093: OFFICER DOWN – Moving Forward, No Excuses (with Samuel Anthony)

Oct 14, 2022 | Mental Strength

093: OFFICER DOWN – Moving Forward, No Excuses (with Samuel Anthony)

Oct 14, 2022 | Mental Strength

 Our guest today is a medically-retired police officer who was severely injured by a gunshot wound to the head while on duty. Statistically, there was a 90% chance that he would perish from the shooting and the extensive damage to his brain. After extremely skilled surgeons removed parts of his skull and after he pushed through an excruciating recovery process including months and months of physical therapy and years of psychotherapy and participating in support groups, he is living a life where he is always looking to find the good in the world and look for joy in other people’s lives to celebrate with them.

He is an aspiring writer and has been published in American Thinker magazine and his first novel is in the editing phase. He enjoys traveling with his wife, continuing to perfect one-handed firearm operation, enjoying time with friends and fellow officers and exemplifies living life with no excuses.

https://www.americanthinker.com/author/samuelanthony/

FULL TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00:16 – 00:00:37:25

Brad Singletary

Our guest today is a medically retired police officer who was severely injured by a gunshot wound to the head while on duty. Statistically, there was a 90% chance that he would perish from the shooting and the extensive damage to his brain. After extremely skilled surgeons removed parts of his skull and after he pushed through an excruciating recovery process, including months and months of physical therapy, he is now living a life where he is always looking to find the good in the world, and he looks for joy in other people’s lives that he can celebrate with them.

 

00:00:39:00 – 00:00:58:28

Brad Singletary

He’s an aspiring writer and has been published in American Thinker magazine, and his first novel is in the editing phase. He enjoys traveling with his wife, continuing to perfect one handed firearm operation, enjoying time with friends and fellow officers. And he exemplifies living life with no excuses.

 

00:01:04:07 – 00:01:25:18

Intro

If you’re a man that controls his own destiny, a man that is always in the pursuit of being better, you are in the right place. You are responsible. You are strong. You are a leader. You are a force for good. Gentlemen, this is the Alpha Quarter.

 

00:01:27:21 – 00:01:36:11

Brad Singletary

Welcome back to the Alpha Quorum Show. Brad Singletary here. This is going to be exciting right now. I have a guest here today along with my good buddy Mike Olson. Hi, Mike.

 

00:01:36:15 – 00:01:41:02

Mike Olsen

Thanks for having me again, Brad. It’s always great to be in the Alpha Den. That’s what this is.

 

00:01:41:28 – 00:02:02:20

Brad Singletary

Somebody suggested we call it AQ HQ. But anyway, It’s kind of my this is kind of also the, the doghouse. So when I get in trouble at home, this is where I come hang out and people wonder why I have couches here. It’s not that kind of therapy. It’s just for me to come sleep here when I’m in trouble.

 

00:02:02:06 – 00:02:02:20

Samuel Anthony

All right.

 

00:02:02:25 – 00:02:17:08

Brad Singletary

It’s nice, too. So, anyway, welcome, you guys. I’ve been trying to book this guest for a while. He’s the husband of a fellow social worker. And you’re going to be super impressed as you meet Samuel Anthony. Welcome, brother.

 

00:02:17:24 – 00:02:22:06

Samuel Anthony

Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate you having me. And finally, great to be here for you.

 

00:02:22:11 – 00:02:51:05

Brad Singletary

Yeah. So I know something about your story that I want you to tell fully on your own here with with whatever details comfortable for you. It’s kind of a traumatic incident that you went through. The reason I wanted to have you here is because people go through difficulty and hardship. The thing that you’ve dealt with has been super extreme, but you’ve come out of that with a super positive and healthy, very adaptive.

 

00:02:51:05 – 00:03:10:28

Brad Singletary

From the best I can tell about you, a very adaptive outlook and the things that you’re doing with your life are super impressive. So let’s just jump right into it, man. We talked a little bit in the intro about just some bullet points there, but go back to your career as a police officer and talk about how that ended.

 

00:03:12:00 – 00:03:33:20

Samuel Anthony

I was the victim of a pretty bad assault. One night I ended up with a very serious traumatic brain injury and the left half of my body was become paralyzed. Still is, almost ending my life. So things just kind of went from there.

 

00:03:34:17 – 00:03:35:27

Mike Olsen

Were you on duty?

 

00:03:36:04 – 00:03:36:18

Samuel Anthony

Yes, I.

 

00:03:36:18 – 00:03:37:12

Mike Olsen

You were on duty? Okay.

 

00:03:38:19 – 00:03:41:18

Brad Singletary

On duty. There was stuff going down. How how long ago was this?

 

00:03:42:06 – 00:03:43:24

Samuel Anthony

So 13 years ago.

 

00:03:44:04 – 00:03:51:02

Brad Singletary

So 13 years ago, on duty and pick it up from there. Like how it and what happened?

 

00:03:52:11 – 00:04:17:16

Samuel Anthony

I am assaulted. That’s it. I’m down for the count. My brothers and sisters came really in to scoop me up. Got me off to, uh, to the nearest hospital. And thankfully, the doctors were there. Saved my life. Brothers and sisters there. Quick actions kept me alive. Doctors were there that they’re saying, I’m still breathing. It’s been one blessing after another hour for me. So.

 

00:04:17:24 – 00:04:19:08

Brad Singletary

So you said assaulted?

 

00:04:19:23 – 00:04:20:04

Samuel Anthony

Yes.

 

00:04:20:04 – 00:04:22:01

Brad Singletary

What was the nature of that?

 

00:04:23:03 – 00:04:24:02

Samuel Anthony

The gunshot wound.

 

00:04:25:00 – 00:04:27:04

Brad Singletary

Gunshot wound to your head.

 

00:04:27:05 – 00:04:28:17

Samuel Anthony

To the head. Yes.

 

00:04:28:17 – 00:04:31:13

Brad Singletary

And here you stand today, handsome as hell.

 

00:04:31:13 – 00:04:34:18

Samuel Anthony

No, I’m no, I do have a face for in your podcast.

 

00:04:34:18 – 00:04:43:24

Brad Singletary

In your in your Hawaii shirt.. You guys look like you’re going on vacation today, so here you are. This is how many years ago?

 

00:04:44:00 – 00:04:44:18

Samuel Anthony

13.

 

00:04:44:19 – 00:04:50:19

Brad Singletary

13 years ago you were shot in the head on duty as a law enforcement officer.

 

00:04:50:24 – 00:04:51:07

Samuel Anthony

Yes.

 

00:04:52:04 – 00:05:05:29

Brad Singletary

And so. Yeah. So you have some memory of this event. I guess you remember to some degree, did it did your memory stop at some point through that?

 

00:05:05:29 – 00:05:24:13

Samuel Anthony

Memories is a funny thing will it happens? I remember bits and pieces of certain things accurately in bits and pieces, not very accurately and a lot of a lot memories are gone. The brain does protect itself when you’re involved in something like that. So a lot of it is gone.

 

00:05:25:25 – 00:05:39:26

Mike Olsen

Is it, Sam, if I can ask you, when you do have those thoughts or when you get in situations like you are today with us, is it uncomfortable for you to talk about details or do you just feel the details aren’t necessary or do you not remember the details?

 

00:05:40:24 – 00:05:44:27

Samuel Anthony

Most of it is I don’t remember a lot of the details. Okay. All right.

 

00:05:45:11 – 00:05:54:02

Brad Singletary

So except for the time that, you know, when you were just going through the medical treatments and all that, you remember life before you were you know, you’ve.

 

00:05:54:02 – 00:05:54:20

Samuel Anthony

Oh, everything before. Absolutely

 

00:05:54:20 – 00:05:56:06

Brad Singletary

Maintained pretty good memory, but.

 

00:05:56:06 – 00:05:56:12

Samuel Anthony

Just.

 

00:05:56:23 – 00:06:05:06

Brad Singletary

Like you’ve got a bullet in your brain and that affected quite a bit of of your memory of the event itself. Sure.

 

00:06:05:14 – 00:06:06:10

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely.

 

00:06:06:10 – 00:06:14:01

Brad Singletary

So is this like a, you know, bank robbery? Like what? I don’t know if you can talk about, you know, just the nature of how did you get a bullet in your head?

 

00:06:15:18 – 00:06:19:24

Samuel Anthony

So ambushed by a dope dealer. 

 

00:06:21:04 – 00:06:24:11

Brad Singletary

Okay and so you’re out there patrolling. Were you alone or.

 

00:06:24:14 – 00:06:26:14

Samuel Anthony

I was going to back up another officer.

 

00:06:26:19 – 00:06:33:06

Brad Singletary

Okay. And then bam. And you just hit the ground. You remember being in the back of a car being transported?

 

00:06:33:06 – 00:06:36:10

Samuel Anthony

I do remember being the transport off to the hospital.

 

00:06:37:04 – 00:06:49:14

Brad Singletary

So what was the length from that night until you were kind of living independently as you are now? What was the length of time of just hospital and treatment and rehabs and those kinds of things?

 

00:06:49:20 – 00:07:27:26

Samuel Anthony

Hospital was about three months’ worth of being in the hospital, all intensive rehab every day, seven days a week didn’t matter. It was. And we kept going after it. And then after that I was in outpatient and rehab for physical. Physical stuff for a few years after that. Mm hmm. So it took some time to get to where I was, because when I came out of my sedation, was medically sedated for for quite a few days and ended up having the right portion of my skull removed to allow for the brain swelling.

 

00:07:28:22 – 00:07:41:15

Samuel Anthony

And I had that out for a while. And then months later, they, the doctors went in and put out what’s called the cap, but it’s just basically a plate that to replace that part of my skull that was missing.

 

00:07:42:03 – 00:07:44:21

Brad Singletary

So there was like swelling of your brain. So they had to like.

 

00:07:45:01 – 00:07:45:25

Samuel Anthony

Try to ease that.

 

00:07:45:25 – 00:07:48:26

Brad Singletary

Pressure, cut a cut a hole in their skull to allow some.

 

00:07:49:08 – 00:07:55:04

Samuel Anthony

Half half the skull was gone. That just pulled the right out and that was it. Well, and I took it to.

 

00:07:57:10 – 00:07:58:11

Brad Singletary

To do graphic.

 

00:07:58:13 – 00:07:59:13

Samuel Anthony

Graphic with. Yeah.

