and that's not the important stuff. It's about the soft skills, the interpersonal skills, working as a team, being the right fit. But the the principles of all of our units, whether it was Royal Marines, special forces, all those principles are what's important.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

That uh humility or that ability to have a laugh in the face of adversity, so you know, and just look at problems and laugh about it. Because if you don't, you'll cry. Yeah, right. And I think because you're in a world of pain, world of pain, all that hurt.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

And you need and there is only what one way out of it, you've got to get out, or you ain't getting it.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

100%, mate. And that is it, in the sense of you've just got to be prepared to face that. And I think this is what I talk about all the time, and what I'm trying to unpick is facing a challenge gives you feedback.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

And if you're not prepared to take a challenge, you don't ever get that feedback, and that's okay, but it's a very comfortable life. Yeah, and you can't get what you want without challenging yourself. You've got to, you've got to, you've got to take these steps towards the challenge, whatever that is for you. Work first things work out what that challenge is for you, but then take these steps towards it, and you are gonna fall over. Yeah. I talk about uh if you remember, did you go to Norway? Yeah. Yeah, four or five cushion. Yeah, yeah. Um lived pretty much in the circle. There you go. Oh, I've got a military ski instructor. But they talk about when you're going down the if you look, did you learn to ski in the military? Okay, so this is how the military teach you to ski. They put the worst kit on you, the worst skis, the worst like leather boots on you. They put you to the top of a mountain and they go off you go, and then you fall down the mountain and learn as you fall. Yeah, the rules are you fall forwards, don't fall on your arse. If you're falling on your arse, you're not trying hard enough, right? Yeah, so you have to fall forwards, and that's how you're gonna learn. It's like the equivalent of chucking yourself in the deep end.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Um, and that's how they teach. And is it the best? You know, you've got two parents that are very good teachers, clearly. You know, is that the best way to learn? I don't know, but that's the way I've learned, and it's the way that I've learned to face a problem almost, throw myself at the problem. It's not always the best way, especially in relationships. Yeah, just put about that. Don't always throw yourself at that problem. Sometimes it's good to listen. Uh we'll leave that one there. Listen, yeah. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah. But uh sorry, what you're saying. But this is a lot of exactly no personal experience on involved in that at all. And I'm not thinking about anyone in particular. But uh, you know, that is uh a big, a big obstacle. I talk about there's a book that I steer people towards by Ryan Holiday called uh The Obstacle is the Way.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Um, and it's all about it's it's based in stoic philosophy. Yeah, there's things you can control, and there's things that you control. If there's something you want, if there's a problem, that obstacle, yeah, don't avoid it because you're gonna have to come around and face it at some point, and then there's ways that you can break it down and go over it and around it. And again, uh it's a it's a great book for sort of understanding that. And we've I think done that in our field. Sports people have done again. Sports people have got professionals, they've got a weekly measure of their performance with a league table with their news articles, and they have to face that every single day. We didn't face that. No, no, not at all. We uh but they've they've got that regular sort of metric of how to measure and the the fans' Twitter accounts slating them or positive reinforcement, it's like they have to deal with a lot. Our world is very discreet in actually. Yeah, so we don't know. It's only our own sort of peers that kind of judge us. That's true, and Gordon, and it's a hard environment. I'm not belittling it because that's powerful stuff. Yeah, you know, joining a unit where it's high performance is expected from when you join and you're immediately thrown into life-threatening situations, and but you want to be there, um, but equally you want to be part of the team. You don't want to be stand, you don't want to stand out. Scary, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Um such a nerve-wracking experience, isn't it? And and and that's it, that's it as well. Everybody, uh everybody is working on it at such a high level, yeah, you cannot drop the ball. You cannot drop the ball. And how did you deal with that then? So how you know do you think it's this? It's a hard one, yeah. It's a it's a hard one. Um you inevitably the the the SF world is not a nine to five job. You don't you don't go in there and you just turn up for work and you and you do that. Uh you have to you have to move constantly and evolve. And all the new bits of kit and every skill set, you're doing it in your own time. Yeah, yeah. And that's how you learn. And and you but you will um no doubt back me up on this one, girls. The the amount of new bits of kit and and it it evolved with technology, and we've got this new bit of tech and this new bit of tech, you've got to be all over this because next week we're taking it on the ground, and and there you are at night reading manuals and stuff like that, you know. And as much as I shied away from academic stuff because I just wanted to soldier and all that sort of thing, I find myself thumbing through manuals and learning tech technology.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

And what's driving that dedication as far as you think on the main part.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Do you know what it uh it is is the uh the ethos of everybody, everybody altogether. You put yourself in in amongst uh driven individuals, it drives you.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

You it's accountability to a people, this ethos of this these other people and organization that you care about, right? So to avoid doing the hard work, you're not doing there's words for it. It's Jack looking after himself. There's a language for it, and you don't want to be that, do you? So you're bought into this process and these this this accountability ultimately. And that's I think again, this is what I'm trying to unpick. This is one of the things that people avoid that accountability, that leadership in a nutshell is if you join, you'll be get given responsibility straight away. You might be in charge of a box of equipment that's worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, but that's your responsibility from the day you join your role as a junior leader is to manage that as well as you can because there's important bits of kit that we were going to need in the future, undoubtedly, and we need to have that. But people now avoid responsibility because they fear judgment. But actually, it's that is step-by-step this this process, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 38:08

