How Fatherhood & Faith Turned This Former Marine's Life Around From Rock Bottom

Today, I sit down with Reid Jones, a former Marine and coach whose journey from rock bottom to rebuilding his purpose is a story of redemption, discipline, and growth. Mr. Jones shares how his time in the Marine Corps shaped both his strength and his struggles, and how he transformed his pain into a mission to help others.

In this conversation, Mr. Jones opens up about his early years in the military, his battle with alcohol, and the heartbreaking loss of his father to suicide. He explains how these moments forced him to face himself and make a decision — to keep spiraling or to rise again. We talk about the toxic toughness often found in military culture, the stigma around mental health, and how leadership and faith can reshape a man’s entire direction.

Mr. Jones also discusses the powerful role that fitness played in his recovery. What started as a coping mechanism became the foundation for his life’s work as a coach, guiding veterans and active-duty service members through physical and emotional transformation. His story reminds us that redemption doesn’t happen overnight — it’s built through accountability, structure, and faith in something greater than yourself.

https://www.instagram.com/reidjones.fitness/

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*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode, A couple of nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and today we'll be getting into two of my favorite subjects, military mental health. My favorite, because I think it's really important. There's a lot of different issues going on with the military, dating, dating back to, I've had Vietnam veterans on my show with the same issues we're dealing with today as far as addiction.

Drug abuse, suicidal ideation, and just poor leadership. A lot of different issues we'll get into today. And then one of my favorite things, fitness. I just got back probably an hour ago from my seven mile run for the day. I've been eating a lot of cookout and fast food and I had a nightmare about congestive heart failure, so I instantly went and ran seven miles.

Can't be slacking. So, I say that 'cause today we'll be getting into fitness. Our guest is, is very fit. You can see that on his Instagram. And we're gonna have a great conversation. Mr. Re Jones, so great to have you here. And could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Yeah, brother. My name is Reed Jones.

Outta high school I joined the Marine Corps. So if you know anything about the military, we're, we're very well acquainted with fitness and the Marine Corps holds a pretty high standard. Yeah. So I got into fitness originally with that and got into the gym man and throughout my whole Marine Corps career, I was in the gym.

We'll probably get deeper into this later, but I got kicked outta the Marine Corps and really had to make, make a turn in life what I was gonna do. So, took inventory me and figured out the next move in life and it was coaching. So the past three years I've been coaching in person online. Now I do mostly online and I work with veterans and active duty and just help them get along with their path, man.

And work like what you said, mental health and a lot of active duty, man, they got a, they got a lot of. A lot of stressors going on and having an outside source kind of keep 'em grounded is really beneficial. Yeah. And I'm gonna ask you a question that you probably get very often as I have also gotten it, which is, why did you join, you said straight outta high school, what was it outside influences?

Was it just a internal choice? What kind of led into that? I'd say, I'd say a little bit of both. Man. Really like it was a lot of internal, I grew up, man, my father was an addict, so I, I, I experienced that secondhand before I did firsthand. So, I didn't really have like a, a, a good father figure man.

So the military was my path to becoming a man. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, what's, what's funny is my 80-year-old neighbor, he went to join the Marines and they said, we're either gonna make a man out of you or kill you. So he didn't return back. 'cause he said, I believe them, but it's oh man.

Yeah. You got, you got the recruiter that just no fluff, just straight talk. And I actually have a lot of respect for the Marines because in a day and age where a lot of the branches have dropped their fitness standards, at least. During the last presidency campaign, not to be political, but from my personal experience serving during that time, we kept lowering the physical fitness standards the other branches as well, but the Marines held that standard, so I've always had a lot of respect for them.

I believe that. Lowering the standards to combat retention. That's what it's about. People in general, Americans are getting lazier dumber, and so to fill the retention hole because people don't wanna stay in the military, they lower the education standards, the physical fitness standards, the grooming standards and all to attract more people.

But as I've said before, and I don't say this to personally offend those people who are joining now, that the requirements are lower. You're combating retention with lower quality candidates. What does that make the military overall lower quality? So I think it's really important. I remember sometimes the branches try to improve their physical fitness, and you can laugh at this too.

My buddies and I were chuckling while serving because we got a newspaper article sent to us Air Force Ads 40 pound deadlift to their requirements. We were just laughing. For anyone who's never done a dead lift, 40 pounds is, this is just like picking up a bar. It's not even, it's not, it's not even the bar.

It's like less than a bar. Yeah. So, it's, it's less than a standard job to be like a postman. You have to lift up to 50 pounds, so it's ridiculous, but. They changed. It went from sit-ups to planks, and then the plank went from five minutes down to like a minute and a half. It was from like 50.

Like I remember when I was in, if a, a woman was 20 years old, she had to do, I believe 17 or 18 pushups to get perfect score. 17 or 18 pushups. Now the average American probably can't do five, to be honest, but most people can do 17 or 18 is not that hard, especially you have some training ahead of time. All that to say, the Marines have kept their standard and I have a lot of respect for them for that and understand the idea of becoming a man.

Do you feel like the Marines did teach you properly about masculinity and manhood, or do you feel like. It's a bit outdated. How did you feel about it? Man, that's a, that's a very interesting question. It's a little bit of both, man. Like they did teach me a lot of good morale principles discipline, professionalism, but there was also a lot of like toxic.

Teach these two man, like put, keep pushing, kind of like the David Goggins mentality, man. Like they really shame you for going to medical or having act like real problems going on, whether it's mental, physical, they really shame you for having those problems. So, yeah, man, it, it kind, it don't translate well into the real world.

Yeah. When you're dealing with real people with, with real emotions and, you can't have the, the just push through, like pain is weakness leaving the body. That gets you, that gets you hurt. And then also, like if you're, if you're projecting that on other people, man, it's, it's not, it's not held right.