 

00:08:00:25 – 00:08:22:27

Mike Olsen

Sam, I have a question for you. I have seen the TV shows with police. When they have an incident that is kind of emotionally traumatic, they have an entire side of the police force that is basically there to help in the the emotional recovery for a police officer. Did you go through that.

 

00:08:24:02 – 00:08:40:11

Samuel Anthony

Tell you the the entire department that’s that’s who really shows up and surrounds you and the community was was very, very active too with coming together for me as well. So I had a lot of a lot of support, a tremendous amount of support.

 

00:08:41:06 – 00:09:01:00

Mike Olsen

And about how long did that intense support last? And maybe to some degree, it still is there. But how long did it basically last until your support system figured, oh, okay, he’s kind of on his own? Is there do they watch and see how you do or is there a specific time amount and then you just have to fit it in?

 

00:09:01:00 – 00:09:01:20

Mike Olsen

How does that work?

 

00:09:01:20 – 00:09:15:26

Samuel Anthony

No, everyone team even to this day, people are still, hey, you know, you need anything, what’s you know, what’s going on. You got something going on, you need help around the house or or whatever. They’ll come by and and do whatever for me that they look at. I’m still well looked after.

 

00:09:16:24 – 00:09:27:22

Mike Olsen

I got it. Okay. So you did mention that this particular incident happened out of state, but yet you still have people that keep track of you while you’re here.

 

00:09:27:22 – 00:09:28:15

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely.

 

00:09:29:13 – 00:09:30:08

Mike Olsen

Oh, that’s great.

 

00:09:31:13 – 00:09:52:13

Brad Singletary

That’s been one of the impressive things that I’ve known about you is just your connection to friends and loved ones. I mean, it seems like you’ve always got visitors come in, there’s you’re going out a town or there’s like you have a local little brotherhood here. And I guess when you’re law enforcement, you got respect anywhere you go, any town you.

 

00:09:53:08 – 00:10:13:17

Samuel Anthony

Even if you see anywhere you go here, even if you don’t know all the individuals, it’s wherever you go. And it’s sad and unfortunate to say. But I’ve been to enough funerals of officers who were killed on duty and the showing a support from people come in from all around the country is just unbelievable.

 

00:10:14:14 – 00:10:31:09

Mike Olsen

So you mentioned your brothers and sisters. You’re talking about the females, senior officers, correct? Understood. Your and again, I, I don’t know much about you. You mentioned your wife or maybe Brad mentioned wife. You’re currently married, correct?

 

00:10:31:09 – 00:10:31:22

Samuel Anthony

Same.

 

00:10:32:02 – 00:10:36:07

Mike Olsen

And were you married before this particular incident 13 years ago? No, my.

 

00:10:36:07 – 00:10:39:10

Samuel Anthony

Wife and I married after the shooting.

 

00:10:39:17 – 00:10:43:20

Mike Olsen

Got it. Okay. And how so? How long have you been married? If you if I can ask.

 

00:10:43:20 – 00:10:53:09

Samuel Anthony

And married? Seven years. This, seven years. This, this, this fall. Got it. You know, we’ve been together ten years as a together total this year. Oh, okay.

 

00:10:54:18 – 00:11:04:06

Brad Singletary

So she’s seen a lot of this from when this happened just 13 years ago. Been together ten. So she saw you after you were healed and kind of out and walk?

 

00:11:04:06 – 00:11:12:25

Samuel Anthony

Yeah. We worked together prior to the prior to my shooting, wife was also a retired probation officer.

 

00:11:13:07 – 00:11:16:12

Brad Singletary

Don’t they say no fishing off the company pier.

 

00:11:17:29 – 00:11:22:08

Samuel Anthony

We didn’t start seeing each other until well after the the shooting so.

 

00:11:22:09 – 00:11:24:03

Mike Olsen

Okay. He wasn’t fishing till later.

 

00:11:24:18 – 00:11:25:09

Samuel Anthony

Fishing later.

 

00:11:26:19 – 00:11:37:06

Brad Singletary

So you know, I know that you’re on a like a medical retirement right now, but you worked for some time after this, right? You went back to you went back to work as an officer.

 

00:11:37:11 – 00:11:38:04

Samuel Anthony

I then. Yes.

 

00:11:38:12 – 00:11:40:08

Brad Singletary

Talk about that a little bit, because that’s I mean.

 

00:11:40:20 – 00:12:03:12

Samuel Anthony

It was a great, great motivation for me to get back to work. And I it was very rewarding experience. I got to meet a lot of a lot of people that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have met throughout my career at a desk job after a after that for a while and met some great, great, great people. I was doing background investigations for new hires.

 

00:12:04:11 – 00:12:11:14

Samuel Anthony

Got to meet a lot of new officers, you know, young kids coming in that are just doing amazing work today.

 

00:12:13:04 – 00:12:40:19

Mike Olsen

I have another question for you regarding your time almost right around your specific incident when when you were in sedation, kind of coming out of sedation when you’re in that particular moment. I’ve heard quite a few different people. They might have either some deep emotional experiences, some deep spiritual experiences, or maybe even something similar to what what near-death experiences.

 

00:12:40:19 – 00:12:43:11

Mike Olsen

Did you, by chance, ever have anything like that?

 

00:12:43:19 – 00:12:48:29

Samuel Anthony

I had a very distinct out-of-body experience on the way to the hospital. Wow.

 

00:12:49:12 – 00:12:50:17

Mike Olsen

Well, can you tell us about that?

 

00:12:50:17 – 00:13:15:00

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, I. I remember one of the officers was in the back seat with me on the way. We were in a patrol car on the way to the hospital. And I remember her specifically saying it seems gunshot. And I looked up through the through the cage in the back of a patrol car and I saw my eyes in the in the rearview mirror of the car.

 

00:13:15:00 – 00:13:34:19

Samuel Anthony

And I thought to myself, well, I’m not feeling anything. Where is where is the pain? I just remember searching my body for the pain and fighting the urge to pass out. And that mirror started shaking and my eyes started to get blurry in the in the mirror. And at some point I just said, well, if I haven’t, Chad, who’s going to give me a hard time for passing out?

 

00:13:34:19 – 00:13:53:03

Samuel Anthony

And I just couldn’t fight that any longer. And I just let it go and everything went black. And I let her talk to that officer. And she said that I was laying down the entire time on the ride to the hospital, so I was never sitting up. And I did not do not see wasn’t happening happened as it as I experienced it.

 

00:13:53:03 – 00:13:56:22

Brad Singletary

You think you’re having this does everything yourself in the mirror but laying down.

 

00:13:57:00 – 00:14:03:14

Samuel Anthony

I was down flat and there was another officer was in the car who was I didn’t I didn’t realize at the time.

 

00:14:04:25 – 00:14:10:01

Mike Olsen

So upon the shooting, they put you in the back of a patrol car and that that’s how you got to that’s.

 

00:14:10:01 – 00:14:12:09

Samuel Anthony

How I got to the hospital. I couldn’t wait for the ambulance.

 

00:14:12:14 – 00:14:20:27

Mike Olsen

But your out of body experience gave you this feeling that you were sitting up looking at the at the rearview mirror and what you just described was taking place.

 

00:14:20:28 – 00:14:21:06

Samuel Anthony

Right.

 

00:14:21:22 – 00:14:22:04

Mike Olsen

Interesting.

 

00:14:22:06 – 00:14:40:28

Brad Singletary

Holy smokes. That’s so awesome. What do you make of that? What is your you know, I mean, I guess from my sort of thoughts of spirituality and such things, I would say, you know, your your soul is maybe leaving your body momentarily or something.

 

00:14:40:28 – 00:14:49:12

Samuel Anthony

But it is. But it wasn’t it wasn’t it wasn’t done yet. I wasn’t I wasn’t done fighting is what the way I took I took it. I mean, I continue to fight to stay alive.

 

00:14:51:01 – 00:15:01:05

Mike Olsen

But you almost, like, receive permission from yourself to say, okay, yes, this is where I’m at, but I’m going to rest a little while. And that’s when you blacked out.

 

00:15:01:05 – 00:15:08:25

Samuel Anthony

That’s when I said, okay, I’m going to just take it easy for for a minute here. And things kind of went dark on me. That’s wild.

 

00:15:08:26 – 00:15:21:14

Brad Singletary

That is so wild. And you’re you must have had some real respect. I mean, you’re you got some gangster status, you know, I guess I shouldn’t call cop gangster gangster.

 

00:15:21:22 – 00:15:22:18

Samuel Anthony

But I mean, you know.

 

00:15:23:09 – 00:15:38:17

Brad Singletary

You have this like, gladiator status, we’ll say, because you’re this, you know, warrior who’s out there and you’ve got this story and they’re like, man, this dude get shot in the freakin head. And here he is filling out my paperwork and teaching a class in the in the academy or whatever.

 

00:15:39:26 – 00:15:59:07

Mike Olsen

We talk about that. And then you obviously today are what Brad is describing and what’s very clear to me, the type of individual that is not too worried about your circumstances, the incident, the results of that. Tell us about your low time, however low time.

 

00:15:59:07 – 00:16:18:06

Samuel Anthony

I remember sitting I was in the hospital room. I had been transferred from the first hospital to another one for recovery. And I was just the weight of everything was just starting to come down on me. And I realized that Jesus, that when I you know, when I do it myself, I’m, you know, I’m disabled now for life.

 

00:16:18:06 – 00:16:38:26

Samuel Anthony

And and just I just kind of hit a low point. And it just everything was really feeling everything. And I and my my class counselor who runs the I my, my recruit class when I was in the academy and she was up there and, you know, it’s all right. And she’s like, you know, everything’s on me, okay? And I said, Yeah, you know, last week things were were different.

 

00:16:38:27 – 00:16:47:19

Samuel Anthony

Now it’s they just couldn’t believe it. And I just from there, I just had to it just move on from there, I realized just got to keep moving forward.

 

00:16:48:15 – 00:16:58:00

Mike Olsen

It doesn’t sound like it took you that long to go from. What the hell am I going to do to let’s move forward? How long did that take?

 

00:16:58:00 – 00:17:19:12

Samuel Anthony

It’s that that’s kind of a tough question for me to look back on. It’s it’s been so long ago, it just in my mind seems like one seamless transition. And I had some and some goals had to start and learn how to stand again like Constand’s. So that was step one with my my recovery.

 

00:17:19:12 – 00:17:25:29

Mike Olsen

And did you set those goals? Did you know you needed to set those goals or was that a help from your system, your your.

