0:01

Hey everybody , welcome to another edition of EOD

0:04

, gear Improvised . What do you get

0:06

when you mix a philosophical

0:08

historian and a PhD

0:10

from Vanderbilt and write in

0:12

a book about EOD ? So

0:14

, guys , strap in . This is going to be a good one . You're

0:16

going to want to take notes . There's a test afterwards .

0:21

This is EOD Gear Improvised . Eod Gear

0:23

Improvised . Can we get the blow stuff up

0:25

? Yet Stand by . Everyone

0:30

in EOD has a laser , calibrated

0:32

eyeball and

0:34

plenty of attitude to go with it . Seriously

0:38

, can we blow stuff up now ? Fire

0:40

in the hole . Eod-gearcom

0:43

initial success or total

0:45

failure ? Eod

0:48

Gear Improvised With

0:50

your host , former Navy EOD

0:53

tech and owner of EOD Gear

0:55

, Steve Cassidy .

1:00

All right , joe

1:03

Paula , we got you on here . Yeah

1:07

, we were just talking about blowing stuff up before the

1:09

show and I really do miss it

1:11

, so I

1:14

guess we're really listening . You guys authored a book

1:16

unsung about Navy

1:18

EOD , specifically

1:20

stories from the techs as well as their

1:22

families , and so

1:25

just a quick one . Joe , you

1:27

have your degree in philosophy and history and

1:30

Dr Green , dr

1:32

Paula Green , you went

1:34

to Vandy right up the street , which

1:38

is really go doors .

1:44

What about the Golden Eagles though ?

1:46

Yeah , yeah , right up the street , my alma

1:48

mater I always

1:50

wanted to play against Vanderbilt . At least we would have had a chance

1:53

of winning . Well

1:58

, you know , SEC is tough , SEC

2:01

is tough . Maybe Vandy would have won a game . But

2:04

hey guys , thank you so much for being on here

2:06

. It was great to meet you at the

2:08

Naval Special Operations Foundation Gala

2:11

and Extravaganza . It's

2:14

been a couple months .

2:16

Yeah , june 3rd . Thanks for

2:18

having us on , steve , and it was a real

2:21

pleasure to meet you and so many

2:23

of the other folks , some of whom we've

2:26

been in contact with . We

2:28

had one . There was one guy there that we'd

2:30

actually interviewed . I won't use

2:32

his name , but his pseudonym

2:34

was 40 Mike . Mike we

2:37

got . It was a great experience for us and we're

2:39

very grateful to the folks at NSOP

2:41

for inviting us and

2:43

providing us with airfare

2:46

and everything else that

2:48

was associated with it . It was

2:50

a great honor for us .

2:51

Yeah , that was fantastic . It was cool because I got to

2:53

wear a tuxedo and I

2:56

have customers that have never seen me in pants

2:58

. I'm

3:00

always in shorts . So yeah

3:03

, it was pretty rare occasion .

3:05

So I got I got .

3:06

yeah , I got a picture , but like you can't , I might

3:08

be wearing shorts , you never can tell , but

3:11

so , so what's

3:13

kind of ? Let's go back to the origin of unsung

3:16

and I mean tell me , you know , cover

3:18

the book just real quick about . You know , there's

3:20

a bunch of great stories , bunch of great chapters

3:23

, you know they're they're

3:25

like little micro stories within

3:29

the chapter . So tell

3:31

me how all this came about .