I think I think that yeah, I think you're right. This is this is what you have to do. Um, one of my big uh my big things is life will not give you anything. You have to go out there and get it. Yeah, if you uh uh if if you expect life to turn around and to give you the give you success and give you something it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. You've got to go out there at the you know, hitting the obstacle. The obstacle's there, you've got to take it on. Yeah, yeah. And yes, you will fail at times. You've got to put yourself in that position to fail. If you're not in that position, then you're never gonna find out what you can do. There was a brilliant uh I've watched this thing, it was a uh a sort of a human experiment, basically. Uh it was done on uh on television that it was uh and they got a bunch of people together, uh, that some that deem themselves as unlucky, some that deem themselves as lucky. Yeah. So these people that are well like we all know the unlucky. No, life excuse me, nothing, but I've never been lucky, and other people who were like, well, I don't know, it seems to work, you know. I've done this and this was successful, and I managed this and this, etc. Uh, and they brought these people together. Uh and interestingly, the actual uh it started before they even knew it because they said, right, Kate, there's been a delay, we're not going to start for another hour or so. But if everybody goes to the canteen, go get a cup of uh cup of coffee, uh sit down there, we'll give you a call when we're ready. And they were filming this. Now, interestingly, what they found was this was a hundred percent uh across the board, it was that people would queue up to go get a coffee, they go get a coffee, and then the people that deem themselves as lucky would look around the cafeteria and walk up to somebody on a table and say, Is anybody sitting there? Sit down next to them and go, All right, you know, my name's Titch. All right, well I'm I'm Gaz. Hey Gaz, how are you doing? What are you doing down here? Started chatting with people, and they did. But the people that deem themselves as being unlucky found a table furthest away from anybody else and sat themselves down on their own in a corner because they weren't opening themselves up to any opportunity. That's it. And so they were denying themselves the chance of actually succeeding, yeah, you know, by avoiding 100%.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

And uh, you know, you say that. Am I the person that always in a group of people wants to go and chat to people? No, no, no, no, because it's uncomfortable. And you know, uh you know, I think growing up, one of my biggest fears was a bunch of girls going over and talking to and trying to try to pull. It's like not my hand, not interested in that now, but you know, you know what I mean? And that's but still would be fearful of that kind of scenario. So it's not easy, but it's that willingness to it's that failing forward rather than failing back, yeah. And put yourself there to fail, isn't it? And do you think that's been the the common thread between your injuries of uh of your success? Yeah, the injuries of the success.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

I think so, yeah. Um each and every time, and um the injuries that I've had, some of them are quite really quite severe. Um but I've I've managed to battle through and and and push on. And always when I've had one of those bit those big setbacks, is that I've always wanted to get back up to where I was and uh and bring myself back up to that level. And it's it's been a hard slog. I mean it's been I've I've broke my my list them off.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Yeah, for the record, I did an interview with uh Rob Parker. Shout out to Rob Parker, a former professional rugby league player, rugby league hitman. There's not many bones, he's not broken, but yeah, I reckon you're gonna be a challenger here. So go from it top to bottom, bottom.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Um right ankle is now pinned. Uh Tib Fib is pinned and plated, uh, left ankle is pinned, left knee has been rebuilt three times now. I don't uh I I've got um but all the ligaments were replaced. So I don't have any ligaments that are my own in my life. Whose ligaments are these, you know? Well, I've got two uh yeah, I've got two donors and the others are grafts. So uh somebody who didn't need them, yeah uh a couple of people that didn't need them was donated to my knee. So it works grateful, I'm sure. Yeah, perfectly well. Uh a broken wrist, dislocated this shoulder twice, broke my my ribs, uh, all my ribs on my left hand side. Punctured a lung. Oh yeah, but that was punctured lungs. Broke your face. Uh yeah. Face that's but that eye socket's been done twice. That's now wired um here and above man mate. And that was put together. I think that's yeah. So that was um so that was in January and then February. I think that's that's the the majority of them. I have lots of broken fingers and and hands and stuff, but those are little count them. Yeah, the little diddy.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

So if you're listening, that's all you've ever done, you haven't done enough.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Those weren't anything significant that affected my career.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

I broke myself a lot as a kid, yeah. And I think I think the hospital staff used to think my parents used to beat me up because I would of I broke my arms four times growing up. Um left arm twice, right arm twice, falling off things, falling out of trees, that sort of stuff. And it was I put it down to not drinking enough milk, not the not the fact that I'd follow 20 foot. Yeah, need more milk. What you need is milk. That'll square you right away. Remember the adverts. Indestructible wolverine, that's all you want. That's it. Yeah, so uh no mate, and I think that again, I think it's still the same, just that it's it's it would look on the face of it not the same, but you are willing to do stuff that is risky. And I think like Moto GP, I know you're a bike fan. Yeah, they fall off in training, they don't want to fall off in the race, but you've got to fall off in training because and that's in our old world, we would training would take us to failure, and we would want to fail in training. We go too fast in certain scenarios, so we know where the limits are because you need to know where that is, and then you can wire it back, uh, wind it back when sort of when you need to. So that's I think again, this fear uh culture of or yeah, this this fear culture of not challenging yourself or not facing a thing that you really want to do.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

I mean it's funny you say that about about culture, uh, and and in the fact that uh we see it a lot with modern day modern day society, is it's it's massively trying to limit everybody with this health and safety and and all this sort of thing. Okay, I could we're uh we were laughing about it in the workshop not so long back about the health and safety sort of things. Um this is us just us we accept the risks in it in our own uh in the workshop. The guy the um Billy who I work with, uh Billy's only got the use of one arm. The way. So it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

So he's been working here.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Uh nurses. But he's an interesting character. Hit about talking about a risk. There's a guy, right? Um, he was blown up in Afghanistan, lost the use of his right arm, he's got a fused right leg, and he races motorcycles. Incredible. He races. Incredible. He did the uh Greek rally. Was it like last year and the year before? Uh absolutely amazing boy. So he's out there, he's like, Yeah, so what?

SPEAKER_00 44:56

What I can mate. Did an interview with Mark Ormroad, I don't know if you're familiar with him. Yeah, so again, blown to smithereens um in Afghanistan, one arm left. And mate, the things he does now, the things that his life has taken, the gratitude he's got for life, completely diff. I it absolutely sort of changed my perspective listening to him and sort of talking to him because the ability to kind of well, you've this is your circumstances now, um, and you can change that and you can go after it, work out what it is again, pivot, as they say, yeah, and go after something new, and uh that's powerful stuff. But yeah, when people have got perspective, that's what he's got, Billy, isn't it? Is it Billy? Yeah, so Billy's got perspective, and it I'm sure it motivates him to get out of bed in the morning to now because it's it's been worse. Things have been worse than what they're at now, and you know, you can have that. And if it's never been difficult, you've got no perspective. And I think it's life's easy now in a lot of ways, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 45:51

