Mike Mihalski & Brandon Hernandez - SOLGW / TTPOA

Episode 90 of the Big Tex Ordnance Podcast features guests Mike Mihalski from Sons of Liberty Gun Works (SOLGW) and Brandon Hernandez from the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association (TTPOA). Mike and Brandon discuss SOLGW's role as the title sponsor for the TTPOA conference, the importance of their partnership, and how both organizations have grown over the years. They also cover SOLGW's new products like the 6mm MAXX and their expanding line of AR-15 parts. Brandon provides insight into the mission of TTPOA in providing world-class training to law enforcement.

Find out more about SOLGW at our website or https://sonsoflibertygw.com/ and find out more about TTPOA at https://www.ttpoa.org/

00:00:00 - Intro and discussion of use of force incidents
00:03:00 - Chris and Mike talk about advancements in AI technology 
00:05:35 - Brandon introduces the Big Tex Ordnance podcast
00:11:00 - Overview of TTPOA as an organization 
00:17:50 - The value TTPOA provides to members
00:21:15 - How Brandon got involved with TTPOA
00:27:58 - SOLGW's history with TTPOA
00:32:50 - Growth of SOLGW and Big Tex over the years
00:36:45 - The importance of relationships in the industry
00:39:52 - Working with companies that stand behind their products
00:43:50 - Discussion of SOLGW's new 6MM MAX
00:47:25 - The emotional significance of firearms used in the line of duty
00:51:10 - SOLGW rifles saving lives
00:53:45 - The state of policing in Washington vs Texas
00:55:10 - TTPOA SWAT competition and college shooting programs
00:58:20 - Where to find more info on TTPOA 
00:59:45 - Where to find SOLGW online
01:01:15 - Big Tex's expanded offerings of SOLGW products

Find out more about Big Tex Ordnance at bigtexordnance.com

Transcript

0:00

You don't celebrate something like that, like anytime the use of force is there, I always, it's a weird thing, it's somber, I mean, everyone has, even the worst piece of shit in the world has a mom, even the worst piece of shit has, you know, someone who cares about it, but you, you come to the, the realization that sometimes violence is absolutely fucking necessary, sometimes violence is the only way to fix this problem, and uh, and we provide the tool for that. That when that unfortunate day comes is going to do exactly what the fuck it's supposed to be rough. And that's, and that's it. Like, I can sleep at night knowing that there's, there's it's insane. Supposedly one of the reasons, this is one of the rumors on why the ATF, uh, forms coming back so fast on suppressors is that they're using AI to do the background check, because if you don't get flagged, then you don't even have to Nobody needs to even look at you. No human needs to look at you if you don't hit any of those points. And now it's coming back faster. We'll see. Hopefully, that's what it is. Cause uh, I got two Everyone registered, that's great. I got two, I'm waiting on two stamps right now. I've seen them come back in 48 hours. That blows my mind. It's freaking insane. Yeah, for suppressors dude right now it's like 48 hours. As an individual. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're looking down from eight months to 12 months. Yeah, yeah, crazy. We should tell you what the rest of the future is going to look like, uh, once AI takes over everything else, you know, like, yeah, yeah. Just, I posted a photo of my son playing with that damn dog. Yeah. Yes. I saw that last night. Yeah. I mean, even I was standing there filming it when I watch it, it still doesn't look great. It creeps me out. This fucking thing be like, my kids is playing with it. I'm like, Oh man. Will I be in my mind I'm thinking this is my son I'm like Would I be able to tackle this thing and fucking choke it, like if it went haywire? You know? And like, started just biting his face off. I was like, I'm sitting there filming with one hand, like, I will shoot your dog. That's why I have a stash of M855 at the house. Oh, man, you need some fucking math, bro. It's all you. It's all you. Broke this shit for the fuck of it. Laser beams. Laser beams. Anyway, you wanna do this? Yeah, this is the Big Tech Sordidness podcast. I'm Ike, we have Chris, and our guests today are Mike from Sons of Liberty and Brandon from TTPOA. We're here at the TTPOA conference, uh, 40th year anniversary, I think. Yep. It sure is. 40 years, man. Even 40 yet? Yep. No, so good, man. We're TTPO is older than me. It definitely is. Yes. So we're out here. It's day two of the vendor show. Um, it's about to kick off here in a little bit, but we're up here podcasting away. Yeah. Third episode in two days. So we're, we're doing. We're doing the damn deal. It's a beating it in it, man. Like after you're done, you're like, man, my ears hurt. I don't want to talk to anybody. Cause that's all I've been doing is talking. It's, it's hard, especially you did four yesterday. Yeah, that's a lot to pack into the day. It's a, it's a rough life, you know, so I'm just going to do it. Yeah. Sit down and talk all day. So we'll start there. That's a good, good starting point. Tell us about your podcast. All right. So, uh, we started a podcast. This is our fourth season. We just started the fourth season. Um, it was kind of a brainchild of Derek McPherson. Um, who, um. Um, what is his operation director or something like that? I don't know. He's over all the region directors. Uh, he, he came to Graham when Graham Smith was the president at the time and said, Hey, let's do this podcast. Uh, we saw that I think Cato was the first, uh, that started it. But Cato's is a little different. There's is way more professional than when we started. Uh, but that's just not who we are. I mean, um, we just wanted to, we wanted to have a podcast where when we set up in the hospitality suite or Europe. day and you're just sitti of the guys and you're ju the kind of the environme We didn't have a script. Don't take notes. Uh, and if we do take notes, I'm like, what did I just write? So that was out the window. So it's just basically, Hey, let's just sit down and have a conversation. Uh, but the only thing we'd ask is, is there anything was off topic or anything that you wanted to discuss that promotes your training or promote your product? Other than that, man, it's just whatever you want to say, um, and stuff. So it kind of started that way and it's just kind of grown. Uh, we didn't know what we were doing. We just knew that. We can bullshit and talk to people. Uh, so we're in our fourth season now, uh, which is still crazy to me. So Graham, uh, is now taking over Derek's spot. Derek had to step down. He just had a lot of things going on with the association and training and his department and stuff. But that's the official version. If you want the unofficial version, you know, that really happened, you know, just talk to me later. Cause he was, he was doing some bad things to me. But we won't talk about that. No, I'm just joking. No, he's a good dude. I, it was sad. We did our, our, our, uh, farewell, um, podcast with him and I was a little sad. I'm like, man, it was just a good bond because me and him known each other for years and years and stuff, but it's cool. Uh, now that Graham's on, he's an old OG from just, you know, I got started with TTPOA. He's been around, I think he's done every position there is to do. So, uh, it's good to have him. Uh, everybody knows Graham and so he fits right in. So it's a good thing. So tell us about the organization. All right. Organization went the wrong order here, but it works. Yeah. But what's crazy is that the. I was the guy who was picked to talk about the organization. So sorry, TWA, if I let you down, that's just, you know what to expect with me. I'm the guy who was running around the last couple of days with a disco ball helmet. So, I mean, what do you expect? So now TWA, TTPOA organization, uh, been around 40 years, obviously. Uh, it, it had its rough start at the first, uh, if we, we did a podcast a few years ago and kind of did the, the, um, the origin of how it got started, who started it. And then it kind of took a dip for a little bit. And then Sandy wall came in from a longtime Houston SWAT guy. He kind of came in, brought some other guys that he kind of targeted, like, Hey, I think you're going to, you need to do this basically like kind of mafia style. Um, and just beg, borrow and stole from just, Hey