Transcript

Intro (00:00:36):

Five foot eight, 150 pounds. 17 years old, signing Navy paperwork a month before he graduates high school with just about everyone in his family telling him it’s the biggest mistake of his life. My guest this episode is Neil Trusso, Navy Seal parachute rigger. Seal team 3, four deployments, including a mission off the coast of Somalia four months after Black Hawk Down. Today he works at Tree House Recovery, helping men do what he had to do, push, progress, and stand next to people who’ve already done the hard thing. Here’s Neil Trusso. I am the experiment. You can write your own story. Not stop trying and don't give into the fear.

Justin McMillen (00:00:44):

Dude, I had a dream last night that I was getting ready to fight Conor McGregor. Super weird.

Neil Trusso (00:00:48):

Were you walking around weird with the arms behind you?

Justin McMillen (00:00:50):

No, but I was trying to find a cup and I was asking people to borrow their cup. This was real. I had this dream, and there was these fucked up, weird cups, and I was trying to put it in, and I didn't have the jock strap to go with it. People were like, just set it in there and it was sliding around, and it was it was so...

Neil Trusso (00:01:06):

That's a real scary.

Justin McMillen (00:01:08):

It was it was weird. It was weird. Okay, so back to it. So your physical empowerment director, high school lacrosse coach for five years, you run a custom design company. First born child, 1994. No. Your first born child was in 1994. While you're overseas. Was Black Hawk Down. So you were in Somalia? Yeah?

Neil Trusso (00:01:28):

Yes.

Justin McMillen (00:01:28):

Yeah. Have two adult sons. Being a dad, it's most important thing to you.

Neil Trusso (00:01:34):

Yes.

Justin McMillen (00:01:36):

One of the coolest things.

Neil Trusso (00:01:37):

Two stepsons. One adult now and one.. No, soon to be adult. He's a junior. He is, as all juniors are in high school.

Justin McMillen (00:01:45):

Really?

Neil Trusso (00:01:46):

Perfect.

Justin McMillen (00:01:48):

Perfect?

Neil Trusso (00:01:49):

As a as a teenager should be. Is literally the perfect junior.

Justin McMillen (00:01:52):

Yeah. Of course. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:01:53):

[...]

Justin McMillen (00:01:54):

Perfect teenager doesn't mean easy to get along.

Neil Trusso (00:01:56):

No. Exactly, exactly.

Justin McMillen (00:01:59):

Strong bond with your kids. Better than you in every way. So fatherhood gave you direction, purpose. I'm not going to go into all the details here, but, you did this massive career shift, so you got out of the Navy, and then you jumped into. You decide you were going to go back to school.

Neil Trusso (00:02:19):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:02:20):

Yeah. So, so, yeah, I guess that's there's a lot here. That's a starting point.

Neil Trusso (00:02:27):

Just for the record, I want to make sure everyone knows I'm just way stronger than my two adult sons.

Justin McMillen (00:02:31):

Way stronger?

Neil Trusso (00:02:32):

Yeah, that's for the.

Justin McMillen (00:02:35):

I'm sure.

Neil Trusso (00:02:36):

So when they hear this, they like what?!

Justin McMillen (00:02:38):

Yeah, I think, both of them, both of could take you down pretty easy. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:02:46):

They're soft.

Justin McMillen (00:02:47):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:02:48):

I can't wait till they hear this. I'm going to get hate texts, phone calls.

Justin McMillen (00:02:52):

As you should. It's their job.

Neil Trusso (00:02:55):

And it is now. No. It's great. It's wonderful. Now, the relationships that we have now. Yeah. You know, we went through a lot. Neil being born when I was deployed and then coming home and then having a son who didn't even know you. And then busy. He went through.

Justin McMillen (00:03:11):

How long were you gone when he was?

Neil Trusso (00:03:12):

I didn't see him till this four months old. He was born in in March, and, you know, I got back later that year. So, yeah, It was like, well, you're a dad. So that finding out he was born was is a good start. I mean, we'll get in that later. But so doing that and then college and then his mom, my wife at the time, we were busy. He went through the [..] I don't know what I'm doing as a parent phase. Which is probably why he's so, you know, careful with what he does and he's, he's, he's driven, he's gone through a ton of stuff and I'm super proud of where he's at now. But now, you know typical. Don't talk to your dad face for a few years and not pretty close. And I'm super proud of where he's at. He's killing it, doing really good.

Justin McMillen (00:03:58):

He lives up in the northwest, right?

Neil Trusso (00:03:59):

Yeah. He lives in Boston.

Justin McMillen (00:04:01):

Oh, okay.

Neil Trusso (00:04:02):

Yeah, oh no he moved.

Justin McMillen (00:04:03):

Yeah, he moved to the other side.

Neil Trusso (00:04:04):

Again, trials and tribulations. Lot of life changing things for him. Watched him do that. And he went through the same struggle with changes in job and probably depression, too. And then figured it out.

Justin McMillen (00:04:18):

So when I met you, he was

Neil Trusso (00:04:21):

Like six, maybe seven.

Justin McMillen (00:04:23):

Okay. Wow. So you were you were pretty fresh out of the military when I met you.

Neil Trusso (00:04:28):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:04:28):

You would have been a few years.

Neil Trusso (00:04:29):

Like five years. Six years.

Justin McMillen (00:04:31):

So when you so, what was your ex-wifes name?

Neil Trusso (00:04:37):

Jennifer.

Justin McMillen (00:04:37):

Jennifer. So Jennifer was pregnant, and you'd already been. Let's let's go back. Let's go back in time. So. So.

(00:04:46):

[...] That's our producer.

(00:04:52):

So, you're born in Guam? Yes. And your dad. Sorry. Your your your. Explain that.

Neil Trusso (00:05:03):

Okay, so alright I got to go back. It's a little confusing because now I get my sister got her 23 and me, and it's really cool.

Justin McMillen (00:05:08):

Sure. You're like everything, but, yeah, there's a burp button.

Neil Trusso (00:05:12):

I did. I burp... used the button. So my dad, his dad was from Hoboken, New Jersey. Ended up in Guam. My grandfather.. Sicilian, and ended up in Guam after the Navy, PT boats and stuff. Like the island. Married a local woman who's half Japanese, Guamanian. And they had my dad there on Guam. My other grandfather, Pennsylvania Dutch blonde, blue eyed army all over the place. Ended up working for Bendix. I dont know, ended up in Brazil somehow. Probably for the army. Met my grandmother...

Justin McMillen (00:05:54):

What’s was Bendix?

Neil Trusso (00:05:55):

I think it was like a, it was like satellites and radar stuff.

Justin McMillen (00:05:59):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:06:00):

Like electronics. Pretty state of the art because at one point they worked with, like, Neil Armstrong and NASA and stuff.

Justin McMillen (00:06:05):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:06:08):

End up in Brazil, met my grandmother there for in Belém. And then now they're together. We're talking like 50s, which is pretty rough. And they ended up in Guam because he was an advisor, a technical advisor for Bendix, for the Vietnam War. And so now they have their kids together and that's how they meet. So now where they're from literally from everywhere, you know, and that's all...

Justin McMillen (00:06:31):

Oh you're like a you're like, you know, like the, the new child of the world.

Neil Trusso (00:06:36):

Yeah. That pretty much mix everyone together, right?

Justin McMillen (00:06:39):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:06:40):

And then my two boys have even more stuff, which is wild. And so. Which is good. Which is fine. I was pretty proud of that my whole life. I've never been not proud of it and never had any issues with that. Enjoyed that a lot. Guam was wonderful, was rough but wonderful.

Justin McMillen (00:06:56):

In what way? Wonderful. How? Give me, like, a snapshot of Guam as a kid.

Neil Trusso (00:07:02):

So we're talking, like, early 70s. One McDonald's in the entire island. When it rains, the crabs come out of the out of the ocean. You pick them up and you cook them, like, not kidding, bucket...

Justin McMillen (00:07:15):

Like big ass coconut crabs?

Neil Trusso (00:07:16):

No, these are just a regular sidewalk and crap. Whatever crab. The coconut crabs are a whole other thing. And they're still they're they're it's crazy how they catch those things. Living off the island. A lot of World War two like stuff all over the island. They had this famous, like off road, track. My dad was big and off roading and buying world war two jeeps and rebuilding it and trying to, you know, it was just kind of. I think it was a hustler trying to hustle.

Justin McMillen (00:07:41):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:07:43):

And so we did a lot, dude. He took me everywhere, I think made my mom crazy. We're talking off roading in the Jeep, almost flipping the Jeep over, and Im under six years old. Five years old. I think when.. after they divorced, my dad worked for a, sanitation, like a pipe, laying company that laid off the pipes that go into the ocean.

Justin McMillen (00:08:05):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:08:06):

And I'm got to be, like, six years old, and I'm on the ship with him working because he couldn't find a babysitter , probably.

Justin McMillen (00:08:12):

So you were going, you were hanging out.

Neil Trusso (00:08:13):

But I'm in the on the ship, and he's throwing me off the ship in the middle of the ocean in a life jacket.

Justin McMillen (00:08:17):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (00:08:17):

I don't even know what job he was doing at the time, we're talking like lay nets for fishing in the bay at midnight.

Justin McMillen (00:08:23):

So he was raised by World War Two, folks?

Neil Trusso (00:08:27):

Oh, yeah. Yeah, running around, no shoes on.

Justin McMillen (00:08:28):

But in in Guam. So he's like kind of a wild child of Guam. And he's...

Neil Trusso (00:08:33):

I think more so than his brothers. But yeah, like hustle, figure things out, get a job, do your things.

Justin McMillen (00:08:39):

And then how many kids in your family?

Neil Trusso (00:08:42):

My immediate family above me?

Justin McMillen (00:08:44):

With this guy. And you, like, full blooded, like biological.

Neil Trusso (00:08:48):

Okay, so I've got my my, my biological sister and I have, at least three other half, two brothers and another sister.

Justin McMillen (00:08:57):

Okay. Were you close to any of them?

Neil Trusso (00:08:59):

No, I I'm close to my one oldest half brother now.

Justin McMillen (00:09:02):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:09:03):

He's he's a hustler too he’s [...] He's doing really well. Been working a lot. It's really weird, though. We didn't meet until. Maybe 15, 20 years ago. And he was already older. We had a lot of the same, likes, same hobbies. We met on a video game, which is crazy. He found me.

Justin McMillen (00:09:23):

That's a trip.

Neil Trusso (00:09:24):

Yeah. So we were playing video games online from Hawaii to here, you know, and then I've even been in contact with ever since. It's been pretty cool. He's a really good dude, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:09:34):

Nice. So dad's showing you off boats?

Neil Trusso (00:09:36):

Yeah. That was life growing up. Yeah, like, don't ever buy a kid in Guam in the 70s. White pants and then get pissed off when their muddy. You know?

Justin McMillen (00:09:44):

Was he rough guy?

Neil Trusso (00:09:45):

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Short temper. Yeah. You know, very. But very loving. Very. I remember a lot of wrestling a lot of screwing around kind of thing. It was good, but very short tempered. And I get I understand where he gets it from now as I'm older.

Justin McMillen (00:09:57):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:09:57):

You know, but, yeah, I mean, you know, learn that lesson. Did the best he could at the time.

Justin McMillen (00:10:02):

And and mom met him was over there. She was from the States though.

Neil Trusso (00:10:06):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:10:08):

So she'd gone to visit or something?

Neil Trusso (00:10:09):

No they lived. They were living there.

Justin McMillen (00:10:11):

Oh, okay.

Neil Trusso (00:10:11):

Yeah. They went to high school together.

Justin McMillen (00:10:13):

Oh, okay.

Neil Trusso (00:10:14):

Yeah. Now that's crazy, because. Because all the traveling my, my grandfather did my mom's that they actually lived in Spain for, like, a couple years when she was in like, seventh grade. So she only learned Spanish. She came home speaking Castilian in Pittsburgh. In Pennsylvania?

Justin McMillen (00:10:29):

Oh shit.

Neil Trusso (00:10:30):

Yeah. No, it's pretty wild. They were in, like, Egypt. They were all over the place.

Justin McMillen (00:10:33):

That’s cool.

Neil Trusso (00:10:34):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:10:35):

It's cool. So you okay? So you were. Did you go all the way through high school there?

Neil Trusso (00:10:39):

No, no, no, I left, like seven, eight years old.

Justin McMillen (00:10:41):

Okay. Yeah. So it's kind of like all your formative years.

Neil Trusso (00:10:44):

I remember a lot of elementary, a lot of.

Justin McMillen (00:10:46):

Yeah, wild environment.

Neil Trusso (00:10:48):

Running around, going crazy. Latchkey. It was interesting. We live right next to, like, a church near the pastors. So I interesting story. I was kind of kid, like, I guess I've been like this my whole life. This whole, like, happy, caring thing. There is a I guess the story in the family is I'll just walk on the beach one day. This is when about six years old, going from living with my dad, not only with my mom and her and my grandparents, and I see this lady crying, and I just go talk to her and I bring her home. She's a come to find out. She's like a young wife of a guy in the Navy who came in from, like, the Midwest somewhere, who he got in trouble. And it's like, I forget exactly what he's either in Navy jail or something. And we took her in for, like, a few months until he got out.

Justin McMillen (00:11:34):

Seriously?

Neil Trusso (00:11:34):

Yeah. Literally happened. I literally found this lady just took her home.

Justin McMillen (00:11:38):

Wow.

Neil Trusso (00:11:38):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:11:39):

It kind of checks out, though.

Neil Trusso (00:11:41):

Yeah. See, it seems like I've been doing that whole I. Yeah, I keep forgetting. That's right. Yeah, I literally did that on. I must've been like, six years old just roaming around the beach.

Justin McMillen (00:11:48):

It totally makes sense to me. Yeah, yeah. You got, you have one of the most, like, purest, honest hearts of anybody I seen you. Yeah. We've worked together for awhile. Yeah, I’ve seen you do some shit. So, so. So you guys moved? So Mom and dad split?

Neil Trusso (00:12:03):

Yeah. And then mom went home. Okay.

Justin McMillen (00:12:05):

Which is where?

Neil Trusso (00:12:05):

It's just, California. So States, she went to state side. I stayed with my dad for a year with my sister, which was difficult and weird. That it was really good, too.

Justin McMillen (00:12:14):

She was just coming here to get her shit together?

Neil Trusso (00:12:16):

Yeah, and save money and stuff and come back. I literally flew to wild thinking about as I flew from Guam to LAX alone with my sister.

Justin McMillen (00:12:29):

At seven?

Neil Trusso (00:12:30):

At seven, and she must have been four or three or four. Like, it wasn't even a big deal back then. Now?

Justin McMillen (00:12:36):

[...] metal detectors back then. Yeah, there there was there was no nothing to scan.

Neil Trusso (00:12:40):

[...] everyone was hanging out at airports and meeting people and stuff. It was pretty wild.

Justin McMillen (00:12:45):

Yeah. It's nuts.

Neil Trusso (00:12:46):

Yeah. And I got here and I remember getting here in the wintertime because it was like, what the heck is this? Let's go to the snow. Yeah. And I go to the snow one day and I touch it. This is the greatest thing ever. And then it hurt and I hated it.

Justin McMillen (00:12:58):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:12:59):

So now I have. Now I have a thing about not doing anything uncomfortable unless I'm prepared.

Justin McMillen (00:13:04):

That's what's also great about you, is you've done plenty of uncomfortable things in your life. But you're just like, at this point you don't give a shit. It's like.

Neil Trusso (00:13:11):

I'm old now. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:13:12):

It's like, I don't, I get you got. No, you proved all your proven.

Neil Trusso (00:13:15):

I'm not cool anymore. [...]

Justin McMillen (00:13:18):

No that's awesome. Okay. So you came over here eight, seven years old, something like that. Burbank. Burbank. And, and it's probably shocking.

Neil Trusso (00:13:27):

It is, but I had a cousin who was three other than me. We did a lot of bad stuff. I mean, a lot of good stuff. We hung out all the time. I'm super close, and we're still pretty close. We're still busy, but we're. When we get together, it's great.

Justin McMillen (00:13:36):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (00:13:38):

Romper stomped Burbank did a lot of bad things, a lot of good things all the way up until, you know, high school graduate.

Justin McMillen (00:13:45):

And were you into sports and stuff in high school?

Neil Trusso (00:13:47):

You know what? My mom did not. Yeah, I was, because my mom didn't like how I reacted to some stuff once you said I was, like, whining about stuff [...] like you just stuck me in sports. Go. And that became like my...

Justin McMillen (00:14:00):

I got worried, no dad around you.

Neil Trusso (00:14:02):

That was the thing. I think like my grandfather, my uncles were my dads. But she did worry about something like that. I never she said, you know what? Just stuck you in. So I did like track football. The, I tried baseball's really bad at it. You know, I just did stuff. And then I started hanging out with kids that did that kind of thing. Basically, street ball.

Justin McMillen (00:14:20):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:14:21):

You know, which was really, really healthy for me because other stuff was doing wasn't good, you know, like, like stealing liquor in in grocery stores at, like, fifth grade.

Justin McMillen (00:14:31):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:14:32):

Yeah. That's the other the spectrum. Man, I could have been bad if you went one direction, you know..

Justin McMillen (00:14:38):

Do your boys know about that?

Neil Trusso (00:14:39):

I started talking to them about that? I used to chug bottles in the store. Run out.

Justin McMillen (00:14:43):

Dude.

Neil Trusso (00:14:44):

I know, like we're talking sixth grade. Fifth grade. Yeah, that's not good.

Justin McMillen (00:14:50):

Yeah. No, that's, you were, I think.

Neil Trusso (00:14:54):

At that pivotal time.

Justin McMillen (00:14:56):

Built different. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:14:57):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:14:57):

So then you get into sports and what was the draw towards the military?

Neil Trusso (00:15:02):

So I got it. Okay. So, my mom met and married my stepdad. Current stepdad, who's an amazing guy. We're different, but he's he was the best thing for her. Best thing for the family.

Justin McMillen (00:15:14):

How old were you when that happened?

Neil Trusso (00:15:19):

I would say, I think getting seven eighth grade. Yeah, I think because then we moved and they got married.

Justin McMillen (00:15:26):

You did a good stretch of being.

Neil Trusso (00:15:28):

Oh he. Yeah he's been there.

Justin McMillen (00:15:29):

But I mean you, you also from eight years old to so you had like 3 or 4 years where you were.

Neil Trusso (00:15:36):

Oh no I mean I was like I must be 13, 14 when he came in. Yeah. And it was like me all alone on like talk about a latchkey kid from like, third grade.

Justin McMillen (00:15:45):

So you're the wild child now. You got.

Neil Trusso (00:15:46):

And I got this guy here. Like what? Like he's got rules. And. Yeah, it was weird because he was a military guy.

Justin McMillen (00:15:53):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:15:53):

But he was consistent and he was everything. And. Yeah, he was just. He was him. He took care of my mom. He did a great job, took care of us. You know.

Justin McMillen (00:16:01):

You and your mom really close?

Neil Trusso (00:16:03):

We were. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, she was young. I mean, she was 18 when she had me. Okay. Which is another story, cause, like, her birthday's February 23rd. Mines November 23rd. That's exactly nine months.

Justin McMillen (00:16:16):

Wow.

Neil Trusso (00:16:16):

And my uncle makes a joke now saying, yeah, I was the chaperon. I'm sorry. Of her 18th birthday, I really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:16:28):

So. Wow. So. Yeah. Yeah. No, I got to meet your mom.

Neil Trusso (00:16:34):

Yeah. She's amazing. She was an angel. I don't think she's ever done anything wrong or was like my sister ever in her whole life. Yeah. She didn't have a bone in her body for that.

Justin McMillen (00:16:43):

Yeah, she. I don't remember what she looks like. I don't remember her voice or anything. I just remember how she made me feel.

Neil Trusso (00:16:52):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:16:52):

Isn’t that weird? Yeah. She she has, And people talked about her, but I, I met her in LA. She was standing at a table. I know that. And I walked up and and she, Yeah, she was really nice to me, so.

Neil Trusso (00:17:10):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:17:10):

And I was in a weird spot because I was really nervous. Yeah. So she. Yeah, she was. And. Yeah. So military. So stepdad was a recruiter.

Neil Trusso (00:17:21):

So...

Justin McMillen (00:17:22):

was he active duty when you were?

Neil Trusso (00:17:23):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:17:24):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:17:24):

I was working in, I think San Diego. He was actually attached to the Miramar Top Gun.

Justin McMillen (00:17:33):

So you Navy guy?

Neil Trusso (00:17:34):

He was a Navy guy. Yeah, okay. And electronics, but he was a chief. Was a Navy counselor, and then he was a recruiter. But he was also a, chief, made the E9, ran a bunch of stuff. He was attached to Miramar for a while, attached to a, destroyer squadron for a while. So he brought me around stuff that he could like on the ship for a couple days, or. I don't know how he got me into this thing in 10th grade to go visit the Seal Training BUDS compound. It was like a field ship they had. I hope they still do it because it was great. Like high school kids could go down there and then give him a tour. You play with stuff. It's really cool, man.

Justin McMillen (00:18:06):

That is cool.

Neil Trusso (00:18:07):

Yeah, I shoot some training guns, like electronic Little thing [...] at literally at buds. Wow. It was rad. It was really cool. Yeah, yeah, I don't care. Like, oh, this is great. I don't care to trade. You know, I'm going to go to college. I'm going to play football in college. I'm like, yeah, you're you're tiny. High school was amazing.

Justin McMillen (00:18:26):

So you you you knew you wanted to go to the Navy.

Neil Trusso (00:18:29):

Oh no, no.

Justin McMillen (00:18:31):

But there was some hint of it. But you tried to get into the Marine Corps. They said you weren’t tough enough?

Neil Trusso (00:18:35):

Oh, yeah. The Marines are way tough. I didn't like the flavor of the crayons. It just couldn't do it. When the wax gets in your teeth.

Justin McMillen (00:18:42):

Put that in for Fender.

Neil Trusso (00:18:43):

Yeah, let's get it, I'm gonna get hate for that.

Justin McMillen (00:18:47):

No. So. But you you got exposed to it. But you were going to college.

Neil Trusso (00:18:50):

I was planning on going to school, you know, that. I was even accepted into, Cal State Northridge engineering program. So back then, I was, you know, hyper, super smart, athletic, you know, walk on to the Northridge football team. But I was a mess runner again. Latchkey kid running around doing dumb stuff. And just was like, I think literally a month before I graduated high school, I'm like, yeah, let's go see what these recruiters have. And it was the Army Rangers had a program similar to the Navy did like guaranteed. If you pass every school, you get to go to Ranger School or Bud's.