 

00:17:26:02 – 00:17:31:10

Samuel Anthony

Other that was a help from the from the yeah. Physical therapists. Therapists.

 

00:17:32:06 – 00:17:39:13

Mike Olsen

Okay. So clearly they’d been through things where if you’re in a low point, you need to have goals to move out of it. Okay, that’s cool, right?

 

00:17:39:13 – 00:17:58:12

Samuel Anthony

Yeah. But you know, was kind of the, the admin in the wing and the recovery wing where I was because everyone else that was there was there for traumatic brain injuries due to car accidents. So it’s kind of the app, all the gear this is, you know, not something that that they experienced or they’ve dealt with very much.

 

00:17:58:29 – 00:18:01:10

Mike Olsen

Okay. Interesting. Thank you.

 

00:18:02:21 – 00:18:13:12

Brad Singletary

So in that low period, I’m wondering if you ever got like suicidal or just felt like what is the point? Like, look at me, what a mess. And did it ever get to that kind of level?

 

00:18:13:13 – 00:18:23:28

Samuel Anthony

I had I had people in my room 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I always had someone there to to talk to or someone to motivate me.

 

00:18:23:28 – 00:18:26:09

Brad Singletary

So just hanging out. Just just.

 

00:18:26:10 – 00:18:26:21

Samuel Anthony

Hanging out.

 

00:18:27:01 – 00:18:27:20

Brad Singletary

Presents.

 

00:18:27:25 – 00:18:28:04

Samuel Anthony

Yeah.

 

00:18:28:06 – 00:18:29:26

Brad Singletary

Brings energy to you and.

 

00:18:30:02 – 00:18:38:08

Samuel Anthony

And family members and other officers who would be assigned to my room for the full shift. Just, you know, if I needed anything, they were around.

 

00:18:39:13 – 00:18:44:00

Brad Singletary

So they had an officer hanging out with you. 24 seven As.

 

00:18:44:11 – 00:18:45:04

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, they’re sure.

 

00:18:45:09 – 00:18:48:18

Brad Singletary

To know for sure you got if you need water, they’re going to bring it or.

 

00:18:48:18 – 00:18:49:25

Samuel Anthony

Whatever. Absolutely. Yeah.

 

00:18:49:25 – 00:18:54:16

Brad Singletary

Wow. That’s that’s an impressive like organizational thing that they did.

 

00:18:54:17 – 00:19:13:03

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, I was it was wonderful because I did get one of them in trouble one night because it was I wasn’t supposed to be drinking any liquids yet at the time when it’s like, Oh, hey, man, I’m thirsty. You want to me that bottle Gatorade over there? And he’s like, okay, you’re not realizing. So I kind of duped them and.

 

00:19:14:25 – 00:19:17:25

Mike Olsen

Well, what happened because of the drinking of the liquid?

 

00:19:18:10 – 00:19:26:21

Samuel Anthony

Nothing. I was fine. But he was the reason he broke the, you know, the rule. The thing is, I said, don’t worry about. I won’t tell anyone.

 

00:19:26:21 – 00:19:47:25

Brad Singletary

So were you aware of like how I guess I’m curious about what you thought was going to be happening with your body versus what it is now? Because maybe you’re talking about having to learn how to walk again. Is this are we are you way beyond what you thought you were going to be able to do? I ability wise, I thought.

 

00:19:47:25 – 00:20:02:23

Samuel Anthony

I was going to go right back to 100% the way I was before. But now I’m walking around with a John Wayne limb, you know, doing my best John Wayne impression when I walk and it is what it is. So I get from point A to point B may not be pretty, but I get there.

 

00:20:03:15 – 00:20:30:09

Mike Olsen

So, Sam, let me ask you, I know a lot of times when people are at their low point or they have a situation like this, it requires all the resolve they have, all the resolve they’ve ever learned about in the past. From a religious standpoint, do you have a religious belief that you lean on? Or if you don’t mind me asking, how do you kind of other than your support system of your brothers, sisters in that group, do you have something that you’ve leaned on that you’ve looked to?

 

00:20:30:27 – 00:20:54:10

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. God definitely factors in quite a bit. With my recovery, I, you know, I spend many, many nights in the hospital praying for for as much healing as is the good lord would give me. Okay. And I very much remember my dad being up at the hospital was also retired. A law enforcement officer standing by the side and they said, dad, is it pray with me?

 

00:20:54:10 – 00:20:58:08

Samuel Anthony

And we prayed together. And that was really comforting for me.

 

00:20:59:11 – 00:21:09:03

Brad Singletary

Comforting. It must have been a cool experience there with your dad and praying together. And I don’t know if that happened a lot for you, but absolutely, like that would be special in a time of need that you’re doing that together.

 

00:21:10:15 – 00:21:33:24

Samuel Anthony

In prayer and lots of humor and lots of good humor. Got me through it. Let’s say it quick. Serve on my dad. You know, he’s old school, tough old school type of guy. Yeah. It came out of the arm and the sedation, and he looked at me and he goes, Well, son, he goes, Good thing you didn’t get hit in the rear end because then you really have some brain problems.

 

00:21:33:24 – 00:21:36:21

Mike Olsen

That sounds like old school. Italian. Old school. Italian.

 

00:21:36:21 – 00:21:40:23

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

00:21:40:23 – 00:21:47:13

Mike Olsen

Well, your your where is your family heritage from? From the New York area.

 

00:21:48:00 – 00:21:50:00

Samuel Anthony

Italy. So central Italy. Yeah. Okay.

 

00:21:50:26 – 00:21:55:27

Brad Singletary

You worked for how long? When did you go from working? Some to not working?

 

00:21:56:23 – 00:22:11:18

Samuel Anthony

I was trying to think it’s it was went back probably back about five, maybe six years the the desk job. And then my body just just gave out and I said, I got to. Yeah.

 

00:22:12:21 – 00:22:30:25

Brad Singletary

Well, the reason I’m asking is because a lot of men that I work with who I may send to this show, you know, are dealing with disability or something where they’re unable to work. And, you know, some of these guys are they’re, you know, home with the kids. They’re kind of the housewife, almost, because their home and their spouse has to go work.

 

00:22:31:10 – 00:22:50:28

Brad Singletary

And that’s really that took a toll on their like identity and feelings of self confidence when it’s like, I’m not even working anymore. That’s maybe one of men’s primary purpose is to be a provider and now I’m not. Did that mess with you at all? Did you have any self-hate about any of that stuff?

 

00:22:51:10 – 00:23:10:09

Samuel Anthony

No. I mean, I you know, I miss being being on the street and being out there taking calls for service. But, you know, sometimes, you know, you just things open up and it’s, you know, kind of a new reality and you find other things to do. I focused on working in the in the backgrounds unit and doing training.

 

00:23:10:09 – 00:23:22:11

Samuel Anthony

I was instructing out at the Academy for a while and I went back to school. I got my master’s. So I had a lot to learn, a lot of stuff going on. I didn’t have too much time to sit there and feel sorry for myself.

 

00:23:22:11 – 00:23:23:20

Mike Olsen

What did you get? Your master’s in.

 

00:23:24:01 – 00:23:26:01

Samuel Anthony

Criminal Justice Administration.

 

00:23:26:01 – 00:23:37:28

Mike Olsen

Okay, that’s awesome. I think that’s that’s I hear that often when people have situations staying busy with something positive seems to be extremely helpful.

 

00:23:38:26 – 00:24:09:03

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. As you know, I was looking for you know, I looked forward to getting back out and instructing with what the new recruits and hopefully giving them some some tips on how to deal with critical incidents such as mine and what to do. Because officers are always running into situations where it’s stressful and it’s almost like it’s an overload on your brain, whether it be a car accident with multiple injuries or, you know, something with, you know, with a child injured.

 

00:24:09:13 – 00:24:30:17

Samuel Anthony

You know, you have to find a way to keep yourself healthy with all of the things that you see throughout the course of your day. So I was focused on trying to get to the kids, you know, that the new the new ones, the kids, they’re they’re adults. The new new officers. Right. You know, tips to to keep themselves healthy and keep going.

 

00:24:31:08 – 00:24:44:23

Mike Olsen

Get what are what are like the top three tips that you would probably help these particular officers or maybe anyone who who has to deal with stress high level stress on a day to day basis. What are some of the things that you would give them?

 

00:24:45:18 – 00:25:03:12

Samuel Anthony

I’d tell them that, you know, following a critical incident and saying, you know, if an officer involved shooting or you’re you’re one of those scenes, like I said, you know, child injured and you’ve got kids at home or nieces and nephews and it really hits you hard. You need to make sure you get home and get some sleep that night.

 

00:25:04:14 – 00:25:22:07

Samuel Anthony

And, you know, I talked to the sergeants a lot and the other bosses. And I’d say, listen, you know, guys, if somebody runs into this and, you know, they’re and we struggle with that, you know, don’t be afraid to say, hey, you know, head home for the night, be with your kids for the rest of the shift. Go spend some time with your kids, get some sleep, get to eat healthy food.

 

00:25:22:07 – 00:25:37:03

Samuel Anthony

You know, there’s always a temptation. Well, let me just stop over here at the you know, the quick, fast food joint and grab a burger or whatever and yet eat healthy, fuel your body, drink lots of water, stay away from the alcohol and the caffeine because that’s going to impact your your sleep.

 

00:25:38:12 – 00:25:42:12

Mike Olsen

So you basically need to unplug and let your body help do its thing.

 

00:25:42:12 – 00:25:43:07

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely.

 

00:25:43:14 – 00:25:44:01

Mike Olsen

Interesting.

 

00:25:44:01 – 00:25:59:20

Samuel Anthony

And the number one thing that I would tell them is don’t be afraid to go seek help and go talk to someone because that’s you know, it’s kind of the macho thing. I don’t I don’t need to talk to anyone. I’m fine. I can handle it. It’s it’s there’s there’s no shame in going and seeking out the fear.

 

00:26:00:03 – 00:26:02:05

Samuel Anthony

You’re struggling mentally with things.

 

00:26:02:05 – 00:26:07:07

Brad Singletary

That’s I mean, obviously, I guess you’re a believer. Is that something that helped you throughout all this?

 

00:26:07:10 – 00:26:28:29

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. It is something that that’s helped me. I’ve I’ve been going for for many years now, talking with with people, because it’s the residual effects are still lingering. I find myself being very very and adjust at times for for no apparent reason. And you know I’ll go regularly for individual therapy and group therapy and it’s it’s it’s a big help.