man, I'll give you a coffee mug. I'll give you this. Can you help us out? And just blew it up from there. And now it's, to me, I think it's the premier organization of, as far as in tactics, as far as training, I don't, I would, I w I would say there's probably no other SWAT organization or police organization in the country that trains as many people as we do just my region alone, my region is region seven and it's. Not DFW, it's just the Dallas area. Everything East, basically like Arlington. Um, that's all I have. And it's the smallest region, but it's one of the busiest ones. I had 450 students that I trained last year that I brought in. We either cadre of us teaching it. Or bringing in top instructors to come teach a class. So that's just one region alone. Uh, I think this year we have like a, over 800 registered students. So you get T cold credit. Uh, so it's not just hanging out and doing, you know, goofy shit. I mean, you're, you get to do goofy shit, but you also get the training. And I mean, we bring in top instructors that are here right now. Um, so that's kind of the gist of the organization. Uh, we all are about training. That's, that's my focus. My passion is. to training. How do I get more training out for the guys? How do I get free training out for the guys? How do we make cheaping or cheaping? How do we make training cheaper? Uh, I think that's a big, big goal. And I think you can get guys in an organization, um, that can come in for the wrong reasons. Hey, what's in it for me? How do I get this? How do I get that? How do I get this hook up? And I think when you come in that organization, if that's your motives, man, it's bad. And I think that's what I see in TWA is that Everybody's a team player because you come from a team. You come from, Hey, this is my team with this department. This is my team with this department. And it's a, it's a vetting process that we go through as far as who we allow on the board, who allows a region director, who we like to do stuff stuff because it's word of mouth. Hey, on my team. He's a new guy. I want to start giving him this responsibility at the conference. I'm gonna give him this responsibility. Start helping me with basic SWAT and it's a stair step and it's continue to prove in your ship to prove yourself. And then, hey, you know what? This guy's had this responsibility. Now let's let him do this. And it just keeps growing. That's how I started. I started, you know, just come to the conference and hey, what do you need? All right. You need this, you need that. I'll help you out with this. And then they asked me, Hey, do you want to be a region director? I'm like, heck yeah, I do. You know? And, and so then just, you want to do a podcast? Yeah, I'll do that. Uh, and stuff. So, uh, that's, that's really what we're about is just being a team. We're just a big, big SWAT team, uh, that just provides training is the way I look at it. Um, I think if you talk to instructors, you talk to vendors, uh, you talk to just people in the industry. Not because we're there, uh, and they have to kiss our butt or anything. It's because we truly want a partnership with everybody we deal with. Uh, we want it to, to be good for you and, and get what you're needing out of it. And we're going to get what we need out of it as far as, Hey, we need, you know, A vendor to do this, or we need someone to do that, um, or we have a trainer. So, you know, the, the, the value that I bring back to my department, my team, I mean, you can't put a price tag on it. Just to the people I've got to meet, I get to hang out with at the train with, you know, they're friends of mine now. And I think that's important. Like, I want to do business with friends. I don't want to do business with people like, man, I can't stand you. I mean, I just can't play that way. I, I'm not, everybody knows me. I'm like, Hey, Brandon doesn't like you, you know, it, uh, and stuff. So, um, That's that's us in a nutshell. Obviously, we do, you know, profitable stuff of like scholarships for for downed officers or our kids for their scholarships and things like that. Um, so we just try to fill a gap when there's something needed and then always trying to push the envelope up Of pushing other training industries or not training, but associations and also partner with them. And we have a great relationship with Ohio. We have a great relationship, Florida. Uh, I think we're going to go down to Florida roundup this year, me and, um, Graham and do their, a podcast down there at roundup. So that's what I love about it. We have. You know, we, we know a lot of folks. Uh, so that's, that's a good thing. Yeah. So it's like, kind of what answers your question. Is that good for TWA people? I didn't let you down. And the organization itself, is it funded by the members or is it you get state funding or a little bit of both? It's all just from membership. And I mean, from vendors, from sponsors, things like that. That's why we, we put a value on. Like, like sons doing the sponsorship for the, for the conference. I mean, that's money that we're not having to use out of our donated money, our collected money. Now we can go do something else with that money. Um, you know, I, I hit up Ike a few years ago, didn't even know who he was. I'm like, who's this kid at this table? I'm like, that's, that's Ike, like the guy I've been dealing with over online. Uh, but I reached out to him. It's like, Hey, I got this class. Do you want to sponsor two spots? There's 750 bucks. Yes. And then it kind of grew from there. And then I would ask other companies and things like that. So, I mean, there is a huge partnership. No, we don't get any money from any government issue, you know, blah, blah, blah. It's all donations or through, uh, like, uh, tuitions that's paid to classes or memberships and things like that. So, yeah, which rolls right into you. Yeah. How did you get involved in this? And, and, uh, was last year your first? Title sponsor was last year. Yeah. Well, so we've been doing TTPOA for about eight years The way we got into it was because it was obvious that For the level of rifle that we wanted to build The market for that are people that take their craft Truly seriously. And so if you want to get into in front of people that take their craft truly seriously, like this is a venue for that, right? The kind of people that sign up to come here, to come train, to come take this stuff seriously. They also take their equipment seriously. So this is a very different type of crowd than like the in Ram show or something that, you know, that we do, right? This is a very, this is way more focused into, I guess, what our efforts are. Um, so. Last year, yeah, we had the opportunity to be the title sponsor, uh, and, and we, it'll be this year and the next year. Uh, so for the, so we did a three year kind of agreement for that, which to me, I wish I could have done it for 10 years. Um, and the exposure, the amount of people you meet, the, the quality of people you meet. Like there's really nothing like it. I mean, I've been to every, every place in the, in the country, every, every show, every trade show, I mean, like, you know, for the last 10 years, I've gotten an idea of like where we're, where we're going to really put our effort and this is certainly one of them. And I think, and guys who have listened to our podcast that we had with the sons guys last year, and then the one that we'll, we'll put up, uh, that we did yesterday with those guys. I think this just speaks to who people are in the organization, who we want in the organization. And, and it's one of the things that we, so the very first time we did the podcast with y'all, I told the story of how, when I first saw Mike for the first time in Waco at our SWAT competition, and he gave a rifle to the, to the spare guy who was helping San Antonio out that he wasn't a competitor. He was just, Hey man, we need this. Go get it. And that was it. That was, that was his job. Mike saw that he didn't have a rifle. Hey man, give him rifle front of everybody that made an impression on me. So this year we're doing the conference or we're doing the podcast. So Graham wasn't part of the podcast last year. He brings up the exact same story. So my point is, is that it's, it's, it's things like that, whether we partner with people, that's who we want to partner with that Graham saw something in you grant, I saw something in y'all's