One of the things they would do is fill up uh a balloon with shaving cream and you take the balloon and you place it underneath the door so you don’t have to go into somebody’s room you can do it from the hallway and when you smash the balloon shaving cream just goes
Everywhere explodes like all over the bedroom and I was I was like you know flying looks like it’d be pretty cool like I’m going to go for it I just felt uh a yearning for something more for something different and I think my family was like what is wrong with you
But I felt like even before that whistle blew Wolfie was like knocking me right in the face like just like okay this is like this is this is we’re not messing around like it’s freezing cold there’s ice and and uh we still to this day a
Bunch of my buddies we still joke about it cuz we have nightmares and the last time that you do it you actually wear goggles that are blacked out so you physically can’t see anything yeah so it’s just like as if it weren’t scary enough right So Tito I have a proposition for you you ready for a would you rather here would you rather $25,000 okay just cash you don’t have to do anything for it just hand it right to you yep or a dollar for every push-up you do in a year oh mind you you’d have
To do 68 push-ups a day to reach 25,000 okay okay so that’s that’s that’s good okay you might get sore so yeah you trust in yourself uh no no I’ll take the 25,000 and here’s why oh man here’s why because I am so add that I will just
Like lose interest in this thing halfway through the year I might keep doing push-ups and just forget so it’s like no let’s just go with a 25,000 you would end up with like $900 or something yeah something like that so I would love this this would be like the challenge of a
Lifetime and I would publicize it and I would love people like egg me on I would do it for charity and I think it’d be fun I’d be like let’s get 50,000 let’s do this and then i’ die if I had someone to compete against then I’d stay more
Motivated but if it was just like me against this ethereal idea of like keep going no I I would fail yeah I think raising for charity that’d be fun yeah but you know I I if I had to pick any frier in our order who could do this and probably get 50,000
Maybe a 100,000 a year it is our guest today yes a man who needs no introduction among the Friars but you know happy to welcome into the world a man who played division one sports a man who was in the Navy for 12 years a man
Who is just a beast of a human being even today shaming Us in the way that he works out even featured in a breaking in the habit workout video one time that’s right let’s try to find that one we are of course talking about our wonderful brother Steve Keane Steve welcome to the
Show hey how you doing how you doing would you take that would you take 25 ,000 are you working for it the 25 that’s a no-brainer come on 68 68 that’s a lot man every day day come on yeah you do 20 at lunch you do come on you gotta
So you gotta do more than that yeah you could do a 100 a day I know you could I mean when I lived in R great to have you here let 5050 a day okay and no one was even paying you for it so imagine if people
Are paying you it was more of like stir crazy kind of a feeling sure sure sure well Steve was great to have you let’s jump right into here you know you played lacrosse at none other than Navy that’s pretty amazing it’s not every day you get to
Meet a you know D1 athlete someone who played that tell me what is it like to play on in some ways you the highest level I mean well beyond what Tito and I ever did oh well well I mean it was it was a
Lot of hard work I mean uh I honestly I didn’t think I was going to play any sports in college and I uh freshman year at Navy I uh tried out for football football was really my passion I love playing football um and I played on the
JV team if you believe it Navy has a the varsity team but also a JV team okay wow and and I was also playing wide receiver and there and a lot of people were like if you want to play wide receiver at Navy like you’re not going to see a lot
Of action because that’s right all you do is block yeah Navy’s constantly running the ball so my odds weren’t looking very good uh as far as playing so I was like you know I’m going to try lacrosse and so lacrosse is in the spring season I had a
Couple of my coaches uh from high school reach out to the Navy coach things lined up and and ended up uh walking on the team I guess that freshman year and and played all four years so uh yeah it was blast it was hard work
But I missed out on a lot of like the uh you know so they had a fall kind of Fall Ball lacrosse season season where the freshmen were yeah I nothing crazy but kind of like brought into the team so I missed out on all of that thankfully and
