Hometown Hero Outdoors

John Lisle - Reflections on Leadership, Resilience, and the Healing Power of the Outdoors

• Hometown Hero Outdoors • Season 2 • Episode 9

Share episode

Send us a text

This episode takes you deep into John's captivating journey that highlights his love for the outdoors, the thrill of motorcycle riding, his experiences in the military and his efforts to glorify the veteran community.  

 Our conversation ventures into the wilderness, discussing John's love for hunting and how this passion was reignited after his return from Iraq. We explore the emotional bond between a father and son that's strengthened in the quiet solitude of the outdoors, and how these experiences mold us into better humans.

The episode concludes on a note of introspection and revelations. John throws light upon the invaluable lessons he has learned from his multiple roles and how they apply to his leadership style. We discover the importance of designated reflection time, the power of self-awareness, and humility in a leader's life.  

This episode is more than just a chronicle of John's life; it's a nuanced exploration of mental health, the importance of seeking help, and the resources available for those in crisis. Join us in this multi-layered conversation filled with stories of resilience, leadership, and the therapeutic power of vulnerability.

Host: Chris Tetrault
Guest Host: Shaun Olsberg
Guest: John Lisle

#veteran
#hometownherooutdoors
#outdoortherapy
#fathersonhunt
#lawenforcement
#firstresponder
#CVMA
#combatveteranmotorcycleassociation
#entrepreneur


Produced by Phil Ewert Productions

Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions

hometownherooutdoors.org

Speaker 1:

MUSIC. Welcome to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. Here is your host, Chris Tatro.

Speaker 2:

MUSIC. Welcome back to everyone who are our Hometown Hero Outdoors supporters, listeners, followers, members all of the above. We are back with another week's podcast. Today. We have Sean Olsberg here is my right hand Cede over here helping me guide tonight's podcast. And then we also have John Lyles, our guest. John is a former military service member, veteran deployed overseas, former law enforcement officer down in the Texas area and then also did firefighting for a while too. And now he's also in a private industry where he helps start his own career path and with his business owner. So welcome to the podcast, john. Appreciate you being here today.

Speaker 3:

Appreciate it. Thank you for the invitation.

Speaker 2:

And then, sean, you just told me that it's super hot out down in Texas right now, but you have a hoodie on.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, yeah. So I got this new AC in the house and my wife is really putting it through the test. Okay, that's all right. It's the first time I've donned a hoodie in about six months. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, how hot is it outside right now?

Speaker 4:

Oh, I think it's probably still 90,. John, it's gotta be.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean. Actually Sunday down here in the Houston area was a record breaker for us. I think they had us exceeding 108 degrees and I actually took a picture. I was driving around with the kids at 11 o'clock in the morning and it had already gotten up over 104 by 11 am Disgusting. We got our first rain on Sunday at my house in 60 plus days.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, at least she got something right yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, now I was definitely needed over here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so for our listeners, if you don't know who John is, john actually is in one of our videos from this. Last December John came over to Sean Oldsburg's territory to do a youth hunt for deer. So we got the pleasure of meeting John and getting to follow him and his son Griffin while they were out on this hunt and it was a pretty awesome experience getting to know these guys and watching the bond between father and son. So one of the big things that Sean's done a good job of down in Texas is hosting these youth hunts occasionally, so being able to get our service members, our veterans, l E O's first responders, out in the outdoors, but also experience that, with their kids, have some bonding time in the outdoors. So, sean, you want to talk about your hunt a little bit and then we'll dive into John's history.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely so. We. I started this two years ago, so, actually coming up, we're getting ready for our third, third annual hunt and you know it was always important to me well, what I missed while I was in the service and was always being away from family and not getting that time. When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time hunting with my father, all season, every season when I was gone. I missed that, and so I know how important it is to our, to our youth, to for us to get them out in the outdoors, teach them conservation, firearm safety, all that stuff, and just be able to spend some time. So, with our busy lives all of us, we need to make some special time that we can just get with our, with our children, and that is the reason behind this, this hunt.

Speaker 2:

And he hosted in the De Leon area, De Leon, Central Texas. Is that what you called Central Texas?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, North, North Central.

Speaker 2:

North Central. I've. I've got the pleasure of getting to go down and help out with those hunts the last two years, and I've brought one of my own kids too but be able to come down and hang out with the members and help Sean out with whatever he's got going on for that day. Last year we got volunteered to use our conversion fan for the back roads. That was all right though it's four wheel drive, it's good. Yeah well, the kids enjoyed it. It was comfortable so so John got to come out and experience that with Griffin. John just want to let the listeners know about who you are, your background, talk about your military service, your law enforcement, just all the different things you've done.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know, I guess I'll start where most folks started is right out of high school I went military myself and, funny enough, I actually went Navy first. Something that very little people know about me is you didn't say anything about that before.

Speaker 2:

I would have treated you different.

Speaker 3:

Well, you know, just wait and tell you a little more.

Speaker 2:

No, I did.

Speaker 3:

I did Navy Junior ROTC through high school and really enjoyed it, picked up a hell of a lot of knowledge.

Speaker 3:

And then I actually went to a family reunion with my ex and she and I had been dating for a few years out in Burnett, texas.

Speaker 3:

We go to this family reunion and I don't know exactly what Lake we were on, but I was being a show off and I went and I swam a little farther and harder than I should have and found myself out in the middle of a lake with, you know, very little to no energy left and I ended up drowning and I, yeah, yeah. So her father actually ended up helping, helping, helped recover me, had to be resuscitated, had a seizure, and I remember kind of waking up, laying on the bank, just letting everything out. You know you lose everything you had inside of you water, food, everything, and I mean just buckets of stuff coming out of me and I remember just kind of shaking uncontrollably but it scared the hell out of me. So the first thing I did I was actually on a delayed entry program at that point in time and I was supposed to be going in as a EW electronic warfare technician and the first thing I did was went down and found my chief over at the Naval Recruiting Station and I said Nope.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'm scared, I'm terrified of water. I'm not getting back in.