company and we didn't talk about it. It just organically happened. And I think that's what, that's what partner in organizations like us and partner with good people. People like y'all, it's huge because it benefits. So last night we're in the hospitality suite and there's one large agency in our, in our Metroplex that I'm really good friends with two guys have a training company. Um, we're all talking shop and we're up there and that's what I love about it. No matter where I go, I think there's value in training where they're just having a conversation and just talking about things that's training in my opinion. I think the podcast is training in my opinion. So anyway. We're talking about rifles and, and they're, they're saying this. And I said, Hey, do y'all have Sutton's rifle? Did you, is that authorizing y'all's policy? He goes, no, we want a T and E one. I said, well, I know a guy and I texted you last night. I was like, Hey, do you mind if I give your number to so and so? He goes, 100%, absolutely. So you know what, to me, I look at it as someone, if I can connect someone. To the end user and then a guy who can provide a service or provide training, man, that's now the balls in y'all's court. Y'all go make y'all's magic happen. I think that to me, I find joy in that. I think that's what it's about. You know, last night we're in the hospitality suite and Chris Palmer from Phoenix. He's going to be the keynote speaker this year and Chris is a phenomenal just demand. He is brilliant at how he just breaks down things and he looks at stuff and he's just Amazing guy and puts in hard work. It puts in a lot of work. And so it's me up there and it's chancy and it's Sean Harrison. We're all just talking. I mean, it's a Two and a half hour conversation. It's just talking about, Hey, what are we seeing at the range? How are we training guys? And it's just back and forth. That's what you have to do to be in good instructor. You can't just stay in your own, man. I'm not going to share my secrets with you. I'm not going to, or if I do say something, Hey, this is how good I am. Hey, do you see what I did this? You see how I'm doing these with man? It's like, man, I messed this up. Hey, what did y'all see? You know, how are y'all doing this? And I think that's, what's great about the organization as well. We're about just shooting the shit. And learning from that, you know, and stuff. So didn't mean to side rail that, but that's just, that's just to me, that's the passion I see with, with men like him, or even y'all, like y'all, y'all have a passion for, for selling a product to, to someone, but not just selling it to make money, but to sell it, to really give value to, to this organization and, or to that person, the end user who needs this, Hey, I need this for my rifle, I need this, you know, equipment or whatever. So. I don't even know how many people I saw yesterday. Um, I'm glad everybody has name tags on the floor because like, I'll recognize them or, you know, I'll remember a conversation when I see them, like, okay, I talked to this dude last year. I talked to that dude last year. Oh, here's that guy. Oh, here's the dude. That's got the, uh, uh, I call it the sex Panther gun, the PMS with the, the full auto slower, or was it a full auto, full auto DPMS lower. And a hodge upper because that was what they'd switched out and so like that was the sex most random Two things combined. That's awesome. Mike From, uh, wasn't it Oh, wasn't it? Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Because we did the, uh, I did a, did a reel with it for that. The, with the sex Panther, you, it works every time. 60%, because it was just, it was just on point for, oh, the worst is when you, when someone comes up to you and their name tags backwards. Yeah. And you're like, oh, shit. You're like, or the best is What I'll do is like, if there's someone with me, Hey, this is. So and so balls in your court. Tell me, please tell him the name of this guy because I mean, I know for a fact that we engaged with 186 dudes yesterday, just from email addresses that we got through our capture. And that's. You know, 75 percent of the people, maybe that we talked to, cause how many attendees you got this year? I think officially it's like 801 just people that registered to attend classes. That's not everybody else that's here for a lot of people there. It is. And it's going to be more people there today. Yeah. And I'll have a SWAT school, basic SWAT school, and I'll have 60 something guys in that SWAT school. And that was three years ago. And guys are coming up to me, which I appreciate. And I'm like, okay, man. Yeah, I know that face and it's just crazy. And then when I first got into the organization, I was, uh, a UC, so that is a big ass beard and long hair and stuff. So people got to know me that way. Then I shaved it off, got out of UC work and then people don't even recognize me that I'm like, okay, you do know me. And they're like, holy shit. And then I start talking to them. Oh, Brandon down. I didn't know who that was and stuff. So yeah, it's, it's crazy, but I love that meeting people. You got a shot show. You're like. And then they're hugging you and they know everything about you. I'm like, damn, I'm a bad guy. I don't remember any of that shit. And Mike's been, you've been giving out your phone number for a long time, dude. And it's on bathroom walls. I've had your, I've had yours and Kyle's phone number longer than I've had Ike's phone number. And if you look at Kyle's phone, he still got me down. I was working for the same, my old company that I first was working with. Yeah, it's not even, it's not even Chris. It's I'll have to say like, you know, I'll give credit to the internet, man. Believe it or not. Like. For my phone number being all over Reddit, our forum, uh, like every forum, you know, just, and I mean, like, it gets posted somewhere daily. I have to say, like, I, I, I got a lot less dick pics than I was in this meeting. A lot, you know, a lot, a lot less like, hey, fuck you, like, you know. Because, you know, I made, I would make this joke with Kevin Birdingham when we'd hang out. He's like, he's like, yeah, he's like, It's like, more people hate me than know you're alive, you know what I mean? It's like, the nature of the internet, right? But no, people have been, for the most part, pretty respectable, uh, respectful of having private, you know, direct access. Yeah. And, and people treat it really well, and I'm happy to answer questions. Hey, man, what gas block should I use? I'm like, well, you should use ours, asshole. Call me on know? Like, call me. So, uh, But the people will be meet here, man. I mean, it's the same thing. I mean, uh, the network there's within two text messages, I can probably get a hold of any team sergeant or any weapons dude, or any instructor I want just through this network that takes me to text messages to get in touch on the phone. With anybody I want in this space through this type of, it's awesome through this type of networking and there's, it's very hard to put a value on that. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's me and him at my previous employer, I would find out who was training in Houston cause I would stock the TTPOA website, find out who was coming in, I get in contact with them. Be like, Hey, if you want to put a class on before it or after it, you know, I've got a private range facility. We get six to 12 students and you can make more money on the, on either the front side or the backside and they ate that up because they love, they love that. Oh yeah. Too easy. Yeah. I mean, I mean a certain, certain individual got lost one time. I was pretty late, but it was, it was a good time, but yeah, I won't, I won't drop any names, but Procter's a good dude. Y'all have the best trainers come in dude. I mean, it's straight up. Uh, I pride myself on doing that. I, I, my, my thing was when I was asked to take over region seven, I, I had a, A lot of shoulders that I was standing on. Um, you know, I had, I had Rick Cutler. I had, um, Paul Cerami. I had Dan Calisanto. I had, um, Graham Smith. All those guys went on to continue to lead the organization, whether president, vice president, all this kind of stuff. And most of those guys are still, I mean, Dan's the president, Graham is the current, uh, or the past president. You know, Paul, you know, is, has been around the vendor