Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman
Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman is presented by The Mac Parkman Foundation
The mission of this show and the foundation is To serve as a source of information, resources, and communications to the community of parents, coaches/Athletic trainers, medical staff, and athletes that are affected by sports-related concussions and to raise awareness of the long-term implications of concussive and sub-concussive trauma to our children.
Broken Brains will also explore how Concussive Trauma impacts our Service Members and Veterans.
Join us every week as Bruce interviews leaders and experts in various Medical fields, as well as survivors of Concussive trauma.
Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman
Tackling Brain Trauma: Advocacy for Veterans and Youth Sports Safety
In this impactful episode of Broken Brains, host Bruce Parkman and our producer Deny Caballero tackle the urgent need for awareness and solutions surrounding repetitive brain trauma in veterans and youth sports. Together, they explore critical topics such as the mental health challenges faced by veterans, the risks of brain injuries in youth sports, and the gaps in insurance coverage for effective treatment. Discover the powerful advocacy behind the Headsmart app, learn about the importance of legislative action, and get an inside look at the upcoming tailgate event dedicated to raising awareness and funds for veterans' care. Through personal stories and a shared mission, Bruce and Deny illustrate how education, community support, and fundraising can drive meaningful change.
If you're passionate about mental health, concussion awareness, or making a difference in the lives of veterans and young athletes, this episode is for you. Listen, like, share, and subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts to join the movement for safer futures.
Support The Mac Parkman Foundations Army Vs Navy Tail gate event! Click the link below and donate today!
https://givebutter.com/Army-vs-Navy-SOF-Tailgate
Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman is sponsored by The Mac Parkman Foundation
Support The Mac Parkman Foundation by donating today!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=CR24MY2GDUCZL
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Broken Brains and Its Mission
03:04 The Importance of the Tailgate Event
06:00 Understanding Repetitive Brain Trauma
09:00 The Five Gaps in Veteran Care
12:00 Exploring Alternative Treatments
14:54 Advocacy and Legislative Efforts
18:05 The Role of Education and Awareness
21:00 The Book and Its Impact
24:52 Introduction to Headsmart App and Book
27:10 Understanding Concussions and Their Impact
29:20 The Importance of Specialist Care for Concussions
30:58 Advocacy for Veterans and Mental Health
32:49 Insurance Coverage and Legislative Changes
34:15 The Role of Community Support and Fundraising
38:00 Personal Stories and Shared Experiences
40:40 The Upcoming Tailgate Event for Fundraising
Get the Head Smart App Today! Click the link below to download it now!
https://www.mpfact.com/headsmart-app/
Join Blue Fusion and Horse Soldier Bourbon for the inaugural Special Operations Army vs. Navy Tailgate Event
Celebrate with us and support veteran wellness. Your participation helps fund The Mac Parkman Foundation's Veteran Program and Team American Freedom.
Your sponsorship ensures vital education, screening, and treatment for veteran mental health, aiming to reduce the tragedy of veteran suicide.
Enjoy food, beverages, and live music by Razor’s Edge, one of the top-perform
Produced by Security Halt Media
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Broken Brains hosted by the Matt Parkman Foundation.
Speaker 1:We focus on the issue of repetitive brain trauma in the forms of repetitive head impacts from contact sports, repetitive blast exposure for our military veterans and what it's doing to the brains of these individuals and the resulting mental health epidemic that needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1:And we reach out to scientists and researchers and people that are suffering from these conditions in order to bring you the most relevant and up-to-date information so that you can be informed about these issues and be prepared to address them if they ever impact their life and you'd be surprised how often they really do. So we're back here, and we're here today with our producer, denny Caballero, who a lot of people don't know is the heart and soul behind this. This man is amazing, 7th Cube Combat vet, has his own in-depth, real personal story that we got to bring on the show one day, but understands the issues of our repetitive blast exposure better than most because him, like myself, have all been impacted by this from our years of military service. Thanks for coming on the show as our producer too, danny, how you doing man, what's going on?
Speaker 2:I'm doing, you know, ducking and moving man, just running and gunning, like we always do, uh, trying to, you know, advocate, raise awareness for these causes that are so near and dear to our hearts because, uh, we live it, man, we live it and we breathe it. And uh, dude, you, you are somebody that is always moving and working towards fighting for legislation, fighting for change, informed consent, and in the past 48 hours, man and I have to let our audience know, once we're off recording, bruce doesn't go to take a nap, he doesn't go to just hang out. This man is constantly working, so pinning him down to do a podcast doesn't go to like, just like, hang out. This man, like, is constantly working, so pinning him down to do a podcast, it's almost it's almost impossible.
Speaker 1:I have missed you so much. Pain you feel. So, man, I was like, but the congressman called I gotta go.
Speaker 2:You know, I was like, ah, dude, really, so yeah, but that's the thing man, that's the thing that people don't understand is like you really are boots on the ground making things happen and tell us a little bit like what have you been up to these last 48 hours?
Speaker 1:Because you were just you know, at the worst place in my imagination, our audience probably knows that we're going to host the first tailgate for our special operations and our focus is veterans, mental health, all veterans, not just special operations. And and and to bring awareness of the suicide epidemic that is has not abated. We still have a huge problem because we haven't changed the way that we address treatment for mental health and we also don't have, we have minimal awareness of the fact that our veterans could be for mental health and we also don't have we have minimal awareness of the fact that our veterans could be suffering mental health as a result of their brain, you know, by their brain being impacted by repetitive blast exposure and repetitive impact. So, anyways, this tailgate is getting pretty crazy man the team is putting together. I mean you know we got tailgate. I mean we got big tents, we got a massive stage coming in, and so people know this parking lot was donated by the Washington commanders ownership team themselves. Oh, wow, they heard, yeah, they heard about our mission. They're like dude, spot on man, you know, let's take care of those veterans. So they gave us an entire parking lot and this is a joint tailgate because mental illness has no favorite.
