Greg Putnam
Appearances
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Good morning, everybody. I hope you all had a great weekend. My guest today is Greg Putnam. He's a former Navy SEAL. and current owner of Little Belt Cattle Company, Cattle Co., north of Bozeman, Montana. Now, you might ask yourself, did they call it Little Belt because he's so tiny? No, they didn't. Although he is very wee, if you know what I mean.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What was the, the narrative I remember hearing was, He essentially bought into your business so he could say he was a Montanan, right? That's the angle they took? Yeah, they took a couple angles there. But that one directly wrapped in Little Belt, which is... Because I remember, do you remember the conversation? You're like, how do I attack these motherfuckers?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
This is an example of one of the bags of coffee that you can get if you join the ECS, the exclusive coffee subscription. It's going to be one bag a month. Now, if that's not enough for you, don't worry. I just scroll down here. All these other bags, you can get those on the regular coffee subscription as well. You don't have to limit yourself to just ECS.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
How many generations? How many generations? How many generations of your kind have been a brain surgeon? You're like, oh, sweet, you're a doctor, so please fix my elbow.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No, because there's very few idiots in each family that would think of that as a viable occupation. Correct. I got an idea for a cool job. Let's suffer for as long as possible. Most likely in peacetime, have a really shitty neck, shoulder, back, knees, and elbows for the rest of your life. And maybe get to do something, maybe not.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You could do the normal coffee subscription as well. They have a full selection of everything that you could need if you're a coffee lover or just a fan of the brand. You could fly the flag metaphorically, hats, t-shirts. I think I've seen them do some shorts before as well. Not currently though. Mugs, things to make coffee in, things to take coffee on the go, all of those things.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And even if you get to do something, it's not going to be as awesome as people think it is.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah, I was doing that no matter what. Yeah, don't go into the military for financial independence. Yeah. Not that it can't be achieved. I tell you what, there's some people now in the modern era, fuck, man, they're side hustles. They're hustling on this side and they're killing it. And as long as it doesn't impact your military duties, I'm all about that.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You do make good money. You do. You absolutely do. And I think you would agree with this. People focus far too much on the money coming in. The number you really need to control is the money going out. Yes.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
If I had served from 80 to 2000. I still would have be scratching my head right now wondering how I was able to find a job where they paid me to go do those things as opposed to me paying for those experiences.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I'm like, man, what are your thoughts on the seal bootcamps? Um, don't, I see the wheel spinning. Don't you dare fucking soften it. Tell me what you think.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I mean, I know why they would. I can't. You can't because you went through the real thing. Yes. It has taken me a while to come to the realization. So our job was very... physical, like visceral physical experiences. I started seeing this when I was working for CrossFit because there are some people, and again, my, you know, CrossFit, there's the definition for the company.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It's, it's exercise that when I was exposed to it, was at a maximum 60 minutes per day to get you better at the 23 hours that occurred outside of the gym. People went into the sport aspect of that.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
The ones that got the most, I would say addicted to it, whether psychologically or physiologically, when you talk to them, they didn't have a lot of physical experiences, like a visceral physical experience. And so that was their first one and it latched. They loved it. I see it in jujitsu too. And I don't think it's negative. I just think that it speaks to
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
either people are not necessarily seeking that out or we have crafted a world, whether people believe it or not, that it's so soft that a lot of the hardship is kind of been rounded out. And so people, I think inherently, they want to touch the dragon a little bit.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You know, I saw one of these ads and I don't know anything about this, but they were knighting people at the end of one of these boot camps. It's not nice, Greg.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I am not. Well, actually, no, don't pull it up because I don't know where this conversation is going to go. I'm not trying to talk shit on another veteran's business. I am just talking in general about my thoughts.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
They also have energy drinks, which I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a fan of energy drinks, but we sell these in the coffee shop and they are flying. So for people who like energy drinks, I highly recommend you check them out. Four flavors, Black Rifle energy that comes in Freedom Punch, Wild Frost. Ranger Berry and Project Mango. Really a smattering there, covering a lot of it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Which I don't remember getting that at the end of Bud's. Do you?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I am going to need you to mail me your tribe. Did you not know that that was happening? No.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
If I hadn't done... First off, it's clearly jealousy because... I mean, I got my paycheck every two weeks, which at that point might've been $600 in a, in a stiff high five and handshake on the way out the door. Oh yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I'm going to get that 40 grand. Somebody whispered to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, don't quit. You're like, fine, I will suffer for 72 more hours for that 40 minutes. For that, yes. What'd you discover, Michael?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Really? Yeah. Were they giving birds out or not giving birds out? Did you get your trident at the end of SQT?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