show for years and years and years. So all these guys are still associated with the organization. So when I came in, I'm like, okay, how do I. Go take it to the next step. And my thing is, is whoever takes over for region seven for me, when I'm, when I hang it up, I want them to go, okay, I want to kick Brandon's ass in this and even do it better. Um, you know, I, I was, I got, I got into this, to this. With a passion of bringing quality training and not even quality training, but just training that just pushes guys and, and, and, and challenges them because I was always on those golfers on the, on the website when I was a new guy on SWAT or even a mid level guy, man. Okay. What class they post? Oh, there's one in Houston. Okay. I'm going to see if I can go to that. Uh, and, and, and most of the time I was able to do that. So that's what I wanted guys to be excited about coming to my region for. So I, I kind of stepped out, uh, out of the normal. Kind of guys that we were using when I first got into ball, and I started bringing in guys that had never been to the organization before. And I started bringing in world champion shooters and just guys that had a different niche for things than what we were normally putting out. And I'm, I'm proud of that because I see the benefits of what it's done for me, what it's done for our team, what it's done for the organization and what guys are doing with it now. Uh, which it's exciting to me. So I'm, I'm looking forward to whoever takes my spot eventually to go. Okay. Brandon. Yep. Yeah, you, you, you did. Okay. But I'm going to kick your ass in this. That's what I want. You know, that, that, that's, that, that would make me proud to whoever does that. So I think that's, that's a good thing, you know, so I'm glad, I'm glad you find value in the guys we bring in. Oh yeah. And I mean, half, half the time Scott stays at your house, right? Yeah. When he comes down to teach, uh, and we usually have him on the tail end of, A class if we can get if he's not double booked. Yeah, we usually get scott definitely But you know if you're listening to this and an instructor and you're coming to the houston area Reach out to us and and we'll get you get you on the right. I mean we will Get you students on a tuesday if it's a tuesday, we'll get you That's one thing we started doing, you know stealing the idea that he you had at your your previous employer Like they're already down here, you know, they've already played Paid the airfare. All I have to do is extend the rental car and the hotel a day. And they're going to make money, especially on the private civilian side. I mean, there's a whole mess of people up near us that will jump with opportunity for, you know, uh, a person class on a Tuesday, you know, just go in there, get some really nice one on one time with the instructor or not one on one time, but like, you know, high or low student, student to instructor ratio, get Scott in a six man class. Like, I mean, like that doesn't happen. Yeah. You know, it's crazy. I look back and I was talking to someone the other night. I was like, man, I have been so just fortunate, blessed. And I, and also the luck's involved in it, but also the, I don't say this in a bragging way. I just say that just to continue to, cause I'm always about pushing guys to man, you gotta, you gotta do this shit on your own too. You gotta push. And so just a combination of all that, of being able to train with some of the best instructors in the world, world champion shooters, I've had like Ben Steger, we're doing just, we're out the range of just me and him. I'm like, dude, What kind of value could I put on that? I mean, and stuff like that. Most instructors stay at my house when they can unless they have freaking dogs. My dog is a pit bull and they don't get along with Malinois. I've had that incident before. How many stitches does this dog get? Oh my gosh. So we can't do that, but everything else you can stay at my house and stuff. So the conversations we have in the backyard honky tonk at the pool, you know, are Are some of the best conversations ever had because man, now we're breaking down some stuff or now we're just being humans. We're just being two men just talking about family, talking about, you know, how the struggles in life or what it's like. Like for me, it's a really good thing. I have guys that have come in that have been, you know, top lever, top level and tier one operations. And I know they're driving their passions a lot like mine of man. I'm still a dog That's gonna want to fight until I'm dead like but eventually I got I gotta hang this this this this police stuff up But talking with them and going hey, man, tell me how did how did you come to the conclusion that it was? It was your time to leave, you know, what's it like? You still miss it you still and like that's gonna that's preparing me for the day that I'm gonna hey Here's my paperwork. I'm no longer going to do this, but I know it's going to hurt. Cause I've talked to those guys. I think that's important to always network and, and to ask for wisdom and, and, and gain wisdom just by conversations. And I think that, like I said, going back to these podcasts, just like this, this is training, there's going to be someone on this podcast is going to watch this and go like, ah, I've never. I've been wanting to try a son's gun. I've been, man, who the fuck is big techs? I just stumbled across this. Oh, wow. They're part of this organization or whatever. They're going to get value of that, you know, and, and, and you should, everything you look at, you should find value in something because you can't, you know, you just gotta, you do your own work. So, and Mike, you said you've been doing TTPA for what, eight years now? Not about eight years. And y'all, y'all have, y'all have grown exponentially. Eight years. God, we have and it seems like the conference has as well, we've been doing it for maybe four or five. Yeah. But like, it seems like every year it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I bet it's been pretty cool to watch, you know, from how, how different it is now from, you know, eight years ago. Oh yeah. I mean, just the, the, uh, the, um, the number of. Vendors, number of intent attendees. I mean, our own evolution, like I made a joke last year on our podcast, man. I think we had like a tablecloth with like some mustard wrinkly tablecloth and like a foldout table and we like one gun, you know, like you were here, you know, uh, people, and I remember, cause I had like some like significantly well known rifle manufacturers on like either side of us. And you know, I remember people asking like, does that intimidate you to have brand X or Brand Y ? I'm like, like, no. Like, no, like that motherfucker's reading from a brochure. Dude, I wrote the brochure , you know, like say that and like jokingly with my colleagues in the industry. But no, I mean to watch the entire organization grow and not just that, but to watch.'cause you don't always see the IM immediate benefit, right? So what we've noticed is that we'll come do C-T-P-O-A and then, you know, we pack up, we go home. And there's not like, uh, a flurry of activity the next week or something like that, right? But like six months later, seven months later, eight months later, you start, your phone starts blowing up for quotes, you know, and for T and E requests and for stuff like that. Because it takes that long sometimes to gestate with, you know, uh, getting approval for this or getting funding for that or like the life cycle replacement for something's coming up or so on and so forth. So you don't, we know after eight years that. Tomorrow, there's not going to be some life altering thing happening, but over a long enough timeline, the seeds you plant today, they will bear fruit, tremendous fruit. Uh, you know, six, eight, nine months, maybe a year, you know, whenever the opportunity comes up, but it was because of that seed you planted today. And so if people understand the value of these things, um, You know, the, trust me, we're going to fight to keep our spot as long as we can. We're not doing that just for the hell of it. Yeah. We believe in the cause. Uh, you have to, right? I think in this business, considering how much the regulatory bullshit, like the kind of banking problem you're in this business, the kind of banking problems, insurance, you have to actually believe