Speaker 2:

Good, not my thing anymore.

Speaker 3:

He goes. Well, you know, you can, you're looking at a dishonorable or you can go pick another branch. I said, well, grandpa was army, so I'm going army and I'm never getting no water again. And that's actually what pushed me towards army. And then I go back down and maps, pick everything out for army.

Speaker 3:

And at that point in time, you know I was pretty naive kid, just spent most of my time in the sticks out in Conroe area here in Texas and my biggest ambition was to leave. I didn't care, I needed to leave, I need to get out. And so when I was at maps, the way I picked my career path with the military was. I specifically asked them I said what do you believe is the next unit to get deployed? Go overseas. And they said Well, these guys right here said what do they got available? Well, you can go and work with helicopters. I said Great, sign me up. I didn't care about anything else, I just wanted to leave. So I ended up enlisted as a operations, a flight operation specialist there and worked in a talk most of the time and then actually ended up getting deployed prior to my one year date in the service, got deployed over to Iraq, got over to Iraq and you know, everybody gets picked for BS details and meanwhile I was. I was upset with the decision that I had made as far as sitting on my ass in the talk and I said, well, I want to get out of here, go outside the wire and do something. So I volunteered to go out and do route security and that's what I spent my entire time over there doing Did route security. Well, it was over there, you know, had a couple of buddies get hurt and overall everybody made it back, you know, in fairly good condition and that's good. A couple of buddies, you know, lose the internal struggle after coming home. My truck commander, sergeant Ford, and then we had another private with us who also unfortunately took his life after coming home. So, you know, dealt with those losses. It was pretty difficult at that time, being young and having not experienced any of those kind of losses before learning how to cope with the mental side of it. But anyways, I did that.

Speaker 3:

And then, after my military time, I ended up working out in the north Houston area just doing security, trying to figure out where the heck I was going to land on, you know, as far as career path, and I made friends with a couple of Houston police officers who happened to be working in the, the property that I was assigned to, and I said, well, hell, why don't you put in for the police academy? So I just kindly or kind of blindly went and just put in because a couple of guys said, hey, you should try out. And I ended up getting the job and went through the academy and my law enforcement career was was pretty short. I mean I only did. I think it maybe just shy of eight years, but I mean within my my first two years, my first partner that I had ended up being murdered on duty and that was another, another tough battle to deal with but ultimately ended up kind of recovering from that mentally and, and you know, had some other things happen while I was on the department but I was not particularly happy not finding what I was seeking as far as the camaraderie and things like that.

Speaker 3:

I ended up ultimately, you know I just I was. I was trying to find something comparable to that brotherhood that I experienced within the military side of things and I was considering going back in the military and I found a fire department out here in spring and volunteered and worked for the volunteer fire department. Well, I was also a Houston police officer for a little while and then, while all that was going on, I also completed college and I also started my family. You know, my wife and I we we actually met at a pet smart here in the Houston area.

Speaker 2:

After I got from the wreck. We had her puppy that you brought. A puppy made that connection.

Speaker 3:

She was the one with the puppy. Ah got it. Yeah, no, she had a golden. I didn't have a puppy at all.

Speaker 2:

Love it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, now it was. You know, all of these things going on at the same time, definitely very busy, and just trying to find my place. That was the thing is. Definitely I knew I had the ambition to drive and things like that, to do something. I just didn't know where the heck I wanted to be. So firefighting didn't work out as much as I would have liked, specifically because I actually started my masters during my tenure with the fire department.

Speaker 3:

At that time I was like, okay, well, I'm a new dad, I've got my full-time police officer job, my part-time firefighting job, I'm a full-time student in Houston State, full-time husband. Like I'm sitting here going okay, I've got to let something go. And I went ahead and let go of the firefighting and then, almost simultaneously, as I was completing my first semester for my grad degree, is my mother-in-law was diagnosed with ALS and I was extremely close to my mother-in-law. That's my wife's best friend as well. So they were originally from Colorado and mom said you know, hey, I want to move back to Colorado, but I'm not going without you guys. So you know, if you're unwilling to make the transition and leave your job, I completely understand, because I really saw myself as a lifer. At that time I was already a quarter of the way to retirement with the police department. But I definitely find value in family and I said, well, help family first, let's go. So my wife and I we're going to quit our careers and went to Colorado and I think within six months of moving up there mom had passed. So that was a struggle. And then I also left law enforcement at that point in time and I quit my master's program because my priorities changed and I was like, well, you know, I want those things, but do I need them? Is more or less where I was. I was like, well, I know what I'm capable of personally. I don't need that. I can do something else.

Speaker 3:

And my brother-in-law helped me get into the oil field at that time. So I ended up going and working the rigs. I started as a worm hand of working the floor and doing surface drilling out in Utah and then ultimately worked my way up to working Derrick's for HMP on a big flex rig out in the DJ basin there in Colorado. And oh and behold, you know, do that for a little bit. And the next thing springs up and we end up hitting a big oil bust in late 14.

Speaker 3:

My father-in-law and my brother-in-law got laid off and as they got laid off the right was on the wall for me and we had an opportunity to go into business together doing foundations in the industrial side of things for midstream oil and gas. We had some colleagues over there that were willing to help us out as far as give us contract right out of the gate If we went and started this business for ourselves. So I said sure, and I talked to Kelsey about it. My wife and at that point in time she was like you know, we've only got seven grand in the bank and you know we're in this transition where, you know, at that point down here didn't have a pot to this end. We, you know, had just uprooted the family within the last year and a half or two.