I actually, I did my David Goggins parody video like two days ago, but we'll, we'll look past that. You know what's interesting is. On the other end, I feel like a lot of society is becoming too sensitive. There's a, there's a balance to be had. What I will say about the, the military, yeah. We, in the Navy, we say, take a hit and keep going.

And there's definitely a time and place for that, but it doesn't set you up well for the civilian world because in the civilian world, I feel like you can actually take the time. Out, 'cause you're not on a time sensitive mission. I think the military, there's a time and place for that too, but part of it isn't even the military or the leadership's fault.

I will give them the benefit of doubt and the fact that one of the issues they have to deal with is malingerers. And for those who don't know what that word is, it's people who are faking illness to get out of the service. There are a lot of those in the nuclear program. We call them. Not politely, we call them sad boys because a lot of them will fake mental illness to get out of the program.

I'm sure it happens across the branches. I've, I've heard stories of people who shot themselves in the foot to get out of submarine duty, right? It happens. So to a degree, leadership kind of has to filter through that. That being said, as a submarine commander said on my show, lead that up to the professionals, not you as, as the division leader, platoon leader, whatever you are, by being harsh on them, lead that to the psychologist that works for medical with the degree to actually do that analysis.

Right. It's kind of not your place to say one way or another. So I, I really respected him for saying that because it's. It's easy to fall into that judgmental zone, but you never know. I've had some sailors I've worked with who. You would've never guessed they were suicidal until it was too late or you, you find out.

I'm sure even in in the service, you heard stories of people who you wouldn't guess, I had Scott de Luzi on my show. Most of the people he served with committed suicide years after they had made it out of the combat zone, which to him was the most shocking part. And to me as well, they were under enemy fire and lived and then took their own life years later.

So it's definitely, an interesting topic, and then you actually mentioned suicide earlier with your father shortly after you got outta the service. Can you kind of tell us a little bit about what led into that, especially with him being addicted and then kind of the impact it had on you? Yeah, man.

So, like I said, growing up, man, he was, he was an addict man. So he was, he was majorly an alcoholic. And alcoholics are real it's like a depressant man. So, yeah they try to, they try to numb their pain and stuff. So he was, he was majorly an alcoholic and he would dab around drug, he would do anything.

And all throughout my childhood, he was battling with him, man. And it's kind of a weird love when you have a present father, but he, he's not. He's not present in the sense of being a father like he wanted to be in my life and show the love and such. But he was always, under the influence, in and outta jail, in and outta rehab and things like that, man caused a lot of problems and it caused a lot of, a lot of hurt.

You know what I'm saying? Because I wanted that fatherly love, and I seen the potential in him with a lot of addicts. Too, man, they got a lot of potential. It's just they're putting their energy in the wrong places. So, like I could see the potential in 'em, man. And I just kept on watching him, hurt himself, hurt himself over time.

Over time. But went to the military, we, we was growing up. Me and my brother, we've grown up, kind of got detached from him and, I think he started, reflecting back on the past and getting on his head, looking back at all the time that was wasted and, just messed up. And man, it was kind of just one of those things, like you said, just one night, man, I got a call.

I guess I woke up in the middle of the night, man. It's like, it's like that thing, you can just feel it in your soul, man. I just woke up three in the morning, checked my phone. My dad had texted me and he was like, Hey. He's like, Hey, I need you. I need you here. He was kind of, he was kind of talking a little crazy.

I couldn't really understand it. So I called his neighbor, which is my cousin. I'm like, Hey, man, go check on. Well, we're on the phone. He walks outside, he's laying there in his driveway, like my, my cousin's driveway. So, man, like getting, so I just got kicked outta the military man. I had a, I got a girl pregnant man.

I was kind of, I was kind of spiraling in a, in a bad direction, but I got a girl pregnant soon after getting out. So, and then once he, once I found out, he killed himself, I'm like, it just hit me hard, man. Like I was rock bottom, just got kicked out. I had a daughter on the way. I was excited for, him to see my daughter and stuff.

Yeah. And he was, he was dead. So, yeah, it hit me hard, man. Like, I ain't never, I ain't never felt so much pain. And a part of me was like, could I, could I have done something? Could I have prevented this? And, I was beating myself up for a while, but I don't think that's the healthy way to go about it, man.

For sure we've had I've had some guests on the show share stories like that too, where they were one of the last people contacted and they didn't take it seriously or didn't, react to it in time. And so I, we've had some heartbreaking stories on here and I actually, my father is a alcoholic as well, severe, and I just, I describe it as people.

When he's really drinking, I, I talk about, it's like trying to read hieroglyphics, I have no idea what he's saying. When he's texting, it's not even English when he is talking on the phone, it's not even English. So I, I totally feel you there, and it's. It's a shame. I, I relate to the, my father is present in my life and I, I'm grateful that I have a father, but in a lot of ways he's not present because, I mean, he's literally said to me, son, I love vodka more than you.

I mean, it is painful to hear that. And there are times where. That always takes priority. If you take him out to an event or something, he's gotta sneak off to go drink, shoot airplane bottles or whatever it is, and I don't know if your dad was the kind where yes, he would go to great lengths to hide it.

My dad, would hide it in the bottom of fishing boots. I've heard stories of people, he would put it on the. Fence in the neighbor's yard. I've heard of people bury the bottles in the backyard, like, that kind of stuff. But my dad, and it sounds like your dad was maybe also functioning alcoholic where they're drinking and they still have full-time job and, and stuff like that.

So it's it's difficult. I struggle with, everyone else in my family has given up on him, but I still have hope. You talked about the potential and hosting this show has really amplified that for me because I have had. Vietnam veterans in their seventies become sober. I've had people who were addicted for over 30 years get sober, and they're guessing on podcasts, and they wrote a book and their life is together now.

So I I, I truly believe it's never too late. And I wish the addicts themselves would see that because a lot of times they make the addiction, their identity all they are, are worth it. It can lead to, to, your father's case, suicide and, it's, it's hard, we can't help them fix their, that deep pain that they're feeling.

