Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guests and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
You, I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through the community.
Hey, welcome to the channel. Alex Stone here with Reed Kerr. Both of us spent several years in law enforcement. We're here to use our expertise to talk about the streets of Portland, the streets of other cities, going over body cam footage, talking to security companies, and trying to get down to exactly what public safety is about, helping people.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: When I drove back from Oregon and was pulling in Oregon and I called you.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: What were you thinking?
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Oh, shit, this is real. That's what went through my head.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: And how long had we been talking about this for? And where were we talking about?
[00:01:58] Speaker A: Gosh, maybe, what, six weeks to three months in earnest? Maybe six weeks, yeah. And you called me and said, hey, I just put my house for sale. And then three days later, you said, hey, I just sold my house, which you're starting a company.
And we had one client.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: No paperwork, mind you.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: No handshake. Not even a handshake deal, because you're in another state.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: This is voice over cell phone deal.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: I'm in Oregon, Washington. He's in Oklahoma. And no handshake. Right. And Reed just Pax's entire family, two kids, a wife, and they just make their way up to the Northwest Territory. And here we, um. Gosh, and the first week, I mean, how crazy was your first week at work? You remember that?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah. My first week at work, that was crazy.
I had my appendix taken out. That happened.
I got punched in the stomach where my appendix had just gotten taken.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: That was a lot of fun. And got to experience firsthand what it was like to be a security guard. And I can say that it was really humbling, but I realized really quick that it was a difficult job that not a lot of people give credit to.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: No. So how was that transition? We each transitioned out of law enforcement, and we can get into those backstories for our audience here. But the transition is very unique. Right.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: It's literally night and day. And I think that that's like, people assume it's the same industry.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: They do.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: It's the same thing. You're doing the same thing.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: You're just a rent a cop.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: It's totally different.
[00:03:47] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: I think the best description I could give is humbling. Just to simply put it, it was so humbling to go from being a security guard or a police officer, mind you, to security guard, and not just going from being a police officer to a security guard, but being a police officer. Where I was, and where I was a police officer, cops were generally pretty respected. I mean, it's still a tough job, but it was a respected profession to a part of the country where, whether you're security or law enforcement, there's a large group of people who don't appreciate what you do. And so, yeah, my transition was really tough. I had to learn really quick that what I was doing was completely different, even though in my head, in my cop head, I thought it was the same thing.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: What about you? Same thing.
In law enforcement, you're granted the authority of the constitution of the government to conduct investigations, to make detentions, and you're granted this authority over people's lives.
And we use that, obviously. Everything has to be legal, ethical, and moral, and we're using that in order to create safety for the general welfare. You're protecting the general welfare of the public. And security, it's so unique because that's not your job. You don't have any authority, really, except on private property or protecting private persons. And beginning to understand those two different roles and just how unique they are was really difficult. I had about a six month transition period. I think it took really six months.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree with you completely.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: And I think we were both going through it at the same time and we kind of came together and said, and this is really just another part of this conversation a little bit larger. But when Reed and I started the company, in our industry, in the security industry, there's really two types of models for security. There's the observant report, which is probably, I would say the majority of the security out there.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Probably 80%.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah, at least 80%.
And then you have what I like to call the quasi law enforcement model. And with the observant report, that only works if someone's going to show up. And in a lot of the cities know in the Chicago's and the Portland's, in the Seattle, San Francisco's las, the emergency services, they are so can't, no.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: One'S going to show was just to touch on that. That was.
Talk about shocker.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Your first arrest. Not just that, but just my first experience of calling 911 in a major city that didn't have the ability to operate efficiently, because of resources or whatever. I remember that first call and just sitting there going, I don't think they're going to show up. And that was freaky. So I come out here, tell me about what it was like our first contract, and working that first contract, what you learned, what you experienced, what was that like?
[00:07:05] Speaker A: So the first contract we had, first week I'm working, I get a call and a guy gets stabbed with a katana sword through his body in the lobby of the building.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Was that, like, middle of the day?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Middle of the day, just random drug deal gone bad, no guns involved, just a katana sword.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: And so were you, like, on the site?
[00:07:28] Speaker A: No, I was not on the site, no. Because the site did not have 24 hours security. They could only for 8 hours a day.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Where were you?
[00:07:35] Speaker A: I was in my van sleeping, because I was homeless.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Okay, that's another story.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: We'll get to that.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: So you're just sleeping in your van?
[00:07:42] Speaker A: I'm sleeping in my van.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: And you get a call from, like, who calls you?
[00:07:48] Speaker A: A gentleman who sits on the board for this investment group, who at this time is not really a friend yet. He's a friend of a friend and kind of oversees 100 plus properties in multiple western states. And he says, hey, where the f are you at? Someone just got stabbed with an effing sword. I need you here now. That's pretty much the call.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: And show up. And the crazy thing is, years later, we've narcanned this guy multiple times, saved his life.
In this type of work, you're always seeing the same person over and over and over again.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yes, you are.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Today's victim is tomorrow's whatever suspect, which is tomorrow's witness. So I show up and we catch the guy, we arrest him. Cops take him, and attempted murder. And that actually went through. The VA actually charged that.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:08:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: From there, what was your expectation versus what actually happened?
[00:08:48] Speaker A: My expectation was that we could build the really good cases. I could hand this off to law enforcement. Law enforcement would come in and arrest people, make appropriate decisions. Right. Trespass certain individuals, and the property would just get cleaned up by law enforcement. I was expecting an observant report, but a very professional observation from someone who's done good investigative work in law.
Know, I've done death investigations, sex crimes. I figured, you know, I'll write really good reporting, I'll get connected to the district attorney or one of the adAs, assistant district attorneys, and we'll get law enforcement involved. They're going to be really stoked because we're handing them off all this great work and they're going to be able to turn it in to their sergeant and everyone's going to be super happy because they closed a lot of cases. Right.
I would be on hold for 45 minutes, sometimes an hour, hour and a half with 911, trying to get an officer just to show up to major felonies, major crimes.
I don't know if you remember this call, but there's a female that was. She walked from one property across to a store and was beat up by three people on the way there and robbed her phone, her Purse. And it took law enforcement almost 2 hours to show up and this lady was bleeding. I mean, it's just incredible, the lack of resources.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: So you had this game plan.
We're going into this property, we're going to professional observe and report. We're going to build some relationship with law enforcement and with Das.
And then you hit a brick wall.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: So what happens next?
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Well, I called Reedker and I said, hey, I got this awesome company. You should quit your career in law enforcement, throw your pension away and come help me build this company.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: I remember you telling me that. I remember you asking me that and us talking about it.
It took a while. Didn't just happen overnight. Took some real time. And to this day, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know why I did it.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: What did your wife think I was crazy?
Yeah, I was psycho because Reed was a great police officer. You had the number at one of your departments. Didn't you have the most arrests in a year?
[00:11:17] Speaker C: I did, yes.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: I mean, you're a canine. You're a narcotics interdiction officer with a canine. Right. So you're doing detection work with a canine and also patrol work with a canine. Dual certified canine.
[00:11:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: You've done swat stuff. And look, there are guys out there that are obviously better in law enforcement than us.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Ten times.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: I'm not saying that we were like the gold standard.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Definitely not.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: Maybe the Keystone cop standard.