First off, your average enlisted tour is 48 months. So what he's saying is you're going to have to do your entire first tour at a command without wearing your bird. And 12 months into your second tour? Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
They have a loyalty program. You can join their email campaign, all of those things. I also recommend you check out their apparel section. Spend a good amount of time on there. They make some amazing designs. Everybody knows why I like this brand. One, I like the people. I like what they stand for. And it's just a part of my life at this point. Let's get into the show.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You're like, I don't know. I'm not telling you. How many people, how big of a recruiting crisis do you think NSW would have if people really knew what it was like? that your first speech is going to be that. And that we're basically idiots with machine guns running around doing the absolute best that we can, but oftentimes not as good as we could. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It was funny because, uh, I mean the Hollywood movies and the books are great. Yeah. It wasn't necessarily my experience. I look back. First off, it's been, I've been out for a good amount of time now. Have you been out? Well, you probably. I got out at 13.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So you're. I'm five years away from being out as long as I was in. Yeah. Yeah. But I look back with pure wonderment on how I'm alive. on some of the absolutely dumbest shit I have ever done in my life under the guise of being a special operations. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And SDV is like... Yeah, with your 40 grand, you left that out last time.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, the SDV, I don't know if you know this, is actually hazing.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
on ours yet and you know they're quickly reminding everybody that like they're a one platooner now you're a new guy and potentially the most dangerous combination is a one platooner and a new guy correct because those are actually the same thing other than a new guy helping a new guy I'm shocked I think if they were to make an actual if it would be possible to capture the shenanigans of that job again I look back now and I am
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
amazed and shocked that I'm still alive. Cannot believe that I got paid to do the things that I was able to do. And, uh, I'm really glad it's in the rear view mirror.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I'm sure that the technology has improved. I know they've changed the tethering system from beneath the Tandem Master down to the bundle. Those opening shocks were some of the most horrendous G-force-inducing openings. The tether, if you didn't have your legs in the right position, I would go back and I would augment some of the courses.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
As it pulled you from your body from horizontal to vertical, if you didn't keep your legs away from that tether...
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I watched I don't want to overstate it I know for a fact I watched at least one video probably two of a tether whip because as you go through that trap door and you accelerate oftentimes with the bundle underneath you you'll put a little bit of slack into the tether and it whips out and just complete blown all the CLs in a knee if it hits the leg sideways jeez yeah so you got to keep your feet away from it huh so you just keep your feet like super just mindful of like
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I would cross mine and kick mine behind me as hard as I could so they wouldn't flail around. Some of those openings were dynamic. I don't doubt it. Yeah. I mean, you're like hugging and just I would cross my legs, push them behind me as far as I could. Just wanted to stay away from that tether because you'd see it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
As you deploy your parachute, you go through that trap door and it accelerates and there's a little bit of slack on it. And then as it starts, you feel the tension starting to build. Holy shit, dude. We're talking stars after opening.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah, but that. Back, neck, shoulders. But that in particular. They brought out G testing. I was not there for this, so I'm repeating a story that I heard. They brought out G testing sensors because they wanted to get an understanding of the opening shock load.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
After sequentially breaking the sensors on multiple jumps in a row, they just left without any more interest in knowing how many G forces the tandem master was taking on opening. They measure ejection seat ride G forces with those things. They were breaking. Yeah. I don't doubt it. We would do four of those in a day. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Oh yeah. Oh, you can cut that thing away and it should, it even has a parachute with its own Cypress. Oh, interesting. What you're wearing on the tandem master in your chest is actually the bundle parachute. So you should be able to cut it away. It's a four point connection. Okay. It has its Cypress. It should open.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
They don't always open because sometimes it will get a little bit out of control and you have to, one of the jumps you do, you have to self set your drogue. And the reason I'm saying you have to be, you have to be confident. Yes. And you have to be competent to, But on a normal operation, somebody is standing there setting your drogue for you. So you basically are shuttling the thing out.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You want to hold onto it until you get into the air, let go of it at the right time. You'll pitch over the top, like you'll come over the top and then you'll feel the drogue and you start to fall. One of the jumps you have to do is a self-set. So you go out without somebody holding onto your drogue.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So it can rocket you over to the other side and people will get underneath the bundle and throw their drogue.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It's just this can. It's about the size. Yeah, it's a can. It's about relatively the size. Uh, it's a refrigerator. I mean, it's about average size of a house refrigerator, hundreds of pounds. It's a way to, you could reduce the burden on other jumpers by putting a bunch of equipment in there. You could jump in morgues or rockets. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And, um, so the additional skillset, you learn to jump passengers and the bundles. And it was fun. But I do remember specifically the ramp came down on the pass. I was the first guy out on the first bundle pass. And you have a video guy and he's holding the front of the bundle as he is.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