3:33

Yeah , just to follow on that real fast

3:35

, steve , one of the best descriptions

3:38

I think we've had from a reader

3:40

. She commented

3:42

there been yet and

3:44

you can pick them up

3:46

and read them . They'll stay in your

3:48

head for a long time , but

3:51

then you can put them down . You can come back

3:53

at another time and it's not like you've

3:55

been interrupted . How

3:58

did we do this ? I will tell

4:00

you that we both

4:02

talked about this on

4:04

the way back from an honors ceremony

4:06

in the summer of 2019

4:10

and did

4:12

some research and found that there really wasn't

4:15

anything out

4:17

there other than what was produced

4:20

by Navy for recruiting purposes

4:22

on Navy EOD

4:24

and the work they did and the sacrifices

4:27

their families made . But I

4:29

will tell you that's not quite true . My

4:31

sweet husband

4:33

came back and couldn't sleep after

4:36

that ceremony . We met a lot of

4:38

Navy EOD guys and

4:40

their families and we were just

4:42

blown away by

4:45

the integrity

4:47

, fun , you

4:50

know and capabilities of all of them

4:52

, and so Joe didn't sleep that

4:55

night very well and

4:57

when he got up or when I

4:59

got up the next morning , he said okay , honey

5:01

, I've done some research and there's

5:04

nothing out there on Navy EOD . People

5:07

don't know about Navy EOD . We didn't

5:09

know about Navy EOD except

5:11

for anecdotal experiences

5:14

that were shared with us by our

5:17

younger son and by

5:19

some of the folks that we met at

5:21

the honors ceremony . So

5:24

he said I want us

5:26

to do a book , I want to interview

5:29

the techs and operators

5:31

and I want you to interview family

5:33

members , are you willing ? And

5:36

I said exquisite , deleted , yes

5:38

. So that's

5:40

how it began , joe , fill

5:42

in from there , baby .

5:44

Yeah , we , you know , I sort

5:46

of did a deep dive to try to . We're both

5:48

kind of bookish people , obviously , having

5:50

been in the education racket all of our

5:52

adult lives , and I

5:54

was hoping to find some reading

5:56

materials , some books about Navy

5:59

EOD , to give us some idea of

6:01

what our youngest was up

6:03

to in more specific

6:05

ways . He obviously would only share with

6:08

us what he was able , certainly

6:11

nothing that was sensitive

6:13

or classified . So we wanted to

6:15

learn more about the community

6:17

, the people in it and the family

6:19

members . And when I wasn't

6:21

able to really come across any nonfiction

6:24

material about it

6:26

, that's when the idea popped in my head

6:28

that we should do this ourselves

6:30

. So the

6:32

next step was to reach

6:35

out to Commodore

6:37

Rojas , who was the EOD

6:40

group one commander

6:43

at the time . We sent him a letter . He

6:45

described what we wanted to do and

6:47

asked his permission

6:49

to speak with the people in his command

6:52

and his blessing and support

6:54

and he called us back

6:57

probably 48

6:59

hours after having received the letter

7:01

and said I'm on

7:03

board . I think it's a great idea

7:05

and you have my complete support

7:07

here . So the email address for my PAO

7:10

and we went from . There .

7:14

That's fantastic . Now have you

7:16

guys ? Have you seen

7:18

the movie juggernaut ?

7:21

I watched it yesterday , Did you yeah

7:24

?

7:24

yeah , that's a great one From

7:27

1974

7:29

as well . Yeah , yeah . So

7:31

that's , that's really a good one , you

7:33

know . And then , of course , on that other podcast

7:36

with Jamie George , I mentioned Elvis

7:38

Presley . Easy Come , easy Go probably

7:40

falls in the more fiction , um

7:43

, but it's . It's

7:45

still pretty funny . Elvis was a Navy EOD

7:48

tech .

7:50

So pretty funny yeah considering he was in

7:52

the army .

7:53

Yeah , yeah , exactly . So

7:55

now it was great . I think you

7:57

know I it was funny . My

7:59

dad was Navy , he was in the

8:01

real Navy and when I

8:04

was at jump school and I came home

8:06

because it was only about a four hour drive , so

8:09

I stopped in to see mom and dad . My

8:11

dad goes , you know , you're not in the real Navy , right

8:13

? And I was like , yeah

8:16

, I know , and I like it that

8:18

way .

8:19

So I did the real Navy .

8:21

Right , yeah . Well , my mom hated it . She

8:23

could not believe I was EOD , she

8:25

just absolutely hated it . She was a patriot

8:27

. But she would have rather I've done

8:29

something else .

8:31

But you know , Paula

8:33

has a similar story about

8:36

her son . If

8:38

you can go down this road for just a minute , you

8:40

want to talk about your reaction .