in it to want to be in this business. You know, you have to really believe in what you're doing. And so when we see organizations that have like the same, what I call the give a shit factor. Yes. Uh, it's, there's something bigger is it's bigger than money. It's, it's bigger than ego. I mean, like you have, it's, you care about something. And I think that everybody that takes this seriously in either space, whether it's the equipment side of the train side, the work side, uh, you, you, you probably have a little bit. You probably have a vision from a little bit higher altitude than the average person. You're seeing more of the longer picture, the bigger picture. I think you put those things together. It's pretty cool. No, it is. I mean, I look at y'all like, I didn't even know who Big Tex was besides Big Tex at the fair. Cause I'm a big fair fan from the Dallas area. That guy. But you know, when I first got in touch with you, I look at what, you know, How y'all have grown. I mean, I've been, I guess the region director, I think six years, somewhere around there, and, uh, Now, when I, when, when classes happen, there's big texts, this, or I've gone to shot show or whatever, and I'll see a big text, this, or a sticker or a hat, or someone who uses y'all or y'all are sponsoring something in another 15 States, you know, way or whatever. So, I mean, y'all have grown a huge, I look at like Vulcan. I meant Vulcan with, I knew that guy. It was like. Hey, you want to come come out and sponsor class? Well, yeah, dude, you can come shoot it. Okay, cool. And now I'm like, they're so busy. They couldn't come down here. I'm like, I fucking love that because I love the little guy making something in this fucking country on his own. That's what I mean. I'm not a business guy. I don't know anything about it. I know how to do cop shit and that's about it. But I, the guys like y'all that can do that kind of stuff, man, I fucking love it, man. It's great. I mean, that's what America is about. You look at the floor and take away all the, the, the, the team t shirts that's running around and the most t shirts you see on the floor. Or TTP away, which is kind of a given, sons of Liberty and big techs. Like that's what you see on the floor and the, okay. You might see a Glock here. You might see it at random, but like if it goes brand, I mean, it does help that we're giving away t shirts guys, but that's cool. And I know there's dudes this morning, some dude walking across the parking lot as I'm dragging my suitcase, he's got a big tech shirt on. I'm like, Hey man, nice shirt. And he's like, Oh, okay. Yeah. Doesn't know who the fuck I am. And y'all's two brand, we talked about last year on the podcast we did with uh, uh, Suns. Man, y'all's two companies, branding, marketing, man y'all are great at it. I love y'all's, the stickers and just all, but y'all also stick to, Like Texas and just to me as a being a fucking Texan, like, I just like, I mean, like, this is the TBO. It's a, I'm like, it's Texas. I mean, you got to be back with what you're, what you're from. But I think that's a testament to y'all. That's why there's so many shirts with marketing and the quality of products that y'all put out and, and you're just genuine people. Like if you were fucking dicks, I'd be like, fuck those guys. I don't care. I don't want to deal with them. Like I wouldn't want to do a podcast with him. I am. I'm busy. There's a reason we don't have a phone number. Yeah. You're, you're saying from the entrepreneurial side of things, man. I mean, what's remarkable about this and our industry in general, but specifically this is that, you know, I tell the story, we had one rifle and a wrinkly tablecloth, or I remember whenever y'all were just getting started, you know, y'all years and years because we had kind of the similar trajectories of art. How we grew, but this kind of event or this kind of industry, if you will, there's not a significant giant barrier to entry. Like you can still come, you can still like, you can form a company based around a really good idea. And if you're, if you're a decent person and you, and you really give a shit about your customers, you can compete with the biggest person in your space, fucking head to head. And when, like, can you think of any other industry where you could do that? We're like, I've been like, you know, if you want to start an airline company, you want to start a, you know, another, uh, you know, You want to come, you know, start with compete with Google. Good luck, dude. Yeah. But in this space, you can start out of your damn garage with a really good idea. Come to a place like this. If you can articulate and explain why your idea is pretty good, there's dudes you're willing to listen before you know it, man, you got a business. I mean, look at you basement of the lumber yard, you know, uh, buying, you know, tugging micro best into buying, you know, 50 BCGs at a time. 10 or 10, but that's what I'm saying though. And like, like, like this is. The companies that are here and the people that are here. This is unique. You like there's, there's, I don't, I, you know, I can't think of many industries where you could do that, where you can just kind of have an idea, put it in front of the right people, explain why it's a good idea. And if it's a legitimately good idea, this is not my pet rock or something. You have a good fucking idea. Yeah. Like you can, you can build traction in. All of a sudden you got, you got a fucking company and there's, I mean, you're talking about, you just having a rifle on a stained tablecloth, like, but where else can you go up and talk to the owners, the dudes that run the company and, Yesterday where there was so many people, I'm bragging a little bit here. There's so many people in front of my table that I had to go out the back of our booth because I couldn't get out and I went through the dudes in the back. And those guys work for their company. They don't, they're not the company. I mean, Maddie's spinning the prize wheel. Ike standing there talking about. You know, a mod light, flashlight on the table or a gun or whatever. And everybody's vested. You're over at the booth. Kyle's over at the right. And I, and I think from, from the person, cause obviously I'm not in y'all's industry and how y'all look at things. I have a, my perspective is. I want to deal with people that first of all, I like, and we kind of went over that, but also a good product that the quality product, because at the end of the day, two products are that are pretty equal. I'm going to go with the person that's going to serve me as far as a product. A personal relationship. Hey man, I can call them. We need help. Cause shit's going to break. I don't care what it is. Something's going to break. Something's not going to do right. You're going to need something. You're going to get OIS. Something's going to happen and you're going to need that, that personal relationship to go, Hey man, can you send this overnight or whatever the case may be, or I'm having an issue with this. Um, and I think that right there is because when you're authentic and genuine and you're just a real person. As the end user, that's who I want to do business with. And I think that's. What sets y'all apart from some of their companies is that there's because we all know there's fucking salesmen out there And they could be with the best company. I'm sure you might have had some salesmen in y'all's company You're like, yeah, we didn't fucking do that one, right? We just that's just not a good fit for us We need to let you go or whatever the case may be and here's the other side of it Of of of the police side buying side. This is the part that Really gets me is the cop who's gimme gimme gimme. Hey, man. What do you got? What are you gonna give me? What do you fuck y'all dudes man? Because wait a minute. It's a partnership. Hey Can I get a T and E, but I want a true T and E to do this so I can either buy this from you or go, man, this is, this didn't work out for us. We want to go another direction because this is a better product or whatever the case may be. But man, the guys who just want to be fucking ticks and just suck the blood out of y'all, it drives me. And I guarantee y'all are thinking of people. Yep, that dude from that department that guy fucking wants everything for free. It drives me crazy like, you know I'm laughing because yesterday we're