He's walking you back towards the aircraft and he's holding and he's checking the spot and he'll tell you to stop. And you just have these two fabric handles. And I remember sitting there thinking in my head, this is arguably one of the dumbest things I've ever fucking done. Yeah. And then the green light came on and you just look over, you just look over your, the jokes are like ready, set, go.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No, I'm just curious why. Oh, you have three. Perfect. I thought it was better when it was just there by itself.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Oh, yeah. Every jump at that course, there's a video debrief. Oh. Because you learn on passengers first and then you go do the bundles.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Dude, I know where we have to start. How does it feel to be partnered with an out-of-state billionaire who bought his way into Montana to try to influence national level elections? Not that any of what I just said is true, but you guys had to deal with that. I was fascinated to hear, because I know during the election cycle, and some people have said to me,
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So you have to hold the bundle until you get into the air. You don't have to. The ride is wilder if you don't. And people – so what I would do is I would tell myself, hold on to this bundle until it's vertical. Because you're coming out of the airplane horizontal. It hits. It pitches. Just let go. And in the videos, you'd have the student, talk to me about your jump. Oh, I had an excellent exit.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I held on to the bundle until it was vertical and then let go and it was a great skydive. And then we'd hit play. And they're six feet back in a C-130 just – just launching that thing.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You were just initial people strapped themselves to the top of it. That like Connex boxes and stuff like that. And for, for people to know what a Connex box, it's a, what do you think? Two feet tall, three and a half feet. It's a rectangle, uh, Yeah. Edges that are designed to just absolutely slice and dice you into fucking pieces.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Break every bone that is metal rectangle that we'd store gear in or you would use to before.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
If you just quarter that thing up in a little bit, go initial tandem masters strapping themselves to the bundles, ride it out. Go. Yeah. See that. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah. I was going to say it's at least 80. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because... I mean, nobody wants to do the stuff they asked us to, but we were all there and we knew that if we didn't, we would never live it down.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah, totally. Oh, you don't want to go pussy. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we should add a kilometer to this patrol in just cause you don't want to go. Meanwhile, nobody wants to fuck.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Michael asked me the other day if he thought, or if I thought he could make it through buds. I don't know. No, I didn't.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So assuming that's not part of the equation, what do you think? Let's take a snapshot of Michael. What do you think? He's taller than you, but almost every human is. That is true. Do you know the shorter seal than you?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
you should run for office to which I can't say fast enough. No, thank you. That's not actually how I respond. I use much more colorful language. One of the main reasons why is I can't fathom why anybody would want to put their family through that. The shit that they say, the stuff that it seems like they make up, it seems like everything is fair game. There's no rules. Um,
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Which I, you know, there's no chance they let them call them that anymore.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I was never in either. I was never threatening to be in either. Well, yeah, because purely in the middle.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
They called it that because that's the mountain range that's right there. Greg has been on before. God damn. So he, his career... mostly was in the SDVs, Seal Delivery Vehicles. And I'm gonna be honest with you, they terrified me because I didn't really know what they did other than spend an ungodly amount of time in the water, far longer than I would ever wanna spend.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No, I don't, I do not support in any way the length of dives you guys used to do.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Or 04. Okay. So a lieutenant or lieutenant commander. Yes. Refused to train. Refused to train. Tell the story, be as broad as you want to. So- Start with what was his name?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It's so hard. I mean, which is better odds than I'd give most people. Cool. But an SDV would break you. Isn't that the little tiny thing you go into?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I've only seen one in person one time and then I ran away from it cause I was terrified they were going to put me in it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And you, I mean, what I opened with was obviously a joke, but your partner with Tim Sheehy, who the narrative was out of stater, no ties to Montana. It literally was trying to, you know, buy an election in a state that he thought he could swing. And I think you and I had texted one time in between. You're like, God.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And so for people who have no understanding of that, we'll call it six hours. Yeah. go sit in a warm pool underwater on an open circuit rig for six hours and let me know how much you enjoyed that.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