Justin McMillen (00:19:26):

Oh, nice.

Neil Trusso (00:19:27):

Yeah. So like that's why I was like the fastest way in I think now it's not even that his way slower now to get like actual BUDs contracts or whatever, SO contracts. You know, like, you know, the Ranger guy was cool. Had a scar on his face was a super tough guy. But then, like the seal, I was like, I'm in the ocean again, and I'm an island guy. I love the ocean. Little did I know that I suck at swimming compared to what these guys are really doing.

Justin McMillen (00:19:54):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:19:54):

I can survive in the water, but I was not a competitive swimmer.

Justin McMillen (00:19:57):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:19:58):

And I chose. I chose to go the Navy. So one month before graduating, I signed up at 17. I didn't turn 18 until November, so I think it was right before I got into BUDs I just turned 18.

Justin McMillen (00:20:12):

Did you talk to your family about that?

Neil Trusso (00:20:13):

Yeah, I had to. They had to sign me over.

Justin McMillen (00:20:15):

Sure that's true.

Neil Trusso (00:20:16):

I think my step dad was cool that my mom was kind of freaked out. And of course, everyone you talk to, everyone has gone through this to. You'll never make it. Don't do it in my, my my Jennifer, my son's my mom's dad was a Vietnam vet. He's like, what the hell are you doing? You're going to make the biggest mistake of your life. Why are you doing this? So many negative, you know? Yeah, I'm five foot, nothing like five foot eight, 100 and like 50 pound kid. You know, everybody's telling me I can't do it. And of course, that's just things, okay? And F you had a lot of. I did have a lot of anger. Yeah. And I was like, you know, F you so...

Justin McMillen (00:20:53):

It specifically, you can't do it like, you're not you're not capable. You're not going to be able to make it through.

Neil Trusso (00:20:57):

You're not strong enough, your’e not this enough or not that I that whatever

Justin McMillen (00:21:01):

Do you do you remember how you was it just a fuck you, or did you question whether you'd be able to or did you know?

Neil Trusso (00:21:09):

You know, I didn't know, but I never questioned it. You know, like the biggest thing for me in BUDs was, yeah, I wasn't the fastest, biggest right around the middle of Pac guy. You learn that quick. There was no books. There was no videos, there was no nothing.

Justin McMillen (00:21:22):

Right? No internet. I mean, yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:21:24):

Nothing, it was just like, deal with it. So when you get there, you got to learn. And in there like obviously in the middle. And that actually the middle is about as good as I got, which is still pretty impressive. My swimming sucked, but everything else is great. And...

Justin McMillen (00:21:37):

So you had zero idea what to expect?

Neil Trusso (00:21:39):

Oh no, not a clue.

Justin McMillen (00:21:40):

You just hear it's hard as shit.

Neil Trusso (00:21:41):

Yeah, just do everything you can to prep for it.

Justin McMillen (00:21:44):

And you're 18.

Neil Trusso (00:21:45):

I'm 17.

Justin McMillen (00:21:46):

17. And you roll into this and you're like, I got it.

Neil Trusso (00:21:48):

I got to go to eight. I got to boot camp first. And that was good, because boot camp was what's called a dive-farer company. And it was all wannabes, wannabe seal, diver EOD.

Justin McMillen (00:21:57):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:21:57):

So we were a special company, which means we just worked out more. Which is great for us.

Justin McMillen (00:22:02):

Just fortifying your getting ready for.

Neil Trusso (00:22:05):

Yeah, for the different levels. And this is kind of cool too because you wanna talking about diversity. So we're in the Navy in Orlando in 89 and our our drill instructor chief was an E-7 was it was dude. And our E-6 drill instructor was a female diver.

Justin McMillen (00:22:20):

Really?

Neil Trusso (00:22:21):

So think about all the stuff she went through probably ten years already before she got to that. A hard hat by a legit Navy diver. And she was a badass.

Justin McMillen (00:22:30):

That's awesome.

Neil Trusso (00:22:30):

We didn't even care that we were scared. You know, all of us getting screamed at all.

Justin McMillen (00:22:34):

She yelled at you too?

Neil Trusso (00:22:34):

Oh, yeah, oh, I'm just I didn't even dawn on me until, like, the last couple I did this. What what she went through to get her spot. You got to be impressive because it wasn't time period to exact. Yeah. I was like, fuck you we hate you, oh sorry. [..] yeah, it was like, you know, imagine the crap she went through. She was bad and they were great. They did all they need to do. They beat us up, you know, like, made us do workouts in, like, a room maybe half this size with 100 guys doing push ups on top. And we'd do some until the walls sweating.

Justin McMillen (00:23:03):

Jeez.

Neil Trusso (00:23:04):

That was fine. It was. That was actually.

Justin McMillen (00:23:05):

So you deal with the heat there as opposed to the cold.

Neil Trusso (00:23:08):

Oh, dude Orlando sucked.

Justin McMillen (00:23:09):

Yeah. It's humid

Neil Trusso (00:23:10):

Every day. You walked out, it rained for like 30 minutes. It's like 3:00 rain. Yeah. Yeah. So that was cool. I mean, honestly, boot camp was fun. Yeah. You get some.

Justin McMillen (00:23:20):

How long. How long was it?

Neil Trusso (00:23:21):

I think three months. Three months. You make your bad all that stuff super easy. It was fun. The gas chamber was fine. The shooting staff was fun and marching around. And as I'm getting older, it was all fun. We love on. Yes, the enter on Prairie get screamed at. That's fine. You know all that? Sure. You know, like Sunday was like, they give you a couple hours to go and, go to church or go to or you got service or whatever you believe in. So most of us would go, I'm not going to go. I'm going to fix all my stuff and make my bed. So it's still under our beds and put our hands in the metal and fall asleep.

Justin McMillen (00:23:53):

Oh, geez.

Neil Trusso (00:23:54):

Like I'm fixing my rack. Yeah, like. And when they come and see me wake up.

Justin McMillen (00:23:59):

Yeah, yeah. Smart.

Neil Trusso (00:24:00):

I don't think I slept in my sheets the entire time in boot camp. Because we kept it pristinely and I sat on top of the whole thing the entire time.

Justin McMillen (00:24:11):

That's smart. So they'd roll in, and if you got your fingers up there, you're you're not.

Neil Trusso (00:24:16):

Can you imagine? You're under a I have a bottom bunk. It's like just slept like this...

Justin McMillen (00:24:21):

See, I was like, every time we walk in, these guys are just on it. They're just on it. They're always under their beds or on their.

Neil Trusso (00:24:27):

I think everyone, yeah, I mean, everybody, every boot camp must have figured it out. Yeah, sure. Yeah. That's awesome. But it was good that got us prepared for it. I think just the workout, the intensity, it was more like we were not. None of us were prepared for when it was going to come, which was great.

Justin McMillen (00:24:42):

Did you buddy up with some of the guys that were there?

Neil Trusso (00:24:44):

I actually had a guy that I buddied up with who we went through boot camp, A school, BUDs, and jump school together.

Justin McMillen (00:24:51):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:24:52):

They end up going to East Coast. I went to West Coast. So it was cool.

Justin McMillen (00:24:55):

What's what's so for people who don't know what's A school. What's that?

Neil Trusso (00:24:59):

Okay. So now in current modern era you don't go to a military jobs like a job. You get the SO designation, which is like special operator. And you go like to boot camp. And then prep and then BUDs and then SQT and then you become a special operator. Back then, every guy in the Navy had to go through a in A school, which is like like other other, branches called MOS, like your, your job specialist.

Justin McMillen (00:25:25):

That's where the parachute rigger.

Neil Trusso (00:25:26):

Yeah. So like, it was like, you can pick from ten things, you know, gunner's mate, machinist mate, all these different things that can help. And so I went to Aircrew Survival Equipment, which is PR or parachute rear school in New Jersey, which was cool.

Justin McMillen (00:25:38):

Why did you choose that?

Neil Trusso (00:25:40):

I was that it was gunner's mate actually sounds cool, but it was cool, you know, and and my mom sewed and it was going to be a big deal for me to learn that I wanted. And we picked. We didn't want to pick, like, like core school. It was really long, so we don't wanna do that. I wanted to get to BUDs fast. It's all. It was all trying to game the system back. Yeah. Give you a choice. Like she and I'm going to get there as soon as I can. So we did. That was Greg's. I did it with Scott. That guy who we were together with the whole time, and he ended up getting, like, the class. He end up getting on automatic advancement because he was smart, and he was a dork, but he was awesome. His dad was a teacher in Baltimore.

Justin McMillen (00:26:18):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:26:18):

Yeah, that dude was super smart. And he was a nut, didn't feel pain, but not like charismatic. But just to do that would just it was great. Working with him was awesome. Yeah, yeah, just go for it. You not like my size. I'm not a big giant. I'm really, really, really smart. Really capable. And that was cool to be in new Jersey for three months. And I was like, you don't work out in A school. or you barely do. So we're working out twice a day, running the entire place, swimming as much as we can.

Justin McMillen (00:26:44):

And are you talking about like, what's it going to be like just with him?

Neil Trusso (00:26:48):

Because everybody else does. Because again, you're getting screamed out. You're doing stupid stuff like polishing, waxing the floor, making your beds, all that, you know, and still trying to have fun, which not a whole lot, a lot of fun. But it was cool because when I was there for Thanksgiving, which I like, this, we should probably do this too for Thanksgiving, local, families would offer their homes up to military. People had no place to go.

Justin McMillen (00:27:16):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (00:27:17):

I got picked up by some family. I got to go to Thanksgiving. It was pretty cool. It was awesome. Yeah, that was great. There's a lot of things like that, you know? It's pretty cool.

Justin McMillen (00:27:24):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (00:27:26):

Graduated there, came back, went to BUDs. You know, basically health starts just you're nothing. Back then I was called fourth phase Pre-BUDs or whatever, I just was waiting for enough guys to come in, and you and your class up date starts to go. So they just beat you up for, like, however many weeks you there.

Justin McMillen (00:27:44):

And you’re just waiting until the class is full enough?

Neil Trusso (00:27:46):

Yeah. So just doing dumb stuff and helping out things, cleaning up, getting PT’d or getting in trouble, just getting smashed.

Justin McMillen (00:27:52):

How long are you in limbo?

Neil Trusso (00:27:54):

I think like four weeks. Okay. Not that long. Okay. There was like, Christmas or winter holiday vacation. I took some time there and it was boom. January class up winter hell week and go. It sucked.

Justin McMillen (00:28:08):

Winter.

Neil Trusso (00:28:08):

The whole thing sucked. Yeah, I survived. I'm okay in the cold water. Let's just say I'm a little bit of fat on me. But really, weird because I was negatively buoyant back then too. But I was fine and I was okay in the cold. We had a dude who hyped out and I actually connected with him on Facebook 3 in 3 different times he went to BUDs you hyped out twice and they bounced him. He was too skinny. Not because physically or anything he wouldn't leave. They forced him out.

Justin McMillen (00:28:35):

His body just couldn't do it.

Neil Trusso (00:28:37):

Two times and then the third time he went through, he made it through.

Justin McMillen (00:28:39):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (00:28:40):

Because that you're cold. You're cold a lot. Yeah. Every day. Yeah. It sucked. It blows. There's no book again. No books. Dude, the dudes nowadays can buy like helmets that are plastic, that have the right... Dude we had to like sandblast our own and hand paint them. And they would just chuck him across the grind. It would just the paint would go “dush” you have to go get it back? You get screamed at all day to get home at Eight, go sandblast it, repaint it all night long till the next day. Like. Do what?

Justin McMillen (00:29:07):

That's crazy.

Intro (00:29:07):

Yea it was way harder. We were the hardest one.

Justin McMillen (00:29:10):

Yeah, it's that time period, right. Well because they again like you hear stories that guys now are hacking it. They know like what to expect and I've heard that that they know what's going to happen on day three. And instructors are having to I was listening to Eddie Gallagher talk about okay. And I think I think no, it wasn't Eddie Gallagher. There's some it was a Seal that some team guy that had, somebody die after training. Do you hear about this?

Neil Trusso (00:29:38):

I mean, it's been a couple.

Justin McMillen (00:29:40):

But he was held he was held accountable to it or somebody. They wanted to fry him for it.

Neil Trusso (00:29:45):

Okay.

Justin McMillen (00:29:46):

But anyways, he was talking about how the guys have, like, they, they they're doing research and they're learning exactly what's going to happen. So they would purposely mix, change it up so that people couldn't prepare.

Neil Trusso (00:29:58):

Yeah. Good. They need to.

Justin McMillen (00:29:59):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:30:00):

Part of not being prepared is what makes them better.

Justin McMillen (00:30:02):

Yeah. Yeah yeah. He was saying that he was like, you can't...

Neil Trusso (00:30:06):

You can't take away like all of the like the entire first phase is almost, tactically irrelevant. But it's all about building the grit, testing the guys and building up the resistance and the resilience, learning how to be together. And it just sucks. And it should it it should suck.

Justin McMillen (00:30:27):

Yeah. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:30:27):

It's great. Let it suck.

Justin McMillen (00:30:29):

Do you think that are they finding people that have grit or are you creating grit or is it both?

Neil Trusso (00:30:35):

I think it's both. Although I had a I don't know. This is not proven in any way. We have a theory because I do hang out and talk to a bunch of other former guys, and we would it dawned on us that a lot of the guys that we know, and again, it's not 100% correct, and then don't take me. It just seemed like, sure, the officers that they picked came from decent families and had decent like were put together, and most of the enlisted guys had a crap ton of trauma from their life.

Justin McMillen (00:31:05):

Interesting.

Neil Trusso (00:31:05):

Yeah. And it kind of makes sense. Again, I may be completely wrong here, but it kind of makes sense because the enlisted guys do most of the work and they just want to go crazy, and the officers don't have to reel them in.

Justin McMillen (00:31:15):

Gotcha. It's just like like wild horses that you're barely taming enough to keep that energy going.

Neil Trusso (00:31:22):

You're still got to play the game. But, you know, you gotta look nice some days and then come the briefs and talk to the big guys. Well, I just want to run around. I just kick doors in and just be dirty.

Justin McMillen (00:31:31):

So you get to. So Bud starts. And how does it. What's the

Neil Trusso (00:31:37):

The thing about BUDs which I thought was the coolest part was, there was a dude that joined. I forgot his name. He joined a class like the day before we classed up, so he came in late. Dude, he was out of shape, like 20 pounds overweight, soft and pudgy. Passed out on the first run made it all the way through.

Justin McMillen (00:31:59):

Really?

Neil Trusso (00:31:59):

First time. First time he got all the way through. And the dudes that roll in in fourth phase like the want to be class leader guys that were jacked, hit the ocean, cried, quit. First day, second day wild.

Justin McMillen (00:32:13):

What is it that what is it that makes? What is it that makes some people? I mean, I guess those questions asked all the time.

Neil Trusso (00:32:18):

Yeah, it's fear, and it's where you come from and drive. My thing in BUDs was I wasn't the fastest and it sucked. And it was painful. My, my, my whole I actually was like praying that my leg would break, that I could stop doing it

Justin McMillen (00:32:33):

Because you wouldn't stop?

Neil Trusso (00:32:34):

I'm not quitting, but I just I hate it hurts so bad, I hated it.

Justin McMillen (00:32:38):

That's crazy.

Neil Trusso (00:32:39):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:32:40):

That's kind of beautiful though. So you you really look at that. You're you're like, my own mind won't quit...

Neil Trusso (00:32:46):

But I hate this.

Justin McMillen (00:32:47):

So it has to be that my body will break before. Yeah. Because that's the only thing thats gonna stop you.

(00:32:52):

And it's wild because everybody talks about BUDs it's like, okay, so you do BUDs, it's super hard.

Neil Trusso (00:32:56):

Yeah, go listen, read a book, listen to someone else's podcast. Yet you do your your BUDs diving which is like 45 minutes dude. Like, two months later you're doing but you're doing diving into teams like two hours minimum three hours. Welcome to the big leagues. Just it just goes from like that is nothing.

Justin McMillen (00:33:15):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:33:15):

Compared to the stuff that dudes are doing, you know, and I think the biggest thing about BUDs, which I think about now is it trains your mind and your body to be moving all day long.

Justin McMillen (00:33:28):

Do you think we're designed to do that?

Neil Trusso (00:33:30):

I think so I do it really, I really do, because when you're moving, I mean like so just to go eat three days a week, three days, two times a day was like a mile jog to to the chow hall. So that's that's two, four, six miles a day just to go eat, not including everything else you did. And it's like morning. Do some stuff once, do some stuff. Dinner, you know. So you're moving all day long. So when I was at it, when I was a team guy, like doing stuff all the time. Was no big deal. Now fast forward today. I don't move all the time with like, shoot, I why am I in so much pain? Or why am I so tired? I wish I could just move again nonstop, like go doing something all the time.

Justin McMillen (00:34:09):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:34:10):

You know I it felt fine. It was great.

Justin McMillen (00:34:12):

It's not the same and I'm not implying that it is, but I remember so you know, I did a bunch of construction. Right. And I would work with guys, would do 12 hour days and you know, you're doing physical shit all day. I mean, whether it's drywall or whatever, you're just doing stuff all day long. And I remember going to the gym for the first time and seeing guys work out and thinking like, this is so weird. It's like people are physically and I go to the gym now. I mean, I'm not against the gym in any way, but but it's like they're moving for no reason. And then and then I never even later doing triathlons and stuff like that. It was like, let's for four hours would be a slow time, like, I can do anything for four hours. You know, I used to work for ten, 12 hours straight, like without, you know, for Tony and shit.

Neil Trusso (00:34:55):

Like, you do some stuff builds, some take it away or.

Justin McMillen (00:34:57):

[...] But but I also like if I would not be working for say a month and I have a month off, be in school and I go back, it was like 2 or 3 days, of just hell, right? Cause your body's reacclimating, you're like laying in the tub at night and everything's ripped, and then like, you get back into it and then you're good again.

Neil Trusso (00:35:14):

Yeah, your body remembers it. I think BUDs did a really good job of like, getting you from point A to point B in a good progression. It sucked, but it was a push and then I think like what we do here at Tree House, with the same thing. Guys that come in don't kill yourself day one. Just push and every day gets better. And if all progressed up and like the kids that I coach and always have to build up, like get the running miles and get the body used to moving, and they get in better shape and better shape. Now let's go.

Justin McMillen (00:35:42):

It amazes me that people don't break constantly like, like hell week. So how week is seven days week five day, seven days?

Neil Trusso (00:35:51):

Yeah, Sunday night to Friday.

Justin McMillen (00:35:54):

And you're not sleeping.

Neil Trusso (00:35:56):

Yeah, catnaps and that sucks. You're wet. It blows.

Justin McMillen (00:35:59):

Yeah. But you're you're. How is it that people aren't breaking legs and do they? I mean are they getting hurt all the time or...

Neil Trusso (00:36:08):

They get, so they get a lot of ouchies breaking leg doesn’t like...

Justin McMillen (00:36:11):

What is ouchies?

Neil Trusso (00:36:12):

Like, you know, a bruise fall down you cut something. Breaking a bone doesn't normally happen. Doesn't usually happen because it's you're seven weeks in, you're supposed to have been training for a month or three months or years before you get here. And then they do did somewhat of, you know, 4 to 6 weeks of fourth or whatever of prepping your body. Now, there are certain things that are difficult that actions do that like rock portage or when you're doing something that has a higher danger effect, that may happen more often than not. It's you should be fine.

Justin McMillen (00:36:42):

So your body, your muscles aren't tearing. No not ripping a bicep...

Neil Trusso (00:36:45):

You should be able to do everything.

Justin McMillen (00:36:47):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:36:47):

It's more mental. And your body. I honestly think your body's capable of way more than your brain thinks it can.

Justin McMillen (00:36:53):

Of course.

Neil Trusso (00:36:53):

And when you're around guys that are doing. That's the thing for me. What I really enjoyed about the about the Seals and about life beyond is find people that have done it go stand next to them, and if you just do with them, you will eventually do what they do. Yeah, because like, I never thought I could go underwater and go three miles underwater. No way. And so, you know, I'm, I'm about to deal with a guy who's I done it before and all of a sudden I'm doing like, oh, okay. Like, I don't know about school. What? I'm gonna get next to the guy who can do it again. You know, be around positive people again. I think there's an actual, human development term for that which I forgot what it was, I think its like your zone of proximity. Who you surround yourself with is as good as you're going to get. Something like that. So if you hang out with like, people don't want to do anything, you're not gonna do anything. But if you hangout with a whole group of people that do stuff and they may be even better than you, you will grow into that is that way.

Justin McMillen (00:37:48):

Think is, they say you should if you're a golfer. I'm not a golfer, but if you're a golfer, you should play with like really good golfers. That that same idea?

Neil Trusso (00:37:56):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:37:56):

I mean or not. Is that different?

Neil Trusso (00:37:58):

No, I think it's the same like like for me at work. Why? Like, might they go to the physical staff. They're pretty much the best. Way better than clinical staff. I will fight you Rob. So those guys, almost all of them are 100% from us and have gone through our program. And they are the best. They are healthy, they're strong, they do it. They live it. So like the guys that they coach are growing up to that standard, which is great. And like, for instance, my high school lacrosse team that I coach, the more I get them to play up, even lose, but keep playing, the better they get.

Justin McMillen (00:38:36):

Got it.

Neil Trusso (00:38:37):

And the younger kids playing with the older kids, the younger kids get better, faster.

Justin McMillen (00:38:41):

It makes sense.

Neil Trusso (00:38:42):

I think in society we should be looking at this and using this some way. You know, and I think we have try I know in the education that these things have been brought up. They should have been used all the time.

Justin McMillen (00:38:51):

Yeah. It's almost like, we have low to low of expectations of people.

Neil Trusso (00:38:55):

Oh man. I agree you should. Yeah. No, I'm I'm a firm believer of sky's the limit.

Justin McMillen (00:39:01):

How much do you think your career though in the military created that in you?

Neil Trusso (00:39:07):

Well, I think, a lot the not quitting and the pushing forward. But I think what it did was it put me around guys that all would just get it done. There was no like, hey, I can tell you to go do something. It was like, why are you so slow? I already get mine done. Like, that kind of thing and then when I got out of the military was kind of important. Is that when I went to grad school I'm, like, way older than everyone there. And I asked me, where'd you, like, do these kids were get it done, kids. They were impressive.

