Full Transcript for Dave Rutherford Show: The Veteran Debt Crisis Is WORSE Than People Think

police officer or firefighter or anything, but I know they go and deal with a lot. I've always felt like we're kind of cut from the same cloth in many ways. And so we wanted to do something to give back to that community as well. So we're going to expand it even further. So obviously, if we crush that goal, we'll also be assisting them. 00:06:20 Speaker 2: It's interesting that you brought them up. I've been working for years with Dr. Chris Free, the guy who came up and coined the term operator syndrome. We've been on with Evan before on the Black Rifle show and talking about it. Over the last couple of years, he's really it been doing a lot of counseling work for, for police officers, firefighters, and first responders as well. And you're right. The same type of exposure stuff is, is taking place. 00:06:52 Speaker 1: Right. 00:06:52 Speaker 2: And, and it's great to hear that you guys are, are integrating them, uh, eventually, and they will be able to receive that help as well too. Cause they always seem like, you know, it's easy to, to, Hey, thanks for your service. 00:07:06 Speaker 1: Right. 00:07:07 Speaker 2: But you know, like I, I, I interviewed this this police officer from a veteran, the veteran wood company, his name's Mike. And he got screwed over a pension and got kicked out and all this stuff. And, and like people, I reposted it and you know, that the cop eight out there is just nuts. And I was just like, how's that even possible? Imagining a world without police officers is crazy to me, but it's, it's, I love the fact that they're, our groups are starting this kind of symbiotic relationship to support their efforts at work. Cause I believe you're right. We are cut from the same cloth. Um, let's talk about the beginning of this program and how bear came up with it and why he started it and then how you guys joined in. 00:07:56 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I would definitely need to ask bear. I know that from what I understand is, uh, He found that organization for GiveCo and saw that they paid off veteran medical debt. They just needed help raising the funds to be able to execute it. But yeah, and then from my personal standpoint, I was working at the Special Forces Foundation at the time, and I was working with BEAR. So the irony there is it's like a Green Beret organization, and then I was working with a Navy SEAL-owned vehicle. But he was kind enough to always provide us t-shirts and stuff for memorial rocks and stuff. So I built that relationship with Bear over a couple years. 00:08:36 Speaker 2: And, uh, Hey, by the way, everybody listening by everybody there, the, the, the online hate between our communities is, is, is, is about this big and the rest of us really love each other because we respect each other and we help each other all the time. So just so you all know that. 00:08:56 Speaker 1: You know, that's a whole nother thing to unpackage there because you're spot on though. It's just like, You know how it is. The 1% get all the media because it's kind of funny to watch or the drama. It's like watching trash TV or something. But yeah, we always just give each other shit all the time. I always tell everybody I'm just slightly better looking than Bear, but he's got the charisma. What a... but yeah, we just, you know, so after, you know, with operation debt of gratitude, I was paying close attention when the first year that born primitive did it and they eliminated 11 million on their first year on their own. And I just thought that was so impressive. And so once I took the job over black rifle coffee company, uh, you know, I proposed to him, I was like, Hey, can, is it, can we combine this? And, uh, I was in no position to make that agreement, but he flew out to Utah with Matt and Evan, and then they had their discussions, and then it was game on at that point. They were just like, hey, listen. do it. So last year was the first year we did it combined, which was great. And then once again, eliminated $ 35 million just for veterans. Our goal last year was $ 25 million, so we exceeded that by $ 10 million. And so then the coming into this year, I can't stress it enough. You're going to hear me say that a lot of lessons learned in a positive way. You know, I'm a, I'm the fix the foxhole kind of guy. So, you know, so, but the team, you know, it's just a lot of like people just understanding what it was we're doing, why we're doing it. How can we market it in such a way to make it authentic and honest and everything. We never wanted to give anybody the impression that we're doing it for us. Like we, we really don't give a shit about any of that. What we cared about is, How can we affect people's lives over Veterans Day? And so we really worked on the messaging to make sure that we were being clear and communicative. And yeah, and then here we are. So it's crazy to see how far it came in just a couple years. 00:11:02 Speaker 2: In my mind, this could be one of the biggest initiatives that has ever existed within the veteran space. It's such a pure mission. The education component is so important. narrow, not in a bad way, but there's a synthesis. We are going to help veterans pay their medical bills they can't pay. It's direct and it's relief. In particular now, with inflation, the cost of living, the job market, all of that, it's obvious because that stuff's all on the ballot right now for sure. But to to be able to deliver such a concise solution is really what I think people that have that donor spirit that's built into them. They've been donating to their churches their whole lives. They've been donating to cancer research. And I saw when you were talking to Jordy before we come on, you had the pink grenade mug in support of breast cancer awareness right there, man, which BRCC is supporting with another one of of the 150 plus charities that you guys are working with and supporting philanthropically. It's just an amazing thing. But the other component, I think, is the