Speaker 3:

All of these things, and I don't know what made me do it, but it was one of those very rare occasions where one of the spouses will put their foot down and say, well, this is kind of non-negotiable, this is what I want to do and what we're doing and I need you to support it. And I did that. Kelsey was upset with me for the first little bit. But here we are eight years later. We've been in business and we've been leaps and bounds as far as accomplishments for the business and just revenue generation, sales team growth. I mean this year alone we're up 63% for our revenue generation for our business. We exceeded $10 million in revenue for our first time halfway into the year. We hadn't even done $10 million in a single year previously. And just things like that where it's pretty exciting.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it's a big step, you know, jumping off as an entrepreneur. I did that after after I retired and you just there's a lot of unknowns there. You know, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make my house payment this month or not, you know, yeah we had that Absolutely.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I remember the first time we we weren't six months into the business and I was sitting there at the grocery store with the kids telling them what they couldn't have. You know, and get a phone call and find out that Exxon had been one of their bills to us and I was like, oh my gosh, I've got some money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're getting name brands cereal kids, yeah, and we're getting lucky charms.

Speaker 3:

And I was like, hey, you want that snack cake, go get that snack cake. That's exactly how the conversation went, because I mean, at that point in time my brother and I were they, we were the whole company at that time and wearing every hat, and we would pay him one month and then pay me the next month and the company had to be the priority. You know, I was running a newspaper route at night while we were running the company here on the day, and that way I had the money from the newspaper route to pay the bills and feed the family. So it was a lot, it was exciting times man, what an interesting life.

Speaker 4:

you know so many and you've just kind of put your foot in the water and everything.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, it's definitely been exciting, you know, and there's been, you know, huge personal achievements there, not just for the business but, like you know, my family. Funny enough, you know, I don't mention them enough and I recognize that as one of my weaknesses, you know, to do this whole whole shale here. I barely said much about them. But you know, we go back to how I started this story about the Navy and my fear of water.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I was definitely afraid of water until, quite literally, about three or four years ago, we took a vacation with a family my daughter was 11 at the time and we were up in Minnesota, near Bemidji, at a place called Lake Cass or Cass Lake, cass Lake, yes, sir. So we were up there, we rented a boat and my daughter jumps off the boat into the water and I'm sitting here going, oh my gosh, you know, and I'm still scared. You know, hell, I must have been 36 at the time and still scared 20 years later and my daughter's like dad, get in. You know I was like, oh okay, I jumped in and that was the first time in 20 years I'd gotten into damn water.

Speaker 4:

Wow, that's awesome, good for you, though, so you have. So you have two children, yep.

Speaker 3:

Yep, I've got my son and my daughter, so Griffin and Aurora.

Speaker 2:

We had the pleasure of meeting Griffin. Griffin's a pretty good. He's a good boy, yeah he's got a huge heart. Very.

Speaker 4:

So what's it like, you know, being a husband and a father in as a business owner.

Speaker 3:

It's got a ties in its lows for sure, you know. Fortunately, kelsey and the kids, they definitely understand that I wear many hats, you know, within the business there's we've got the entrepreneurial mindset, you've got the management mindset and then you've got the technician mindset and I try to definitely be in that visionary entrepreneurs that set up as much as I can be, and then managerial and down in the technical level stuff, as least as I have to be. But it never fails. I've got to be there to some capacity on occasion and it pulls me away, you know. But I also when we we have a lot of people that are, you know.

Speaker 3:

So when we we have fun, we're having fun. So it's just, it's give and take. And I think the kids have definitely been the biggest as far as the learning curve goes. They've they've learned quite a bit. I know when they were, they were young, or every once in a while it'd be like dad, you're always working, and now it's just like, okay, well, we get to do this awesome, like trip, yeah, and then, and then dad's going to be working again.

Speaker 3:

And so that's really what it is is trying to find that balance, but it's so flipping hard. It's a hell of a lot harder than it is to execute and actually do than it is to say, but I do what I can and I like to think that a I like to think that Kelsey and the kids respect that and they understand that.

Speaker 4:

So tell me how you got involved in motorcycles.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, no, I just had my first motorcycle accident, so and we're glad you guys are still here.

Speaker 3:

My wife doesn't thank you, by the way, but yeah, my wife's not fond of the. The way I got into motorcycles is she was actually seven months pregnant with our first kid, with Aurora, and I was 23 and I was really interested in bikes. I wanted to get a bike. I'd been doing a ton of just look in and admiring. So one day I told her today I'm not getting a bike, just gonna go walk to showroom, look at bikes again. I've done it a hundred times before and then a couple hours later I come home with this motorcycle and I'd never even ridden one, didn't know a thing about it as far as how to ride one, how to change gears, never, never been on one. So I actually had to have a guy load my my Honda VTX into the bed of his pickup and drive it to the house for me. Well, I followed him. Oh, wow. So I called my sergeant. I was like hey, taking a mar off, calling in sick.

Speaker 2:

I'm not feeling too well.

Speaker 3:

Yeah and yeah. I ended up. I think I put the first nine miles on that bike in my driveway. Sit there and I'd walk it back down the driveway into the street and then I'd drive it open to the garage and then back down the drive and then open it and I just practice getting in gear. And I drove that thing for about six months without a driver's license before I finally got the damn driver's license.

Speaker 2:

No, I think that's a lot and very common with the motorcycle world.

Speaker 3:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

So yeah.

Speaker 3:

I've been riding for 15 years now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's grown on you enough to be a part of the CVMA. Do you want to tell the listeners about the CVMA bit?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity. So CVMA is the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association. We're a international motorcycle association, not a club. We are composed of veterans, veteran support members, such as family members as well, and We've got chapters in every state, but it's essentially a group of veterans who are also motorcycle enthusiasts and it's a 501c3.

Speaker 3:

Our goal, or rather mission, is to support other veterans who have sacrificed for us, and we basically you hold fundraising events and things like that, charitable donations, and we'll go out throughout the year and we'll provide for veterans in our local communities. And one of the things that we do, and on anyable basis, is we have a national meeting and it's in a different load location every year and we'll load up, ride our bikes, you know, whatever you've got and and go to this location For this national meeting and we'll typically have, you know, a couple thousand folks show up for that and I mean I've been all over the United States been able to do that and this last year, like I said a moment ago, it was in my first accident had had my wife with me.

