Marine Corps Veteran Joshua Mach, who shares with us his personal experience and valuable insights on several topics related to self-improvement and mental health.  Joshua offers advice for people in the active military and emphasizes the importance of focusing on the core issue and staying positive. He talks about finding the path that works for you and how you have to care about yourself to fix yourself. Joshua also stresses the importance of having a structured routine and how it can improve overall well-being.

Joshua discusses the differences between leadership and teamwork, and the importance of talking about your struggles. He shares his personal journey with mental health and how he has learned to spread love and positivity.  This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn more about self-improvement, mental health, and the importance of positivity.

In This Episode We Cover:

• Advice for people in the active military.

• Focus on the core issue and stay positive.

• Finding the path that works for you.

• You have to care about yourself to fix yourself.

• The importance of having a structured routine.

• Leadership vs. teamwork.

• Talking about your struggles.

• Spreading the love.

• Positive affirmations and how they work.

Battle Buddy Podcast Guest Links:

Makeveteransgreatagain.org

Transcript from Episode 102 with Joshua Mach:

Keith McKeever 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the battle buddy Podcast. Today we're going to talk about what makes veterans great. And there's a lot of things that make us great. I feel a little biased on that. But we're going to dive into really what makes us great, the skills and the things that make us great. And I've got the perfect guy to talk about it. He is the host of make veterans great again, podcast. So it's always great to talk to another podcast host and talk to him about what he's seeing the conversations he has in the veteran community. So without further ado, we'll dive into it. Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever. Hey, what's going good. Welcome to the show, Josh.

Joshua Mach 0:43

Thanks for having me, Keith. I really appreciate it. Yeah, no

Keith McKeever 0:45

problem. Like I said, it's always great talk to another podcaster. Man, we we have so many conversations all the time with so many people. And it's always good to connect with somebody else who, who's also having a multitude of conversations with other vets all the time.

Joshua Mach 0:58

Absolutely. And great minds think alike. Right. However, I'm not gonna lie. Being on the other side of the mic is a little bit different. But I'm here for it. So let's make it happen.

Keith McKeever 1:07

Yeah. Well, I don't know about great minds. But I mean, I'll take the compliment. So

Joshua Mach 1:12

well, you get that'd be an insult if you denied it, because I don't have a great mind. All right.

Keith McKeever 1:16

Exactly. Exactly. So we're two great minds with just general our inner Albert Einstein's here. So before we dive into it, tell us a little bit about your your military story, you know, what you would you do in the military?

Joshua Mach 1:29

Oh, so I joined the Marine Corps in 2013. And I got out in 2017, I joined as a combat engineer. So I got to play with explosives. However, I did not deploy, I didn't do any. I didn't see any combat or anything I want. I call it a vacation. I went to Oman for a month, probably set at the nicest hotel I've ever been at. And then other than that, it was just a lot of training, and field work. But I didn't get the opportunity to deploy. But a lot of people tell me that is a blessing. So I'm here. When I got out in 2017, I just got like a dead end job. I felt kind of lost. Like, I stayed in that job. For years. I didn't do anything and but I continually struggled. And my mental health just kept taking a decline and a decline. Eventually, I got tagged in about 2020 I believe it was to do the 22 Push Up Challenge online. I haven't done 22 Push Ups. And I couldn't even tell you how many years so I didn't, I wasn't able to do it. And I started to feel guilty about it. So I was like, Well, what am I going to do? And that night, I actually seen a buddy post a meme that said, Stop doing your push ups and pick up the phone and call it buddy. So the idea for the podcast came to mind. I had the idea for the podcast, probably a couple of months, if not like six or more months, right? I finally told my therapist about the idea. She's like, do you have your phone on you? And I was like, yeah, and she's like, Okay, can you pull it out real quick, which is common, because I'm always taking notes on my phone or something like that. And she's like, can you go to Facebook and start a live and just got to tell everybody what you're going to do. And I was like, what? Absolutely not, I won't do that. But I went home, I posted a video. And so thank thankfully to my therapist, I started the podcast, and my mission is to reach out to fellow brothers and sisters and arms so we can conquer our mental health together, just remind everybody that they're not alone. And we all have our struggles.

Keith McKeever 3:16

Awesome. Because yeah, we definitely all have our struggles. But I think when I when I really thought about what you're doing with your podcast, and just kind of just the message, like make veterans great again. I really, I actually kind of sat and thought about this for a couple minutes. And I was like, what, what makes us great. You know, like, what, what really makes us great as veterans. Like we because we do struggle with things, but we're also like, great, like, there's a lot of positive things about us. Like we can't ignore, like all the bad stuff. Like we can't ignore the mental health, we can't ignore the physical things that happen to us, like, you know, when we play with explosives, you know, if you lose, you lose some hearing or something like that, like, I don't know, if you got that, but you know, wouldn't surprise me, if you're playing around jets, you know, people tend to lose hearing, you know, I mean, like, you jump out of vehicles long enough, you bang up your knees like things like that, right? The bumps and bruises that come with a career, but like, we gain all these awesome skills and these awesome experiences is what kind of came to me is like, we have all these awesome things, experiences and skills that our civilian counterparts don't have. That's what makes us great. Right. So so I was kind of curious, you know, you know, that you can now just kind of told us, you know, what, led you to kind of creating that what, what kind of things have you seen when now that you've interviewed, you know, all these people on your podcast? What kind of things have you seen it? common traits with some of your guests that make them great?

Joshua Mach 4:54

Oh, okay, that makes them great. It's like our brotherhood and sisterhood. Right. It's the camaraderie It's the ability to go through the shit and come out the other side. But what we haven't learned is how to healthily cope with the shift we went through. We're just taught how to get through it. And it's going to take that brotherhood and sisterhood to continue making us great again, all veterans, everybody's great, right? But sometimes we just need that reminder of how great we really are. Like, if you look back, like, Man, I'm this terrible person XYZ. But like, did you want to fucking bootcamp, I hope I can curse on here, but go

Keith McKeever 5:29

ahead. Absolutely. Like you've all heard it before.