8:42

Absolutely . You know , like

8:44

some of the EOD operators

8:46

, they rang out or they were

8:50

injured , you know , in Bud's training

8:52

, and our son was

8:54

one of those who was

8:56

injured a couple of times and roll

8:59

back and decided

9:02

that

9:04

maybe . Well , he decided

9:06

that becoming a steel wasn't his

9:09

best option . There were some issues

9:11

that I , you know I'll talk about . But he

9:15

then was invited to

9:17

, you know , do maybe six

9:19

other pieces of service

9:21

. I was thinking that he would have a toothbrush

9:24

and he would be cleaning the

9:26

bottoms of ship for , you know , the

9:28

next three years . And

9:30

he called and said so , mom , I'm

9:33

, I've met with a board

9:35

about Navy EOD and

9:38

I'm going that route . And I said , wow , okay

9:40

, baby , what's ? What's Navy EOD ? And

9:43

he said it's explosive ordinance disposal

9:45

. And I said you got to be shitting

9:47

me , you

9:51

know he . He

9:54

said mom , I said son , I get

9:56

it . I know you're a protector

9:58

, I know you want to be at the tip of

10:00

the spear , but

10:03

you know I can't believe

10:06

you're doing this . And but of course I could

10:08

because I knew who he was

10:10

and , quite frankly , with all the research

10:12

I did with Draper Kauffman to

10:15

get chapter three in on a brief

10:17

history , I began to

10:19

talk and then meeting the guys

10:21

at the award ceremony

10:23

in the summer of 19 . I

10:26

began to get a real good

10:28

glimpse of attributes

10:30

of Navy EOD and , oh

10:32

man , you know our son , fifth

10:35

, right in , fit , right in . You

10:37

know , he was the protectors , he was

10:39

a leader , he was a fixer

10:41

, he was a champion of the underdog

10:43

, he was a hero , he was a problem

10:46

solver , an expert

10:48

, a rescuer . He was detail

10:51

oriented , observant , focus

10:53

, intuitive

10:55

I could go on with numerous adjectives that

10:57

were used to describe the technicians and

10:59

operators during our interview .

11:01

Yeah , that's , that's amazing

11:04

. So you guys got

11:06

permission from Group

11:08

one . Then I guess you have a roll

11:10

over to group two , and then I

11:13

guess Frank Frank came in .

11:15

Admiral . Well , actually , you

11:18

know , once Oscar

11:20

sort of Gave

11:22

us his permission to talk

11:24

to his people , we reached out to the folks at

11:26

group two , but we also went through the process

11:29

of getting I Guess

11:32

you'd call it permission from Navin fo

11:34

East that his PAO Focus

11:36

up with a contact at Navin

11:39

fo East . We sent them the book

11:41

proposal and they wanted some more specifics

11:44

Details about who we were

11:46

and what it was . We were attempting to do and

11:48

the approach we were gonna take . And once

11:50

they gave us a Case number , we

11:53

yeah , we reached out to the folks of the good

11:55

people at group Two , which

11:57

at that time was let's see

12:00

, that was Brian Jervigans

12:02

, I think , was the command master chief and Rick

12:05

Hayes was the Commodore there

12:07

, and we had a phone

12:10

conversation with them . I think they were both

12:12

a Little reluctant

12:15

when they first heard about

12:17

the project , maybe

12:20

not as enthusiastic as Oscar

12:22

was , but after maybe a 40

12:24

minute or so conversation on the phone with

12:26

them , they agreed

12:28

to help spread the word within

12:31

the command for folks who

12:33

wanted to volunteer or folks

12:35

who we

12:37

could Interview to be

12:40

part of the project . So , and

12:42

then after that , well , of course , we

12:44

have to say that the timing of this Was

12:47

pretty terrible , in the sense that we

12:49

began this project and then , about a half

12:51

an hour later , covid went insane

12:55

and and so Travel

12:57

was out doing face-to-face interview

12:59

with interviews was out . We

13:02

did pretty much all of our interviews over

13:04

the phone or with internet streaming services

13:07

.