Speaker 2:

Was that during a CVMA deal or is that separate?

Speaker 3:

That was during our national meeting actually, and I've laid back down a couple of times in the 15 years.

Speaker 3:

But I've never had one where it was an accident, you know like where, with injuries. I've laid back down being stupid, or you know soft shoulders slipped, you know, on some Oil spot or something like that, just little stuff. But this, this here, damn near totaled the bike and sent both of us to the hospital and put calcium physical therapy for six months. After Four hours surgery, yeah, what did she break again? She broke her left femur or sorry, sorry her her left humerus, just underneath the ball in the joint. So she's got two metal plates and 13 screws holding that arm together. That's not good.

Speaker 2:

That's crazy. Well, I'm glad it's not worse. Once again, yeah, it was, it could have been.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I was one of those occasions where we were just tooting around town. We were in Colorado Springs and Typically when we just hanging out close to the house or something I don't wear a helmet she had hers on and when we went down I ended up Cracking my head on the ground and I got knocked unconscious during the accident and I woke up under the bike and she woke up in the middle of the street and just writhing in pain. So it could have been a hell of a lot worse, you're gonna say something, sean, I can see winding up my screen just froze.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you're breaking up, it's alright, no, you're good. So I was gonna say I remember Seeing you're post about the accident, but right before that you just made a very long post about having a really long Trip that you were on to with some pretty bad weather and making it through it and everything like that that.

Speaker 1:

I saw that post pop up and I was like man After everything you went through on the previous trip and then that happens.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, one of the things that I'm known for within the Motorcycle community that that I'm a part of is the endurance riding or long distance riding. So we do these iron butt rides and they've got different levels of difficulty, so the lowest level being a thousand miles in 24 hours, which is what we did, and I took some new riders To experience that this year and they followed me up and we ended up hitting some. I mean, we hit every kind of weather we had sleep, we had rain, we had freezing temperatures, we had a hundred plus degree temperatures all in the same 24 hours. It was absolutely insane. I've done 1500 miles in 24 hours before. I mean all over the United States, from Montana to Texas and as far west as Idaho all the way out to North Carolina, and I've never had a 24-hour period go like that. So it was definitely difficult. Yeah, that's pretty cool, yeah. So I was like you know, I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna go back to the Period go like that. So it was definitely difficult.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that's wild. I Used to ride quite a bit too, and until about I don't know. I guess about six years ago I sold my bike and for a.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

But I used to love riding the mountains in Colorado. You know, it's just a just get out there and just be free.

Speaker 3:

You know I do yes it's beautiful man and hey, I don't think that's bad choice. Though, switching over to that Ranger, I'm thinking about getting one myself one day.

Speaker 2:

Everything was pretty sweet. He does a nice ride down there.

Speaker 4:

It has beer holders you know, there you go.

Speaker 2:

You know, I've always wanted to get in the motorcycle Riding anyway and I just can't get myself to do it, especially being in this job no, law enforcement. I've been to way too many motorcycle wrecks and Like every time I go to one I'm just like, yeah, I think I'm gonna Probably put that in the back burner longer, and you know, then I'm think about it and then I'm just Just seeding too much of it. It's I've had enough of going to those, so Maybe someday.

Speaker 3:

I absolutely get that and I absolutely respect it. You know, yeah, you make the best decision for yourself. You know, for some reason I've got this bug and I just can't get rid of it. Where you know, before Kelsey even went to have her her surgery, she was just like all right, I need to get better. So I get back on the bike. I was like yeah.

Speaker 4:

You know it is that camaraderie.

Speaker 3:

You know whether you're driving down that interstate all by yourself and you come up on another bike and you group together and you know, and Before you know it you got a couple of couple of bikes riding together and you know it's that brotherhood, right yeah, you know, and it's funny because sometimes you might even might not even realize it, might not not respect the fact that it's there, and then you go through an accident such as what we just did and and it was absolutely insane I went 15 days after the accident was the first time I had to cook a meal because they started a meal train for us. For 15 days I cooked nothing. We didn't have to drive ourselves from Colorado down to Texas. We had friends drive us home all the way from Colorado but we were licking our wounds and you know, kelsey's still got broken arm, hadn't had surgery yet we're trying to get to the orthopedic surgeon in Houston and all these things. So we're just pretty much bandaged up, laying in the back of a truck while they they drove us home.

Speaker 3:

And and then my motorcycle. You know I went down in Colorado Springs the local Indian dealer there is Pikes Peak Indian and they got wind of my accident and they sent two of their guys with a truck and their trailer from their dealership down and they picked up my Harley and they took it back to their yard and offloaded it and staged it there and said, hey, it's here whenever you need to come pick it up no cost and then, and then I had some friends who, funny enough, two years prior I on viewed them in an accident in Colorado and help perform first aid and get them to the hospital.

Speaker 3:

And then here we were two years later and they happen to be up there and they're like hey, we're heading home, we've got one spot left on the trailer, we're heading to Florida. We can stop in Houston on the way home and drop your bike off. So they loaded my bike up on their trailer. They took the detour down to Houston. I gave them the code to the front door, said, hey, drop the bike off, go inside, go to bed, get some rest and when you're ready just let yourself out. And you know I have a safe trip to Florida. And that's how we did. So it was on canny. I didn't have to cook anything, I didn't have to take us to hospitals, I didn't have to transport my bike, I didn't have to do anything. My whole community took care of me.

Speaker 4:

That's so great, so great.

Speaker 1:

We'll return to the podcast in a moment, but first we want to thank best defense Armory and range for supporting our podcast. Veteran owned best defense Armory and range is located in Forest Lake, minnesota. Open to the public. They offer a shooting range permit to carry classes and firearm sales. Visit them at BD armory and range calm to see their inventory or book a class. Now back to our podcast you.

Speaker 4:

John, you're also a pretty avid hunter. What do you? What do you got? What do you got planned for? What's on the hit list this year?

