Saving warriors - Thomas Burgess on Nuggets

[Music] Hello everybody welcome back to the show thank you so much for being here you are awesome it's us again it's me the bloke in the Hat and him the one with the bit Hello nice to see you hope you're well hope everything is going good in your world um we've got a great show coming up for you now I'm going to warn all of you as much as I can this one may get a bit emotional okay I'm warning you of that because if you've got any friends in the military in any type of way shape or form you will understand what's going on um and also if you've been suffering with mental health issues you might also find this fairly triggering so just be careful of that yeah that's it we've done we've warned them right yeah that's all we have to do I think so yeah cool tell you what go listen to a really good show Nets hello everybody and welcome back to the show right I'm really excited about this one this poor guy I've met him once before and it was literally just after I'd seen him talk on stage I absolutely loved his message I loved what he talked about um actually that's kind of a lie I didn't love what he talked about Tom because I think there's a few problems there that we need to try and help sort out but what we're going to try and do is me and you and Jesse as well we're going to put in some work to try and help the situation that we're going to talk about ladies and gents this is Tom Burgess and he's got a really important message for you Tom say hello to everyone hello everyone how are you awesome hopefully they're all right then they'll be doing a mix of sitting down and having a cup of tea or walking their dogs or sat at their offices and don't know what to do so they've come to listen to us that's that's hopefully what I think out on a massive run at the moment as well just a pods in having a good run so whoever you are right on mate keep going yeah to Poor Tom just came on and his Earp pods just died on him so we're gonna have to get you some new ones before you go on your next run mate um right Tom I'm gonna ask you the first question that I ask everybody and it's the weird one to be honest with you Tom who are you what do you do and why should people to listen to me and you chatting for half an hour or so all right my name's uh I uh I've got a few hats much like Paul's bur at the moment I uh I've got a digital marketing agency where I help startups get off the ground with their digital marketing that's my day job but my passion in life is talking about mental health and uh ensuring that people don't make the uh irreversible decision to take their own life yeah um what I'm going to be careful and I know the answer to some of these questions what kind of people are we talking about there time so with regards to the the the the safe lanes that I stay in uh save a warrior UK is the cic that both myself and Adam gnell have uh have set up here Weist we're a real thing and the uh the people we want to help are essentially service givers um veterans both serving and Veteran member of the military um police fire and Frontline paramedic um essentially the point end of um you know being out there in the service world that's that's the who right this annoys me because I've got a lot of friends who are vets I've got a lot of friends that are in that world I've got a lot lot of friends who do lots of stuff that help many people all over the world and it kind of annoys me because I think these people should be covered they should be helped by others a lot and and it just feels like they're not I don't get it I don't get how someone can be doing so much for our world and so much to cover our backsides and then they kind of get forgotten well there are okay so the the safety nets and the the the processes and systems are in place and I know that they they do work okay but we're talking with people that I mean specifically with save the warrior that are holding that much shame from their parts that they're going to decide to take that to the grade and they're never going to tell another human being uh let alone admit it to themselves what uh what the problem is and it's those people um sadly that's we're trying to reach and trying to talk to and you know for a bit of you know for quite a a large section of my life you know that was me and um there was a you know there was a time where the the what happened was so clouded by the story I kept telling so about what what was what happened in the past and it it wasn't it wasn't serving me in life anymore and and that just sticky just it help it doesn't help you doesn't help you in any way um this is I appreciate is a little bit smok and mirror is what I'm saying here because I can't I don't want to I can't go to the thing all right I can't tell you about that all right because that needs to be done in a safe SP with with other people that are in that that world now yeah sa Warrior for me when I went over there in in um July of this year I went over there with this feeling of I'm going to go into a REI because I had plans with Adam to bring the charot over the UK anyway I'm going to go over there meet the team find out a bit about it and see how we can introduce it to the UK Market Etc and that's what I told myself right the away leading up to it this this you know that's the that's the mission five minutes before they open the door for me to walk in and and essentially sit down and get you know rifle lesson one sit down this uppercut of really like real just hit me like the the oh my God I'm I'm actually here for myself um like that s like wave of I've been coming here