13:08

It was not what we expected

13:10

when we began the product and so

13:13

we were unbelievably Humbled

13:16

and grateful that

13:18

the 47 people we interviewed

13:20

were Suffolk , candid

13:23

and willing to share

13:25

their story . We were blown away

13:27

. You know we spent over two

13:29

years interviewing and

13:32

then transcribing , with over a thousand

13:34

pages of transcription . You

13:37

know , from from those interviews

13:40

and From

13:42

that we were able

13:44

to identify , identify themes

13:47

. We had prepared

13:50

Questionnaires and we

13:52

let people know in advance the kinds

13:54

of questions we were going to ask . We're

13:56

trying to be very sensitive and

13:58

to honor Anonymity

14:01

and comfort . You know , in talking

14:03

we were just so grateful people were willing

14:05

to talk with us that

14:08

Probably

14:12

that probably helped a lot of guys too , just

14:15

be able to talk about it .

14:18

Yeah , and you know , we

14:20

knew , I think At

14:23

some level , that we were

14:25

well . First of all , we were total strangers to

14:27

almost everybody we interviewed and

14:29

the fact that people , as

14:32

Paula said , were candid with their

14:34

remarks to us . Some

14:36

interviews were you know , an hour

14:38

in length , and then others went for several

14:41

hours . Yeah the

14:43

stories that were shared were Obviously

14:46

heartfelt , sometimes difficult

14:48

, sometimes hilarious , sometimes

14:51

tear jerking which we

14:53

expected , but

14:55

it was , you know

14:57

, it was . It was amazing

15:00

that people Said

15:02

what they said to people that they'd never met

15:05

and , in most cases

15:07

, they still haven't met , sure .

15:09

I do that a lot in traffic .

15:11

That's different I

15:14

had some wives say

15:16

to me in the midst

15:18

because we got on it

15:21

with each other , and they said

15:23

I've never told anybody that

15:25

. And of course

15:27

, all the wives , all of the children

15:29

, the parents and

15:31

the siblings that I interviewed are

15:34

all anonymous , except for one

15:36

, one adult child

15:39

, whose father

15:41

I'll say it Bill Naspik , because

15:44

he's also used his identity

15:46

in the book because he's been retired for a while

15:49

. His daughter , riley , said

15:51

I said , honey , I'm doing an anonymous

15:53

. She said no , no , I want my name

15:55

in the book . I

15:58

said you are an awesome woman

16:00

.

16:02

Yeah , that's fantastic . So

16:04

you guys broke the book up . How did you get to

16:06

the decision where you're going to do some texts and

16:09

, you know , then also

16:11

bring in family ?

16:14

Well , well , I guess we

16:17

had a couple of contacts at both

16:19

coasts , so we had some . We had

16:21

folks from both groups who reached out

16:23

to us , and

16:25

then it was Steve . It was almost word of mouth , man

16:27

, you guys are

16:29

such a tight community . So

16:32

when I was talking with

16:34

Scott Moneypenny he'd say you know who you

16:36

need to talk to up at Great Lakes ? And he'd

16:38

give me a name and either a phone number

16:41

or an email address and I talked to

16:43

that guy and he'd say yeah

16:45

, man , here's the story that I want

16:47

to tell you about , whatever

16:49

. And then so it just sort of mushroomed

16:52

out within the community . We

16:55

wish , honestly , after listening to you

16:57

talk on the podcast yesterday , we'd have a chance

17:00

to interview you . That would have been cool

17:02

because I'm sure you got a bunch

17:04

of stories , but we

17:06

interviewed 47 people in total

17:08

, that's , the operators

17:10

, their family members . We

17:13

wish in some ways that we could have interviewed

17:15

more of it . Then we'd have a 2000

17:17

page book instead of a 350 page

17:19

book .

17:20

Well , and it wouldn't be done yet because it would

17:22

keep growing Interesting .

17:25

So is there a plan for a second book ?

17:30

Oh , we're marketing this book . Well

17:33

, I'm here to help Well

17:36

and you and God were so grateful

17:39

. You know we had

17:41

no idea that

17:44

print on demand the

17:46

book is only available exclusively

17:49

on Amazoncom

17:51

. We had no idea

17:53

that we would be spending the

17:55

time that we're spending on marketing . We

17:58

, you know we

18:00

have a great EOD audience

18:02

, but we also have a

18:04

decent non-military audience

18:07

and what

18:09

we're trying to do , of course , is get

18:11

both state , regional and

18:13

national attention so

18:15

that people can know

18:17

about you know , this book .