 

00:26:30:05 – 00:26:40:27

Mike Olsen

Are you self aware when you need those times or are you like Brad and I who have built in wise monitoring systems who tell us, go get your crap together.

 

00:26:40:27 – 00:26:56:28

Samuel Anthony

I’m I think I’m pretty much self where I’ll I’ll tell my wife hey, you know I’m having a rough time tonight or, you know, right now I’m kind of struggling a little bit and she know sometimes the time she can pick up on it, but I’ll I’ll verbalize it to her and that’s awesome. Some days I’ll just say, hey, you know what?

 

00:26:57:04 – 00:27:06:01

Samuel Anthony

Just kind of a rough day. I’m going to head upstairs and I’m going to go read or whatever and just kind of unplug. I’m not trying to avoid you. I just. Just need some alone time and just kind of.

 

00:27:06:29 – 00:27:28:18

Mike Olsen

Have you have you always been like that? Or as you’re training in the police force helped you? Because what you just mentioned there that is huge. If if men could realize and self-monitor and say, hey, I’m not at my best and it’s not you, it’s me, give me just a little bit of time. I’ll be good and then go do what you need to.

 

00:27:28:18 – 00:27:31:02

Mike Olsen

How have you always been that way or is the training helped?

 

00:27:31:16 – 00:27:56:20

Samuel Anthony

I think to some, some extent, yeah. I do tend to a tend to withdraw a little bit when I’m when I feel like I’m struggling and just kind of go off on my own. But the training is it’s helped me and, you know, unfortunately, seeing too many other officers, you know, dealing with stuff like that and then making, you know, go on doing the wrong things to try to cope with with that, you know, is help me, you know, evolve to the point where I can just verbalize it.

 

00:27:56:27 – 00:27:58:11

Mike Olsen

Got it. Okay, that’s cool.

 

00:27:59:00 – 00:28:16:28

Brad Singletary

Yeah. Just to be aware of it, though, I call it reading the gauges, just to know where you’re at. I think most men and myself included, I I’ll just go off and I think, well, whatever’s happening is making me upset you people. This out here is what’s got me upset. I don’t realize that I walked in the door upset or anxious or angry.

 

00:28:17:08 – 00:28:22:06

Brad Singletary

And so if you can feel it and just, you know, send a warning.

 

00:28:22:27 – 00:28:23:05

Samuel Anthony

Like.

 

00:28:23:10 – 00:28:45:11

Mike Olsen

That, that’s something you mentioned, Brad. That’s I’ve never thought of it that way before. Reading your own gauges. And I think a lot of times men, people in general might not only not read their own gauges, they might not even think they have gauges, and they might not even have something that they need to check, that they need to monitor, to see.

 

00:28:45:17 – 00:28:48:02

Mike Olsen

Wait a second. Where am I? I have a.

 

00:28:48:02 – 00:29:09:09

Brad Singletary

Neat little thing that I’ve just started doing in the last probably couple of weeks with some of my clients. It’s fun to do. I’ll ask them without looking guess how much battery you have on your phone. And almost always people are very, very close to how much battery they have on their phone. And it’s really cool to see a husband and wife maybe here do that together.

 

00:29:09:24 – 00:29:19:03

Brad Singletary

And I relate that to how do you know that? It’s because you have this running clock, you have this running. You know how long it stays alive. You know how much you’re on it.

 

00:29:19:09 – 00:29:20:09

Mike Olsen

Always paying attention.

 

00:29:20:09 – 00:29:52:09

Brad Singletary

To it. You’re always paying attention to it. And you kind of just, you know, oh, batters getting low and you don’t have to look and know that, but and sometimes you can be caught off guard. But if we could just tune into our feelings that’s I am I agree with Mike what you said about I recognize I’m not in the best state and it’s probably best to have a little distance and think of how many guys wouldn’t be in jail if they could, if they could just know to take responsibility for what they’re feeling and not harm anyone with it.

 

00:29:53:13 – 00:29:56:04

Samuel Anthony

I will cut down on a lot of my calls for service. I’ll tell you what.

 

00:29:56:09 – 00:29:57:26

Brad Singletary

Yeah, some DV stuff.

 

00:29:58:04 – 00:29:59:00

Samuel Anthony

That’s all I hear.

 

00:29:59:05 – 00:30:05:11

Mike Olsen

Is, is domestic disputes. A huge amount of what police officers get called out for it.

 

00:30:05:11 – 00:30:27:28

Samuel Anthony

A lot a lot of those calls. Absolutely. It’s it’s unfortunate. You know, you see, sometimes if it’s family troubles, all the times it’s, you know, mental health stuff or, you know, car accidents or you you never know what you what you’re going what you’re getting for for your day. Once you walk out the door and step into the uniform.

 

00:30:29:03 – 00:30:57:21

Mike Olsen

That’s very interesting. I remember, Brad, that you had a another guest that mentioned in his profession high stress. It was a very similar situation where he had to learn to come in after a long shift or a couple of long shifts, unplug, decompress, whatever it might be. And before he came back into, you know, his home life situation, because the emotions and the situations were, you know, drastically different.

 

00:30:57:21 – 00:31:04:23

Mike Olsen

But he still had a responsibility to be at home and had a responsibility at work and learning how to switch those hats took some practice.

 

00:31:06:13 – 00:31:32:01

Brad Singletary

Yeah, I can imagine that. It was another first responder also. And he talked about, you know, going out to pit the horse or just clearing his clearing the cache, you know, almost like clearing out his emotional left over or whatever and before he going home. So I’m curious about how do you not hate people? I’m curious your feelings about firearms.

 

00:31:32:01 – 00:31:44:09

Brad Singletary

I’m curious if this was, you know, any sort of I don’t know, gang or does this is there any race element to this? And does this affect your feelings about that race? Sorry. Any more on any of those questions?

 

00:31:44:14 – 00:32:04:00

Samuel Anthony

None. None, none. So ever. My you know, as far as you know, do I hate people? Not at all. I, you know, routinely, you know, talk to recruit classes. And I tell them, hey, you know, no matter what call you, you had to just keep in mind that whatever is going on, whoever called for you to be there, you got a complete stranger envoy.

 

00:32:04:02 – 00:32:18:06

Samuel Anthony

You got someone who’s inviting a complete stranger into their home. This is, you know, the biggest thing that’s going on in their lives that they called you to come help them out. So you got to got to keep your head. And you can’t look at it as, oh, you know, this is stupid. It’s silly to them. It’s not.

 

00:32:18:06 – 00:32:27:26

Samuel Anthony

It’s whatever is going on is the biggest thing that we are going on in the world right now. So you’ve got to put your feelings aside and just you’re there. You’re there to help people.

 

00:32:28:25 – 00:32:50:19

Mike Olsen

I get the sense, Sam, that when you first even thought about getting into the police force or before you got to the the academy, since your father was also in that line of work, getting shot, not coming home from a shift had probably passed through your head many times prior to you even joining the force.

 

00:32:50:24 – 00:33:07:16

Samuel Anthony

I honestly thought it would go one or two ways. I’d get hit in the body armor and I’d be fine, or I’d get hit in the in the head. That’d be the end of it. I wouldn’t want to see then see the next morning. But I managed to hit the jackpot and stay alive.

 

00:33:07:16 – 00:33:21:11

Mike Olsen

So and so prior to prior to this dying in the line of work. Tell me your thoughts about you and knowing that that could be a possibility. How did you how did you approach that thought process?

 

00:33:22:27 – 00:33:40:04

Samuel Anthony

Try and try not to think about it. You know, it did cross my head. It was just, all right, let’s work. What can I do? Coming up to this call that that, you know, I got a feeling about that could could go sideways. What can I do? What steps can I take to keep myself and everybody else that’s going to be there safe.

 

00:33:40:29 – 00:33:42:22

Mike Olsen

And then just let the chips fall where they.

 

00:33:42:22 – 00:33:45:14

Samuel Anthony

May and whatever. Whatever happens, happens. That’s it.

 

00:33:45:14 – 00:33:58:04

Mike Olsen

Yeah, that’s a I think that’s a very it’s a very healthy approach to life. It definitely keeps fear and paranoia from ruling your life, I would think.

 

00:33:59:06 – 00:34:07:11

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. Yeah. I you said myself, prepare for the worst, hope for the best. And accept anything better.

 

00:34:07:14 – 00:34:24:02

Brad Singletary

You’re making me think of one of our red nine principles, which is responsibility. And it’s a bunch of these really seem to hit what I think I’m admiring you and why you’re here. Number one is you don’t see yourself as a victim. You know I’m.

 

00:34:24:12 – 00:34:25:12

Samuel Anthony

Not a victim, but.

 

00:34:25:12 – 00:34:35:16

Brad Singletary

You I mean, you’re a victim of a crime. A I mean, this could have been a this could have been a murder for that guy. I don’t know if it was an attempted I mean, he got his I’m sure.

 

00:34:35:28 – 00:34:38:00

Samuel Anthony

It’s well, he was charged with attempted murder.

 

00:34:38:09 – 00:34:40:07

Brad Singletary

But you are not bitter.

 

00:34:40:10 – 00:35:00:07

Samuel Anthony

You know, I’ve got so many good things in my life. It’s kind of a odd, odd situation where, you know, some great things came about this for me. I’ve got a great group of friends that I’ve that I’ve met and become close to. My wife and I are together now because of this.

 

00:35:00:07 – 00:35:09:06

Brad Singletary

It’s just we’re talking about being a victim. And he rattles off the list of blessings. That’s how you.

 

00:35:09:06 – 00:35:09:22

Samuel Anthony

Do.

 

00:35:10:00 – 00:35:21:13

Brad Singletary

That’s how you do. Grown ass man. Responsibility is when you have a chance to be in yourself and you when you truly are. I mean, half of our victimhood.

 

00:35:21:27 – 00:35:22:08

Samuel Anthony

Is.

 

00:35:23:03 – 00:35:44:22

Brad Singletary

We got our feelings hurt. We think we’re a victim. This is literally I mean, this this is a serious, serious situation that you survived and you’re kind of walking around with this pleasant, this pleasant mood, not seeing yourself as a victim. Some of these other principles are that you’re reliable. You know, you kind of do what you say.

 

00:35:44:22 – 00:35:49:27

Brad Singletary

You’re trying to show back up to work. You know, you’re working through all this and stuff so you could get.

 

00:35:49:27 – 00:35:50:08

Samuel Anthony

Packed.