Speaker 1:So, even though I'm an Army guy and Army's looking pretty good this year. This is go Army Navy. All right, we want everybody there, and I think of last count we got two academy classes bringing all their people to Army, oh man, and I think one of the Naval Academy classes looking at right now, and so we want to bring them all in and the whole focus is let's together and talk about these issues because they're not going away. We have a big problem, denny, because funding is drying up. I mean, a lot of Americans think, oh man, we're out of Afghanistan, we're out of Iraq, these wars are over. For guys like you, these wars are not going to end anytime soon. They're never going to end in certain aspects of your life that you have to deal with every day, and so money's drying up right now. People aren't as interested. It's not on the front page all the time, and yet we've got a growing need for services and treatments that can help veterans with their brains.
Speaker 2:So absolutely, and that's why this tailgate is so important to raise awareness and such a great venue to get the people out there to hear the mission of the Mac Parkman Foundation. That's the reality. Like you just said, people, when it's not top of mind, when we're not showing news stories of people boots on the ground in Afghanistan, it becomes back page news, it becomes an afterthought, it becomes a thing that's on the back burner. But the reality is, every year, countless veterans end their time in service and they get out and they feel lost, they feel abandoned by a nation, they feel abandoned by the services, and who's going to be there for them? Who's going to be there for them? Who's going to be advocating for them? Who's going to be talking about it? But the other beautiful thing about the Mac Parkman Foundation is you guys are also talking about youth sports. These are things that are integrally linked together because you get out, you got a family, you got kids, and what are your kids going to go? Do they're going to play sports?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and we all think more is better. That's America right. More is better. This is why our kids and our veterans are both suffering because more is better. I mean we look at the veteran side.
Speaker 1:I mean when you joined the Army not like me, I was a Cold War guy like Ronnie Reagan. Years we had sticks, right, we had bombs and guns, and all this you came in P for plenty, right? If we train harder, we're going to be more prepared for combat. Well, that means that since you joined the military, and everybody that joined the military, even from the mid-90s or early 90s, that were still in like leadership positions staff sergeants, sergeants first class, enrolled into these wars their exposure and your exposure to repetitive blast exposure never ended. They were either in combat or training for combat. And when we train for combat, you might as well be in it, because we train hard, bro, absolutely, we are hurting ourselves and just starting to realize this and we have to change. We have to change the way we're dealing with this. Um and and we are, you know, and and it's the.
Speaker 1:The time is not to point fingers. The time is not to say, well, this, they should have done this and the VA did that. Whatever Right the thing is, we are just understanding it. How do we make it right? How do we go back? And there's five gaps, and here's what you brought up that's so key. The five gaps for veterans are the same five gaps that we have for kids.
Speaker 1:Number one awareness and education. We don't even know that this exists, whether it's RHI or RBE, or medical nursing and psychiatric and suicide prevention communities are completely unaware that the kids with mental illness or the veterans with mental illness could have a damaged brain. So what are they doing? Have some drugs, baby. Big pharma's got a pill for everything. Oh, does that create a side effect? I got another pill for that. We come across veterans with 13 bags coming out of one VA appointment man with medication, because that's all the VA knows. And we have to change the mindset. They're not doing anything wrong or intentional. There's just the book, right? Hey man, we got to go buy the book, right? And the book says drugs and therapy Well.
Speaker 1:So that's the first thing we got to educate. We got to create awareness in the soldiers that they could have an issue, as well as our medical and psychiatric practitioners. Then the second problem we have is diagnosis. The assumption is that you have to be dead, and we've got to look at your brain in order to say, oh yeah, you were impacted by RBE or RHI. Uh-uh, in 2019, the National Institution of Neurological Strokes and Disorders, ninds, approved what was called the Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome Protocols.
Speaker 1:Four questions that anybody can ask have you had exposure with your DD-214, and your scars will tell. Or, if you're a kid, you got all of the pictures that you have of a playing ball and all this stuff. Do you have a mental illness? Well, you wouldn't be seeing a doctor if you didn't. Is it progressive? Yeah, that's why you're still seeing a doctor. And then the fourth question is do you have any predisposition to mental health? If that's a no, and the other three is yes, and you can document that you have exposure.
Speaker 1:Now we can now scan your brain. Dti scans, qeeg scans, functional MRI scans, spect scans can all show abnormalities in the brain. What does that mean? We have exposure. We have a protocol that says that you probably might have a brain damage. And now we have physical proof that we have a damaged brain. Bam, diagnosis right there.
Speaker 1:Okay, then that leads to the third issue that we have right now is treatments. The current protocols for mental illness in most cases are SSRIs, ssnis, benzos, whatever, and therapy right, you know, no problem Could work for people that don't have RHI and RBE, but when RHI and RBE are involved, we thought we're not treating the brain. Yes, and we have to exercise, treat the brain, and we now know that, through supplementation and through modalities like hyperbaric oxygen and vagus, nerve stimulation and photobiomodulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation and the whole list of psychedelics that are out there, these all stimulate the brain, and we have hundreds and thousands of veterans saying this helped me, this changed my life. We have footballs players this helped me, this changed my life. We have football players going this helped me, this changed my life. And so we now have treatment options that are out there, and what I want to remind people is that you can't die from these treatment options.