talking joking about context art out of context short So I'm gonna cut that out says Brandon Brandon says fuck the police It's so funny. Like that song to me has two meanings like it really does I tell my wife sometimes I say I could be the most anti cop cop there is like You But, but you talk to cops that are true cops that really have fucking done something in this industry and care and have passion and would go save anybody's life. No matter who they were at any single time, those guys will tell you the exact same thing. Yeah, they, they will. They're there. You know, I had my grandbaby up last night and a brand new grandfather and she's three weeks or three months old. It's awesome. We're having a hospitality suite. And I'm like, the girls left and just us and the boys were watching the NFL draft. I'm like, you know, I know all six of these men in here care just as much about her safety as I do. And they would do anything for her just because that's just who they are as men. And I think that's a great place to be. I'm like, man, it was the first time that hit me as a, you know, I was like, this is really cool and stuff. But we all know who is wanting free shit and who is actually wanting to give a shit because they want to pass this on to the guys. So, you know, but yeah. Fuck the police sometimes in a good way. And there are some of the largest human beings I've ever seen in my life here. Like dudes will have to like duck or turn side and then it's not, it's muscle. Yeah. Those dudes like coming in. Okay. That's yeah. That's a big dude. Like you can't get him in the bear cat. He's not going to fit. He's not, you're not getting in buddy. Yeah. It's not happening. Yeah. Um, before we run out of time, y'all got some new stuff hitting the market. Lots of stuff. Talk, talk about the ammo. Yeah. So we, we are going into full production. I mean, full, full production to where this stuff's going to be in stock on the, on the store shelves across the country. Uh, because I, if you want to look, the six max legitimately is a. A mean fucking cartridge. It will crush 5. 56 ballistically in every way. And it will, the weapon system that delivers it will mechanically crush 6 arc in every possible way. And so you've taken the best features of those guns and you've put them together into a cartridge that can do, that will open your operational envelope up quite a bit. And the only way for that project to achieve success is to make ammunition As readily available as possible and then it propagates and then it, you know, I don't go once enough of those platforms and once enough that stuff gets into the market, my job of selling shit is very easy. It sells itself. Just go look at the performance, right? So the ammo side of it, I'll be straight up transparent. Like that's almost a net loss for us. I mean, there's, if anybody's in the business of ammo, you know, there's, they ain't a whole hell of a lot of margin in that, you know, especially if you're bringing a novel and new cartridge to bear for us, man, it's about getting that, getting that stuff out there with enough pushed. I've watched for other cartridges have failed, by the way, some of the cartridges I've seen come out are not, um, I don't think Phil quite this kind of a broad role. So I think that that has a huge advantage for the max. But the fact that we're going to put the kind of resources behind it's where you can walk into your local store and buy ammo on the shelf. You know, the, the, the. Calling it a wildcat cartridge at this point is complete horseshit. It's so far beyond a wildcat cartridge at this point. Like, this isn't some, like, reloaders Wildcat cartridges, you have to go take your own cartridge, get your custom dies, and Yeah, no, no, no. Trim it down, and, you know This is, this is a fucking caliber that's here to stay, and once people understand it, I'm, my job of selling it's not going to be very hard. I mean, it's just, when you see something, you know, I remember when I first started talking about it, like, initially, like, You know, when I first started talking about it publicly, you could, you would just watch the, the skepticism in the comments and then I would write one line at the bottom, like, one of us is right. That is true. No, no. And then, and then you'd watch the comments evolve, evolve, evolve. And now it's like, okay, I'm sold. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. Once you understand it, you can't un you're like, oh fuck. Look at the chrono, like on a 12. 5. Like, just like the velocities you're getting out of a 12. 5. You know, like it was like three pushing three, 3000 out of a 10, five, 10, five, out of a 10, five, we're pushing 3, 100 on a 55 gram bullet. And so you're getting, you're getting hundreds, like in some cases up to 400 feet per second, faster out of the same barrel length, same projectile weight as a five, five, six. Now imagine what that does to your, your max point blank or your max ordinate. Imagine how far you stretched out, how far you can just, even the most. Least trained rifleman, picking up a rifle, putting a dot on the target and pulling the fucking trigger. Imagine how much more distance you've given even an untrained human. Now put that in the hands of someone that gives a fucking, well, let her fly. When, uh, last year at Joe's class, preacher had his 12, five and he pulled it out and was it, he's like, Hey, look at this. He's like, look at this. And we're, we're, I mean, like we're on the connects at the ranch in the prone talking and he's just like reaches over, pulls it out of his bag, loads a couple rounds, pops it in the, the data in applied ballistics. First round hit at 600 yards. Well, out of a 12, five, I was like, I have a video on my Instagram right now. Wow. A thousand in like 14 to 18 mile an hour winds with a 10 five. I mean, and you can just see the flash indicators on the target. I mean, and this wasn't like I sent 50 rounds down range and connected. I'm saying like, it's impact, impact, impact, you know, and I'm not, and I'm not, uh, I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself a good shooter. I mean, I, I, I haven't shot for fun in years. I mean, you start a gun company and, yeah, you want to go shoot this weekend? Like, fuck no, I don't want to go, like, no, no, you know, but yeah, so six, six max is a cool one. And then of course. As people can kind of glean without me having to say much, I mean, you're seeing like the rise of like Sons Liberty 2. 0 when they see some of the new stuff that we're coming out with and just how much the system, the equipment has evolved rapidly. Um, I won't have to say much. You'll just be able to see it. This is like, go look at the booth, you know, coming from the wrinkly mustard stain tablecloth to the booth now, like you've got a complete like, weapons, like everything from the, like the front side posts, um, you know, patrol rifles all the way up to, you know, the, some of the Arco rail stuff that y'all are doing, the precision stuff, you know, with the new precision barrels and then the six max stuff. And then like your, your three Oh eight guns. Like you've got a whole well rounded, you know, variety, a gun for every application, pretty much every application. And like I said, I mean, you know, if somebody, if there's a department looking for weapons on a budget, don't. Don't go buy, uh, don't go buy the one with the pretty paint job and the shitty engine. You know, like, like there's places you can say, maybe we save some money on the furniture. Maybe you don't have the nicest grip, or maybe we use an M4 stock. But I'll tell you where we didn't save any money is on that fucking bolt. You know, or that extractor, you know, right. Cause like, that's, what's going to really make a difference on, you know, the day you pull that thing out to do some work. And so we have stuff that we are, we've aggressively priced to try to fit in like a fit into as many budgets as we can, but without sacrifice and reliability stuff to all the way to where like most, there's very, very few places on the planet that can, that can afford the. Very top of the line stuff that we're building, but for, you know, specialized application. So in everything in between, you know, and I can sit there and articulate every material selections choice, you know, everything, whatever it was, all of this was quite deliberate. So I think it's just people keep