That's going to be, that's more time than it will take you to get home in Bozeman.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah. Cause you just cannot get all the air out of it, right? Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
That's a weird question for a guy who's already dove and probably should have had a wetsuit on and understands the immersion and cold. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Cause you're going to sweat your ass off when you start, but you need that shit for the trenches of that dive.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
But he is getting jocked up. He got jocked up, fully jocked up. And a dive soup is a diving supervisor check. Two people check your stuff to make sure that you, basically it's put on properly and functioning properly.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So he hasn't even entered the. We have not even gone under. He hasn't even entered the true torture chamber yet.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No swim buddy? No swim buddy to the beach. Well, he has his shame.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, let's be, let's be honest too. You had a little extra space back there too.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No. And the selection program course, crucible, whatever you want to call it, is supposed to weed out anybody that is going to crack and quit. It was... Physically or physiologically?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I mean, I'm sure there's no long-term health consequences from any of the stuff you guys did. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Like when they brought out the G-force meters for the parachute. Correct. Like, you know, maybe we don't need to know.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Do you know if it's true? I had heard that the Navy dive tables are. were essentially created by just throwing people in the water and bending them. They'd bring them up at a certain time, seemed to be good, five minutes longer. Oh, you're bent. Perhaps the line on this table is at two and a half minutes past the last guy.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Have you seen the documentary of these deep sea divers that were working on the oil rigs? No. No. This guy, they just made a movie about it with Woody Harrelson, but I remember watching the documentary. This dude's umbilical gets snapped and he is left on the bottom as the support vessel drifts away.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And they had like a, I don't know, I want to call it a rover or whatever, but they're like, this guy is fully like seizing out. He, spoiler alert, lives, but they're making a movie about him. I don't even know how deep they are. I think they spend over a week getting pressed when they come back up. That I don't know if there's a paycheck large enough for people who are willing to do that.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
But I didn't know what the, they were down there doing. And I didn't even know that they did that with humans. And I don't know why I didn't guess that, but the depths were ungodly. Yeah. I can't, it gets, he gets snagged and somehow, and they have a five minute bottle autumn, I guess. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Like I was going to ask what the difference was between what he likely thought it was going to be. And then what it was, which is you speaking for him a little bit, but I know you guys are friends. So you probably got at least a little bit of window dressing.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No, these guys, these are weeks. These guys were getting pressed. I know what you're talking about. There's a way that they're bringing them up from the pressure that they were at, at the bottom and they're getting them onto the vessel. And then they're living inside of that chamber into the chamber. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So there's no, like they were down saturated enough that they, cause I've seen that where they can make the walk. Some hard hat divers do that, but I think that's like a, like a single dive. They're ripping their shit off, diving into the chamber, almost literally. This, and I don't know how they do it. They might bring them up from the bell and the bell might itself connect to it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
That's what it is. But they are going from pressure into pressure and then over weeks being brought back up to the surface.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Um, do a lot of STV guys, or do you know of any that go the commercial diving route afterwards just because of the, or are they just completely cooked?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, they also have the technical knowledge. These guys weren't doing welding and maintenance.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And we were not- When you say that throwing in the back pickup truck, you don't mean in the case. You mean just throwing- Yeah, we were not- Incredibly sensitive- We were not using the cases.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Are those going to like be dermoed, like thrown out? Which means D-R-M-O. Defense Reutilization Management Office. Basically being demilled and shit canned.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Not good for the battery, not good for the overall, not good for- Probably the circuit board associated with the battery that was running your life. All of it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I feel like two thirds of those landed directly on my cell phone.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And there is such a difference between those that take the time to front load. And honestly, it's some hard conversations. You have to talk to the people that are around you, talk about your wishes, talk about your desires, talk about what you want to have done. And then you need to lay that out and have it concrete and
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
The mailing was legitimately unbelievable. We live in a neighborhood, you know, one of the standalone boxes. So people are out there walking and there's almost always, I think this is the case. There's a garbage can right by one of those. There wasn't even enough room because it was already full of the mailers being stuffed in. Yeah. Just overflowing. Every day, two or three. What are they?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I was going to ask you, what was the aviation business that he started here in Montana? Was it firefighter based? It is. Was it, does he still have it? He does. Well, um, cause I'm sure there's a separation for giving his job, but yeah, it does.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