humanistic component of this, the people that you're actually helping. So do you have any really amazing stories with what those donations have done specifically for people that you could share with us? 00:12:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I try to keep their personal information to themselves and I should have done better on planning this and making sure it was okay that I tell some of their stories. Um, but you know, we, we, I would say that if you go to operation debt of gratitude.com, you'll see on there where we built in the testimonies and stuff, but it was just, you know, one guy that I'll mention is Daniel, you know, and, uh, we helped him, uh, a Navy veteran that we helped with his veteran medical debt. And I'll send you the video, but it was, I have a hard time like holding it together, watching this video, like seeing him respond to one kind of like what we chatted about earlier. He honestly thought we were messing with him or it was a joke. He was just like, there's no way this can be real. And so obviously it's got the POC he called in and everything. He's like, is this for real? And he's like, do I have to apply for something? Is this like some credit card deal? Like, you know, whatever. Yeah, yeah. We were like, no, like it's already gone. Like you don't have to do anything. It's you, you no longer have this medical debt. And, um, just, just hearing him speak in this video was just so epic in so many ways. Um, I'll never be able to do it justice, but it was like things like that where you just get pulled in and you're just like, and those are the tangible testimonies. And it just, you know, you're doing something right at that point. Because, you know, I'm a second guesser, you know, for love or hate, you know, one of my flaws in life, but just second guess damn near everything I do. But man, just seeing that testimony and so many others that came in, you know, we have a whole rolling deck of them that just, you know, everybody who wanted to submit a video or just a line or whatever they wanted to do. And then you'll see for the campaign, I don't want to spoil it. But, you know, we had Daniel come into the office there in Salt Lake City and then did a recording with him and stuff. And we wanted to share it to the world and obviously make sure it was OK with him and his family that we kind of. But but I think that that true testimony was really important to put out there for the campaign. So people see the effects that we're having with it rather than us or me just saying, hey, we're doing good stuff. You know, that's always really easy. But. But yeah, you'll see. I'm excited. After this show, I'll send you over the video. You're going to love it. It's pretty crazy. Pretty epic. 00:15:06 Speaker 2: We'll put it in at the end of the show for sure. Oh, yeah. 00:15:09 Speaker 1: There you go. 00:15:11 Speaker 2: Absolutely. Obviously, you have 20 plus years of service in the Army. You retired as what? A CW4, was it? CW3. CW3. cw3 chief

warrant officer and obviously you you understand the impact of service right at at probably the highest level because i watched uh uh your interview with with logan and and kagan and and man it was it was just awesome i love those guys so much they're such incredible people But you're so humble the way you describe your service. And even so today, it's a really remarkable thing. And without, you know, obviously, I'm sure in your mind, oh, he's not going to make this about me right now. This is about the thing. 00:16:06 Speaker 1: I'm not alone, David. I hate talking about myself. 00:16:09 Speaker 2: I know you do. And I agree with it. No, I promise myself, I'm like, after watching that, I was like, man, he hates talking about himself, so I'm not going to make him do it. If you could just give a frame of reference, though, for the impact medically, right? Because as I break out operator center, many people that I try and talk about the long-term effect and effects of training exposure and deployment exposure are Everybody immediately goes, it's all PTSD. It's all this. It's all the mental health stuff. It's all this. And I'm like, actually, it's not. The real impact is that we found, I should say that Chris and his team, and there's a brilliant guy up at Stanford that's working with the VA out in that area. They just did a project with 500 soft guys and basically conclusively proved that the main problems come from medical challenges themselves, whether it's traumatic brain injuries from blast wave exposure, metabolic destabilization from endocrine dysfunction. And then the killer for me has been really the one that just has been so destructive for me in my life is orthopedic pain, that chronic ever-present orthopedic pain, right? Um, so just, can you help frame out that for people? Um, so they understand this is not like this charity and paying off medical bills. And I'm sure you pay off, you know, the other, but these other medical bills, like the, the relief of, of not having that burden and can try and contextualize that for everyone. 00:17:54 Speaker 1: Yeah. It's just, it's one of those things that love or hate it. Just, it's kind of like, uh, Similar in some ways, but you know, like everything you do in life is really important until you have a significant medical issue. And then everything stops. Like, you know, that becomes a priority. It can be related to the medical debt stuff. I mean, you're talking about people who can no longer finance a vehicle to get their son who turns 17 to get him a truck so he can learn how to drive and get the work and school and everything. So it really just slows down their pace of life. It's a burden that I don't believe any veteran should ever have, but they do. That's always something. The VA care isn't always free. And so we need to work on that. Not every veteran qualifies for VA care. And then sometimes the family members usually aren't covered. We ran into that. But however, they still accumulated as

