#1247 - Andy Stumpf

Joe Rogan (0:04)

4, 3, 2... Hello, Andy.

Andy Stumpf (0:10)

What's up, Joe? We're here drinking CBD water.

Joe Rogan (0:14)

I've never had CBD water. GT's Kombucha sent us some CBD water.

Andy Stumpf (0:19)

My first sip was a few seconds ago, and I didn't read that it said cucumber basil, so I was shocked by the taste, but I like it.

Joe Rogan (0:26)

Yeah, that's a weird combo, right? Yeah. It's cucumber, and it's called Dream Catcher, which makes me think of like a white trash lady living in a trailer park, one of them things hanging over her bed, right?

Andy Stumpf (0:36)

Partially broken on the inside.

Joe Rogan (0:38)

Mullet, weird cats. If you have a Dream Catcher, most likely you have cats, right?

Andy Stumpf (0:44)

I think you have to have one.

Joe Rogan (0:46)

It's part of the program.

Andy Stumpf (0:47)

Yeah, it's a package deal.

Joe Rogan (0:48)

It's like, you know what I saw yesterday that is really rare?

I saw a dude who was dressed up like a Native American who was not, in fact, a Native American. That's a risky move in this day and age.

Andy Stumpf (1:01)

Yeah, I'm not gonna go there.

Joe Rogan (1:03)

When we were kids, you could be an Indian. Like, if you could play cowboys and Indians, you could be an Indian, and it'd be like, oh, okay.

Andy Stumpf (1:11)

Yeah, no problem.

Joe Rogan (1:12)

He's the Indian, this guy's the cowboy. Normal shit. Today, they will fucking come for you.

Andy Stumpf (1:18)

That day's gone.

Joe Rogan (1:19)

The day's over. Yeah. What happened?

Andy Stumpf (1:22)

I'm not smart enough to answer that question, but a significant margin.

Joe Rogan (1:26)

But some things have taken place.

I mean, during the time that you were serving, from 2001 to 2019, where we're at today, I mean, there has been a significant change in outrage culture in this country, in entitlement, like things that people think that they can get offended by and not offended by, things that are important and not important. We're in the strangest time.

Andy Stumpf (1:51)

The beauty of that is most of the time I was serving, so it paid zero attention to any of it. The disaster part of that is when you come off the op ramp, out of service, and you go, what happened? What happened to the environment that I left? But I mean, I went from Santa Cruz, California, where I grew up, where it could well be the origin of outrage culture and social justice warriors, to the military, to back out of the military.

So I had very different optics when it comes to perspective, where I started and then what I was seeing when I came out.

Joe Rogan (2:26)

Well, that's the take that I always see from people that are in the military or have been in the military, is their understanding of what's important and not important is so much different, because it's truly life and death.

Andy Stumpf (2:39)

Not all the time, but I think if you are exposed to that environment enough, it'll recalibrate your perspective of what's important and what's not.

Joe Rogan (2:48)

Yeah, did you ever read any Sebastian Younger?

Andy Stumpf (2:50)

I did. Tribe is a great book, yes.

I read that off your recommendation, actually.

Joe Rogan (2:55)

Did it speak to you, like, in terms of your own personal experience?

Andy Stumpf (2:58)

It made complete sense. I probably would have used different terms in different places throughout, but the concept that he was talking about absolutely made sense. I mean, so the SEAL team is one of the, whether or not people live up to this, an argument could be made, but one of the key tenets is the brotherhood, which is just another way of talking about a tribe.

Joe Rogan (3:15)

Yeah, yeah, I just felt like it was really interesting to me, like that book, the most moving part of it was how connected these people are when they're together and when they're at war and what that brotherhood, that camaraderie means to them, and how they feel disconnected when they're back in regular civilization and they get depressed.

It's like their life had been led at such a high vibration and intensity, so much on the line. It means so much. Everything means so much. There's so much dedication, so much commitment, and then to go back to the regular life is very, very difficult for a lot of people.

Andy Stumpf (3:57)

Yeah, I don't think it would be unfair to say that some of the people that I serve with, I probably have closer relationships than I do with my biological family. Even probably I've shared, I don't know, it's not that the things that we shared were important, but the value and our connection was so tight, honestly tighter than my definitely biological family and potentially even my wife as well, too, and my own kids.