From the difficulties, yeah, um, and and and the hardships and and uh and and the fact that you've got to go through discomfort. You've got to go through discomfort to to understand you, you understand yourself. That's one of the probably the biggest thing I took away from my career in the military and and and SF was I learned so much about me. Yeah. So much about me. Yeah. I knew uh found out what I was what I was good at, what I was crap at, you know, uh, where where I was uh fantastic, where I excelled, where I where I was terrible, uh and and what I needed uh uh to build in myself as a person and and to achieve what I wanted to do. Uh and I I I thank the military for that. And the guy, uh well, the guys in the military. You know, it was it was the blooks. It was all the lads around you that um that we we learned and we helped each other along, and none of it was uh we didn't work and and and just critique a guy because he would uh because he wasn't up to speed with something. Right, let's get around him, yeah, let's bring him up to speed, let's get him there, you know, and then and and then afterwards, and you know, and I've been that guy when I was particularly crap at something. Uh and the guys have gone, right, uh mate, prepare where where it's going wrong is this. Okay, no worries, lads. Yeah, sound. Yeah, got it. Bang, banging. That's all I needed, just a little bit of tweaking in.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

I think that's trust. And that's trust in your your team to kind of help each other out. There's not there's not I didn't ever feel like there was competition where I was worried about the person left of me promoting quicker or getting paid more than me. That just didn't exist. No, no, no, no. It was all about this organization that just had trust. Now, again, I would do a bit of work in elite sport now, uh, Premier League football, etc., with a few companies, and uh the younger lads they've the fear are they they are afraid of judgment, and we all are, so we all fear that judgment, but they've got this media that can sort of pick holes in what they do from a real early age, and so they have to deal with that. And a lot of them can't, they really struggle with it, but they've also got such they get they're in these top flight academies, yeah, um, and they've got opportunity like you wouldn't believe. You had to go and work your balls off for your what you've achieved. They've they've got incredible amounts of skill, dedication, and motivation to get where they are, but also they're in an environment now where everything's on a plate, where yeah, they don't clean their boots, they don't do all these basic things because it's all about right, let's just make them better at their skills, and it's quite quite privileged. And they don't, I in my opinion, humble opinion, they don't push them in necessarily the physical and mental ways that we would have been pushed, where you're what you've just described, you're getting this feedback of learning about yourself. Yeah, unless you learn about yourself, you don't know when the chips are down, how you're gonna react. We would do that in every single facet of what we do, wouldn't we? And then when the chips were down in in on operations, if you like, we would we kind of know how everyone's gonna react because you've been there. You know, this is what's this is what the selection process does. Some of my darkest moments on the selection. Never once did I think I was gonna quit, but it was some of my darkest moments learning about thinking to myself, flipping, am I is this really happening? Yeah, woe is me.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

Sorry, I've got you off halfway. No, go for it, go for it. Uh I was gonna say that this is one of the one of the really interesting uh times that uh uh on on selection, but um uh during an interrogation, and uh you're tired, you're knackered, you're absolutely on your ass. Uh and uh I think the worst thing they ever did to me, no, you've seen all this thing, you know, put this stuff on telewith doing all this. The worst thing they ever did to me was throw me in a room, turn the lights off, and let me and let me go to sleep. Sods, mate. They literally threw me on the floor and I was like, and and I you know, I've been awake for days, and I was just thinking, and I was just thinking, I know what they want me to do, but they want me to go to sleep. No, no, don't do it, you hope and I was out, and I think they left me for about 10-15 minutes, enough for me to drop right off, and then they came in and kicked their crap out of me. And I'm knocking you, I didn't even know I was on selection, didn't even know.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Yeah, didn't even know you were. I was just like, What is this planet?

SPEAKER_01 50:07

I've just woken up in uh blaze it didn't have a clue what I was eating.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

I had a I walked into a room, they sat me down, there's this little lady sat opposite. All there was in the middle of the room was a sausage roll. Now I've not eaten in days. I've not eaten in days. That was looking like a chicken dinner. That's the most wondrous thing I've ever seen. And uh, long story short, all I had to do was give some information to um to kind of eat the sausage roll. And I I didn't, uh but I just made a dive for this sausage roll. I didn't picked it up, scrambled for it, dropped at my hand a little bit of pastry, mate. I left, stuffed it in my mouth. This little bit of pastry like this, got absolutely thrashed for about three hours before it. Oh mate, it was worth it. It was worth it. Fail forward, fail forward, it's a plain message. Sausage rolls. Never thought it would be so beautiful. Yeah, so mate, talk to me about your well, why did you end up leaving? We'll we'll cover that if that's all right. Yeah, and then sort of what next, really.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Because that that the the sort of leaving scenario, and again, this is it this is not being said, it's gonna be it might be quite interesting to see if there's any comebacks with this one, mate. Uh say what you can, yeah. It was it was really interesting though the way I left the service, and um this is no uh uh nothing derogatory to the service at all, wasn't there? Wasn't them at all. Um for sort of people much higher on, higher up than them. Um so I uh ended up with uh massive amounts of uh issues with my ankles because they've been dislocated and and pinned and stuff like that. There's there's holes in the tailor's bones if uh so there's little bones in your squares in your ankle that everything pivots round and there was puncture holes in those.

SPEAKER_00 51:47

You know way too much about your anatomy now, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 51:49

Yeah, mate, I've got loads of little drawings of things and like pins and screws and all this sort of thing. It's great. I call them upgrades, by the way. Yeah, mobs, upgrades and mobs. Yeah, yeah. Um so they were they were in a real state.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

Sorry, mate, to interrupt. Is there a connection with you taking old battered motorbikes and putting them a new literalized? If I just did it, is this uncovered God? That's how it's not happening. You're a knack and old motor vibe.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

We can make you need some mods that's getting up to speed. Played with transformers as a kid, right? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, lots of that, mate. Wolverine, screw some more plates in. There we go, that'll work. Um say yeah, uh, I had these uh this quite quite a lot of uh damage and damage to my left knee as well, uh which had limited what I could do. Um so I was working in a um sort of admin capacity uh in my last year, uh just just uh organising exercises and such like uh and I went on dying inside. Yeah, just oh horrific, man.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