an eye on stuff though. They're going to see some interesting tech refreshes come out, uh, probably over the summer, definitely into the fall. And once you see these little changes to these little, you know, Things you, like I said, you can't unsee it and there you go. Well, I think too, like what you, what you do, I mean, you make weapons for a living and those weapons are used in, in, in several different facets. There's, there's the guy who, man, I just go out on the weekend and just plinket bullets or plinket targets. And that's my fun. Uh, you know, I do. Shoot some hogs or whatever the case may. And then there's people that use it for personal protection and then there's law enforcement and we have multiple functions of, Hey, we use it for protection and when they also use it for training. So, but the day that you use it, when test day comes and that weapon performs. That's part of the, that's, that's part of the, uh, just the equation to all of it working out right for you to win this, uh, this test to pass the test and, and to win. And when you get that weapon and you get it back, there is a feeling that, that you have when that weapon comes back from evidence and they, they give it back to you and you go. And I was like, wow, this, uh, my first OIS, when I got my pistol back, man, I got emotional about it because this little gun did what it was supposed to do. And I had three, I had three rounds left and I thought, man, those little buddies, you know, you didn't get to work, but you almost did, but you know, you were there for me. Yeah. You were there for me and that gun. And I always tell people when I teach a class, I'm, I'm like, I don't go home and sleep with that weapon and do weird things, but it means something to me. And, and, and I think that for, for someone who makes weapons, that's a good feeling to know, Hey man, the product that we poured my sweat and tears and the, and the mustard chain, you know, tablecloth, it was fucking worth it. It was really worth it for that guy because there's a lot of factors that go into it. And one of them, guess what? Is when you pull the gun and the trigger to that gun, you want it to go boom. And if it needs to go boom again, you want that to happen. If it doesn't, I don't care who you are, how top level skills you are. If that fucking gun doesn't work, when you pull the trigger, it's a bad day for that day, almost, almost once a week. And this is, this is mathematically true. Almost once a week, we hear from somebody who our rifle saved their life. Yes. And I mean, and not just their life, but if you're pulling out a patrol rifle, if you're probably talking about saving a lot of lives, right. You know, and, uh, this is an occurrence where you, you, you, they, we hear these stories direct, like, this is, this is what happened. Here's the, because, you know, we do the off the duty replacement program. So they, they have to submit the, the report and we read it and it's, um, like. I am proud to say that we have saved a lot of our equipment. Our commitment to this thing has saved a lot of lives. Not, this isn't something that I'm guessing about. I have stacks and stacks of incidences where like, you know, this dirt bag was holding his, you know, stepchild hostage or this person was actively shooting something in or whatever the case is. And. We responded and, and this is what happened like that is not, uh, that is actually quantifiable. Yes. You know, like this is real and it happens, unfortunately, you know, I'm not, you don't celebrate something like that. Like anytime the use of force is there, I always, it's a weird thing. It's somber. I mean, everyone has, even the worst piece of shit in the world has a mom. Even the worst piece of shit has, you know, someone who cares about it. But you come to the realization that sometimes violence is absolutely fucking necessary. Sometimes violence is the only way to fix this problem. And uh, and we provide the tool that when that unfortunate day comes, is going to do exactly what the fuck it's supposed to do. And that's it, I can sleep at night knowing that. There's multiple times where we've seen You know, stuff go through social media and the names were released of the officer and like the video was released off from of the officer and you're like, okay, that dude, that dude's put in the work that dude's, you know, he's moving through the corners, right? He's going through the doors, they're communicating. You know what? Let me see. Order, order, order, order. What size, what size does he look like? All right. Just load up a bag of stuff and just send them to him. Well, like one of the, one, I tell this story several, uh, uh, different times, but, um, the Washington, uh, where the guy gets out of the rifle sets his coffee cup. I know that guy. How do I know him? He's been to several different classes in TWA. Met him the first time in a Matt Pranka class. Shortly after that, he gets in that shooting and, uh, many, any, can you guess who's here? His guys are, he couldn't come to this conference, but his guys are in this conference. They pass him the hallway yesterday. Hey man, remember me from Washington? I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's right. Uh, so. I mean, I'm proud of that moment because it's not, it's not a celebration. It's a validation of the fucking hard work that you put in the hard work that officer put in. That's the validation of it. And at the day, . It was the bad guy's choice. He voted. He's the one that made that officer do that. That, and that's, that's the reality of it. And it's hard for guys to realize that. It's hard for citizens to, I I understand that, but at the end of the day, that's the facts alone. That's the facts. You, you caused that. Yep. Not me. I'm just reacting to what you did. Uh, and that's factual. So, uh, but at the day, it's about validation of, of, of your hard work that you put in, you know, pretty sure I met the Washington guys yesterday. There can't be very many Washington guys. No, they're not. You know, what's funny is like, do you feel like you're in America that hell? Yeah, we do. I said, why is that? We see American flags and where we go or Texas flags. That to me is just yeah. I don't know about that. I've always lived in Texas and so those guys don't deal with that. It's, it's, it's sad. It really is. No, no, man. I've, I've had to do a lot of work up in, up in those regions before things got less restrictive. I mean, I remember going up there with B. E. Myers, you know, going up there with, um, Roy Lynn and, and, you know, of course the guys from Killer and stuff like that, man. That place is not America. I mean, it's fucking not. It's something else. It's some, something else. And it's unfortunate because, um, it's gorgeous. They're beautiful. Probably the most, probably one of the most strikingly beautiful places I've ever been. And there's some good people stuck there, dude, but Holy fuck, man. As far as I mean, dude, if you've been in Seattle, such like a vibrant and like kind of fun city during the day, dude, when the, when the sun goes down, it is the walking dead, man. Really? Oh, dude, it is the, I mean, it's a downtown Portland. Yeah. Oh, downtown. Dude. Yeah. We were there last year. That was wild. You're like I need two rifles. Yeah. Or at least a couple more mags. Beautiful country though. That's like absolutely gorgeous. Yes, it is. And it is sad. And it really is. But once again, I go back to that's our organization. That's what we're there for. You don't have to be a Texas guy. We take the Texas guys. Yeah, I mean, like our SWAT competition, we've had all over the place, we've had, um, I mean, just different countries, uh, come in, uh, Ukraine has been there, obviously they can't compete in the last few years, uh, but they're busy, yeah, they're a little busy, but we've had Ukraine, we've had competing in real life, yeah, yeah, Kuwait, right? Kuwait. I talked to Kuwaiti guys last time. A couple other different, like, uh, Middle Eastern teams, uh, obviously out of state teams. Uh, that's Y'all even some, like, ROTC teams, right? Aren't there been some college teams? Yeah, uh huh. Yeah, the A& M guys. A& M guys? Yep. Like, that's awesome. They're good kids, man. They're just good. Like, we did a podcast with those, and they're like, yes sir, yes sir. I'm like, how old are you? I'm like, man, yeah, I can definitely be your dad. I can