Speaker 1:This is not like cancer where, oh, I'm sorry, like when my wife, my beautiful wife, had breast cancer right With the first person misdiagnosed her. That would have meant that she would have gotten the wrong treatment, which probably would have killed her. All right. And so I can understand caution like, oh man, you know, we haven't tested and that's not FDA approved. When men and women are killing themselves or kids are killing themselves, we should not care about what the FDA has approved, when these, all these treatments have been around for decades. They do not have a history of killing or harming anybody.
Speaker 1:And outside of the severe plant medicines like ayahuasca and ibogaine, which, if you go in on SSRIs you could die, right, but none of these other ones can hurt you. You can't die from ketamine. You go to sleep, you wake up, you know you can't die. So why not try? That's my point here. Denny is like if we know we got a problem and we've got kids eating nine millimeters, right I mean, and kids hurting themselves or acting out and getting incarcerated, we should not have to wait on the FDA. We should say, all right, these things are working in some way, shape or form. Let's just go right, let's go Action, okay.
Speaker 2:It's, you know, to reflect back on one of our guests that we had on the show recently, brent McCartney, advocating for the same thing. And with this 38 challenge and with the brain optimization, lab that he's getting up and running. He's saying the same thing. You know getting guys and gals to do difficult things that are uncomfortable, but they give back. The benefits are just monumental breathing performance, breathing cold water.
Speaker 1:I gotta try exposure. I'm hearing about this breathing stuff, man, like you, like you know, it changes your life, so so I'm um absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And in the great thing about it, a lot of the, the, the people that are advocating and are the front runners are people that are suffering themselves, that found this to be healing and found it to be a performance enhancer. Uh, nfl veteran Brian Peters, he's now a breath performance coach phenomenal way of teaching this to guys like us. We know where's the caveman. If he can teach us to breathe for performance, he can teach anybody, and it's, it's those modalities it's breathing bro, it's not a drug.
Speaker 1:You don't have to put a gum on your head. It's breathing, you know I mean, that's what's so cool about it. You know really. Yeah, it's uh, it's really amazing, what that? I gotta try it, man. I gotta say I haven't been there yet. I haven't. I gotta. I gotta meet Mr Peters, I gotta go to school, I guess, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we're gonna. We're gonna have to reach out and get him on the show so he can uh, cause he puts together a really good class on performance. Breathing and I and it's it's stuff that we forget how to do simple things like breathing. I mean, a vast majority of veterans are getting diagnosed with sleep apnea on the way out. There's two different types. One, it's the main problems up here. The other one is just the way you're breathing. It's just the way that you've worked. You've found yourself breathing through your mouth and then you're literally a mouth breather, which is not the best way to breathe.
Speaker 1:It's not working scuba school either.
Speaker 2:But you know, going back to what you were just talking about, the modalities are out there but it's controversial because they're not the approved things. But you talk to anybody who's been in the field long enough any of these doctors that had gotten their start in the VA but then eventually left, they will tell you firsthand I left because the treatment models were so messed up. We're only pushing pills. We're only pushing pills, and it's just. It's got to change, man. It has to change and you're talking about breathing exercises, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, actually we could do a podcast in every one of these. You know these phases that we got because we've still got two more to talk about. But you are absolutely right, man. These treatments are changing people's lives and we have men and women mortgaging their houses to go get treatment. Man, I know one couple right now. They're $80,000 down the hole right now to buy hyperbaric oxygen tents to get treatment, stelae ganglion blocks to fix their own brains because the doctors can't do it. They don't have the next problem billing codes, right? They don't have the way to prescribe this. Insurance won't cover it. That's number five. And that's what they're. They said screw it, man. We love each other. We want to be better to each other. We both suffer from. You know one's on the domestic abuse side. Ones was a Navy EOD guy and they are literally 80 grand out of pocket to fix their own brains and you know this should be covered by insurance. If they're going to pay for pills, they're going to pay for therapies and therapeutic counseling. Yet you look at, I mean and you and I are in this space Everybody we talk to has been profoundly impacted by one or more combination of these therapies, they're all in a better place.
Speaker 1:Some of them are off these drugs. Their lives are changed. Drugs with me because I'm freaked out that I might have another panic attack and I need my hydroxine or my amlodipine if my blood pressure goes up and whatever right. And I got all these drugs that I used to have to take and now I don't touch them, right, because I got into this just through. You know, like everybody else started research, talking to people like, hey, man, try this, try that, and I did, and and somehow it's improved my brain health, and, and and I and you're right, man people when you talk to people about this that have been in the space of, like nobody understands why this is not part of a. You know, and and drugs has their place, bro. I mean, they really do. If you're getting ready to end your life, there is a place for drugs, okay.
Speaker 2:Absolutely there is. I was there. You are 100% right, man.
Speaker 1:Nobody's saying no drugs. I mean, I'm not getting on my FK pedal still here, right, I'm not getting on drugs. No, there is a place, there is a time for drugs. But drugs are not supposed to be a lifelong, not a protocol, right, it's not something that you spend your life on. It gets you through a phase and then you, there's so much and so much of this stuff is natural, it's. You know, come on, we're talking, breathing and and and dumping it up, jumping in a bucket of cold water or taking a cold shower All of these things have huge improvements physiologically on your brain health, your overall health. But yeah, man, it's kind of I'm at a lot, but I mean as to why it hasn't happened yet. We're going to make it happen, man. I mean we're going to be. You know, we're pushing for legislation now and I just came off the hill yesterday and I got, I think, a sponsor. He's a pretty badass dude navy seal team six. Oh yeah, gonna be pretty hell, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, man. That's like when I texted you the other day I was, like man, like you're proving people what if you piss us off as green berets, if you get us passionate about something, we're gonna break down walls. Yeah, we are going to break down walls.