A lot of times we think, and even their therapist or if they're talking, someone thinks that you find the issue, but there's a, they put forward a lot of surface issues. It's, I, I describe it not to, plagiarize Shrek, but as a onion, they got the layers that you gotta break down and get to the.

Root issue. So a lot of shields and their, and I, having transitioned out of the military into the civilian world, I, I can relate to it's difficult process. It's, you're moving to a new place or even going back to where you were. It's not the same as when you left. Of course any military person who's ever gone on leave.

Understands that you go back home, that first time on leave thinking everything is gonna be the same. And it's not. It's like you're an adult now arguing with your parents. 'cause you want to be an adult and they want you to be a kid and, you just don't fall back into the, the same routine and when you get out, you're kind of on your own.

They don't, obviously, you probably went through, they got taps and these separation programs and it's like they, they give you some information. They don't really, it's hard to prepare for the reality of it. And then you're. Trying to find a job, which can be very difficult sometimes. I've had veterans, even with honorable discharges or or or who are in their whole contract and did great stuff.

No job matches their resume. Or people just aren't saying, Hey, you're like people. I feel like there's this misconception, oh, you're a veteran, you're hired. That's not how it works. Absolutely not. I've seen a lot of veterans struggle. My, my buddy got out and he was excited. Six years of service. He was so excited.

He's had like seven different jobs already. Just jumping around, can't fit in. It's, it's hard. Just, especially now, the cultural difference between military members and this society is just difficult. You, you get to a civilian place, you say one wrong thing and it's like, that was common talk where, where I was especially, that was my big problem, man.

Yeah, right there. Yeah. Tell us about it, man. Man. Oh yeah. So I, I got all kinds, I, I've been in all kinds of trouble, man. I, I, when I first got out, bro, I was so used to that marine mentality, like meet me by the tree lawn, dude. I was fighting people like crazy and it took one bad experience for me to learn from it.

But yeah, man, at my first job I was just kind of mouthing, man. Just saying, I guess you could say like cocky reckless stuff. Because like you said in the military, we, we do that, we have that locker room talk, man. We make like crazy dark humor jokes. Yeah. And to me it was just normal. It is normal conversation.

But I started noticing people around me was like, they're looking at me like, what the hell? Like, this dude is insane. They, they literally viewed me like, I'm insane for the way I was talking. And yeah, I had some problems at work, man. Actually the dude pulled a knife out on me at, at my first job in the civilian world.

Crazy as it sounds. Dude pulled a knife out on me and yeah, I had to, I had to leave there, man. 'cause it was, it was gonna be bad. I have also had a knife pulled out on me at a civilian job, so don't feel too bad. Yeah, that's crazy with It can also, yeah, I can also just, well, long story short, the waitress who was training me.

Had been kind of seeing the guy who was the cook they had made out at the, Thanksgiving work party and he was like, you, he got mad at her. He was like, you're always spending that time with that Mr. Whiskey guy. She goes, yeah, I'm training him. That's my job. Like I'm teaching. He has to shadow me.

And he got so. Jealous and I, I confronted him, I said, Hey man, this seems like you have some kind of problem. I want you to know, like nothing's going on. Like, I'm just here for the job. And he takes out a, a big kitchen knife and cuts his arm open. He is like, you think we have a problem? And I was just, and he was high too.

And he was high and drunk at the job, had cuts his arm open. I'm like, oh man, this is, how did this happen? Like I thought. I thought people in the military were always angry and hated their lives. I like, I I, I went down the street to Italian restaurant and I'm already having issues. And yeah, he tried to fight me one time because I, we were, me and the waitress were cleaning up the table.

I was out, the restaurant closed and he like charged out there like, do you like her? And made a big scene. And my boss, who was 70, got in between us and had to take him outside. I was like, man. Dude, at least in the military, when someone was like super irritable, you know why? Like we were working rotating shift work nights, holidays, like stress, a lot of stress, a lot of pen up.

I'm like, dude, you're working a five hour shift cooking chicken par, like, relax. Man, it ain't that serious. But I don't know if you felt this way too. I had a hard time adjusting to. Not, this isn't true for all civilians, but a lot of them, especially when you're working with the younger generation, just no work ethic at all.

And they would complain about like a five hour shift. I'm like, well, we, we used to work 16 hour shifts, sometimes 12 hour shifts, 10 hour shifts. It, it. Made dating hard. People would be like, I'm tired, I have a five hour shift at a clothing store. I'm like, I just worked 12 hours, oh man. No, that's definitely a big issue.

And another big issue kind of ties back into the other one we was talking about, man. I'm very, I'm very verbal, I don't know how it is. Was you, you was Navy right? Yes. Maybe So, in the Marine Corps we're very, we're like, we're pretty combative, man. Like, you gotta call people out.

Like they call us devil dogs, man. So we'd have to like, call people out and, hold 'em accountable, like you hold your peers accountable and stuff. So I'm at work and people are slacking. I'm like, Hey man, like you going to get your ass up? We're putting in work. We getting paid the same. You gonna put in word too, I'm not picking up your slack.

And it just caused a lot of, a lot of like, jealousy, envy type stuff. 'cause they're like, man, this dude's like reckless. That's the way they viewed it. Me, I, I view it as I'm just holding you accountable, man. Holding the stand. Like we working together. This is a team. You try to hold people accountable and then you got a HR beating, oh man. Right. Yeah. I, I feel that. So, to, to have your father a suicide on top of all this, plus the, the, the pregnancy now, was this. Not Tory too much, but was this like a long-term girlfriend you had, or a partner, or was this like first civilian girl you saw kind of deal? We, we was chatting on the phone, man.

I knew I was getting what do they call it? Basically DD two 14. I was waiting on my five day letter. It's what, it was a five day letter. That means, you're, you're getting out, you gotta turn all your stuff in, whatever. That's how it goes when you get the adep for the, I got a OTH discharge.