Justin McMillen (00:39:38):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:39:38):

Faster than me, smarter than me. And but like, the teamwork was like, whoa, it's back. And you get out to a push ups or whatever going right there are people that do it. And then like here, like my staff, all these guys, same thing. There's nobody like, I don't want to come in.

Justin McMillen (00:39:54):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:39:54):

I don't wanna do this.

Justin McMillen (00:39:55):

That doesn't even exist.

Neil Trusso (00:39:56):

Oh, wait, I didn't do this. Oh, I’ll get it done, and I think I, I think there's more of them out there than maybe we realize.

Justin McMillen (00:40:02):

People are dying probably to be in an environment where they get to do that.

Neil Trusso (00:40:07):

I think so too, I think it’s good for everybody.

Justin McMillen (00:40:09):

But I think also man, I mean, to give you some credit here, I think you you're kind of highlighting who you are as a man. And I think that has been contagious. I mean, you've been working with us for we been working together for 12 years.

Neil Trusso (00:40:22):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:40:22):

And and I think if you continually put yourself in situations as you did when you were young man, where you're challenging yourself and then realizing you can do it, I imagine doing that enough. By the end of training, you probably feel like you could do anything.

Neil Trusso (00:40:39):

Yeah. Pretty much. I mean, I can pretty much do anything.

Justin McMillen (00:40:41):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:40:42):

You know, like, I I've done it. I went from the teams. Right. I was doing a construction that I went to here, and I picked up college football, and I played at a decent level. I didn't have the gifts to go anything higher. And I picked up lacrosse in college and played that. And I was do an adventure racing and did that. I, you know, aside from ping pong and bowling, I think that I could do I could be at a college level at any sport.

Justin McMillen (00:41:02):

Yeah, I know you can.

Neil Trusso (00:41:03):

Basketball. I can do that. Soccer I’d figure that one out, you know.

Justin McMillen (00:41:06):

Yeah. It's like you removed. Do you think that this the teams remove that ceiling because.

Neil Trusso (00:41:13):

No, definitely. Yeah, definitely.

Justin McMillen (00:41:15):

Do do you, this, this is off. I mean it's not off topic, but random question is, [...] four inches... or not, wait.

Neil Trusso (00:41:24):

No, I don't, eight inch's.

Justin McMillen (00:41:26):

Eight inches like that. Right. Oh that one.

Neil Trusso (00:41:30):

Gotcha.

Justin McMillen (00:41:31):

Yeah. So,

(00:41:33):

if you'd like to see more of this content, please subscribe to us on our channel on YouTube. You can follow us on Spotify or on X.

(00:41:42):

the sleep deprivation, you know, when it's a wild ass guess here. But one of the ways that you brainwash somebody is you keep them awake. I don't know if you know that, but that's well studied. You see, you keep people awake and you implant stuff in their heads, and then that it sticks. So, like, you can you have more people are more to the suggestible, right? When they're not sleeping. So my thought was like, if you put somebody in an environment where they have it in their head, I'm not going to fucking quit. You keep them awake and then you have them continually prove themselves that they're unstoppable. You're like, programing, it’s just a theory.

Neil Trusso (00:42:21):

Possibly, man.

Justin McMillen (00:42:22):

I mean.

Neil Trusso (00:42:22):

Unknown theory about that. I don't know if they actually knew if they were doing that or not.

Justin McMillen (00:42:26):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:42:27):

But they never once just again, there's never any negative deprogramming though in BUDs. It wasn't like you're all pieces of shit. It was more like, why are you so slow? Get going. You know, it's different. And there's a lot of funny stuff, even when they're beating you up. Like making you do push ups and dropping you down. It was kind of humorous.

Justin McMillen (00:42:48):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:42:48):

So sleep deprivation, ultimate exhaustion. It's never been, like, negative programing. And I don't even know if that was intentional or not.

Justin McMillen (00:42:56):

Yeah. Who knows. And maybe. Is it you think it's that way now?

Neil Trusso (00:42:59):

I think it's very similar. But that part hasn't changed.

Justin McMillen (00:43:02):

Yeah, that's interesting though to think is, if you if you did keep somebody awake, for a long period of time and you planted the seed in their head like you, you are unstoppable. Especially if they planted in their own head and they had a mantra like, I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to quit. And you keep them awake. You're programing subconscious and it...

Neil Trusso (00:43:23):

I bet it’s faster when we do that to our guys. Right. All that mindfulness, all that positive self-talk, all that affirmation...

Justin McMillen (00:43:28):

We should start keeping everyone awake.

Neil Trusso (00:43:29):

It's like you're not sleeping anymore at Tree House. I mean yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:43:33):

Yeah. No, it's that is fascinating though. So when you, when you get, when you get done with and for people who don't know and I don't, I don't know I don't know what. So you do all that training and then when do you actually go from being trained to where you're like assigned to a team? How long does that take?

Neil Trusso (00:43:48):

For... It was literally BUDs like a week jump school three weeks back to a team.

Justin McMillen (00:43:55):

Really?

Neil Trusso (00:43:56):

Oh yeah. And you're in. Well, I think officially you go it's like now it's different. But then again, we're talking like 30 years ago. And it was way easier, not way harder. I'm sorry. It was, it was, it was BUDs three weeks in Fort Benning and then back to your team and then potentially SQT, but what happened when I was at jump school is the Gulf War started ramping up. So they so we went to jump school in the in in it which is really cool. It's it's like summer and there's like 400, ROTC students and just go with like 20 team guys or wannabe team guys. We hadnt gotten [...] pinned yet and it was just.

Justin McMillen (00:44:39):

Where's this at?

Neil Trusso (00:44:40):

It’s in Georgia.

Justin McMillen (00:44:41):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:44:41):

And it is just a nightmare for these guys because you know, and then everyone knows this too. Like, it's not it's not secret. Like you need to go there. You go mess up and you go crazy in jump school. If they make one guy do push ups, everyone falls down. Or like, you know, it just turned into, like, we hazed back. As much as they hated as we marched, everyone through the water we were the fastest and everything. Just a bunch of like, assholes. And it was great. Jump school is awesome. It's really good.

Justin McMillen (00:45:07):

But fun. It'd be fun, right?

Neil Trusso (00:45:08):

Oh, dude, jumping was awesome.

Justin McMillen (00:45:09):

At that point. Yeah. So you're jumping out of airplanes...

Neil Trusso (00:45:10):

You're getting a little cocky and starting... they had some, SF guys go through which is reconnected to you really well. The all the active duty guys that went through were cool. It was great. Again we were just starting. It was fun getting kicked out. I think my first jump, the guy actually kicked me out of the door, I was.. it’s called a stick leader. So I they get you in the door, you're waiting and waiting and you can just all you see because the the curvature of the plane, you're just looking at it when wind hit you in the face and trees and like, it's like and they're like, go, you're like what? Boom!

Justin McMillen (00:45:46):

Trees, so you’re low, this is...

Neil Trusso (00:45:48):

It's a static line. Yeah. So like 1200, 1200, 1700ft I think so.

Justin McMillen (00:45:52):

Oh, jeez.

Neil Trusso (00:45:53):

It's easy. Anyone can do it.

Justin McMillen (00:45:55):

Yeah, yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:45:55):

It's really fun, dude. It's super fun. It's the coolest thing ever.

Justin McMillen (00:45:58):

You miss it.

Neil Trusso (00:45:59):

I do, I do. I don't have the time for it now. Or I could probably get back to free falling again. But yeah, it was it. It's so fun.

Justin McMillen (00:46:06):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:46:06):

Yeah. And so they say, oh, we got to get the team guys back to their command. So they just literally had us do all of our jumps in like in like a week. And they kicked us out, went back home.

Justin McMillen (00:46:18):

Because of the...

Neil Trusso (00:46:19):

Because the Gulf War ramping up.

(00:46:20):

And I jumped right into a team didn't even do SQT, I did like all the I didn't even know what they're talking about. They got talking about this like SQT thing or like that's dumb you dont need it, what's this? 9 mil, what's that? 45, you pass let’s go like they're doing shit my my my platoon leader telling me this stuff like I don't know what's going I'm going to work up It's go, its go time for something.

Justin McMillen (00:46:38):

Wow.

Neil Trusso (00:46:38):

Yeah, yeah. You know, 18 years old.

Justin McMillen (00:46:41):

Were you scared?

Neil Trusso (00:46:42):

No, no. Again, because you're with dudes who have been there.

Justin McMillen (00:46:44):

And and so tell me about this too. So you and you know I like just interested in this stuff just because I love the camaraderie and teamwork I mean, that's what Tree house, there's so much about Tree House. It's about just guys being together. But so you you're you're done with training and then what's going out like like you say you go out to a bar with...

Neil Trusso (00:47:04):

Oh, oh God, it’s bad.

Justin McMillen (00:47:06):

You just feel like you're completely, literally, but like, it's like you own the place kind of thing. Like you just.

Neil Trusso (00:47:12):

You don't even have to try. You don't even say anything. Just walk in and yeah, guys are pretty chill, but it's don't don't pick on them. One of them or we got to keep an eye on the guy that gets drunk and does dumb shit. Yeah, I mean, or all the single guys are going crazy chasing every every woman in the bar.

Justin McMillen (00:47:27):

Yeah, yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:47:28):

And it's normal. They're super high testosterone. Everybody's picking each other, everybody's, you know, making challenging each other. Yeah. I don't know how these guys got so good at pool. I got hammered for the first like two years I think I still suck compared to most of them, you know?

Justin McMillen (00:47:41):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:47:42):

But like you just literally for me, it was like walk into my platoon. And there was like, I think six new guys and all guys that had been around and learn the ropes quick.

Justin McMillen (00:47:55):

Is there quite a bit of hazing?

Neil Trusso (00:47:57):

You’re a professional today, you know, like what? And it was tons of hazing, Well back in the day. There was no hazing that ever happened due to the military regs. No one no no no. Butthead who didn't get his trident got hazed or were hurt in the making of this podcast?

Justin McMillen (00:48:11):

Yeah, sure, sure. So golf was kicking off and you guys don't know you, but everyone's chomping. You want to go, right?

(00:48:19):

It's always been like that. Yeah, everyone wants to go, they [...] Go work everybody. That's why. That's why we joined, you know. And it was it was great. Those guys were amazing. You know almost we had like I think five E-6s which is not normal.

Neil Trusso (00:48:33):

Because they all had like promoted in. So there tons of E-6s tons of experienced guys that have been around for a while, seen a ton of stuff. And they were all of our mentors.

Justin McMillen (00:48:42):

And what you were in team...

Neil Trusso (00:48:44):

Team three.

Justin McMillen (00:48:45):

Team three. So what was your area?

Neil Trusso (00:48:47):

Back then it wasn't they didn't have an area.

Justin McMillen (00:48:49):

Oh, they didn’t have an area.

Neil Trusso (00:48:50):

That that came through in my time at three.

Justin McMillen (00:48:52):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:48:52):

So we all that we all deployed to the Philippines. And it was back then it was like one platoon of guys going. Now it's the entire command deploys. It's all a lot of things have changed. Like can you imagine as 16 dudes like you're going to this base and it's just you guys. I mean the base. Yeah, it's a task unit. There's other team guys there. And normally you're relieving other platoons, but you'll cross paths with the guys from different teams like 5 or 1 and then from from the Philippines. We would skrt out of where we need to go.

Justin McMillen (00:49:21):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:49:22):

And the Philippines was awesome. I mean, that first deployment was great. Learning going to Singapore, going to Thailand, Singapore was amazing. Just being in other countries, like one of the things that we did when I travel, I traveled with a dude who had been around a bunch, he's actually a Filipino dude from Hawaii. So great surfer, probably one of the the most fittest guys I'd ever known. Probably top five, I've ever known, gnarly. And when we went, we're like, all right, no more American food. We're going to eat local, eat street food everywhere we go, no matter what how it comes and goes.

Justin McMillen (00:49:56):

Oh yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:49:57):

Dude, and then within like a week, it got everything was fine. We ate off the street in Thailand and Singapore in in Malaysia.

Justin McMillen (00:50:05):

You're probably better off, you're probably better off doing that.

Neil Trusso (00:50:08):

I mean, we ate local and it was amazing. That's all breaking bread with people in other countries, especially that like a jerk off is great. We would talk that. So we just sit down and talk to people and they loved it. When you’re not like some cocky ass like know it all America. They love it.

Justin McMillen (00:50:22):

Was that a sentiment within the teams or was that more of you?

Neil Trusso (00:50:27):

More me. Some of the dudes were like that McDonald's like, yeah, that's going to kill you. I can’t eat this stuff, you know. So it's fine. Guys were different. It's all good, you know?

Justin McMillen (00:50:37):

So your first deployment was, Southeast Asia?

Neil Trusso (00:50:39):

Yeah. When it was amazing. It's great.

Justin McMillen (00:50:41):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:50:42):

We're right right after Mount Pinatubo blew. So the Philippines was kind of rocked by it.

Justin McMillen (00:50:45):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:50:46):

Yeah. A lot of destruction, devastation, ash everywhere.

Justin McMillen (00:50:50):

Was it like a humanitarian mission?

Neil Trusso (00:50:52):

No, that's where we were going on the regular.

Justin McMillen (00:50:54):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:50:54):

We just happened to also be there.

Justin McMillen (00:50:56):

Got it.

Neil Trusso (00:50:57):

And it's cool because that place had a legacy. It's been around like the Navy's been going there for I don’t know 50, 60 years or something.

Justin McMillen (00:51:04):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:51:04):

Yeah, Or longer probably.

Justin McMillen (00:51:06):

I’d love to go to the Philippians

Neil Trusso (00:51:07):

It's great. The food is amazing. People are super friendly.

Justin McMillen (00:51:10):

It's supposed to be like what Thailand was, you know, 30 years ago.

Neil Trusso (00:51:13):

Really?

Justin McMillen (00:51:14):

Yeah. Now. Yeah. Like, you can go there and there's a lot of off the beaten path kind of spot.

Neil Trusso (00:51:18):

So many amazing beaches, dive spots and like I guess it's a ton of islands. There's lots to see, a lot of hikes. Prices are amazing. They love Christmas and karaoke.

Justin McMillen (00:51:30):

Yeah I know they love karaoke.

Neil Trusso (00:51:31):

Yeah yeah yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:51:32):

That's a thing.

Neil Trusso (00:51:33):

Yeah, it was really good. That was a great deployment with those guys. I think I turned 18 on a flight no 19 on a flight from Singapore, back back to the Philippines.

Justin McMillen (00:51:41):

Where was... When did Jennifer come into the picture?

Neil Trusso (00:51:44):

I started dating her in high school. We were like 10th grade and 11th grade.

Justin McMillen (00:51:48):

So you were her boyfriend, that's now in the Navy?

Neil Trusso (00:51:51):

22 years together.

Justin McMillen (00:51:52):

Oh, wow.

Neil Trusso (00:51:53):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:51:54):

So you go to the Philippines, you come back.

Neil Trusso (00:51:56):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:51:57):

So she's living with you?

Neil Trusso (00:51:58):

Yeah. She was going to school in San Diego.

Justin McMillen (00:52:01):

Okay, So you were living with the guys, and then it wasn't like you had base housing?

Neil Trusso (00:52:05):

No, I pretty much right off. We were. No, we got married in the first platoon, so we had our own apartment. Two bedroom, or one bedroom apartment.

Justin McMillen (00:52:15):

How's that? It's hard to be married?

Neil Trusso (00:52:17):

Yeah, it's tough because you're gone. You're gone. Like. Like, And the tempo was worse. I think, later, but it was like, eight months out. They're gone prepping training. And it takes a special kind of person that can handle that.

Justin McMillen (00:52:31):

Yeah. Dude, did you know that that was what it was going to be? And you tell her, like, hey, this is you. You're signing up for kind of a shitty...

Neil Trusso (00:52:37):

No but they tried, I think they warned her like otherwise and stuff because they have to be closer together. There's like an ombudsman thing. The prep for that, It's difficult. It is super challenging. I think what, what what was good for us at that time was she was in college so she had a purpose. You know what I mean. So she was doing her thing I do my thing. You come home I was like honeymoon again and then we get sick of each other. I gotta go again.

Justin McMillen (00:52:59):

Sure. That's crazy.

Neil Trusso (00:53:02):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:53:02):

Yeah that's nuts.

Neil Trusso (00:53:04):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:53:04):

So you're leaving and and are you able to tell her where you're going? Kind of a thing.

Neil Trusso (00:53:08):

Not really.

Justin McMillen (00:53:09):

Not really?

Neil Trusso (00:53:09):

We didn't talk about that. I mean, when a lot of the stuff we're doing is training to. But then we leave for deployment. You just go I’m overseas.

Justin McMillen (00:53:15):

Gotcha.

Neil Trusso (00:53:16):

I don't think there were cell phones. Yeah, there was not a whole lot.

Justin McMillen (00:53:20):

And this is in the eight.

Neil Trusso (00:53:21):

This is the 90s, 1991, 92. Yeah, all the way through 95.

Justin McMillen (00:53:27):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (00:53:27):

I deployed a lot. Dude, That was the best part of the job though. Definitely gets you to...

Justin McMillen (00:53:32):

Where was your favorite place?

Neil Trusso (00:53:34):

All of them. I love to plan. Yeah. So good. It was great because you're working. You're doing your thing. You had no worries. It was easier to deploy than to come back home and be a dad and, like, pay bills and do laundry and stuff, you know that. Anyway, for me was.

Justin McMillen (00:53:50):

Sure, I think that's common.

Neil Trusso (00:53:52):

All you gotta do is take care you and your buddies, and they take care of you back and yeah, it's guns and stuff like, yeah, that's it.

Justin McMillen (00:53:59):

And when, when you're deploying are you primarily training. Is that...

Neil Trusso (00:54:02):

Both.

Justin McMillen (00:54:03):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:54:03):

Doing whatever the needs are at the time that ever pops off back. Back then it was whatever pops off if pops off or not, you know, you could do nothing.

Justin McMillen (00:54:11):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:54:12):

You know, or you have to go help something. Do something. It was not a lot. It's been a lot, you know, the last 20 years have been crazy.

Justin McMillen (00:54:18):

What about training? Like, physically training? Are you doing a lot of that stuff?

Neil Trusso (00:54:21):

All the time, twice a day.

Justin McMillen (00:54:22):

Yeah. See, there's there's a David Goggins. I'm sure you're not your favorite dude.

Neil Trusso (00:54:28):

No problems, no problems. Love all our team, guys.

Justin McMillen (00:54:31):

Yeah, [...] Yeah, but he he he's like, yeah. When I got to my when I got to my platoon none of the guys are working out anymore. Is that?

Neil Trusso (00:54:40):

No, No way.

Justin McMillen (00:54:41):

Yeah. He was making it sound like he was just like, yeah, that couldn't keep up with me or...

Neil Trusso (00:54:46):

Dude, we had a guy in in the Philippines who wasn't the guy I was working out with, but he was great. We had this thing called the Super Frog and I believe it was half or a quarter iron man.

Justin McMillen (00:54:59):

It’s a half iron man, a super frog.

Neil Trusso (00:55:01):

No, no, no, it's called Silver Bullet. In the Philippines, I think it was like a quarter iron man. And we literally had a dude who ended up retiring as an E9. We poured him out of the back of our six by six, like, literally hammered. And he won it. So no it dude, I was doing... Man, I remember working out and then doing martial arts every day, twice a day.

Justin McMillen (00:55:25):

Like doing Filipino martial arts?

Neil Trusso (00:55:27):

Yeah. The one that did kickboxing, boxing, a escrima or working out, going to the local beach and doing runs for months on our own? Oh, no, he never stopped doing it. And then the our guy did. Dude, we were huge.

Justin McMillen (00:55:38):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (00:55:38):

We worked out. I was I was like doing 22 pull ups bench in 300 as well. You know running like a 6 minute mile, we never stopped working. Yeah. You know it's only when like you're op-tempo goes so high opping every night. You might, it might. It's like being a pro athlete. You you don't have time to workout. You're.

Justin McMillen (00:55:56):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:55:56):

Going out. Coming back. Going out. Coming back. Yeah. The dudes were always in shape, it was not an issue that was never a problem.

Justin McMillen (00:56:02):

When when you. So...

Neil Trusso (00:56:05):

Maybe it's just my era, we were way tougher.

(00:56:06):

Yeah. No I think maybe I maybe because there's. Yeah I mean I don't know how much that's true and I don't know I mean I think that that guy, he's I think he's a pretty beautiful person, David Goggins.

(00:56:16):

He’s a freak man.

Justin McMillen (00:56:17):

But he's, he's got there's some ego there.

Neil Trusso (00:56:20):

I think some dude just broke his pull up record.

Justin McMillen (00:56:22):

Yeah. Yeah, I saw that.

Neil Trusso (00:56:23):

Did you see his hands? They were jacked.

Justin McMillen (00:56:25):

Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, it was Cameron Haynes.

Neil Trusso (00:56:27):

I have no interest.

Justin McMillen (00:56:28):

Yeah. That's crazy. I yeah...

Neil Trusso (00:56:31):

He can have it. That's... his hands looked jacked up.

Justin McMillen (00:56:33):

That's crazy. Some of these guys are like that doesn't seem like a real pull up to me.

(00:56:39):

I don't know.

(00:56:39):

I don't like coming like this. I don't know, like, if you go in fresh and you do a pull up and you pull up and you're like, you're here, that feels like a pull up some of the shit when you see these guys going really fast, it's like they're barely there touching, but it's like, I don't know...

Neil Trusso (00:56:53):

I've seen guys do real in the teams or even even I think Bobby and yeah, Charles, like they really pull up straight to their chest there.

Justin McMillen (00:57:00):

Bobby does 30.

Neil Trusso (00:57:01):

That's what I'm talking about.

Justin McMillen (00:57:02):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:57:02):

Yeah that's that is impressive.

Justin McMillen (00:57:04):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (00:57:04):

That type of pull up I don't know. Yeah I've seen like the push up.

Justin McMillen (00:57:07):

You know what I'm talking about?

Neil Trusso (00:57:07):

No rep, no rep, no rep. Oh yeah, I completely agree. I'd rather have something clean and that's okay. Yeah. Then again, I don’t do I stuff anymore.

Justin McMillen (00:57:15):

That's pretty cool though. I mean, I think trying to break any kind of world record is cool.

Neil Trusso (00:57:19):

Oh yeah. Especially doing something for 20 some hours. Okay. That's ridiculous.