a family, a veteran family and first responders. And so it just... I hope I articulate this correctly, but it's just a burden that just is always there. Your credit score is completely shit at this point, and it's just this lingering weight that you just have to carry around. And then you can just see how it affects every aspect of their life. It pushes at the mental health stuff. It pushes that in so many different ways into And to be fair too, because I always like to be very honest and forthcoming with people. I did not realize how detrimental medical debt was on people. I've been fortunate enough that I don't have a whole lot of debt. So I'm very grateful for that. But when I was able to speak to some of the people who had this significant medical debt, that was no fault of their own, by the way. This is just stuff they accumulated because, you know, one person, you know, his wife was in an accident, you know, and she didn't even cause it, but it still had the veteran medical debt associated with it. It just took such a significant toll on them. And it was sad as shit to watch, you know, and quite frankly, if I'm being honest, it really pissed me off because, you know, I just don't really believe in veterans having medical debt. And that's not I don't want to give that the wrong impression, like we're extra special or some shit like that. But it was just one of those things. This is just one of those burdens that they shouldn't have to carry because they always they already have to carry quite a bit. You know, and it's one of those things, you know, it makes up 1% of the U.S. population. I feel like it's something that they've earned by serving their country. However, I'm extremely biased towards that. So, you know, take that for what it is. But yeah, but then once again, to kind of go full circle, once I saw the testimonies and everything rolling in, once again, second guessing, you know, hey, are we doing the right thing here? It never became more clear to me at that point. I knew that we were making a significant impact. It always goes back to just the one thing that I truly give a shit about is, is their life better? And, you know, one person, you know, who had the medical debt and it was so interesting to watch because we paid off his medical debt. And the only thing he talked about was the relief that his children have because he became a better person. So he didn't even still didn't even make it about himself, even though it was directly impacting him. He still only cared about the effects that it was having on his family and talking about like, yeah, he's like literally the next week I went and applied for a loan to get my son a truck. And I was like, dude, that is so cool. You know, he's like, I would have never got approved to get anything like that. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe I belabored the hell out of that point, but it's just like. 00:21:48 Speaker 2: No, you crushed it as usual, man. 00:21:51 Speaker 1: It's really hard for me to articulate that because I get so passionate about these things. 00:21:56 Speaker 2: No, man, you're spot on. 00:21:57 Speaker 1: But I'll definitely throw you the videos and stuff because I'll never do it justice as far as when you get to hear from the actual testimonies on what it is and the impact it's making. 00:22:07 Speaker 2: Thanks everybody for paying attention to this episode. I hate to interrupt, but I have to give credit where credit is due. And that's to our number one sponsor, Black Rifle Coffee. They finally came out and they named a coffee after me. And this is the Rutt coffee right there. And so if you know anything about me and Instructor Rutt, you know who I am and what, and they've been so brilliant. to depict me as some, you know, massive, beautiful elk with like a 26 million point, you know, rack up there in this beautiful crown. So I, you know, I, if, if you haven't tried rut coffee yet, which is named after me for sure, 100%. And thanks, BRCC. I really appreciate the tribute there to old ruddy rut, right? Go out there, head over to Black Rifle Coffee, head over to the website, look up rut. And as you check out, just, you know, put in froglogic20 and you get your discount code on there for me. This is what kings drink right here because that's why it's called rut coffee. So thank you very much. Appreciate it, boys. Let's get back to the show. For sure. I, you know, one of the things that I think, you know, just, you know, as I, and I've done a few shows on post-war veteran life, right. All the way back, you know, from the, really the, the documentation is substantial from the civil war forward. You know, the, the, the, just the, The bitter impact and then the economic impact of the service as well too. And people don't often affiliate those two together, that there is a correlation, right? Death and taxes is a thing, right? And those are the two things that are the most burdening of our life. And what people don't recognize is that medical bills are a tax, right? The pain you experience or the