Speaker 1:And you know I was that guy with the big mouth and I think that's what God's using me for. He's like put that big mouth, all that hot air, to work right. Dude, I walked eight to ten miles yesterday in Congress. I walked every building in the Congress side, every building on the Senate side. They get a, they get a subway that takes you under the thing. I never I didn't.
Speaker 1:I didn't. I had the staff. Have a staffer with me and this guy ran me over there, bro. Number one these buildings are amazing. I mean, our forefathers built some. I love touching the marble. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:So I was like oh, my God, look at the joint work right. But I invited for us. We invited because you're part of our team. Every congressman and every Senator on the Veteran Affairs Committee, every one of them. They hit every office. And so, dude, I walked the halls yesterday. I was so tired and then on my last stop I see, senator Rick Scott Florida.
Speaker 1:I'm from Florida, right, yeah, I'll just stop. He's not on the Better Ferries Committee, so I'm talking to the guys. I give them. So I'm inviting all the staffers 50% off. If you're a staffer, you're smart on this issue, right? They all want to come. They all want to come. It's like 25 bucks all the barbecue and booze you can drink. That'll get any 25-year-old excited right Like oh, I'm going to be there.
Speaker 1:So then he tells me. He says well, wait a minute. Well, you know, Senator Scott's not on the Veterans Affairs Committee, but he's on the Armed Services Committee, and I completely forgot about that man. There's another 20 senators that are on that committee only. So now I got to go back, or we're going to be starting, we're going to be eating, we're going to get all them and all you got to do is tell them hey, the parking lot was donated by the Washington commanders and they know this is you.
Speaker 1:When you got that kind of support, that means something to them. We got a VIP section for them. Man, it's going to be so much fun. That is awesome, man, and it's going to be so much fun.
Speaker 2:That is awesome, man, and it's those events right there that people need to understand. Like you gotta go out and support organizations. Nonprofits are doing work, like we got. Like, if you pause right now, go to the episode description there's a link there you gotta just anything that you can contribute, help the cause, cause it's going to the greater good, it's making changes, it's helping people's lives change for the better. And, man, we haven't even talked about the book or the app enough. That's the thing about this. Man, we got an app, we got a book, and it's the other thing and it's not a book that you get lost in the scientific detail. That's the important thing. The book that you can pick up, and you said it perfectly. The other thing and it's not a book that you get lost in the scientific detail, that's the important thing. The book that you can pick up, and you said it perfectly the other day grab a bag of popcorn, grab your favorite drink and just sit back and get some information.
Speaker 1:Two nights man, two nights and you can be smarter than most of the doctors and nurses on this one issue. Not that they're not smart?
Speaker 1:They're just not informed. And you know for the reader and we're coming out with an updated version of the book. I'm working on it right now. I got one more chapter to research.
Speaker 1:But you know, when I lost my son, or we lost our son, you know I was in a hole and I was all alone, man, I mean, I was not. I shouldn't have been alone. I'm saying that right now. It was a couple of days. I'm like you know what. I don't want to be here, no more man. I'm reading all this material. I'm finding out that one. Why didn't I know this? This makes sense.
Speaker 1:And then I look back at some of my decisions. When I said I want to take my son out of sports in ninth grade because he had his third concussion, and then they said, you know, he did the doctor thing, he went back in, he never had another one. Well, what would have happened if I would have pulled him there? Right? And I thought you start reliving the past when your kid is not in your life. You relive the past and and even though you would say you know you were a great dad, you're a great mom, you focus on those times when you didn't say the right thing. You didn't do the right thing and even though, you know, in my relationship personally with my son there was not hardly, you know, there was just a handful.
Speaker 1:I focus on them Right, I'm just like, I am like and I can't get rid of them because I was like, ah, and it wouldn't have made a difference, you know, in the end state, but I, as I was reading all these books, like I was getting books on schizophrenia and mental illness, I read them all. I read them all. I read research papers. I'm like, well, no wonder parents don't. You know like the movie Concussion came out? Yeah, well, it was. Yeah, it was Will Smith and it was a great movie, don't get me wrong. But I don't think there was enough, there was not enough education on that. This could happen to your kid was not enough education on that.
Speaker 1:This could happen to your kid. Right, it was a drama focused on a struggling NFL guy and a disease that, up until even today, is only associated with NFL guys. Right, we had to drive the point home that this starts in childhood, and what parent wouldn't want to know about these risks? But what parent wants to read a 200 page doctor book with words? You know, I got a. You know, when I started researching, I spent half my time in the Google dictionary. I go, what the hell is traumatic encephalopathy? And you know, and all these, you know all these crazy words that I had to learn. Hell, I forgot half of them already.
Speaker 1:But you know, we wrote a book. We wrote an 88 page book for parents. It's got pictures in it, cause I'm a soldier, denny's a soldier, we like pictures, man, you got, you got a book. You got to have pictures. Even my Bible's got pictures in it. Right, you know, absolutely so. But, um, we wanted to make it informative for parents to read and go, okay, I got it. Now I can decide whether my son or daughter is going to do X or Y, because up until that point it was just automatic. Man, yeah, you can play contact sports as we did, and we invested in the pads, we invested in the helmets, we invested in the training, we invested in ah, bah, bah and it don't work. So, yeah, the book I'm working on a revised edition.
Speaker 1:We're going to be putting in some new chapters on research and the traumatic encephalopathy syndrome protocols that we didn't put in the first book. We're going to have a chapter for veterans, just in case you know, just to put that in there. Going to update the whole book with Rhi, because when I started writing it it was all subconcussive trauma, yeah, yeah, and then repetitive head impacts became the term, and so we're gonna update the book. We might add another 10 pages to it. Sorry for all you army guys, I'm afraid no 10 more pages.