Justin McMillen (00:57:23):

He actually is part of why I drank that ketone juice, because he was talking to I was listening to him and he was talking about how he was drink you know, ketone ketones are. It's like that. Yeah. They're fuel source. Right. So going to ketogenic diet then you're oh you're going to ketones and stuff and it's supposed to make your brain really think better. In fact, they're doing a study with Alzheimer's patients, and they put him on a ketogenic diet. And they put their ability to perform like, cognitive tasks was through the roof.

Neil Trusso (00:57:51):

Really?

Justin McMillen (00:57:52):

Yeah. It's just a much better fuel source. But anyways, I was listening to that and then, you know, you know how it is with YouTube, it’s like a rabbit hole. I'm at the gym, pull up guy comes on, he's talking about ketone IQ, whatever. So I bought that shit. So..

Neil Trusso (00:58:05):

Oh that's cool.

Justin McMillen (00:58:06):

Seem smarter right now? Probably.

Neil Trusso (00:58:08):

Yeah, nah you look dumb.

Justin McMillen (00:58:09):

I feel dumb. I feel dumb.

Neil Trusso (00:58:10):

I don't know, man. Like, hey, I had a buddy of mine recently talking about some blue something you drink?

Justin McMillen (00:58:16):

Yeah!

Neil Trusso (00:58:16):

Turns your mouth blue. I was like you're crazy then I just saw something else. It was the...

Justin McMillen (00:58:20):

Methylene blue.

Neil Trusso (00:58:21):

Yes. And now I'm seeing stuff with. It's finally getting.

Justin McMillen (00:58:25):

So I'm going to take you to a place. I've heard it's done. Yeah. This would be like. This would be a, our first, shout out to a business. There's a place called Delmar Wellness in Newport Beach. A bunch of, like, athletes, pro surfers and stuff go there. And, I went there because Isaiah and Kala have been going there.

Neil Trusso (00:58:43):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:58:44):

And and the guy that runs the place really cool guy his names. Oh, man. I can't remember his name. See the ketones? Shit doesn't work. But, Damon Damon is his name. But I'll take you over there.

Neil Trusso (00:58:58):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:58:58):

And he's like, you just try all my shit. So he's got hyperbaric. He's got this, thing is called a cvac machine. And you sit in it, it's like you're in it in a cockpit, and it takes you up to, like, 30,000ft in the back, down really fast. So your eustachian tubes are, like, going, and, you're supposed to improve your VO2 max. But before I left, he's like, you ever tried methylene blue? I was like, I bought some, but I think I bought the wrong shit. And he was like, I've got the good stuff here. And he pulls it out of fridge and it gives me this little bottle, and it's like this little dropper. He's like, you just put it on your tongue. It turns your... he sticks his tongue out, his whole tongue is blue.

Neil Trusso (00:59:32):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (00:59:33):

So anyways, we’ll get you some of that.

Neil Trusso (00:59:35):

I got a buddy, Mouse, who I deployed with. He was a boat guy. He was doing it like a year ago or more.

Justin McMillen (00:59:39):

Really?

Neil Trusso (00:59:40):

He was telling me about it. And I'm like, dude, you look weird. I ain't doing that now. Now I'm like, damnit I think...

Justin McMillen (00:59:44):

Well, we'll go, we'll go, we'll go over there. Just. I'll tell him like that. You're at Tree house and he'll be like, just try all my shit. But, he, he, methylene blue. So there's this really started taking off recently because there's some guy he wrote the book on interrogation for, like, the FBI or something like that. He just did a podcast, and he's talking about methylene blue and how it stopped him from having seizures. He was having seizures, and he started taking methylene blue and they completely stopped it. There's videos of him like he's doing a speech and then he just goes into a seizure...

Neil Trusso (01:00:16):

And does a thing.

Justin McMillen (01:00:18):

Yeah. No, no.

Neil Trusso (01:00:19):

Oh okay. Like he has it comes out of nowhere.

Justin McMillen (01:00:20):

Yeah. It was coming out of nowhere. And it like affected his entire career. And then he heard about methylene blue and he started taking it and his seizure stopped. And I'm not promoting methylene blue I don't we're not doctors. We’re not telling people to take...

Neil Trusso (01:00:32):

I don’t know nothing, heard some stuff I saw it on YouTube, maybe.

Justin McMillen (01:00:35):

But it's a thing.

Neil Trusso (01:00:36):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:00:36):

People are into it. People do IVs of it, I think I think they can do it up the...

Neil Trusso (01:00:41):

I’m not doing that either.

Justin McMillen (01:00:42):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:00:42):

That's why I won’t do the TRT thing. I can't, I can't shoot myself.

Justin McMillen (01:00:44):

No no no no

Neil Trusso (01:00:46):

Not doing that one, not doing that one.

Justin McMillen (01:00:47):

I’m talking about the butt dude.

Neil Trusso (01:00:49):

The something chug or whatever.

Justin McMillen (01:00:50):

Yeah yeah yeah. No no. But

Neil Trusso (01:00:53):

One way only.

Justin McMillen (01:00:53):

But, well we should go check that out. Especially now since you got a little bit more time.

Neil Trusso (01:00:57):

Yeah. Yeah that's fine.

Justin McMillen (01:00:59):

And they got hyperbaric there and, and a lot of different stuff. Yeah. This PMF bed thing. And you lay on it and it like, sends electromagnetic pulses into your back or wherever. And it feels like, like, like you get shocked. Kind of.

Neil Trusso (01:01:15):

Yes.

Justin McMillen (01:01:15):

Trippy.

Neil Trusso (01:01:16):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:01:16):

But it promotes stem cells. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:01:18):

I don't know. I know that when I do, acupuncture at the VA, they, they put the electrodes on it too.

Justin McMillen (01:01:24):

You do acupuncture> Is it real? Does it work? I mean, it's real, does it work?

Neil Trusso (01:01:29):

It's real. I got to tell you, my my body. I was when I was moving a lot, and I was in a lot of pain. And, it I think it does work. It's not like huge like. Oh wow. I'm cured. But I think it definitely does work. The honestly for me the best part about it is that they hook me up. So on my backs I got jacked up back. The electrodes are going, he puts a hot lap on me, and he just walks away for like 20 minutes with the music going. And I think that all of that together,

Justin McMillen (01:01:57):

It’s like you’re taking care of yourself.

Neil Trusso (01:01:58):

Dude, and it's like shavasana and it's like my brain is slowing down. I'll. If that's all I get. It's way worth it.

Justin McMillen (01:02:05):

You just laying there like a pin cushion?

Neil Trusso (01:02:07):

In my back and honestly, that part like, I'm just chilling I can tell because I'm going, like, 100 miles an hour for 50 miles an hour, 30 miles an hour, 10 miles an hour.

Justin McMillen (01:02:20):

And it brings you down?

Neil Trusso (01:02:20):

Yeah, right. That does it. If that’s it. I mean, I bet it's doing other stuff to because my back feels better. That's been a thing for me. Hey, man. I'm. I'm going for it. Whatever they recommend I’m doing it.

Justin McMillen (01:02:33):

And you've been you've been. You weren't doing the VA thing?

Neil Trusso (01:02:35):

No, I just got I started doing like a year and a half ago.

Justin McMillen (01:02:38):

And so far, what do you think?

Neil Trusso (01:02:40):

So, a love it.

Justin McMillen (01:02:42):

A lot of people talk shit on this.

Neil Trusso (01:02:43):

So I love it. I just got, I just got a taste of what our clients got here, by the way. So I love the. I love everything about it. You know, I get my hearing aids are amazing. They've been really good to me. I, I've, I'm late on some things you know, I make it on my appointments, doing my thing. It's amazing. So I had a one on one therapist, which is brilliant. Great. And I'm firmly like, dude, just, you know, because she she help me with a ton of stuff. It was even zoom. So it was like, community care coordinator kind of thing.

Justin McMillen (01:03:10):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:03:11):

But like two weeks ago, I'm like 9:00 in the morning on my tablet, like, dude, where's the link? My appointment at nine, it’s 9:15 now, I send an email, I get it, you know, back. Oh, yeah. You're, they said you're not approved for more sessions.

Intro (01:03:25):

It's just done.

Neil Trusso (01:03:26):

Couldn't somebody let me... maybe I didn't check my email. Like dude couldn't somebody have let me know. If this is what our guys go through, like, [...] Your insurance is like, get out.

Justin McMillen (01:03:36):

Yeah. Imagine if you were in a state of absolute...

Neil Trusso (01:03:37):

Right. Imagine if I wasn't in a rehab. I'm just getting off of, like, doing meth and I. Now I'm not covered? Bye get out. And like, I was like, Holy shit.

(01:03:47):

So this is it, it sucked, and I'm pretty healthy guy.

Justin McMillen (01:03:50):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:03:50):

And it's sucked.

Justin McMillen (01:03:51):

That sucks, dude.

Neil Trusso (01:03:52):

Wow. So now I gotta look into that. I may be getting down the road, but other than that it's been it's been great.

Justin McMillen (01:03:57):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:03:58):

Super professional. Really nice.

Justin McMillen (01:04:00):

What advice would you give people that are that are hesitant about going to the VA because you were for... You didn’t go for 20 years right?

Neil Trusso (01:04:06):

Well, see, I tried and they denied me.

Justin McMillen (01:04:08):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:04:09):

And now all the things that I had before, like my ears are shot, my ankle and I'm trying to get surgery on it, so it's fine. Whatever. It's a different time, I think if anyone has any chance, just go. You know? Just go. I'll take care of it better than I did before. It's different now. It's way more welcoming. They're trying to. They're trying to promote, like, whole health. We kind of like what we do at Treehouse. Like your entire spectrum, you know? Are you are you mindful? Are you stretching? Are you working out and are you getting help for your acute and chronic pain?

Justin McMillen (01:04:39):

Do you think the whole fuckery of it is just the scheduling and the bureaucratic structure of just big government shit?

Neil Trusso (01:04:46):

Possibly a little bit is pretty big.

Justin McMillen (01:04:49):

Because the people I met from there, like....

Neil Trusso (01:04:51):

Amazing, right?

Justin McMillen (01:04:52):

Yeah, incredible people I mean, you feel the heartbeat of the person that's working on the front lines. They're there, you know.

Neil Trusso (01:04:57):

Yeah, it's just like, oh, I got to get a mental health doctor. Oh, yeah. You've been approved because we can't see you for 45 days. I don't know why that is going on or what, but then they get me to the community care person. They're right on it, which is great. So they've. I guess they've created that system to back it up.

Justin McMillen (01:05:11):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:05:12):

They can't see you in-house. They've got this other system. And I know that like, for instance, the Long Beach, VA, I think their doctors are coming from maybe UC Irvine. They're doing both in LA and West L.A. They're getting docs from UCLA.

Justin McMillen (01:05:25):

See. So you get the top tier.

Neil Trusso (01:05:27):

Literally you're getting the best there is.

Justin McMillen (01:05:28):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:05:29):

So it's fine, you know.

Justin McMillen (01:05:29):

Yeah that's George says that too, George is always like I he loves it

Neil Trusso (01:05:33):

I got no problems.

Justin McMillen (01:05:34):

Yeah

Neil Trusso (01:05:34):

I mean you know I had some stuff done, no problems.

Justin McMillen (01:05:36):

I'm glad you're saying that's good. It's good for people to hear that because I think a lot of guys give up before they even try to, you know, to even show up over there. And I think...

Neil Trusso (01:05:44):

Things has definitely changed because I tried to get in the system even like three years ago, I couldn't get in. And something happened, I got in the system and I've been using whatever they recommend.

Justin McMillen (01:05:53):

Yeah, and by no means is a perfect.

Neil Trusso (01:05:55):

No, but it's been it's been great, honestly. Like I've done the chronic pain. I've done a what else was the other one? Oh man. It was like a minor... I forgot what I've done, like chronic pain. Something else. And I'm open to doing whatever they recommend. Yeah. And I learned a ton and stuff that like, we can use there, guys. And I'm learning, you know, like like the breathing how to calm yourself down. How to bring yourself down. I was I was a stress management when it was really good.

Justin McMillen (01:06:23):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (01:06:23):

Yeah. Everyone should be doing this stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:06:25):

So you just are you signing up for classes there.

Neil Trusso (01:06:28):

It's like it's like programs that they offer. Like it's a six week course and it's all zoom. So like, anyone can do it and then you and it's great because the guys. So it's really weird. So before you get into these classes you do like the entry stuff like could be like a basic one. And then like you're a vet and you signed up. They're not saying shit like, why would you do this? Then once you pop into the other ones, they're all like, yeah, I'm breathing. I'm feeling like this. I'm rapid...

Justin McMillen (01:06:54):

I don't understand.

Neil Trusso (01:06:55):

So it's like a I guess it's like when a client comes to us and say, we're going to screen them, and in screening him we’re going to start at in a group setting, talk about stuff, how are you doing? Like a group check in.

Justin McMillen (01:07:09):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (01:07:10):

So if you're coming to this group check-in, why would you sit there quietly and just ignore everything and not share or not get anything right?

Justin McMillen (01:07:16):

Right.

Neil Trusso (01:07:17):

But then when I went from that, from chronic pain over into, the stress, it's like the guys that wanted to be there actually were going to this one, every session was like lot of stuff. This is how I use it. I'm feeling better because of this. I've actually used breathing to calm myself down. It's been really beneficial.

Justin McMillen (01:07:35):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:07:36):

So it's interesting that if, like I...

Justin McMillen (01:07:37):

Do you find yourself like, like stopping and

Neil Trusso (01:07:41):

I have to no I have to I realize that ramp up

Justin McMillen (01:07:44):

No really?

Neil Trusso (01:07:45):

I mean, like, I've learned about, like, when I start ramping up, I'm like, okay, I'm getting to like, you know, yeah, I'm pretty pretty hyper. And then when I get too many things going or I haven't worked out, it's just starts to spin.

Justin McMillen (01:07:56):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:07:58):

And I can’t get shit done and that's when I'm like, oh, I'm getting there. And I start getting agitated and that's okay. All right, all right. What do they say I try this breath and the same stuff we do for our guys. Identify go through the steps. You know breathe I'm even doing which I suck at doing I'm supposed to be doing like I set an alarm every day 7 a.m.. Have me do like success affirmations.

Justin McMillen (01:08:22):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:08:22):

Which is like all this basic stuff, but it's great. I'm like, I'll do it.

Justin McMillen (01:08:26):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:08:27):

It doesn't hurt.

Justin McMillen (01:08:27):

That's good. And you just jump right in too.

Neil Trusso (01:08:29):

Yeah, that's like, I'm here.

Justin McMillen (01:08:31):

Yeah. And that I'm glad to hear the breathing stuff is for you because, yeah, I get to I mean, I love it because you got high energy. I like people with high energy sometimes. You you your speech patterns are so fast. It's almost like you're in, 1.5, which I listen to podcasts at 1.5. So I'm like, my brain's built for it.

Neil Trusso (01:08:51):

My mouth can't keep up with my brain. So, you know, if I don't focus, on how I talk...

Justin McMillen (01:08:55):

I know. You're not doing it right now. Yeah [...]

Neil Trusso (01:09:00):

I get excited around. I'm like, I'm in the moment. I really have to start slowing down and be like, that's that's frustrating too.

Justin McMillen (01:09:08):

I'm sure.

Neil Trusso (01:09:08):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:09:09):

Well it's I again I think people who know you. It's not, it's nothing. Even if they don't know you, you're not overwhelming to me anyway. So. But yeah, you you have the ability. You're really you're really sharp. So when you're moving fast, most people can't move fast. It makes sense. You can move fast to make sense, which is like fucking trippy. Like when you're talking, it's like you're literally talking. You talk so fast, but it's like perfect, you know? You're not like talking bubbles.

Neil Trusso (01:09:39):

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I just my but my, the muscles in my mouth can’t keep up...

Justin McMillen (01:09:43):

Physically hurt?

Neil Trusso (01:09:44):

That's what happens. I start, mispronouncing words.

Justin McMillen (01:09:47):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (01:09:48):

Yeah. My brain is like bop bop. Slow down.

Justin McMillen (01:09:51):

Yeah, yeah. Have you have you been like that since you were a kid?

Neil Trusso (01:09:54):

Man, I was worse when I was younger. Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:09:57):

And then do you think they, they selected like the Special Operations Committee selects for people that are built like that. That are ADD sorta?

Neil Trusso (01:10:06):

No, no I'm a little out there compared to some of the guys.

Justin McMillen (01:10:09):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:10:09):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:10:10):

I don't know. We had a dude who was really slow.

Neil Trusso (01:10:14):

But man could that guy shoot a long gun really good.

Justin McMillen (01:10:18):

Well, yeah, that makes sense. He's crawling around all day. Right? So.

Neil Trusso (01:10:21):

Oh his bullets, man were like perfect. And he would fold his clothes and his when you would train, and you get, like, a lock or somewhere, wherever you for this close perfectly. And put in his locker. And we would all go to his locker and flip it upside down when he wasn't around.

Justin McMillen (01:10:38):

Wonder if he had was maybe on the spectrum.

Neil Trusso (01:10:40):

Nah, probably not. He was awesome. He was awesome. We loved him, but we just very OCD. So we got to have to travel. You put all your gear on a pallet, you got to load that onto a plane. And when he was there and he was generally in charge, it was like the slowest but most perfect process. So we send that guy over to like that front of building like, yeah, so and so, please report to over here. He'd run away. We'd pack up five pallets before you can get back.

Justin McMillen (01:11:05):

Oh man.

Neil Trusso (01:11:05):

He's like, okay.

Justin McMillen (01:11:09):

But when if shit got crazy, he can. He could get after it, right?

Neil Trusso (01:11:12):

Yeah. He's great. Yeah. No, no, no, it was just one of those little internal like, brotherhood, like, damn it, let's get this thing done fast.

Justin McMillen (01:11:17):

That's funny.

Neil Trusso (01:11:18):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:11:19):

That's great. Sounds like fun. Sounds like fun.

Neil Trusso (01:11:23):

Yeah. It was, it was amazing. It was a great life, I love it. I mean, as I'm getting older, I actually talk to my, my, my dad and my stepdad about this. And because he was regular Navy E9 and the legacy in the military is what I like now, the dumb 13 button pants and the having the protocol that guy walk on onto a ship and all the different things. I think they're awesome, now.

Justin McMillen (01:11:44):

Just all the little details.

Neil Trusso (01:11:46):

All the, like this thing we've been crossing the equator for the last 200 years, and they're on the the hazing, which is not even really hazing anymore. All the different rituals that happen and all those the bells and all the things in the army, you have to wear your uniform a certain way and it may not make sense and it may not have any relevance to today's actual war, but all that stuff, I think is awesome.

Justin McMillen (01:12:06):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:12:06):

Yeah, yeah, it's really cool. The legacy.

Justin McMillen (01:12:09):

It's interesting to be into that after the fact.

Neil Trusso (01:12:11):

It sucks.

Justin McMillen (01:12:12):

But I knew I knew a guy growing up that, he was into that kind of thing. Like as a middle schooler, you know, every detail about the military. Yeah. You know, he wore all military fatigues. People kind of give him shit, you know?

Neil Trusso (01:12:26):

Sure. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:12:27):

But he was into all of it. He could tell you about any rules, any of I. He studied it.

Neil Trusso (01:12:32):

I love that. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:12:34):

Now, you, like you did after the fact. That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:12:36):

You know? Yeah. Like the boatswain's mates. What that like to do on a ship? I didn't do any of it. And I'm like, this is cool.

Justin McMillen (01:12:42):

Yeah. You were allowed to do kind of...

Neil Trusso (01:12:43):

I didn't do any. I didn't. Must have done six months of regular navy before I was a team guy. I had no right. I have no idea what he's like.

Justin McMillen (01:12:51):

So you just purely unconventional.

Neil Trusso (01:12:53):

Yeah. Now look back. I know guys hate that stuff. Like, oh, the starboard and port, blah blah blah. So cool.

Justin McMillen (01:13:00):

You're such a nerd, dude. As a nerd, though. Yeah, that’s so cool.

Neil Trusso (01:13:05):

All of it. Yeah. Like the size of the ship or what? What a what a what a a destroyer squadron is or why they go like, oh, that's kind of interesting now.

Justin McMillen (01:13:13):

You you, you told me one time you were on an aircraft carrier, off of, coast of Somalia.

Neil Trusso (01:13:19):

No no, it was LPH.

Justin McMillen (01:13:20):

Oh okay. Which stands for what? You don't you didn't tell me.

Neil Trusso (01:13:25):

It was a Hilo carrier basically. landing hilo. Something like.

Justin McMillen (01:13:32):

And and you mentioned that you were you were able to make your own gear and everything, right? You you had a connection to the people that would like sow everything, you could have people make whatever you want.

Neil Trusso (01:13:42):

Oh, no. That's before we deployed. Yeah. We had our own air shop with sewing machines, so we would modify our stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:13:48):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:13:49):

All everyone did that from day one.

Justin McMillen (01:13:51):

You think that's how you got in sewing?

Neil Trusso (01:13:52):

I think it's on. My mom taught me how to sew. Then the Navy taught me that at one point, the army came in and did a class for the riggers, and I tought me to sow again. And since I had a background, I did that. And our our platoon, oh, I see, wanted us to have the exact same like loadout for what's called CQB at the time. So we built vests for every guy.

Justin McMillen (01:14:11):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (01:14:11):

Yeah, which was really cool.

Justin McMillen (01:14:13):

You're still doing a little bit of that now?

Neil Trusso (01:14:14):

Oh yeah, I love that. That's like my, my, my my whittling time. My zen time.

Justin McMillen (01:14:20):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:14:20):

Yeah. I end up getting a machine, I got a job, later in, in a tactical company called S.O.Tech, which they do, government stuff and a lot of contract work. It's definitely overbuilt. This stuff will last forever and ever and ever and ever.

Justin McMillen (01:14:34):

And so you you do went off.

Neil Trusso (01:14:37):

Yeah. And I got, I Love the one off stuff. I love getting... I need a thing that does this or or I can make my life better if this thing did that.

Justin McMillen (01:14:45):

And you're doing some of that now for guys?

Neil Trusso (01:14:48):

Yeah, I still do that.

Justin McMillen (01:14:49):

So for people watching this, if they want to put even request in the comments, if anybody has a job for you, somebody who's active.

Neil Trusso (01:14:56):

Oh yeah, yeah yeah I do. Yeah I do.

Justin McMillen (01:14:59):

You can, you can find him through us if you want too. We’ll put you together but...

Neil Trusso (01:15:04):

I do want offs up to up the short run stuff.