brokenness that you experience from your service is a tax. right? And the reality of if you don't have some type of hope in your life every day, that's a tax. And I think when you have this get out in the way that I believe it will get out, I mean, I think next year you guys could do 50 million, the year after you could do 100. Once people start to really understand the magnitude of the crisis and you know, we just did one number of 382 million and that's VA numbers. We haven't even done civilian ER visits. I mean, you pulled it up on the Google box before we started and it gave some crazy number, like there's $ 6 billion in emergency debt, you know, in there. And We don't know if that's relative to solely of veteran-based debt. But what we do know is that that's a debt in and of itself on the American people. And so that combined with the insanity of, I think, insurance premiums like Jordy was just telling me he's

getting ready to have his second kid. And, you know, his monthly bill is growing astronomically. And then his premium, when he told me his premium, I was like, what did you just tell me? Like, holy shit, you know? And so, you know, this fundamental idea of, of, of service, right? What are you doing? You're like the famous quote, you're, you're willing to cash the check of your life for the country. And there's so much, the metaphor of that is so profoundly accurate. And so now when you counterbalance to this other debt that you're going to have to suffer with... you begin to go, Whoa, this, this isn't quite this. There's no balance in this, right? There is no recognition. And, um, so I, I just really hope, and I believe it's going to happen too. I believe that the momentum it's already started from 11 to 35. You guys could, you know, beat that this year, beat it next year, keep growing. 00:26:37 Speaker 1: Um, I just say like the community getting involved has been huge. Obviously it always takes time to grow up a program. You know, you got to raise awareness, but from the veteran community and now the first responder community, the word getting out has been insane. And so, you know, and we're, we're, you know, we, we try to plan this out and make sure people know what we're doing, why that's the reason why we built the debt of gratitude website, because people have questions, they can go in there and get all their questions answered. But It's been coming together really well. All right. 00:27:11 Speaker 2: Just pivoting away. When we first started, you talked about you're a person that you're a boots on the ground guy. And I think that's indicative of our community for sure. You recently did a thing where you dragged a pickup truck for 22 miles. And again, I know you don't like talking about yourself, but like there's the pun is intended. the weight of that effort, right, is it comes from something inside of you. You know, did you have that initially in your career early on? Were you aware of the challenges that some of your brothers who had gotten out, you know, relatively quickly or for medical reasons or for whatever, they just punched out or they were fatigued or whatever. When did you first recognize that you know, there was a real need for our own community to get in to support each other. 00:28:13 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I noticed that pretty early on, like, um, I've always tried to be a leader in as many ways as I could. So I always tried to be very understanding and, and, um, and I would ask, you know, I, I, you know, like full disclosure, you know, I lost my father and two uncles to suicide. So it's always been something that is, uh, that effort, you know, suicide prevention advocacy has been something that I've always been very passionate about. And so I guess that kind of made me a little bit more sensitive to the fact where I would see people like, if you were in the team room and I saw your head kind of hanging a little bit low, I'm the guy who would walk up and ask you what's wrong. You know, I, I just, who I did. And, um, once again, not to pat myself on the back, but I went through a pretty tough time and, you know, I wanted to inspire others. So I would tell my ODA like, Hey, I'm going to therapy today, you know, because I, you know, I think there was a time, you know, this was a good decade ago or so, but, um, where it was kind of looked at as like a, uh, like a weakness, if you will, that for some reason, you know, doing or asking for help kind of, you know, Made you look weak on an ODA and team. And you know how the team life is. You know, you'll get eaten alive. You know, everything's a competition. Everything's high performance. And I loved every aspect of that. But I think that, you know, everything has pros and cons. And so that's where I really started to pick up on it. Then when I started volunteering within the Special Forces Foundation. that's when I really started to see what was happening by, you know, behind the curtain. And it was just insane. I mean, it was just like you, every single week we would get phone calls on, Hey, this or that. And, uh, I was like, man, we have to do better. And so once again, you know, not perfect, but I'm not one of those guys that kind of sat on the sideline and just say, you know, you guys are doing good and you'll keep up good work. I was like, I'm getting involved. And I did. And, um, and so, yeah, with the truck pull, it was one of those things. Like I kind of stole the idea from mission 22. I saw this one kid that did it and I was like, dude, that is epic. Um, but I kind of wanted to make it my own. Um, and I really wanted to do, uh, something, um, Like I was like, how do I do like a physical representation of what mental