Speaker 1:Now it's another beer. Come on, get another beer, read the book. You know shush up, you know, but now we another beer, read the book you know, shush up, you know. But no, we're very excited about you know, and the books, just so you know it's free Books, free man. You know we don't make any money off the book. We don't want to make any money off the book. What we want is people to read, people informed, and people that can, you know, an educated population. That's what we want.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and if, if you pause the video right here, you'll see there's a QR code right there. Just take a screenshot. If you're watching on your phone, take a screenshot, get the book. It's that simple to be informed these days, and it's purposely. You know it's consumable, it's it's consumable. It's not a diet, it's not a digest where it's going to be comprehensive on everything, right, like, if you want to dive into that, into that world, you can do that. But I'm telling you, what you need is something that's quick. You can start understanding the big concepts right now, which I didn't know until I was going through my own nightmare, which just happens to be a lot of the cases for people, like, if you're a parent and you have kids in sports. Take the time, take a few moments to read this book and, even better, like when this app launches, uh, download the app. That's one thing that every everybody is like. I'm I'm juggling three of these things. Uh, so I'm also more worried about the cancer exposure from these freaking radiation.
Speaker 1:Right yeah.
Speaker 2:But they're. They're. They're a useful tool. You download an app on about anything. These days, you can do your homework from your phone. Uh, but downloading the app when it comes out, that's other another useful tool. Yeah, that's right. It's out right now. What's the name of the app again? Bruce?
Speaker 1:HeadSmart right now. What's the name of the app? Again, bruce, head Smart, head Smart. You can find it on the Apple store, the Google store. You can download it. It's all free. It's actually got the book in it. It's got a link to the book. I think the book might be in it and you can read it from there. And hats off to my sister, suzanne. She put that whole thing together, man. I helped with some content, but Put that whole thing together. Man, I helped with some content, but she was 90% of the hard work, the whole team at the Mack Parkman Foundation. But look up HeadSmart. It's from the Mack Parkman Foundation.
Speaker 1:There's a couple other HeadSmart apps. A lot of them are old and stuff that don't focus on this, but it is a one-stop shop for concussion awareness, because your child will have a concussion, there's no doubt about it, man. And now, what we know now is that there's a right way to do it and we didn't do all of the right things. I mean, we shot a doctor, two weeks of rest, okay, back on the field. The doctor, clear, right, they don't go back to the doctor. We didn't know about a post-concussion syndrome survey. We didn't know about repetitive impacts. We didn't know about monitoring our child and that you know that, if you know, after more than one concussion you could have and mac did have, you know some changes to his personality. That you know we, you know we, associated with immaturing, like you know, not spending a lot of time, not enough time with us. You know, being distant, being apathetic, it was apathy is what it was and we didn't.
Speaker 1:you know, we, we always questioned him on. You know how you doing, son, what's going on. I'm fine, you just play it off, you know.
Speaker 1:But that app is for you, the parent, to not only properly treat a concussion and go find. Don't go to your doctor or nurse, go to a concussion specialist. We have an. We have a search app on there. You can look it up, put in concussion specialist. Do not play around with your child's brain and concussion is a serious injury. It's not the headache that I thought it was. I mean, I've had so many concussions as a rugby player and as a special operations guy. You know I I tend to associate them as just another you know, another.
Speaker 1:You know, bad hit to the old noggin. Why can't? Why am I stupider than I was last year? Right now, you know not associating, but they are. They're a serious brain injury and you really need to take uh, you take a kid to a concussion specialist, somebody that knows what they're doing, and then look at our and in our, because there's a lot of things that we recommend you do that not even a concussion specialist will recommend. It's all about taking care of that little individual. That means more to you than anything in life itself.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and the beautiful thing about the show is we've had some amazing guests that are just home runs man Just and they are specialists. They are specialists when it comes to the brain and that's why I love bringing new episodes out for the public to listen to, because you're not getting. Uh, everybody that comes on the show is impactful in their own way and when we talk to the medical professionals, these aren't guests that have one or two years in their specialty. These are hard. These are like the Super Bowl champs of their field. They are, and that's what people need to understand. I was ignorant of the information. I just thought doctors are doctors. They're way educated. No, you need specialists. We all need to be able to advocate and be a little vulnerable and ask for a referral. If you're in the military or if you're going to your, your primary care provider, you're going to your general doctor. Be willing to say like, hey, doc, so and so you're a great person for you know, scrapes, bumps and for normal things, but I need you refer me to a brain specialist.
Speaker 1:Right, and it doesn't have to be a neurologist, like the waiting line for neurologists right now is through the roof, right, and so people, you know, and that's the last, that's. I don't know if that's like a pharma thing, but that's the natural progression. You get a concussion, you go see a neurologist. No, there are concussion specialists. There's concussion centers around the country that you can go to and talk to somebody, and they can do telemedicine a lot they can talk to you about. Hey, a concussion is a serious thing, so take it, you're right. And the medical prevention when we go like I went to the VA, when I went to them about my mental health issues, I had to educate them on RBE. I had to educate them on RBE.
Speaker 1:And right now doctors are so overwhelmed that you are, as a parent, I'm sorry. You have to be a concussion specialist. You have to know more, because there is a very, very good chance that when you go in there that your doctor or nurse is going to treat this just like a mild TBI and not recognize it for the actual brain injury it is. You have to be the proponent, the advocate for your child. You need to be educated. So that's why the app is in there and, danny, that's where we're going to put together something for vets too.
Speaker 1:So when they go in because outside of the TBI clinics repetitive blast exposure and mental illness they're not associated, bro, they're not associated, they're not associated, they're not trained you have to go in there with your paperwork and your testimony and your story to get them to look at these treatments and, as we can expand coverage because some of them we hear TRICARE, like TMS, is covered by tricare every now and then. Um, hbot might be covered every now and then, and so these are. That's cool, right, but unless they can have, and if they tell you and then we didn't talk about the other two gaps there we can do our entire podcast on this. But billing codes, hey oh man.