(01:15:07):

And I can do larger run stuff and I'll. It'll go out to local place. They won't go overseas. It's all local. Done.

Justin McMillen (01:15:13):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:15:13):

Yeah, yeah, I've done stuff for the aquarium of the Pacific. I've been Long Beach. I've done stuff for guys that are actually deployed right now. Yeah. So yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:15:22):

I got, I got one of your backpacks.

Neil Trusso (01:15:24):

Still works?

Justin McMillen (01:15:25):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:15:25):

Yeah I know I get there's one of the custom ones I,

Justin McMillen (01:15:28):

it looks like a little parachute backpack.

Neil Trusso (01:15:29):

I know

Justin McMillen (01:15:30):

it's cool. It's very it was perfect for riding bikes. Yeah. It's, it's is small and it's got a really nice the elastic on it, I can the elastic is stretched.

Neil Trusso (01:15:39):

It should. It doesn't survive.

Justin McMillen (01:15:41):

Yeah. They lasted like eight years dude. Yeah a lot. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:15:44):

Yeah. They're just those freaking put some new elastic on. That's the thing about that is that you can always fix it.

Justin McMillen (01:15:48):

The belt part of it. I but I can still use it because I just tie it. Yeah. But it you just it lays. It hugs my back.

Neil Trusso (01:15:53):

You can see the shoulder straps conform to your body right?

Justin McMillen (01:15:56):

The zip goes all the way down to the bottom so you can completely open it. Like it like a clamshell. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:16:04):

And you can roll it up into a ball and put it in your pocket and use it.

Justin McMillen (01:16:06):

And the and the, the, the shoulder straps are like flat. Yeah, yeah. And they fit that, like contour to your.

Neil Trusso (01:16:13):

It's like it's wild it's relatively comfortable.

Justin McMillen (01:16:16):

it's the best backpack for riding a bike I've ever owned.

Neil Trusso (01:16:19):

Yeah. So although I do want to did I put a chest strap on it.

Justin McMillen (01:16:22):

No

Neil Trusso (01:16:23):

I want to do that.

Justin McMillen (01:16:24):

You didn't put a chest strap on it, but you did put a thing where I could stuff my cell phone down. Yeah, but my cell phones are smaller and the other one doesn't fit that.

Neil Trusso (01:16:31):

The phablet. Put a big giant thing on your chest.

Justin McMillen (01:16:34):

Yeah, well, everyone's wearing fanny packs now.

Neil Trusso (01:16:37):

Oh, I got a whole plan. I already been making some of those. Yeah, stepped on the on the. No. Can't do. You've been making those. By the way, I sent one to Anthony.

Justin McMillen (01:16:44):

Here’s the thing. I mean, dude, I you see Isaiah carrying his. I mean, he's like one of the coolest people on the planet. He's got his like zipping his fanny pack.

Neil Trusso (01:16:51):

Just you wait, I have half of a cowhide at home.

Justin McMillen (01:16:54):

Really?

Neil Trusso (01:16:55):

Oh, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:16:55):

You make leather ones.

Neil Trusso (01:16:56):

Yeah. Those are coming.

Justin McMillen (01:16:58):

That'd be cool.

Neil Trusso (01:16:59):

Yeah. Those are coming.

Justin McMillen (01:16:59):

You gotta make me one dude, if you make one. I'll rock it. I'm not sure it's gonna be.

Neil Trusso (01:17:04):

Nah, I’ll get you. It'll be sick.

Justin McMillen (01:17:05):

We'll both where I.

Neil Trusso (01:17:07):

Dude, I got one of the dumbest I wear. One of the dumbest things. Now, it's from [...]

Justin McMillen (01:17:12):

but that's that's kind of cool. It. Makes it look like you got

Neil Trusso (01:17:16):

Aye. It's like a purse on my chest.

Justin McMillen (01:17:21):

Yeah. No, it's cool, I like it. It's a man, It's a man purse. A whole new level. A whole new level. So, let's see.

Neil Trusso (01:17:29):

Yeah. Where were we, We're not talking about man purses,

Justin McMillen (01:17:31):

man purses.

Neil Trusso (01:17:31):

And butt chugging.

Justin McMillen (01:17:33):

Yeah. So I went over a bunch of the Navy stuff, and this is. It's great. And that's a small piece of who you are, right? I think that's important. It's. I mean, it's a big piece of who you are, but, I think this is the most I've ever talked to you about this.

Neil Trusso (01:17:45):

That's true. I, I'm realizing in the last couple years, I just just stopped talking about it. I made it a point to talk about it with my two sons, about who I was and what I've gone through. What I know, they only know the older version of me. You know, Neil knows me more. You know, when I was struggling with, like, unemployment, other things when I was younger. Anthony doesn't. So I had I really wanted, you know,

Justin McMillen (01:18:09):

so you come from a different era, though, too, like, now and this even this podcast is weird, right? So having you on here and you're talking about this, it's like,

Neil Trusso (01:18:17):

yeah, we didn’t talk about this.

Justin McMillen (01:18:18):

Yeah, you now it's a thing.

Neil Trusso (01:18:19):

I know.

Justin McMillen (01:18:20):

It's like everyone's got a book.

Neil Trusso (01:18:21):

Of course I think. Yeah [...]

Justin McMillen (01:18:26):

You're going to like he's going to write a book. Wait.

Neil Trusso (01:18:28):

Oh, I'm going to do about it. Is it is really about stupid stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:18:30):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:18:31):

So check this out. So the the night we went into Somalia on the ship, it was just six of us. And we went from our ship to another ship. And then before we were going to do like a, a landing and a scout of the beach so we could land the Marines. It was probably a training Anything, I don't know. I don’t care. So we’re on the other ship fully kitted out like I'm already. You can see my Patreon that night on Instagram because it's cool. And I get call up to the captain, and I know this guy is a it's a different ship. I'm like, I got my bandana on, you know, all loaded out everything that got me. Yeah. But he said, yeah, blah blah. Congrats. You're a dad. I'm like, great, thanks. I'm going in. I'm going into Somalia tonight, like in an hour from now. And he tell me I'm a dad. This is awesome.

Justin McMillen (01:19:16):

Wow.

Neil Trusso (01:19:17):

I know so Neil was born, so I go and do this whole thing. And that was it was fine. And it just actually just me and one guy, recon the beach. And it was actually not that bad. It was pretty wild, but it was cool. Fast forward to Christmas this year, so I had the knife. I have told you about that. I swam in to Somalia [...]

Justin McMillen (01:19:37):

Oh, okay.

Neil Trusso (01:19:38):

It's it's just a knife. It. I've never washed it. Never sharpened it. Still super sharp. Still perfect. I made a sleeve, a case. A sheath for it. I gave that to Neil for his for Christmas this year. And the kicker is, I bought it from his aunt who passed away.

Justin McMillen (01:19:56):

You bought it from his.

Neil Trusso (01:19:57):

His aunt, his mom’s Sister. So, like, that knife has so much legacy in it, so much connection.

Justin McMillen (01:20:02):

And you brought it... you had it with you that

Neil Trusso (01:20:04):

I had it with the entire time, literally swam that thing in and used it, and I just kept it and kind of like, I gotta give this to Neil. This is literally his legacy.

Justin McMillen (01:20:12):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:20:13):

So I gave it to him for Christmas. It's pretty cool.

Justin McMillen (01:20:15):

That's really cool.

Neil Trusso (01:20:16):

Yeah. Yeah, I felt pretty good about that, like oh man, this is cool. It's a better home for it than me having it.

Justin McMillen (01:20:22):

That's like yeah, that's about as thoughtful as it gets.

Neil Trusso (01:20:24):

Yeah yeah yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:20:26):

There's a lot of substance there.

Neil Trusso (01:20:27):

Yeah I, I'm like oh that was a good one. Yeah. Oh it okay. Once every a few weeks I get a good idea.

Justin McMillen (01:20:34):

Yeah, no that's a hell of a good idea. That's really cool. So you. So you were in Somalia. That was after Black Hawk Down?

Neil Trusso (01:20:42):

That was like four months after Black Hawk Down. Yeah, yeah, that was wild. We were the most prepared. I think that that whole team was super rare. It was really good. We were very into it. A lot of work back then. Not much fun in that platoon. Normally when you go out what's called an ARG going to guys talk about us. Yeah. Yeah that you troop around the ocean like when you're on a ship in the Navy's like two weeks, you're in the water and you go to port and two weeks you go to port. That's like, it's like they can't do like, mini vacations. You're seeing different countries every couple. And being on the water for two weeks isn't that bad. It's beautiful. You know, except when you're a Seal you have no job, you just get bored, you work out or run around the ship.

Justin McMillen (01:21:21):

Workout, eat.

Neil Trusso (01:21:22):

Yeah, we're gonna eat, I want. So we did Somalia. They pull this off because we're not supposed to be there for a while. We were there and then for the last month, they pulled us off. We were like, 25 miles off the coast. And they did this thing called Groundhog Station, which was just circling the ocean. Yeah. You're not going to get any recruits listening to this story. So part of your job was to sit on the ship for a month and do nothing, not even see land. And it's like 100 degrees. And at one point I ate peanut butter and jelly for like three days, three times a day, for like seven days.

Justin McMillen (01:21:51):

You where they have you circle. Was it a statement?

Neil Trusso (01:21:54):

No. It was like we're staged in case something goes...

Justin McMillen (01:21:57):

Right. But but based on what had just happened with our.

Neil Trusso (01:22:00):

No. I was I think they were doing like a pull out. And it was around that time they were pulling people out, because they wanted our presence to be close enough in case, because we were already there and doing stuff and we should be on station somewhere so they couldn't see us.

Justin McMillen (01:22:14):

What do you think of Africa?

Neil Trusso (01:22:15):

loved it. Africa is rad. Somalia was honestly with the parts that I saw, aside from Mogadishu, like I saw south down the coast. Beautiful. It was really weird, dude. Like, that's like an Italian villa. What the hell? What's going on here? And Kenya was great dude.

Justin McMillen (01:22:28):

during that time. Did you have you. Because when I met you, you had a freaking..

Neil Trusso (01:22:32):

Oh, no. But I did get my hair braided in Kenya.

Justin McMillen (01:22:36):

Of course you did. Of course.

Neil Trusso (01:22:38):

With the little rings dude the locals loved it.

(01:22:40):

Oh my God. [...]

(01:22:43):

I gotta find that, I have pictures of that, somewhere.

Justin McMillen (01:22:45):

Dude, you gotta.

(01:22:46):

They hated me trying to get back on the ship with the braids and and the like. The tie dyed hat and shirt, run around, Mombasa like that? It was great.

(01:22:54):

You need to grow your shit out and then get, dreads.

Neil Trusso (01:22:58):

No, they literally like like dreaded. They like, they braided them in or whatever. They added like extensions.

Justin McMillen (01:23:04):

That's awesome.

Neil Trusso (01:23:04):

It was cool.

Justin McMillen (01:23:07):

When you got back, you were just like, what the fuck are you doing?

Neil Trusso (01:23:09):

I had to take them off once you got in the ship. They're like, this is too much. It's like, what the hell?

Justin McMillen (01:23:14):

Like I'm African.

Neil Trusso (01:23:16):

Tried to speak Swahili. I had, like, two words.

Justin McMillen (01:23:18):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (01:23:18):

It was horrible.

Justin McMillen (01:23:19):

Kuno matata. Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:23:20):

but Kenya was awesome, dude like I didn't, I don't realize, like, you can actually do real tours there. go to Mount Kilimanjaro. I kind of stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:23:26):

Oh, yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:23:27):

It's great.

Justin McMillen (01:23:27):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:23:28):

The world is amazing. That's the one thing I love about the military traveling.

Justin McMillen (01:23:31):

When you when you go to travel again.

Neil Trusso (01:23:33):

It's expensive. Yeah, I want to. Oh I'd love to go again. So I get it. Take my wife with me. Take the kids. It's so great.

Justin McMillen (01:23:40):

And they're. They're getting close to graduate.

Neil Trusso (01:23:42):

They're better. They're easier. It's easier soon. About two years. Dude traveling is amazing.

Justin McMillen (01:23:46):

I could totally see you jumping back. I mean, imagine you taking her over to the Philippines

Neil Trusso (01:23:51):

or Thailand or Singapore. Singapore is like going to LA. It's so. But it's so nice.

Justin McMillen (01:23:55):

Expensive though. You can go to. You can go to Thailand for cheap.

Neil Trusso (01:23:59):

I know I know, I got to get to Guam, Thailand. I want to do South America, I want to do Guatemala.

Justin McMillen (01:24:04):

South America sketches me out a little bit.

Neil Trusso (01:24:06):

Some of the spots. Yeah, I got family in Brazil, so I wouldn't mind going there.

Justin McMillen (01:24:09):

I like the, the, the Buddhist places. Seems like people culturally it's just feel safer

Neil Trusso (01:24:15):

I ran into a guy Few years ago when I was at Shot show it was a state guy, so I don't know what he was doing technically he said he was working for the department. That helps get, businesses in other countries, which is cool. His take was that Guatemala was actually relatively safe.

Justin McMillen (01:24:29):

Really?

Neil Trusso (01:24:29):

Yeah, that that was a good country to go visit three years ago, so who knows.

Justin McMillen (01:24:34):

But I think Central American countries, I think there's so much going on with expats like Costa Rica.

Neil Trusso (01:24:40):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:24:41):

Panama for sure.

Neil Trusso (01:24:42):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:24:43):

Nicaragua. I know there's like I mean, I know tons of people who go down there.

Neil Trusso (01:24:47):

I'd love... I mean my wife speaks Spanish, I think would be fine. And I'm somewhat brown. I'd love to go down there.

(01:24:53):

People would be like, oh, you’re Mexican.

Justin McMillen (01:24:54):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:24:56):

You don't see the pyramids down there.

Justin McMillen (01:24:57):

That would be.

Neil Trusso (01:24:58):

Yeah. Let

(01:24:58):

me. I wouldn't even mind going back to Africa. I've heard I don't know if it's true. Now, that Turkey was pretty cool to visit at one point.

Justin McMillen (01:25:05):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:25:06):

yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:25:07):

There's some there's some really interesting sights there.

Neil Trusso (01:25:09):

I think it would be great if we get to the point we can travel again. People don't hate each other.

Justin McMillen (01:25:15):

I think you with how friendly you are and and and the way you look.

Neil Trusso (01:25:20):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:25:21):

You can go anywhere.

Neil Trusso (01:25:21):

Yeah, I would love it now. I mean,

Justin McMillen (01:25:23):

I want that for you.

Neil Trusso (01:25:24):

I remember

Justin McMillen (01:25:25):

I never thought about that before, but

Neil Trusso (01:25:26):

eating, breaking bread like in, in, like, Kuwait eating like, the way the Kuwait ate, it was great. Or like one day with the thing on the speedboat with the, the it was like the Kuwaiti like whatever. They're they're both guys, you know, the cigaret boats is rad. give us guys like, a high speed boat? They go crazy. But that. So for lunch, it was like a giant tortilla or like a thing of bread smack down a whole giant can of tuna and a bunch of sour cream. And everybody's sat around sort of picking off the bread and eating,

Justin McMillen (01:25:58):

oh, wow.

Neil Trusso (01:25:58):

And I was like, me and two other guys, Americans doing it with him was great. It was really cool.

Justin McMillen (01:26:02):

You got to get back.

Neil Trusso (01:26:03):

We did all that stuff like, yeah, I played soccer with the kids and it was great.

Justin McMillen (01:26:06):

100%. Yeah, I could see you do. You're good. I can just see it.

Neil Trusso (01:26:09):

Yeah. I love it.

Justin McMillen (01:26:10):

that's going to happen. You're going to, like, send me some pictures of some shit. You're gonna have, like, a turban on.

Neil Trusso (01:26:14):

It'd be rad.

Justin McMillen (01:26:17):

Like barefoot with, like, a robe on or something? Yeah, some of it.

Neil Trusso (01:26:21):

Hopefully by water.

Justin McMillen (01:26:22):

Oh, dude.

(01:26:24):

Yeah. No, that's something that's going to happen.

Neil Trusso (01:26:26):

I gotta I think I have to call my buddy. I'm pretty sure one of my friends, about to retire out of L.A and moved to Thailand.

Justin McMillen (01:26:33):

Nice

Neil Trusso (01:26:34):

ex-patriot out.

Justin McMillen (01:26:36):

I always wonder about guys that do that. Not not your buddy, but just. I seen some crazy stuff. I've been, you know, I've been over there a ton and, you see some crazy stuff. That's where where a lot of Americans go to go completely fucking nuts.

Neil Trusso (01:26:48):

Yeah, yeah, do that. But I know there's also guys that go there and just get a wife.

Justin McMillen (01:26:52):

Yeah. Oh, cause

Neil Trusso (01:26:53):

you get your local wife and hang out and. But you're right. It was like Europeans that did a lot of great stuff over there too, so I think it's I,

Justin McMillen (01:27:00):

I met a guy when I was over there. I won't go into too far, but, his name was Russell, and he was a tour manager for the fun loving criminals. Remember that band?

Neil Trusso (01:27:08):

Okay.

Justin McMillen (01:27:09):

And, he had his own resort, and. And I met him at a train station, and he spoke fluent Thai, and I ended up at his resort, and it was like getting lost at this place. Like it was just like, whatever you want.

Neil Trusso (01:27:21):

Like, okay.

Justin McMillen (01:27:22):

Yeah, he's his. Takes me to go buy stuff for the kitchen at the resort. And he's like, we're going to go to the bad place now. And I'm like, no, this is already bad. But I met all these English guys own shops there and they all, you know, they're they're paying people money to, to do business. And it's like, yeah, you just feel it's gangster. There's some extra stuff going on.

Neil Trusso (01:27:43):

I know, but when I went, what do we do? Do I end up getting that custom made suit built for like 200 bucks?

Justin McMillen (01:27:50):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (01:27:51):

Thing’s I'm never going to get a chance to experience over here. You know, I didn't for some reason. I didn't go out to see the town. So we were in a hotel, which is pretty weird. And they brought me, like, desert.

Justin McMillen (01:28:02):

Oh, yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:28:02):

Locals. And one night I went to watch a movie, and all it was, was like a fence they put up, and they gave you a newspaper with your ticket. You sat there to watch the projection. It was awesome.

Justin McMillen (01:28:13):

That's so cool.

Neil Trusso (01:28:14):

And they look at you like, what are you doing here?

Justin McMillen (01:28:15):

See? That's it.

Neil Trusso (01:28:15):

It was perfect, was great.

Justin McMillen (01:28:16):

You got to go back, dude, I'm telling you, we you. So we went to Hawaii last year and it cost more money to go to Hawaii for like a week or two

Neil Trusso (01:28:24):

than to go to Thiland.

Justin McMillen (01:28:25):

Yeah, you can go to Thailand. It's cheaper. It was cheaper when we went with for six weeks with the family. It was cheaper to be in Thailand than to be here because everything was cheaper. There was like groceries are cheaper, getting around was cheaper. I mean, in general it was just cheaper. You yeah. You'd be only thing is you gotta figure out who's going to take care of your dogs and you know, that kind of shit.

Neil Trusso (01:28:48):

Yeah, it's it's fine. That's doable.

Justin McMillen (01:28:50):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:28:51):

yeah, yeah. I mean, plan for not trying to get to Guam. It's crazy expensive.

Justin McMillen (01:28:55):

Yeah. Guam is not cheap

Neil Trusso (01:28:57):

unless you fly to Thailand.

Justin McMillen (01:28:58):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:28:59):

a couple extra days.

Justin McMillen (01:29:00):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:29:00):

I don't know why that's cheaper. Like, I'm. So I got to get back there, I back to travel. And that is one of my things I want to get to do. I like travel and talking to people, you know, having a coffee with somebody or eating at somebody's shop and asking them how life is, it was really cool, man. I like that stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:29:14):

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. There you. I think you missed your calling. You should have been, like a travel photographer or something like that.

Neil Trusso (01:29:21):

Anybody iferr me a job, let’s go. I’ll take pictures.

Justin McMillen (01:29:23):

Yeah. So we're. So we were at I want to go through your life story and then come up to like where you are now. But but this is fun. And in general, you're, So you got out of the Navy... Why did you choose to leave the Navy?

Neil Trusso (01:29:42):

So, it was a,

Justin McMillen (01:29:47):

family decision?

Neil Trusso (01:29:49):

Family, you know, at the time, wife and kid was going back to L.A no matter what I did. So I, I and I was going to be a dad, you know, there were there were other things for me to do in the Navy. I wanted to do it which I chose not to, which is all the right decision to do. You can't look back and say it was the wrong choice, so was the right choice just to separate and then, you know, being in the reserves for a but, which was pretty cool too, and then go to school and that was great. All of it was great. And it was definitely hard, you know,

Justin McMillen (01:30:21):

Hard to leave?

Neil Trusso (01:30:23):

[...] Just we were broke as a school, working in a bar three nights a week.

Justin McMillen (01:30:30):

Where were you going to school?

Neil Trusso (01:30:31):

Santa Monica College.

Justin McMillen (01:30:32):

Okay. Got it.

Neil Trusso (01:30:33):

You know the wife's going to law school. We've got a two year old in daycare. It was rough. I don't think I slept for, like, three years. Yeah, I wasn't going to slow down. Did whatever it took.

Justin McMillen (01:30:48):

How did you. How did you like. So you. Because you went from high school directly into the Navy. This is your first time working in first time out. So really,

Neil Trusso (01:30:59):

First time in school.

Justin McMillen (01:31:00):

Yeah. First time in school?

Neil Trusso (01:31:01):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:31:03):

Was it, was it pretty hard? Was it. Or were you just saying, like, I can do anything?

Neil Trusso (01:31:08):

What saved me was I went right, literally. And I got out of the Navy and set June. I was still doing reserves stuff. So that was great. But then I went right into, an athletic sport. I was, I was back on a team again with, with with structure.

Justin McMillen (01:31:22):

And that was the golf team?

Neil Trusso (01:31:23):

Yeah. It was it was the underwater basket weaving. Come on.

Justin McMillen (01:31:26):

Just kidding, you play football.

Neil Trusso (01:31:27):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I was this old guy out there, well, at 23, 25 compared to everybody else. But it was like I had structure again. I had a thing. I was doing I couldn't even I didn't have time to do nothing. If I would have had time to do nothing, I think I would have totally fell apart.

Justin McMillen (01:31:42):

You met some good guys during that period.