health would look like? 00:30:29 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:30:30 Speaker 1: And so the truck represented that metaphor of, hey, carrying this heavy ass weight. And to my, you know, my grace is that I wanted to be able to ask people for help. Because usually when I brought up the fact that I was pulling a truck 22 miles, usually the first thing most people would say would be like, all by yourself? That's kind of dumb. And I would immediately love when they would say that. So why would you treat your mental health the same way? You know, why would you pull the truck alone or sit in the corner alone? So I use that metaphor to kind of open people's eyes. And it was epic doing it, you know, starting at 4 a.m. in the morning in the middle of nowhere. You know, Colorado is really rocky. So I went about as far to Kansas as I could get to find some flat road because those hills are brutal. And people just kept showing up. You know, and saying, hey, man, I'm here to help. And it was just so inspiring to just kind of show people, like, see if you ask for help, people will come. You know, and it was just one of those things like, you know, the bad thing about it, though, it was hilarious is people kept showing up, but

I kept getting more tired. So they're like, hey, let's run it. I was like, I'm a mile 16 right now. I was like, there's no more running for Dean. Like, you know, it was like, I'm in this. I'm about smoked. I remember there was this good, cool crew that showed up towards the end. They're like, yeah, let's run the last mile. And I was like, dude, I was like, I'll try to trout, but I'm telling you, man, it was a, it was also a good stiff reminder that, you know, I'm not in my twenties or thirties anymore. I know it was just, um, uh, but it was, it was fun, you know, and I see my fans and family who also came out and supported was epic. And, uh, I'm, I think we're going to do it again next year too. 00:32:16 Speaker 2: I think you said it the most is there were two things that you just said that just pierced my heart. And one, people just showed up, right? When you ask people to show up, I think in our community, as well as just regular people who believe in the country, who believe in our veterans, who believe in what we represent, they show up, man. And that's the glorious thing of what charities can be about is the unification of that mind and that spirit to help others selflessly. And I think at all of our unit core, that's what these things are about. That's at least for me. And I know you've you know, so beautifully described that, that idea is like, that's what it's about. Like, Hey man, your head's down. I'm here for you. Let's go. I got you. And, and when we, I think our efforts as, as when they do gain some traction, they inspire other people, you know, in particular in a time where people are a little bit tribal right now, and they're not sure who to participate with or who to support. And then the other thing is that when we come together, when people that have our mindsets come together, where Bear and Evan and Matt and you get together and all the folks over at Born Primitive get together and you put your minds together, man, look at what we're able to accomplish. And man, I just, for me, like, that's the story. That's the beauty of this. Cause there are, as you just said, 18,000 people who received relief from a couple of dedicated people that were willing to carry the load together to, to bring this relief. And it's, it's just, it's such an overwhelming positive thing. And, and man, I, I just, I can't, I like, it's gotta make you wake up every day and go, yeah. And I get it. Like there are all these other administrative ideas or concepts in the, the, the logistical aspects of partnering and working together in finance and all this other stuff. But man, when you get up every day, you must feel this call to service like you did when you were in. Is that true? 00:34:43 Speaker 1: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, it, I'm very grateful because it helped me find, you know, my continued purpose, you know, so selfishly, it's just as rewarding for me, you know, and don't ever tell black rifle this, but they don't even really have to pay me dog. Like I love you. 00:34:59 Speaker 2: Hold on, hold on a sec. I'm going to text. 00:35:05 Speaker 1: No, but you know, obviously I got to keep the lights on and my old, my biggest priority is taking care of the family. So, um, But yeah, just the purpose within it. And, you know, I don't know, maybe I'm belaboring the hell out of this point. But when you get to meet these nonprofit leaders and partners and stuff across the nation, you're surrounded by like-minded people who are just like, hey, what am I doing to make a difference today? And you can just see the fire and the passion in their eyes. And I don't usually, you know, like, I mean, I don't care if there's some big nonprofit. I don't care if it's three people. I've seen small nonprofits. That don't even have like a rating on charity star, but I will still do all my research, have them send me everything and get to know them and meet them. And, and like, there's this one that's called permission to start dreaming our PTSD foundation. It was this mother who lost her son to suicide caused by PTSD and a few other things. And it's just this small little nonprofit. But the impact you can see they're having on their local community is ginormous. And I was like, I love all this. And they were just completely shocked at the fact that Black Rifle was going to come in and support them. And I told them, I was like, no, I'm shocked you guys asked us. We're the fortunate ones to come in and assist