160: Lessons Learned From Two Decades Of Senior Military Leadership | Colonel Ed Arnston

**Nick Bare** (0:00)
We are offering the greatest subscription discount that we have ever offered before, 25% off at bpnsupps.com. When you sign up for a supplement subscription on our website in 2026, you are saving 25% off, which is a crazy offer, something we've never done before. So I would highly encourage you guys to take advantage of this discount, this sale, this promotion and this opportunity, so you can stay consistent and committed to your goals this year. Now, into the episode. Ladies and gentlemen, today on the podcast, we have Colonel Edward Arntson III, welcome.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (0:53)
Thank you very much, awesome. Really a pleasure to be here.

**Nick Bare** (0:56)
I'm pumped for this conversation. Yeah. You have 24 years.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (1:00)
24 years in the Army.

**Nick Bare** (1:01)
24 years, military experience.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (1:03)
Right.

**Nick Bare** (1:05)
I couldn't think of a better person to share real leadership value, experience, lessons, and, you know, over these last 10 plus years of my life, I've learned that leadership is not a direct responsibility in an organization or team or unit, but it's to lead yourself, to lead your family, be a leader in society, in a community, in the world. It's a huge responsibility, an obligation, an opportunity that we have to lean into.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (1:42)
Yeah, absolutely.

**Nick Bare** (1:44)
But before we dive into some of the stuff, I was thinking about, you know, we just got done working out. Yeah. How we got connected initially. Yeah. And it was a 5K.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (1:53)
It was a 5K at Fort Hood Veterans Day 2024

**Nick Bare** (2:01)
Yeah.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (2:01)
Yeah. And my guy at the time is working for me, Hayden Haupt, reached out to your team and to ask if you'd be interested in coming to do it.
And I thought that was a fantastic event, just to celebrate veterans and all the things that they've done, you know, continue to do in our communities, in our country. Number one, and then number two, you know, your business is, you know, you're a veteran, is a veteran on business, and for you to be, have been a veteran of the 1st Cavalry Division, you know, and have served at Fort Hood, and come back, and kind of lead that, and be there with your team, along with the RWB team, was a really neat event, and a lot of fun.

**Nick Bare** (2:50)
Yeah. Any opportunity that we can get re-engaged with the military community means a lot to me.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (2:56)
Absolutely.

**Nick Bare** (2:56)
And, you know, we built the brand, and the business, and our core values were solidified, and founded during my time in the Army.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (3:07)
That's right.

**Nick Bare** (3:08)
Graduating from IUP, commissioning, spending a year at Fort Benning, coming down here to Fort Hood. I mean, those years, 2014 is when I first got to Texas at Fort Hood. Okay. Transitioning out of the Army in 2017, after a nine-month rotation in South Korea. I believe I was in South Korea right after you were there.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (3:28)
No, so we were there at the same time because you were down in 212 Cav.

**Nick Bare** (3:35)
I was.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (3:35)
And I was the Brigade S3.
I was in Korea, right? I was there at Camp Hovey, working in the Brigade Headquarters. And I was there for the first five months of that deployment to Korea in early 2016 And then left there and went to Baghdad to work on the, at the time, the Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve staff. So left the job as the Brigade Operations Officer for Iron Horse and went there. But we were there for about five months at the same time. I'm sure you had a lot of visits to Rodriguez Range Complex. Oh yeah. And a couple of other spots. But yeah, we were there at the same time.

**Nick Bare** (4:18)
I didn't realize that.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (4:19)
Yeah, absolutely.

**Nick Bare** (4:21)
I mean, those years for me were, like I said, foundational.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (4:24)
Yeah.

**Nick Bare** (4:25)
And they shaped me as a man.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (4:27)
Yeah.

**Nick Bare** (4:28)
As a leader, as a business owner. And it's been really enjoyable, you know, these last couple of months having you bringing parts of your team back to BP&HQ to run through several workouts.

**Colonel Edward Arntson III** (4:41)
Absolutely.

**Nick Bare** (4:41)
We've been really enjoying that. The team's been loving it. Just being exposed to the military community.