Neil Trusso (01:31:44):

I did, Yeah, I met some great guys out there. It was hard, honestly. Trying to be a football player, was harder than being a Seal For me, I was pretty good. But not, you know, at that point it turns into just God given talent.

Justin McMillen (01:31:54):

Sure. Yeah, yeah. College.

Neil Trusso (01:31:56):

Yeah yeah yeah yeah. We had some we had we had two Hall of Fame receivers on our, our JuCo team.

Justin McMillen (01:32:02):

Wow.

Neil Trusso (01:32:02):

So like I didn't I don't feel bad being beat by them now.

Justin McMillen (01:32:05):

Sure sure. So you you you you're playing ball. You're going to school. What are you going to school for?

Neil Trusso (01:32:13):

Dude I was going to school for art,

Justin McMillen (01:32:15):

art, drawing, art?

Neil Trusso (01:32:16):

Yep.

Justin McMillen (01:32:17):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (01:32:17):

Fine art. I even, you know, like. Yeah, I'm. I had to leave school to get a job and I was and I don't know, my art. He was like, what if you got into the art center in Pasadino You know, I'm like, I don't know what that is. I don't care I’m out. And I'm like, dude, that's a legit art school. I coulda went to that

Justin McMillen (01:32:31):

one of the best in the country

Neil Trusso (01:32:32):

They were going to refer me to. Yeah, I don't even know what I'm doing. So I had to take a little break.

Justin McMillen (01:32:36):

Did you have an idea what you wanted to do with art? Where you're just like...

Neil Trusso (01:32:38):

I wanted to do comic books and animation?

Justin McMillen (01:32:41):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:32:42):

You know, I was big into drawing back that that was another thing that probably, like, mellowed me out. Calmed me down. I still do some of that now. Nothing like I did before. I wish I got to start doing that. I journal now. So anyway, did that. Took a break, had to get a job, got fired, went back to school again. Just

Justin McMillen (01:33:00):

What kind of job?

Neil Trusso (01:33:01):

Oh dude it was like a recruiter at the College of Oceanering in Wilmington.

Justin McMillen (01:33:04):

In Wilmington

Neil Trusso (01:33:06):

It was a dive school like hard hat dive school.

Justin McMillen (01:33:07):

Wilmington, Delaware?

Neil Trusso (01:33:08):

No no, in LA.

Justin McMillen (01:33:11):

Oh, okay.

Neil Trusso (01:33:11):

Yeah, right in...

Justin McMillen (01:33:12):

Called Wilmington though.

Neil Trusso (01:33:13):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:33:13):

Okay. One of the better dive schools in the country here in Long Beach.

Neil Trusso (01:33:17):

It's legit. One is a super, like 16 grand.

Justin McMillen (01:33:20):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:33:20):

Getting guys in there was weird and actually three team guys that work there, me, another guy and then some old school dude.

Justin McMillen (01:33:27):

Like Vietnam era? Frog man.

Neil Trusso (01:33:29):

One of my class like four guys.

Justin McMillen (01:33:31):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:33:31):

It was awesome.

Justin McMillen (01:33:32):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (01:33:33):

So we would like every at lunch just swim out, do swims and stuff and work out until they got like, no, you guys got to take separate lunches, like, what are you talking about? Like that? It's like it got weird. I gotta get out there. Back to school. Changed my major recreational leisure studies.

Justin McMillen (01:33:49):

What the hell's that?

Neil Trusso (01:33:50):

It's basically. It's like hotel management and stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:33:52):

Okay.

Neil Trusso (01:33:54):

Very interesting. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:33:55):

Sounds like a bullshit... Sounds like a bullshit degree. Yeah. I got to be doing recreational leisure.

Neil Trusso (01:34:02):

Yeah, got a little scholarship from it, can’t really complain.

Justin McMillen (01:34:05):

No. No. Hotel. That's. Hotel management is a big thing.

Neil Trusso (01:34:08):

Yeah, it was like, all about that, which was pretty cool. And then it got. Then I went to business. Then I went to Chapman.

Justin McMillen (01:34:14):

You get bored easy.

Neil Trusso (01:34:15):

I didn't love any of them.

Justin McMillen (01:34:17):

Sure. Just trying shit. Throwing shit at the wall.

Neil Trusso (01:34:19):

Then I went to Chapman I still playing football. Which was again structured the team. It was really good.

Justin McMillen (01:34:26):

Chapman's a good school.

Neil Trusso (01:34:27):

It was great. I chose that over SC. I didn't want the big school,

Justin McMillen (01:34:31):

really?

Neil Trusso (01:34:32):

I wanted

Justin McMillen (01:34:32):

so you could have gone to SC.

Neil Trusso (01:34:32):

I got, I got into SC.

Justin McMillen (01:34:34):

No shit.

Neil Trusso (01:34:35):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:34:36):

And you chose Chapman?

Neil Trusso (01:34:37):

Yeah. Cause I didn't, I didn't want the 200 person... I couldn't do it. Yeah. I would fail out of a 200 person class.

Justin McMillen (01:34:42):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (01:34:42):

Yeah. I was going to walk on and play football there.

Justin McMillen (01:34:44):

I'm glad you didn't.

Neil Trusso (01:34:46):

And then, also, Chapman gave me a ton of money to go, like, grant money and then I got. I got a half scholarship grant from the state.

Justin McMillen (01:34:55):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:34:55):

You know, so that all that stuff was like, you know, I just let's just go here I was....

Justin McMillen (01:34:59):

that was a better move. I mean, it's I again

Neil Trusso (01:35:02):

can't look back now. It is what it is. But I feel like it was a good decision. That was a great school. I did well in a small class. That school was really attentive to me. Took care of me.

Justin McMillen (01:35:12):

Did you guys move?

Neil Trusso (01:35:13):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:35:14):

Jennifer and....

Neil Trusso (01:35:14):

The whole get. We went from Santa Monica to orange.

Justin McMillen (01:35:18):

And it was because you went to school?

Neil Trusso (01:35:19):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:35:19):

And so was she.

Neil Trusso (01:35:20):

She commuted to LA.

Justin McMillen (01:35:21):

Oh. And she was she work in or?

Neil Trusso (01:35:23):

Yeah, she had a job. She was a lawyer and she was commuting. It was it was a nightmare too. It was bad. Yeah, back then

Justin McMillen (01:35:29):

I remember

Neil Trusso (01:35:30):

getting close. We almost met. We meet soon, I think.

Justin McMillen (01:35:34):

Yeah. Yeah, I remember your your wife drinking me onto the floor in my kitchen [...]

Neil Trusso (01:35:40):

Those guys and the lawyers of that era. My goodness, dude.

Justin McMillen (01:35:45):

Well, it was just. I just couldn't get... She’s tough dude. She's gnarly, and she was married to a Navy guy, so she was like, oh, he can drink.

Neil Trusso (01:35:52):

Yeah, aome of that stuff that we did in the Navy, wasn't good either. one guy's had a fridge with a keg and a fridge with Magnum champagne. And we go to his house and, like, Friday night, don't go home until Sunday night we literally pass out on his floor. Then get up and do it again for like three days. And it was every weekend.

Justin McMillen (01:36:11):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:36:11):

that's not good.

Justin McMillen (01:36:13):

It's funny there's, there's so very few, anything of me talking about drinking or anything like that. So. pretty unusual to say it. Been sober so long,

Neil Trusso (01:36:21):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:36:22):

Yeah. But okay. But that's cool that we've known each we've known each other long ass time.

Neil Trusso (01:36:26):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:36:27):

So you moved. You moved to California or not California.

Neil Trusso (01:36:29):

Orange.

Justin McMillen (01:36:29):

Orange County that [...] are yall getting along?

Neil Trusso (01:36:34):

Decently

Justin McMillen (01:36:35):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:36:35):

This is when it gets really bad.

Justin McMillen (01:36:37):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:36:37):

I didn't know what her being a lawyer meant. And we our personalities were really different.

Justin McMillen (01:36:42):

What kind of lawyer?

Neil Trusso (01:36:43):

She was uh corporate litigator. So she was the kind of lawyer that had to work 100,000,000 hours a week,

Justin McMillen (01:36:49):

and she's a fighter,

Neil Trusso (01:36:51):

and she's a fighter. She's really good at lawyering and, really good.

Justin McMillen (01:36:55):

That's not the kind of woman you want.

Neil Trusso (01:36:56):

I would not get with that

Justin McMillen (01:36:57):

divorce [...]

Neil Trusso (01:36:58):

we make it makes fighting a lot. That's why I like my marriage now. So much different, but so much better.

Justin McMillen (01:37:04):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:37:04):

so much healthier. But. Yeah. And it was good for survival. It was great if you wanted to pick on us. Cause like she’d want to fight with me, and then, then it was just us two we’d fight each other, you know? I mean, it was. It wasn't good. I was still in school. We moved to a really nice area in orange, East Orange. And it was like,

Justin McMillen (01:37:25):

I've been to that house.

Neil Trusso (01:37:27):

Yeah. You were there. And then we had Anthony and yeah, that was really cool

Justin McMillen (01:37:31):

up at the end of, Chapman.

Neil Trusso (01:37:33):

Yeah, way up there. So it's really beautiful. It's nice up there too. And then I decided to change my major because I started getting hanging out with my buddy mouse again, and he was getting his film degree from the Art center. Yeah. I went into film. I just, I just changed it.

Justin McMillen (01:37:47):

What was it, what was it when you first got there.

Neil Trusso (01:37:49):

It was business.

Justin McMillen (01:37:50):

Oh okay. Just still business. Got it.

Neil Trusso (01:37:52):

So sorry Chapman, I didn't apply or nothing, I just went and just just just enrolled in some classes that semester. I was a filmmaker.

Justin McMillen (01:37:58):

You can't do that now.

Neil Trusso (01:37:59):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (01:37:59):

they got their own backlog.

Neil Trusso (01:38:00):

Of course I got that straight A's. And I was at the departmental honors and...

Justin McMillen (01:38:04):

seriously?

Neil Trusso (01:38:05):

Suck it. Yeah, yeah. I cum laude and all that stuff.

Justin McMillen (01:38:08):

That's badass.

Neil Trusso (01:38:09):

Straight A's while playing football there. Oh, it I was great.

Justin McMillen (01:38:12):

It's trippy how they don't do they don't they don't do scholarships for sports. They still, I don't think they...

Neil Trusso (01:38:17):

it's a D3 school. They can't

Justin McMillen (01:38:18):

oh they can't.

Neil Trusso (01:38:19):

I'm more I know more about it now because I coach high school D2 and D1 can't, D3 can't.

Justin McMillen (01:38:24):

I thought it was like they didn't do it because they were. It was like some noble were about academics and not

Neil Trusso (01:38:31):

well, I think when you become a D3 school, that's why.

Justin McMillen (01:38:34):

Oh, they make a choice.

Neil Trusso (01:38:35):

Yeah. They chose to stay at that level. And I mean, they had amazing music. They had an amazing kinesiology accounting program. Their baseball team was legit, you know, and then there they had, like, a, theater program. It was great.

Justin McMillen (01:38:50):

I was in the theater program.

Neil Trusso (01:38:51):

I really want to go and see some of their shows now. Like, you know,

Justin McMillen (01:38:53):

I want to take my kids up there.

Neil Trusso (01:38:55):

Yeah. It's beautiful.

Justin McMillen (01:38:56):

Yeah, yeah. There was some beautiful performance.

Neil Trusso (01:38:59):

Great little school. It's it's expensive, but it’s great.

Justin McMillen (01:39:01):

Yeah. Now it's crazy.

Neil Trusso (01:39:03):

Holy smokes.

Justin McMillen (01:39:04):

We were going there. It was like 18 to 20,000.

Neil Trusso (01:39:07):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:39:07):

Now it's like 45 a semester right.

Neil Trusso (01:39:09):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:39:10):

Yeah yeah I think it's it's crazy.

Neil Trusso (01:39:12):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:39:12):

And it looks like it's cost that much too.

Neil Trusso (01:39:14):

Well I think they did they wanted to compete against USC I'm pretty sure. And it's that good and way, way safer.

Justin McMillen (01:39:21):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:39:22):

But yeah,

Justin McMillen (01:39:23):

it was a good school though

Neil Trusso (01:39:24):

I like it.

Justin McMillen (01:39:24):

I mean the non you know all of your foundational classes like non major courses. There's so many good teachers.

Neil Trusso (01:39:31):

Oh it’s great.

Justin McMillen (01:39:32):

Why don't we probably had sometihng similar.

Neil Trusso (01:39:34):

Yeah I mean like you could talk to them. They talk to you honestly if you didn't do well and that was all on you.

Justin McMillen (01:39:38):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:39:39):

All on you. I like them. Of course I'm older. I love going to school. It's like I'm here for a reason, I like it. Learning is great. I don't want to get a job. Screw that. Not yet, not yet. And then when I got into film, it was the only thing I could do right where I, well, is the only major I did where I actually volunteered to go back to school on Saturdays and Sundays

Justin McMillen (01:39:58):

because you wanted to work on your project.

Neil Trusso (01:40:00):

I was doing editing or something, and that was like, I’ll go, I'm going in.

Justin McMillen (01:40:02):

Did you learn avid? Is that what you guys did at that time? I think it was at avid right?

Neil Trusso (01:40:07):

Was it avid? and it was non-linear. We were doing it because the new media was the emphasis, which is now everyone's doing so Photoshop and After Effects, which is really cool. All the 3D modeling stuff, which is now on every dude we had zip... Dude, I'm an I'm so old, like, I had a 40 Mac zip drive, you know. Now if you on your phone. It's amazing

Justin McMillen (01:40:27):

dude, that, the other day I used ChatGPT got or OpenAI's got a, video. And I use the cycle of craving from work here, and I just put a script in of what cycle craving was, and I ask it to make me a movie, and it made me a a look like real people. Yeah, like dude craving drugs walking down a street.

Neil Trusso (01:40:50):

How long is the movie?

Justin McMillen (01:40:51):

13 seconds or something?

Neil Trusso (01:40:52):

Yeah. They're like...

Justin McMillen (01:40:53):

it took it took like 30 minutes.

Neil Trusso (01:40:55):

I was gonna do the same thing for some of the work I'm doing. Do that. You got to get the premium or at least one level of it, and you can talk or write some things that'll make a little blurb. You can post up things like, oh, dude, yeah, I talked to my, I got on my phone. I talked to that shit all the time. I ask it to teach me stuff. Like if I got something I've got to work on, I'll be, like, driving, and I'll just say, hey, can you help me understand this? And then I'm like, I don't get it. And I'll say, let me repeat it back to you and see if this makes sense. And then she'll interrupt me and be like, you're not quite sayng it right there. It's crazy.

(01:41:28):

That’s cool

Justin McMillen (01:41:29):

dude It's one of the best teachers. It's incredible how...

Neil Trusso (01:41:33):

Yeah, I use my phone for dumb stuff. Watching dumb animation videos...

Justin McMillen (01:41:37):

I do too. Yeah. Yeah. That's, So. Yeah. You were at Chapman. We met sometime around then. I remember going for a run with you.

Neil Trusso (01:41:48):

Yeah, I was pushing the kids or had them in a stroller. I was still moving around pretty good then.

Justin McMillen (01:41:53):

Yeah, because we. I was nervous because, I knew that your about your background and and you were running with a stroller and I and I was not able to I stayed up with you, but you were talking the whole time, and I was like, how the fuck is this guy talking while we're doing this?

Neil Trusso (01:42:11):

I think that was when I was doing adventure racing, too.

Justin McMillen (01:42:13):

I don't know what you were doing, but you just your cardio. Yeah. Your ability. At that point, I was like,

Neil Trusso (01:42:19):

Dude I was still playing college lacrosse too.

Justin McMillen (01:42:21):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:42:21):

I literally had Neil and I pushed Anthony across the field and I had him where the trainers were at right behind us, and I would go in and play and come out like I didn't slow down.

Justin McMillen (01:42:31):

Speaking of that, there's this story with your neck.

Neil Trusso (01:42:34):

Oh man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:42:36):

this one gets me. Dude, I got you gotta..

Neil Trusso (01:42:38):

This is a couple of years later, I think 2009 I think that 2008. And so Anthony's like 8 Neil’s 14 or something. I'm playing box lacrosse with a kid that I coach who is now an adult. He's a goalie. So I'm going to go with him in El Segundo and ended up so a guy was coming down the court and I'm, I end up

Justin McMillen (01:42:58):

this is the lacrosse?

Neil Trusso (01:42:59):

Lacrosse, box. And everyone who knows lacrosse box. So much contact. It's like hockey, but probably more just all kind of pushing and shoving all over the place. So I hit the guy, hit. He hit me, I hit him, whatever I was the correct form head up everything was right, but ended up popping a disc in my neck halfway out of my my my spine into my spinal cord. So. And it falling down. Couldn't move 10 seconds of course. My my buddy is there making fun of me. Get up old man, you know, he told me later he felt bad and then after a while I could get up. I'm kind of walking off the court. I get off him. I don't know what happened at this point. You know, if you're smart, you stop. Not me. I'm like, if everything comes back, can't feel my hands. Okay, I'm going to go back in the game, which is stupid. I could have killed myself.

Justin McMillen (01:43:51):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:43:51):

So I go back in the game and in the course of two more quarters, I score a goal, got a penalty, and blam! And I'm driving myself home from Elsa gun out of orange, which could be like an hour. And I'm doing like this with my, my neck is bugging me, [...] right? Am I? I can't feel my hands and like, oh, my neck is bugging me. And I get home. And my neck’s I'm doing like I wish it would just pop pop back in. I'm like like, so I go and I go to the emergency room and they're like, stop, yank me. And now the pain starting to come in. You know So that happened Friday night. And so I had surgery Saturday where they went in, took the disk out, put a disc of a cadaver in there and put a titanium plate. So like, I have a fusion here. And I was out Sunday or Monday and I was jumping a fence like Tuesday at Help Anthony play soccer with this Halo thing on my head. And I was home for like a week and then life, life as usual, but dude, I almost killed myself.

Justin McMillen (01:44:53):

Yeah, yeah. That's crazy.

Neil Trusso (01:44:55):

It was not so like no. Note to self anybody. When you actually get hurt, would you please stop and go to the doctor...

Justin McMillen (01:45:01):

But yeah, with all the stuff you've been through though, it's like, how do you know? You know, I mean, you fucked your your lower back too.

Neil Trusso (01:45:06):

Yeah. Yes. Yeah that one now it's getting it's getting me now.

Justin McMillen (01:45:09):

But so what happened with that.

Neil Trusso (01:45:10):

So I was so we were doing, Yeah, we were doing analog claiming up of oil. Right. Which is like old school, like. No, non technology use, like we're using a one inch tubular nylon that stitched through itself, like you would climb up a pole into a Caribbean under your feet. You shimmy up, plant, shimmy up your left foot, right foot, left foot, two different things. And I get to the top like like 15, 20ft off the....

Justin McMillen (01:45:38):

Oil rig, where where are you at?

Neil Trusso (01:45:39):

Santa Barbara

Justin McMillen (01:45:39):

Oh okay.

Neil Trusso (01:45:40):

Yeah, you're just training. Just me. No, no no problem. Again, this is like worst case scenario train. Normally you probably go through a hilo to get on it with something else. So you got to climb up the pilings. Here's how you do it. Get to the top.

Justin McMillen (01:45:51):

I'm just curious, just how are you not cutting the shit out of yourself?

Neil Trusso (01:45:56):

I don't know.

Justin McMillen (01:45:57):

because they get covered with barnacles.

Neil Trusso (01:45:58):

But once you get out of the water, there’s nothing on it.

Justin McMillen (01:46:00):

Oh, right. Of course. Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:46:01):

So like, you should start. You're getting hammered. You're. Yeah. You're getting you're in you're in rubber. You're in a wetsuit.

Justin McMillen (01:46:08):

Okay. Oh yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:46:08):

You got actual shoes on.

Justin McMillen (01:46:10):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (01:46:10):

You know, like I thought converse or something. And then and you shimmy up and I get to the top and I. Oh, shit, there's a walkway. So I have to reach, like, three feet behind me to grab the walkway. So now I gotta do a pull up with all my gear on and i’m like okay, cool. And I got to pull up and I stop. I'm like, shit, I'm great. I'm plenty stronger. What? What's up? I look down and we tie these things called Waterman knots, and the freaking knot was placed under in between the Caribbeaner and my feet, when it's supposed to be above the Caribbeaner. I screwed up with the knot in the wrong spot. Now I can't go up. But I've also taken my feet out of the stupid things to your swing. And I'm stuck. I'm connected to the pilot, but your hands are here and I can't go up and I can't go down.

Justin McMillen (01:46:55):

Holy shit.

Neil Trusso (01:46:56):

I'm like pull, pull, pull, pull. And it's at night and I'm freezing. And I'm like, oh, shit, you gotta drop All right, here we go. I gotta dropped, I dropped, and as I drop the fucking nylon actually caught as my feet and thighs hit the water and my back just snap backwards.

Justin McMillen (01:47:15):

How far did you drop?

Neil Trusso (01:47:15):

I must have dropped by 10, 15 feet.

Justin McMillen (01:47:17):

Oh, God.

Neil Trusso (01:47:18):

And like an idiot, I looked around. Did anybody see that? And I'm in pain. I'm like, freaking out. Like nobody saw it. Okay? It didn't happen

Justin McMillen (01:47:27):

Because your’e emberrassed? You fucked up. You didn't want to know. Jesus.

Neil Trusso (01:47:31):

Nah I got fucked up. I got a herniated disk and yeah, it's all crazy. Like ah fuck that. Basically fucked myself up. I think. You know what I mean? It's like one of those, like, lesson learned, but it sucks.

Justin McMillen (01:47:42):

Yeah. And that that's, that was years and years ago.

Neil Trusso (01:47:45):

That was. Yeah. Yeah. My back still I got a herniated disc. I've got a fusion. They think the fusion down there is natural. But I do have a herniated disc and benc my back from the wrong spot, now. Higher I bend it higher

Justin McMillen (01:47:55):

you get you get like cold nerve pain down legs and stuff.

Neil Trusso (01:47:58):

I just get pain. I can't sleep on my back. I over arch everything, you know? So like, I've been doing, mobility stuff. Hip mobility. Big. I gotta I gotta see what Booby’s doing with that [...] guy said, he push something here. Yeah. Up here. And it released so now I'm gonna I'm gonna try that.

Justin McMillen (01:48:15):

A lot of people are into that.

Neil Trusso (01:48:16):

And I've been doing like like, not cold, but semi cold ice baths. I was like in the 50s, but for like 15 minutes to try to actually freeze.