you. And it's just things like that is just renews my purpose every day because it's one of those things, you know how it is. Life can get tough. You know, we work a lot, you know, a lot of stressors that everybody has to deal with. And I swear to God, man, it's like a godsend every single time that I'm like, oh, my God, I'm getting tired. Like, you know, my brain's tired. I'll get some message that says, Hey Dean, you know, you and the black rifle team changed my life. And I'm like, well, fuck it. And I'm back in the game, you know? So it just pulls you right back in. So it's very rewarding. And I always tell people, if you don't know what to do in life, you know, just go and volunteer at some local nonprofit stuff. It'll give you a lot of selfish rewards that you won't see coming. And then at the same time, you're helping other people in life. And, just trying to inspire people to move in that direction. You know, even if it's just once a year, you want to go do something, you know, volunteer at your local food bank or something. It's just, I think if you do it once, if you're like me, it's a little bit like crack cocaine. You're just like, I'll be back for more, you know? But I can't stress, but the beauty of it at black rifle and obviously I'm biased as shit is everybody shares the same passion about it. 00:37:43 Speaker 2: That's right. 00:37:44 Speaker 1: It's not one of those, like everybody just collecting the paycheck kind of deal. Like, I, every day I have people reaching out and being like, Hey, can

we get involved with this? You know? And I was like, you work over in a County, but they are just like, Hey, you know, or we, Hey, can we help support this stuff? And I, and I absolutely love it. And I read every single bit of it because once we get very fortunate, but any given day, we probably get 10 emails or I get 10 emails on different causes and stuff. And, and I do my best to read every single one of them thoroughly. And obviously we can't support everything all the time, even though I wish we could. Um, we, we, we try to do our best to, you know, spread the love as, as far as we can. 00:38:23 Speaker 2: Well, uh, that's, that's job for, for guys like me out there that are telling everybody, Hey man, go over to black rifle coffee company and buy, you know, the rut bag of coffee, which Evan's so beautifully named after me. 00:38:38 Speaker 1: Right. Right. 00:38:39 Speaker 2: But, uh, dude, I sent him that text and he's like, Oh yeah. Ha ha ha. And it was so funny. Um, anyways, uh, But that's what it is, right? It's a company that's committed to like putting its money where its mouth is, putting the boots on the ground and getting out there. And I'm so happy, Dean, that you're at the helm of this. You're bringing so much positivity to this organization that I truly love because I love Evan and those guys so much. And I just can't thank you enough, man. How are people can help this particular endeavor What website can they visit and what can they look forward to next? 00:39:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, so in summary, so it kicks off November 6th to the 11th, Vets Week. We're going to run Operation Dead of Gratitude. So if you go to BlackRifleCoffee.com, or BornPrimitive.com, buy from either organization, 100% of the profits goes to fill up the bucket. And then even if you choose, like, hey, for some crazy reason, I don't want to just buy stuff. You know, we also have Operation Debt of Gratitude that you can go and just directly donate to if you so choose. But yeah, I mean... That's pretty much it. The biggest thing is what I would ask is, you know, please be involved. You know, completely optional, of course, but helping us spread the word. You know, you'll start seeing the socials hit on the gram and all the channels and stuff. Help us spread the word, you know, once again, 100%. So it's just going into this bucket. And then hopefully we absolutely crush this goal. I'm hoping, David, we talk, you know, next year and we're just like, Can you believe we did that number? So that's kind of like, once again, me just super excited about this and moving forward with it and see what happens. But yeah, you know, and I always joke all the time and I tell people, you know, don't be like me and buy your Christmas shit last second. This is a great opportunity for a great dog. Get your coffee, get your pants from Born Primitive, you know, whatever. Dude, I got four daughters. 00:40:43 Speaker 2: They're all getting tiger stripes, stretch, tactical pants for Christmas. Yeah. 00:40:49 Speaker 1: Get some coffee. Go buy the pink grenade mugs. Whatever. You know, just, you know, get that in. You know, we also have Black Rifle Friday that's going on. So you're going to see good deals, too. So it's just one of those things like you can't lose and you're supporting an amazing cause for both veterans and first responders. And then we're going to try to wrap it up too. So probably, you know, we're still working on it, but sometimes towards the end of November, maybe early December, we're going to do like the big announcement on, hey, this is what we were able to accomplish together. And I just personally just can't thank the customers enough. They're the ones at the end of the day who finance and fund all these endeavors that we are doing. So while Black Rifle has the privilege and honor to be able to help facilitate that, It's the consumers and the customers are the ones who are, you know, allowing us to kind of really help change, you know, lives of many veterans and first responders throughout the United States. Amen. 00:41:49 Speaker 2: Dean Goble, God bless you, brother. Thank you. 00:41:52 Speaker 1: God bless you.