Speaker 1:we got billing codes for tbi, bro and, and TBI was just recognized by CDC as a chronic condition. Okay, so there is that, and that's what we're pushing as part of the legislation is that we have to recognize that if our repetitive blast exposure is an issue which it is, it is a condition which it is, it is something that happens to us and impacts our brain. We don't need a brand new billing code, we just stuff it under TBI. It is a form of TBI. It's a repetitive, mild TBI that happens thousands of times in our careers and impacts our brain. It's TBI. You have TBI billing codes. Shove it in there and then we can get you insurance, then we can prescribe the treatments.
Speaker 1:And now that's the number four. I love the way this segued. And then number five is we've got to get insurance to cover this. You should not be out of pocket for treatment that can save your life, that can save your marriage, that can save your relationship with your kids, or, in the case of a lot of veterans that I talked to help put it back together, because it's already been busted up. You know, and that's where you know, and that's why we have to make the insurance companies and that's why legislations is so important is that we want to mandate this, that these treatments yeah, I guess what you pay for ch chiropractic.
Speaker 1:You know how hard it was to get a chiropractor in the nineties, bro, like, oh, that's just witch doctor stuff. No, the doctor community fought those guys left and right. Well, guess what's covered now, right, as a matter of fact, there's chiropractics in every. They were well in 1999, they were just starting to put them in the medical, in the medical treatment facility. You can get. You can go to the or the doctor on base and you get a chiropractic work. You get it all done.
Speaker 1:That's where we're going with these modalities. There's no reason why we can't have a TMS machine, a hyperbaric chamber and all this in any military treatment facility. Go. There's no reasons why we can't leverage these brain institutions that are around this country that specialize in brain care. There's no reason why we can't even buy these things for veterans. You know, get them their own HBOT. You know it's like 8,000 bucks and then put it in there and then you just save. You know, not not including all the mental illness and all the other bills that are going to come from this. You know you can do these things are not that expensive and the prices will come down over time, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that good point yeah, it needs to change and it'll. Like anything else, it's just a slow rollout. It's just a slow for things to go, yeah, but it's it's individuals like yourself. They're out there leading the way and and fighting for change. That's the thing people don't realize. Like it.
Speaker 2:Podcasts are great for general awareness and being passionate and bringing great and to educate the public, but where things actually start changing are through the impactful work that you and the Mac Parkman Foundation are doing Actually pushing the line and getting through it, like we say in the military, those phase lines. It's getting through it and making moving the one inch, another inch and constantly advocating. And that's what you guys are doing, which is what we all need to be able to rally around and support. And I get it. Times are tough, funds are tight. But if you can afford a dollar here, a dollar there, please give to the foundation. Please be willing to go to the website and donate, because every dollar counts and it's needed.
Speaker 2:We're not going to be able to advocate and continue the fight without your support, and every download, every metric is vitally. Everything is important, everything. Whether you're sitting there at home and you just go and click the like button. That matters too. Help share this, promote it, put it out there in the world, because you never know whose lives you're going to change. We've already seen the change and the outpour through social media. People are rallying around the show and willing to come on and comment and say, hey, thank you for bringing this up. One of the episodes that gets shared the most are the ones uh, the one you did with Dr Mark Gordon because it shocks people.
Speaker 2:They're like Holy cow, Like I've got. Family members are dealing with this. Thank you for finally putting it out there. Thank you for sharing this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you know, danny, you know we what you have brought into this foundation. I mean the. You know we tried a podcast years ago and I but I couldn't do it. It was hard man, I just lost my boy and I tried and I kept talking about my mistakes and it was powerful. You have brought a level of awareness to our foundation that is unprecedented and we can't thank you. I mean you, you, you know you are absolutely dedicated to our mission. You're dedicated to our. You know our, you know you know what we believe in and and you're also, you know you've happened to live through a lot of this yourself.
Speaker 1:I mean you've got your own story that I definitely want to bring on the podcast. I want to see, I want people to understand your story where you were and how you had to fight back to get where you're at right now and how you're leveraging that experience through your own podcast and through your own efforts to change the lives of, to find these veterans. I mean people understand that a lot of these veterans out there that are suffering are suffering in silence. They're cut off from their families, they're cut off from society. I've got friends that live in trailers up in Maine right now that I miss, that I know are hurting and you know they, you know we got to reach out to them and give them hope and you're doing that. You're doing that with your participation in our, in our podcast, which I cannot thank you enough, and you're also doing it personally.
Speaker 1:I mean, you got your own driven story of taking your, you, you, your, you had that same realization meeting. I had, you know realization point where you got through your travails and you said I can help others. I, I am here now. I was there down there. I'm now here. I'm not where I want to be yet, but the other people need to know that they can do it too.
Speaker 1:And that's an amazing part of your story, bro, and I think it's, um, a lot of people need to hear it. So I want to schedule you, you know, on a podcast and I want you to tell that whole thing because you're an example, bro. You're an example of you know, I'm not a nine 11 soldier, bro. I mean, um, you know what happened to me with my son and my wife's struggles and life and my childhood that you know all culminated in my blow up. Your blow up was directly a result of your commitment to this country and the sacrifice that you laid out there in the battlefield, and your ability to come back and be on this camera right now, instead of of being written on a piece of granite somewhere right, is testimony to that drive that other people need to hear about. So, yeah, definitely want to, you know.