Justin McMillen (01:48:27):

I was gonna hit you up and see if you want to do an ice bath before we came here.

Neil Trusso (01:48:30):

Yeah. I don't want to do the three minute one’s. I literally sit down with my tablet for like 15 minutes, try to freeze the inflammation.

Justin McMillen (01:48:37):

I I'm it's terrible, but I like it.

Neil Trusso (01:48:41):

I don't mind it, but I like that I should do more of that.

Justin McMillen (01:48:44):

I can’t do the 50 I swear to God, if I had a choice. No bullshit. [...] 50 degree or because once you get in the high 30s it hurts and then it just stops hurting.

Neil Trusso (01:48:55):

Okay, dude it hurts in the 50s.

Justin McMillen (01:48:57):

In the 50s It's like uncomfortable. And you're like, you just kind of. Yeah. It's like you just want to scream the. But you get in the 30s and it's like it's burning kind of. And your brain's confused. You're like, is this hurt? Or is it hot? Is it cold? Yeah I don't yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:49:12):

dude, I want to freeze.

Justin McMillen (01:49:13):

I would much rather jump in ice baths and go on the ocean at 50 degrees. Yeah, I mean, I'll do both, but yeah, 52 degree water.

Neil Trusso (01:49:20):

A dunk in the ocean... You go back to the, remember we did the, ice bucket thing.

Justin McMillen (01:49:26):

I got a I got a video of it.

Neil Trusso (01:49:27):

Remember that? With the salt water. It made it worse.

Justin McMillen (01:49:31):

I got a video in fact I looked at it the other day. You held your breath in that thing for a long time. The video of you is going. You're you're in there forever. I don't know if you try to show everyone, so I just, Dude you dropped your head in there and it was. You're under. I'll show you the video after this. I don't want to queue it up right now, but you were in there for you. Beat everyone by

Neil Trusso (01:49:51):

15, 20 minutes, right? It must have been

Justin McMillen (01:49:53):

no, no, at first, no, I bet, I bet it was. I bet it was a minute and a half. I bet it was a minute and a half, which is a long fucking time.

Neil Trusso (01:50:02):

Especially when we had ice and salt water. That shit was cold. Yeah

Justin McMillen (01:50:07):

That was back in the day.

Neil Trusso (01:50:08):

Yeah I know wow it was.

Justin McMillen (01:50:11):

We've had some fun man.

Neil Trusso (01:50:12):

It's been and trials and tribulations right. Building this thing out from one team running around going crazy to three teams. All the spots that go on keep it keeping it consistent.

Justin McMillen (01:50:22):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:50:22):

Consistantly good.

Justin McMillen (01:50:23):

And again, we can't assume anyone that's watching this knows. What the hell are you even talking about?

Neil Trusso (01:50:28):

Yeah. Now we're talking about treatment Tree House now right.

Justin McMillen (01:50:30):

Yeah. So, So I hit you up. I don't know what year was 2013, maybe.

Neil Trusso (01:50:35):

Well, you hit TC up first, right?

Justin McMillen (01:50:37):

Well, I tried to find you through him. I didn't want, Oh. Yeah TC is great and he's going to watch this So I love TC.

Neil Trusso (01:50:44):

He's amazing.

Justin McMillen (01:50:45):

But he knows I was calling trying to find you.

Neil Trusso (01:50:47):

Yeah. Yeah, he knows it.

Justin McMillen (01:50:48):

Yeah. And and

Neil Trusso (01:50:48):

he found me, right?

Justin McMillen (01:50:49):

Yeah. Yeah. But I think it was like in wake of mom passing and stuff. I don't know what was going on with you.

Neil Trusso (01:50:55):

It just didn't work out.

Justin McMillen (01:50:56):

Yeah. It didn't work out at the beginning.

Neil Trusso (01:50:57):

And well, I was working at like I said, I graduated, try to do some film stuff, realized I didn't want to go to LA. So I cut all that out. I was working in construction, coming home early, and then I was

(01:51:11):

like, I finally had no job and I had to deal with that with the kids was really, really, humble. But yet I think appropriate because they learned. Then I got a job. It's S.O Tech and doing all that stuff. And then I left them, and I was in school to get my master's degree in education back at Chapman when you found me, which was perfect because here I am learning how to teach. And you call calling about something about how to teach. And I was like dude this is excellent.

Justin McMillen (01:51:37):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:51:37):

You know what I mean? Yeah, it worked out. And that education program was great. That was a one of the times that I was. I got around people that were like, all overachievers. All the kids, man, are amazing.

Justin McMillen (01:51:49):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:51:50):

yeah. Blow me I still I still I still see like 2 or 3 of them on my Instagram.

Justin McMillen (01:51:54):

And you were going, you were trying to be a math teacher, right?

Neil Trusso (01:51:56):

I did I want to be a math teacher and a coach with a film degree, which just doesn't work out right. Well, I would have had to take a bunch of extra classes that different but I wanted to teach, lower level math, like pre-algebra.

Justin McMillen (01:52:06):

Do you remember? Do you remember that we hung out one other time where you filmed, like an air conditioner that was going to get picked up by.

Neil Trusso (01:52:12):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:52:13):

Some place.

Neil Trusso (01:52:14):

Yeah. Well, he would do like a, it was a, a commercial video,

Justin McMillen (01:52:18):

I think so, yeah, you were, I think you were. It was for insurance purposes or something. You had to they had to film this.

Neil Trusso (01:52:25):

Oh, no. I might have been for a, my buddy has a Hvac company, and he was installing pulling off large commercial.

Justin McMillen (01:52:31):

Yes, it was massive off of a building.

Neil Trusso (01:52:33):

We had to make sure that there was no damage or something.

Justin McMillen (01:52:35):

Yeah. So you had a document it. So I came out there with you to LA. We did something there.

Neil Trusso (01:52:40):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (01:52:41):

but yeah, I was trying to find you. You were like, the mystery man, and TC I was like I couldn't tell if he. He knew where you were or if he was talking to you. And if you knew, it was weird. And then. And then TC was cool.

Neil Trusso (01:52:55):

Oh. He's great.

Justin McMillen (01:52:55):

Yeah, he's really cool. Is he... Do you talk to him still?

Neil Trusso (01:52:57):

Yeah, on and off, yeah, he's a good he's one of my five.

Justin McMillen (01:53:00):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:53:01):

That like, hey, where you are? You. You're quiet. Are you healthy? I got five guys that do that to me.

Justin McMillen (01:53:05):

Is he still in Huntington.

Neil Trusso (01:53:07):

Yeah he is

Justin McMillen (01:53:08):

dude, Why does he never come by

Neil Trusso (01:53:11):

dude. He's doing his his traveling and his hours are a little odd.

Justin McMillen (01:53:15):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:53:16):

You know and his kid plays high level hockey.

Justin McMillen (01:53:19):

Really.

Neil Trusso (01:53:19):

Oh like he's eighth grade and the kid's going to be going to high school. And I guess if his kid doesn't make the varsity team as a freshman, they're going to move to New Hampshire or something and get him on some program out there.

Justin McMillen (01:53:31):

Really?

Neil Trusso (01:53:32):

The kid’s legit. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:53:33):

Is he a big sumbitch like, do you see

Neil Trusso (01:53:35):

I know dude, he's going to be probably will be. [...] just a little bit taller too. And he's like 6’2. Yeah. Guy's got a crazy story to his his youth again all of us had crazy youth stories.

Justin McMillen (01:53:48):

Yeah. He was so different than yeah I remember him. He I remember him I met him before too

Neil Trusso (01:53:57):

huge heart.

Justin McMillen (01:53:58):

Yeah. Really and smart and has we did we. I did some work with him. I did some photography for his website. Shot some photos for him. I built a website for him. I think,

Neil Trusso (01:54:09):

you know, he was a corpsman in the teams, right?

Justin McMillen (01:54:11):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:54:11):

One of those weirdos where, like, he could actually shoot you and then keep you alive. Like. It's a weird thing, dude.

Justin McMillen (01:54:17):

He's a trip, too.

Neil Trusso (01:54:18):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (01:54:18):

I, I introduced him to this doctor friend of mine, and, and the doctor top shaked him, took his hand, turned his hand over And afterwards. Yeah, it was really weird. And, you met this doctor. I'm not going to say his name. That's fine. And, yeah, he he turned his hand over when he shook his hand. And it was, you know, this whole subject to the way they shook hands was like a thing. So afterwards, I talked to the doctor, and he was like, I couldn't believe the way that guy shook hands. It was so like, he didn't shake my hand hard, like, that's weird. And then TC’s like, he top shook. He he turned my hand over and I was like, what?

(01:55:06):

And he's like, yeah. And then he goes, have you ever seen some movie? I don't remember what movie, but he's like, as soon as he did that, I looked at him and I noticed that he was standing a certain way, and I saw his knee and I was like, I'm going to fucking break his knee. And then I'm gonna

(01:55:20):

And he was. And he's telling me this like, it never talked that way ever before. But he was like talking about just like just taking extreme violence, you know, unleashing extreme violence on this guy. And he was like, Holy fuck, dude. He's like, yeah, I know, it's weird. I just, I just don't like people do that. It was so disrespectful. and he was like, so yeah, don't ever bring that guy around me again. Like, oh shit, dude,

Neil Trusso (01:55:40):

that's cool.

Justin McMillen (01:55:40):

He was like, yeah, I picture him falling forward. And then I was going to grab his head, smashed it into the and he'd like, had this whole map.

Neil Trusso (01:55:46):

Dude, I've done that, that exact mapping thing I’ll talk to him about that because I've done that.

Justin McMillen (01:55:51):

Oh dude.

Neil Trusso (01:55:51):

Not good.

Justin McMillen (01:55:51):

He had a whole...

Neil Trusso (01:55:52):

Its not healthy when were doing that.

Justin McMillen (01:55:53):

ask him about the top shake

Neil Trusso (01:55:54):

I will because dude, I've done that one. And when I do that, it's not a good time.

Justin McMillen (01:55:57):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:55:58):

I'm in a bad place.

Justin McMillen (01:55:59):

He he was, but when he was telling me to is so creepy because he was grinning and I was like, how am I supposed to take this? Are you angry? Or what?

Neil Trusso (01:56:10):

I think now you understand that better.

Justin McMillen (01:56:12):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:56:13):

On some of the guys we have.

Justin McMillen (01:56:13):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:56:14):

It's like,

Justin McMillen (01:56:14):

yeah, I do.

Neil Trusso (01:56:15):

Oh, it's okay to break stuff now. Oh, I'm really good at that.

Justin McMillen (01:56:17):

Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, and he had a kind of a light in his eye about it. Yeah I get it I get it.

Neil Trusso (01:56:23):

Yeah. That's wild I’ll have to talk to him about that.

Justin McMillen (01:56:25):

Yeah. It was interesting too because then you had the other side, which is the doctor saying this. And I think, I think the doctor probably like a lot of people, it's like, oh, this guy's a seal. So he's like, he comes in hard. Yeah, I gotta, I gotta squeeze his hand and, you know, do this thing. And it's like, people have crazy misconceptions about you guys.

Neil Trusso (01:56:43):

Yeah, we're all dad bods, right?

Justin McMillen (01:56:44):

Yeah, I don't know. You can fuck shit up when you need to.

Neil Trusso (01:56:48):

That's it. Yeah, it's true,

Justin McMillen (01:56:49):

but I think that the ego, you know, talk about ego death, like all these guys doing psychedelics and stuff. I think if you do a lot of extreme shit, you just don't need to prove anything anymore.

Neil Trusso (01:56:59):

It's it's a weird thing nowadays. That's why I gotta get back into boxing again. Yeah, I don't I don't I don't need to drive fast. I've done it.

Justin McMillen (01:57:06):

I'm not going to box with you.

Neil Trusso (01:57:07):

No no no but I, I yeah I know I was, I was kickboxing and but yeah I do that I was doing that three days a week. It was really good. And then we would spar every Friday. Something about getting punched in the face like keeps you grounded.

Justin McMillen (01:57:18):

You're really good at it too, man.

Neil Trusso (01:57:19):

I'm okay.

Justin McMillen (01:57:20):

You're not. You're good. You're pretty.

Neil Trusso (01:57:22):

I got I got I was doing that three over six months again. It was good. I need to get back into it again.

Justin McMillen (01:57:26):

we were doing it a shitload man. And that was our whole morning.

Neil Trusso (01:57:29):

I like it, I like that I love that stuff it’s good for us.

Justin McMillen (01:57:31):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:57:32):

My therapist recommended it.

Justin McMillen (01:57:33):

It was really good for me. I think I barely scratched the surface. I think you saw it. You saw me. You got. You saw me get angry.

Neil Trusso (01:57:41):

Yeah, it was good,

Justin McMillen (01:57:42):

I wasn't good. I'm not cordinated, but...

Neil Trusso (01:57:44):

It just takes practice. Just takes practice.

Justin McMillen (01:57:46):

What was most interesting for me was just when you're coming at me and or I get angry and you just sort of smile at me, you could keep, like, tapping me or like, you know, doing whatever. And it and I can't. It's just that scrambled brains thing where you just want to go all crazy rage guy.

Neil Trusso (01:58:02):

it's great to work on that

Justin McMillen (01:58:03):

100%. Like sitting there is really good.

Neil Trusso (01:58:06):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (01:58:07):

I and you're very safe person to do that with.

Neil Trusso (01:58:10):

Yeah. I can't they want me to actually, like, let it go a bit more. You know, when I spar. All the guys that I'm with are good.

Justin McMillen (01:58:18):

But you can go hard without. You don't need to be.

Neil Trusso (01:58:21):

But there's something about because at now it's like. It's like I've gone fast. I don’t need to go fast anymore. Like I can shoot a gun but the target doesn't move. I can go surf but the wave doesn’t fight back.

Justin McMillen (01:58:32):

Right.

Neil Trusso (01:58:33):

But playing a sport like lacrosse, and getting hit or knocked on the ground or boxing is something I can do, which is still safe. yet like somewhat dangerous.

Justin McMillen (01:58:41):

Sure.

Neil Trusso (01:58:42):

So that that part of my life, I still kind of need.

Justin McMillen (01:58:44):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:58:45):

I think TC needs that a lot.

Justin McMillen (01:58:47):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:58:48):

You know.

Justin McMillen (01:58:48):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (01:58:49):

You know, I don't want to not have that that, that... hate to say like like the demon inside or whatever. That aggressive thing inside. I want to be in control all the time. I gotta get into something I can be maybe a little bit less in control, but it's safe, still.

Justin McMillen (01:59:02):

That makes sense.

Neil Trusso (01:59:03):

So that's kind of what I was working. still it doesn't come out and I still giggle when I get punched.

Justin McMillen (01:59:06):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (01:59:07):

yeah

Justin McMillen (01:59:08):

yeah you're a trip I, I feel like you and I got really close.

Neil Trusso (01:59:13):

That was fun, man.

(01:59:13):

Those days were great building stuff. We had a lot to do. a lot to do. Come on. A lot of stuff has happened. A lot of growth, a lot of things. I had to stay here moving this you had to do. It's as it's not over. No, it's just that for that time,

Justin McMillen (01:59:28):

I think it's cool too. I feel like there's an evolution now. I mean, you're never going to not be. I was telling Rob this the other day around the pod.

Neil Trusso (01:59:36):

Oh, yeah. He's. Yeah,

Justin McMillen (01:59:37):

he's, you know, you guys, even if you if you all promote and go on to doing more stuff, you're all, this is our flagship and you need to be integrated all the time.

Neil Trusso (01:59:47):

I love it here, it's great,

Justin McMillen (01:59:48):

but but I do think you're new frontiers right now is going to get us back, connected more.

Neil Trusso (01:59:53):

Yeah. No, I think so too, it’ll be good.

Justin McMillen (01:59:54):

You'll start seeing...

Neil Trusso (01:59:56):

It’s coming I'm starting to open up some of the things. It's good

Justin McMillen (02:00:00):

and there's a lot on that side. I mean it's not just business development relationships, but there's so much around what it takes to expand and grow all of this.

(02:00:10):

So what we're talking about now is the fact that I probably will be moving away from the physical department side and getting into, [...]

(02:00:17):

and we should that because people are like...

Neil Trusso (02:00:18):

what the hell are you talking about?

Justin McMillen (02:00:20):

Yeah, I don't think it I don't think it matters too much, man. I don't think

Neil Trusso (02:00:22):

No, I'm still going to be involved in that, I'm never not going to be.

Justin McMillen (02:00:24):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:00:25):

but I do like getting out there. I want everyone to know like that. And my goal is on the West Coast that everyone knows about us. atleast from the veteran side, you know, we do really well with veterans and mixing them in with the with the non-veterans which I think is great.

Justin McMillen (02:00:40):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:00:41):

it's really good.

Justin McMillen (02:00:42):

No, I had we had a guy that just came through leadership, you know, talking about bald head.

Neil Trusso (02:00:47):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:00:48):

The big sumbitch, [...] Incredible guy. He, he was, he was saying in here that he felt closer. And you hear this all the time, but he felt closer to the he had three guys in the class with him. He said he felt closer to them than he did with any of the guys that he ever deployed with.

Neil Trusso (02:01:07):

Perfect. Right.

Justin McMillen (02:01:08):

And I was like, Holy shit. He's I'm like, are you serious? And he's like, yeah, he's like, yea, You know, I got a lot of problems with this place. And, you know, little stupid nit picky shit.

Neil Trusso (02:01:14):

Oh, sure. Yeah, of course,

Justin McMillen (02:01:15):

but but in the same breath, he's getting emotional and he's just talking about how much he he feels so close to the other guy from West Virginia that Jake knows. And, you know, he's. Yeah, he's like, I'm going to stay connected to these guys. And he he meant it. And he's like, I think I've I'm stretching myself and I'm learning to be vulnerable. And I'm seeing the power in that.

Neil Trusso (02:01:38):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (02:01:38):

and I'm seeing how powerless I was when I didn't let myself be vulnerable because it was running and controlling my whole existence.

Neil Trusso (02:01:45):

Yeah. I mean, when he's when he was in the military, had to.

Justin McMillen (02:01:48):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:01:48):

Now he's not in the military anymore. And it's okay. And it's okay to shift that again to use that as a tool. But now it's not who you are all the time.

Justin McMillen (02:01:55):

What's fascinating to me Neil is. Yeah, exactly. But what's cool is, like you said, you need to play with the violent side of who you are.

Neil Trusso (02:02:02):

Yep. Right that shouldn't go away,

Justin McMillen (02:02:04):

because if you don't, it will be there. It's just going to come out really fucked up ways.

Neil Trusso (02:02:08):

When you're not prepared for it. And it might do bad. Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:02:10):

Same thing. Like dude needs to play with the vulnerable part of who he is because if he doesn't, it's going to come out in really fucked up ways,

Neil Trusso (02:02:17):

not gonna know how to deal with it. And he's going to be really afraid of what he's going to do. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:02:21):

Four months here, five months here. And he's been playing with that part of who he is

Neil Trusso (02:02:25):

and he hasn't lost his tough guy. He's still super tough right.

Justin McMillen (02:02:27):

No, no.

Neil Trusso (02:02:28):

that's perfect. That's what we hope for. You still got [...] all the guys he served with. He's past that.

Justin McMillen (02:02:33):

[...] Just realizing that it's the same thing. It's just on the other side.

Neil Trusso (02:02:37):

different direction. Yeah,

Justin McMillen (02:02:39):

yeah, that's fucking crazy.

Neil Trusso (02:02:40):

Yeah, that's good, good for him.

Justin McMillen (02:02:42):

I'm proud of the work we we do here.

Neil Trusso (02:02:45):

Yeah, man. We don't get toasters. We get the guys that graduated. You know.

Justin McMillen (02:02:48):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:02:49):

And that's that's pretty nice there I don't again I think back to all the guys that have come through and they're all special. Like you're word special human beings. They're not really. Is anybody like I hate that guy.

Justin McMillen (02:03:02):

No

Neil Trusso (02:03:02):

no they don't come here or they don't stay.

Justin McMillen (02:03:04):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:03:05):

You know everyone has been it's been pretty amazing. They come from all walks of life and I like I'm proud of that. I like that we've had guys that, you know, whatever sexuality or whatever this, you know, and they fit in.

Justin McMillen (02:03:15):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:03:16):

As long as they want to get healthy and they want to brotherhood, they're fine.

Justin McMillen (02:03:19):

Yeah. It's weird. I didn't. It's funny because we didn't plan that. Was it like we planned being military focused out the gate?

Neil Trusso (02:03:26):

No. and, were not really really.

Justin McMillen (02:03:28):

Yeah. I mean, and it's not, it's just I think we've tapped into some basic truths about being a human.

Neil Trusso (02:03:34):

Yeah, I think, I think I agree. And those guys need, like you said, touch the, touch of the, vulnerable.

Justin McMillen (02:03:42):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:03:43):

a lot of them do. They're afraid of that. And I understand that because that's what we did. We practiced to not be vulnerable. You literally mess with each other to not be vulnerable in the military. And so I think that's because and that was all subconscious, because when you're doing stuff you have to do, like what they were doing for the last 20 years, you can't be vulnerable.

Justin McMillen (02:04:03):

No, of course

Neil Trusso (02:04:04):

you can't at all. But now how do you turn it off when you go home? Right. That's like a big lesson.

Justin McMillen (02:04:09):

Yeah, it's energy though, because it's still there. Yeah, it's it's going to come out. Yeah. See that's that's fascinating. I saw this when we were in Florida at that special operation SOCOM deal. Warrior care deal.

Neil Trusso (02:04:23):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:04:24):

There was a guy that I was talking to, and, you know, it was crazy. He was asking me to tell him about something, and I was talking to him and staring at me with the most deadpan like, dude, are you alive? Like, you know that expression?

Neil Trusso (02:04:36):

I think you're talking about.

Justin McMillen (02:04:37):

And then all of a sudden he just starts tearing up and I'm like, where the fuck did that come from?

Neil Trusso (02:04:42):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (02:04:43):

like he went from this like, no, showing me nothing. I mean, you know, it's it's like talking to somebody who doesn't give you anything and you're, you're like, why are you even asking me this? And then and then all of a sudden he starts crying and I'm like, fuck, man, these guys suck at this part of their life. They just suck at it like they're terrible at it. And

Neil Trusso (02:05:01):

oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:05:03):

And it's killing people.

Neil Trusso (02:05:05):

I think so, yeah. Yeah. That's you can't. Well, they don't want to feel the I think they're afraid they're going to be vulnerable. They're going to have to you, you address that other side of what they had to do. And if there are two different things.