So, we was chatting a little bit, man, a little late, night calls, whatever, and I knew she was back home. That's where I was gonna be headed. So we linked a little bit, but I knew, I knew like the feelings wasn't there. So ultimately it was kind of like, it was kind of a mistake. It was just a little fun, right?

Mm-hmm. And the, the Lord had a way of teaching me something out of that man. So, it gave me a kid, man, like within, within a month of being out, I was like, so looking forward to being out, just being free. I'm like, man, I've been under the Marine Corps roles and everything for so long, man, I can't wait to be free and do my thing.

Boom, man, as soon as I get out. Yeah. Got her pregnant. So yeah, there was a lot of conflict there too, because like I said, it was like a thing where it wasn't established relationship. The love wasn't there, it was. It was an accident, but I was, I was very, I was, I was communicating like, hey, like I don't, I don't see us being in a relationship like, I'm sorry I don't have the love for you.

I don't wanna lead you on, but I do wanna be a present father. Like, that's so important to me, is to be a father, and I'm not gonna fail at that. And how old is your daughter now? She's four. Okay. Okay. So yeah, you're, you're still in the, the good, good years. Yeah. Right. Well admit, Hey, I don't know. There's somero there was some rough times within that man.

Kids are, kids are tough, bro. Yeah. Yeah. It only gets worse. So you can prepare for this? No, no, no. I have a dog and that's more than enough for me. Yeah. I, I keep, dogs are, vets are expensive, but if your dog's healthy, it's, it, they're pretty cheap. 'cause I realized yesterday my dog's been using the same, she's three pounds and in fact I got her right here, so.

She's just a little baby, but I've had her for, well, she's nine years old and she's had the same shampoo bottle for over half of that. And I was like, if you have a real daughter, you're gonna have like a new shampoo bottle every two weeks probably, or something, like, but no, I just, I've done a lot of episodes on parenting and I, I really want a kid sued and so I've been, my social media feed is reflective of that.

It's all kids pranking their parents or funny things that kids say when they're toddlers and stuff. And it's, a baby fever is real. I just I'm ready. I'm just trusting on God's timing, it's hard. A lot of women that I, that I meet and get into a relationship with, they're like, well, we just wanna travel first and be with you.

We don't want the responsibilities of parenting. And, and I get that too. So, we'll, we'll see how it goes. I definitely wanna be, that dad who's jogging with a stroller at the park, badass dad man. True leader. Yeah. Yeah, because I've, I've had some guys on the show talk about like, how do we get our kids interested in fitness in the way we are without, forcing it on them and, and making a dislike in, in them for it, because.

That's how it can be sometimes with sports and instruments and stuff. Pushing our passions onto our kids rather than telling, rather than teaching. But, I love running outside and, and doing high intensity training and stuff and I definitely want my kids to have that passion too. So we'll see how that goes.

And one thing I did wanna talk about, just going. More on kind of how you got out of the, the Marines. You talked about kind of your firsthand account with addiction. What kind of caused that to develop and what did that look like? Man. Oh man, that's a, that's a good question, man. So it was, it, it wasn't nothing crazy.

So I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and throw this on top, man. So, my high school sweetheart, my girlfriend from high school, we joined the Marine Corps together. So we was at bootcamp together. Like we was like the perfect couple. We're gonna have an amazing life, we're gonna be Marines, we're gonna build this amazing life.

Everything's gonna be so perfect. It's gonna, it's gonna be the greatest story ever. Right? Right. So we was in bootcamp together, man, bootcamp, you get to go to church on Sundays and obviously there's drill shelter around, but I'd be like handing her a bible with some notes in it and stuff. So true.

Love story, man. Recruit to recruit contact. Oh. Man. Yeah, but we was sneaky man. We was sneaky. But anyways, man, it was, it wasn't much longer after that. Wait, hold up. I, I went too fast there. So after bootcamp, we got married. All right. And then okay. Quickly after getting married. 'cause the military get the benefits.

It's that military man. We trying to get that. Dear Jones letter. Oh no. Man, all that what do they call it, Jody, or whatever. Oh, that's even worse. Don't say that. Don't say that. That's basically what ended up happening, man. That's what ended up happening. So yeah, that's where I was leading to. It wasn't, it wasn't two or three months after we got married, man, that she took that route.

You know how it is, the, the women in the, the military man. It's easy to spiral down into that route. You're getting all that attention from these young men. High testosterone. There's one, there's one female for 10 men. So, if you're lucky, if you're lucky, man. So they get all that attention and stuff, you know what I'm saying?

It, it would drive anybody crazy, I'm sure. Yeah. So yeah, that was a, that was a little bit pain for me man. 'cause it was like my, my, my high school sweetheart and we had all the big plans and stuff. So, what happened after that? Man, I hit my unit and, my corporal's like, oh, you're getting divorced.

Hell yeah, here's some, here's some Jim Bean. Like, we're good, we're good. Let's play some beer pong. So that's how I was welcome to the unit, was like, party train, hard shit. So I was like, Hey, you know what? This ain't too bad, man. So it was really just, it was partying and traditional drinking with the, with the military.

And then as time went on, man, it's like I just kept on getting more and more reckless with it, it went from like Saturday drinking to Friday and Saturday to, to, to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, sometimes Sunday. Right. And then it was getting to where I was drinking like five, six days a week, man.

And staying up till midnight, getting up 4:00 AM pt. So I was just, I was just wrapped up in that loop, man. And I don't know, it was like, I was really avoiding a lot of things in my life. I was using it as avoidance so I didn't have to face my problems. Right. So it was my, it was my shield for sure, man.

And I just, I don't know, I don't know what it was that that made me like it so much. I guess, like I said, man, just the avoidance, but it just kept on spiraling. Spiraling. And it even led to when I, after I got kicked out, I was doing that in civilian world and it was hitting me harder in the civilian world.