All of a sudden, because what we said you you were you were flatlining, you were yeah, you were plateauing in your career, you know, you wanted the constant pursuit of excellence, call it what you will, you're kind of striving for excellence, and uh you weren't getting that because you were uh injured.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Yeah, I'm injured, but can't there's no chance of promotion, you've got to be uh fully fit to get promoted. I can't I can't go anywhere, I'm stagnating. Um and I go on the uh the but the board, so the uh medical board which they assess your your situation uh and they say whether the uh it would be a detriment to you to keep you on because of the damage to you in your body and stuff. Uh and they uh and they agreed uh across the board, they said, look, with the damage to you uh your ankles and stuff, we're gonna put you uh through for medical discharge.

unknown 53:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

So um you know devastated. Um yeah, I'm gonna leave. Um okay. Uh that that that's just as it is, not a problem. Um at this time I'd had uh uh an injury previous, uh, which was my knee. So although my ankles then decided that I was gonna go out, but my knee was still an issue, they said they said, all right, okay, but we need to assess the knee as well. Uh but you're gonna get discharged in six months' time, which was the April. Um so I'm there waiting. They knew that it there was this cliff edge. Yes, uh, so it was coming up, and then I get this uh they're they're assessing the knee, realise I've uh I've snapped a PCL and stuff like that. Uh I'm in a caliper. And uh we go back to the um the navy, uh so um uh go see the guy in HR at the time, uh and they go back to the navy and they put in for an extension because my knee needs reconstructed uh because it's a it's a mess, I'm in a big cage and clutches on it. So so they said, right, okay, uh we'll we'll put in for an extension, uh we'll get your knee reconstructed, etc. So I I come through to April and uh we went in, I believe it was September when I was supposed to be having my knee reconstructed. Uh they put in for a six-month extension. Uh go through April um May, June, and then I get my pension and gratuity. And I'm like, I'm still still in, I'm still in, extending, I'm gonna get my knee reconstructed all the time. So I'm back to HR, hey, dude, um this has come through. Um cracking on. Uh so uh so yeah, blatantly wrong. They've said we're gonna extend for six months, so it goes back to the Navy because we come under the Navy, and uh it goes back to them and they say and they say, right, okay, uh there's obviously been a uh been a mistake. Uh it goes backwards and forwards between the SPS and and the Navy. And they're saying, look, this guy, this needs to be revoked because he's been he's been um TX terminated, so he's gone outside uh and he's still still working here, he's getting his knee recovered uh after a lot of two and a fro and backwards uh over nearly a month uh with the navy, the navy's final decision was he was terminated back in April and he's not our responsibility anymore.

SPEAKER_00 55:50

Wow, yeah. Hang on a minute, mate. How many years did you done at that point? 21. And you dedicated your life to that organisation up to this point. Yes. And that's uh that is a kick in the plums, isn't it? Yeah. That is a kick in the plums. Um absolutely. See, I've got vague memories of that, and um bits and bobs of that. And I can remember there because this is again, this is gonna sound heartless to me, but I can remember you going outside and people saying, Oh, he's been stiffed, and they're like, Well, he's been stiff, that's outrageous, blah blah. And then the machine just kept rolling. We were just on a train, that's it, and so we're off, and I just forgot that that had happened.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

Yeah, and so what happened? Um, so uh I was then given a period of time to pack my bags and leave, um, very unceremoniously from the from the service. Yeah, uh, and and and and I and I must emphasize this this was not to do the SBS. Yep. Uh they they fought tooth and nail for my case. It was the powers that be uh in the navy command that said, no, not interested, just a number. He's gone. It's tough. Um so I went outside. Uh the um knee reconstruction in September was uh was axed because it was being funded for privately and uh ended up going on the NHS. So I was outside, still in a caliper at that point, and uh I eventually got a scandalous, mate.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

It's scandalous, isn't it? You know, and and is it the first time I've heard similar? No, I've heard of similar because again, having gone off and done my thing now in the real world outside of my organization, nobody cares. Now you think should there be a phone call every six months when you first leave to sort of say everything all right? Yeah, I don't know, I don't know is the answer. I've been fine, but I'm sure there's some people that haven't, but there's no there's no accountability after you've gone. It kind of it's it's a precipice, isn't it? And again, I speak to elite sportsmen about this when their career's over, it's done. All of a sudden, the agents, funnily enough, that they loved you at the time, all of a sudden aren't so interested. I feel like it's a similar sort of scenario, and then you as your identity, well, I'm a this is what I am, this is who I've I've always been. Built myself to this, yeah. And actually, not only are you not that anymore, you're actually broken physically with body parts that don't work like they did, and you go, hang on a minute, this is I've given a lot. Yeah, so I mean, then what? What happened then?

SPEAKER_01 58:06

That's it. Uh well I ended up going on to the NHS waiting list and I got a knee reconstruction in the January of the year after. Uh so that was January 17. Uh and uh um a big re-hab or process after that. And the knee's really good, actually. Knee's really, really good. Shout out to the NHS, yes, well done. Uh they did they did a fantastic job. It's it's don't don't get me wrong, it's not my 21-year-old knee. Uh it's uh it's certainly uh it's certainly a little bit stiffer and a bit slower, but works. Uh and uh and actually I've just I just attempted to do some running. It's been five years since I've run because I was advised not to run again, but I turned on a just on a treadmill. Turns out running's bad for you, mate. Yeah, yeah, that and the and running with weight. Who'd have thought? Who'd have down the hill down the hill with a heavy pack for many hours?

SPEAKER_00 58:57

It turns out it's not very good for it. Yeah, it's really bad. Yeah, uh, and your back just for you've had a bit of problems with your back, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Yeah, I've had a few a few issues there. Yeah, um so now you've got this.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

I look around and what a facility, mate. I saw this forming on Facebook some time ago. And I've popped in every now and again, and I'm like, mate, now it's thriving seemingly.