[00:11:41] Speaker C: Maybe right there. Yeah.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: If you all ever seen Andy Griffith, I would say like barney five.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: I was thinking more of the park ranger from Yogi Bear.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Who was trying to get the picnic. Yeah, that's the kind of.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: But basically I remember, and I honestly don't know why I did it, but I just made the decision, like, we're doing it.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do this.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: And for me, I had a very similar experience. I had a very similar mindset because I only thought one way, which is exactly what you thought, because that's the only tool that I had in my tool belt.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: The constitution, those executive powers, man.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: And I believed in the idea that that's how things get fixed. But what's funny is I kind of came to the same conclusion you did, and going, there's got to be a different way to do this.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Observing report isn't working.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: No.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Acting like law enforcement, even though a lot of companies do it, it's bad. You become bullies.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: I think that on a small level, and I think you understand this, people on the street, you have really two choices when you do that law enforcement model, and I've said this before, anybody that knows me, if you're not a cop, don't act like you're a cop.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Because cops don't like that. And we're former cops, and we definitely don't like that. So if you're not a cop, don't act like a cop. No one likes that. People don't like it. The public doesn't like it. Cops don't like, nobody likes it.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: No one likes you.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: Quit it.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: The people that will know immediately are professional criminals.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Because they've been around cops. They've lived with cops because they've been in prison. And they know when you're not a cop.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: And that's the crux of it, is you really have two options.
Option one is when you present yourself as having authority that you don't have. Option one is you punk out. So when you get called on that, because I'd say the reason why it works is because 70% of the time, people don't call you out.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: 70% of the time you do that, they say, okay, whatever, and they leave. Or whatever happens, the 30% of people who don't and say, wait a minute. No, you have two options. You either punk out, which anybody on the streets knows basically is just saying, yeah, okay, never mind. My bad.
You've given up all credit. You're done at that point.
You've lost that situation. You've lost long term, because you're presenting yourself as being able to do something and you don't. And people on the streets don't have respect for that. I mean, people don't have respect for that anywhere, but especially the streets. Number two, you either have to double down and do something that you don't have the authority to do, and that's what results in lawsuits. And nobody likes lawsuits.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Lawyers like lawyers.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: Lawyers like lawsuits.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: That, too, makes money there.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: We know that.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: So we didn't go with that model because that doesn't work.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: No. What did we do?
What did we do, Reed? What were we going to do? We were in a place where we weren't growing as a company because we didn't have our business model down.
We didn't know our mission. We didn't have a vision. I think we had core values, and I think that we have matching value. I think that we share the same value system.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: I think we had a semi vision, but I don't think the vision was on par with what would actually work.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: No, we had the wrong vision.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: I think from the beginning, our vision was to be really good.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: So our current vision is to be the standard bearer of security, which is basically a fancy way of saying we want to be really good. The problem is we didn't know what the hell we were going to be.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Good at, and we didn't know what good meant in this industry.
[00:15:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: We knew what good was being tactical.
Sound report, squared away.
[00:15:38] Speaker D: Uniform. Squared away, uniforms.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Really good.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Knowing a lot of jocko quotes.
[00:15:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
Right.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: That's what people think.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And to be honest, it was none of that. No. So, for me, I'm just going to go over one thing that was like, this is step one.
It always came back to team.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: So, obviously we're security through community. We're big on the community, but at the end of the day, we have the mentality that if your house isn't in order, then how are you going to take care of everybody else? And so that was kind of my change. That was my shift from, ooh, we're going to come in and fix this property and company and all this stuff to, let's make it about the people that work with us and everything should be focused on them. We should sacrifice for them. We should pay them money we don't have. We should do everything we can so that our people feel supported. And obviously, there's learning curves in that because we did that, people take advantage. But at the end of the day, that's the first building block of the security through community is realizing that we needed to start within ourselves.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with that.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Secondly, I think you can touch on this, but aside from forming our own community within our group and building that, and brotherhood is the wrong term, but building that camaraderie, building that trust. Right.
Every person who has a leader wants trust and communication, and I felt like that was 100%.
[00:17:24] Speaker D: What we were trying to do is.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Get people to trust us and communicate to them the mission, vision, values and goals and their future.
[00:17:29] Speaker D: There was that.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Aside from that point, too, though, what do you feel like was your focus? Because you're definitely CEO, you're definitely big picture. You're definitely somebody that, although you have the ability to do the small painting, you're somebody that takes big strokes. So what was your vision of like, okay, I'm going to allow reed to focus on team. I'm going to focus on team. But where are we going and how do we get there? What was that conversation like in your head, and how did you get to point a to point b?
[00:18:02] Speaker A: What connected those dots for me was finding our operations model.
And it's something that you and I flushed out over, gosh, several months, and it's learning how to, number one, not be observant, report, not be that law enforcement model.
Basically, we just sat down and said what I really think people need to understand. When we took the contracts, we took over. It's not like we were just like, supposed to sit around and watch tv monitors.
[00:18:37] Speaker C: No.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: These were the highest call volume properties for law enforcement in their districts.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: For an entire precinct?
[00:18:45] Speaker A: For an entire precinct in a major city? In a major city in one of the worst cities. Yes, arguably, you're talking, time wise, 15 major calls for service a day at one property. Major calls meaning active domestics, gun prostitution. I mean major calls. And so we took another property in a suburb that is ran down a rundown area, and it was the highest call volume property in that entire patrol area for an entire law enforcement agency. And it was so bad, that region, that governmental entity was going to start charging a tax for every time they had to show up.
They didn't know what to do. It was bad as a gang.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I was going to say, you're touching on it, but how did we get that contract? Let's start there and then explain from there how we started to develop our model. But I think it's important to touch on how we got our second contract.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Well, I don't know where you're going with that, but I know where I'm going with this.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: I would love to see where you're going with this.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: So that contract came when we chose what our model was going to. You know, Reed and I arrested a lot of people at mean, we made dozens and dozens of arrests, and there was never a prosecution, and we trespassed a lot of people. And so you still have to do some of that enforcement stuff. And when I say enforcement, I mean protecting your own rights, your property rights. Right. And that's really what security is for, to protect people's rights. And so we kind of realized, hey, law enforcement protects government interest by taking government authority to violate civil rights in order to make a place safe. And we realized this. I mean, literally, Reed and I are having, like, deep constitutional conversations about this. And then we realized private security actually operates almost like a civil rights organization in order to protect property rights and individuals civil rights and civil liberties. Right. So when a company or a group wants to meet in public and organize in public, they don't hire cops, they hire private security. Right.
Even a planned parenthood, they don't rely on police officers to make sure that the women that are going in there for an abortion are safe. They rely on private security. That's who's protecting people from protesters. Right. And so I think what really changed the dynamic for me was the riots, when there were so many riots going on, and this is a whole other conversation, but the rioting and literally, the looting and the rioting and the mass burning of major commercial areas in the downtown corridor made me realize that it's not the job of private security. Private policing should never really be a thing. Our job are to protect individuals and their rights and their property rights. And when I realized that, then that's when I realized the best thing for a security company to do is to engage in a community and to increase that level of engagement to such a level that the criminal activity that people no longer want to be in that area. So if you have a criminal organization that's selling dope on the block, if you can get people to come outside their apartments or come outside their neighborhoods or walk, and you get a lot of people walking the streets and being outside, as you increase that level of engagement, those criminal activities are going to lessen because it's no longer a safer, conducive environment for that business model, for that criminal business model to make money, prostitution and drugs, and when they're scared and they're inside and they're afraid to come outside, that security company is really the first step of reenacting or reengaging, reinitiating that level of community engagement. And that's what we needed to do. I didn't know how to do it, but I know that's what we needed to do.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: For me, back to the point of transition in each other's head of what it was for us to go from being just everyday security or doing what we're doing law enforcement model to where you were at. For me, it was realizing that I was making it too hard.
I know that sounds dumb, but just on, like, you're talking.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Break that down.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: So there's a lot of things that you have to do as a cop.
You have to make certain arrests. You do have some.
The ability to not make an arrest if you choose not to. There are some things that you can have.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: There are a lot of cops that do that, right?