As far as looking for fires, or are you talking about scene control and management, looking for personnel? A little bit of all of it. I was going to say, yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What was his, what was the one? Was it Shady Sheehy? Shady Sheehy, yeah. Yes, yes.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Um, I mean, I know it's only, what's it been two months? Yeah. November. What are his thoughts so far? And again, you're kind of, that's a good question. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I invited him on like fucking six times when he was running and he was like, it was actually never him. I never communicated directly with him. We can't make it. We can't. Yeah. But I was like, I got an idea. Go fuck yourself. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
So anytime that I've ever seen one, and there's only been one time that I've seen it for real, I went in the other direction because I just didn't wanna get put inside of it. He opens with a story about perhaps exactly why that is the case. So, episode 381 with former Navy SEAL, current businessman, Greg Putnam. Now, before we dive in, let me pay the bills.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What part about it? I can't decide if the people who want to go into politics have a natural susceptibility towards being corrupted or if the system is so fucked that it's like toxic exposure that at some point you do become corrupted. And I'm not saying that in a measurement or reflection of him. It just seems really dirty.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Um, and because let's say you are, you're somebody you're like, this system is super fucked up. I'm going to go in and I'm going to try to change it. And you get in and maybe there's a couple of people that are, that are like that with you, but then you realize you can't do a goddamn thing because even to do something, which from the outside appears like
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
movement being made, but probably in reality as a fraction of what is, you know, what people would think it is, is you have to tow the party line a little bit here or there. For sure. Right. So then it, you know, like you go in, you're like, I'm going to fucking write the ship on this one. But then you realize you can't, it's kind of either leave or play along a little bit.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And then, you know, obviously you got to get reelected and then you got to, you know. About 60% of the time was the stat that I've heard is, once you are elected, 60% of the time that you have is allocated towards getting reelected immediately.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
But can you think, since you and I have been alive- Can you think of a single example of a positive campaign? No. I can't either. No. It's always the attack of the other person's character.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And, um, and the best way to do that is to totally trash them and their family in the election process.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Hyper negative campaigns. Yeah. Yeah. Other people are like, yeah, yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You know, and, uh, that like, that looked awesome. Where do I sign up for that?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It's more just kind of just, you know, does he have any, uh, overarching plans for Montana? I don't know. We need him to get the grizz back on the hunting list.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I don't even know the questions I have. You have to write them out. I would actually honestly spend more time talking with him probably about aviation.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Do you fly the planes or not? No, the way they chose to attack him on that one was, again, it was more of an ad hominem attack on the person than the fact that the technology or the platforms used to fight fires. Oh, you got a government contract to build your business, this, that, or the other. That's the angle that they took on it.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And it's like, yeah, I did get a government contract to fucking fight fires. To fight fires.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You know, that's in Bozeman base. It is probably at the airport.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Dude, I tell you what though, man, the Santa Ana's out there that just speak, speak, speaking specifically on the LA fire. I don't know how you fight a fire with 90 not wins, triple digit wins. I mean, you looked at some of those, it literally looked like a blowtorch.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It was, I mean- You've heard the stats on people when they're surveyed. In an emergency, do you think you could land a commercial airliner? An ungodly percentage of people will look directly at the person asking them that and be like, for sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah, flying can be complicated enough. I mean, on a bluebird day with some white puffy clouds and some terrain like where you live in Bozeman, fucking glorious. Reduce visibility by 90% suspended smoke particles in the air. And you have to go drive at the fire where it's so hot, it's creating its own weather. Yep. It's not the same thing. Yep.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
There was, I mean, I wasn't joking when I said they have about six months until they're busy. It's either Canadian fires blowing smoke down here or our own ones that start, whether it be from people accidentally or arson or most of the time, honestly, it's lightning. There was a fire started a few years ago over a property dispute.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You could literally see where the person lit it and it just went right downwind uphill, the V, like a perfect V. Yep. And holy cow, man, I was on just the app where you can watch the air traffic. They had spotter planes up there. They had the scoopers. They had the sea planes. They had the big ones going down to Missoula to get filled up with the red stuff, fire retardant. Yep. Crazy.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And as soon as they were done there, they're off doing it somewhere else. Yeah. Nonstop for that whole season.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And, um, but yeah, it is what it is. So obviously the move, once you get out of the military, specializing in very, very long dives is to start a cattle company in Montana. One naturally leads to the other. Yes. Most guys getting out of SDVs I've heard do this to bring them up to speed on a little bit. How many, how many years have you been at at this point?