 

00:35:50:23 – 00:36:08:23

Brad Singletary

And you go straight, but you start. Even if it was a new assignment, you’re reliable. Maybe you’re you’re you’re I’ve always had to have good boundaries, but the last two have to do with, um, accepting the things you cannot change and changing the things you can.

 

00:36:09:02 – 00:36:09:25

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely.

 

00:36:09:27 – 00:36:12:01

Brad Singletary

This is a lot of acceptance on your part.

 

00:36:13:07 – 00:36:31:16

Samuel Anthony

And a lot of that. And while he’s saying changing what I can and go back to you, you asked me earlier what are my thoughts on firearms and I’m a I’m a gun guy. I enjoy shooting. I do it regularly. And once I went back to work, I said, hey, I want I want my gun back. And I have to go out to the range and learn to qualify one handed.

 

00:36:32:02 – 00:36:46:01

Samuel Anthony

And I shoot the exact same course that every other officer shot. I didn’t have anything deviated or altered to accommodate me. I shot the regular course and I qualified every every time I was supposed to look like everyone else.

 

00:36:46:20 – 00:36:50:00

Brad Singletary

What about reloading? And, you know, you’re just doing all this one handed.

 

00:36:50:00 – 00:36:53:08

Samuel Anthony

And I have systems to do it one handed. A dude.

 

00:36:53:23 – 00:36:54:11

Brad Singletary

I love it.

 

00:36:55:06 – 00:36:59:25

Samuel Anthony

So there’s out of the range this morning practicing a one handed reloads and and shooting.

 

00:37:00:11 – 00:37:06:16

Brad Singletary

This like Ronald Reagan he literally got shot and he’s still is an advocate for for guns.

 

00:37:07:18 – 00:37:16:19

Mike Olsen

You know, that made me think as well, because I think I think people that are are let’s call it gun lovers or gun advocates. Right. Is that the proper word?

 

00:37:16:25 – 00:37:30:05

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, I’m a you know, it’s a I look, it’s a, you know, God given, right? You know, the US Constitution, you know, it was there to protect our God given rights and from being taken from us, not give us anything. It’s protect what we’re already entitled to.

 

00:37:30:18 – 00:38:06:27

Mike Olsen

But you also aren’t a prepper. You don’t also appear to be somebody who, you know, might have, you know, six M-16s behind, you know, each door in the house you believe in, what you believe in and tell me what you which your viewpoint is that might be controversial. Maybe it’s not on people who are every time an incident and we’ve just had some recently in our society where gun issues happen, mass people die and now people are saying we need gun control.

 

00:38:07:02 – 00:38:10:17

Mike Olsen

Do you mind me asking your opinion on on gun control?

 

00:38:11:14 – 00:38:33:27

Samuel Anthony

I think a lot of these incidents have to do with mental health issues and people not receiving and not recognizing that they need, you know, mental health. There’s a lot of been a push lately or actually over quite a few years now where there’s, you know, the closing of mental hospitals and, you know, pulling back of resources for people with mental health issues.

 

00:38:34:16 – 00:38:34:28

Mike Olsen

Okay.

 

00:38:36:13 – 00:39:03:12

Samuel Anthony

So I I’m I’m more of one that, you know, let the individual should the responsibility and the individual that’s it’s doing, you know, whatever is being done and not the object. We don’t blame Ford for for car accidents or Jack Daniels for drunk driving. So why why? You know, blame blame these on me on the abject, you know, on firearms, I guess would be my argument to that.

 

00:39:03:21 – 00:39:25:13

Mike Olsen

I see. I mean, I feel the same way. I, I guess I understand why some people don’t feel that way. Um, like you mentioned, you, you don’t blame Ford, but yet we have to register a car you the responsibility part. And so it sounds to me like, you know, most people are in favor of, you know, being responsible.

 

00:39:25:26 – 00:39:35:20

Mike Olsen

And I’m certainly not a professional on, you know, the legalities or how that should be. But anything that promotes response ability but still gives people their rights, I kind of like that.

 

00:39:37:04 – 00:39:54:20

Samuel Anthony

And, you know, I understand that, you know, a lot of people that aren’t raised or aren’t around firearms a lot, it’s you know, when you first get around them, yeah, it could be intimidating. It can be something scary. But the same thing with like you said, you know, driving the first time you got behind the wheel of a car was a little nerve wracking.

 

00:39:54:20 – 00:40:15:07

Samuel Anthony

You know, think back to when you’re 16, but the same as driving a car. The more experience you have with it and the more you practice at it, the more comfortable you’ll feel. So if you worry about firearms, you start, you know, getting in and learn how to handle them responsibly. No firing them. You will you feel more comfortable around them.

 

00:40:16:03 – 00:40:35:27

Mike Olsen

So regarding your incident, in your particular issue that we’re kind of focusing on this evening, uh, again, it sounds like you were already well aware of what could have happened. The potential accepted that and you just live your life in spite of those things that did happen to you.

 

00:40:36:21 – 00:40:47:29

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. There’s only it’s only one way life can be lived. And that’s my going forward. And that was a lot of my there was a lot of them in my head quite a bit. And part of my drive is my recovery. You just have to keep moving forward.

 

00:40:49:01 – 00:40:50:28

Mike Olsen

Moving forward.

 

00:40:50:28 – 00:41:18:19

Brad Singletary

So there were lots of things that you’ve had to accept. You had to accept an injury, you’ve had to accept a loss of your career that you seemed to love and be made for your second, at least generation a police officer in your family. And that’s you’re accepting of, you know, physical disability. The I guess we would say you’re accepting so many things that will never be the same.

 

00:41:19:08 – 00:41:21:23

Brad Singletary

None of it’s fair. You didn’t deserve it.

 

00:41:21:23 – 00:41:26:25

Samuel Anthony

Affairs what you paid to ride the bus.

 

00:41:26:25 – 00:41:43:09

Mike Olsen

Oh, I just had that argument at the house today. That’s not fair. I said, wait a second. Is that not nice? Is that unkind or is that not accurate? What’s your definition of fair, honey? Well, dammit, you know what I mean.

 

00:41:43:09 – 00:42:02:10

Samuel Anthony

Now, you know, I’ve. I’ve learned to do with one hand what what most people do with with two. And the things that I can’t do. I have to learn to ask for help. And that’s you know, it’s not not a blow to my ego any more. It’s just it is what it is. And that’s that’s I’m going to have to live life.

 

00:42:02:10 – 00:42:04:26

Mike Olsen

Now, you said anymore. What do you mean by that?

 

00:42:05:21 – 00:42:16:03

Samuel Anthony

Also, you know, tying your shoes, that type of thing. If my shoelace comes untied, I’m going to have to ask for for help or, you know, things that I used to be able to do prior when I had to do hands.

 

00:42:16:15 – 00:42:28:00

Brad Singletary

I thought he was saying it used to be hurt your ego or you know, it it was maybe emasculating or something to have one hand. But you saying not anymore. Does it affect your ego?

 

00:42:28:15 – 00:42:31:14

Samuel Anthony

It’s just it’s just something that’s become normal to me.

 

00:42:33:03 – 00:42:43:08

Brad Singletary

See that? And maybe that’s a process. Maybe that’s what you do in 13 years. But I think I would be pissed. I don’t know that I could. That’s why I am so impressed by you, man is like.

 

00:42:43:22 – 00:42:43:28

Samuel Anthony

You’re.

 

00:42:43:28 – 00:42:59:13

Brad Singletary

Just kind of going along in it and it is what it is. I remember the first time I ever heard anybody say that little saying it is what it is. I thought, you’re so stupid or it of course it is what it is. That means nothing. You’re an idiot, you know. And I have been cursed by that now because I had to learn it.

 

00:42:59:13 – 00:43:00:24

Brad Singletary

And how to be that way.

 

00:43:00:26 – 00:43:08:06

Samuel Anthony

There’s some things that are just beyond our control and you accept those and what you can do or you can do and what again, you can’t. That’s the way I look at life.

 

00:43:09:13 – 00:43:29:12

Mike Olsen

You know, it’s similar because I noticed that right away in you. Soon as I met you, I noticed those things because you may not have noticed it with me and Brad knows obvious. He’s known me a long time. I was born with just two fingers on my left hand. And so when someone is slightly different, I notice it because it’s kind of how I was.

 

00:43:29:12 – 00:43:53:12

Mike Olsen

And I remember when I first met Brad and I was, uh, sharing Christian beliefs door to door. It took me a while before I realized I would knock on someone’s door and I would have to learn to hide my hand, not because I was embarrassed, but because if someone would notice it. They wouldn’t hear a word I said until they got to know me.

 

00:43:53:15 – 00:44:14:25

Mike Olsen

They’re like, What the crap is on the end of your hand? And so you notice that. But I quickly learned once I got through that, then I, I made sure that I had it out, made sure that I waved it around, talked with my hands normally so that other people would know I was comfortable being different and that I got that feeling from you, too.

 

00:44:15:04 – 00:44:19:06

Mike Olsen

Yeah, I’m a little different. My left side doesn’t work that well. And it’s okay.

 

00:44:20:16 – 00:44:31:16

Samuel Anthony

I’m. I’m loving. I love life. I can. You know, there’s only so much to a so much love to to experiencing for me. I got a lot to do. So I’m just out there every day living it.

 

00:44:31:23 – 00:44:33:20

Mike Olsen

Bottle that up. So let.

 

00:44:34:11 – 00:44:35:04

Samuel Anthony

Me ask you.

 

00:44:35:04 – 00:44:53:23

Brad Singletary

That. See, I think I think that I think it’s resilience after a terrible thing. But I think there’s some gift in that for you. You’ve got some talent. Somehow you have and I’m sure you’ve done work, too, right. You know, you had to push through some of that, some of the negative belief at some point, but.

 

00:44:54:04 – 00:45:00:27

Samuel Anthony

A lot of a lot of physical pain. Yeah, but, you know, the physical is easier to deal with.

 

00:45:01:02 – 00:45:02:17

Brad Singletary

Still, you have physical pain.

 

00:45:02:17 – 00:45:11:28

Samuel Anthony

Oh, I’m still every day I’m, you know, aching to snap, crackle, pop used to be what I hear dirt from my cereal. Now it’s what I hear from my body.

 

00:45:13:05 – 00:45:15:10

Mike Olsen

All other parts of your body are like in your head, in your.

 

00:45:15:10 – 00:45:17:03

Samuel Anthony

No joints, knees.