[00:23:40] Speaker B: Yeah, but the reality is, as security, there's a lot of things that you have the ability to do, and one of those things is time. And then the other thing you have is just this idea of, I don't have this huge world that I'm responsible.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: It's not black and white like law enforcement.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Well, yeah, but not just that. But you're not just responsible for this whole world or this whole area. You're just responsible for this specific thing that you're being hired to do. And although that maybe it doesn't feed into the idea that we support the whole community, which we do, and we care about the whole community, for me, that was a big switch because I was making it too hard. I was thinking about.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: We have to.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: Make this arrest or we have to do this. And it's like, at the end of the day, I'm going to be here every day. I'm going to be here every day. Maybe I should just focus on getting to know some people. Maybe I should get to know everybody in this complex.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Maybe that's a good idea.
Maybe I should, instead of going out and trying to find the bad guy or find the person who's breaking in. That's all great. All something we should do. All something we should be a part of. But maybe instead of that, I should go have lunch with people that have lived here for 20 years and talk to them about what things would make their complex better or the neighborhood better.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Community engagement.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Correct. And we started doing those things, to your point. And that was a huge switch for me because it was the simple things that built this model. It wasn't this, like, I know that you're going there, but it was the little things of just going. Wait a minute.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know if I should go there. I kind of want to tell the story about how Reed and I were both going down the same path, but I don't even think that we knew. No, we didn't even know the road we were going down to be, but.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: It was a survival.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So for Reed, it took the form of these meetings and these.
I'm going to sit down with these folks and try to figure out what's going on in their neighborhood. And for me the light came on to my mind after the shooting. There was an 18, no, I think he just turned 18. Maybe he was 1718 for a couple of weeks. He was young either way, very young.
Clicked up. Gang member was selling dope in the back of a parking lot, got shot and killed and we were basically hired because of this incident. This led to us getting our second contract and they basically told us, we need you to make all the gang members go away. And we're like, what do you mean gang members go away? Well now they basically memorialized this area and every night, 2030, 4100 people would show up from a legit street organization, fire off weapons and it was attracting other gangs. It was causing more gang conflict.
Reed and I talked about it and we were like, hey, I was told the mom comes by at this time and Reed and I came up with the idea of buying a white cross as a memorial. And we said, hey, we're going to, and remember we had to call the owner. The property manager was like, you're not doing this?
[00:27:05] Speaker B: Hell no.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: We're trying to get rid of these people. You can't put her, they're just going to come back. And I said, hey, look, right now they're coming 20, 30 meters into the property to where he died and putting murals on the wall memorializing this area. We're going to take this cross and we're going to put it off property. At the very edge in the corner of the property we're going to take out a hedge, we're going to put it right there in the corner and I think that this will actually keep them off property. Let me try this. And so Reed and I did that. We went and bought a cruel cross. We had it installed and we waited, well, we actually had permission. We waited for the mom to show up. We knew what the mom was driving and the mom showed up and we went and bought a whole bunch of items, teddy bears, candles and we waited and when the mom finally pulled up I ran out of my van and I started putting all the candles and the teddy bears up and she came up. I was in uniform so I looked like a police, I looked like the police from the back. And she's like, hey, who are you? And she has other male family members with her and they're all clicked up. Her uncle just got out of prison and I'm like, oh, I'm Alex, I'm one of the owners of the security company and I heard that your son died, and so I thought I'd go and buy all these candles. And I bought this rosary because I think they're Catholic. And we wanted to just show our appreciation and tell you that we're sorry for your loss. And she looked at me, she started crying, and she goes, I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting that type of reaction from you.
I thought you were just going to be like the police, and I thought you were going to throw all this away.
I said, no, ma'am. No, we respect your son and we respect you. We would never do that. And I talked to her for a little bit, and then I said, hey, would you be okay if our company pays for a cross? And we put that cross up on the property, and you can come here whenever you want to memorialize your son? And she cried, and she said, we would love that. And they actually prayed over me.
And then we all hugged each other.
And the next day, we had that cross installed. And from that day forward, not one gang member ever came back on the property. They would just pull up on the side of the street, hang out at the side of the street, and over time, people forget, this is all like this. We both lost a sibling.
They're always in our hearts. But sometimes those memories fade for other people. 100% right.
These memories fade. Less and less people show up. But almost overnight, the loud music, all that activity, the cars blocking the way, the gun, all that ended that night, because they said, hey, the mom took control. The matriarch, she said, these people respect my son. You're going to respect their property. And so this whole level. I know it's kind of weird to say this, but it's that community engagement, when it's done the right way and it's strategic and purposeful, it's amazing.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: For me, that was crazy, that whole situation.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: And then, I mean, they kicked in the door and put a gun in the manager's face. They took the manager and beat her up and rolled her over the front of her car. Just a day prior to this.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: I know. And I realized this on other properties and other contracts that we took, kind of the idea of people actually advocating for us.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Because it wasn't us and them. We weren't separate anymore.
That was huge. You're kind of describing that. You're kind of talking about it, but that became like a force multiplier that I was not ready for. And it completely changed the game for me.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: We became a part of the community.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: We did the community started advocating for us.
[00:31:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: And when I would walk around, I actually knew that at any given point in time when something bad would happen, if anybody from that community was there, they were going to be there for me 100%, and they knew that from me. And there was that trust.
It was. We were so enmeshed in these communities. We were so a part of them that we became them. And then at that point, the people who had no hope, who had no advocate, who had given up on their neighborhood, hid in their houses and just prayed for things to get better, had at least something to attach themselves to us, but at the same time, we had something to attach, which is them. And together, that's what formed really security through community, us going, hey, we're not alone in this thing, and neither are you. Let's do this. And that's crazy. And looking back at it, it was really organic. And there was a lot of thinking, there was a lot of talking. There was working how to actually do that on a.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Definitely intentional. It was intentional.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: It was intentional.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: But we were stumbling in the dark.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: We were stumbling in the dark intentionally. And we were learning as we went.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: And then as things naturally occurred, we followed those patterns to the point of, wow, we're actually being successful.
[00:32:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: And there were times when we would be like. And I kind of just hinted to this, we're like, hey, we're going to barbecue.
We're going to go to this neighborhood, and we're going to throw a barbecue.
And it became a thing. And then next thing you know, the people there would have barbecues. Oh, it's so and so's birthday. Well, y'all need to come to the barbecue. And we're like, well, we're not working. We don't really work at that damn time.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Don't care.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: No, we just want you all to come here. You don't have to be in uniform. You all are family.
And once you become family, it transcends. It can really transcend everything. Everything, bro. It really does. And that's what security really means. If you walk into a group of, if anyone is in a room of 100 people and you don't know anybody in that room, your level of apprehension, unless you're a stone cold stoic. Right. And you can really control that, you're going to have a level of fear and anxiety that's higher than normal because you don't know anyone in that room. But if you are just put together with one person that knows everybody in that room and they can say, hey, no, don't worry about that. This is so and so. Don't worry about that. So and so. Now they're cool. No, they do this and that.
Once you get to that level where you're building a network of relationships in a community, through this community engagement, the level of fear subsides. It does. It decreases and allows people to then engage each other in that dynamic.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: And some of this, as I mentioned before, is organic, but a lot of it is intentional.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: We call it social dynamics influencing.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: And I think that a lot of people would say that, well, hey, I can do this, and, yeah, people can do it. You can do whatever you want to. But it was really hard, and it took a lot of time, extra time, where we didn't get paid for it, where we knew that the mission required us to get to know certain people and to build those relationships and to show that some people, it didn't matter. They wanted to know that you were going to put in the time outside of work. Like, if you would have only showed up at work, if you would have only just been, hey, I'm a professional.
[00:34:56] Speaker D: And I'm here, and I'm here for you.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: No, they wanted to see, is this really just about work for you, or are you actually here for me? Are you actually a part of the community? And so it was intentional, and it took time. It took effort. It took sweat. And what's exciting is to look back at that and I can't even count on my hands how many people I feel like consider me a son or.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: A brother or.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: A cousin that I didn't know four years ago, but these people would do anything for me anytime recently had a baby. Super exciting.
