Welcome back to another episode of the Dragon's Den podcast. Today we have Thai Guidry. Thai is a company officer in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was born and raised in Lafayette Parish and he's also my cousin in law. I've known him for over 20 years and Thai has always been a guy that I've looked up to, even 20 years ago. He's the classic stoic marine. Chiseled jawline, dashingly handsome and fit as hell. But more than that, I know him as a man of good character. He's humble, quiet and treats his family with respect. He's graduated NC Breathing School and consistently signs up for hard things. We had many more things to talk about, so I fully expect a part 2, maybe in December.

Welcome to another episode of The Dragon's Den Podcast. Today are joined by none other, than Chief Joel Miller, more commonly referred to as "Chief Miller". Chief Miller runs one of the largest fire social media pages on planet earth and works as a federal fire Chief here in central Louisiana. He's avoided all podcast appearances for the last 12 years, so it was actually shocking that he told me yes. We talked social media, recruiting, training, conferences, culture, how to treat rookies and more. We appreciate Chief for stopping in and we hope that he doesn't become a stranger. We hope you enjoy. Thanks for listening.

https://www.instagram.com/chief_miller/

https://chiefmillerapparel.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoouqi3bKY0MbEKbeMQXhJwcgFkH0uPH-eUZ1Rtk4zmGj1KdUkgi

Welcome to another episode of the Dragon's Den podcast. Today we sit down with the power couple, Aaron and Meg Kowal. Aaron is a captain on the special operations truck in St George, Louisiana and Meg is currently the Public Education Chief for the same department, although she also worked on the floor at St George before moving into that position. They are both 2nd generation firemen and Meg started her fire service time just outside of New York State. They are both dedicated and passionate individuals and we discussed everything from culture, training, the LIFT conference, their marriage and more. We really appreciate their willingness to come on and share some of their journey with me.

Welcome back to another episode of the Dragon's Den Podcast. On today's episode myself and fellow cadre member Josh Bourque recap our experience going through One Bad Tour, Class 9. Right out of the gates, if you are listening to this in order to know the "curriculum" of the program, then you are wasting your time. The how, why, when, where, what of the program are going to need to be experienced by you. What we will discuss is our preparation, nutrition, mindset throughout and then when we thought the value of the program. If it feels like we're being a little vague, it's very intentional. There were many impactful and important moments for both myself and Josh, but ultimately we want everyone to go through it and experience it for yourselves. We both highly recommend the program and hope that you enjoy the conversation, in spite of us being a little vague. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to the next episode of the Dragon's Den Podcast. Today we did something quite different. This is a collection of 12 or 13 clips of a bunch of guys from around the fire service answering the same question at Small-Town Job-Town. What, in your opinion, is the value of outside training and do you have a personal story in relation to that outside training? I've already released all of the individual episodes on youtube, but decided to put them all together as one long episode. I can talk till I'm blue in the face about outside training, but maybe hearing it from different ranks and different people might help push someone to attend ANYTHING that's not related to their department. I hope you find value in it.

Welcome to the next episode of the Dragon's Den Podcast. Today we filled the podcast with killers. We have Jacob Stolzle, Donald Smith and Ian Lopez. All of these men are Mississippi Smoke Divers out of St. Tammany Parish. Jacob is also an Oklahoma Smoke Diver and has completed One Bad Tour with Ian Lopez. I stepped aside for this episode and let Josh Bourque jump in to host because we truly didn't need me for this one. This is a conversation Josh has wanted to have ever since he graduated the MSD program, but we couldn't get the times to work until just now. We also wanted to have on Barrett Pittman, but he wasn't able to make the trip. This is a bit of a long one, but it mostly centers around the smoke diving programs, culture and what the programs meant to the guys that have completed them. We very much appreciate these guys for driving 4 hours to come and have a conversation that meant a lot us. We hope you enjoy.

Welcome to the next episode of the Dragon's Den Podcast. Todays guest is Chief Jacob Johnson. Chief serves as an Asst. Chief for the city of Pearland Texas. Disclaimer: I am a moron. For the entirety of this episode I called Pearland, Pearl Land. Why did my brain read it that way? I don't know. Did Chief say it correctly repeatedly and I never catch on? Yes. Because I'm a moron. Did Chief ever correct me? No, because he is a professional.

With that being said, we had a great conversation about what the Pearland fire department is doing that is different from other areas and how they are building an unbelievable culture of training and operational readiness. I haven't been everywhere and I haven't seen everything, but from what Chief Johnson described, it sounds like a killer place to work. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Welcome to another episode of the Dragons' Den podcast. Today we joined by Nick Ledin. Many know Nick for his heavy involvement in the Firefighter Rescue Survey, being part of committees and advisory boards and teaching around the nation. All of those things are true, but one of the things I love most about Nick is his unwavering commitment to truth, science and tracking down the facts to the best of his ability. We talked about his background and things he's involved in, but we also took a little detour and discussed things like truth on social media and how to navigate those waters. If I ever do a "philosophy podcast", I'm pulling in Nick as my first guest. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this episode.