Speaker 3:

so you know, a story popped into my head just a little bit ago. I wanted to back up for a second.

Speaker 3:

Yeah is uh, you know you were talking about how you hunted as a child with your father. He wanted to be back into it and that was actually something that my grandfather did and unfortunately he passed when I was young and my father. He didn't really have a lot of interest in the hunting so I never really hunted outside of like squirrels and rabbits. We look 22 or 4, 10 in the yard. You know we lived on some property and so I go to Iraq. I come home and the first thing in my mind is like, hey, I want to start hunting. I've never done big game hunting or anything. And here's, here's a. I'm humble enough to admit this.

Speaker 3:

I Spent my entire deployment as a machine gunner and I had this stargazer scope that you had a Work night shift and it had a dust cover on the rear and you had to take your. You had to take your, your eye, and press Against this aperture to open it up. Oh yeah, cover so that you can see through your stargazer scope when you were engaging in target. And so I spent 12 to 17 months doing that. And Then I come home and I get on this 30, 30 lever action rifle my dad was letting me borrow to go out and hunt deer and my dumb ass. I got right up on that scope Myself and gashed my eye open. Yeah, and I was. I was laughing, but I was so ashamed of myself. At the same time I was at Carter's country over here in north Houston and I took my rifle, my dad's rifle, I put it in his case, I buttoned it up and I walked out with blood just trickling down my face. I didn't say dang thing, I just walked out. I got my truck. That was. That was a good experience, taught me a lesson.

Speaker 3:

But this year actually I got quite a bit on the on the list. I'm gonna get back on my bow for my first time in five years. My brother-in-law Not my business partner, but my, my sister's husband, gay, but we're gonna go Bow hunting on his property, which I'm not sure exactly where it's located it's it is out towards your place, sean, out in that area, but he's got some acreage out there. We're gonna hunt, do whitetail. I've also got a Neil guy hunt, which I've enjoyed doing Neil guy in the past. But this year what we're doing differently is we're gonna take airboats out and then use thermal optics and do a nighttime Neil guy hunt down in South Texas and that'll be at the end of October.

Speaker 4:

Oh, man, that's gonna be amazing, yeah, really really looking forward to that.

Speaker 3:

And then I had a Vendor of mine invite me out to go up to Edmonton and do three days of duck hunting in October up in Edmonton, Alberta.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome.

Speaker 3:

I'll be doing that in October and I've actually got a dove hunt slated for this weekend, and then I've also got six Fezzent hunts lined up with my dog Out here in the college station area as well. I'll take some clients and just get them on some birds.

Speaker 4:

Well, that sounds like a pretty good schedule.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's a full season man.

Speaker 2:

Yeah it'll be busy.

Speaker 4:

Good for you, that new guy is so delicious it's probably by one of my favorite meets.

Speaker 2:

So what say? What is that now for people who don't know?

Speaker 3:

So it is actually. You know, the story, depending on who you ask, is a little different, but essentially it is a very large breed or species of antelope that comes from India and and the story goes at least the one I've heard is that there was a carney or somebody of some sort back in like, say, 1800 timeframe, come over to Texas, had these Neil guy he imported as part of his show or something and then ended up going belly up, released his animals and what started out as just a couple dozen head is now turned into like somewhere between I've heard numbers upwards of 20,000 head of Neil guy roaming the wild of South Texas.

Speaker 2:

Interesting. I mean, isn't that pretty much a story for any exotics down in Texas?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's pretty much it. So that's the story I've heard. You know, take it the grain of salt, but it's still pretty interesting story.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty cool, so you'll make sure that we Are you. I assume you're going through someone, right?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so for that we're using an outfitter. I'm actually my other brother-in-law, who's actually my business partner as well. He's never been big game hunting before. I took him on his first bird hunt last year and he was Just I mean, he, he got the bug. I could tell it was awesome to see his, his, just him, light up at the experience, and so I'm exposing him to the. The big game hunting this year via his first big game Hunt will be a thermal Neil guy nighttime. Oh, that's so cool.

Speaker 4:

It's so cool yeah.

Speaker 2:

John don't do a well to follow up John to see how it goes. Maybe we can get that contact.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I'll be down there with my cooler yeah.

Speaker 3:

Actually, the gentleman who I want to say, the gentleman who I spoke to about getting this set up, he does do some stuff with veterans on occasion. So, yeah, I'll definitely put you guys in touch. I mean, yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, I'm. I'm taking my entire executive team down there, we're using the lodge, there'll be five of us and we're gonna do Our leadership meeting sessions during the daylight hours, get some rest and then go out and hunt at night.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's good for you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we're like shotted about it.

Speaker 2:

So let's talk about your Texas I'm. We haven't really got to touch base too deep besides the video that we made, you know, with Sean there and Griffin you know. So I know that was a Fun trip for me to be on, you know, and we talked about your experience in the video. Obviously it was pretty raw, since the hunts just ended and everything like that, so haven't really got to have much follow-up about After the fact. You know. I mean you got to help me with looking at the video and obviously we screwed up the spelling in your guys' names and that was totally.

Speaker 2:

You know, I thought there was a lot of very good messages that you had in there and then being able to watch you interact with Griffin was phenomenal. The things that you said for advice to him and make a lot of things that parents could take out of your book to help guide how we, you know, hunt with our kids or teach them to get in the outdoors. So just kind of want to look at the follow-up, you know, like what was the things that happened after? Like the drive home, what are the things that you guys talked about? Did you just Griffin still talk about these things, like just the video? Second, to watch the video and see that come out like how did everything go after that?

Speaker 3:

It went really well. It went really well, I think, for the first hour. We were on the road on the way back. I mean, it was just, I was just like, oh, my gosh, go to sleep, perfect. So he fell asleep and actually slept for several hours and then he woke up and all of a sudden it was just like, okay, hey, you play by play again of what had just happened over the last few days. And it was just, it was phenomenal, it was, it was really good.