I can't tell you how many of these people that we worked with that I didn't know, but just built relationships with, gave me gifts for my kids because they're a part of my life now. And some of that, like I said, some of that was organic.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: Reed loves free stuff, too.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Yeah, love it, love it. But some of it was organic, but a lot of it was just straight up, like we put in the work, and it was intentional. And sometimes we didn't build relationships with certain people in the community because those people were affecting the community.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: We ostracized them.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: It was time for them to leave.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: And that's right. Sometimes that's a part of security through community, too.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: And so I think with all of this, it's been a constant struggle. It's been a lot of work. It's been organic, it's been planned, but at the end of the day, it's led us to this idea that there is no other way to operate a security company. There's no other way to be a security guard other than to be intentional about relationships and the people that you're working with and building those relationships so closely that they become family and that there's no separation between you and them. It's just everyone.
[00:36:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:02] Speaker B: I want you to tell me, because I didn't do this. I had nothing to do with this for a couple of reasons. One, I'm dumb.
[00:37:09] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: That's, number one, that's why I didn't do this. Number two, there's this amazing gift that God gives certain people that is called art. The ability to produce art, do art, and I know do art. That sounds super fancy. I don't have any of that. That's not my thing.
Tell me about how you came up with our patch.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Oh, this right here?
[00:37:35] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Tell me about it.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: My brother and I've actually never told the entire story, so I don't want to cry, but it is what it is. But my brother was in the military, and he did a lot of military sketches. A lot of sketches. He had a lot of sketches and stuff that he had done. And when the navy shipped everything, I was in charge of his will, I guess, the trustee.
Everything was left to me. So I had to go through everything, and I found a sketch that looked very similar to this. So my brother, he was this Navy SeAL, and he served in some different task units, and a part of being in a task unit and a leader in a task unit, whether it's a platoon or you're the. You know, you have these different groups, like an oda group or whatever troop, you create patches. And so patches are not supposed to resemble a patch.
Should speak to who you are as a unit. It's about unit cohesion. And so my brother was, I think, drafting some patches, and I don't know how old these were, but it looked a little bit like this. And so I thought, man, how cool would it be if I used some of my brother's artwork and then I added my own and created a patch?
[00:39:02] Speaker B: So break it down for me.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Okay. I will break it down for you.
[00:39:06] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: It's emotional.
My brother has a best friend, and he and some other guys that they served with own a company called Echelon Front. And my brother, when he passed away, he had already put his retirement packet in, and he had already decided to join this team and to do that work. And at the same time, I told my brother, hey, I'd like you to, when you get out of the military, start a security company with me.
And he said, let me think about it, because my friend wants me to work with him. And about two weeks before he died, he said, hey, I've decided I'm going to do both. I'm going to do your company, and I'm also going to go work with my.
And kind of to honor my brother and his relationship with this guy, I named the company Echelon.
And so that's where the name comes from. Echelon Protective Services.
I thought that every time I see it, just reminds me of my brother. And so on the field here, you'll see there's the american flag, which I think represents my core values and what I believe in in America, and freedom.
[00:40:27] Speaker C: Right?
[00:40:27] Speaker A: And then we have the lion rampant, which is reminiscent of the battle flag of Scotland. I've spent a lot of time in Scotland. I backpacked, kind of lived there for a little bit, and literally, I've been to Scotland, like, six times. I've spent a lot of time there. And their battle flag, it's a gold field with an orange or red lion, and the lion is upright, and it's ready to attack in a protective stance. And so I chose that because I thought that this is what it looks like to be a protector. Right. This is what it looks like.
It's not lunging forward, so it's not attacking. It's just upright in a protective manner.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: So it almost knows that there's an enemy out there. Yeah, it knows there's something out there.
[00:41:20] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: But it's not the aggressor.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: It's not the aggressor.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: Ready?
[00:41:24] Speaker A: Just ready. Always vigilant.
And then, of course, you have the nine stars, which I thought would be reminiscent of our nine core values.
So it's wrapped in a banner. I don't know. I just thought it looked cool as well.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: It's awesome. It does look cool.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: Thanks, man.
[00:41:43] Speaker B: I appreciate you saying that.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I wasn't ready for that question.
[00:41:47] Speaker C: Yeah, sorry about that.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: That's all good, bro.
[00:41:49] Speaker D: I saw that back there.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: I'm like, oh, man, we got to talk about that.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: So we're really here today to kind of highlight who Reed and I are and the purpose of this podcast and what we're doing with write along and group. And so, you know, Opsec Media Group is a media group that reed and I started.
We believe that there's a lot of people in the emergency services industry, including private security, law enforcement, fire rescue. Their role in having a healthy community is sometimes overseen or misunderstood. And so, as a media company, we want to highlight the role of that first responder. And within private security, we specifically want to show how private security, when it's done in the right way, can be a force multiplier in public safety.
[00:42:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Tell the stories of the people that their stories are not being told.
I didn't know what security did. I didn't know the purpose that it served.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Mockups.
[00:42:53] Speaker C: Right.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: There's mockups. They'rental art.
[00:42:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: All blurt. And I think for me to be able to tell the stories of our people, obviously, there's a bit of me that's focused on our people, but not just that, but everybody else who maybe isn't getting the attention out there and what they're doing to make the world go round right now.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:43:17] Speaker B: And I think particularly in the Portland area, I think there's a lot of outside sources that come in here for a day or two. They show a bunch of homeless people. They show drugs. They show the shock and awe. And that's not what we're trying to do here. What we're trying to do is to show that there are systems that are working. There are people that are working. There's people that are dedicated. There's people that still believe, and to show those people and to praise them for what they do and to put their stories out there. So really, the reality is, especially for me, I don't want this to be my thing.
This isn't about us. It's never been about us. In fact, if you ever were to join our company, one of the biggest saying is it's not about you. And that's the truth. It's not about you. It's about the team. And for Opsec Media group and the ride along and everything we're trying to do, our team is the people who can't tell their stories, but we're going to tell their stories.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: That's right. And it's not only the stories of the individuals we serve alongside.
It's the stories of the houseless, the criminals. There's a lot of people on the street. Just a couple of weeks ago, we had a guy we had known for three years. He'd been hustling, and when I mean, say Hustle, selling dope, pimping girls. Right. He'd been hustling for 18 years in a historically rundown area of Portland. And by building this relationship with him through community first, community engagement, security principles, we developed a significant relationship with this individual, and over a period of time, able to convince him to reconnect with family back in New York, where he's from.
During this time, he discovered his daughter is actually a pastor of a historically black church.
His mother is also a deacon at the same church. And through discussions, we were able to convince him to go back home into New York. And this gentleman's living in an apartment.
He has his own car, own vehicle. He has his own job. And so it's about personal transformation. It's about how companies can transform and become something better for the community, but it's also how we as a company transform individuals and transform communities in that same process.
[00:45:47] Speaker C: True that. Yeah.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: You're welcome to join us. Reed and I are going to hit the streets, do a little bit of riding along, going to show you Portland. We're going to hit up some training with some echelon, folks. Stay tuned.
[00:45:58] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us on this podcast. This is going to be episode zero. So we're going to be headed to do some training here in a little bit with our team. We're going to ride around the van.
[00:46:09] Speaker D: Alex and I, we're glad you came along.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:46:32] Speaker D: So there's only a few of us here, which is fine. The goal of this training is, again, like some of you, tourniquet training. You want to go over some of the basics, and that's great. Some of you, you want to go from the basics to, I'd love to apply it. I'd love to see what that looks like. Everybody here, raise your hand if you have been, or just tell me. Been through the EMT that works for our company and that worked in the ER and did all that jazz. Have you guys been through his gunshot wound training?