18:20

So tell them the three things you had . Well

18:22

sure , Absolutely .

18:23

So I met you guys . I met you guys

18:26

and , like I say , whenever I meet somebody you

18:28

know , especially an author , I'm going

18:30

to buy your book . And I bought it as soon as I got back

18:32

. I think I flew out on Sunday . I might even have bought

18:34

it at the event on

18:37

Amazon . Yeah , yeah , I

18:39

mean , I had it . I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday

18:42

, it was quick . Yeah , yeah , so

18:45

it's print on demand . But hey , if you're listening out there and I'll

18:47

tell you what I will , I'll

18:50

do this . We got to figure out . I'll give away . I'll

18:53

give away five copies to

18:57

the first five

18:59

people that email me . Steve

19:01

at EOD . Yeah , steve at EOD

19:03

, dash gear dot com and

19:06

just put unsung

19:08

, which is the title of the book , in the subject

19:10

line . And so the first five people

19:12

who email me , I'll send you a copy . I'll

19:15

pay for it . Yeah , I'll do that , so

19:18

you are unkind man

19:20

, steve Cassidy . Now

19:23

I just know I believe in what you guys are doing

19:25

. I think this is incredible . Yeah

19:27

, so , and it's and it was a really good read for me

19:29

because it was , like you know , for context

19:31

. I understand what a lot of this is and

19:34

there's some things I don't . You know I was

19:36

, I was in , I was out and

19:39

but I mean I think you know , but seeing

19:41

the names , you know , I mean Digger

19:43

was a lieutenant , you know , and you

19:46

know he's a retired admiral . So

19:48

I mean , you know , it's kind of funny to

19:50

look through here and

19:52

recognize the names .

19:55

Yeah , you asked about Frank Morneau . We

19:57

didn't meet

20:00

Frank . We knew about him as a result

20:02

of the leadership chapter . Several

20:04

of the EOD

20:06

techs and operators you know I think a

20:08

couple are mentioned in

20:11

that chapter . That said , one of the best leaders

20:13

, yeah , you know . So when

20:15

we were looking to have a

20:17

forward done for the book , the

20:20

book was completed and we

20:22

reached out to a couple of admiral

20:26

who were still in

20:29

, you know , active duty and they said God

20:31

, we'd love to do it but we can't . But you need to reach

20:33

out to Frank Morneau because

20:35

he's retired , you know , so he

20:37

could do it . He immediately

20:40

said oh , you guys , of course

20:42

, you know , send me a chapter , send

20:44

me three chapters . So we did so . Then

20:46

a day later he said send

20:48

me a couple more chapters . And I had sent

20:50

him the title , not

20:53

the title page , the content page and

20:55

he said , oh , I can't let this chapter to this chapter

20:57

. Well , he read nearly the whole

20:59

book , you know , within a few days . And

21:02

then he said , yeah , I've got enough to write this forward

21:04

. So he wrote

21:06

just a phenomenal four . We were so great

21:08

yeah .

21:10

Yeah , and you know , when Digger

21:13

did a speech at the

21:16

EOD Memorial weekend

21:18

, I think in 2021

21:22

or 2022 . Actually

21:24

, it was 2022 . And one of the

21:26

things that he said I mean resonated with me

21:28

because I watched it online . He

21:31

said tell your stories . I want to encourage

21:33

, and so that's

21:35

one of the things that we

21:37

want to distress today is that we want

21:39

to encourage people within

21:41

the community to tell their stories , to get them out

21:44

there , not necessarily through us , but through

21:46

the kind of thing that you're doing with

21:48

your podcast , the kind of thing that Jared Clark

21:51

is doing . We did a podcast with Bob

21:53

Bazzini . He's doing the

21:55

same kind of thing . These stories need to be

21:57

out there , because me

21:59

, from kind of a sort of an old

22:01

historian type , is that your

22:04

stories , your commitment

22:06

, your work is

22:08

part of the historical record

22:11

of the last 30 years of

22:13

American history and specifically military

22:15

history and we think it's important , not

22:18

just for EOD text to

22:20

read the book , but for the

22:22

larger community , if

22:24

you will , the larger population

22:26

, to have some understanding of

22:28

what it is you guys did

22:30

and do and the kind

22:32

of people that you are and the sacrifices

22:35

your family made .