for the wrong reasons now I know and it was at that point like I I fully accepted the reason why I was there and um sat down and and and listen so hard I've never listened to anything so hard in my entire life I've never like on operations in Afghanistan listen to the mission Brie and where we're actually going to be going on foot patrol skirting a mindfield now sat there the first five seconds of that that first hour of 72 hours like eyes are open and I've never listened so hard what coming up and it was at that point I was like when we bring his the UK it's it's going to it's going to blow up um and I I know I know like with everything in here that what we're going to deliver over here um is going to save so many people's lives and change so many as well it's not the person that turns up it's the family around okay that don't have to deal with that loss it's the friends and colleagues that work with that person that don't have to fill that Gap so the knock on and the so what bet for saving that one person is it's seven generations long it's it's not just one person here we're we're making a a positive ripple effect that we will never truly understand there it is like in a n it's one of those things that I don't I don't think anyone realizes the effect of this stuff unless they've got a friend or a family member that they've seen change because of this now something that really bothers me here Tom is right I know a few guys who have gone through some massive changes because they've been in operational situations should we say and I can't say what each of them have done because I know for a fact that they would never share with me everything that's happened okay they they can't there's something in train there's something in their makeup that makes them keep it to themselves and some of these guys they look like they've got it all together they look like they are absolutely fine but you cannot see the demons that they're fighting with in their own heads um and what you said about the ripple effect mate you're right because you can be talking to their their wife or their husband or their partner or their kid and they're just going something's different something's changed we can't quite put her finger on it then you got the guys that it shows okay and it shows and they come back a shell of the person they once were because of the things I went through the ones that okay if you can see it then we have chances of getting them help Okay and like you said I've seen that work for some people the ones I'm most bothered about Toms are they're the ones that b it well and from the talk that you gave and the changes that happened in you in July alone I think this is a message we need to get out there mate we need to get your message out and let other people know that if they don't know where to turn they can talk with you that's thing sa Warrior UK you know where right this at time of recording right now on the 9th of October yeah y we are we have not got the capacity to build someone right now we're we're gearing up okay we've got plan our plan for 2024 25 and 26 set okay we're um right now we're in awar and the you know the first C if everything goes to PL okay we can get funding we can get all of the logistic element in place before then February next year is when we've internally declared when we're going to run our first C War now you'd have spoken to me earlier in the year we' have said November was after but the world being the world the plans had to logistically it hadn't worked but look we're realistic life on life term we've got to you know carry on so we've declared internally February the the spade and the sand that's when we're D all right um and that's when we can have our first over peel back from that obviously we're going to need to talk to people at the beginning of the year to go through that ring process to identify people that want to submit their application to save a warrior then I use that word submit quite strongly there okay this is not you know just you know I'm going to go along to or I'm going to sit down I'm going to have a chat this is submitted down to a proess that you know essentially is going to ask you to forget everything you've ever known uh and change everything you okay and that's not easy okay that is not easy because you know how I had my life okay and how I had my thinking beforehand right the way up to 5 minutes before entering that door wasn't serving me you know I thought I had my my my stuff in one sock I thought I had it all together and I thought I was doing really well and you know I I was doing all right but there was this thing under the thing okay it's not about PTSD all right it's not about bombs and bullets and Iraq and Afghanistan there was this thing underneath it that was just this nibbling away at my soul and that's that's the thing so you know and that's that's what we're going to do when we sit down with these kind of gos uh and it's not just men we will have women but logistically at the beginning we we cannot do it it's got to be a men thing but we've got a plan to make sure that everyone in those four categories of you all right get the help and if I can we've got time i' just love to go to something you said just a second ago um was about not being able to talk about it uh and you know carrying that burden as it were being really stoic and you know worrier like yeah I was I was wearing armor you know at on my tour and I was no Bravo to zero John Rambo like point the end Soldier not I wasn't that grenade throwing G I was just I just did a lot of ss in in a short pace of time that caused this