Speaker 3:

And we got home and of course then he got to retell it to mom and To sister and and then friends. So it was really really cool to see him so excited for so long afterwards. And and then, like you said, the video release, you know, and he was chomping at the bit, so was I like, hey, when's the video? When's the video? And then finally that video came out and we sent it to Grandma and Grandpa, we sent it to, you know, aunts and uncles, and and then we, we watched it, like shut everything down at the house, put it on the big TV and the living room, and we watched that and his face Just lit up, you know, like, oh, hey, I'm on TV. So that was really cool. He still loves that Mormaker knife that he got at the drawing that you guys, the little raffle that you did yeah.

Speaker 2:

Shawn landed that one that was that was. That's awesome. Yeah, I know that was pretty cool, but the whole, the whole video is I just thought it all was laid out very well, rogued. It a good job, but you know, can't make good videos like good stories and Good conversation. So I appreciate you guys with that and follow up and follow through on being able to do the video with us and tell your story. So do you think that it has brought you guys closer together at all?

Speaker 3:

Oh, I genuinely believe it. You know. Just, for instance, you know he'll it's funny He'll pick up on when I'm in a mood or something like that, and I don't get like upset, I just I get in a funk where I'm just like I'm short with somebody. You know He'll be like hey dad, I'm just like hey man, just Chill for a minute. I need a minute. And he'll just walk up and give me a hug man, you need a hug. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's, that's actually exactly what I mean.

Speaker 3:

So again, like I said earlier, huge heart, right, just, for instance, a little bit of a tangent here. But we've got a dog, ruby, who's a Doverman and she was actually born one month after him and she's coming up on 13 years, but unfortunately she is definitely at the end of her life and and we're gonna have to have her euthanized on Thursday, because we just set the appointment yesterday, because she's just, you got in the point where she can't control her bowels, things like that, and and Today we decided to tell the kids and he just went and laid with her on the floor and just started sobbing, you know, and it's just things like that where he's just got that huge heart and yeah, that's tough. He's not ashamed to hide it.

Speaker 2:

So and those. Son, you're getting ready to say something. You're just trying to conjure up the first few words.

Speaker 4:

Yes, I just you know, for all of our listeners out there that haven't had a chance to go On our YouTube channel and watch this video With John and Griffin you know it brings tears in my eyes every time I watch it. I mean it's such a great story In such a special time spent in the blind together with father and son Just brings back so many memories. And and one one of the One of the times that really sticks in my mind is when you had animals in front of you and and his Griffin was on the gun and and he was all lined up and everything was there and he just he just didn't feel like it was the right time. And how you handled that situation, john, I mean your father of the year, I mean that was. It was just amazing how how Calmly you you accepted that and it was good. And we're I think I've I've probably witnessed other some others that would have went the other direction and just kind of forced it on them and yeah, so for that, sir, I applaud you absolutely.

Speaker 5:

Oh, you got a deer. Get your ears on, okay, camera man, we got a deer to the right of the feeder, left of the big tree, that looks like a legal shooter. Young buck, it's a young buck. Okay, cock your weapon, Select your switch. Now, calm down, take a good breath. I can't, you can't, I can't, that's okay, it's okay.

Speaker 3:

So he gets on a scope, he looks right through it and he gets a good beat on that deer and all that's left is moving that selector switch and then squeezing that trigger and he stopped. He's just like I just can't do it. So I said, okay, that's all right, and I went ahead and took over. He asked me to take over for him, so I left through a scope and I mean he had that scope already dialed in right on that deer. All I had to do was squeeze the trigger, close the deal for him and it was done.

Speaker 5:

He's expired. I'm sorry, hey Gryphon. I don't want to hear you apologize again. Reload that weapon. Look at me, right in my eyes. I'm proud of you Because you came with me and you gave it a try. Get that out of your head. I'm not upset with you at all. Okay, good job.

Speaker 3:

I appreciate that very much, man. I think that's one of those things I definitely. I believe I got actually from my dad. He was definitely one of those guys that led with an iron fist, so to speak, Like most of our dads from our generation. It was just like hey, you speak when spoken to, and one thing that I do that resonated with me, though, was if I didn't want to, or I felt intimidated by, or was kind of like just scared of something, he would step back and he'd be like okay, like I get it, that's okay, I can do this and you can do that, and that's one thing I definitely remember.

Speaker 3:

I mean just silly things where, for some reason, you know, like in home alone, the kid was scared of the furnace. Me, I was scared of the attic. I was like you want to get a slice out of the attic? You can kiss my ass, I'm not doing it. Like I'll go and shove it in the dog crap, I'm not doing it. And he'd get his you know, six foot one, 220 pound butt up in the attic and start handing down. You know, it's not like he had a little six foot ladder. He had to climb and lift himself into the attic and he's like all right, but he didn't make me go and do it and he didn't ridicule me or chastise me. It was just like, okay, well then you're going to be down here receiving while I hand stuff out to you and we'll find another way.

Speaker 2:

And that was your, that was your dad. Yeah, that's awesome, I mean, obviously it's an awesome trait to pass along. Like Sean said and I'm probably guilty of it, it's some aspect too with my kids, you know, with hunting, you know I just I try very, very hard to be soft-handed when it comes to introducing them to new stuff, and I got to realize that it's brand new and that we have to accept that. And we were brand new at all this at one time too, so self-reflecting on what that looked like when I was doing it, my experience when I started hunting was a lot different. I just got back from overseas, you know.