SPEAKER_01 59:19

Yeah, talk to me about um this was something, and I now I speak to guys um that who are still in the service and stuff like that, and they're like, dude, I I remember you talking about this years ago, yeah, you know, when we were out on operation, yeah, and you saying, Do you know when I leave the service, I'm gonna build a uh a motorcycle workshop, which is what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 59:37

Goal setting for people, goal setting. It was there, it was there, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 59:41

It was there, it was what I wanted to do. Because I mean, uh I I'd raced bikes and built bikes and did all did all my stuff. That was my free time stuff, and my bit um my big philosophy and ethos was right, if I can do something that I love doing, if I put the drive and effort in that I've put in the service into building my own business, and that was a big thing for me. I wanted to do something on my own. Yeah, I'd worked for a big organization, yeah. I'd done that. I didn't want to work for somebody else. I wanted to see what I can do, me, little old Titch on his own. Let's bionic titch, see what he can do.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:16

Do you know what off along?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

And uh uh so me having to leave the service that that little bit earlier and stuff like that, it all it did was bring those plans forward.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Forward. I had to bring uh well you mate, you you say that humbly, yeah, other people would have probably gone, this is too much too soon, I'm not ready for this, and woe is me, and my life is flipped upside down, I can't cope and deal with all these problems. But actually, I would say you've seen it as an opportunity to face the challenge. The challenges come sooner, right? Yeah, and I think that's the key. Again, all this podcast is about understanding that. I think what I would say to what you just said, real just tossed it out there, yeah, just brought it forward. No, mate, I think that is that's powerful in the sense of you you were sure that that's what you wanted to do, and rather than avoid it, you walk towards it. Yeah, you know, walk toward the gunfire rather than sort of run away from it, right? That was it. And the the challenge then was let's make this dream a reality.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

Yeah, certainly. I mean, at no point in time did it did I ever sit. I mean, you used to phrase well with me, don't I mean? At no point in time did I ever think, oh god, I've you know, I've got my e-reconstructed, I'm at uh I haven't got a job anymore. Um I'm here um uh you know there's nobody backing me up here. Don't lads. So what? Lads, yeah, lads, anyone, anybody, anybody wanting for a point? No, you were busy, yeah. Oh, you're busy. Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, all right, I'll sit on me. No, no, no. I was just like, so what? You know, um so what? Life's life's dealt me a little bit of a bad hand, don't worry about it. It's not a problem. Let's get on, let's uh let's play it and let's see how we go. Um this one uh this place I came across by chance, really, and it it was an absolute devile, this place. It'd not be not been a lot of right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

Stinking of shellfish.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

Oh, amazing. This this whole place, it was uh it was an old shellfish processing plant. Um so uh I opened up the roller shutter on it. This had not been rented out for about three, four years, and they couldn't rent it out, nobody wanted it. Uh and I opened up the roller shutter and I mean, I thought, oh my life, you know. Uh but then I thought I face some big challenges in my life. Is this even is this gonna be the hardest challenge? Yeah, but I saw it and I just thought, think of the space, think of the space here. This this could be amazing. Um, okay, yeah, it's full of uh guff everywhere, stuff everywhere. There was um where the actual bar and the decking is now, that was all big concrete base where they washed the shellfish out and stuff like that. Um half of that had been knocked down and just piled up and it was just full of rubbish and all sorts. Uh and I thought, no, this space is fantastic. I think if I put a little bit of hard work, a little bit of hard work. We like that a little bit of hard work, and we could do it calling a few favours, it could be all right. Um so I said I'd take it. Uh I did I did negotiate actually that I was going to have so I think it was about sort of six months rent-free because that's all it'll take for you to fit it out and you'd be good to go. Yeah, oh well, do you know what I mean? God, I look back because I was doing little like um like is it vlog vlogs? You know, you you were vlogging. You were vlogging. I'm up to speed in this techno, this new fandango stuff. So I was doing them and and I remember the lad out of Grimsby, and I was thinking I was and I look back at them and I was like, there we go I reckon in a in about four weeks, a month or so, I'll have this done. Yeah, four weeks. No, no, not at all. Um so I set to work on it anyway. And uh but I sort of this is one of the things we we were gonna hit on was uh what's the biggest thing I took away from the forces was one of the abilities to focus and just not not give up on anything. Not give up when something, when a task seems unending, don't ever give up on it. Because you because it you can make it work. Yeah, you can. I've started working in there, and it was just me on my own, and now I ripped the place out completely. Um jet wash it. That was probably one of the worst jobs going. Jet wash it because it was full of all your old respiratory. There was crabs in the ceiling, not king, there's crabs on that in the ceiling. Um not live, it was all dead, everything was dead in here. There was not a thing that would want to live in this place.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:19

Um just you and Sprocket. Yeah, just mean sprocket, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

And there I was jet washing the ceiling, like uh hundreds of years. I was covered in uh in black, and it was freezing color. This was in January, mate.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:32

Like a scene at a predator, mate. Yeah on the Schwarzenegger in the wall.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

Is that Rambo, one of the two running down me apart apart from the fact having uh overalls just in my pants and wellies, yeah, giving it uh washing all that out, clean this place out, and then started constructing everything um internally. Uh big thanks to my brother. My brother helped me out immensely. What a ledge, mate. Uh, him and Nick, and uh he they came down several weekends, and uh what the what a skilled joiner can do in two days is just phenomenal when you see these boys rattle it out and they helped build all the framework and everything for the rooms, the room we're sat in now. Yep, very nice of his two. Yeah, uh, all the all the framework and everything, and uh did that, and he was superb. Uh, but the majority of it was done on my own. Did have a lot of help from the lads. Um every now and again, lads would pop down in the lunch hour. Uh and bit of morale. Yeah, a bit of free fizz for your lads. Bit of free fizz, fancy moving a load of breeze blocks. Yeah, going in. Yeah, so um and here it is now, mate.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:37

And so, I mean, how long has it been up and running now? It's three years now. Three years. That has whistled by. It has, it's fine. And where did it start and where are you at now?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:45