Joshua Mach 5:32

You made it through deployment, you made it through this, you made it through that, like you just, you're just in a rough spot, right now you have that person within you to pull it back out and become that beast that you once were, and you can become that person again. And honestly, it's going to come down to the brotherhood and sisterhood. You know, everybody acts so tough, like, they're Billy badass, or like fucking gi Jane, right? But at the end of the day, when they close that door, they're just as sensitive. They're just as hurt. They're just a fucking person. We're all human. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. We need to realize how humanized we really are. We need to humanize everybody. humanize your role model. humanize that athlete, you look up to humanize whoever you look up to, and realize that as another person that puts pants on one leg at a time, that's just another person and they need you as much as you need them. But some people that are struggling, they they're too afraid to just admit that they're struggling or ask for help, because they don't want to be viewed as weak. I don't know about you, but asking for help. And talking about my struggles was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And it makes that person so much stronger if you're able to accomplish that. And it's all gonna fall back onto that, that community that you have built that brotherhood sisterhood.

Keith McKeever 6:48

I definitely couldn't agree more with that. It is definitely hard to take that first step. I think it's two steps, I think is very difficult there. The The first step is realizing it, kind of taking the blinders off. And then the second step is, is reaching out and asking for the help, or the guidance or whatever. Both of them are difficult, though. And I don't know if I necessarily have the answers for myself, but you know, what, what advice do you have for somebody who's kind of in that spot, because I think the only way they're gonna listen to it is if they've already moved past point A. And if they've already kind of taken the blinders off, or they're kind of off and you're like, maybe I maybe I do have a problem. Maybe I do need to talk to somebody, what advice you have some for somebody in that kind of inactive spot,

Joshua Mach 7:34

right? Don't be afraid, just do it. Okay. And I know, I know, you're like, Alright, turn this shit off. Because that's not gonna happen, right? And it's hard. But if you love yourself, or if you care about yourself and your future and your health, like, you're going to have to, at some point, step out of that, your comfort zone and address the problems or issues you're handling, having the struggles you're having. And the crazy part is you're going to realize how many more people are truly struggling just like you. But in like their own version, right? You know, that term, like, I forget the term I wanted to use, but like that family is like the perfect family. And then you close the door, and it's like distress and like, like abuse or neglect or XYZ and you're like, why is that person so miserable, they have it all they have in the family, the money that XYZ, it doesn't matter if your inside is broken. It's like you need to focus and fix yourself before you can fix anybody or help anybody.

Keith McKeever 8:30

Absolutely. And I think it's, it's, it's important to realize that there, there is a path forward. And those counselors are there to give you the tools. Right, it's like you mentioned earlier, like, you go through bootcamp based training, whatever, you know, whatever your branch calls it, but like you aren't, you get different tools kind of given to you different skills, you kind of earn and refine through that that help you go through that process. Like that's the same thing a counselor does it very much the same way. We're as weird as it is to make that connection between him and a drill instructor where they're kind of like that, like they're there to listen to you and guide you through that process in a very eerily oddly similar way, but totally different way.

Joshua Mach 9:19

Right. A drill instructor is there to break you down. A therapist is there to build you back up. However, I know starting in like second third phase a drill instructor is supposed to start building you back up again, right. But the drill instructors key job is to break you to mold you and make you into the marine or service member of whatever branch you're in that you need to be to complete the mission. Then afterwards, you need to go to therapy and fix everything that got it's not even that it got fucked up in the military. A lot of times that they're finding my research what I'm reading recently is stating that like the trauma you experience in the military is only triggering your childhood trauma and problems. So yes, you experienced and went through some things in the military. And don't get me wrong. There's things you go through in the military that you didn't experience as a kid. And yes, you got that from the military. But a lot of times it relates back to a childhood trauma that you may have. So you really need to like, focus work deep on the core, issue a post the what you're seeing on the surface level.

Keith McKeever 10:25

That's interesting.

Joshua Mach 10:26

The best way, there's to what I learned in bootcamp was to just focus on the next Ciao, get to the next Ciao, and you made it get to the next Ciao and you made it just like therapy, get to your next therapy section, get to your next child get just just finished your therapy, like the fastest way through bootcamp is to complete bootcamp right not to like try to get out or get held back or whatever the case may be. So the Catholic way through therapy is to fucking go to therapy and put in the word. The thing with therapy, though, it's not a one stop shop, right? Like not everybody will benefit from traditional therapy, not everybody will benefit from horse therapy, or water therapy, or psychedelic therapy, or XYZ therapy, you have to find what works best for you. And don't get discouraged when the first one to five isn't what you need, or what you're comfortable with. For the longest time, I would go to therapy. And I would look solely for like a grandmother esque woman to be my therapist. So I could feel coddled and like comfort. But that was just me holding myself back. Because they that therapists wouldn't push me when I got uncomfortable, they wouldn't push me through that wall, they would allow me to handle it my way. And I would end up manipulating it and going around the wall and avoiding the whole issue that I really needed to get to. So therapy was just a repetitive nothing. Plus, I never did the homework I was sent home with. I always thought therapy and my medicine is going to fix it. I'm doing it but like what's therapy one or two hours a month gonna do? If you're not doing any of the work at home and putting in what you're learning. Like, if you're not putting in what you're learning, you're not going to be able to cope. There's one saying that I heard recently and I I love it and hate it all in one, right? But it said you always have to stand guard of your mental health 24/7. Right. Like, you know, there's some days where you have a rough fucking day, but you handled it so well. You're like, Dude, I'm so proud of myself. I conquered this, I conquered this, I was able to defeat this battle without letting it making me explode or holding me back. But you wake up the next day exhausted. And you're like, Oh, it's okay, I deserve a rest day. You take that rest day, you don't have somebody on guard, you're taking two steps back not one step. So somebody's always got to stay on guard. And for me, the more I'm able to recognize I have to stand on guard and like, literally battle my my mental health and my thoughts in my brain, right? Like, I tell myself something. And as soon as I hear it or catch that I'm being negative. I have recently started to like, say the opposite out loud. So like, I'm a horrible person in my mind. That's what I'm saying. Like, I'm a horrible person. But before I finished that sentence, I'm like, I'm a great person. I love myself, I deserve to be here I am successful. I am confident like, I am statements as cheesy as you may think they are because I used to think that and like I still hate doing them sometimes because I'm uncomfortable still. But the more you do positive im statements, the more positive your life turns