Speaker 2:

So you know, getting behind a firearm and using that on an animal was a lot different than my 12 year old, who's never really been worried. He's worried about the kick and everything. And, man, we were shooting some pretty heavy artillery when we were overseas, so I was never worried about the kick, you know. So it's an awesome trait to be passed along. I do have another question, though, for you is with the video and sharing it with your family. Were these some things that you, that you shared in the video with your mental health or personal experiences that some of your family had not known.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely, man. You know I've been pretty. It took me years to be honest with Kelsey as far as some of the intimate details and things like that with my, say, PTSD and my, you know I did. There was a time where I was just angry at the world and definitely didn't say any of that kind of stuff to my parents, my kids, I mean hell, up until that day. I don't think any my kids either one of them had ever seen a tear come out of one of my eyes, you know, like oh my gosh, dad cried like oh, that's a big deal. So they, they had never seen or heard really any of that. I try to keep it private and not exposed into it and I don't know why right wrong or indifferent, I just choose not to. So yeah, they learned quite a bit about me. I will say that.

Speaker 2:

Well, I thank you for sharing that for us, because one of the big things that we talked about before the video is, you know, these videos are meant to help other people too.

Speaker 2:

So our videos and my words exactly are these things are the experiences that we have are going to be bigger than us to help other people that may not have the ability to navigate those situations as well, but being, if we can hop on a camera and we can talk about these things and be vulnerable, it helps other people open up and be vulnerable to to get to that next step that they might need for help. So certainly appreciate you putting that out there. I had a feeling that was probably the first time Griffin has heard that or saw that. So I appreciate you being open and honest with it all because I'm sure it gave another aspect of thinking or viewing his own father. You know that. You know we're human. We're human still and these things happen and we can be vulnerable to and I hope to some extent gave you guys another different viewpoint on life with each other.

Speaker 3:

It absolutely did. You know, and one of the focal points for me as a father is I try to incorporate what I learn as a leader managing people, leading a team and I try to take as much as I can from those lessons. You know I've got a professional coach that I've hired a fortune and been fortunate enough to be able to afford to do that for myself, and I've been humble enough to, you know, be vulnerable. Rather, I've been vulnerable enough to recognize that I don't know everything and that I need a coach to help me be the best version of myself. I don't know whether that any say a professional athlete still needs a coach, you know, just things like that.

Speaker 3:

So I try to take those lessons learned and incorporate them in other areas of my life and you know, I feel like you guys definitely were huge contributors to empowering myself and I'm just so much more than I've ever done to have a voice and I genuinely believe I'd be doing a disservice to your team and everything that you provided for us over that weekend and all of that experience if I didn't at least, you know, kind of shed a few layers and just try to be vulnerable for a few minutes, and I do that to help you guys on your mission, which is extremely admirable, here at HHO and and hopefully another veteran out there can hear that message or another first responder can hear that message and be like man, I can go do that, you know, like, if it just affects one person, then I got what I wanted out of it and I know you guys did.

Speaker 2:

That's kind of our everyday walk of life. You know, if we have one person that we can help or change their life or find a new path for them, there might be hiccups on the way, and that's okay, you know, but if at least give some direction and clarity and to show that they have support around them, you know that's, I think that's exactly what we're looking for, you know. And no, I appreciate you guys being vulnerable and sharing those things with everyone. I know one of the two different things that I have is one of the terms that I've been using a lot recently is being self aware. Self aware is huge when it comes to who we are and what we do, especially as veterans or first responders, and the other part is having some humility.

Speaker 2:

Humility is the number one word I've been using a lot in the last month and I know Sean's heard me say it a whole bunch. But you know, humility also comes with self reflection. You know, when you self reflect, you're able to find these flaws or these issues that are not necessarily a bad thing, that things that you have to build upon and be able to grow from, and having humility is something that's incredibly important and, you know, not only is going out in the outdoors and reflecting on everything in your life and being able to decompress but helps build that self awareness and thought and the humility side of things and the things that you may need to work on. But that outdoor conduit is something that helps you unplug and be able to have that reflection. So sorry, that was very much like philosophical and I'm not that way.

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's great man. I, funny enough, I, you know, I could show you texts where a couple times a week, I have intentional time that I set aside for myself and I will just sit by myself no music, no, nothing. I'll read a book or I'll just sit and smoke a cigar and just think and try to reflect genuinely reflect about maybe decisions or actions that I've taken over the previous days and how it may have affected others in a way that, you know, I didn't perceive initially during the moment, or something I try to be empathetic, I guess, is the best way to explain that. So, and I remember just a week or two ago where I was actually in one of those scenarios that I thought to myself, you know, I kind of got on that guy during this meeting and I'm definitely one of those guys who wants to praise in public and then I will correct somebody in private, you know, and try to be that kind of leader and I felt like maybe I didn't didn't meet that expectation for myself and I may have gotten on that guy a little hard during a meeting.

Speaker 3:

So I actually reached out to one of my employees. I was like, hey, man, I hope that you know this didn't come off that way, but I could see how it could be perceived this way. I just want to let you know that. You know, I'm just trying to help, you know, strengthen you as a leader. And so he came back and he's like man, I never even thought about it that way, like you're overthinking it, but thank you, I was like, okay, but it's perfect.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure, like because my big goal is, if we can avoid any politicking within the workplace, we can avoid any politicking at all. Where, where anybody's against one another, then the vision, the mission, the goal is going to be successful.

Speaker 2:

It's empowerment, yes, it's empowerment. You know, people have the ability to have a voice and be heard. You know, and that's huge, you know we talk about that at HH all the time is transparency, you know, if there's something that is bothering you, speak up, because I can't fix what I don't know. And if there's something that you, if there's something that you see that is not going the way that you feel it should like, if you don't say something, how do we fix something we don't know? So speak up, you know, and that's exactly you know. But also being self aware we just talked about being self aware and you had that self awareness and that reflection that have the empathy to reach out. So that's, that's huge and I think these kind of sits up on that level with those other three things I just or other two things I talked about. So, john, I know you're, you're boiling to say something there.

Speaker 4:

Now I'm just taking it all in. I mean this it's good. These are all good points for everybody to live by and self-reflect for sure.

Speaker 3:

Well, I hope I'm not bouncing around too much either. No, that's long-winded, that's that's not what we.

