To live a life of options and not obligations on this platform where you’re stoked to bring you high performers. We’re not just chasing and attaining success, but redefining it through, providing above and beyond service. Real, real quick coaching knowledge nugget this week. Squad, most people think strength means doing everything alone.

That’s a lie. A lie that burns a lot of good people out. High performers don’t win because they’re independent. They win because they’re plugged in. They borrow strength from systems, from [00:01:00] teammates, from routines, from standards they installed long before the pressure showed up. I had a coaching client pretty recently who kept telling me, I just need to tough it out, and you could hear the pride in it, but pride isn’t a strategy.

Isolation isn’t toughness. This ego dressed up like discipline. The moment we built structure around him, daily check-ins, training partners, hard accountability. His performance didn’t just improve. It stabilized. He stopped swinging emotionally. You got dangerous in a calm way. Brow strength is a weakness, it’s architecture.

You build a life when your motivation dips, the system carries you. When your confidence wobbles, your people hold a line. When your mind gets loud, your habits stay quiet and keep moving forward. And that’s what the elite looks like. Squad not loud, not flashy. They’re supported. Nobody at the top is alone.

And the sooner you stop trying to be the exception, the sooner you start performing like the person you’re capable of becoming. And talk about someone who puts. People with not being alone in a sense also puts people in a great mind space that we just, that I just brought forth with a coaching knowledge nugget.[00:02:00] 

I got a man in studio here whose life has been defined by mission, courage, and service. Anthony AJ Longo is a US Marine Corps rock. Combat veteran with multiple diplomas to Falluja Iraq, who later served as a firefighter paramedic and tactical medic protecting US diplomats and Kabul. Afghanistan during a deadly insurgent attack became a mass casualty incident.

His actions earned the Department of State’s Medal of Heroism, but his most important work began after the battlefield. Anthony founded the Warriors Choice Foundation and nonprofit transforming How we Care for. Combat veterans and first responders through service dogs, wellness retreats, and innovative rehabilitation programs.

His organization has already placed more than 52 fully trained service dogs with heroes in need and is now building toward a national flagship wellness center in South Florida. He’s not just advocating for veterans, he’s building a pathway to healing, recovery and purpose. And Anthony is here still.

Warrior still mindset, never leaves that mindset. But let me ask you something real quick, aj, before we kinda dig deep into. In, into the [00:03:00] foundation, but outside the mission and the work you do now, what’s something simple that still brings you peace and resets when life gets a little heavy? 

A. J. Longo: Oh, good question.

My dog, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): I was just gonna say, you better say that. And by the way we’re visiting here by bourbon as well. He is. Yeah, he’s A-A-A-A-A. 

A. J. Longo: He’s a malawa. A malawa, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): that’s right. Which are, those dogs are like, awesome. They can scale walls if they want to. Yeah. But they’re also super friendly and protective.

A. J. Longo: Yes. 

Yes. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): So let’s get in the, kinda the r you’ve seen combat, mass casualty, we have that some stuff in common there, in the aftermath that most people will never experience in their life. What moment changed, how you view life the most? During that time in, and again, I should’ve asked you off mic if it’s okay to ask this, but 

A. J. Longo: Yeah no, you’re 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): fine.

But we’re brothers in a sense, 

A. J. Longo: It’s good. Yeah. I think it was the moment when you finally realized, am I the person that I want to be? 

Am I, who am I where I’m at right now? Is this where I want to be? Is this who I want to be? And then that kind of defines like the next [00:04:00] step of okay, if the answer is no, all right, what’s the next step?

How do I get to where I wanna be, right? What do I have to start putting into motion so that I can start knocking down those small little victories that can accc culminate over time into something that’s. A little more productive in the sense of like your own self accolade kind of deal. Like I feel good about it.

Yeah. ’cause you’re constantly moving the go post, so there’s no such thing as a goal. 

Joel Malkin: Love that 

A. J. Longo: dude. It’s like you’re constantly like, okay, I’ve hit this objective. What’s next? Alright, yes. And then you’re always forward thinking and looking down the line. So it’s, and I think that sometimes clouds a lot of people’s vision of just oh damn, there it is.

I stepped the bar too far. And it’s no you didn’t. You just gotta keep right. So 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): many people overestimate what they can do in a month and underestimate what they can do in two years. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? 