Keith McKeever 13:20

can go wrong, good positive affirmations. Right? Would you also say that, maybe taking a hard word this almost like a mission focused kind of mindset with it, of like, hey, I need to stay on top of this so that the wheels don't fall off. Now. One thing with mental health is you're gonna have good days and bad days regardless, like things could just come out of nowhere and make the wheels fall off. But it could be the straw that broke the camel's back. Yeah, anything can happen, but you need to try and stay ahead of it. But maybe that mission oriented of like, I have to stay on track, I have to stand a guard I have to constantly be trying to work on this in positive ways to take you know positive ways positive tools to try and better my situation and improve.

Joshua Mach 14:14

Right? Yeah, I I try to word it like a mission statement sometimes or like it's a mission because then you're gonna I feel it's totally depends on the person that you are right? Like, because I label it a mission or treat it that way. I'm gonna lose ABC, right but if I treat it like a mission or talk to it in like military terms, I'm going to get XYZ so it's just like changes your your vocabulary changes, but the situation is still the fucking same. Right? Like I may say, Okay, we need to stand guard, we need to have somebody on post 24/7 XYZ. And other people be like, I just need to focus I need to pay attention and like paying attention. It's just how you word it. It's like who? Who's going to listen to it and I try How to word things differently. But it all has the same meaning. Because at the same, it just doesn't matter who's listening, like, you work things differently, somebody else is going to catch on or it's going to hit differently, right? Like you can you can know, like two plus two equals four. But like, you just know that it equals four and then one day somebody's like, three plus one also equals four. And you're like, what? And then it just clicks like, oh, it's math, like, you can do this and this to get there. It's not a mental health is not a one size fits all one shoe fits most. Absolutely not. It's like different. Everything from therapy, the way you treat yourself, the way you talk to yourself, like, look, you can listen to David Goggins who's out there calling himself a bitch, and he's not gonna let that bitch when XYZ, but some people are like, that's too aggressive for me, let me like sit back down and let me have that grandmother, come talk to me, you know, it's just all depends on who you are, what you need to hear and how you need to hear it.

Keith McKeever 15:55

That's a really good takeaway. I think everybody needs to figure out what that path looks like for them. I'm the kind of person I know, personally, I'm the kind of person I need. That person is blunt. What's worked best for me is I'm kind of the same ways you like, I don't need that, grandmotherly It's okay. You know, like, I had a whole health coach at the VA. Now it's the whole health coach, a counselor, but she was sometimes be like, alright, because she was, she was a counselor, at one point time, she was sitting in a role of a whole health coach, it should be like, Archies, I'm gonna take my, my whole health coach off, I'm gonna put my counselor hat on for just a second. And she'd be like, you know, super blunt about things like super, super blunt. And I'd be like, okay, yeah, you know, you're, you're freaking right. You know, like, that's just what I need to hear, like, sometimes I just need it. Black and white. I don't need sugar coated, I need a black and white. You know, I don't need I don't need the fluffy, nice, soft words like I can. I can say that. But that's me. But everybody needs to find that path that works for them. But you have to do it, no matter what it is like you have to rip the band aid off and take that take that journey.

Joshua Mach 17:10

Absolutely, you have to start somewhere. And even if it's just reaching out to a buddy, somebody that you haven't talked to for a while and you want to talk to them, or whatever the case may be how you can even call and tell yourself that you're calling to check on them. Even though that call is what you need. So basically, you're doing your yourself a service, but you're manipulating your mind to think that you're helping somebody else. But in return, you're helping yourself. So just pick up the phone and call somebody because you both probably need that phone call.

Keith McKeever 17:40

You know, that might be one of the most profound things I've heard in a long time. Because we I mean, we hear so much about, you know, buddy checks. And, you know, I'm just as big of an advocate for people doing it. And a lot of times I think it's easy to stop and think about your called for for them. But like, you know, you are calling for yourself to like, there it goes both ways. Like there's an accountability there.

Joshua Mach 18:08

Just like phones work both ways, bro. Like, you can each call each other and you both want to talk about buddy checks and being there for one another. And I know, I know people are there for one another right? But like there's a lot of times people just say buddy check or XYZ but are you actually calling a buddy? Are you checking on anybody? Are you calling anybody? Or are you just disgruntled and nobody's calling you But dude, at the end of the day, your phone works the same way there does, pick it up and call them if you want to talk to them don't care or worry about who called who last who message to last Oh, they left do on read. Do everybody's life is busy. You don't know just because you're sitting down unable to text or call somebody you don't know that person that you're texting, your calling is able to respond and give you that same amount of time. So sometimes you need to give them time to respond and then not gonna lie to you sometimes I just forget. And like, it's just my memory. And I it's nothing against you or our conversation. I just forgot to respond. Like my daughter distracted me. And then that's it. Like I forgot I was even texting anybody you know?

Keith McKeever 19:08

It's like an ad is like dog with a squirrel. Right? Like, Oh, what happened? I just don't

Joshua Mach 19:12

101

Keith McKeever 19:15

Exactly. You know, it's a mess. There's a lot of good, good information in that. But I definitely bring this back around because like, you know, the whole topic here is is is making veterans great. You know, we went down this this mental health thing, which I think is great. We need to remember that. This is a key component of being great. Which I think was was great that we dove into this here because it's kind of unintentional, to kind of dive down this mental health here for a couple minutes. Because to really be truly great who you are and to succeed you have to you have to really take care of your mental health, mental and physical health, mental and physical and spiritual health, whatever that looks like. for you. Yeah, you have to take care of whatever that looks like for you in all those aspects, right? Like, I'm not saying you have to, like, go to the gym, you know, you don't have to be David Goggins and be like, running and say, Yeah, whatever kind of craziness he does, but like, you have to figure out what works for you, in every one of those like to be great. And that's not an easy thing. It's not an easy path to navigate. There's more than one fork in the road. But, you know, you have to take it.