So everybody's been through that training. In that training, we talk about tourniquets, we talk about gunshot wounds, what that looks like. So we've gone over a lot of the basics of what this is all about. Right? So we can cover some of that. We can kind of do that off camera if we need to, some of the basics that we covered in that training. But that's the goal of this. So scenario number one is basically just going to be kind of walk, crawl, run type of things, or crawl, walk, run. There we go. And so basically, we're just going to start off with basic, hey, let's try to put this tourniquet on somebody else. Let's just do that. Full senses, full, good to go. Let's just practice.
Take your time, ask questions.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Familiarization with the tourniquet, understanding the injury, finding the injury, placing the tourniquet on.
[00:47:53] Speaker D: Correctly, applying the tourniquet, and then from there, we'll just kind of work our way up. And again, the goal of this is that when the time comes that you do have to use your tourniquet.
[00:48:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:48:04] Speaker D: You may not have everything down. You may not be the special forces Green Beret that could do it with one finger and one hand. That totally isn't what we're looking for. We're looking for if there's a community member, somebody that we love out here that's injured or hurt, we're going to be able to save their life. So that's the goal of this. And I do appreciate you all for coming.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: Boom.
[00:48:28] Speaker D: I think what you could do is you could get some good shots of them doing, like, some application of the tourniquet. Right. Because that's what we're going to do. So who hasn't actually done.
[00:48:37] Speaker C: I haven't done it in a long time.
[00:48:39] Speaker D: I haven't done it in a long time either. But who hasn't done a tourniquet application?
Tourniquet application. You've done it.
[00:48:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:48:47] Speaker D: You're used to it. Not somebody on bleeding, but you've done it. You understand? Okay, so there's a billion different ways to skin a cat, as people say.
But I'm just going to real quick show you all how I load my tourniquet now. I'll tell you that a military person yesterday, oh, let's unlock that for that guy.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: I got it.
[00:49:06] Speaker D: A military gentleman yesterday said, hey, by the way, you did that all wrong. And that's the beauty of training. And people with opinions is they can say whatever they want. This is just how. I know how. So what I do is I take the tourniquet.
[00:49:19] Speaker B: This is a one loop.
[00:49:20] Speaker D: Sometimes you have two. So you have to remember which one you have. And so with the one loop, you're going to pull that through.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: And what I like to do, the.
[00:49:27] Speaker D: Goal is that you get it like this, so you give it plenty of room to where it forms the loop.
[00:49:33] Speaker A: Other teams and other, when you form the loop, how to put it together.
[00:49:36] Speaker D: Like that, and you want to edit your tourniquet.
[00:49:41] Speaker B: And that right there is what people.
[00:49:43] Speaker D: Call a loaded tournament. You can put that in your pocket, you can put it in your vest.
[00:49:47] Speaker C: Right.
[00:49:47] Speaker D: And so then when you go to use it, you just pull it open and it forms straight into a loop from there.
Some of the basic principles of tourniquet application. Now, some people really get in. We're not trying to deep dive into is it high or die? Some people get really opinionated on this. We've never been opinionated. It's about results. Right. So the goal is that you want to be able to get this tourniquet high or die. You don't want to put it on a joint because it's not going to do anything on a joint. So as high up on the joint as you can. When you're applying a tourniquet, you want to apply it to where you can have your hand available to where if you're applying it to yourself, I can apply this tourniquet myself. I don't need another hand. I can go here, I take the windless and I can start applying the tourniquet. Does that make sense? If I did this tourniquet application to where the actual string of the tourniquet.
[00:50:47] Speaker B: Was this way, it's going to be.
[00:50:50] Speaker D: A little bit more difficult for me to get to that and pull it and see how it's underneath me now. So you want to apply the tourniquet to having this actually facing you to where if you did get injured yourself, you're doing this.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: It's the heart, right?
[00:51:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:51:05] Speaker D: That's what a lot of people say. I just say, hey, put the freaking thing in your direction pretty much.
[00:51:11] Speaker E: Right.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: So that's that.
[00:51:14] Speaker D: So the basic principle is really simple is high or die. You don't apply it on a joint. And you're basically putting it to where you know, you have access to this and you can apply it or red to the heart. Right. Go there, pull through to where it's cinched. And then here's the thing about tourniquets that everybody should know. And again, we've already gone over this. Tourniquets really hurt. They suck. It's going to hurt worse than the actual wound. I personally have never been wounded and had a tourniquet applied to me, but I've had several tourniquets applied to me. And they really do hurt when you put them on there tight and you want them really tight.
[00:51:51] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:51:52] Speaker D: Some people say that you write the time on here, you do all that you can. The reality is we're getting the job done and we live next to two very awesome trauma hospitals. So the reality of writing a tourniquet thing on there and it being 5 hours before they get to the hospital is pretty rare.
[00:52:11] Speaker B: So.
[00:52:13] Speaker D: The basics is getting that on there to save their life. Some quick things that you go over with tourniquet application. If it's a team member with tourniquets. Team members, you're going to want to consider a few things. If they're losing a lot of blood and you have a team member that's losing a lot of blood, you're going to have to make sure that you take their firearm from them. So that's something that you need to remember. Why do we take their firearm from them? Because if they're bleeding out and they're incoherent and they don't know what's happening, sometimes they don't know who you are, and they'll assume that you're attacking them. Their flight, or flight kicks in and they might shoot you with it. So the goal is to talk them through. I got you. I'm your team member. And once the tourniquet is applied, or even before the tourniquet is applied, which I would say after you're taking their gun away from them and securing it to the best of your ability in any kind of, like, urban street environment, does that make sense for a citizen when you apply the tourniquet?
And really in general, this is probably the number one thing that people forget. That's super important that I want to train while we're here.
What is the one thing that you get from blood? From people?
[00:53:24] Speaker C: Diseases.
[00:53:25] Speaker D: Diseases. And we work in a disease ridden place. Most of the places we work are. Are disease ridden place. So the goal is that we glove up before we do anything. Easier said than done. When you're stressed out and you're thinking about seven different things and the person that you love and have know, and you know their kids, you know, their wife, you know everything about them and they're bleeding and they're going to die if you don't save them. It's really hard to remember. I should probably put on gloves, but it's super important that you do. If it's a community member and you're rushing over there, it's really hard to remember to put on gloves, but you guys got to do that because you save somebody's life on the street, that's great. But you might have put your own at risk if you don't glove up.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: Question about that.
[00:54:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm assuming under high stress environment, with the adrenaline flowing, it's going to take anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds to glove up. Is that going to make a significant impact if they're bleeding out? Like what? I want to. I want to know the time difference to put the gloves on. Will they die because of that?
Yeah, I would really like that, actually. Because I think that's a tough question.
[00:54:33] Speaker A: Sometimes you can have a very traumatic wound that can sever a complete arm, but the capillaries in the body will cease and pull in and actually stop the bleeding. So the body, when you have a lot of traumatic wounds, will actually stop the bleeding itself for some time during that period of shock. Right.
Then again, it just depends on where they're cut. Is it an artery?
Is it just veins? Is it in the hand? Is it in the arm? It really depends on where. So if it was me, I would glove up. If it was me, I think that's something that you should do. I think the more you do it, the more you train. You could probably get a glove on it. Five to 6 seconds probably, if you're training it and doing it right.
[00:55:21] Speaker C: Yes. Cool.