 

00:45:17:22 – 00:45:24:00

Mike Olsen

Got it. Yeah. So some of that traumatic injury you think is, like, manifested itself in other parts of your body.

 

00:45:24:01 – 00:45:29:13

Samuel Anthony

Oh, absolutely. Because I’m I don’t walk normally. My gait is different, so you have to compensate.

 

00:45:29:29 – 00:45:40:08

Mike Olsen

I know what you’re talking about because because of the ineffectiveness of one part of your body, the other parts have to work a little harder. They are wearing out a little faster. I got got.

 

00:45:40:09 – 00:45:42:02

Brad Singletary

Like 70 year old right.

 

00:45:42:03 – 00:45:43:03

Samuel Anthony

Knee joint. Yeah.

 

00:45:44:01 – 00:45:45:25

Brad Singletary

That is holding me up.

 

00:45:45:25 – 00:45:47:14

Samuel Anthony

I’ll let you know when it’s going to rain. Yeah.

 

00:45:48:00 – 00:45:49:20

Mike Olsen

Oh, yeah. Uh huh.

 

00:45:49:21 – 00:46:04:03

Brad Singletary

So when it comes to being out in public, Mike was talking about being out in public that you know, you go into a restaurant or someone tries to hand you something with your legs. I mean, is there any embarrassment or shame about any of that?

 

00:46:04:14 – 00:46:15:01

Samuel Anthony

I’m just very upfront with people, hey, one hand that that’s you know, I’m not giving you a hard time here. It’s just and most people are like, oh, I didn’t even notice. Yeah.

 

00:46:15:29 – 00:46:20:15

Brad Singletary

Well, I like that too, because you’re just putting it out there. You’re like, Hey, I’m, you know, not trying to.

 

00:46:20:16 – 00:46:23:15

Mike Olsen

Don’t trying to hand my hand my Pepsi to me in my left hand. Right, yeah.

 

00:46:23:25 – 00:46:26:04

Samuel Anthony

Yeah.

 

00:46:26:04 – 00:46:28:13

Brad Singletary

I would love to hold your baby, but I only got one hand.

 

00:46:29:11 – 00:46:35:25

Samuel Anthony

Well, I can. I can do that because I’m my friend. I just. Just had a first grandchild and baby hold all them one handed all the time.

 

00:46:35:29 – 00:46:37:06

Mike Olsen

Congratulations.

 

00:46:37:06 – 00:46:37:23

Samuel Anthony

Thank you.

 

00:46:37:23 – 00:46:41:07

Brad Singletary

So are you all your boys busting your chops about being an old grandpa now?

 

00:46:41:07 – 00:46:43:18

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

00:46:43:18 – 00:46:44:22

Brad Singletary

That’s required of.

 

00:46:45:08 – 00:46:46:06

Mike Olsen

The intention was.

 

00:46:46:07 – 00:46:49:08

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, yeah, that’s all I got. I got enough gray hair I qualify adult.

 

00:46:51:02 – 00:46:56:22

Brad Singletary

So you you do a lot of we talked about this earlier you do things with people why why do.

 

00:46:56:22 – 00:46:57:05

Samuel Anthony

You.

 

00:46:57:13 – 00:47:07:09

Brad Singletary

Isn’t it a hassle to host people who are visiting and to, you know, show up at the dinner party and do the things that you do? Why do you do that?

 

00:47:07:12 – 00:47:17:27

Samuel Anthony

It’s it’s wonderful to see people. We’ve got a lot of great friends, great to sit, laugh, get your mind off of things. You know, focus on some other joys that other people have going on in their lives.

 

00:47:17:27 – 00:47:23:12

Mike Olsen

And tell me a little bit about that. Focus on the joy in other people’s lives.

 

00:47:23:12 – 00:47:43:22

Samuel Anthony

Oh, absolutely. You know, I’ve got we have some friends that get together, gather with for dinner regularly, and we’ll all sit, talk, laugh, joke around. And they’re always having a good time as his daughter just just got married. And, you know, it’s great, you know, how is she doing? You know, her and her husband, their house, you know, it’s still exciting stuff.

 

00:47:44:03 – 00:47:45:11

Mike Olsen

Have you always been that way?

 

00:47:45:27 – 00:47:49:07

Samuel Anthony

I enjoy having a good time with people.

 

00:47:50:11 – 00:48:19:09

Mike Olsen

I think that is so important when you for me, I just enjoy it. It’s why I like Las Vegas. I’ve never seen such a small town. Call it couple of million people that has kosher aisles in the grocery store that will have the ethnic depth that we have in such a small place. But, you know, I guess after living here for almost 30 years, I just understand how how many different varieties of people are here and how enjoyable it is.

 

00:48:19:09 – 00:48:42:24

Mike Olsen

I remember the first time I, you know, for for us as Western American white people, you go to meet a little kid or somebody grandson or pat him on the head, and that’s kind of a form of endearment. You cannot insult a Japanese family anymore than patting their kid on the head.

 

00:48:42:24 – 00:48:43:29

Brad Singletary

Oh, wow. I didn’t know that.

 

00:48:44:08 – 00:49:10:26

Mike Olsen

I didn’t. I didn’t either until I insulted this Japanese family unknowingly. But learning about their culture and learning about Italians and learning about what other people, that’s that’s why I personally enjoy it. I get that feeling from you, too, Sam. I get that feeling of your new. You’re this way. Cool. Let me ask you a few questions. Is that kind of it sounds like probably that’s how you’re I know that’s how Italian families have been and especially they just love people.

 

00:49:11:12 – 00:49:36:28

Samuel Anthony

Oh, absolutely. We you know, if I just joined the the Italian-American club here in town and we go, yeah, we go up there and have dinner and get some of the friends that’ll go out to dinner there with and, you know, a good time. My wife’s always making friends. You know, people sit at the next table over. We were just out to dinner the other night and we’re sitting talking about sports and when was like, oh yeah the you you’re a fan of the team too.

 

00:49:37:07 – 00:49:50:15

Samuel Anthony

Yeah I’m you know from near that area nearby. All right. How’s it going? And the girl she’s singing with goes, Oh, hey, do you know so and so, like, yeah. How do you know her? Like, oh, we work with her, like, oh, I, you know, she’s been a friend for four years.

 

00:49:51:12 – 00:49:52:15

Mike Olsen

Is your wife Italian?

 

00:49:52:24 – 00:49:53:13

Samuel Anthony

Yes. Yes.

 

00:49:54:12 – 00:49:56:13

Mike Olsen

So you guys all hate Boston, don’t you?

 

00:49:56:24 – 00:49:58:03

Samuel Anthony

I’m actually a Red Sox fan.

 

00:49:58:12 – 00:50:02:10

Mike Olsen

She don’t see that around New York people. That’s cool.

 

00:50:02:17 – 00:50:06:00

Samuel Anthony

All right. I get I get grief from that from the guys at work, too.

 

00:50:06:00 – 00:50:16:04

Mike Olsen

So that’s the one thing I did know generally, you’re supposed to hate Boston if you’re from New York, unless you’re from Boston and moved to New York, now you’re best buddies. Is that kind of right?

 

00:50:16:21 – 00:50:26:05

Samuel Anthony

It’s I’ve been to a to both cities for four ballgames. And it’s a it’s a great friendly rivalry from the fans that I’ve ever seen. That’s cool.

 

00:50:26:24 – 00:50:39:17

Brad Singletary

What would you say Sam has been the the hardest part of this whole recovery since this thing you’ve been through? And then what has been the gift in it all the hardest and then the best?

 

00:50:39:17 – 00:51:04:03

Samuel Anthony

The hardest was definitely the the physicality of getting back back on my feet, literally being able to stand again and then taking those first few steps. It was excruciatingly painful. But again, I got through it and every year the first day I got so that one hospital for a few months and then transferred to another hospital for my recovery.

 

00:51:04:20 – 00:51:23:22

Samuel Anthony

And that first day there, they brought me over and down to the physical therapy area. And you have to stand up like I like the work. I was in a wheelchair and they put me in this contraption that, you know, hoisted me up and I was standing on my own feet and they were all the basketball hoop in front of me and the, oh, you know, baskets.

 

00:51:23:22 – 00:51:29:04

Samuel Anthony

And I hadn’t lost my touch. I was laying bricks like a lot of the estimation. So I.

 

00:51:29:05 – 00:51:30:02

Mike Olsen

Having lost my temper.

 

00:51:30:02 – 00:51:32:06

Brad Singletary

Certainly, and bricks like in my estimation.

 

00:51:34:03 – 00:51:53:18

Samuel Anthony

And my dad was standing there and he goes, come on. It’s like, if you can do it, you know, do something, you know, start making these these shots because we’re seeing one lost. You’re touching. I know. So physical therapist. No, that’s you know that’s not really the the whole point of the exercise just to keep him occupied while he’s standing, you know, it has to give him something to do, but to do it right.

 

00:51:53:18 – 00:52:16:06

Mike Olsen

So it just keeps thinking back to the whole concept that you had such a deep and lengthy support system. And, you know, the Alpha Quorum brand is kind of all about that. How do you how do we support one another? How do we how do we help one another? What does that look like? What does that mean to every individual?

 

00:52:16:06 – 00:52:23:18

Mike Olsen

How do we get better at you know, Sam’s obviously is a pro at asking for the help. It’s it’s easy for him to do.

 

00:52:25:11 – 00:52:40:06

Brad Singletary

In real quick one of the reasons it’s easy is because people have come through for you. That’s a safe thing to do because you had a bunch of dudes show up and they you could rely on them. And so that’s I’m sure that’s part of what helped you, you know, help that be easy for you.

 

00:52:40:21 – 00:52:59:10

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. And you know, it’s you know it’s every day people are up at the hospital. And, you know, initially guys have told me afterwards that, you know, we go to the hospital, we’re, you know, breaking down. You know, when we first got the news because people thought I was dead, they had heard stories that you. Oh, you got the news.

 

00:52:59:10 – 00:53:15:19

Samuel Anthony

That’s it. Now is they didn’t make it. That’s it. And I was still in still in surgery and they’d come up and they’d see my my parents and my mother and they’re like, Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m just like, no, don’t worry. Easily find you know, my mother was consoling the officers who were up there crying in the hallway thinking that that was it.

 

00:53:15:19 – 00:53:20:07

Samuel Anthony

And she’s like, now is me fine. Just no, don’t don’t worry about it.