Joshua Mach 20:30

And you have to be nice to yourself, allow yourself to like, have a failure. It's not a failure. It's a learning lesson, right? Like you, you put your toe in the water, and you try therapists, and it was a bad experience. And now you're just, oh, therapy fucking sucks. It doesn't work XYZ, no, you just had a bad experience. It wasn't the right person for you. You didn't give it all. You need to take accountability for your actions as well, because it's not always the therapist. It's the you that you're giving. And I know a lot of people are like, How the fuck can I talk to a therapist, that's never been where I've been or done what I did. It's not their job to have the same experiences to you. It's their job to figure out how you to help you manage and cope with those experiences to help you live a valid and successful life.

Keith McKeever 21:15

And they're all going to do it in different ways. Yeah. I've had a couple of different people, I've talked to one person, and I mean, they're all good, qualified people. One person I talked to him and I just didn't connect, like, communication, wise personality, there was just no connection. The first counselor I've ever talked to, she gave me all kinds of great ideas. Like I would tell her what I'm experiencing. And she'd be like, Okay, have you tried this? Have you tried to, like, go implement this in your life. And it was like, okay, I can do this. It's actionable. That's cool. I can do this in my life. And I can see immediate results. And then my second counselor was, was the same way, they both left the VA, which actually sucks. But they went off to other opportunities, they're going out there to succeed and go off and other opportunities in a world, which is great for them. Good luck to them. I can't fault them for that at all. It sucks for me, but good for them. So like, I've heard that a lot too, like high VA can't keep any employees like, well, they have lives too, like they have to go grow and advance in their careers to like, You should be happy for them. Like, they're, they're going to do their thing, too.

Joshua Mach 22:25

Right? The situation is what you make of it. And I know it is hard to find the good in a bad situation. For example, like a therapist leaving, it's hard to find the good in that because now you might have to go to two or three therapists before you find one that works for you. However, that fourth or fifth therapist may be the one that is the best person fucking for you. And like, you had to go through that adversity that struggle to find this new therapist and this new method, like think about it, you're you're learning new tools. No one person has the answer for everything, and can solve all your life problems. They're No, all right, you know, maybe if you wanna believe in God, and you believe in God, then God can be that one person, right. But like, in modern day, there's no therapist out there that's going to be able to solve that for you. Or that. So like you getting multiple people's inputs on how to handle things, not only shows you how you want to handle it, but it also shows you how you don't want to handle it. So the bad therapists use them as a learning lesson and be like, Okay, I didn't like their therapy style. That's not for me. So I need this. Or they approached the target like this. And I was like, I don't like that approach. Like, let me switch. Let me do what therapists two and three did not what four and five did. You never know. And you have to care about yourself, to be able to fix yourself, because dude, I am so tired of being miserable and depressed and mopey. And whatever. Like, I'm trying to pull myself out of something these past two weeks I like just it like was a slow slope, right? Like, my son came over for the weekend. And we went hiking and running and swimming. So we did physical activities that I counted as my workout. And then he left. And I still didn't wake up at five in the morning to go to the gym. And then next thing I know, it's like week two, bro, I'm in something deep. Like I haven't got a haircut in like, three, four weeks now. shave my beard, nothing. I haven't taken care of myself properly. And I'm just now catching on to that. Like, oh, fuck, dude, I was spiraling out of control. But due to all of my therapy, and all the work I've put in, I've taught myself so now I'm only at like two weeks out. I went back to the gym today for the first time in like two weeks, which is I feel like that's a huge accomplishment. I should pat myself on the back even though I feel like I didn't do a lot at the gym. I still went to the gym. And normally it'd be like 234 months before I would go back to the gym for two weeks and quit again, you know, but that's not what I'm that I don't want to be that person anymore. And I'm actively catching myself and my faults. And I'm working on changing it. So like I've been in like a deep dark state. Like I wanted to cancel this because I didn't feel like talking to anybody, but I was like, that's what I normally would do. That's what old Josh would do. I'm not trying to be that person anymore. I don't want to be stuck, I don't want to be miserable. I don't want to feel like I have to cry all the time and not cry. Like, let's keep breaking yourself out of the box, let's keep breaking my old patterns and habits and routine, while creating healthier habits and routines. And that's what I'm working on. Like, you just gotta be self conscious. Because, yes, this is a setback. But it's, it's setting me up to come back way faster than I ever had before. And that's an achievement. Like, I used to only worry about the bottom rung of the ladder and the top ring. And like, I feel like well, it's impossible to get to the top ring. So why even try. But now I'm realizing and allowing myself to accept each individual step that you need to take to get up to the top of the ladder to achieve and become successful. So hell, if I'm only on step two, or three, like at least I'm up the ladder, I'm on the ladder before I would just look at me. Let me go over here, I'm out, you know,

Keith McKeever 25:59

you definitely shot a lot of growth and awareness. And just like you said, a few minutes ago, you know, when when your boot camp, what do you do you look towards the next week, right? Like, let me just wake up on Monday morning it because that starts the next week. So you know, you just have to keep an eye on that, on that growth and look to that next milestone, whatever you want to set that milestone to be. So you got to think, think back, you know, to where you've been. And be grateful for all that growth. And that awareness that you've that you've gained from those counselors and those people that have been in your life to kind of show you that path.

Joshua Mach 26:36

Right, absolutely. And something I'm really learning, I couldn't wait to get out of the Marine Corps, I didn't want to have structure, I didn't want to have to be told what to do or where to be every day. XYZ I wanted my freedoms, everything. Now that I'm out, and I'm at where I'm at now, that is what I need to be the best me to be the mentally sound me I need structure and I need routine. Like, if my routine is thrown if I don't have routine, like I'm lost in the sauce, like what do I do? When do I start? How do I do this, right? As simple as it sounds like I need a routine, I need to force myself to get up at 5am and go to the gym, to consistently complete that mission every day every morning. So I first of all, I start my day with a completed task. And so it sets the rest of my day up to complete more tasks and be more successful and keep growing and learning. And that but if I throw myself off, and I don't do that, like I I'm just a bum dude. Like, unfortunately, like I just get lost, I'll end up scrolling for hours when I don't even have minutes to scroll. You know, like, I just got to be self aware for sure.