Um, so when we when we first started, what was the plan? What was the picture? Where sat? This was the workshop. Yeah, yeah. This was the workshop. When I remember first coming in here, you were tinkering in it. So this was where my workshop was, and what I wanted to do was just build motorcycles. How much the podcast room? What is it? This is specifically the podcast room. Nice because we do so many of them. So much space. It's the first time I've ever done this. So many rooms. I'm glad we've got some new savings empty for a year. Um but yeah, this is uh originally I w I wanted to build up build the bikes, uh, and that was the main focus was to was do the bikes, but do affordable uh bikes and uh and uh a news thing, uh old older machines didn't really want to get into the new stuff. That it's so difficult to work with the within new motorcycles and stuff, especially with everything electronically managed. Plug it into a laptop, you know, you're pressing keys and stuff like that. Not my bag. And you'd be in there fiddling with carbettas and air filters, all that sort of stuff, and getting into it and uh and working with those sort of bikes. I'd much prefer that. So that's what I wanted to do was build the bikes. And we were I was doing a I was doing a few, but what I found was that I I started doing um like live music events. Yeah, uh and I'd and yeah, and I did them with became a bit of a social temporary event slice. So I just apply two weeks in advance. It's all efficient, yeah. Temporary event slices, apply two weeks uh in advance, and and the council gave me a license to put a bar on and a band, uh, and that really began to work with it fantastically, far more than the bike, to be fair, you know. Um and we were doing that, and and that was really, really good. So, and plus it was a great source, you know. Such a bringing up bringing lots of people in, and it became a real focus for sort of the the Dorset area of um not only uh people who are interested in motorcycles, but people like things a little bit quirky and a little bit different, and not your your normal run-of-the-mill with the spoons, there's plenty of costers kicking about, there's plenty of Starbucks, not a Starbucks.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:44

It's not a Starbucks. It's not Starbucks, but that's a good thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:48

Exactly, you know, and people and and I think people really like that side of things. I agree. Um I think uh that's a that's another thing that I uh I think uh people uh well said people, some some councils are missing out a treat on is that they're they're not helping the small businesses at all. Uh and they're focusing on bringing in uh big corporate companies such as Costa and Starbucks.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:13

I've got a feeling it might be something to do with this.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:14

It might be something to do with this. Rubbing my fingers in the money way, yeah. Um they feel that that's what people want and they're bringing in all these companies. Whereas I I do believe there's a massive trend across the uh the whole of societies they want to have uh work with small business and quirky, interesting places, as opposed to go to yet another bland corporate company.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

Greg Bardin. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. Getting to Pixie or something like that. Uh it's about getting local small businesses all into this one app. So you've got one app for local areas and go right, what are the local small businesses? I want to go give my money to them as opposed to cost idea. Exactly. Yeah, I need to be on there, mate.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

Uh that'd be been really good. I'll I'll let Greg up actually. Because yeah, that sort of thing, so uh I th I think it will grow and grow and grow. Um there's some there's some very good councils out there that have embraced that. Brighton are very good. Yep. Uh Bristol are pretty uh particularly good. Their road systems aren't the greatest, but they uh but they're actually very good at uh helping small business and quick quick individual business.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:18

So what's what's so where is it where is it at now then?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:21

Um now now interestingly, yeah. We've uh we just had a TV show called him. I saw it, mate. I saw it. Talk to me. Do you know what that came out in the blue as well? Um that that was something I'd done a little a little sort of film with the rolling rogues, another extra, a lot of time for them. Good luck. Cracking lines and the thing they're doing. You know what one of the great things about them is they were doing so so well, people are beginning to emulate them. Agreed. They're beginning to copy. What a compliment we do. What a compliment. Yeah, what you couldn't get a better compliment than that. No one's copying me yet, that's fine. Not yet, I know. So you never know, mate.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:00

Do you know what I mean? Some but some people I've heard of Spitfire Speed Shop, they're copying me, right? Is that right? They did.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:09

Um, yeah, Spitfire Speech Shop, they they're doing actually all right. Um I see a lot of their stuff about me all over. Yeah, good for them. That's absolutely okay. Um yeah, so we didn't do a bit with the rolling rogues. Yeah, so I did this bit with the rolling rogues, which is the first, which interestingly was the first film Rolling Rogues had done. So uh Jax came to me and said, mate, uh, I want to start this company, the Rolling Rogues. Um we want to do we want to do social media films uh and stuff like that. Can we do an example film at your shop? Um, yeah, why not? I mean that's one of the biggest things that I always say don't say no to anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:44

Well, on that titch, I approached you a few weeks ago. You were because when all the TV stuff was blowing up. Oh you were abroad, weren't you, at the time? You were working a book, getting some cash. And uh I messaged her and I was like, in my mind, I was like, I'd like to float the idea of having a chat with you. This was all blowing up. There could be a two thing here, multi-use, shall we say? Yeah, and uh you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. And then last week I saw a message again, mate, still up for a catch-up, blah blah blah. And uh I was like, mate, I'm thinking about doing a pod, and you were like, I've never really done that sort of thing before, but yeah, let's do it. Yeah, I mean, and it was uh that's exactly how you were. Yeah, think about it, yeah. And it's I think it goes all the way back to taking opportunities. You're in the that explanation you gave earlier, you're in a cafeteria that and you go over and have the chat because you're you're making the most of an opportunity. Yeah, so why not see what happens? Learn feedback. What's the worst that can happen?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:37

What's gonna happen, you know? Um so yeah, we did that with Jack, so and it was really good, and that was his first film that went out there, and lots of people sort of watched it. Um somehow it filtered its way into uh sort of some sort of um media sectors of of of people that were involved in making TV programmes. Um actually, I tell you where it came from Gaz Humphreys. Oh, there's me actually me away. Gaz Humphreys uh he was working um with Grant Wardrop, who was who's the producer of it. Uh he was over in the States working with Grant and and it sort of filtered through all these people and Grant Um Gaz had seen it and gone, hey Grant, look at that. Look at that place, that looks interesting, doesn't it? Well, I wonder if you'd be up for a chat. So Grant just messaged me on Facebook and said, uh would you be interested in uh having a chat about uh something?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

Yeah, this is a common theme.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:35

And I was like, Yeah, I don't even know what it is about, mate, but yeah, if you want to come down, that's cool. Uh so he uh he came down and we and we had a chat and he said, Look, I really like your vibe, what you're doing here, um I like the uh the actual space that you work in. Would you be interested in doing something, potentially putting something together for a TV show? Yeah, why not? Of course, why not? Yeah, we'll have a go at that. Yeah, yeah, you know, bizarre what an opportunity as well. Brilliant, what a great opportunity! Fantastic. So we did make this little 10-minute film that went to the BBC for their consideration, and uh they liked it, and they gave us a budget to do a pilot, and so we then did the pilot. Yeah, now the pilot, uh what you what you saw on television, what went out, that was it's still on iPlayer now, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:21