22:36

I think it was Joe Flannan who said

22:38

, hey

22:40

, we signed up for this work . This

22:43

was work for us . It

22:45

was our families who

22:47

made the sacrifices , and

22:49

their stories need to be told too

22:52

. You know , I had one wife

22:54

that I interviewed . I

22:57

was very concerned , steve

22:59

, that the people we interviewed

23:02

would believe that

23:05

what we did was

23:07

exactly what they

23:09

expected . And for

23:12

many they said yes , and for many

23:14

they said I didn't expect that much

23:16

. Wow . I had one wife who

23:18

said what a beautiful

23:20

, beautiful book , thank you . I've

23:23

laughed and cried dozens

23:25

of times . It's stories I

23:27

didn't even realize I needed to

23:29

read . Thank you for validating

23:31

our plight , joy , resilience

23:34

. That boosts

23:37

both of them .

23:39

Yeah and we've had several guys

23:42

that have read

23:44

, who were participants in the book , and

23:46

who said , yes , this validated

23:49

my career

23:51

, to read what other people

23:53

were doing and to see it in print

23:55

and that's pretty cool . That

23:58

made us feel pretty special . And

24:00

at this point I

24:02

want to emphasize something that I always say

24:04

, paula always says to , and that is

24:06

we're grateful for

24:08

the exposure about the book . We

24:13

, it's not about us , it's

24:15

about the people in the Navy

24:17

. You know the community . It's about the Warriors

24:19

, it's about the families we

24:22

were just honored to be

24:24

and privileged to be able to do

24:26

it . So it's not about us , it's about

24:29

you guys .

24:29

So , more succinctly , we

24:32

wrote the book . You all wrote

24:34

the story Exactly .

24:35

Thank you , that's awesome . Yeah

24:38

, that was fun . That's

24:40

so you know , I'm curious

24:43

. Now it's like so you know , we want

24:45

to get this book out . I need to take it over to the Navy

24:47

recruiter here in town , I think every recruit

24:49

, because they have all the recruiters and they've never done it

24:53

and they'll bring people over here and

24:55

they see all the cool gear and they're like I'm

24:58

in , but I think . I'm like well careful

25:00

what you ask for , because you might just get it , but

25:03

I think it's important to have context . So

25:05

I would you know . I would even say that if you're thinking

25:08

about joining the military and thinking about

25:10

special operations , think about Navy OD

25:12

, but get this book and kind

25:14

of understand you know

25:16

what's going on , because it's a different mission than

25:19

most everybody else .

25:22

Yeah , and you know , if we were at

25:24

one tenth as successful as Dick

25:26

Couch was with telling books

25:28

about Navy SEALs , that

25:31

would make us incredibly happy , because

25:33

and the other thing that we need to

25:35

reiterate , if possible , is that half

25:37

of whatever we make from the sale of a

25:39

book we donate to Navy Special

25:41

Operations Foundation and the EOD Warrior

25:44

Foundation . So obviously , the more

25:46

books we sell , the more we're able to help

25:50

those organizations ?

25:51

Yeah , no that's fantastic .

25:53

Yeah , yeah and that was , that was

25:55

something that we discussed almost

25:57

from the get go that this was not good

26:00

. We're not going to turn ourselves

26:02

into , you know , pulitzer Prize winning

26:04

authors and be on the New York Times

26:06

bestseller list , although that would be cool .

26:08

That would be cool .

26:10

That would be cool .

26:12

Well and honestly , I'll give you credit . As

26:14

academics , you know

26:16

, I always ask people like I work with a lot of PhD

26:18

physicists , you know , who build crazy

26:21

stuff for us and and

26:23

I'll ask them I'm like , hey , do you want to do , want to be known

26:25

as the world's best writer in New York Times bestseller

26:27

? Because they're not the same . But

26:30

I but I think you know you guys understand that

26:32

where , yes , the money that's being made

26:34

most , you know it's going to you

26:36

the Warrior Foundation and Naval Special Operations

26:38

Foundation , both great , which take care of , take

26:41

care of the community at large .