[00:55:23] Speaker D: That's 100% true. You got to train it. And the more you train it, the more you get used to it, and a lot of people. So I carried two different types of gloves. I had gloves for when I was doing things, working with my hands, whatever. And then I had gloves for that exact purpose. They were super loose fitting, not like balloons, but they were looser fitting to where it wasn't. Like some people, they take 40 seconds to get on their damn gloves, and it's not emergency situation. So that's just some real basic first things to cover. And I say that, and I want to preface that by, we've already done a gunshot wound training and gone over these basics. This is just touching on a few things. So obviously, we don't have firearms and things that are going to hurt us because we're training, and that's a bad move.
So that's really good. But some things that we work on is, if we don't have a gloves, if we don't have a set of gloves, I want to see you remembering to actually. Oh, I'm putting on my gloves. Muscle memory, even if you're not just muscle memory. I'm remembering to do that. Oh, I'm with a teammate. I'm removing their firearm, even though we don't have firearms right now.
[00:56:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:56:34] Speaker D: These are things that you work through and are able to speak when you're stressed. That's super important.
Let's go over, like you said, that you haven't really applied a lot of tourniquets. Do you want to apply a tourniquet to Rendon really quick and just try out how that would work?
[00:56:48] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:56:48] Speaker D: So, Rendon, your arms injured, you're down. So again, just really quick, show you.
[00:56:54] Speaker B: How to load it.
[00:56:55] Speaker D: What you're going to do is you pull out and make a pretty decent loop.
You take that and fold it over itself.
[00:57:05] Speaker C: Right?
[00:57:06] Speaker D: And then you move it back and put it through. And you've got your tourniquet. That's not perfect. It could be more perfect, but that's a really basic version of it.
[00:57:15] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:57:15] Speaker D: And then when you're ready to apply it, you've already got your loop and you apply it to Rendon. And you remember, you get it to where you can do the work.
[00:57:25] Speaker C: Right.
[00:57:26] Speaker D: And then go from there. So I'll let you do that.
There you go. Yeah, perfect. That should be plenty. Wrap it over.
And then Rendon's got shot right here, or he's got a wound right here. So you're going to apply it. And you remember the basic rules. High or die. Meaning I want to put the tourniquet as high as possible.
Very nice.
There you go. Very nice.
Cinch that sucker down.
There you go. Plenty. And then windless once and twice.
And lock it in. And then there you go. And then wrap that through and you're good. Or you can leave it like that.
[00:58:11] Speaker C: That's perfect.
[00:58:12] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: Cool.
[00:58:13] Speaker D: Now, I think that was a really good application. Yeah, that was really good. It's exactly what you're looking for.
[00:58:20] Speaker C: That was smooth.
[00:58:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
You just saved Brendan's life. Anybody else like to go over that, or is everybody good? Does anybody else want to just apply a tourniquet real quick, just to kind of get that out of the way.
[00:58:32] Speaker A: Part of the scenario?
[00:58:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: So we're here for scenario training. This is pre training.
[00:58:36] Speaker D: You want to try it?
[00:58:37] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:58:38] Speaker D: Do you want to apply a tourniquet to Brittany? Is that okay? Okay, so Brittany got shot in the left.
[00:58:47] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I got you.
[00:58:50] Speaker D: Okay, so what you're going to do is this is how the tourniquet is or this is how the tourniquet is, right? Because it's all jacked up.
[00:58:56] Speaker B: So you're going to go here and.
[00:58:58] Speaker D: You'Re going to make yourself a nice little loop, usually the size of the tourniquet. Put it back over, wrap it through, and your tourniquet is ready to go.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: Got you.
[00:59:10] Speaker D: Okay, so you pull it open and it should pull open to a loop for you.
[00:59:16] Speaker C: Yes.
Very nice.
Very nice.
[00:59:27] Speaker D: Just like that, bro. And so she got shot in her left arm.
[00:59:32] Speaker B: Left arm.
[00:59:33] Speaker D: That's right arm.
[00:59:34] Speaker C: Left arm.
[00:59:35] Speaker D: You got it, you got it, you got it.
[00:59:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:59:40] Speaker D: And right there.
[00:59:41] Speaker C: Should I glove up?
[00:59:42] Speaker A: So I'm gloving up.
[00:59:43] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:59:44] Speaker D: Yeah. Chopping off the shirt.
[00:59:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:46] Speaker D: So you got higher dirite. So that's obviously a joint. So, like, somewhere as high as you can get before you get to the joint.
[00:59:54] Speaker A: Backwards.
[00:59:54] Speaker C: It's all good.
[00:59:59] Speaker D: And you're going to want to get it to where you can get to it. So when you apply it, you'll want to apply it to where it's just right there so you don't have to find it.
[01:00:08] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:00:08] Speaker B: Right.
[01:00:10] Speaker D: There you go.
[01:00:14] Speaker A: In case you might have three other injured people.
[01:00:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:18] Speaker A: This might be just one of the injured at a mass casualty event. So you want that windless facing the victim because maybe you didn't put it tight enough. And so maybe the injured person can say, oh, my gosh, I'm still bleeding. And they can tighten it themselves.
[01:00:33] Speaker D: Exactly.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: You always want it. So the individual with the tourniquet on has access to tighten it further.
Excellent.
[01:00:52] Speaker D: There you go, budy. And then just do one turn.
It's not going to hurt that bad. She's going to be okay. And then two turns.
[01:01:02] Speaker C: Boom.
[01:01:06] Speaker D: No, and that's good. And so what you do is you tuck it in.
Tuck it in right there, call it a day, and then loosen it up.
[01:01:15] Speaker C: It's good. Okay. Yep.
Boom.
[01:01:21] Speaker A: There you go, b.
[01:01:22] Speaker C: Okay. There you go, bro.
[01:01:24] Speaker D: You got kind of the basics down.
[01:01:26] Speaker C: I understand.
[01:01:26] Speaker D: Luskin, you good?
[01:01:27] Speaker C: Okay. Bam.
[01:01:28] Speaker D: You want to try it?
[01:01:29] Speaker C: Sure. All right.
[01:01:30] Speaker D: I shot my right arm.
[01:01:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:34] Speaker D: I need assistance.
How you doing? We're supposed to cut your shirt off.
[01:01:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:40] Speaker D: Medic is a naked game, right? Yeah, it can be.
[01:01:43] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:01:45] Speaker A: It's supposed to be.
[01:01:47] Speaker D: Michael Bach says you're supposed to be naked. There could be more wounds.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: You know what?
[01:01:50] Speaker D: And that's why Michael Bach is the specialist, my friend.
[01:01:56] Speaker C: No, two. Oh, you could.
[01:01:58] Speaker D: You could do it. The reality is, what we think is tight is not tight.
[01:02:05] Speaker A: You want to put that thing on tight.
[01:02:07] Speaker D: Yeah, but you were asking what would hurt me.
And you're going to try to do it even more after it doesn't crank no more. What's up, Petri?
Okay, so the first scenario, what we're going to do is we're going to just talk it out. We're going to make it super basic. So your teammate's going to be laying on the ground, you're going to roll up, and you're going to go through the basics. Glove up, make sure they don't have their firearm, or make sure that you remember to remove their firearm from them because of blood loss. Make sure you're putting on the tourniquet, doing your thing, making sure you're checking your surroundings, and that'll just be it. But just real basic teammate, we're going to really just kind of dry run that. So, Rendon, if you want to come in and be the down teammate, that would be awesome. We're going to use Rendon's leg, and I'll just give you a leg for starters, and then that'll be the first scenario, and then we'll pop into the second scenario. So anybody that wants just kind of like a dry run, we can do that.
[01:03:08] Speaker A: Does anyone want to dry run with the tourniquet?
[01:03:10] Speaker D: Do you guys want to dry run with the tourniquet stuff, or are you guys good?
I feel like we're putting you on the spot because we're going to blur him out.
[01:03:24] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:03:25] Speaker D: So you're going to go first. We're going to go over there, and we already talked this through, so you got this. So you're going to have to feel out where he's bleeding. You're actually going to feel where he's bleeding.