Keith McKeever 27:41

Man structured routine is one that I did not put on my list of skills that I wanted to talk about. I don't I can't believe I didn't even think about that. Really. I have something kind of on here similar to that. But I mean, that is a huge skill that we gain. I mean, because everything you know, from from day one, everything is scripted for you. They want to bootcamp and your advanced training in every day, like you know what day you're going to work. You know what the mission is? All those kinds of things like we're so I guess more close to want to have on this mission focus, I guess you could kind of throw it in there. But like, that is so important of a skill that I think civilians just don't have. Is that something that you? I think I've seen that from a lot of my guests. Everybody's so laser focused on structure, what they do very purposeful what they do in Mission mission oriented. Have you seen kind of some of the same things from the people you've interviewed?

Joshua Mach 28:41

Yeah, like if you notice the people that seem to be the most successful and like achieving the most and going on with their lives, they have a structure, they have a routine, they know what they're doing. They've planned. They've done their research, they've done their homework, and they're setting themselves up for success before the day even begins. And like if you sit there and think about it, like holy shit, dude, all I got to do is spend X amount of time the day prior thinking about the next day, I can have a successful day. But I view it as like, I don't want to do that extra work. I want to be free as soon as possible. So I don't have to do anything. Well, you have nothing to do and you're free. Because you're not bettering yourself, you're not growing as a person, you're not growing in your business or your work, or whatever the case may be. You're only focused on your free time and near you. But like you want, you want your youth time put in the work where you deserve that you time, or sit down and write write out your schedule for tomorrow or the following week. And plan in your time. So you know from like seven to 8pm it's just Josh time. I'm gonna go play video games. I'm gonna go read I'm gonna go color I'm gonna go do whatever I want to do because that's my personal time. But the rest of the time is still structured and I'm completing things. So that way when I am on r&r or relaxing as I'll say, I'm not worried about oh, I have to do XYZ, I have to do this, I have to do that. So you're not even relaxing. You're stressing about not doing something because you haven't completed anything. Because you haven't made your schedule or a routine

Keith McKeever 30:14

where you're you feel guilty about it because you're doing something other than work, or something like that. You know, that's, that can be a tough one there, too. But that's, there's some good stuff in there. Yeah, another, I got two, two more here that are kind of

Joshua Mach 30:36

similar. Another one word I want to throw out there. Leadership is another skill. Yeah, what have you seen some of your guests when it comes to leadership?

Joshua Mach 30:50

You know, a lot of people have it, and a lot of people don't have it. And then the people that think they're badass leaders are the worst leaders. And there's people that are think they're terrible leaders, but everybody listens to them and follows them. You know, it's just another thing where the situation dictates and it's just the person that dictates right? For example, on this podcast and mental health, I'm leaning towards the approach of leading by example, let me expose my flop my flaws, my struggles, my woes, like Yeah, I may feel like my struggles aren't shit compared to your struggles, or Joe Schmo struggles. But I shouldn't. First of all, I shouldn't even be focusing or comparing my struggles to anybody else. And like, I just need to share my struggles, because one, now I'm talking about them. And the more you talk about your struggle, especially in a healthy manner, you're allowing yourself to cope and handle and deal with it. So the more you talk about something, the easier it's going to become to talk about it, it's going to cause you less anxiety and stress and XYZ on the matter, right. But I just want to lead I like people who lead by example, don't tell me you're the leader and tell me to go do something and then you go, do nothing or, you know, be productive, like lead by example, don't tell me to do something you want to do. And that's what I try to do. I don't tell people to do things I want to do I haven't tried or am actively putting into my life, right?

Keith McKeever 32:11

Absolutely. How about teamwork? I said it was kind of kind of somewhat related there. I mean, you know, leadership and teamwork.

Joshua Mach 32:20

Teamwork can bring a good leaders team to success. All right. So just like you asked me before, what do I feel like one of the main problems is, or one of the best ways to make veterans great again, is that community and that brotherhood, we have the ability to hate the person next to us, but love them and willing to risk our lives for them. We have the ability to work through bullshit and come together and make it out together. So it's all about teamwork. Honestly, you know, when you're struggling, who do you need a team? Who does every successful person have a team? You know, do you think Joe Rogan's out there producing his 100 million dollar podcast by himself? No, he has. He has an audio producer all the way to security guards, and his show would not be as successful if it wasn't for each and every one of those person in their role. So it's about your community and your core base that you have. Because if you have people that are just depressed and miserable, your circle is going to stay depressed and miserable. If you have a circle that is in real estate, business owners podcasters, and they're successful and happy, you're going to mold yourself into what that group is opposed to being stuck in that depressed group, you're going to become successful. You're going to become a business owner, you're going to become an learn about real estate, you're going to learn about XYZ. So teamwork, and brotherhood and sisterhood, I feel like go hand in hand. They're the same.

Keith McKeever 33:49

Yeah, there's a there's some positives and some negatives to I mean, I see I see it all the time. So much collaboration, and teamwork in some ways. But then it doesn't take five more seconds to go find people tearing each other down. And just backstabbing and doing other things. And it's it is painful sometimes to see is that it's like, we're like, just a couple years ago, we were all wearing a uniform, having each other's back. And then now literally seeing people trying to stab each other in the back. And it's like why? Why can't you just work together? Why can't you collaborate and just out of the kindness of your own heart, just offer people some advice here and like I get it if you run a business, like you gotta get paid to consult people and stuff like that, but don't get me wrong. I'm not saying to give away everything free. But like, we shouldn't just eat our own like we do. Sometimes it's ugly. Like, I don't know how we fix that. I don't know how we fix that in our culture, but it's it's it's bad sometimes.