26:44

So , yeah , yeah , our first

26:46

three goals I mean our three goals

26:48

immediately were we want to use this

26:50

book to inform and

26:53

for that . For me , see , because

26:55

I am from academia , I was a teacher

26:57

from preschool through university

26:59

for 43 years in my adult

27:02

life . Not a lot of difference between

27:04

teaching preschoolers and university

27:06

at some times , and we all know

27:09

what .

27:09

I'm talking about the football players . Hey

27:14

, I was one , so I can say that .

27:17

Okay , all right . So inform was number

27:19

one to honor Joe and I were

27:21

absolutely adamant that this book would

27:23

be honoring , you

27:25

know , the EOD community . And then third

27:28

was to raise funds . We wanted to

27:30

raise money for the foundation

27:32

and the fun

27:34

thing is that we've been to a couple of conferences

27:36

where we've spoken . We

27:39

had a jar out , not

27:41

only our books but a jar out , you

27:43

know , for donations

27:46

made to the two foundations . We've

27:48

stayed with a gal that knew

27:50

nothing about Navy EOD but is

27:52

always looking to support military

27:55

operations . She just doesn't

27:57

know which ones to support . She wanted

28:00

her money to go well

28:02

. Well , we raised several

28:04

thousand dollars , not from just the sale

28:06

of the book but from people donating

28:08

, that we gave directly to

28:11

both foundations . That's great . So

28:13

that , yeah , this

28:15

is all it's good . Yeah

28:17

, keep this going . Every day when we're sitting here plugging

28:19

away , you know , trying to figure out

28:22

how can we better market , how can we better

28:24

market , yeah , so this

28:26

.

28:26

this sort of thing helps a lot and , man

28:29

, you're offered to buy some

28:31

books and get the word

28:33

out .

28:33

Yeah .

28:35

Yeah , that's cool , that helps . That helps a

28:37

lot , thank you .

28:38

No , no , glad to do it . In fact I'll

28:41

think of something else . Maybe , you know , like I said

28:43

, the first five people that listen to

28:45

this that email me and

28:48

hopefully that happens really quick . Yeah

28:50

, hopefully it doesn't take too

28:52

long . But no , I think

28:54

we can do that . And then maybe we'll try and do something

28:56

else where maybe if you buy X

28:58

amount of stuff , we'll throw in

29:00

a book as well and just

29:03

to help , and then I'll price . I want to send a

29:05

couple to my army EOD buddies just

29:07

to irritate them .

29:09

Good , good , good . Okay , does I

29:11

say good things about their army

29:13

? Eod buddies ? Yeah , oh , they know

29:15

ordinance .

29:16

Yeah , they're no , they're good , they're smart . And you

29:18

know a couple of my my buddies , rob and

29:20

Mike , and if you're listening you

29:22

know who you are . Now they're really

29:25

really good guys and

29:27

wish I could have worked with them but

29:29

just missed them on the rotation . But you know they're

29:32

down in the Huntsville area and so I see them frequently

29:34

. But there's , you know , there's really good guys and

29:37

guys in GAL , so it's a it's super

29:39

community . I really love it . But I'm so proud

29:41

of you guys for doing this and taking this up , and especially

29:43

as a mother and father of

29:45

a Navy O'death , you know that . You

29:49

know that's something my my dad just

29:51

kind of shook his head and my mom hated , but

29:53

you know . But

29:56

but , like I said , she was a warrior , I mean

29:58

she . She had a bust of Ronald Reagan on her desk at

30:00

work . I mean she didn't , she didn't play

30:02

and yeah . So I mean , no , it's really

30:05

good and I've really enjoyed reading the book and I

30:08

keep it here in the office with me . But I'll

30:10

be sure to . You know , every once in a while have

30:12

somebody come in and ask about Navy O'death . Like , well , glad

30:15

you asked , sit down and read this , but

30:17

no it's fantastic

30:19

. So what's next with you guys ?

30:22

Are you guys ?

30:23

traveling at all , or do you got another you

30:25

know gonna go out and promote , or are you going

30:28

to a trade show or yeah

30:30

, yeah , we're .