'cause it's, it's accepted in the military. Like I said, it's tradition in the civilian world, man. You get hit hard. But when I was back on Lajeune, when I was active duty, I got a, I got a DUI and they sent me to the, I forget what they call it, the substance abuse. I think it's sarp, dapa sarp sometimes something like that.

Well, they sent me to the rehab over there, man. When I was in, was it in Florida? Nah, it was like the. It was the outpatient, so I was still on Las you. I still go and do my job sometimes. Okay. I would just show, it would be like a four hour thing. Yeah. Couple days if you're real bad. At least in the Navy. I think they got a place in Florida they send you to for like full time.

But I'm sure each base has their own thing. I know for us we called it the dapa, which I would, I believe was like drug alcohol prevention agency or something like that. Yeah. Right. So yeah, man, I just got really into the, the alcohol and the way it made me feel. And the problem was I would act wild and reckless and violent, and I would just do everything bad, man.

I was very argumentative very ego driven. I mean, you know how it is being around alcoholic. They're, they're obnoxious and it's like they're really trying to prove themselves and validate themselves. So they like, they're mad at everything. Yeah, so that's what happened to me. Man led me in a lot of problems, fights, DUIs, and ultimately that's what led me and to getting kicked out and even having some problems in the civilian world with it too, until I decided, man, this is not serving me.

It's time to drop this and, lock in on my mission and my purpose in life. Do it the real way and on my problems the real way. There's been such growth, man. Such a, such a transformation When I just decided to stop putting my energy into to. Things that wasn't serving me and put my energy into things, that's gonna build me for sure.

And there, there's a couple things I wanna touch upon. First of all there's, I, I listen to Jonathan Michael Fleming. He does military Cajun covers and there's one called Hey Jody. And I'm gonna put that in a description of the Love 'cause it's, it's a really funny song. He is like, Hey Jody, stay away from my home.

My dad served with a Marine. Well, no, my dad was friends with a Marine who served. My dad was not a Marine, but he shared a story. My dad's friend, who was a Marine, about his division, he was in, they were going around the room asking like, why do you join? And there was a woman there, and I kid you not, this is what she said.

I joined to be surrounded by muscular strong men and to slave around. And he followed that story up with everyone in division has slept with her. I've seen it happen at Nuke school. That ratio is worse. It's about one woman for every 90 guys. Oh man, give or take, it could be bad. And there was a, a woman she had slept with over 80 nukes in one year, and she had a list of them.

She kept a list and who was naught or nice. And she literally said, someone asked her like, well, why don't you just get a boyfriend? Why get a boyfriend when each week I can get new purse, new shoes, dinner, and some new fill in the blank, yeah. I won't say it, but you can imagine. And that's, that's a valid, it's valid though.

Like, so that's what happens, they get a lot of attention. In fact, I just had an interesting episode the other day about. Insecure female prison guards, getting attention from prisoners and then bringing them drugs. That blew my mind. I've heard that. I've actually heard that. Yeah. So that was a, a awesome episode too, but.

When it comes to your DUI, the biggest thing that blows my mind that we kind of haven't addressed here that I don't know if the military just overlooked or not, is the fact that you were underage drinking, correct? You were, you joined right outta high school. So that's underage drinking with a DUI. I'm surprised they didn't take it.

More. I, I guess they gave you the benefit that, like was that ever mentioned or brought up? Oh, it definitely was. So they maxed me out, man. Yeah, I was 20 and what, what got a target on my back was the fact that I was underage and they was like, in the military, we have to know where you got it from. So, I was like, you know what I'm a grown man.

I made a grown man decision and it, it, it, it was a mistake. I messed up, I take full responsibility, I take full accountability for it. I don't wanna bring nobody else down with me. Mm-hmm. And they was like, no, we don't do that. This is military. We have to know the information. And they was basically like, if you don't tell us, we're gonna make this really bad for you.

And that's exactly what they did, man. 'cause I stood on it. I was like, I'm not, I'm not bringing nobody else down with me. Like this is, like, this is the Marine Corps, bro. Like of course we're drinking and stuff, even if we are underage, even though, we do know it's the, it is the rule, but everybody does well.

Yeah, of course. Because I mean, look at it this way. I was able to operate electrical and reactor systems on a submarine before I was allowed to buy a buy alcohol or, or, or cigarettes. I mean, it's ridiculous. And a Vietnam veteran gave a speech about why he went back to Vietnam and was because in Vietnam, I was a man in America.

I was a boy because I came back from Vietnam. I couldn't vote, I couldn't rent a car. I couldn't, I couldn't get a hotel room in some places. So it. I understand the mentality behind it. 'cause yes, you're not supposed to drink underage, but a lot of military guys are like, are you kidding me? We were just out in the, in, in the field doing this stuff or, or especially the guys who got deployed to combat zones or, or the nuclear operators.

Nuke School has one of the highest alcohol related incident rates out of any military base ever. So we, we used to have a big sign out front that said day since last alcohol incident, and it was almost always at zero. And they said if it gets to 50. Y'all will get a day of liberty, the whole base. And the closest it ever got during my time there, I think was somehow miraculously it got to like 42 or 45, and then it reset and then we, we all joked that they had just reset it themselves just to not give us that free day.

But yeah, it's interesting how the military. Almost has its own constitution and laws. Right. Because for sure, definitely does. Technically you had the right to, in the civilian war, you had the right to remain silent. And you don't have to incriminate upon yourself if I, I'm not a lawyer, but, basic knowledge I believe is, is that, but in military, it's like, I mean, I guess you can stay silent.

You're just gonna go. You're just going, your life is just gonna get worse and worse because they do own you and control you. They have full control over you, man. They can make it is ridiculous. I've, I've sat in on Captain's mask before and if you have a reasonable captain, it's not bad, it's like a regular judge.