Joshua Mach 34:57

I don't know if it'll ever be fixed. cuz it's like that brotherhood sisterhood love, right? Like you grow up being the shit out of each other. But at the end of the day, you have each other's back and you love one another. But you need to start being more vulnerable, honestly, telling your buddies like, look, I'm struggling here. Or look, I think you're struggling here, I see you doing that? Well, I don't really recommend you projecting on to other people and telling them what they're struggling with, unless they're like asking, per se. But, you know, like you said, it's so much easier to tear somebody down than it is to build them up. Because the thing on social media especially, you'll get more views and likes by being miserable and hatred towards somebody than you do. If you're they're like, Hey, I love you, like, you matter, you deserve to be here. Like, stay like, don't give up, keep fighting. Like not, people are too afraid of that, because they're so worried about Manning up and like, like handling it like a man, you know, but I'm trying to turn change that wording around or like the definition of it, and like, be a man, talk about your fucking struggles. You want to talk about something that's hard and fucking brutal. You're not even going through that situation anymore. It's like from 10 years ago, but it's still holding you down and dragging you back. So is it easier to not talk about it? Or is it going to be easier to talk about it? Yeah, it's been 10 fucking years you're holding on so it's gonna be harder to talk about. But life gets easier once you start talking about that hard shit.

Keith McKeever 36:23

Yeah, you know, it's, it's pretty hard to open up your mouth or type of type out a post and be extremely vulnerable about whatever. Right it is to just hold that shit in. And not tell anybody?

Joshua Mach 36:35

Yeah, we need to go back to what thumpers mom taught us and Bambi if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Keith McKeever 36:42

That's a reference. I never thought I would hear on my podcast.

Joshua Mach 36:45

Well, you're welcome.

Keith McKeever 36:50

Definitely had to mark that one down is when I never expected. But yes. Yeah, it's a good one. You know,

Joshua Mach 36:59

it is because like, how are we going to say we're each other's Brother's Keeper. But then you're talking mad shit, like forcing someone to hate their life even more. You don't this person. Like for example, you seem happy and positive and like in a good place in life, and I could talk shit to you, and you can handle it well, but I don't know what's going to happen. As soon as you shut that camera off. I don't know who you truly are. No disrespect. But like I love who you truly are. So like when you get off this camera, you could be so depressed and miserable that like your face change, you start slumping over and you just like go lay back down in bed. You were only had enough strength to pull yourself out to do this podcast. I don't know. So why would I take the risk of saying like, Oh, dude, this podcast is bullshit. Or I didn't have fun here XYZ instead of saying, oh, bro, I wish I do. I genuinely appreciate you having me on the show. And I feel like it's an honor to be on somebody else's podcast, especially having my own podcast. It's nice to be able to get out and talk about my mission and like talk to other vets and other shows. Right? But why can't I be nice to you? Why do I have to be mean to you? Why is it first nature to be a dickhead

Keith McKeever 38:06

that's a that's a darker question. And it's so easy for people to do when it's like Facebook and whatnot right? The keyboard warriors warrior you know people just cuz you don't know who's on the other side of that and so much gets completely misconstrued in text. Yeah, you don't know what that person is going through. Like you said earlier, like your mental health struggles. You can't compare it to other people. You're right. I can't compare mine to other people. You can't compare yours. Nobody can because it's your struggle in your head. It's your struggle. Like doesn't matter what everybody else is going through that's what they're going through not you like so you don't know who's on the other side reading that message and how the hell is hitting them at that moment.

Joshua Mach 38:52

Right and a lot of times you heard that saying hurt people hurt people so that person that's talking shit to you is truly just projecting their hate towards themselves or whatever they're hurting from they're putting their hurt onto you. And like it's making it makes you feel better for what 10 minutes you know like what why I I'm not gonna lie I used to talk mad shit but like I did it in like a talking shit form like I I mean I was probably rude and disrespectful right and I apologize for that like if I ever talk shit to you I apologize like but I was mostly coming from like a good place just like trying to talk shit and banter back and forth right but I know I used to go for like that kill shot right like you want to poke fun let's play but I'm gonna go for that kill shot right away and I don't know if you'll be able to handle it because I have more to come to but that's not that's that's not the person I need to be anymore. That's not a person to be anymore. I want to come at you with a love shot like you know I want to make you feel good about yourself. I want to make you smile because I don't know what you're going through. Because at the end of the day, look I don't want you to come at me with that kill shot right like So how can I how can I throw it at you if I don't want it back? So we just got to start spreading the love, bro. And as hippie and as weird as that may sound, just start spreading love tell everybody that once you get off the phone say I love you right? Like, it doesn't have to be like such an intimate meaning but I want you to know that I fucking care about you. And like we're still brothers or sisters like I love you, bro. Like, I hope your podcast takes off, I hope your real estate takes off, I hope your life takes off in the best way, right? And we may never talk again after this, who fucking knows, right? But I still love you. And you can always reach out to me no matter what. Because at the end of the day, you're a human just like I am. And your life matters just like mine does. Like how can you say your life matters, but tell somebody else their life doesn't.

Keith McKeever 40:46

It is very important to uplift and be positive to each other i There's another podcaster I've had on my show a couple of times. Who does that we do we do that for each other all the time, we're always message messaging each other. And it's like, Hey, man, I'm thinking about you keep doing a great job like, like spontaneously, like because we just genuinely like him. And I've never met in person. But we love each other shows, like just similar people similar mission. We just really truly appreciate what each other is doing in his world and in the positive messages. And he's just one example of many, you know, probably more messages between him and I then did many others. But like, it's just amazing when you approach things with that positive, like, appreciation,

Joshua Mach 41:40

love. And it feels good when you get that unexpected encouragement text message.