The recommendation that I have is when you go into that area.
[01:03:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:03:43] Speaker D: Be careful and don't just sprint because there's things, obstacles, right?
[01:03:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:03:49] Speaker D: And you won't be able to see, so don't hurt yourself.
[01:03:51] Speaker C: Right.
[01:03:52] Speaker D: All right, so what we're going to do is we're going to run over there, do our jumping jacks. I'll spin you, and then we'll go. Ready?
[01:03:58] Speaker C: Go. Eyes.
[01:03:59] Speaker D: Do this, bro.
[01:04:01] Speaker C: Help them.
[01:04:03] Speaker D: Ten jumping jacks 1234-5678 910 all right, let me put this on really quick. All right, you ready?
[01:04:15] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:04:16] Speaker D: All right, I'm going to spin you around a couple of times spin you around a couple of times and go.
[01:04:23] Speaker C: Help him.
[01:04:29] Speaker E: Help me. Help me. Got the fucking blood everywhere. Help. Come on, man. Come on.
[01:04:40] Speaker C: Find the wound.
[01:04:41] Speaker E: God damn it, herb. Come on, find the wound.
[01:04:44] Speaker B: There you go, buddy.
[01:04:46] Speaker E: Yes.
God damn it. Come on, man.
Come on, man. I got fucking kids, dude. I got kids. I got you, brother. Come on, man.
Fuck, it's gonna hurt.
Fuck, it's gonna hurt, buddy. Fuck. Come on. I don't want to die, dude. Don't let me die.
Don't.
Fuck. God damn it. It hurts, man. God damn it.
[01:05:20] Speaker D: In scenario, you okay? Let's get that off.
[01:05:24] Speaker C: Hold on.
[01:05:25] Speaker D: I don't want to jack up your hair. Just let me undo it.
[01:05:26] Speaker A: Don't mess up his hair, bro.
[01:05:27] Speaker C: That's the best part. Good? Yeah. Okay. Good job.
[01:05:30] Speaker D: All right, let's take it off. That was a perfect application, bro.
[01:05:33] Speaker C: Yeah. All right.
[01:05:34] Speaker D: Let's take that off.
[01:05:35] Speaker E: Oh, is that tight? My bad, my bad.
[01:05:36] Speaker D: No, it's okay.
Very good, Brendan. Good screaming, bro. My God.
[01:05:41] Speaker A: I know.
[01:05:42] Speaker C: Oh, jeez.
[01:05:43] Speaker A: That was a little loud.
[01:05:44] Speaker D: I was going to say, I think we're going to get called by the police. Yeah, that sounded miserable.
[01:05:50] Speaker C: I love it.
[01:05:53] Speaker A: You're going to stay there, though, okay.
[01:05:55] Speaker D: So we're going to do a quick little after action.
Dude, your hair looks awesome. So let's talk here. Everybody come over real quick.
[01:06:03] Speaker C: We'll talk.
[01:06:05] Speaker D: How did it feel? Real? It felt real. Felt a little, like, little amped up, like. Yeah, a little bit of like. I'm not sure what to do. I heard Alex in there. Hey, man, find the wound. Find the wound. These are internal things that we tell ourselves.
[01:06:19] Speaker A: You got to tell yourself that.
[01:06:20] Speaker D: So, question.
We went over some basics. One of them was high or die. You killed it. Good job. You got higher die, 100%. What was one of the basics? You didn't do gloves or cut his pants. It's going to be a thing. You're going to freak. Yeah, it's okay. But just remember that if that was a team member, I get it. Sometimes you take that risk. But the reality is it's going to be hard when you're stressed to remember, oh, crap. I got a.
[01:06:48] Speaker A: Can I say something?
[01:06:48] Speaker D: Gloves.
[01:06:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:06:49] Speaker A: So it's good that you're okay. When you initially entered, you found him, which was good. You were able to locate him according to sound, right. You went immediately for his left leg and you kept on that left leg, and you expected him to give you feedback as to where he was shot or where the wound was. Now, a lot of people who are shot are going to be in shock. They might think they're shot in their chest. They might think they're shot multiple times.
[01:07:17] Speaker C: Right.
[01:07:17] Speaker A: So don't always assume that the person who's injured is going to know where all the injuries are because it's likely there's more than one injury. Wouldn't you agree?
[01:07:27] Speaker D: 100%.
[01:07:27] Speaker A: So keep padding down. Now, we told you he's only going to be injured on the leg, but they could have another injury. So just because you think you've finished it, once you get that tourniquet on, keep looking. Keep looking for more of that spongy feel. Looking for work, that spongy wetness.
[01:07:44] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:07:45] Speaker D: Good job, though, bro. That was honestly handled, amazing. So that was really good. Anybody else like to go? Or we can leave it at that. Would anybody else like a shot and just see what that's like. Like a shot. Hell, yeah. Okay, I'm going to talk to Rendon. Should he cuss so much?
[01:08:01] Speaker C: Yeah, he's good. Okay, we're good.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: We're acting. We're filming.
[01:08:04] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:08:05] Speaker D: Is there anybody that's over there that's going to hear him screaming, though?
[01:08:08] Speaker A: Maybe the arcan people. The Narcan clinic.
[01:08:11] Speaker D: Oh, they're thinking somebody's getting fucked back here. Hey, buddy, you good?
[01:08:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
[01:08:15] Speaker D: Oh, geez, dude, you got them more wet. My God, son.
[01:08:19] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:08:20] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that's good. Is that what you guys look for?
Oh, that was crazy. Yeah, that was really stressful. It was making me stress.
[01:08:29] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't know.
I fucking hurt.
[01:08:32] Speaker E: Yeah, I can pass out for one month, too.
[01:08:34] Speaker A: Right in the middle of it, actually.
[01:08:35] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
[01:08:36] Speaker D: I was like, I'm going to freak out in the beginning.
[01:08:38] Speaker A: You should pass out like shock.
[01:08:40] Speaker C: That's good. Yeah, that is good.
[01:08:42] Speaker A: No feedback.
Yeah, because you can't trust someone with feedback.
[01:08:49] Speaker C: The fuck? No.
[01:08:51] Speaker D: Now it's a team member, but even a team member is. You're not going to be able. Dude, if I got shot out of here, I'd cry and freak out and be like, it's everywhere.
[01:09:01] Speaker A: I just shit myself.
[01:09:03] Speaker D: Okay, that's funny, Brittany.
Same thing. Good to go. Just remember some of those basics, obviously, like what Luskin's saying and Bach always.
[01:09:14] Speaker C: Says.
[01:09:17] Speaker D: It'S a naked sport.
[01:09:18] Speaker C: Right.
[01:09:18] Speaker D: But we're not going to cut off our teammates pants during scenario training. But obviously, working through that, working through the basics of hire die. Working through the basics of making sure you glove up. All that's important. If you don't do anything, that's okay. If you miss all of those, that's good because we learned we got better. So whenever you're ready. You ready?
[01:09:41] Speaker C: All right, let's do it.
[01:09:42] Speaker D: Let's go.
Got a teammate that's been injured. He's calling for backup. Let's do a couple of jumping jacks. 1234-5678 910. All right, I'm going to put on a blindfold.
[01:09:58] Speaker C: There we go.
[01:09:58] Speaker D: And then I'm going to spin you around a little bit. Spin, spin, spin. And go. Help Rendon. And don't hurt yourself. I got you. There's the door.
[01:10:06] Speaker C: Go ahead.
[01:10:11] Speaker E: Help. Please help me. Help me.
[01:10:18] Speaker D: Loving up. Good job, good job. Work through it. Work through it.
[01:10:34] Speaker C: Yep.
[01:10:35] Speaker D: Work through it.
[01:10:39] Speaker B: Good job.