definitely be your dad. And stuff like that. But they're just good. I told them. I was talking with him, I was like, you give me hope in the future of young people, because a lot of young people, I'm like, golly, I need to just, you know, slap you. Uh, that's why any, any time I, like any time a ROTC guy or any university, any student in a university comes up and says, hey, we're, we're starting a rifle program at my school. And we're looking for people to kind of help them like, yes, I'm like, yes, like, you know, you're introducing, like, you know, I don't know, something American back to your campus. Yes. You got to keep that next generation going. I mean, especially in, in, you know, at the collegiate level, like that's, that's, uh, we're not winning. Like, you know, the, the gun side of the, I guess, ideology is not winning that fight in the, in the, in the school. So it's, it's important to have, you know, I don't think there were any protests at any of them this past year, I'm pretty sure. And the cool part about it is, and in talking to our buddies, Nate and them, uh, uh, Up at a and M that's the fastest growing college in the country because they're not putting up with bullshit. It's huge because they're not indoctrination camp, right? If you're a parent from anywhere and like, well, my kids get like a good degree in engineering, uh, you know, not interpretive dance, you know, how to be a fucking broccoli, you know, like, uh, And not be pumped full of shit, you know, like a and M's a pretty man. God, I can't believe I said that publicly because now I can't bus Kyle's balls for at least a week. Yeah. Fucking cold. But anyway, my daughter graduated from a and M and that was one of the things when we went down there for the visit, they have a, uh, a building where all men have to take their hats off and, you know, it's just open the door for women and things like that. And there was, there's still a culture of, Hey, a man needs to be a man and do man things. Um, and that, that was one of the, the, the things for me. I was like, okay, yeah, I like this university. Um, now is it, there's some cultish shit about it as well. Um, and stuff, but I do lie. I'm a very traditionalist. I like, um, you know, um, Hey, we, this is the culture that we build in. They do do a good job with culture stuff. They really do. I mean, I, I give I give a name shit because of Kyle. Yeah. If I, if I didn't know Kyle, my wife might listen to this podcast that we're talking about, thanks honey. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. So cool, man. Well, so where can people find out more information about the organization? Grinder. I mean, no , um, no , uh, tpo.org. Uh, just, just get on your search engine, do that. And then we have actually a new website. I'm still trying to figure out the damn thing, but they tell me it's gonna be a lot easier and better. I, I've already seen the better part of it and, and things like that. We're always posting classes. Uh, you know, I got classes that are in my head on, uh, my note. in my phone. I just haven't posted yet are still trying to find ranges. So always update that if you're a cop, you should be like, that should be a favorite of yours and you should be checking that, you know, at least monthly, um, at least weekly. Uh, so to do a dot org, we'll have our SWAT competition. That's going to be in october. I do not know the date. So go dates. Y'all might know because you aren't gonna be there. I'm sure. Uh, but it's going to be, uh, I think Harris County this year. So last year we had close to 40 teams. We might've had even over 40 teams. Um, and then whoever wins the competition, they get an automatic invitation to SWAT roundup in Florida. Uh, last year, San Antonio, uh, went, uh, and then they kicked ass in Florida. Yeah, baby. Uh, I think it was a four or five Either the first time or the first time in many, many years that an out of state team won that. Um, so that was cool. And then they got to go to the, uh, with the UAE, uh, world SWAT competition over there. So it's cool. I think now, and I might be wrong, so it might be the wrong state or something, but I think maybe Connecticut has stepped in cause they brought a team last year. Uh, so I think maybe whoever gets second gets an invite to their SWAT competition. Um, something like that. But anyway. Go yourself and compete and you'll find out for sure. So that's the way I kind of look at it. What about you? As of the taping of this, our Instagram is still up. I think. Yeah. It could have happened while we were in the vodcast. Yeah, it could take us down at any time. After my kid put up that robot dog, now they found us. So anyway, uh, sunslibertygw on Instagram. Obviously sunslibertygw works on. Uh, Facebook, we have a YouTube channel sort of, um, then our website is SOLGW. com and, uh, yeah, I mean, we're out there, we're pretty easy to get a hold of and, uh, living the dream. And if you haven't looked at the big text ordinance website. We have more Sons of Liberty parts than I think we've had since, I mean, since, since like 2020 was a, was a bitch, right? Like we had a lot of your stuff for long and it's always been churning, but with the new V2 combats, the new handrails or the new rails that are coming out, uh, the, M89 stuff, the L89 stuff, 13 9s, 13 7s, 14 5s, Precisions. Cold hammer forge. Ian's got me fucked up on that cold hammer forge, man. He said chrome hammer forged one time and I can't get it out of my head now. Right? So the cold hammer forge, the, the, the button rifled stuff, man, we have more sons parts, wider selection than ever before. And it's moving and it's staying in stock because your boys are kicking ass. So that's, we have, yeah. So we have made, like we have done something. Liberty 2. 0. It's not just the development and the design and the raising the bar on the performance expectation. Uh, it's also the, it's also the being very precise and accurate in delivery expectation. And, uh, I mean, obviously we, the growth in our capacity to do stuff. And then also, you know, we've kind of trimmed. Strategically kind of trimmed around how we're going to move forward and just service the hell out of our anchor places, you know, um, and and then kind of Direct efforts there. And I think overall it's a, it's a net win. You guys are predictably able to plow through stuff. Uh, customers are predictably able to go up there and find what they're looking for, you know, and, and, and we're able to forecast months and months and months ahead for production and get very accurate. And so like, that's a big part of, you know, making the company just better. That's the goal, right? Always get better. Always get better. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Well. Yeah, there, there you have it. Yeah, guys, we appreciate you. Okay. Throw it to me now. No, we appreciate y'all coming on. This was, this was good. No, I'm always a pleasure to have Mike on a reoccurring guest there. This could have been my last one. Like TPO TPO. I can be like, dude, you just, you got to shut up. Why you just grind her? Really? Yeah. You said, fuck the police. What are you talking about? Let me clarify that. There was, there, there. You know, I'll take that out too. Yeah, there's no clarification. People know what I mean. If you, if you take that, and that's the part when you take stuff out of con, it pisses me off a lot. Really? You, you don't know what, you know, but anyway, you've, you've, I've had some familiar, exactly. I'm like, come on, man. But people that do that have an agenda. And I'm like, man, get your agenda away from that. I'm not about that. Like be a man. Just the good, the good news is, is that people like that rarely, that's a, that's a good short term strategy. It never fucking works in the longterm. And eventually dude, just being straight down the middle and honest, that is a long term strategy. Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. No, but thanks for having me on man. Absolutely. Thanks for your time. Yeah. Thanks for your time on the interview. Thanks for your time as well. Thanks for doing the podcast man. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. And hey, if you've watched all the way to this end, Mike's getting a call because y'all got his fucking phone number. And, and once again, leave a comment. I won't read it. We'll see you next time. Big Text Ordinance podcast and we're out.