Keith McKeever 41:46

Oh, yeah, I've told my wife before be like, hey, so and so just message me. And you're like, you know, hey, love that latest episode, keep up the good work appreciate your brother. And it's like, it's nice. You know, like, whatever those chemicals are in your body, like it feels good in your heart. And you're like,

Joshua Mach 42:01

oh, yeah, it makes you want to keep going, it makes you want to do more, it helps you become more successful. Right. But if you are get, the worst part is you can get 10 positive messages and get one negative message and you're just going to your human nature is to attach to that one negative message and allow it to drag you down. But that's just one person who's probably envious of what you're doing and your success. And they just want to be where you're at. Right? So we can't, we can't focus on that we got to turn like, Hey, man, I'm sorry, you're going through this, like, whatever's got you so miserable in life, I hope you figure it out and conquer it. Because you don't deserve to be this miserable, that you're projecting it on to other people and other people don't need to bleed because you're bleeding. So I hope you heal yourself, then we need to start focusing on all those positive love and affirmations and positivity and reinforcement. And you need to surround yourself with more people like that. Because that's what helps you build and grow as a person, right? Like, don't have that mindset, I can get through this myself, I can conquer this, I can do that. No, you can't. I mean, you're physically capable of it, yes. But at a certain point, you're going to need other people, other people help you reach a potential you, you can't reach by yourself. And that is okay, you got to be, you got to let your guard down and let your wall down and allow people in and allow people to help you. Yes, you got to be aware and make sure that people aren't there to hurt you or take

Keith McKeever 43:30

advantage of you,

Joshua Mach 43:30

thank you take advantage. You have to you do have to be aware of that. But you also have to let people be willing to allow that to happen and have your boundaries set. So that doesn't happen. So you can embrace the love and success that others are going to help feed to you. And the thing is, you said there's somebody you've never met before, and you guys send random like, congratulations, keep going motivational, inspirational messages, right. But like a family member or a loved one or a close friend, they're not sending you that same shit, you know, there's a good chance that they hope you fail. And that's a weird that that statistic is the truth that the people closest to you hope you found the most. That's wild. But like, you can't focus on that you've got to focus on the love that you're sharing and spreading and what you're able to do and who makes you feel better.

Keith McKeever 44:20

You know, as wild is, as your heart is you're saying it I'm looking back, like about little notes over here. And I just keep thinking back to those two words. Those last two words I asked you about was leadership and teamwork. And when you have that positive kind of mindset of uplifting other people and collaborating what that's that's being a leader and collaborating and teamwork with other people, and uplifting like that's, that's those those kinds of skills like in the truest, more positive way of doing things.

Joshua Mach 44:52

Yeah, that was that was a great way to break it down, right because what makes a good leader, one that spreads love and positive messages and reaffirm erms and builds them up. And sometimes Yeah, tells you point blank straight up, you're fucking up, fix yourself. Right? But they're still being a leader because they're there. They're not beating you while you're down there sending you messages, they're sending you inspiration. They're sharing, like, look, I sometimes I struggle with like, do I share too much. But what I try to do is I try to connect like you tell me a story about you being depressed, I'll share a similar story. And it's not because I'm trying to like counter you or anything like that. I'm trying to relate to you and let you know that I can connect with you. And I'm trying to connect and like, let you know I've been there. We can get through this. I've gone through it you've gone through and Yeah, dude, tomorrow, we both may fall five steps back. But as long as we got each other, we got other people. And we got someone standing guard on your mental health, like you could pull yourself right back out of it and go even further than you were.

Keith McKeever 45:52

Absolutely. Me. Some good stuff there. But I got I got two more words, I want what's your, what's your two cents on. And they're gonna veer off a little bit left here. But the next one is diversity, which I think is something that we as veterans have that civilians or any thoughts on on when it comes to veterans and diversity.

Joshua Mach 46:16

If everybody can have the go through the diversity of life that veterans have went through, I think it's going to open the world's eyes, so much more opposed to what each individual town state area spreading the message that you're sharing and learning, right? Like, don't be uncultured, you have to you, you need to experience get out of your hometown, go visit other countries, go visit other states, other communities. And you'll just see the diversity there. And like, group A is struggling with XYZ and group B is excelling in XYZ, but we don't know that we're struggling in different ways, or we're not excelling in the same ways because we're not getting out and diversifying ourselves. Right? Stop seeing people for the color start seeing everybody as green treat them as such, treat everybody the same fucking way, regardless of what you say, or how you act actually do that shit.

Keith McKeever 47:15

Absolutely. When I think of diversity in the military, and some of that stuff, and I think that is what we get, we come from every corner of this country. And we throw in a uniform, and we serve right next to each other. And we bring all those little, those little nuances of every corner, whether you're coming from New Jersey, or Louisiana, or Texas, or Washington or wherever, everywhere, everywhere in between, like, ironically, you know, we're both from Illinois, originally. But like, you bring all that together, and then you end up in this unit. And same in st branch to the same job. But you're from these different backgrounds, different education, but then this leads into my last one here, skills. Like as a veteran, you get skills. And you can take this any which way you want here, but you get skills that your civilian counterparts just don't have. And that's my that's my last word. But uh, definitely what's your what's your take on that one?

Joshua Mach 48:15

I feel like there's a couple of ways we could go with the word skill, right? But if you think about it, everything's a skill. You're learning to improvise, adapt and overcome. And you can do that while you're in the military. But why can't we put that same mentality and effort to work when it comes to our mental health or our civilian life? Right? We got to improvise and adapt and overcome that we're no longer in the military, we're now back in the civilian world and how we have to integrate back in or work out things, right. But it's all going to come back to that teamwork. And that CO CO Herge coercion, I think is the right word, where it's your community that builds you up and keeps you up, right, like Yeah, and that's like going to college. Getting out of the military is like going leaving college, right? You no longer have all those college buddies and XYZ you have to build yourself again. So like, again, that's a similarity that's completely different, but it's going to create the same struggles. So just because somebody wasn't in the military don't count them out. And yeah, I get it there's a lot of fucking Karen's and there's a lot of people that were you joke like, we would joke to your veteran friend, and they're gonna call the cops on you to like, get you checked in because we may need help, right? Yeah,

Keith McKeever 49:23

well, they're dark, their version of dark humor might be a little different than ours, right. But

Joshua Mach 49:27

we learned skills from like, mottos and sayings to like learning how to play with explosives to leading to being a teammate to anything, every aspect of our life in the military was a skill that can translate into the civilian sector.