A. J. Longo: Absolutely. Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): And that, that’s amazing that you’re able to kind of transition from what we’ve went through to what you’re doing now.

Yeah. I, some of my pro bono work, a lot of my pro bono work is at the mental hygiene in the va. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): I know like Dr. G and some other people there that are. Like, they bring me in. I don’t have the alphabet after my [00:05:00] name, yeah. But they bring me in to help the veterans set visions.

Joel Malkin: Yeah, absolutely. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Instead of digging into their past. So the we’ll keep a little bit in the veterinary, but, earning the Department of State Medal of Heroism, it’s pretty awesome. It is pretty extraordinary. But heroism often comes at that cost. And what did that chapter kinda teach you about fear?

Responsibility and kinda leadership under pressure. 

A. J. Longo: You gotta be fearless and you just gotta go after what you want. Life’s too short. You never know when your time is. Your time is up and that goes for everybody. I could leave here right now after this and just get T-boned and soaked and then that’s it, dude.

You know what I mean? Like that’s the end of the day. But yeah, I think, what it taught me is what are your values? How do you value yourself? What are your ambitions and how do you go after and how do you get it? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yes. What do you tell veterans when you meet them and that, you know that which we’re gonna get into the Yeah.

Awesome work you do with the pups. But what do you tell them if someone comes up to you? I get asked, how did you do it? And mine was a long time ago, man. I was in the nineties [00:06:00] that I kinda transferred out. But our generation before us was Vietnam. Yep. They got spit on. Oh yeah.

And stuff like that. We were a little bit more heroic. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): So what do you tell these vessels? They China. Transfer back into si, city street to the civilian world. 

A. J. Longo: I’m the bridge, not the final destination. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Love it. 

A. J. Longo: It’s gotta be on you to carry that rock. That’s strong. It’s at the end of the day, it’s what you’re gonna put into it that you’re gonna get out of it.

And how do you love yourself? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Love it. 

A. J. Longo: If you can’t love yourself, if you can’t materialize what that, that means by looking in the mirror because we all go through ebbs and flows, gain weight, lose weight. You go through these periods of life where it’s oh man, I gotta dig myself out of this one.

It’s just, you gotta keep going. That’s life. It’s not easy. It’s, but you can make it as hard as you want or as easy as you want. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah, exactly. You have that choice. A lot of things that. Are hard to do. They’re actually easy to do. Yeah. But they’re also easy not to do.

A. J. Longo: And that’s why we came up with the slogan where it’s it’s your choice, but Warrior’s Choice, it’s your choice. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yes. 

A. J. Longo: Whether or not you wanna do something or not that’s not on me. That’s on you. I’m here to walk with you, not for you. 

And along the way, [00:07:00] if there’s things that I can introduce to you and assist you and help you out with and get you to that next level, then we’re all about that.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. And that’s huge. Heart and squad. One thing I noticed about AJ here is that, he does. Things for the intention, not the attention. You don’t see him all over social media. Gonna look at me. He has awesome dog that’s actually kinda sitting with us right now, just chilling, doing his awesome dog thing.

And like the top of one peak is the bottom of the next. We’re always progressing, moving that goalpost that you said, right? Yep. A lot of veterans struggle silently. Yep. Unfortunately, after coming home, what did kinda reintegration look like for you though? Personally?

Not, ’cause I know we talked a little bit about what you might tell someone else. Yeah. What did it look like for you, if you don’t mind sharing? 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. For me, there was ebbs and flows. I’ve had my peaks in my valleys and, for what that was worth, a lot of it had to do with an ego.

I needed to learn how to curtail that and suppress that when it was necessary. 

Everybody has a chip on their shoulder for something, but they want you to go there. Yeah. You need it. Yeah. You almost need it like, and for what it’s worth, my path [00:08:00] led me to participating in psychedelics and, that really helped re.

Retool my mind on what mattered and what didn’t matter. What was the static noise and the squelch, if you will. Yeah. That I could remove from that and have a more centralized focus and more of a beam versus an array of things Ooh, a spectrum. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Sure. 

A. J. Longo: And I was able to, really look at who is helping me grow and who’s not.

What do those types of relationships look like, whether it’s family, whether it’s this, or, people in your life, how do I cut, get, just get rid of it. 