Speaker 2:I'll always pull up. I'll give you the exclusive. My man, I'll give you the exclusive because there's a lot of my story that I haven't shared and put out there, so I'll save it for you. I'll give you the full story and we'll get on broken brains and put out there.
Speaker 1:So I'll save it for you. I'll give you the full story. It's good and we'll get on broken brains.
Speaker 2:But once you get better, you realize that, yes, my story is my story, but it's also part of Bruce's story, it's also part of Dana's story, it's also part of Tony's story. Our stories connect us to each other, human beings at our most basic. We're storytellers Like your. Your suffering does nothing for you If you hold onto it. When you just hold on to your suffering, to your pain, to what you're struggling with, it's just beating you down. When you overcome it, when you go from crawling to walking, to running, and then you share it with the world in hopes of inspiring change and hope of helping others, then you get to the point of understanding what your suffering truly is for. It's for helping other people.
Speaker 2:Again, it gets used a lot, but it's because it's a great reference Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. You go through something truly traumatic that changes you. It's an experience that makes you question your own faith of like man. Why am I going through so much pain and suffering? And then you come on the other side of it and you realize that God made you go through all that tribulation, all those tribulations, all those trials, so that you can help somebody else, and that's the beauty of life. You understand that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some, some parts of it are really rough, but they made me who I am and they made me stronger so I could help somebody else when they're going through their worst. And that's the beauty of the journey, man. That's just, and you're seeing it and you're doing it every single day, and so is every other member of the team. Everybody else has their own story and their own part to help somebody else get through their worst day, and that's why the Mac Parkman Foundation is so important and we need to rally around it and be able to support the tailgate, support every endeavor. So, bruce, again, please tell us about this tailgate before we go off.
Speaker 1:I wish I could bring up the promo video. You gotta slip it in right now, man. Yeah, we just did it, it's great. So for the last two years all right, let me back up. So about three and a half years ago my buddy was, I played a bagpipes and my buddy kept telling me about I got a really good friend, jason Panik, chopper Pilot, really good guy, and he was telling me about this rock and roll band that he knows right he played. He does security farm right there, an acdc cover act like yeah nice, I go.
Speaker 1:And I just happen to mention one day that there's an acdc song with a bagpipe solo. He goes, really go, yeah. So, anyways, he was getting ready to go back to iraq. He was on a contract to fly choppers and we go over there to say goodbye. We're at dinner and the lead singer's there of the band right, he's the managers. And jay goes hey, keith man, hey, bruce, that's the, he's the bagpiper, he's I was telling you about. And he goes dude, can you play long way to the top, I go. There's only four notes. Yeah, I could play it. He goes. You should learn that I go. All, right, so I started playing with it, right. So I practiced it for jay and, no kidding, about a month and a half later, we're going to go. He's in Iraq. His wife says, hey, come on out, the band's going to be in this battle of the band. So it was a televised recording and they had the two top-ranked ACDC cover bands in the country, right?
Speaker 2:And this band was one.
Speaker 1:So I come in and so and um, and so we're at this pool, in this fancy hotel, and they're, and they got to play five songs. The other guys played five songs at the pool, right, just playing around. So his wife goes go get your bagpipes. They go Sandy, that no, she goes. Go get them. Pac-man. I go, no, I go. She goes Pac-Man. I'm like you know, she's like my mom, I'm like, all right, I'll go get the darn thing. So I go get them. I come back to the pool and the band goes dude, you have bagpipes. I go, yeah, they go. Could you play them? I go yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, they go. Hey, some songs. So I jammed a couple songs. They go, do you know, long Way to the Top. I go. Well, yeah, they go. All right, you got to come, not a ah shit when they test the equipment, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, soundcheck, soundcheck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, soundcheck Tomorrow At the. They were doing it at the hard rock. I go, alright. So my wife goes, you're going to be in the band. I go, they're not going to put me in the band, honey. She goes, you're going to be in the band. So she goes and gets a kill and I'm like, alright. So I right. And they put some people in the office and the guy comes. He says all right, I need to mic up your bagpipes. How do you mic up your bagpipes? And these are wooden ones, there's not my electronic ones, and I didn't have enough time. I go, I don't know, you're the sound guy. I said well, all the sound comes up here. So we put the mic there and we and we. So we go into the song and the people in the back go dude, that sounded great, we crushed the rehearsal. And they come through and go you're in the band, I go what do you mean?
Speaker 2:I'm in the band, they go, you're in the band and you're going to play tomorrow night.
Speaker 1:I go on a televised TV show. They go, yeah, I go. You're crazy. I do weddings and they go, no, no, you're in the band. So, denny, I can't make this up the next night. I'm by. And one thing about mac right, mac never got bothered about anything. Dude man, he could be in a playoff game, in a big wrestling match. He would be just cool as a cucumber. Me. They fall apart. Man like my safar tech, my support tech, time trials man, I was nervous as hell getting you know. I, dude, I I fall apart under pressure. I mean, I always pull it out right, whether it's scuba school, school, but when it comes to test time, man, I don't have confidence.
Speaker 2:So I'm like shit.
Speaker 1:So I got my you know my son's ashes with me all the time. Man, I'm like all right, mac, I got to be like you. I'm behind the speakers. He says all right, we're going. The Cloudbite Bananas coming to kill with some Converse tennies and a Mack. Markman shirt right. Never missed a chance. And dude, we crushed it.
Speaker 2:We crushed it Hell yeah. And we won the battle because the other guys didn't have a bag by it so anyway long story short.
Speaker 1:I start playing with this band that I find out they're playing like for 150 bucks a night. So I start getting them gigs. And so for the last two years we'd been playing at a foundation event, at the Army-Navy game, called the Johnny Mac Foundation, nice. So we got into. You know, at the end of last year they were done, they weren't going to have it, no more. We said, fine, well, this is how God works in our life.