[01:10:43] Speaker E: Come on. Come on.
Don't do it. Come on. Stop. Please.
[01:10:51] Speaker D: Relax and just do it.
[01:10:55] Speaker A: Got it.
[01:10:56] Speaker D: In scenario. Good job. Good job.
[01:10:59] Speaker C: Good job.
[01:11:00] Speaker D: Hey, well done. Did it scare you when he randomly started screaming again?
[01:11:03] Speaker C: Here, hold on. No. Okay. Yeah.
[01:11:06] Speaker D: What did you think?
[01:11:08] Speaker E: I was definitely worried about tripping more than that.
[01:11:11] Speaker D: Did you build your confidence a little bit by actually knowing that you can do this blindfolded and disorientated?
[01:11:19] Speaker E: Yeah.
[01:11:19] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[01:11:20] Speaker D: You okay? Oh, yeah.
Your legs?
[01:11:23] Speaker C: Good? Okay, good.
[01:11:25] Speaker D: Well done. Honestly, you really did a good job.
[01:11:28] Speaker C: Well done.
[01:11:34] Speaker D: Would anybody else like to go?
You want to go?
[01:11:38] Speaker C: Okay. Cool, man.
[01:11:39] Speaker D: And Bobby, right? Bobby.
[01:11:41] Speaker C: Cool. Yeah.
[01:11:42] Speaker A: Let's go ahead and give her some good feedback.
[01:11:43] Speaker C: I think that's great.
[01:11:44] Speaker A: Is that right?
[01:11:45] Speaker D: Let's do that over here.
[01:11:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Come on.
[01:11:47] Speaker A: Everyone deserves to hear directly from the instructors.
[01:11:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:11:51] Speaker A: It's really important. 100% number one. Super smooth.
[01:11:58] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[01:11:58] Speaker A: Super smooth. You weren't shaking at all. You were in there. You were taking your time. It was very intentional and very smooth, which I was, like, shocked.
[01:12:10] Speaker D: I think the thing was that you came into it with such a confidence. You're like, you know what? This is my first time doing something like this. I got this, went in there, went after it.
So it actually scared me when he started screaming. And you just powered right through it.
So a lot of people, they'll enter, like, an, ooh. Loop, or they'll stop for a second to pause and try to get their brain to catch up to what's happening. No, just straight through it. That was awesome. You also remembered to glove up.
[01:12:38] Speaker A: That's right.
[01:12:39] Speaker D: That's the first time that's happened. And you checked both legs at the same time?
[01:12:43] Speaker C: Yes. Boom.
[01:12:44] Speaker A: You didn't just go for one leg. You were like, boom, you found it. And then you double confirmed with both hands, and then you went for your tourniquet. So that was awesome.
[01:12:51] Speaker D: What did you think, like, feedback wise?
[01:12:56] Speaker E: I noticed that I messed up a tourniquet. It got caught in the loop.
[01:13:01] Speaker D: You worked right through it.
You feel confident, though, compared to, like.
[01:13:08] Speaker C: Yeah, that's good.
[01:13:09] Speaker A: Could you do that tonight?
[01:13:10] Speaker E: Yes.
[01:13:11] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:13:12] Speaker A: That's what matters.
[01:13:12] Speaker D: All that matters.
[01:13:13] Speaker C: Good job. Well done.
[01:13:14] Speaker A: Thanks.
[01:13:15] Speaker C: Be okay.
[01:13:20] Speaker D: You about ready? All right, man. So call. Teammates injured.
[01:13:24] Speaker C: Let's go.
[01:13:24] Speaker D: Teammates been shot.
1234-5678 910 all right, I'll spin you around here in a second. Is he covering his face? Yes, she.
[01:13:48] Speaker C: All right. Help him, help him. Help him find your teammate.
[01:13:53] Speaker E: Where you at, Brandon? Where you at, buddy? Okay, buddy. Hey.
Everything's gonna be a payment.
Everything's gonna be okay.
[01:14:39] Speaker B: Good work in scenario. Good job, bro.
[01:14:45] Speaker D: Dude, those were the fastest jumping jacks I ever thought could be humanly possible, bro.
[01:14:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:14:50] Speaker D: Good work, man. Way to take it serious, dude. Good stuff.
Thanks, Brendan. Hey, man, great work, dude. You have the loudest scream of anybody I think I've ever heard. That was so realistic, dude.
[01:15:05] Speaker C: Jeez.
Yeah.
[01:15:08] Speaker D: All right, let's.
[01:15:08] Speaker A: After action.
[01:15:10] Speaker C: Left.
[01:15:11] Speaker D: After action.
[01:15:12] Speaker C: Real quick, bro.
[01:15:13] Speaker D: If you want to stand, like, over there, that'd be super helpful.
Okay. What do you think?
[01:15:19] Speaker C: A little harder when you can't see.
[01:15:20] Speaker D: It is a little bit harder when you can't see.
[01:15:23] Speaker E: Identify the leg.
[01:15:24] Speaker A: That was the biggest trip up.
[01:15:25] Speaker D: Yeah, I think you did good on that. I don't think that was a trip up. I think you did good. Was there anything that you feel like, man, I forgot that or I should have done that.
[01:15:33] Speaker C: Gloves.
[01:15:35] Speaker D: Yeah, I got. You brought my gloves?
[01:15:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:15:42] Speaker D: What do I do with my hands?
No, that's good, bro.
First off, confidence was awesome.
You went into it. It's obviously, like, you can't see. It's hard. But you said you had trouble identifying. I felt like you did really well. I felt like you went in and you immediately started identifying, and you didn't really hesitate. So I don't think that was a poor spot at all. I think you did good. What is your feedback?
[01:16:08] Speaker A: The sense I had was that, especially with your scenario, it was about the victim.
It was less about your hesitation, your fear, your concern that you were lacking the sense of sight. I could tell that you were there for Rendon, and I could feel that. Does that make sense?
[01:16:26] Speaker C: Yep.
[01:16:27] Speaker A: I don't know how I could feel it. It's a gut thing, but you could see it when you see it, you know it. And I commend you for that, because I feel like that you were there to help him again. You were smooth. Really quick as well. That was the first time he took a different position. He's been on the wall on his back the whole time. I think that you probably had the hardest because you had to find the wound, which was on his thigh, but he was upside down, so you did a great job there.
What else?
[01:16:54] Speaker D: I think it was good. Yeah, I think it was really, really good. I think you did a good job, bro.
[01:16:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Love it, brother. Appreciate you.
[01:17:02] Speaker D: Thanks, bro.
[01:17:02] Speaker A: Good work.
[01:17:04] Speaker D: All right, so, yeah, future scenario trainings where we say, hey, we want to show up and have people film. They probably won't be like this. We're not going to do like. I mean, some of them will be, but some of them will be like, hey, you're going to arrest somebody, work through arresting somebody.
Some of you guys are the ones that teach that. A lot of you, actually, which is great, right? But some of them might be, hey, you're arresting somebody and then somebody else tries to intervene. So it's not always going to be like this. So if you guys want to continue, the reality is that if we do some of these, and I know Osmond's pushing this big time, is a lot of the feedback we've gotten from our people is, hey, these scenario trainings are great. Can we take it up a, like, can we make it a little bit more realistic, a little bit more like, we want more? We can totally do that. But as a company, we have to start working our way through the basics because it's just like basketball. All you do is know how to shoot three pointers, but you can't dribble. What's the point? So that's what we're going to do. So thank you so much for showing up. Thank you for putting on the class.
Like a jump high five.
[01:18:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:18:12] Speaker A: Go echelon.
[01:18:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Cool. All right, well, see you later. Awesome.
[01:18:19] Speaker D: I feel like you could turn yourself into an anime character pretty easily.
[01:18:23] Speaker A: 2 seconds.