Yeah, because it's still on iPlayer. What's it called? It's called the Speed Shop, the Speed Shop Titchcore Mask.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:26

The speed shop, it's on BBC. I mean, God, we do you know we got the B the BBC2 top gear slot, you know. I mean to I mean okay, it was a pilot, but wow, to get actually out in that in in that time slot, prime time, wow, unheard of, really. Um that's awesome, mate. But it but it went really, really well. And and what you saw there was only a only a part of it, really. Because we we had so much of what we'd done throughout that thing, we probably we had minimum two two hours, uh, so two one hour episodes, pushing into three, uh, three hours worth of TV.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

And the premise for people that haven't seen it, so it's uh you've got the shop, it's a little bit about the shop. You're taking old motorbikes, old cars, and turning them, giving them a new lease of life, and then you've also taken a veteran amputee, re-jigged a bike, yeah, in my words, and then gone on a massive tour. Where did you go on the on the trip? Uh that was across the Alps. Across the Alps. So no no simple road trip on the M25, it was it was a proper challenge.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:26

It was off-road and uh and and fair play to Chris. Uh he did he What's his surname? Chris uh Chris Duggan. Chris Duggan. Yeah, Chris. And um fair play to him. He'd so recently had a uh lost a leg, you know, and for him to actually want to get out there and do that gutsy, uh ballsy para, mate. Brave, man. I tell you what, that's another thing as well, by the way. As much as much as we're both ex-marines, yeah, uh para reg. Good bunch of lads, aren't they? Good bunch of boys haven't, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:54

I've chatted to Thudark earlier and uh having Jay show. Great dynamic, do you know what I mean? And both the para, both the SAS and SBS and Royal Marine teams, we're the same animals, we're doing absolutely it's the same mindset. You've seen something from whatever your motivations to join the military, you've seen something gone, well, that looks like the biggest challenge. Yeah, because you could have joined any other regiment, and no, no slight on slant or any other regiment. You've seen it and gone, that looks like the biggest challenge. I'm going for that. It's the same mindset, yeah. Um, whether you've been successful or not.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:26

And so they're yeah, yeah, great lads, great lads. And Chris was such a such a gritty individual. Uh and the bigger, biggest thing, truck challenge we had with that was because Chris was so small. Yeah, he was a tiny little dude, you know. I think he's five foot, he's like he's five foot four at a good day, he says. He's bigger than Stasland. Uh yeah, slightly, yeah. I mean he's significantly bigger than Stas. Significantly Stars. So there he is, and he and he's got a 28-inch inside leg, which is quite short, and he's got a prosthetic leg now, so he can't stand on his tiptoes. You know, if you were stood on a really tall bicycle or something and you could teach he can't do that, it's got to stay for ballet. Yeah, yeah. Flat footy. Oh mate. So then the seat height's got to be really low. And he wants to.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

Stuff you've never thought about you. I remember saying that. I remember saying that that you managed to make it all work. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:14

So we had to redesign it and do that. So as much as okay, he couldn't reuse the rear, that was the easy bit. Yeah. Moving the rear brake up to the underbars, not a problem. Yeah, it was actually making the bank fit him. That was the thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:25

Chances of that being turned into a show if you were to put a percentage on the bottom. Go on, go on. I'm going to be positive about 98%.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:33

It's good. It could be 98. There's only 2% uh uh of the BBC that are still deliberating. Yeah, this is in BBC, listen to my positivity.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

This is it, and this is what you get. Mate, I I genuinely loved it. I watched it, I shared it around a few people. Everyone that I know that's watched it, they've gone. That is really good. And I know a few lads, you know, people that aren't in the military that have come to the S Bomb every now and again, they get to know you a little bit and they've watched it and they go, it's brilliant. Yeah, really good. And they're people are hopeful, because again, it's come across in this pod, but you you're you're an easy guy to chat to, you're an easy guy to sort of watch, and you know, and so it's made it'd be mega for that to get turned into one.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:08

What was interesting is that the the feedback I've got off uh off the lads and the serving lads uh across the board was that it was so refreshing to see um somebody out there who's done our job who's who's just just something different the way that the way well the way we are. Yeah, yeah. Authentic authentic. And and and this is no uh um not being dogged with the guys who are doing uh the other TV shows and stuff like that. Okay but obviously they're doing this DS side of things where they're directing staff and they're this aggressive, you know, uh which yeah, without a doubt, um each and every one of us are capable of moving into a more aggressive uh mode very, very quickly, as we've had to do. Uh but actually as a as an as normally as but normal people, we ain't we aren't there swearing, screaming. I was talking about this earlier.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:03

I was talking about this earlier, I talk about it a lot. It's all it's it's it's not trying to be like what it was, is it? And that's my issue with it in the sense that it's not authentic to the organization that I knew. I never shouted at people in my own job, I just didn't need to. That was working alongside people that wanted to be there, wanted to work hard. You're sort of aligned high-performance teams, don't need that, and uh so yeah, but it's it is what it is. It's very similar, mate. You watched what you did, and it was very authentic to what I knew. Yeah, it's that humour in the face of adversity. Things are going wrong, but what are you gonna do? You laugh about it, you sort of work together with people you trust. You know, you've got Billy and the lads in the back that are sort of the shout out to the team.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:45

Yeah, yeah, there's sort of there's uh Billy Billy in the back, one arm Billy, yeah, uh, or wet fish, as we call it. The wet fish. The wet fish, uh, and then Martin. Martin runs his own company, but he does like uh fiberglass and paint work if we need it and stuff like that, and mucks in, and one of the big contributors, the unsung hero, John Nelson. What an absolute legend. So John was uh an exreamy guy, he's used to work uh with us actually in the workshops. I reckon that's yeah, that's right. Yeah, uh wow. What that guy can't do or make out of a bit of metal is unbelievable. Yeah, he's a fantastic guy, and I've known John for ages as well. So uh it was really good to um.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:25