compession on me which you know has and a lot of my mates have have been through that same that well and guys I'm talking to you here you know who you are but specifically one element of savor Warrior when I was over there was this transitioning out of the military that we don't give our serving members and you know police fire paramedic same it's all Warriors all the same thing and this is ancient technology okay goes dates back to the Greek time um when you know the Spartans were coming off the battlefield and they would go to the the up to the hills and they would receive help and they would be transitioned back into life and one of those um practices was the use of a labyrinth okay enter into the Labyrinth as a warrior okay go into the middle find your way into the center of this Labyrinth and leave it all there and place it down and that process for me was literally it it was life because I've been carrying the weight of so much in here for so many years and it was at that moment right now it's the chance like don't leave anything on the table now you can really really just walk out of here lighter and I was I was the first guy in and this Labyrinth I mean you know it's a circle of stones you can see everything inside there there's no high walls you're not hidden you know there's there's 30 people around watching me go in and I walked in so it can't carrying Stone in my right and I was like this these are the things I'm going to leave behind physical things going to leave behind parent every single one of them had a meaning and I put them all down inside one by pointing them out what they are and then just stood there and took in and like I cannot explain to you you know it's it's psychological just my brain telling me what I'm doing obviously the weight these St is really light but I physically just went in and left it all there and I know they're still in that labyrinth in in the US in in Ohio right next to the boots of the guy that was third in the door to go and kill Osama Berard right next to all of the other tokens from all of the other Warriors that have left their stuff and their things there as well that it's that that one thing for me that that was enough to that's the reason why we're bringing it to right I think you said something you right I got to be careful here because you've said so many important things that people need to hear okay but something that you said in there about it doesn't matter what you did it doesn't matter what position you held you started talking about the blue light Services you know coppers out there the ambulance driv the paramedics the firemen the the the military the N all of it okay it doesn't matter what position you held but still I meet these people and don't get me wrong I I understand basics of psychology I've worked in the psychology industry but there's a type of person isn't there who seems to believe you have to hold on to these things and you have to keep them hidden but what you're saying is if you can find a way to let go if you can find a way to see I nearly started doing it myself then I wanted to say to control it it's not even that is it you don't want to try and grab it and control it because I think that causes some of the issues but what you're saying about if you can physically and mentally drop something and leave it somewhere and walk away from it I mean that's powerful I wed into there but I walk out of there me yeah and never I've never felt same it's you know just a flip switch in my brain I answered myself I was there I did it all me all me no magic no drugs no no sort of like you know we're not adding any TOS to this we're not having any coping mechanisms nor and that fortunately that's that's that's how easy and hard as it is but you know yeah you guys and girls out there you know oh well we do it we do it all the time in our lives and I know well I don't I I don't need to go and get mental health help because my calls weren't as contic as others no I wasn't a Marine in a Sanger in Helman Province like living under se you know and that's the you know that's the diff world I I can't do that because I didn't do that but you know they didn't have the upbringing and the experience that school that I did and all of the other stuff and and and guess what I want to meet that that was in that Center uh and did do that stuff because I want to sit down I want to shake hand and say mate well done how are you now um and like let's go for a weet I say weet but that's a marine for a brew but it is but you know and there's another thing as well my my mechanism to overcome hard was throw humor at it you know fearfulness in the face of a that's a big in the black humor dark humor mask it over with oh that was both Lads oh he's not too well just throw something at it that gets that lifts the move you know we're very good at that as as English men and women you know we can throw that at stuff Blitz you know the the attitude of the blit like fear not cup of tea let go but you do that long enough and like don't know if you can feel it but it's that Twist of soul and then all of a sudden like you get used to be in that cont talk and once you're uniform of whatever uniform it is we right you know perhaps you've done 14 days straight at A&E or you've done three week solid on the M25 as a traffic C you know and you've been there and you've done this and you've seen this stuff and I'm talking police and fire you know they don't just say cats up tree right there's all of those RTA you see that stuff day in day out it it it it changes you and then one day you can oh this is normal normal that's