So I don’t have to constantly think on, oh, this person’s gonna do this. If you know they’re gonna do this, why are you gonna keep going back?

You keep, that’s the definition of insanity in, of like, why are we doing this? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. 

A. J. Longo: And once I committed to that, I was really able to find my. My ability of loving myself and creating those boundaries. And that’s the biggest thing I think is creating boundaries and understanding what those are for yourself.

And how you can like, Hey, we’re no longer doing this here. This is how I wanna be [00:09:00] treated. Or this is the people friend group. 

Whatever you have to do to get out of it,

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): and the coaching client that I talked about, alluded to a little bit earlier is veteran combat Veteran.

We built pretty substantial business for ’em together. But he, again, he, like a lot of us just like to do stuff alone, but yeah. What we are, you’re here to know, let people know is, hey, there’s support out there for you. Yeah, 

A. J. Longo: absolutely. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): And the, one of the major parts of your support is service dogs.

Yep. They’re not just companions, they’re lifelines to a lot of people.

A. J. Longo: Yeah. Yeah. We took the mix of taking Belgian Malis about 10 years ago and creating a dog that was focused into kind of reshaping cognitive behavioral therapy and what that looked like. So part of our programming CBC then, huh, is really creating an institution where I’m taking the dogs and we’re doing neuroco focus with guys that have had TBIs and, or some pretty catastrophic injuries. And we’re taking those dogs and creating a workflow with them. So it’s Hey, I need you walking, moving, doing these things and here’s your objectives for the first few years.

And you will do them or you will not be participating in, we’ll take our dog out. So 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): there’s a protocol, the [00:10:00] vets or whoever, the first responders that when we get them their companion. Yep. There’s a protocol and a lot of it’s movement. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. A lot of it’s movement and doing some of the training and as being a canine dude, it’s Hey, I have to work this dog on a daily basis, otherwise it’s going to turn into a couch potato, or it’s gonna just not do what it’s supposed to do.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): One thing I say a lot of, and it was taught to me when I was younger, is that, we are the only species that walk this earth that do not live life to their fullest potential. Yeah. Like you, you plant a tree. It will grow. Only it will keep going until the roots. Yep. It’s root system. A lot of people will be like, what about my fat dog?

Dude, you’re probably fat with all due respect. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? It’s if you’re not moving, the dog ain’t gonna move. Yeah. That’s the one thing that’s about the loyalty of the dog in, in, in the pup and the canines that are just out there and Awesome. I just have a huge spot. I have a pit bull at home.

Yeah. That is my world in a sense on Yeah. Certain things. The morning is hours to rain and squad. We’re gonna come back and really dig deep into. The companionship of the canines that my [00:11:00] good friend Anthony a j Longo puts out at right after we throw it to Steve Austin. My, he’d love that. Steve Austin, my awesome sponsor of the show.

Take it away, Steve. 

Steve Austin: Thanks, Scott. Happy Saturday everyone. This is Steve Austin with the Rise Mortgage Dynamic Team with your mortgage tip of the week. You don’t need perfect credit to buy a home. Many solid programs work well below what people assume structure matters more than the numbers. Don’t let your credit score be the reason you don’t pursue your home buying dreams.

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L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Hey Steve. Thank you Steve.

Awesome. Austin, thank you so much, brother, for the market update and also for sponsoring the show. And we’re back with. My awesome soft front [00:13:00] Anthony AJ Longo in his sidekick bourbon over here. Aj, can you kinda share a story where you witnessed firsthand the transformation a dog created in one of the lives that you’re basically saving out there, like putting that companionship together?

A. J. Longo: Yeah. There, there’s a couple dudes that I have in mind. I won’t say their names, but one guy, he’s a soft dude. Guy came to me and we were working and he, super humble dude. And he didn’t know what to expect. And, we we were on you on the phone with each other.

It took about a year and some change just because of kind of his transition outta the military. It was just a little abrupt, not abrupt. It was more like, dude. The military, just let him go. Let him do his thing, let him get the hell out. And that whole transition out thing is just a process in itself.

But when he came down, he, we were just having fun. He was working through his thing, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right? 

A. J. Longo: And then through the animal and through the participation in the programming, he was able to stop drinking. Awesome. He recently went through, a divorce where the dog was there for him and completely shapeshift [00:14:00] his life.