Justin McMillen (02:05:16):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:05:17):

You know

Justin McMillen (02:05:18):

I think that's the thing too. It's like making sense of the work. You know. And this happens again, I, I only get the guys in leadership now. So I had these moments. But it's like I was talking to this last guy and I said, do you still love the United States. And he was like, fuck. And I was like, I'm like you. You seem Like a patriotic, dude., he was like, yeah, I was. And he's like, I have a flag at home. It's in the front, you know, it's hanging from the front of the house. He’s like that's a great question. And I'm like, do you... how do you feel? He's like, I don't know. He's like, I. After I left the military, I started working in finance. And just like, completely dissconnected, like, I'm not going to own any of it. I don't want to talk about it, I dont want to I don't want anyone to even know.

Neil Trusso (02:06:01):

Yeah, yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:06:02):

He's like, that's been how I've rolled. And he goes and now I think, what's what was it all for? Was it pointless, you know. So he's going through that whole thing and it's like, here's the problem with that though and I told him I was like, look, I, I'm not you and I'm not in your head, but I know this. Like, you had to sacrifice a lot of shit, like to be a certain way to do the job. Now you're not doing the job anymore. And if you choose to make it meaningless, you're signing up for a whole lot of pain. And he's like, that makes sense, Justin, And I was like, it's true, Mike. If I'm like, maybe you got to find some other way to make it mean something.

Neil Trusso (02:06:40):

Yeah, it's good

Justin McMillen (02:06:40):

you know, because I if you if you were, if you were to like, oh yeah, I did all this shit. Right. Like I had, you know, it's like it's a job I signed up for. I put my life on the line. Had to just do the work and get it done. And all the bullshit that comes with that. And then you attach. Oh, it was all for nothing. That's a recipe for

Neil Trusso (02:06:59):

dude. Just diminished everything.

Justin McMillen (02:07:02):

Yeah. How do you not want a fucking.

Neil Trusso (02:07:04):

That's horrible.

Justin McMillen (02:07:05):

Yeah. So I and I think that a lot of guys deal with that. So we were talking I was like I said, you know, the crazy. And I heard this somewhere. I don’t know where it was, it was like some, some interview I was listening to and someone was talking about it wasn't military thing, someone was talking about, It was a debate and somebody was saying how the US is really an ideal. And like people, it's supposed to be a, our, our, our government and our system is supposed to be something people are never satisfied with because that's the whole idea, is that then the American ideal is the ideal. It's like we're always striving for this greater, better way.

Neil Trusso (02:07:45):

Okay.

Justin McMillen (02:07:45):

Right. Which means that you're constantly pointing out what's fucked up. And that's how you continue to grow. And it's never perfect. It's just keep trying to make it better. Yeah. It's like we have this and we have this idealism. That's what we are. We're an idealist group. Right? So him thinking about his time and like, was it worth it or not worth it? It's like he's considering and pondering the ideal. And so that's kind of cool. So it's like maybe it's just about the ideal. And like whether that's one way or another way is like like how do you say something's bad? It's like, oh, is all for oil or money. It's like, okay, well isn't it good that America has the most oil in money?

Neil Trusso (02:08:24):

Yeah, I know, like

Justin McMillen (02:08:25):

like if we don't, then what happens?

Neil Trusso (02:08:27):

Yeah, what’s the alternative.

Justin McMillen (02:08:27):

Then who’s in control.

Neil Trusso (02:08:29):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:08:29):

Yeah, exactly. And so maybe we're not we're not that perfect, but we are trying to have an ideal and we're saying [...]

Neil Trusso (02:08:37):

Hypothesis out there like yeah you don't know. But yeah you can't minimize any of that.

Justin McMillen (02:08:42):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:08:43):

You know

Justin McMillen (02:08:44):

it's a hard thing.

Neil Trusso (02:08:45):

That's that's tough man.

Justin McMillen (02:08:46):

I think that's a big piece though man I think you know like rest his soul, Hank. Can say his name in here. I mean, I think that's I know that we can, you know, I think that's his. That was a lot of the pain for him. So he definitely his time in in service, like, we talked about it and it was like, what is it any of it mean? He's like, it's all fucking stupid. That was his.

Neil Trusso (02:09:11):

Wow.

Justin McMillen (02:09:11):

Yeah, So how do you do all that stuff and then

Neil Trusso (02:09:14):

work a lot of work and then.

Justin McMillen (02:09:16):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:09:17):

call it stupid.

Justin McMillen (02:09:18):

Yeah, yeah. And especially him, he he would get sometimes excited when I taught first in the breach.

Neil Trusso (02:09:24):

Oh yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:09:24):

Yeah. I was like why is it going to be first in the breaches,. he was like because you get to get the first one

Neil Trusso (02:09:28):

I know.

Justin McMillen (02:09:28):

And I was like, jesus dude He's like lit up. He's so excited. He's like, that's usually because that's the first guy that's going to, you know, make someone ruin someone's day. And I was like, oh geez, okay, Hank. He was all jazzed up about it,

Neil Trusso (02:09:41):

I do I do miss that guy. He was weird. But I miss that guy. That crazy beard.

Justin McMillen (02:09:45):

He has, he I, I don't know if you I don't know if I ever told you this, but, I had a plane ticket to Raleigh, that landed.. the plane, landed two days after he took his own life. And I talked to him, and I booked it on the day after Christmas. So I talked to him the day after Christmas. My family. It was when I was in Arizona, and I remember crystal clear. I was on the phone with him for probably hour and a half because I was like, I'm going to come see you. It wasn't that wasn't the reason that I was going there. I was going there to visit Brent or go to Wilmington, but I was like, I'm gonna be in Raleigh, you know? So and he was telling me he's like, I'm like, what are you doing? It's like I work at a sandwich shop. He's like, it's so cool. It's in the back of a Lucky's grocery store. And he's like. And, all the all the ladies there love me. He's like, he's like, Justin it’s crazy I was. I was off for two days and I came in and he's like, I got all these like, big gals just hugging me. Tell me they miss me. He's like, you know, there's something about just things being simple. He's like, and and I, he's like, I get to make sandwiches and I get to spend time with these amazing ladies. And he's like, and I got my scooter. And he's like...

Neil Trusso (02:10:52):

I remember video’s of him on that scooter man,

Justin McMillen (02:10:55):

yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:10:55):

Blasting his crazy music.

Justin McMillen (02:10:57):

Yeah. He said he's anyway he goes the other day I was driving down the riding down the road and I pulled up next to somebody and was like got my serious look on my face and look at him. And he's got serious look. And I'm like, you know. And he's like thinking I'm going to fight him or say something. Guys like, what do you want? And he's like, hey, have a good day, man. And then, you know, yeah. He was, he was a tortured, tortured human being.

Neil Trusso (02:11:21):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:11:22):

But I, I really cared a lot about him, he...

Neil Trusso (02:11:25):

No, I did dude.

Justin McMillen (02:11:26):

My kids, my kids still ask about hime, dude.

Neil Trusso (02:11:28):

I played that game with him man, we talk about it all the time.

Justin McMillen (02:11:30):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:11:30):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:11:31):

My kids still ask about him, they don't know that he's gone.

Neil Trusso (02:11:34):

Yeah. That's tough. Yeah, man. If we can stop that, that part of it that's just,

Justin McMillen (02:11:41):

Yeah. It's rough.

Neil Trusso (02:11:44):

Unfortunately, that's part of our, It's hard. That's a hard part. you know.

Justin McMillen (02:11:49):

What's crazy is that it's like, it's just all the stuff that goes on between the ears in that head.

Neil Trusso (02:11:55):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:11:56):

And it's like we create it. It's. We're we're just organisms walking around. It's like the hell we live in. In our heads.

Neil Trusso (02:12:04):

Yeah. Definitely.

Justin McMillen (02:12:06):

It's weird.

Neil Trusso (02:12:06):

Yeah, it is it that it's weird having to get out of that. Like, for instance, when I coach, my biggest thing is confidence, man. They're athletically as good as anyone, but it's all in their heads. So like you're right that thing and that, that our, our our our skeleton and muscle suit that's walking around is fine. It's that thing running the brain or the spirit or whatever. Right. That's completely creating all the fear and doubt and oh I screwed up, no you didn't, you know, you're fine. It was worth it.

Justin McMillen (02:12:36):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:12:37):

Or just. Whatever stop thinking about it,

Justin McMillen (02:12:40):

Is most of your. So you coach lacrosse.

Neil Trusso (02:12:43):

Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:12:44):

Amazing team I see your videos that...

Neil Trusso (02:12:46):

they are there now.

Justin McMillen (02:12:48):

Well took Some time.

Neil Trusso (02:12:48):

Yeah it took. Yeah.

Justin McMillen (02:12:50):

It is it mostly a head game would you say with them. That got them there.

Neil Trusso (02:12:54):

Yeah. Mainly you know a head game. And to. You know love the journey I've been pushing that hard you know and we've created a legacy. I'm big on legacy now and I’m getting older, Like when the seniors graduate the juniors become like leaders

Justin McMillen (02:13:13):

You have them spend time together?

Neil Trusso (02:13:15):

Well, now that now the seniors are helping the younger kids, okay. And then every year we have like a we borrowed this, but we do like a actual dress up dinner with the seniors. I make them all. They meet me with the coaches all in suits and we go to dinner and talk about what they're doing in their life and where they're going, and opportunity to hang out, like as true like young men. Yeah. And it's really cool. It's really nice. And a lot of that stuff that I work with them is a lot of stuff we do here, which is, which is, which is again why this is working. It's not just oh it's only substance abuse.

Justin McMillen (02:13:45):

right.

Neil Trusso (02:13:46):

Accountability, responsibility brotherhood. You know, first in the breach, confidence, all these different things that we do here. Legacy too. What are you doing? What do you want? I'm not playing the game. What do you want to do a lot of that. And it's been really, as I'm saying, like I'm super impressed with them. Because they seem pretty normal to me. Like, they, they cry when they're stressed out. They have. They're afraid of looking bad in front of their friends. They are dating how to drive they’re, riding their bikes. I love the fact that they do dumb stuff on the weekend to their friends like oh well, I make they play video games. Yeah, it's just regular stuff man. And maybe I'm blessed with where Im at, but that's what I see. And I mean, these, these kids are great and they're and most of them come back to help me coach in the summertime.

Justin McMillen (02:14:34):

See

Neil Trusso (02:14:35):

you know, and that part is like

Justin McMillen (02:14:36):

more people need to hear that Neil.

Neil Trusso (02:14:37):

Yeah,

Justin McMillen (02:14:38):

everyone's got a view that all the youth is, is totally fucked up and not doing well.

Neil Trusso (02:14:43):

Yeah, I don't I don't see it. I'm not I'm like I said, I've got 70 kids, right now,

Justin McMillen (02:14:48):

70?

Neil Trusso (02:14:49):

70 and 60 last year. And then I've had a bunch more kids jump through from my I'm starting a club program. I'm about to start getting into the elementary schools. I'm about to get this going so everyone knows what I do, which is cool, because I just had one of my coaches that I coach against. They want their program to do a fundraiser for one of somebody like a veteran, benevolent for us because of what I do, which is cool. So I mean, it's going it's starting to this. It'll be....

Justin McMillen (02:15:14):

your competitors doing this?

Neil Trusso (02:15:15):

Yeah. For me, like, hey, I know what you do for work? We want to do a thing. I'm like, all right, I'm going to find one of our nonprofits that we work with and that can connect them.

Justin McMillen (02:15:22):

That's awesome.

Neil Trusso (02:15:23):

You know, for getting a veteran help or something, which would be great. That’s just great what we do is like, it works. The kids are doing well, and I work. Like I said, I also work with the girls water polo team, you know, and I kind of help the kids. I’m cutting back, I do a lot, kids football team one day a week. Well, just for like ten weeks. And I see the girls and they're going through the exact same thing like life, they don’t eat they have self they have they have the issues on how they look.

Justin McMillen (02:15:52):

You mean they don't eat like eating disorder.

Neil Trusso (02:15:54):

No. This just they're just going, dude, these girls are working so hard and they forget to eat.

Justin McMillen (02:15:59):

Oh, got it.

Neil Trusso (02:16:00):

They're not worried about this.

Justin McMillen (02:16:02):

There's me defaulting.

Neil Trusso (02:16:03):

That is the 90s. That's the 90s youth that. Yeah, yeah, and my wife struggles with that, too. They grew up like that, you know? They're they seem pretty healthy. They're they're friendly. They're really smart. [...] They've. I guess they got a good home last. The parent. Well, most of them do. I do have kids that struggle at home.

Justin McMillen (02:16:21):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:16:21):

I had a kid took a bus for two hours just to come to school and take a bus two hours home. And he still shows up every now and then for alumni stuff. And he survived. You know, he's not in jail, working, doing fine. So like, there's a lot of good kids running around, super impressed by the hard work they do.

Justin McMillen (02:16:39):

We need more coaches like you.

Neil Trusso (02:16:40):

Possibly. Man, I, I, I'm like, I'm blessed because I get to, learn a lot about me and I'm learning that what we built here and it applies there. And I figure if I can get them early, they won't be here.

Justin McMillen (02:16:51):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:16:52):

You know.

Justin McMillen (02:16:53):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:16:54):

Yeah. So I'm doing my little I'm doing my part there. And, you know, I've always had a thing for coaching kids and that kind of thing. But I'm really impressed with where the kids are at right now. They're super competitive, man. they are like animals.

Justin McMillen (02:17:07):

That's cool.

Neil Trusso (02:17:08):

And they do, like, fi... dude I got a bunch like doing, like, learning how to fly airplanes.

Justin McMillen (02:17:12):

Do you have them? Do you have people come in and switch in schools so they can be part of.

Neil Trusso (02:17:16):

You know, I have like 1 or 2, not many. Which is weird because I think that's a normal thing, but I don't

Justin McMillen (02:17:22):

it's going to be more when word gets out more about what you’re doing.

Neil Trusso (02:17:25):

This year's the year because I had a bunch of kids playing a high, high level tournament against the best teams. And my kids were like the better of the kids on those teams and they competed at the highest level. We're a public school.[..] and they're competing against the private schools, which you know how that works. They can get to bring [...]. Those teams are really good. But my kids were on par maybe a little bit behind. And it's a public school.

Justin McMillen (02:17:48):

That's crazy. It doesn't surprise me though.

Neil Trusso (02:17:50):

And it's cool. They're they're they're great kids. They work hard I have to really scream. I go, hey man, if you want the reps, if you're late, you're losing daylight. Your stuff is over. And I'm big on that. You're never going to get this day back.

Justin McMillen (02:18:03):

Nice.

Neil Trusso (02:18:03):

You're going to look back on this. And did you waste your time? You know, It's all the same stuff that we're doing. It's it's great. Right. It's it's good stuff man.

Justin McMillen (02:18:10):

That's really cool.

Neil Trusso (02:18:11):

And it's like yeah, go harder, go faster.

Justin McMillen (02:18:14):

The thing is, like, coaches are and certain teachers, they, they you remember forever. You know that. Right. And these people are going these guys these kids are going to Remember you when they’re when they're old I mean I remember my first swim coach. She was awesome. She was like kind of old truck driver lady. And I was in the lanes with all the little like, kids basically. Because I didn't know how to swim. And she was like, we're going to get you over with. Her name was Sharon Capron, and she was an amazing, amazing woman, like just incredible. And then Milt when I got over to the other side the way he was. Yeah. The way they talk to you,

Neil Trusso (02:18:51):

When you could barely swim?

Justin McMillen (02:18:53):

Yeah, well, Sharon, when I could barely swim, and she was. It was like a half pool, and I mean, literally could not swim. Yeah, she's teaching me. I swim literally, and with all these kids, and I'm like 12 years old or ten years old, and it's like, I'm with five year olds.

Neil Trusso (02:19:05):

And like, if that experience sucked you would’ve stopped?

Justin McMillen (02:19:07):

Yeah, yeah. But she was like, you got this and she pushed me. And then I ended up moving over to like, a big kids pool. And I was with Vicky, and Vicky was just incredible. Oh, then. So then I also play basketball and I had two incredible situations. I was on one team where the team was pretty caustic. They were all childhood friends. But it was not the best team in general. And then there was another team that won everything, and it was, Mike Dunning was a guy's name. His son Cale was like all star, every athlete kind of thing. And I ended up on that team because I changed, boundaries in school. So long story, but. So I'm like, this terrible basketball player for this other team, ends up on this amazing team.

Neil Trusso (02:19:54):

You're like, oh gosh.

Justin McMillen (02:19:55):

I mean, amazing. They won every game, right? And and and Rick, not Mike. Rick Dunning was his name was like the most incredible person on the planet. He was so kind to me. I ran into him years and years later, like when I was probably in my 30s at a coffee shop. He lost his daughter in Australia. She died in a car accident. But he remembered me and it was like, I remember you from, way back. Yeah, it was just he he the team would be so far out in front and they win so much shit. And I was like, all right, put Justin him try to score a basket. You know, and the team would rally around. So like

Neil Trusso (02:20:27):

really? That's cool though.

Justin McMillen (02:20:29):

He actually he actually playing for that team was how I quit basketball because I, I it was a safe enough place for me to realize that I was terrible at it.

Neil Trusso (02:20:40):

This is not my thing.

Justin McMillen (02:20:41):

I was terrible at it. But there was so much love there that was like, it's okay, it's okay. You suck. Like

Neil Trusso (02:20:46):

it's fun.

Justin McMillen (02:20:47):

Yeah. And like, just try something else. And it was like. Like I. It was the first thing I ever quit that, That's weird, because I'm not somebody who quits things. But it was the first thing I was like, this is not for me. And it was not bad. And I didn't feel ashamed. And it was because of him.

Neil Trusso (02:21:03):

That's a good, like, mature life choice. One of your first, like, healthy, like this. Isn't it, I dont feel bad time to move on.

Justin McMillen (02:21:12):

And I couldn't tell you if you said, what's your fifth grade teacher's name?

(02:21:16):

I don't know if I remember, but that coach.

Neil Trusso (02:21:18):

Wow.

Justin McMillen (02:21:18):

Yeah. So just so just so you know, these guys, like, they're going to be 40 and, like, talking about this guy Neil. And it's like, maybe they never played lacrosse again. And it'll. You're making, It's a big deal, man. You know that

Neil Trusso (02:21:33):

Oh, I love it.. That's good.

Justin McMillen (02:21:35):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:21:35):

It's it's fun. They're good kids. Listen to the stories, the dumb stuff they're doing. Like what Video game you playing. What's the word of the week they've been. Yeah, dude, those guys, whatever the new word is, they know. Yeah, it's really fun for me. It's like, oh, God, what's a new word? It's a B on this skibidy stuff. There's that. There's new words now already, like one year old, your kids, you probably get them. They're going to get around their kids and get some words like, what the heck is that?

Justin McMillen (02:21:57):

Sure. Yeah. Findlay probably is already there. 13.

Neil Trusso (02:22:00):

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, he's hearing it. They're saying stuff.

Justin McMillen (02:22:02):

The word of the week.

Neil Trusso (02:22:03):

It's fine and we had rad and all those words. We had.

Justin McMillen (02:22:06):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:22:07):

You know, that's I guess that's in my mind. That's why things are he... They're still doing the same stuff we did. I love hearing that. The dumb word and skining their knee and learn how to drive. I got an AP exam like it's fine. It's life or my girlfriend broke up with me.

Justin McMillen (02:22:21):

Yeah,

Neil Trusso (02:22:21):

a little car accident here, like all that. It's like it's not. I'm doing drugs or I got robbed or

Justin McMillen (02:22:27):

it's a trip, man. Like it's like we're being poisoned.

Neil Trusso (02:22:30):

Dude the media and the phones. Yes. It's weird, it’s too much. It's too much.

Justin McMillen (02:22:34):

It's making us hate each other and hate ourselves.

Neil Trusso (02:22:37):

I was having a talk with some of my kids, and I really do think there was. I was talking about analog watch, analog pen and paper, and they were like, some people are going away from the phones like the younger kids are,

Justin McMillen (02:22:50):

really?

Neil Trusso (02:22:51):

I have to find out that was from my kids. But that's a thing that'll be amazed.

Justin McMillen (02:22:55):

It would be

Neil Trusso (02:22:56):

right.

Justin McMillen (02:22:56):

It would be. I can see it. Oh Shit, hold on a second.

Neil Trusso (02:23:01):

Yeah, you might have to do part two man.

Justin McMillen (02:23:05):

Yeah, um...

Neil Trusso (02:23:06):

I think it’d be good it's fun.

Justin McMillen (02:23:07):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:23:08):

We haven't even got to actually working here yet.

Justin McMillen (02:23:12):

I know, I know. Well let's let's let's we've been we've been at this almost three hours.

Neil Trusso (02:23:15):

Yeah yeah yeah, we’ll chill.

Justin McMillen (02:23:16):

It’s beautiful.

(02:23:17):

Yeah I think it's awesome, been really good, and you have life...

(02:23:22):

to a meeting so I can talk to you all day, dude.

Neil Trusso (02:23:24):

Yeah I know, yeah, yeah, it's it's good.

Justin McMillen (02:23:27):

but future conversations.

Neil Trusso (02:23:28):

Yeah. No part two will be the beginning of Tree House.

Justin McMillen (02:23:31):

Yeah.

Neil Trusso (02:23:32):

We can't get the guys lined up before six. That if we start from there.

Justin McMillen (02:23:36):

Yeah. Oh, that...

Neil Trusso (02:23:37):

You'll be shocked at what we've done since that.

Justin McMillen (02:23:40):

That would be. It'd be cool to do a whole bunch of stuff just about Treehouse about. Also, you and I have been talking for years just about themes around everything from masculinity to the country to the stuff we're just talking about right now. There's a lot to talk about.

Neil Trusso (02:23:55):

Micro-dolphins every month, see people gotta ask what these....

Justin McMillen (02:23:58):

Mini-fins. Mini-fins.

(02:23:59):

Which they need to make, dude, I just want a little elephant that will wrap his little trunk around my finger. And I could walk with him, you know, that's what I want.

Neil Trusso (02:24:07):

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Justin McMillen (02:24:09):

Thank you. That's a good one. All right. Take care.

Outro (02:24:12):

Hey, guys. It would really help us out a lot if you liked and subscribed. We have a lot more episodes on the way. And if you like what you saw here today, put your notifications on and you'll know when a new one comes out. And, we're excited to get them in front of you guys and to hear what you have to say. So please leave your comments down below.