fine when you're wearing a uniform it's fine there and then later on in life when you know you're just build you're no longer a you're not there just you know 10 15 20 years later right you don't know when it's going to come right hopefully it never comes but like that will pop in your head all of a sudden one thing another thing you start drifting off the center line all of a sudden few too many drinks one night we'll finish the bottle in the morning who knows what happen after that start rting off and that's where I found myself so what was it what was it that made you realize that you needed to go to America look at save a warrior because if you hadn't done what you class as a wrecky just looking into this yeah then I'm actually concerned about what kind of Tom would be in this world now well the guy sat in front of you wouldn't be here I tell you that now exactly I'll be honest mate I quite like the guy sat in front of me so I'm glad you went well I think we should do this more often M if you ever what was it you said if you ever want to get a wet that happy to make a cou of team with you anytime okay um but it bothers me mate that there's a load of people out there they might not have the finance they might not have the forethought they might not have the idea about dancing something like that have a look at something one thing I'm sorry to talk the finance save warriors free we do this sorry what yeah this is for fun and for free if there is someone out there that is in need of our service okay yeah all you've got to do is get your bus fa there right that's your skin in the game that's only thing you need to pay to but there to us be that petrol be that a train ticket be that cab whatever it is that's that's your thing that's your responsibility once you're with us okay we'll feed you we'll accommodate you we'll make sure you're warm and comfortable we'll we'll escort you around for 72 hours we'll look after you and we we'll be there in that 72 hours and then 500 Days coming out of that container alive okay alive the most the most magnificent aliveness you've ever felt will then be there for 500 Days with our support and it's not Bill and Bob and Jane that we've invloed to look after it need to returned Warriors himself healed wound wounded soldiers that come off the come out and and they've gone through and sat the seat the same seat you have and they're now there standing turning back looking to greet you every single day 5 day that's what we for fun and for free but we can't do that without financial help from everyone else you know and that's why on the 28th of October Adam and I are going to run around the AIS of white to raise funds for our foruse which is sa Warrior UK I think at this stage been running for a couple of days we're at 355 and that's charitable donation from other people put in their hand in their pocket and we're thankful so thankful that um and I know times are H I know times are hard right now you know I get it I'm there but you know this is more than this is bigger than us this is about fixing another human being and helping them live a life of alive and look after their family and their kids by letting them be alive and yeah let's um this is what I do you know you ask me what I do this is what the digital marketing You' you've given possibly the best 25 minute answer to that question ever okay I I love what you're up to um how much are you trying to raise on October the 28th so we well it's an open end you know there is no it's it's it's a looping figure event you know we just need regular regular donations we want to reach organizations we want to reach um you know business owners that can donate want to reach know that's got 20 quid and a biscuit on top of a kitchen that's save for a rainy day this is a rainy day but you know if you at the the go fund page which you can find out there and of Supply it if you want for it does say it says the word 25 Grand on there okay but this is a lifelong uh purpose you know we'll hit 25 Grand I'm hoping soon we'll go past that I know that it's not going in our pocket you know we're not running off to the hills it cost 1,500 to save a life and that's £1,000 to the 3day uh 72 hour stfe Spate that we've got to fund and feed and manage and then a pound a day for 500 Days and that keeps the r turn and that also pay for us to market the thing and do all the operating stuff the whole thing in that 1,500 that's one seat and each cohort we will have 10 seat mate it's as you know uh me and Jesse we do put our hat in and we try and help some people and we can't do much but we can use our networks and we can use our little podcast and try and get that story out there and you know what if that story is 1500 quid can help save an absolute hero I'm in okay um whatever we can do you've got us behind you right I'm going to ask you that question that I warned you about if you if you could only drop one nugget of information to every listener to every viewer that that comes across this podcast anytime in the future what's the one thing you want them to know I've always talked about save a warrior which is the the end game of this I want I don't want people I don't want people to come through the gate so how we can stop that early on is by by people looking at their friends and thinking he's having a bit pick up the phone and just be a friend that's my nugget pick up a pick up the phone and just be a friend don't send them a WhatsApp message or send them an emoji or connect with them on instagramming pick up the phone to your friend and be that friend ask them how they are mate it can make a