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You do see a lot of calves here. You do. For a short period of time.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Where's your guys' rants in relationship to Bozeman? My son now goes to MSU.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Dude, I haven't thrown an antelope tag in three fucking years.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I also. Because that used to be like 99%. Yes. Yeah. I only know of one or two people that have. They made the change to the 920 tag, which is what I used to put- That's the one you get the statewide one. Well, it doesn't exist anymore. Oh, I didn't know that. They segmented into districts.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And my understanding, that's what it was as well. It was a tag that had a pretty large swath of public land use. My understanding, though, is that they carved that into 13 or 16 different districts. So now you have to apply for that particular district.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Oh, were they saying that you guys. We were blocking public access. Okay. And for people who don't understand that issue, this is a contentious one in Montana. The big sky state. They call it that because of how amazing it can look, how big the sky can look. Huge sectors of national forests, state lands, public land. But what you'll find in some of the most epic elk hunting areas are ranches.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And let's say that this... everyday field craft water, which is probably filled by Mike Glover's garden hose in his backyard. Let's say this is like right here is the Western edge of a great hunting area. You'll see these ranches that wrap all the way around and you can't just walk on private property. So it becomes privately locked in public land. Yeah. And that's one of the best parts.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Which would be their portal. So think of a road, like this seam is a road. This is your access point. Everything past this is public. So people can use that to gain the gateway to the public. Correct. Correct.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I saw Airwolf on TV. Exactly. That doesn't mean it's true. It doesn't mean it's true. You don't get that reference at all, do you? Not at all. You have to Google that. We're a dying breed. Yeah. I was actually on YouTube the other day trying to find the seasons of Airwolf because it's time. It's time to watch it again.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Keep in mind, we also, those are two different things. Blocking public access on that road and then allowing people onto private property to take a shortcut are two different fucking things. That's what I, exactly.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
The last time I watched it, I think I was 10. It's time. Yeah. You might. Did you find it? You can find little snippets. I can't find anywhere where you can actually watch the episodes. Interesting. Cause there's a lot of that now too, where like you go, you're like, I should be able to find this. Yeah. And you can't.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, instead I went down the rabbit hole of what happened to that helicopter, which it ended up being sold to a charter company in Germany. It actually crashed. The original airwolf helicopter crashed. Got it. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I was bummed. I was going to buy it, but you know, maybe I was going to go visit. That's funny. That was one of my favorite shows as a kid.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What does a 72 hour schedule look like for you? What was that? What was that journalist? If he had rogered up to it, what was he signing up for?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, I assume that you would have rogered him up for a very arduous 72 hours. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah. And do you use those big, uh, it's not a ball. It's like a roll of hay. It is. Yep. Is it true that those things can start themselves on fire?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I mean, that'd be a great way to stay warm in the winter, I guess.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Those big spirals, like they're not spirals at all, but those big rolls. Yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Today's episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. That's right. You know they've been a part of this podcast for years now. They helped me bring this podcast to everyone for free. I've been a fan of the brand, a part of the brand for quite some time now. I own one of their coffee shops up here in Montana, currently the only one in Montana. And it's been a hell of a ride.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I feel like it was in the, tens or low hundreds at most. No, we had a couple, cause we started. I mean, in the beef program.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I don't know why I did that. Are you over there doing other work instead of paying attention to his talk? If you want to do some work, pull up a fucking clip of Airwolf, all right? There you go.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Which is wild if you think about it, the beef production in the U.S. And if you do look at a lot of the steaks at the grocery store, yeah, they're from OCONUS. They're from outside of the United States. Absolutely. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Oh, that is good. Who doesn't want to wear a motorcycle helmet while flying a helicopter? You don't wear that with your... I do wear a helmet, but not a motorcycle helmet because they make ones for it. Old Jan Michael Vincent. I heard the cocaine kind of derailed his career. Oh, is that right?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What's harder, being a SEAL or first-generation rancher? Strip the SDV out of it. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a good question. Because I feel like the SDV would be harder.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Yeah, I heard he had constant meetings with the Colombian marching powder and it just marched his ass right out of that hole. That will happen in that time frame of... Scroll down, actually, Michael. I'm curious here. Yeah, 84. So I was a whopping seven. Nice. 79 episodes. See, I didn't catch that until I was a little, I was, so I would have been three. Michael, click on that. A little arrow.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And how much impacted the negativity of the campaign actually have, did you guys feel it?