30:31

We're signed up for some

30:33

local events in

30:35

Yavapai County and the great state

30:37

of Arizona to

30:40

sell some books and do some

30:42

book signings . We've already done that

30:44

, Of course we I've

30:46

got . I've sent some authors

30:48

, copies to major news

30:51

places Wall Street

30:53

Journal , San Diego Tribune

30:56

, some of the NPR places

31:00

you know saying please help us get the word

31:03

out . So we

31:05

are there , we're here , we're anywhere

31:07

people need us to be and , by the way

31:10

, those first five people that

31:12

email you , we would be glad

31:14

to send them a

31:16

plate that they can

31:18

put in the beginning of the book that we'll sign

31:20

, so that they'll have signed , you know , side

31:23

copies . Okay , If

31:25

you just get their information , we

31:27

can reach out to them and send

31:30

them that so that they can put that

31:32

in the book .

31:34

Okay , yeah , we'll get all that sorted out

31:36

and go from there . But so

31:38

, coming up , we have I was trying to think

31:40

what we have we have a National Guard event

31:44

out in Reno and

31:46

then we come back , like the next

31:48

week we're in Aurora , colorado , for National Tactical

31:50

Officers . Maybe I'll have a copy there at the National Guard

31:53

, because they're all military See

31:56

if we can do something . Maybe we'll have a flyer or something . Maybe

31:59

if you guys have a promotional flyer I

32:01

can put some of those out .

32:02

Yeah , we can do a branding page

32:04

that Paula put together . She can email to

32:06

you , Absolutely .

32:07

Yeah , I'll print it off , put it out there and then

32:09

maybe we'll run into some . You

32:11

know , I was rolling through the Vegas airport after

32:14

shot show and I have my EOD gear jacket

32:16

on , of course has a giant crowd on

32:18

the back , a couple of the airport guys

32:20

like you know . You ain't getting out of this airport , you know

32:22

, when you're wearing a crowd on your back , don't think

32:24

that every EOD tech in the place is going to come up , you

32:27

know . And so they're like they're everywhere

32:29

. But oh

32:32

yeah , we got a couple Navy guys at the Nashville

32:34

airport , you know , old retired guys . So

32:36

yeah , we're everywhere . But

32:39

we'll make sure we get everything

32:41

out and go from

32:43

there . But yeah , if you guys are traveling and of course you

32:45

know you guys are always welcome to come back on the show

32:47

if you have something , if you're going to write the second

32:50

edition or the second version .

32:52

That's awesome .

32:53

Yeah , love to hear about it .

32:55

So Well , look back

32:57

in DC the first week

33:00

of September . Our

33:02

oldest

33:04

is . He's in Navy but he's Intel

33:07

and he is . I

33:09

get to help pin him with his wife for

33:11

O6 , for captain , so

33:14

we'll be back for a week yeah

33:17

, yeah , yeah .

33:18

And we were recently in Albuquerque

33:20

. We started a long road trip In

33:24

Albuquerque . We started at Bonsaway Beer

33:27

Company We'll give them a shout out Awesome

33:29

play , cool play started

33:31

by a former airport EOD guy

33:33

and we met some , some cool EOD people there , had

33:36

some beer , had some food and then

33:38

we went on about a 3000 mile road

33:40

trip after that . So on Dragon

33:42

Books , everywhere we went Right .

33:44

Yeah , we'll keep getting the word out

33:47

, guys . Thank you so much for being on here

33:49

. Hey , just hang on one second . I'm

33:51

going to play a little outro and then we'll get

33:53

caught up .

33:54

All right , all right . Thanks , man .

33:57

I've been listening to EOD gear

33:59

improvised . Eod gear improvised

34:01

Steve Cassidy , a former Navy

34:03

EOD tech and owner . Owner

34:06

of EOD gear . Initial success

34:08

or total failure . Two locations

34:10

, one in Franklin and one in Huntsville

34:12

. The website is EOD dash gearcom

34:15

. Find us on Facebook , instagram

34:17

, youtube , linkedin and Twitter

34:20

. Eod gear has customers from

34:22

around the globe . Until next time

34:24

, this is EOD gear improvised

34:27

. Signing off .