Into a direction where he is much better off in a much better head space. He’s got his, he’s got his kids, it’s just a really, and that’s just one, there’s so many. I say so many, but it’s just, it’s like everybody who takes part in this and who just buys into the programming and feel it, and it’s gonna have some sort of effect.

Hundred percent. You’re expanding into a network and now you’re creating an opportunity for these guys to use other guys who have gone through the program, as a support mechanism to help them uplift. Or, Hey, I’m having difficulties with training. What can I do to do this? And how do I do this?

’cause everybody has a different nuance, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right? 

A. J. Longo: Once they’re on their own of what they’re gonna be able to, accomplish in this set time with the program that we’ve laid out in front of them. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): And it’s the Warrior’s Choice Foundation, correct? Yes. And it’s built, around a lot of it’s holistic healing.

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Not just symptom management, like Okay. They really, A dog can get to your soul. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): I’m sorry, brother. Oh, for sure. It’s like I’ve had him my whole life and I probably, will pass on with one, unfortunately, by my son. Hopefully they’re taken care of. 

A. J. Longo: Yep. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): But why do you think the traditional [00:15:00] systems out there that we have, they’re falling short and like when you add the companionship of the pup into it.

How does that really kinda level up the life? 

A. J. Longo: Oof. That’s a good question. I think the system in itself is needs a massive overhaul. Look at healthcare now as it transitions into more of the holistic space. Yeah. And, biofilm and getting your blood work done and all these different nuances of what’s going on where we weren’t there before.

All these 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): markers 

A. J. Longo: and stuff and everything. And maybe that was done on purpose because it’s yeah. Now it’s like, all right, I’m gonna get healthy. I’m gonna live longer. I’m gonna do this. All right, now I’m gonna pay more taxes and I’m gonna do this over time. 

So I think with, where we’re at now it’s just who you are as an individual, what resonates with you, and how you can really go after it now, because now it’s available.

Now it’s oh man, for me to start the organization I finally had means in being able to do it. Yeah. So I was just like, okay, I’m doing this. Let’s go let’s go this route because no one is in this space right now and. Here we are years later. I think, shit, think you saved your 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): life by doing this.

A. J. Longo: I did. [00:16:00] ’cause I gave myself that purpose. Yeah. I didn’t know what my purpose was. Yeah. Even when I first got out, I remember asked, the question was asked, why do you want to be a firefighter? And I was like I don’t. I don’t know. I was like, I want to help people, but I really don’t want to like, 

And I was like, I don’t know, like what I really want to do. I knew at that time, from my experience I was kindly capable of performing under duress. I was 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): just gonna say, do you? 

A. J. Longo: And I was like, this is, makes the most sense for me down this path. And it didn’t materialize until, years later after contracting where I was like, i’ve seen enough. I’m, I like, I haven’t seen everything, but like I’ve seen enough for me to know that I, if I’m gonna make a difference, I need to go and do my own thing Sure. And start this path. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): In the, and again, firefighting, growing up in Detroit, they have the Detroit firefighters Yep.

That are just insane dudes and a lot of ’em are my friends that I grew up with. But it’s a it’s as close. A lot of them are former combat veterans that go there because they know that they can handle that. 11, 12 runs a night. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Detroit’s burning down or something like that. Yeah, it’s my [00:17:00] hometown.

I love it. But unfortunately, that’s what it was. I would stay the night with ’em, bro. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): In the barracks. And I’m thinking, oh, we’re gonna get sleepy. Good meals, dude. It was like, it was literally that reason why I said 11. ’cause there’s 11 runs that night. And the stuff that you just can’t unsee.

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

And that’s why we lumped in first responders because it’s like your battlefield. It’s different as a Marine or in the Army or whatever. You can go overseas, you can drop bombs, you can go do what you need to go do and then you’re leaving. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. To what and who’s 

A. J. Longo: supporting you and then, but then when you come home, it’s okay.

But now you look at first responders every day is their battlefield. Yes. Where it’s like, they saw this kid who was raped, got, you know this. Yeah. Then you watch this who you know, real life. And there’s no way of turning that off because you drive past that, that call scene every day or every day, whatever the case is, and you’re just like, oh, there’s that.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. And you’re showing up on that person’s probably worst day of their life. 