 

00:53:20:07 – 00:53:46:07

Mike Olsen

You one thing that is, I don’t think that many men realize either that, let’s say, allow themselves to be helped. That paycheck, so to speak, for the other person, giving the help is the gratitude. That’s one thing I get from you. You know, just the hour that we’ve been here together is that it’s easy for you to express gratitude for those helping you rather than the pool of self-pity.

 

00:53:48:00 – 00:54:06:12

Samuel Anthony

I’m you know, I am stubborn. I will I will try to get stuff done on my own. But when it comes time to ask for help, no problem. Just ask for help. You can feel bad for yourself because that doesn’t get me anywhere. So, you know, I’ll try. And if I can find a way that works, then you go to the other alternative, which is help.

 

00:54:06:12 – 00:54:09:24

Samuel Anthony

And that’s that’s okay. Nothing wrong with that that’s fantastic.

 

00:54:10:21 – 00:54:27:16

Brad Singletary

So the best part, I don’t know if you talked about the miracle of it because this is quite a miraculous story, if you ask me. I mean, I don’t I’m looking back. I don’t know anyone who’s been shot in the head and is recording a podcast 13 years later. I mean, it’s a pretty, pretty cool story that you’ve.

 

00:54:27:28 – 00:54:28:07

Samuel Anthony

It’s.

 

00:54:28:07 – 00:54:40:03

Mike Olsen

Funny, brother. You mention that. Do you remember in some of the projects you and I were in? Yeah, in the mid eighties. I don’t tell this to very many people. I walked around the wrong corner one evening.

 

00:54:40:23 – 00:54:41:05

Samuel Anthony

Oh.

 

00:54:41:28 – 00:54:54:20

Mike Olsen

And a gun was to my head. What? Yes, you. I don’t tell this one very, very often. But being a missionary, we get confused quite a bit for either a tax person, a tax collector or FBI.

 

00:54:54:20 – 00:54:55:17

Brad Singletary

Cop or something.

 

00:54:55:17 – 00:54:56:01

Samuel Anthony

Yes.

 

00:54:56:18 – 00:55:12:12

Mike Olsen

And when when that dealer recognized, I was neither of those and I was just a missionary, that Glock was in the back of his pants fast and not a problem. And I walked around and I got home and no big deal. And then I started sweating. I was like, that was.

 

00:55:12:12 – 00:55:15:02

Brad Singletary

Close. Oh, my God. I was like, No, no, I.

 

00:55:15:02 – 00:55:31:16

Mike Olsen

Don’t I don’t tell that. Definitely. I didn’t tell that to my mom for 20 years. Because you don’t write you don’t write home to your mom the day after. Go. Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess what almost happened. So. Yeah, but I don’t know very many people that, you know, have those particular situations.

 

00:55:31:16 – 00:55:41:02

Samuel Anthony

And I didn’t tell my mom about the first time I was shot at either. Yeah. In that I’ve told since. Told you the story years later.

 

00:55:41:02 – 00:55:44:19

Brad Singletary

So I guess there was more than that.

 

00:55:44:19 – 00:55:48:21

Samuel Anthony

But the second time was the time I was hit. Wow. So yeah.

 

00:55:50:01 – 00:55:53:28

Brad Singletary

So what is the miracle you bring? You talk about your meaning your wife.

 

00:55:54:02 – 00:56:20:13

Samuel Anthony

My wife. We have such a wonderful relationship and we’re we we’ve done a lot of traveling in the ten years we’ve been together, gotten to see a lot of different places and experience quite a few a lot of things. We love going out for dinner, especially traveling, lots of different cuisines we’ve ever seen. Feels like every time we go somewhere as we sneak out the best restaurant now, every time we go back and all place or so.

 

00:56:20:13 – 00:56:26:07

Samuel Anthony

Oh, you going there all. And I got out, got a restaurant free to go check out it’s cool.

 

00:56:26:07 – 00:56:34:16

Mike Olsen

And you mentioned your grandfather. How many children do you have? Just one boy or girl? Boy? One boy. Yeah, that’s fantastic.

 

00:56:34:24 – 00:56:55:24

Brad Singletary

If you could, you know, just kind of summarize all of the 13 years of ups and downs and pain and, you know, loss and victory and all the things that come with this experience, you know, to share with men around the world who are dealing with their own situations, maybe their own tragedy, maybe their own difficulty, maybe a physical limitation.

 

00:56:55:24 – 00:57:02:25

Brad Singletary

Some things change their life. What would you share is just the wisdom that.

 

00:57:02:25 – 00:57:03:06

Samuel Anthony

You’ve.

 

00:57:04:20 – 00:57:06:11

Brad Singletary

Learned since this thing happened.

 

00:57:06:19 – 00:57:16:25

Samuel Anthony

No matter what you have going on and what or how bad it looks, there’s always something to find joy in. And whatever that is for you find it, embrace it, and continue to go after that.

 

00:57:18:05 – 00:57:19:09

Mike Olsen

That’s that’s awesome.

 

00:57:19:17 – 00:57:42:20

Brad Singletary

Yeah. It’s just seems like you’ve, you’ve made the decisions to be grateful. You’ve made the decision to look for the joy you talked about sharing in other people’s joy. Instead of sitting home in self-pity, you’re looking for someone to go congratulate with their good news and be a part of their the good things in their life. You you’re choosing to be positive.

 

00:57:43:04 – 00:57:50:00

Brad Singletary

Maybe it’s not hard for you. Maybe. Maybe that’s how your momma raised you. I don’t know. But it’s a gift. It’s a talent.

 

00:57:50:22 – 00:58:32:16

Samuel Anthony

Oh, I was always raised, you know, just keep your head down, work hard. So after this, I just work hard for towards my recovery. And then, you know, things are great. You know, I’ve got I’ve got a little, little niece that that’s I talk to her every day. She’s three Dr. every day on the phone. And, you know, just just hearing her voice and watching her get older and grow and develop and just hearing how, you know, I’m curious is about life and what there is thing I just can’t help but, you know, stay stay positive because, you know, there’s little ones out there that, you know, no one grants until those little ones out

 

00:58:32:16 – 00:58:49:22

Samuel Anthony

there that need that someone to, uh, to set an example for them and how to deal with the troubles in life. Because fortunately this world some point or another you’re going to run into some hard times and to need to know how they’re going to know how to get through that.

 

00:58:51:12 – 00:59:13:27

Mike Olsen

That’s a great motivation to be able to know that. Yeah. And there’s no I don’t think there’s a group of people that know how crappy the world is and how crappy humanity can be. Then police officers having friends and relatives who’ve who’ve been in that line and yet know that there’s a good part out there as well that really is relying on that little bit of us that that they can have.

 

00:59:13:27 – 00:59:36:26

Samuel Anthony

I tell you there there are some wonderful people out there. You know, unfortunately, as police officers, you tend to spend most of your day dealing with the you know, the rougher crowd. But there’s a lot a lot of great people out there. I remember I was in the hospital one night. One of the officers who was assigned to my room that night came up and said, Hey, Sam, do you remember so-and-so name?

 

00:59:36:26 – 00:59:54:27

Samuel Anthony

Doesn’t sound really goes. Oh, she lives over here on the street. Oh yeah it was. Yeah. She said that you were at her house few weeks ago. She said, you know, she appreciated you coming and coming by and said you real nice. You know, I appreciated the interaction she had with then. I’m like, wow, that’s nice. There to be, you know, you remember?

 

00:59:54:27 – 01:00:06:03

Samuel Anthony

And I’m like, Hey, I know that guy. He looks familiar. I remember when he was at my house, it was a good interaction with them, you know. So there’s a lot of a lot of people out there still for what officers do on a daily basis. Right.

 

01:00:07:02 – 01:00:07:21

Mike Olsen

Exactly.

 

01:00:09:05 – 01:00:10:17

Brad Singletary

You just such a great example.

 

01:00:10:17 – 01:00:11:00

Samuel Anthony

Of.

 

01:00:11:18 – 01:00:35:03

Brad Singletary

What it means to, in my opinion, be alpha and to live in that energy. So a couple a few weeks ago I did a solo kind of rant podcast where I talked about, you know, this isn’t about the guy with the biggest muscles in the room or whatever. You know, Alpha is not a comparison between other people. What I want it to be, what I want to focus on is that it is the excellence within the person.

 

01:00:35:20 – 01:00:52:20

Brad Singletary

You know, when you’re patrolling the streets and you’ve got a gun and you’ve got authority and you’ve got all these things, that’s pretty that’s pretty alpha. You know, you’re a hero in the community and whatever right now, you know, you got you got one arm and one leg that that’s fully functional. You know, you’ve got some limitation and it’s still alpha.

 

01:00:53:08 – 01:01:04:05

Brad Singletary

You know, you’re not going to win a foot race. You’re not, you know, there’s some things you’re not going to be able to do, but at your capacity, you’re killing it, man. You are totally living.

 

01:01:04:05 – 01:01:04:20

Mike Olsen

Agreed.

 

01:01:04:29 – 01:01:05:16

Samuel Anthony

You’re looking.

 

01:01:05:16 – 01:01:31:06

Brad Singletary

For joy. You’re looking for gratitude. You’re over here teaching people. You spent time teaching in the academy, training the next round of officers. You’ve maintained relationships. You’ve said nothing but positive about your wife ever. You’re you are choosing a good attitude. You’re choosing good actions. And you have some incredible attributes that are just super alpha. If you ask me.

 

01:01:31:22 – 01:01:49:06

Samuel Anthony

Whether you know exactly what you said, Alpha isn’t about being the owner of the biggest ripped muscular guy out there. I mean, I’m I’m not a big guy by any means. It’s it’s about just moving forward and, you know, whatever life throws at you, you can’t quit. You just got to keep going and going forward with things. And that’s that’s what Alpha is to me.

 

01:01:49:06 – 01:01:56:09

Samuel Anthony

It’s just continuously moving forward. And whatever the world throws at you, you just, you deal with it and then you go on to the next thing and deal with that.

 

01:01:57:03 – 01:02:08:13

Brad Singletary

Are there things that you I guess we’ll wrap up here and if you would, a couple questions. Are there things that you still want to work on, like to improve or things to pursue or that you want to?

 

01:02:09:12 – 01:02:11:07

Mike Olsen

Yes, the same goals. What are they?