massive difference um I know it made a difference for me I've got buddies who that made a massive difference for and you know what I'm going to reiterate what you said earlier just having a cup of tea or a brew with someone can change their world Tom you've been absolutely awesome mate thank you so much for taking time out to come and have a sit down and a chat with me the next time we do this I would really appreciate it if there could be tea and biscuits involved and we'll have a proper chat over that excellent yeah please do that awesome ladies and gents we're going to go to the bit where me and Jesse talk about the show um Tom doesn't get to hear what we say until the show actually goes out um but he's gonna like this I know he's GNA like this one Tom do you want to say goodbye to everyone thank you very much for listening everyone and uh if you need to find us okay www. savea Warrior .org I know Jesse is going to be Plastering that everywhere I'm going to be Plastering it everywhere we've got this dude thank you very much Tom I'll see you later thank you new nuggets welcome back everyone right we warned you that was a weird one there was a bit emotional me and Jesse are both got friends at military we both have ties with military we we we like this show and we don't like it as well yes that's fair right yeah do you know what this is part of what I wanted to cheat about actually I'm still really annoyed isn't the right word knocked maybe uh aggravated sure that things like this have to be set up in the first place I see I yeah I'd go one step further I'm kind of it frustrates me that's the one I'm going with um it frustrates me that these things aren't there already but then we also know that some of these things are there already but there's far too many people that slip through it absolutely well yeah I mean this is what I mean is you know if if the uh people that were in charge of budgets for buying equipment and paying salaries for putting people into these not very nice situations MH um and frankly just a difficult lifestyle even if they don't go to a war zone y um if they were on top of this as much and worried about the longevity of those people afterwards I think that would be an important thing and you got to remember that some people that this effects are actually and I know people who that I'm referring to here mhm are you know what I'd call Long career military people so they might be doing death jobs now but they're still affected by a lot of this I know a lot of people who have mental health issues and because um you know having spent a very short time in the military myself I know that the mentality is called I've had my man up pills I'm going to get on with it and actually nobody ever teaches you when it's when you don't have to do that and when it's okay to not swallow your man up pills and actually get some help for something but you're right mate because so many times in situations I've been in and friends have been in and you told to man up which is just one of the worst things you can possibly say to it's absolutely fine while you're on operation that's how you get through yeah but getting through the life afterwards is the important thing and I think Thomas going through and I I I don't know how much we want to talk about this but I know we were all very emotional after doing the record and Thomas going through what he has and turning that into a positive and helping other people is an amazing thing I think that is the strength that we want to promote is the be being able to show the vulnerability dealing with all of that crap cuz mental health or bad mental health is a complete [ __ ] and very difficult for individuals to to deal with on a normal occasion let alone when you've been had it ingrained in you just to deal with it um to the point breaking uh and Thomas to come out the other end and being such a vocal person dealing with all of these things and coming on to shows like this and talking about it just an amazing thing so but this is it isn't it but the fact that he's strong enough to come and have an interview with a guy that he doesn't know that well and he's literally just kind of hoping that we portray this in the right way yes okay cuz we both know there are programs that would take that material they would edit it to show whatever story they want yeah and they could rip this to pieces or they could put it on a pedestal and make a point of the positive yeah now I'm with you on that Tom turning around and making this a positive and helping people that's what should be celebrated yeah do we think every media Outlet would do that no no and then I then have a problem with the fact that it is so hard to talk about suicide and suicide prevention and that just winds me up M because if we we could make it normal to talk about it yeah then surely it would be more normal to stop people feeling like they're going to be down in that depth yeah of feeling that's the right thing to do and I know you you I and somebody who might be coming on the show in the future last week we had a a very interesting conversation about death and grief just generally and talking about death in the UK is a very odd thing like we don't like to talk about it we don't like to talk about the negatives we like to sweep everything on a rug some certain countries like Scandinavian countries is quite an open discussion about those sorts of things in certain respects I don't know what all of the cultures like but certainly when you know talking about what might happen in the future and all of these sorts of things it's very open and yeah I absolutely