But if you have some of these people, like I don't do, they call it DRB in the Marines disciplinary review board. Basically, it's just. A whole bunch of chiefs screaming at you, telling you you're worthless and, and no good. Yeah. You're not even allowed to defend yourself. They literally just yell at you that you're a piece of garbage.

And it's not at all like a, a fair trial. You know it, which it's supposed to be a human right. Or at least a American human right. But it is not fair at all. It's literally, you're not allowed to defend yourself if you speak without being authorized to do so. Now you're just get, now you're gonna have to go to master court.

For that, so it's, it's a, I believe it needs restructuring. Obviously there's a reason, there's a. Rigid accountability in the military. But it should be fair, so, and that's another thing, man, they got a lot of favoritism. Yes. Nobody could do the same crime as me and get, half the punishment.

There, there's a lot of, a lot of favorites. They choose. It's not, it's not fair. Not that I even was, I even cared. But since we just on that subject, it is definitely not Oh, yeah, yeah. We, I've seen multiple people go AWOL or dessert and they all got different punishment. In fact, it's not just even the, the disciplinary side.

When we had a command ice cream day. We watched the chiefs would give the women double the portion of ice cream, and me and my bro got like a fraction of the ice cream. Like women are glamorized in the military. Just because men are men and when you only have a few of them on the ship, you you're, they're all trying to court them.

Yep. Including the chiefs with their, their, their wives. There's plenty of memes online about. These chiefs, when they see an E two Latina, I won't get into it, but it's, it's, it's kind of true. I've seen it first. Oh, it's definitely true. Crazy. I don't even wanna bring up from my ship some of the hickey exchanges for qualifications.

A bribery. Bring me, bring me what is it, a Pepsi or a, a Mr. Pib and a, a Monster Energy drink. And I'll sign off on this qual. I've seen bribery I've seen, blue Falcon is a term when you screw people over. I've seen a lot of that rewarded screwing over people, not in a way that saved the mission, just in a way that ruins other people's lives was rewarded.

A lot of leadership likes to replace themselves with versions of themselves that hate their lives. You could be cleaning for four hours about to go home, and then she says, my wife's divorcing me. We're gonna clean for another two hours. Chief, what? I didn't tell your wife to divorce you. I would tell her to stay 'cause I don't wanna clean, so there's a lot of, definitely seen a lot of that.

I, I've had episodes talking about it's hard to want to stay in when everyone around you is, negativity, vomiting onto you, talking about how they hate their lives and they want to get out and they try so hard to convince you to get out. And then the people who are trying to convince you to stay in.

Or also your bosses who treat you terribly. So it's, it's hard to, this, there's, the retention issue is a social issue. It's, it's, it's the lifestyle, but specifically the leadership's impact on lifestyle. 'cause I've talked about you could be in the most beautiful military base in the world and have a terrible chain of command and you're gonna leave and you could be.

Crappy place and have an amazing chain of command and reenlist it. It just for sure, same as the civilian world, the work environment really changes whether you stay at that job or not, and it's sad that the same complaints about military leadership that were happening 50 years ago are still happening today.

But I digress. What I want to get into is, you talked about the turning point. You said, Hey, enough of this alcohol, I mean. Did the rehabilitation process of the military benefit you at all, or was it really, you kind of went there, you were like, forget about this, and it was really just some kind of internal decision one day.

So they sent me, they sent me, it didn't matter they sent me. Right. So, but when I was in there, I learned some things, but I also didn't want to talk because, like I said, the military man, they'll, they'll, they'll shame you. They'll punish you for things that they shouldn't. So I just, I kept quiet, man.

So I didn't really use it to my advantage. I just kind of sat back and watched everybody else. But I did learn a lot of things. It made me more mindful of my patterns, my habits and psych psychology related stuff with, with drugs, alcohol, whatever the case is. But man, no, what, what really, what really made me change, and I feel like this is everybody, man.

It's not knowledge, it's not somebody telling you you need to change. It's like getting hit so hard that you're at rock bottom and you're like, okay, I actually have to change now. Because life is so painful and it sucks so bad that if I continue like this, like it's only going one of two places, in the grave or in prison.

Mm-hmm. So once you, once you hit that point. I mean, you can continue. Some people do some pe some people don't have that turning point. Some people don't have a turning point. But I was like, man, I'm not, I'm not gonna be like my dad. I got a daughter when I made, when I made this decision, she was already born.

She was, she was probably around one or two at the time. That I decided to turn my life around. And yeah man, I was like, this is this. Like I said earlier, man, this isn't serving me. It's time to let it go and switch on to something constructive, something that's gonna build me. So it's really just being rock bottom.

I was actually sitting at my mom's house, man, I just got another DUI, so I got one in-service on base. So, it don't, it don't translate to the civilian world. It's not on your civilian record. But I got one in the civilian world, man. They took my license for six months and I was doing pretty good.

I had my own apartment and I was like living in the city away from home 'cause I hate my hometown. So once I got this DUI, man, I got hit pretty hard and I, I, I couldn't handle it financially and obviously I couldn't drive, so it was hard for me to operate and make money. So I was like, move back in with mom.

And me and my mom don't, don't have the best relationship, or we didn't at the time for sure. And she, she associated with me being a crazy marine, so she didn't really want me around 'cause she was like, you're gonna be bad for my mental health. Mm-hmm. And I was like, mom, I have like no option. Like, I'm down bad.

And I, I know I'm responsible for it, but I gotta have somewhere to go. So anyway, we, we figured it out, man. And I was living there with my mom, but like I said, the relationship was not good. So I just hated my situation. And I remember I was sitting there drunk one night, man, bottle on my lap, and I was sitting on the couch just sloppy drunk.

And I, I told myself, I'm like, I'm still, I'm still drunk. The pain's still here. My problem's still here. I'm still on this same bad path. Nothing's going to change unless I change. So that night, man, it's like I just got so much power and motivation and I feel like when that hits you in life, you have to use it, man.