Speaker 1:Our law enforcement advisor, kevin Sokola, his best friend, owns the Washington Commanders, which is hosting the Army-Navy game this year. So you know me, green Bray. Hey, kevin, do you think he goes? Send me an email. So we sent an email and we and they come back and they said we.
Speaker 1:And I said, lord, we're a foundation focused on this unbelievably huge issue that nobody knows about. We want to bring attention to it. Our veterans are hurting, they need help. And they said we're in, have a parking lot. We're like what they gave us our own parking lot in a facility right across the street from the stadium. So we're right there and they said have at it for free. We're like son of a gun, we're going to have a tailgate. And so, and the foundation. The team went bananas, so I called up Horse Soldiers Bourbon are the green berets right? They go. Dude, we're in with both feet because I brought them in last year. So we've got horse soldiers bourbon. And my data company is called Blue Fusion. We do a lot of great work with data for law enforcement and the military and we said, all right, we're going to sponsor this event for the Mack Parkman Foundation and 100% of every dollar raised will go to fund a veterans treatment program. Heck, yes, and to fund a veterans treatment program Heck, yes, and so that's it, man.
Speaker 1:The foundation's not taking a dime. We're there to raise money because we're just aware of all these great treatments that exist for struggling veterans that are coming out of pocket. Man, you know that's like man. Another credit card, whatever they're taking on that, and they just want to come back, and we want to make this known. So, yeah, so this is going to be, you know, the ACDC concert of the year. Man, we're going to have them there.
Speaker 2:Heck yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to have some raffle. Everybody that gets in is going to get some tickets. We're going to have some really cool raffle items you might win. Can't win if you're not there. And we're going to have we just had a guy, a Green Beret, professional barbecue, budweiser's barbecue. Come on board, he's going to cook all the barbecue he can fit on his grill. We got whiskey. We got a gallo. Spirits is bringing in wine. We're gonna have like 20 kegs of beer. It's a 50 donation. All you can drink, all the rock and roll you can listen to. We have two huge warm-up bents, a tents with uh tbs.
Speaker 1:So a lot of people don't don't have tickets to go in the state and we're gonna have a watch party. You can keep drinking and have all your fun. Um, we got a new sponsor previdence. Um, which is a mental health assessment piece of software that can oh, wow, yeah, they can identify. We have to get them on the show, denny. They can identify men and women at risk of harm to themselves or others with like huge, huge amount of success.
Speaker 1:And then they also have their own therapy treatment program. That's not designed like a lot of therapy treatments, you know. They just they never end right. They find something else to talk about. These treatment programs are designed to get you back on the job. It would no more therapy. They've created the form of therapy. So, anyways, they're one of our new sponsors right now, and every week we get, you know, an other sponsor. I mean, it's really turned into a great events. The first one, so we're going to keep doing it.
Speaker 2:Baltimore is next year. Yeah, but yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be a lot of fun, man. Man, I can't wait for this to kick off and I know it's going to generate a lot of support from a general audience. So to our listeners out there, you know what to do. Go to the episode description, click the link, donate, donate, donate. We cannot advocate and support this cost enough. Man Bruce, you got a lot of work to do. Man, we're going to have to let you go so you can get some more work. Dude, I'm still recovering.
Speaker 1:I walked eight, eight or ten miles. Yesterday I got. I got here in Denver, uh, because we're gonna have an early Thanksgiving, at three o'clock in the morning, eastern time, I'm up at uh, you know I dude when it comes to our son and when it comes to veterans there is dude, you leave it all on the field.
Speaker 1:Man man, I'm going to keep going until the Lord takes me, but no man. We really appreciate the audience's attention, participation, Spread the awareness. Please Let people know this is not about money. You know, money doesn't hurt when it comes to treating veterans, but this is about attention. We're building the buzz Because when Congress starts reaching out on this bill, we want you there to say look, this is a problem and you need to do something about it. Because we have it done.
Speaker 1:We have 160,000 dead soldiers right now, 20 times the amount that we lost in combat. We don't know how many of them might have been impacted by repetitive blast exposure and never, never, knew this. So if we're going to recognize this as an issue, we have to take this seriously and we need to move forward as a community, as veterans, as researchers, as you know, the military and the VA, all of us as a team, figuring out what to do, and what to do now. We don't need to research this crap no more. I mean, we've already researched it to death. We know it's an issue. We have to act and then we can. You know, this is all about taking care of our breadwinners. We have to reach out to them. We have to find them, we have to let them know there's hope, there's treatment.
Speaker 1:And the Mack Parkman Foundation. We send people to the specialists. We don't do these services. We send people to the specialists. We don't do these services. Our job is to be the voice for this issue and then send you where you need to go. We don't do these things, but we know the people that do. And if you have a question, just reach out to the foundation. My email is bruce at mpfactcom. Reach out anytime, Find the book, send it to everybody you know with kids, and together we can defeat this issue. We can. We can make sports safer. We can protect our veterans and get them treated, and the military is already down the road. Man they are. They're making amazing gains with working with suppressed weapons and changing training tactics and lowering the amount of times you can fire these weapons. They're working on the future. Right now, we've got the now and we've got the past that we have to address, and that's why we're all in this together. So, Denny, thank you so much for your time. Bro, you are an unyielding force of nature.
Speaker 1:I love you, and what you're doing for our community on your own is amazing man, and and what you're doing for our community on your own is amazing man, and I can't wait to the next podcast, bro, heck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brother, and it'll be coming up soon. Until then, take care, guys, we'll see you all next time. All right, thanks a lot, man.
Speaker 1:Take care, we'll see you in a bit you.