That was my gut feeling about it. It was authentic, mate, and it was an easy watch. And I I genuinely hope they they sort of turn it into something perfect. That'd be mega.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:33

So mate, we're we're gonna have to start wrapping this up. Yeah, but uh one of the questions that I like to leave people with, and yeah, I'm gonna throw you a hand grenade here. Oh, go on. So if you could give advice to your younger self, what was the kind of one or two pieces of advice that you've learned through all these challenges, broken body parts, yeah, etc., stuck between railings, coughing up blood, mum thinking you've died, all these things you've learned. What is the advice that you would give to your younger self? So people listening can take away and go, that's what I should do. Drink milk. That is mine. I'm I'm a I'm an I'm against drinking milk these days, but anyway, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:14

Uh if I could speak uh certainly I would encourage myself to uh follow my own my own my own dreams and not listen to any I'd say not listen to anybody, listen to good advice and not naysayers and not bad advice. Yeah, ignore the naysayers because there always will be. There'll always be those people that say you can't and you can't do this because of this, because of that. Uh absolutely pointless, really. You if they were constructive uh and and gave you advice, say right, okay, it seems a little bit unfeasible, however, if you dedicate yourself that you you could achieve it. Um yeah, I'd certainly tell myself, ignore the naysayers.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:58

And that's often, I think, in what's one of the things familiar sort of thing that people say, or similar thing that people say. And I think part of that is the naysayers are often just reflecting their own fears about well, they wouldn't dare do that. So that sounds like too big a challenge for them, right? And so, but that's we're the weird ones sometimes, aren't we? We're the weird ones because our lives have been a constantly facing the challenges and wiggled through and learned and feedback and built this kind of resilience, is the buzzword, but we've built this resilience through finding out that actually falling over forwards ain't so bad if you dust stand up, dust yourself off, you've learned, and then you can go and throw yourself down the hill again for your new bit of information. Exactly. What's the worst that can happen if you broken bones? Exactly, yeah, you know, and you can keep going. In fact, when I was sort of thinking about what I was gonna do when I leave again, because part of the what I do now is work one-to-one with people, execs, people in the workplace, sports people, whatever, about working out how to optimise what they do, improve what they do, think better, um, perform better, yeah, um, feel better, and just sort out their life and the overwhelm with work and life balances, all these kinds of things. Um and I work with sport, work in high performance teams, and I work with corporate improving other teams. Um and all of that, you know, if you'd have asked me, or when I when I was transitioning, thinking that that's what I would like to do, helping working with people, I remember this guy, this was a mentor that the service, the military put in front of me to say, Look, this is a person who's got experience, listen to him. This is like good advice when you're transitioning. Transitioning means something different these days, doesn't it? I should probably not use that word, you know what I mean? Um I'm not transitioned. That sounds like I might, I'm not. Oh yeah. I'm not transitioned. What yet? Yes, yeah. Well, that's not happened yet. Who knows? Who knows? Yeah, but uh, and he was like, our coaching, mentoring, he's like, nah, he said it's it's a saturated environment. Don't don't think about getting to that. Everyone's trying to do it. And I was like, I took that advice and I went, oh, that's kind of knocked me a little bit because that's what I really wanted to do. And I think it's I think the reality is if you think you've you if if there's something saturated, if something everybody's doing, it means there's a actually a there's a lot of people that want it if a lot of people are doing it. You've just got to stand out from the crowd and you've got to be passionate and be better and to offer something different. And I think find your niche or find your passion and do it because actually, do you know what this makes me feel better by trying to help people use my experiences to help people do whatever it is they want to do and apply it to their their experiences in their world. And actually, I found guess what the bloke who was this apparently person that should be offering us sound advice was wrong and it's going really well. And I think that's so I think that's a valuable thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:38

Yeah, don't listen to the naysayers, but definitely definitely, and and uh uh so from the back what uh away from the fact of what I tell my younger self, um, certainly what uh I've given uh quite a bit of advice and talked to a lot of people who were leaving the forces and services and stuff like that. Um one of the biggest bits of advice I've given them was to look at what what do you do in your spare time? What do you enjoy? What flicks your switch? Don't just think you're a one-trick pony. Just because you've been in the the military, you think that oh, the only thing I can do is security. Yeah, you couldn't be further from the tricks, yeah. Absolutely. You put that same amount of drive and effort into what you want to do, something you really enjoy doing, then you'll succeed and you'll make it happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:24

Yeah, that's and that's the whole point of this podcast, really, mate. That there's you were driven and motivated to go bite off some big challenges in your time, some seemingly huge, but you made it through because you were just driven. And that is the same if you apply it to anything, anything that you want to do. Nims is like the far right extreme of that, you know what I mean? And we've mentioned that pinnacle, isn't it? Perception changer, big style, and uh big shout out to Nims. Um, but yeah, so and I think that is true of everyone, isn't it? And and I think people that leave the military have got this massive fear. And I you know old organisations know different to that. People have got a whole load of fear about what they're gonna do, where they fit in, yeah, because the easy option is that security job, which is a comfort blanket, and no, not to anyone that does it. I understand whether there's a lot of money to be earned there, and it's in some cases it needs to be done. So fair play to him. But I again I thought it's a there's a junction when you leave, isn't there? That's a junction where the decisions you make then will have a reaction on where you are in five, ten, twenty years' time, and that's an opportunity, and rather than a fear, just take that opportunity. Come couldn't agree with you more, mate. And again, just sat here with you today, tits looking around, it's friggin' awesome, mate. I absolutely love it. Everywhere I look, there's something brilliant about it, and it's yours, it's authentic, it's the TV show. There's places to work. There's worse places to work, and it's yours, mate. Your little baby now respect, mate. Thanks every so much, mate. Uh mate, that's gonna be quite fun. No, I really appreciate your time, mate. And uh oh, just finally, where can people find your folio?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:53

What can they uh oh yeah, you can find us on Instagram, on the S Bomb Vintage Workshop, and we've got a Facebook page as well. We also have uh the Speed Shop TV, that's the um TV show uh Instagram page. So yeah, you can find us on there and uh and check out what we're doing. I'm always doing something weird. Awesome, mate.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:13

No quality, mate. Thanks for your time, mate. Cheers, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:15

Thank you, mate.