A. J. Longo: A hundred percent. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Close to it, right? Every, and you have that 

A. J. Longo: closure of dude, this sucks, but like, how do I help? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. I’m not laughing at it, but a lot of my friends I’m blessed to have as firefighters and police officers, they’re like they’re not numb.

To the death part of it, but they’re [00:18:00] the way that they process it. Yeah. Like I asked a buddy a couple weeks ago, yeah, we had someone pass away. And I’m like, from what? And he said, TMB. And I’m like, what’s TM B? He’s too many birthdays. It’s like they make jokes of it.

Yeah. In their way of dealing. Yeah. But at the same time, they’re very serious about what they do. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Which can really, their minds need that calm of a companionship. Which I to lead into, like many first responders and veterans they resist the help Yeah. That you’re willing to give them, and set ’em up, ’cause of their pride or stigma. Is there a way, squad, if you meet this guy, he’s a pretty big dude. He makes me look small, so it’s like he was a little bit intimidating, but, how do you break through that wall? When you’re talking to ’em, and you see them suffering, you really know what you have is right for them.

How do you. Have that first conversation. 

A. J. Longo: Just be real. What are your expectations? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Okay. 

A. J. Longo: What do you want to get out of this? 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Love it. 

Maybe that you’re asking questions and not just consulting them. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah, no, you’re 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): like, do this. 

A. J. Longo: It’s not me. Like it’s, I’m not the one that has to do the work, like I’m doing my own work.

What are you gonna do to get to that next point? What do you want? Where do you see yourself? How do you wanna be, how do you wanna be [00:19:00] engaged in this platform? And yeah that’s pretty much it. Like expectations and you set that bar and then you just keep moving and you start working together and, make sure you hold accountability.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): You’re finding their purpose, trying to find that and match ’em. So how are the dogs matched? You, when you like, walk us through a little bit okay, that there’s a veteran or a first responder, they’re in need. Yep. They fit the criteria, they’re willing to do the work, but like what, how do you match the dog up to that, to the.

Person, 

A. J. Longo: so part of the application process that we have. And so the individual has to do an essay, and it’s we’ve built out a number of questions that I want to see answered in a particular format, and then from that format I’m able to see, okay, how are, what’s their writing style?

How are they writing? Are they hitting the benchmarks that I want to see inside of this? Are they paying enough attention to detail? To, for me to understand who they are and then backed up with their reference letters. I’m able to go back and see, okay, what matches to what this person’s been saying about themselves?

’cause we’ve all probably received, or if anybody who’s intaked, resumes before in the past, you could have someone who’s absolutely fantastic on paper, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right? 

A. J. Longo: But it’s wait, what is this?

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Sure. 

A. J. Longo: And then you [00:20:00] get to meet the person, you’re like, Uhuh not even a chance. Not the 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right 

A. J. Longo: fit.

Not the right fit. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. 

A. J. Longo: So from there it’s really bringing them in. Putting them in front of some of the dogs because we do breed and train the animals. And I’m looking at, part of the training is going off of what they’ve put on paper for me. 

And I’m seeing, okay, if I have seven veterans in the queue right now this is how I’m gonna map these dogs.

This is the dog that I’m looking for. So I already have a preset, like understanding a little bit on Sure. How that’s gonna happen. And then when I bring them in, like phase one. Is just to see, hey, how are they interacting? Here’s my candidates for each guy, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right? 

A. J. Longo: Who’s doing what?

There’s no expectations. They’re not coming down. They’re not picking, they’re not doing this. It’s just I want to see what dog has just enough to keep pushing them and it’s not gonna overload them. 

And then it’s just constantly Hey, you gotta keep up. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Got it. Have to. 

Yeah. 

A. J. Longo: And it’s, there’s gonna be good days, there’s gonna be bad days, there’s gonna be, but like, how do you just cont continue to succeed as a pair, as a unit, as a team moving forward in your journey?

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): How long is the [00:21:00] training cycle for the pup from birth to really handing it over to their forever home, if you will. 

A. J. Longo: So I’ve been fortunate to be able to launch dogs as early as like seven to eight months. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Wow. 

A. J. Longo: So I’ve traveled with bourbon when I was working with him. I picked him out at three days and then at three days old and I was working with him almost the, pretty much the entire time.