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Can I stream Airwolf? Yeah, find that. To the right, to the right. Please say yes. Please say yes. Oh, Roku channel. Son of a bitch. You don't have that one? Can you get that on Apple TV?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Every fucking election cycle, it's the Act Blue thing. Where Black Rifle is somehow the mentor and candidate for the Democratic Party. Because I think there's a total of $1,500 associated with Black Rifle on Act Blue. And I actually got...
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
curious enough about it that I went on there and did a donation under gray rifle coffee under my own name, just to prove that you can put down whatever the fuck you want to.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
It'd be a great psychological operation to just paper something like that. Cause you could paint a picture that whoever you were targeting now has to fight uphill to defend. And people forget there's like $55,000 on win red from BRCC. That's like, that's left out of the conversation. Evan donated 500 bucks to Tulsi one time, who by the way, is now a fucking Republican and fantastic. And the DNI.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And then if they say the wrong thing- Well, we take their card and say, just before we make this, who'd you vote for? Yeah. No, we don't fucking do that.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And you'd be a lunatic if- It'd be fun to do for like a Friday.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I just went through a horrible, horrible adventure with him. He spent six hours on customer support with Hulu. because he was embarrassed to ask me to help him log in because he shares my fucking account. Nice. So I go to his house. The TV is damn near ripped off the wall. He's got an eight and a half by 11 legal pad with a perfect mind shit written down.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Well, the fake rancher narrative, I don't think would work again because it didn't work the first time. It didn't. So they'd have to take a different angle.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
And I had tried to ask him to brief me on what he had learned. He could not, he was confusing things that had no association. He had pulled the Apple TV puck out. He was getting the serial number off of it. His wife was like, give us your email and password. I'm like, fuck you. I just logged in and just, and I left.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Same thing on the doorstep. Yep. Exactly. Michael wanted me to ask this. He was too afraid to, he wanted to know what you guys do with the assholes. He likes onion rings. Sure. I will actually ask.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
I'm telling you, I think that there it's an O-ring. It's an onion ring of some kind somewhere not called an onion ring. Sure. It's got to be something.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
No, no. I know your address. It's fine. No, you don't. I know where you work Monday through Thursday. He moved. Yeah, yeah.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
You specifically, your ranch is in the middle of fucking nowhere. It is.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Sure. You weren't going to make fun of him though, of course. So 18 months before the, what does that mean? Does that mean they start thinking about the strategy or does he just start going out and meeting people and talking to people?
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
What do you want to close it out with? I'll get you back on the road back to Bozeman. We've been at it for two and a half hours.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
He... I mean, I'm not going to say who gave me the beta on that. You know what I mean? I know that. And I did confess... to him after that he was like how in the fuck did you know that Like small world, dude. Small world, small world. And also how many stories of people getting their dick stuck in a belt sander are there? Zero.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Um, for people who are interested, go back to the episode with Jimmy Watson. We open with it.
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Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
Cause that was, I love the fact that you were the one who gave me that beta.
Cleared Hot
Episode 381 - Greg Putnam
But today, let's talk about their website. So let's head over there right now. First thing I'm looking at, Elixir. I don't know how to say this. Vitae? Vitae? I don't know. Its origin is from Mexico. The region is... I'm not even going to try to say that. I feel like I know how to say that, but I'm not going to embarrass myself further.