agree like it's interesting how people over the last few years I think basically have come to the point where enough is enough and so because we've got social media and things people can just go you know what we need to start talking about this yeah yeah so hopefully fingers crossed we've opened up some conversations yes I mean I I don't think there's much more that us two can do on that no um Thomas thank you so much for your time mate yeah um means a lot to me really does the let's use this shall we how about everyone that's listening to this or watching this you use it to open up conversations with people thaty and if you know somebody who might need his help and don't know that they need his help necessarily then the the descri as always the links are in the description uh for this uh the other reason that we CU we're very aware that we've put two charity shows back to back the reason that we've put this show in this week is because the is of white Ultra that he's involved with um is coming up in the next couple of days from the day of this show going out so if you could go and give that a support as well um it's a ridiculous thing isn't it it's just nuts seriously I have enough trouble walking up my stairs I mean when when somebody says you we're going to run around the a of white I'm sorry what one yeah you doing what now I I mean I'd probably happily drive around the of white motorbike actually no you and my wife wouldn't let me no we wouldn't no um um but yeah so I believe that's just my notes it's the 28th of October that's happening yeah that's what I remember um which I think is Thursday Friday Saturday Saturday one of them it's this coming weekend on the day that the show goes out the 28th of October um I've just realized what I'm doing in the next week Jesse I know it's ridiculous at the moment isn't it it really is yeah so if anyone wants to sponsor Newton's nuggets so that I can work less that would be amazing or just we've got loads of stuff that we got coming up um one of the things that we've discussed and I don't know if we were going to bring this up but I don't know yet we were talking about the fact that there's an offer on something and we've got a list yes we have there is an offer this is a bit of a switch up from the previous subject but did we write it out anywhere well the simple answer to that is you see this that we're recording on here there's a nice microphone yeah but when we go out and and um and do the shows where we're in the field as it were stuff as you'll probably know we've often talked about struggling with the sound quality and all of those sorts of things M and there's these little lovely little really nice um microphones lapel mics that we can take out and would help massively with those and cuz we've been applying to loads of stuff we've got lots of things lined up over the next year comic comic Gest events car events all sorts of different things so we're trying to we're trying to make sure that we allow because we talk about work life balance and blends and what have you all all the time we want to go out to more and more events to try and look at those promote them talk to the businesses there because that's one of the things that I really love about going to those events is actually being able to record interviews with people uh and get a real Vibe for what they're doing um some of the people we've already interviewed we're talking to about coming on to the show as well so it's a great little introduction for us that Kit's well expensive yeah it's currently on offer yeah um and the easiest way to find it is on the Newton's nuggets um Amazon shopping list yeah where it's currently on offer um there's a link to that I'll try and remember to stick the link in the descript how much was it on offer for and I'm not sure how long the offer stays can't remember we never said how long it stays for but didn't did it it was like it's normally 300 quid and it's just over 200 quid and so we've been set all this right what are we doing if if somebody goes and buys us that bit of Kit yeah off of our wish list on Amazon yeah what are we going to give them we're going to give them a shed ton of advertising shed ton that's the weirdest explanation ever I love it so you get a shed ton so what we're going to do is make sure you get at least one advert on every show yes for the month of November yes okay so this is why it's going to have to be quick cuz November's soon um so one ad on every show through the month of November plus a load of Social Media stuff from us that's random social media in this that me and Jesse come up with and I might Chuck you some merch as well just to say thanks my merch much stuff that's hidden mhm how much no one knows where it is right mhm okay good right so that's it good yeah awesome ladies and gents thank you for coming along thank you for coming in thank you for listening thank you for watching you lot are awesome you lot are fabulous you have no idea how much it means to us every time we get a comment an email a message something through social media saying you're enjoying this that's what keeps us going yeah so from us at Newton's nuggets um have a lovely week we'll see you next week for a PO and Jesse show bye-bye [Music] newon nuggets hello everyone thank you so much for watching now if you want to subscribe it should be up there if you want to see more of Newton's nuggets there're down there if you want to see more about mental theft stuff that should be down there somewhere and The Business speaker stuff should be up there thank you very much speak to you all soon bye-bye