And we traveled international together. We did our first trip down to Costa Rica. We were zip lining in freaking in the Caribbean. That’s awesome. Yeah, so it’s and a seventh month old dog, it’s yeah, we’re traveling this distance, we’re doing X, Y, and Z. But yeah, we’ve been pretty fortunate.

And that’s the staple of our organization is like being able to breed, train place, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): right? 

A. J. Longo: I would say more effectively, but a faster 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Sure. 

A. J. Longo: Transition period for the dogs and then some of the dogs that we’ve sourced. Some have worked out, some haven’t. And that just comes down to, where the dog’s coming from.

And then as we try to scale, we’re looking at taking guys who have their own dog now doing evaluation on that, and then transferring that dog into, Hey, here’s the program we want you [00:22:00] to work with the occupational therapist. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): That’s awesome. 

A. J. Longo: Whoever you have that’s gonna hold you accountable for this.

Because I’m doing this for free for you on my time. 

Then once the dog is reached a certain level. Then I’ll come out and I’ll see it and I’ll evaluate and be like, okay, yes, this meets our standard. This is good. You just keep going down this path with the dog. And that’s been pretty much it.

So it depends on if I’m doing it or if we have the end user doing it. So it really just goes into how much they willing to put into it. I 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): love that it’s not cookie cutter. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): And I’m saying you fit the personality with a personality that’s, it’s a lifelong, it’s. And it’s a responsibility that the veteran and the first responder is gonna have for 15 years.

A. J. Longo: Yeah. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): On their end as well. Yeah. Tell us how we can support the program. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah, please go to our social media at Warriors Choice Foundation on Instagram, and then I think it’s at Choice Warriors for Facebook. 

And I believe Twitter too, or X whatever. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): And then warriors choice.org?

A. J. Longo: Yes. 

Ww dot warriors choice.org. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Is that picture of the zip line, is that actually bourbon in that picture? 

A. J. Longo: No. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): No. 

A. J. Longo: Okay. No. It’s not 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): on the, you 

A. J. Longo: don’t the Yeah no. I’ll send [00:23:00] that to you after this, but yeah, no, we, any anybody wants to support, we do have an upcoming litter that we’re actually gonna find out today At two 30, gonna go and get some x-rays done and then start that process of getting them up.

On the on the site is 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): a bourbon’s litter. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. Oh, this is his final, this is later, 

I’m. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah, 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): this, and this is final litter, right? 

A. J. Longo: This, yeah, he’s 12 years old now. Awesome. So it’s just like, all right, let me see. Who am I gonna get out of this? That kind of has to carry on that legacy.

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): He did his work, man. Yeah. Thank you Mr. Bourbons. 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. If they wanna reach the foundation, it’s 5 6 1 2 0 3 56. Oh six. I believe it’s at the base of the website. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Gotcha. Squad. That’s 5 6 1 2 0 3 5 6 0 6 5 6. 1 2, 0 3. 5, 6, 0, 6. And before we tune out, I’d like to ask the can question, especially my veterans, how does AJ one his dash, remember that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date, and death date?

How do you want your dash remembered? You’re already doing a lot, brother. Yeah. For people. But how did, how do you want your dash remembered? 

A. J. Longo: Just a good dude. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Good dude. Served it purpose. Served 

A. J. Longo: it. Lived it. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): Yeah. People ask me, Ky, what’s your [00:24:00] why? I’m like, to be useful. Yeah. It’s so easy for me to answer because there’s so many different ways that I can help that I know.

And once I started doing that and then being open to reciprocation, it made life a little bit better. So the Master Resilience program? Yep. Can you like put that in a nutshell what we can do? 

A. J. Longo: Yeah. So we’re creating a master resilience trainer certificate program that’s gonna be structured on evidence informed nonclinical workforce development initiatives designed for re recouping and assisting veterans.

And first responders with advanced resilience, stress management, and peer leadership skills. 

L. Scott Ferguson (Coach Fergie): I love that squad, and you’ll find that in my in the show notes at time to shine today.com/warriors Choice Foundation. Again, that’ll be right in the show notes. Thank you so much for coming up, brother. Yeah, brother, appreciate man.

Thanks for wrapping up. Thank you for Steve Austin for bringing Longo in. Steve. Awesome. Austin, my awesome producer, Brian Mudd, and go Have a great weekend squad. Love your guts.