Keith McKeever 49:44

In a lot of ways, you just hit on some good ones, and you can go back to like, structure and order. Leadership teamwork, like all those things are things that some of your civilian counterparts don't have. And that's why I wanted to get your take and he has some brilliant sound bites on some of those That's why I wanted to get your take on this to point out, no matter what you're going through, or where your mind is at, there is a path forward. And that you have all these different skills and these attributes as a veteran that do make you stand out then and all these positive things that you can be proud of, that make you great as a veteran, and that you too can succeed. Absolutely, if you just take if you put in the wealth, you know, if you put in the work, like that's, that's the one key actionable thing you got to do, you do have to put in the work, like you can't just sit on the couch all day. Nothing's gonna happen if you do that. So

Joshua Mach 50:43

that's accountability, right? Like, you have to take accountability of your own actions and the work you're putting in or not putting in. And you need to realize that due to your actions, you are in life where you are because of your actions, whether it's because you did something or didn't do something, but you need to be accountable. I feel like we've gotten so far of like, wanting to blame other people for everything that like we don't realize how much at our life is truly in our control, and is our fault. Right? Right now I'm learning that like, it's crazy, right? But apparently, I'm afraid of money, or like, I'm scared of money. So I like I don't know how to properly make money, or like, make more money than I've ever made, if that makes sense. Right? Like, I've never learned how to properly make money, or excel in the finances in that. So that's something I'm working on. I don't even know if that's on topic. But

Keith McKeever 51:38

yeah, I guess makes sense. Yeah, I mean, we're all afraid of like something or sometimes, you know, maybe fear of success, or like fear of what is going to happen if you take something to the next level, maybe not necessarily money, but just like, maybe it's a promotion at work, or like if you do something what? What's going to change in your life when you do that? Because it's changed and change and people fear change. So like, if you like in your situation, like if you make more money, what happens if or if you go get a promotion at your job, what happens? Or, like if you move cross country, like what happens? Like there's ramifications for those changes, right? Like, it's the fear of unknown, like, right now you know, where you live, and how you're living and how you pay your bills. But what happens but, you know, on the on the flip side of that, so sometimes there's a fear of unknown, sometimes it's easier to be comfortable in the unknown.

Joshua Mach 52:35

That's a good point. Good point, actually.

Keith McKeever 52:39

So, but it's, yeah, there's a, I'm sure there's some some deep mental science behind all that.

Joshua Mach 52:46

Right. And I'm sure it also goes back to like, the feeling of self worth, right? Like, am I really worthy of the success? Am I really worthy of making more? Am I really worthy or deserving? And that goes back into saying those positive affirmations that I've been working on and like just trying to say, like, I gotta say, false motivation is motivation. You say to you believe it, and then keep saying that

Keith McKeever 53:07

sounds like an impostor syndrome? Was it? Yeah. So yeah, you just got a positive affirmations. I mean, they work, you know, there's a lot of ways you can do it, you could just say it to yourself, I've heard somewhere, you can actually just just get a piece of paper and write them down, you know, write it down 25 or 50 times a day, whatever it is that you want your brain to be wired to think. Like, you could just do that, just just grab a notebook. Like if you just want to say I want to make X amount per week, or per month, or I want to achieve this, whatever, just write that out 25 times a day, every single day, first thing you do in the morning. Like, there's different things you could do at least if reframes your mind into thinking those kinds of things. So it's kind of pause positive mindset.

Joshua Mach 53:57

Right? That's

Keith McKeever 53:58

easier said than done. 100% But it's possible. It you know what, there's more than enough people that are doing it like we've all seen it. i We both had guests on our show. Like, I think that's the beauty of being a podcast host is like, more diversity. Exactly. You talk to these people, and it's like, yeah, sometimes. So the people you have on it's like, man, some of their their insight and their knowledge. And it's, it's incredible. So

Joshua Mach 54:29

absolutely.

Keith McKeever 54:31

But last question I got for you, man, obviously that you know, I've had to scrolling across the bottom the whole time. So anybody who's watching can has seen it scrolling But anybody who's listening, it'd be in the show notes. I've got your your your website, make veterans. Great. again.org. But tell us a little bit about your podcast.

Joshua Mach 54:50

Yeah, so I said in the beginning my podcast my mission statement is my mission is to reach out to fellow brothers and sisters in arms conquer mental health together. Just remind everybody that they're not alone. Like I just want, I am struggling myself. And I don't want anybody to think I'm not right. But I'm struggling. And I want to lead by example. And sorry, my daughter just came in the room. Sorry. But okay, say hi, everybody. But yeah, my mission is to be a leader lead from the front, share my stories and my struggles and let everybody know that it's okay to struggle and you can survive and continue to thrive in life, and your goals and your missions. And you can get the help and you deserve to live happy and healthy.

Keith McKeever 55:35

Awesome. I appreciate you coming on here and bringing her little, little destin here. We do and I'm sorry, I can see that. I can I can see the bed head there. So it kind of looks like I don't because I don't have any hair left. Nowhere. Well, anyway, I really appreciate you coming on here shared with us. That was a lot of great sound bites for anybody who who's kind of struggling to achieve that next level and succeed and, and go on to do some great things. And a reminder to all the veterans out there that they are great. encourage anybody out there to you know, to go also go over to Josh's podcast and go give it a listen. Great guests on there as well. So I appreciate you being with us.

Joshua Mach 56:24

I appreciate you having me. She's telling me I need a haircut. This is another inspiration to like better myself, right? Like, I don't want to bleed my wounds onto her. So I have to be a better person to be a better dad. Yes, baby. Did you hear no. I already cut my hair. Yeah. Okay.

Keith McKeever 56:46

All right, Josh, you take it easy.

Joshua Mach 56:48

All right. Thank you, Keith. Again, I apologize. But it's all good.

Keith McKeever 56:51

It's not the first kid I've had pop in here. All

Joshua Mach 56:53

right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Keith McKeever 56:58

There you have it, folks, I hope you enjoyed. As always, if there is a resource knotless on my website you think should be please reach out. Let me know. You can go to battle buddy podcast.net for all kinds of information resources on a variety of topics. And if you're struggling for any reason, make sure you reach out to the National Suicide Hotline. That number is 988 Press one