A lot of people a lot of people sleep on that, that moment, that moment of momentum. So I, I used it to my advantage and I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm, I got a game plan now. The next day, man, I, I literally, I went and ordered me some books. I went to Walmart got me a journal and I'm like, I'm gonna start journaling.

I'm gonna figure this out. Like, I know there's a way. And basically once I started journaling, man, I took inventory of myself. I broke down like all my strengths, my weaknesses my opportunities, my assets. I basically just took full inventory. I just sat there looking at it, man, flipping pages back and forth.

I was writing and I came up with a conclusion. I was like, man, with the situation with my dad, me getting kicked outta the military, like I've been through a lot. I understand, the pain and the, the, the habits that can lead a man down a bad path. So I was like, I feel like I could be a great coach.

So I started my journey, and it started off like I'm gonna transform myself. And then once I master this. And overcome this hardest situation I've been through in my life. Once I overcome this, I know that I can overcome anything and I can teach other people how to do the same thing. So that was my whole mission, man.

And I just been, I just been riding that wave for three years now, man. Staying aligned with that. So are you completely alcohol free or did you are you in moderation? Yeah. Moderation, man. So, like the, the thing is, man, the way I used to drink I couldn't, I couldn't control myself. So I did go, I, I went about six months, no, no drinking, right?

And once I started back well for one, my, my mindset was completely different, man. Once I just like started operating on my purpose, I just didn't feel like that pain and that anger no more. Like, I felt like I was at peace. So once I did finally de decide to drink, it was like I was in, I was a different person, man.

I could drink like a gentleman when in the past I would act out, I'd, I'd be reckless. And it was like I just was chasing the high all night. And not everybody can do that. To be real, I was taking a risk by even going back to trying to drink. But yeah, ever since then, man, I just, I'll drink like two or three beers and I'm like, I don't even want, I don't even want it, it don't, it don't like get me fired up.

It don't make me wanna keep going all night. And ultimately I think it's 'cause I gotta, I got a bigger mission man. I gotta a bigger purpose and I get way more high or drunk off of, off of my mission than I do that man. It's kind of just a distraction now for sure. Yeah. And what role has fitness played in all of this?

Dude, big, big man. And I'll tell you, fitness is one thing. 'cause I've been in fitness, like been here my whole life. I grew up in sports. I wa I was a high level athlete man. I was always on all star teams and stuff. Marine Corps. We, we gotta stay fit, man. And I, I really locked in with, in the right weight room when I was in the Marine Corps.

'cause I wanted to be buff. I wanted to be a badass, all that stuff. Little devil dog. And so I was always consistent, man. It's just, but like, I would leave the, I would leave the gym and go grab me a 40 ounce beer and, slam it down afterward. I was just, I was just wasting my gains and my work.

But yeah, the, the, the big thing is when you put yourself in a position of leadership. And hold you accountable, man. 'cause you got people looking up to you and they're waiting to see if you slip, man. They're waiting to see if you fail. Yeah. So to me it, it actually helped holding me accountable, knowing that I was teaching people.

I had people looking up to me. There's power in that man. I believe there's a lot of power in leadership. And you've probably seen that in the military too. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I have. And I think that. Fitness is a great thing in the fact, not just physically, but of discipline, of, motivation, but especially discipline if you, if you have the right mindset, so I, I personally utilize a, a, I call it a punishment mindset.

I did get it from your, you, your not so likable guy, David Goggins. I like him a lot actually. I think the principles, the embodies are good, right? I think he's an extreme version and you have to tailor it to your life personally, but. There was a video he had posted about, like he landed somewhere.

He was checking out this gym and I guess they didn't have treadmills. They had ellipticals and he was like, man, I hate the elliptical. We'll just like not do it today or something. And he goes, just for that. I did double the time on the elliptical or something like that. And I was like, I really liked that mindset.

So when I'm at the gym, true, if I go to do something and I for some reason complain internally, like, oh, I don't. Want to do another set of this, or I really don't wanna do this today. I actually will force myself to do double as well and confront it. Yeah, it's, it's, and I've been trying to do stuff I don't like, so the other day I was talking with a gentleman on the show about, hating the hack squat and the next day I was like, all right, gotta gotta do it.

I've been keeping that mentality on my runs too. If I, I'm like, oh, I'm just not feeling it today. I'm feeling a little crappy today. We'll just only do 30 minutes instead of 60. I'm like, all right, well now we're gonna do 80. So I think it's definitely know your limits and, and know your stuff, but it's, it's about discipline.

There's a lot of days I wake up, I don't want to go to the gym. I've got a gentleman, I'm, I'm buddies with. Who's been on the show, he wakes up at like 3:00 AM every day, just to go to the gym, like, yeah. And, and that's what I wanted to ask you about in terms of fitness. I love to ask my fitness guests what is your favorite workout or favorite set to do, and then what is your least favorite?

Dude, I don't even have a least favorite. Like, it's gotten to the point, man. I've been, I've been so locked in with it that like, I don't, I don't even have to think about gonna the gym. Like, that's just part of, that's like brushing my teeth, bro. Like, I wake up, I, I do my morning thing and then I go to the gym like I used to.

I wake up at four 30 every day. It don't matter. Saturday, Sunday, I wake up before 30, I get ready, I go to the gym. But I'd have to say, man, my favorite day, probably be chest day. Just 'cause I like that pump, man. I like look in the mirror. I'm like, damn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know exactly. What do you mean? But yeah, my least favorite.

It used to be leg day, for obvious reasons. Man, a lot of us hate it. Don't even say it. Every gym guy who's come on this show, and I've asked that question, their answer has been leg day for least favorite. I'm saying every time. But what made me enjoy Leg Day Man was switching from that traditional training where it's like heavy barbell squat, doing the dead lifts, doing the old traditional stuff, man.