 

01:02:11:07 – 01:02:32:24

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, I’m constantly, you know, push myself, you know, whether it’s, you know, just write today, go in here, go in there or walk a little further, get my stamina up a little bit more. Let’s, you know, go to the gym. I’m going to spend a few extra minutes doing this or doing that or just what.

 

01:02:32:24 – 01:02:39:11

Brad Singletary

About hobby kind of things or, you know, things you want to conquer or master with your mind, even.

 

01:02:40:15 – 01:02:53:08

Samuel Anthony

I do do a lot of reading and I think that that’s that’s an important part of things. Keep keeping your mind active. I also do a lot of writing too, for a few for for an online for website online.

 

01:02:53:13 – 01:02:56:23

Mike Olsen

So what’s what’s the topic you write about for the online Web site?

 

01:02:57:05 – 01:03:02:04

Samuel Anthony

I tend to discuss a lot of constitutional issues.

 

01:03:02:17 – 01:03:12:19

Mike Olsen

Oh, okay. Interesting. And so is your reading preferences geared a little to that as well? Constitutional or governmental or historical? What’s your what’s your read? A lot of.

 

01:03:12:24 – 01:03:23:25

Samuel Anthony

Historical stuff, but depends on my mood. Sometimes it’s historical, sometimes it’s fiction, other times it’s, you know, some older novels. Okay.

 

01:03:24:15 – 01:03:26:28

Brad Singletary

I’ve read some of your writing. It’s pretty freaking.

 

01:03:26:28 – 01:03:28:14

Samuel Anthony

Good. Oh, thank you.

 

01:03:28:16 – 01:03:40:13

Brad Singletary

Is seriously, it’s, it’s it’s pretty high level stuff. I mean, it just seems like that’s a profession. It was lots of cool little nuance in it and things that were I thought were very well done.

 

01:03:40:27 – 01:03:45:05

Mike Olsen

Have you always liked to write or is this been something since the incident? You’ve picked this this.

 

01:03:45:05 – 01:04:04:03

Samuel Anthony

Is something I’ve picked up. More recently I was actually just discussing this with a buddy of mine, you know, in the this morning when we were driving home from the range, I said, you know, sometimes when you’re when you’re struggling, you know, having a hobby or something to do is important to keep busy. But, you know, you got to pick something new, something that you’re not.

 

01:04:04:22 – 01:04:14:23

Samuel Anthony

It’s not just the usual everyday fare that you’ve just more repetition, something that’s going to challenge your brain and something that’s to keep keep you active.

 

01:04:15:01 – 01:04:16:15

Mike Olsen

That’s cool. That’s very cool.

 

01:04:17:27 – 01:04:25:16

Brad Singletary

So what would you say is the most alpha part of you? What is your most important talent gift? You know, superpower strength.

 

01:04:26:07 – 01:04:34:13

Samuel Anthony

I just know that being not quitting, you just got to keep moving forward. That’s I think that that’s my my my strength.

 

01:04:35:12 – 01:04:56:05

Brad Singletary

Stubborn and consistent endurance. That’s another one of our things, you know, that you your mind is right, that you’ve got some goals. You you can adjust things in your path. You you’re pretty patient, persistent. You accept support and you, you know, you accept your limitations as well. You, you know when to say win.

 

01:04:57:01 – 01:05:06:27

Samuel Anthony

Yeah, but push myself. I was just having a conversation with another body the other day and I’m going to make it back to the golf course with him sometime soon. He’ll go golfing again.

 

01:05:06:27 – 01:05:09:03

Mike Olsen

So Brad and I need to be there.

 

01:05:09:04 – 01:05:14:20

Brad Singletary

Can we please go? Yes. I mean, even if it’s not to that day with your friends, we’ll do our own.

 

01:05:14:21 – 01:05:15:06

Samuel Anthony

We can do it.

 

01:05:15:06 – 01:05:17:11

Mike Olsen

Here on the driving range, even if it’s just that.

 

01:05:17:16 – 01:05:21:03

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. It’s a it’s not pretty, but it gets the job done.

 

01:05:21:08 – 01:05:39:00

Brad Singletary

That’ll make me feel good. I mean, I’m terrible anyway. But, you know, if, if I’m the only one here with both working hands, so I, I just look up to these guys so much for their attitude. They’re, I’ve never heard one single thing from either of these guys. And I’ve known you longer, Mike, but just you’ve taken it.

 

01:05:39:00 – 01:05:59:05

Brad Singletary

You’ve accepted long ago that part of your life too, with your I’m talking about your hand and it’s just it’s I’ve never seen it. Maybe there’s something there at times, but I’ve never seen you be a sit on the pity pot over that. And for sure you’re, you know, you’re, you’re walking around and you have mobility, but you’re doing whatever you can.

 

01:05:59:15 – 01:06:02:27

Brad Singletary

That’s the coolest thing ever. So I’ll play some golf with you guys.

 

01:06:02:27 – 01:06:03:23

Mike Olsen

Yeah, that’d be great.

 

01:06:03:23 – 01:06:04:09

Samuel Anthony

Sounds good.

 

01:06:04:29 – 01:06:27:03

Brad Singletary

Sam, man, appreciate you being here. This has just been a highlight kind of thing for me. You’ve you’ve helped us level up. You’ve taught me some things about, you know, just attitude and how if I think my takeaway from today is go looking for things to feel joy about. Go looking for it, go find it in other people.

 

01:06:27:03 – 01:06:32:28

Brad Singletary

Go celebrate in their joys. And that’s crazy to think that, you know, you were shot by a freakin.

 

01:06:32:28 – 01:06:33:18

Samuel Anthony

Thug.

 

01:06:34:18 – 01:06:38:21

Brad Singletary

And you got no hatred. There’s there’s none of that there it’s just good is.

 

01:06:38:24 – 01:06:43:21

Samuel Anthony

Going to do anybody negativity is a cancer I stay positive.

 

01:06:45:00 – 01:06:48:02

Mike Olsen

Sure is negative negativity will literally eat you.

 

01:06:48:02 – 01:06:48:15

Samuel Anthony

Alive.

 

01:06:49:16 – 01:07:15:07

Brad Singletary

You guys were trying to highlight men who seem to have something figured out about how to live and how to be happy and how to maintain your own power and energy and control over your life. So much of it is attitude. And as you’ve seen with this guest and so many, the way that you believe about yourself and about other people and about the world, that’s going to determine a lot about the experience that you have.

 

01:07:15:07 – 01:07:17:20

Brad Singletary

And so, Sam, just really appreciate you being here, brother.

 

01:07:17:20 – 01:07:20:14

Samuel Anthony

Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. Great to meet.

 

01:07:20:14 – 01:07:30:02

Brad Singletary

You, Sam. Best of luck in your writing. And if you ever have any of that stuff you want to share with, feel free to send it my way. And I’d love to see whatever you write about.

 

01:07:30:15 – 01:07:31:02

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely.

 

01:07:31:02 – 01:07:37:24

Mike Olsen

You know, tell us again, how do we find the website where we can see your writing, which how do they listeners find it?

 

01:07:38:00 – 01:07:39:27

Samuel Anthony

So American Thinker, dot.com.

 

01:07:40:06 – 01:07:42:06

Brad Singletary

American American Thinker, dot.com.

 

01:07:42:06 – 01:07:50:21

Samuel Anthony

Samuel Anthony you just look under the archives portion of any just search for Samuel Anthony and you’ll have a link to all my articles there. Great.

 

01:07:51:03 – 01:07:53:29

Brad Singletary

But if we put a link to it on, on our show notes stuff.

 

01:07:53:29 – 01:07:54:22

Samuel Anthony

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

01:07:54:25 – 01:08:02:26

Brad Singletary

It’s a now just to warn anybody, you may be coming at this with a little bit of a conservative slant on that or whatever, but just just.

 

01:08:02:26 – 01:08:03:18

Samuel Anthony

A little bit, you know.

 

01:08:03:18 – 01:08:06:17

Brad Singletary

But it’s thought provoking. It’s nothing. It’s nothing.

 

01:08:06:17 – 01:08:28:24

Samuel Anthony

Radical. Nothing radical. I’m very much a, you know, moderate. You know, that one side of the the aisle or the other. But I think both sides have a lot to a lot to answer for. For what? For the state of the country. And it’s it’s more about everyone waking up and realizing that, you know, our elected officials don’t always have our best interests at heart.

 

01:08:28:24 – 01:08:35:16

Samuel Anthony

And you have to be smart about who you choose. And just keep that in mind that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

01:08:35:21 – 01:08:41:18

Mike Olsen

Oh, you’re part of that new political group. The sensible Aryans is hilarious.

 

01:08:41:18 – 01:08:42:18

Samuel Anthony

Yes.

 

01:08:42:18 – 01:08:54:28

Brad Singletary

Oh, that’s funny. Yeah, I read that and it’s very rationally written, if anybody’s interested. I don’t think it’s going to be some kind of hate mail for one or the other, kind of thinking. I know it’s not. But anyway, thank you again.

 

01:08:55:27 – 01:09:03:05

Samuel Anthony

Is my reading you can email me at file that and the circular Ben duck. Okay Dot.

 

01:09:03:12 – 01:09:04:23

Mike Olsen

Sam, it’s been great to meet you.

 

01:09:05:00 – 01:09:06:01

Samuel Anthony

Thank you. Very nice to meet you.

 

01:09:06:20 – 01:09:10:29

Brad Singletary

Well, maybe we’ll have to have you back some time for another topic. I will pick your brain.

 

01:09:10:29 – 01:09:19:10

Samuel Anthony

So since face hasn’t been been shown here on the podcast, you definitely won’t have any listeners drop off.

 

01:09:19:10 – 01:09:22:25

Brad Singletary

So we got to get your picture though. We have to have the cover photo.

 

01:09:23:09 – 01:09:28:16

Mike Olsen

I was thinking of that you’ve had how many guests? Now we need a start up. Like a Polaroid wall.

 

01:09:28:16 – 01:09:33:13

Brad Singletary

Yes. Seriously? Yeah. Or well, on the website or somewhere where it’s just. That’s cool.

 

01:09:33:13 – 01:09:35:22

Samuel Anthony

Right? Yeah. All right.

 

01:09:35:22 – 01:09:45:23

Brad Singletary

You guys will. Thank you again. Until next time. No excuses, Alpha up.

 

01:09:45:23 – 01:09:57:01

Outro

Gentlemen, you are the Alpha. And this is the Alpha Quorum.

 

01:09:57:01 – 01:09:57:19

Samuel Anthony

Well done.

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