Speaker 2:

No, it's phenomenal, you know. It's, uh, it's been a very good conversation, you know, and I think that I hope that someone who listens to this can kind of listen to everything that you've been through and what you've done in life, but also shows the perseverance of everything that you've, uh, engaged in. You know, the road's always going to be bumpy. It's just how you deal with that, those bumps, you know, and navigate those and find your outlets of things that will help you. You know, but also in age HO, we tell everyone that you know, your family life is number one, your professional life is number two and if you got time as a volunteer volunteer some time, you know. But also we have members like yourself who absolutely need us. I'm not saying that you absolutely need us, but members out there who do, and you know. So, just if we're not a good body and mind when it comes to doing what we do in our mission, we're not able to help those that need it when they need it.

Speaker 3:

Well, and I genuinely believe that that was something that I needed. You know, every interaction I've had with you guys has been positive, has, you know, helped me think about how I could do better, and and it's not only impacted me, but it's impacted my entire family. So I definitely, definitely appreciate everything that you guys are doing and and again, I just try to make sure that I repay. You know, I definitely feel like I owe you guys and I'm gonna do anything I can to help you guys out, to continue to be successful on your mission.

Speaker 4:

You don't owe us anything, buddy, you're, you're doing it right now, john, you know, yeah, we just gotta keep going and get more folks to to get outside and get on the outdoors and come and enjoy our trips. And it's not at all, it's not about the hunt and it's not about the catching the fish. There's so much more to it.

Speaker 2:

Totally, totally so. Yeah, we're coming up in an hour here, so I just want to thank you both for your time. I just want to see if you guys have any closing comments. John, if you have a message for our listeners or anything that you generally just want to speak about, I'll give you the floor.

Speaker 3:

The. You know, one of the other benefits here that I didn't touch on that I'd like to touch on real quick is I had the opportunity to interact with some other really awesome veterans and their families. At the end of the weekend. We ended up connecting with one another via like, facebook, social media, and we still interact. We still see what each other like, what, what our families are doing. We get to see the kids grow up and and achieve other things and like, hey, man, awesome, give each other accolades and adaboys and like congratulations. So that is. Another exciting component here is the lifelong friendships that come with it. You know I might have been. You know hell, that was this year. I was 38, I think when I came up there just turned 39 and I mean hell. Some of the guys that we we met on this trip, I'm sure it'll be friends of mine. For that you know the rest of my life.

Speaker 2:

So very cool that's awesome, you know, and I would say 9 out of 10 podcasts that we have, where we have members who come back and reflect on the experiences they had. That is a very common response that we have, which is absolutely phenomenal and that's what we want to hear Awesome, yeah, sean. Is there any closing comments or anything that you'd like to talk about regarding Mr Lyle here or the Hunter?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, this is just, john, a great example of what can be accomplished coming on one of our, one of our events and I just encourage anybody that that listens to really dig into our organization and and check us out and, if you have the opportunity to, please come attend one of our, one of our adventures, because you're going to get a lot more out of it than you, than you think.

Speaker 2:

Yes, totally, and I'm going to make my closing statement here and we'll wrap up for the the podcast here. But, john, I'm very grateful to have met you. You know I'll never forget that when I put that message out into our group chat about coming down with Rogue and wanting to do a video on someone, about this youth on, because it's a unique circumstances when it comes to having a child with you and I think that is a very strong component, you know getting a child in the outdoors and sharing that bond and having that healing. So I'm very grateful that you reached out. There's a lot of individual on that trip that were absolutely phenomenal.

Speaker 2:

But I know being on a camera and being vulnerable and candid about your life and where you've been, where you've gone, is not easy. I've done a lot of interviews on these cameras and grace is not always a thing. So you did very, very well and I appreciate your ability to communicate and be vulnerable and share your experiences. So I know it's been some time since our last. We got to see each other last December, so but I hope to see you again soon. You know I'm going to be in Texas, coming up soon, so maybe we can get together or at least have a beer, john. Maybe we can squeeze him into coming to the banquet if he's open that weekend.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I got a seat for you, come on.

Speaker 3:

Sounds good, shoot me the details. Man, I'd love to see you.

Speaker 2:

But I'm just, I'm just incredibly thankful to have you and Griffin be able to share your experience there, and sorry, we shoved a camera in your face the whole time, but you guys did awesome and everything about it was great. So Memories for a lifetime.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So with that, I just want to let everyone know that you know we have John here and John has shared a lot of his personal life and his experiences and he's been through health struggles and I encourage you all to go watch the video between John and his son Griffin while he was down and dealing on Texas on a youth hunt. A lot of great messages and learning experiences for anyone who might be a parent, but also us as military service members, veterans or first responders. I think there's a lot of pages we can take out of John's book and and be able to move forward with just things to learn from and absorb and hopefully implement your own life if you're a parent. But I definitely encourage everyone who may be having a mental health struggles to be able to reach out to us as an organization and feel free to go on these hunts and these adventures that we do, because it definitely opens up the door for mental healing absolutely does. But in the event that you're also having a moment where you need to speak to someone immediately, you know our bonds are on these trips, but we're always here for you no matter what, and if you're having some struggles and you want to reach out. Please do so through our social media, our website. You know we have a list of phone numbers on our social media, in our private community, as well as on our website.

Speaker 2:

You can reach out to us. We have the assist training. It's the applied suicide intervention skills training. If you're feeling the time of crisis you need to help you, we're here for you so that. Or you can call uh 988, which is the national suicide crisis intervention line. So please reach out to that. We want you to stay here and we want you to experience the things that we get to do on the outdoors. So reach out when you have a moment. But but that concludes our podcast for today. Thank you everyone for joining us. Sean, thanks for being here. Mr John Lyle, you're a phenomenal human and I hope everything is on the up and up for you guys. But until then, our listeners, we will see you next week thank you for listening to the hometown hero outdoors podcast.

Speaker 1:

For more information, visit our website at hometownherooutdoorsorg.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Christopher Tetrault

Host
Head Shot

Phil Ewert

Producer