Now I train for performance and like athleticism when it comes to leg day. So I do a lot of jumps and like stability. Unilateral movements and stuff. Basically more functional and athletic movements man, rather than that old school stuff, because that old school stuff just beat me down trying to do heavy weight, putting it on my spawn, man.

Yeah, it's, it's all about finding what you like, like me personally, I don't like squatting, but weighted lunges. Boy, I feel those and I like doing. I don't know that, I guess it's a. It's a leg press, but it's the kind where you're actually on your back on the ground pushing the weights into the air. I really like that style and doing that stuff.

So, yeah, it's it's definitely I've always loved leg date, so, when I first started working out, obviously I was only 120 pounds. I had almost, I'm muscle mass and, no bone I, or I had, sorry, all bones, no muscle or fat. So, arm day wasn't as good for me because that was my weakest lift.

So I really loved leg day 'cause I had always been swimming and running, so I was, I was, I had a higher base weight for that than my, my arms and chest. But for me. All I love to do now is arms and chest because that's what I'm chasing after of, of improving. Just like you said, like I want to have that, that nice square chest like, David Hasselhoff and the SpongeBob movie.

That's what I'm chasing after, and I just love the way my, my biceps feel after it for leg day. It's so easy to get that, that pump feeling, that sore feeling where I'm like trying to get up the stairs into my apartment. I'm like, this is rough. Like, but with chest and arms, I gotta push it further.

And I, and I like that, and abs have always been my, my strongest lift and easiest to, to see. And so I, I, that, that's what I do on my low self-esteem days. We like, we're just gonna go do some ab work. Okay, cool. But yeah, it's, the biggest thing that always gets me off track is not staying scheduled or, or routine with it.

And I think that's an issue a lot of people have is once you Oh yeah. Once you, you miss a day, it gets easier to miss more and more days, and, and. Your body man declines so fast sometimes too. It's like, oh yeah, I had to miss the gym for two weeks while traveling, only doing what I could while I was out and about.

And I went back and I was like, struggling. And I was like, oh boy, we re we. But that reset was still stronger than if you never started. So I always encouraged people. I heard a quote, the best time to plant oak tree was 50 years ago. The second best time is today. So a lot of people push off working out, and I think the sooner you start, the sooner you get past this phase of I'm not strong, I'm, I'm weak, I I'm out of breath to that, new base standard of, of just doing great.

And so what is, what does your routine look like? Do you have like assigned days, like chest day, that kind of stuff that you do Monday through Sunday? Yeah, bro. So I, I've switched it up a few times, but man, I, I like the, the bro split. So, I just do, I just do four days on, one day off. I might take two days off depending on how my body's feeling.

I, I would my body and stuff, and I'll do runs and stuff, but just strictly weight training. I usually do chest and then I'll do backer legs and then all through shoulder. So it's like chest, back, legs, shoulders, yeah. And then, and then rest a day or two, depending. In fact, shoulder press is actually my weakest lift for some reason.

Not, not the, not the Arnold, that, that's fine. But like the actual machine for some reason, I just feel that. So, whatever hurts the most is what I try to try to work on the most, and yeah, I think it's great. And so you talked about coaching. Tell us a little bit more about that both for, for fitness and mental health.

Yeah, man. So, with, with with my clients. Dude, it's, it's, it's mental, physical. It's finances, it's relationships. 'cause it all ties into one man. Like, I can set you up a workout plan, but if you can't even get your, your damn clothes clean, you're not going, you're not gonna wake up and go to the gym 'cause you're not organized.

You know what I'm saying? If I set you up the workout plan, but you and your girlfriends arguing all the time, you can't set boundaries and, make time for yourself. You're not gonna be able to get in the gym. So there's a lot of things that ties in. That's why people always say, it's not just lifting it, it's a lifestyle.

So there's a lot of factors that go in, man. And I really, I really invest into people's growth process because I, I completely understand, man, that it, it's not just the program. Anybody like, you can go and chat GPT, Hey, gimme a split, gimme a workout split. Cool. Well then why can't we apply it, man? You know what I'm saying?

It's not, it's not a knowledge issue, it's an application issue. And you gotta be well-rounded, bro. You gotta be organized, meals on point, relationship on point, finances on point, or you're just not going to, you're not gonna be consistent in the gym. Yeah, a hundred percent. And so how can people contact you to work with you?

My Instagram, so it's Reed Jones. Fitness, get on my Instagram. I'm posting every day on my story, on my page. A lot of motivation. I talk a lot of military stuff and I even, I even spotlight some of my clients. I work with some active duty and some veterans, and we get after it every day. We do weekly calls twice, twice a week.

We do calls. We get together as a team, we huddle up, come up with a game plan and we execute, man. Yeah. And sometimes you post Happy Friday on a Thursday, I There's morning stuff there. Yeah. That's just today. Yeah. But I was gonna say that's re REID for everyone listing, and we're gonna have the link in the description below, so you don't have to memorize that, but yeah.

And what would be your, your big takeaway you want for everyone? Kind of tying everything together, just kind of about lifestyle advice mostly. Yeah. So. Turn your pain, man. Turn your challenges into momentum. Man. It's energy. What's the, what's the quote there? Energy. Energy remains constant. So like people that are addicts or just have, have a lot of issues.

All that is, is energy. You have to channel that in the right places. If you're, if every time you pick up a beer, you was to pick up a weight, imagine the, imagine the gains you'd get. Or every time you hit some, some drugs, you decided to, to read a book or go hug your family, you would have. You would have crazy, massive benefits in your life.

A hundred percent. So channel all channel all the energy into constructive habits and man, your, your life's gonna change. You're gonna grow a hundred percent. I, I appreciate you saying that. And so thank you for taking the time of day to, guest on the show. I appreciate what you've said and we'll connect in the future for sure.

So thank you again, man. Hey, thank you brother. Have a good one, man.