I was just I um just kind of came in in the spring season uh to play so it was a lot of fun it was a a lot of good fun I just I can’t even imagine I mean we’re talking D1 sport we’re talking like the best in the league and we’re talking
Navy I mean what what were these workouts like I mean you’re worried about doing a 100 push-ups a day I’m sure you could have done that in college yeah so the uh so the the toughest workouts we had uh so like the lacrosse season is right now so about you know
February uh so January uh getting ready for the season we would have interval training so it would be I it was so early and I think it was either 5 or six in the morning we start we would yeah we before anyone’s even awake on uh on the
Yard that’s what they call the the Naval Academy campus we’re like the first like prison yeah basically it’s not that bad but uh but but you know so we have a couple guys that we live on the same floor you walk to their room you don’t
Even say a word but you give them the light knock on the door they’re like all right let’s go you know like and you walk out to the field it’s it’s way too early um it’s freezing cold there’s ice and and uh we still to this day a bunch
Of my buddies we still joke about it because we have nightmares of Coach Hogan our Co our coach Hogan he he would uh you know he’d still he’d say ready and then blow the whistle and we’re off run and we’re sprinting you know at 6:
In the morning um but but they I think they discontinued that because it was a pretty intense uh running program so they no longer do that some guys were getting hurt you know something’s intense if the the military schools is like ah I think we went too far yeah I mean to our
Credit we were in like we were in great shape but it was also like like at the cost of some you know some shin splints some uh some some minor injuries so I think they they cut that but what was the uh what was the workout
Like so I mean was it just like uh like the dead Sprints where you go you know short distance mid distance Sprint long distance or you know what was it yeah so imagine uh so that I mean that’s pretty much it imagine like a track scenario and we’re all grouped you know there’s
Like a group here a group there like spread out at at different stages around the track and then as soon as he blows his whistle you’re sprinting as hard as you can for either a minute or 45 seconds or 30 seconds and you know it kind of tapers back to 10 seconds but
You do four quarters so like so the first quarter would be maybe like five or I don’t know five probably more than that but like several one minute Sprints and then several 45 second Sprints and several 30 second Sprints and and and then you do that for four quarters and
Then there’s always an overtime too so it’s like so it’s all right overtime here we go and uh so it’s intense was it worth it did did you get some Glory here do you you score any goals you get to deck anyone in games yeah I think it was
Because like I I I felt like and I think the other guys too felt like we were in awesome shape like I felt like we were ready you know we were we could run like we could we could run with I mean we didn’t we didn’t necessarily have as
Much skill is you know the Johns Hopkins Syracuse um you know some of the top teams uh but we had but we had hard like we played hard and the guy and that training got us in shape so we were in good shape um the year after I graduated
So I graduated in 2003 uh in 2004 that Navy team went on to the National Championship um and lost lost to Syracuse so obviously we we taught them everything that we knew that’s right that’s I mean clearly but some dead weight and there they were trim the fat and
Yeah what position did you play I played Midfield mostly defensive Midfield was that like the long stick position so there is a long stick midi but I played more short stick okay short stick midi yep yep I always see the long stick midi out there you know we got a the cross
Team here and I was like that’s the position that I want just walk softly carry big stick yeah it’s kind of fun yeah yeah yeah so one of the big questions with a lot of sports is you know hazing and things like that so I don’t want to get into
Hazing specifically but when you’re talking about you know Naval Academy I’m sure there were pranks I’m sure there was some camaraderie some guys risen on each other I mean what was that like any any good stories of of uh oh my gosh can you imagine yeah so the biggest um the
Biggest like prank week if you will uh there’s a prank week well I mean it’s well it’s really it’s really Army Navy week so it’s it’s the week leading up to uh leading up to the Army Navy football game so it’s like early December um but
It turns into I mean it’s not called prank week but it turns into like you know a lot of shenanigans um and and you know one of the things I never did this thankfully but one of the things they would do is fill up a a balloon with shaving cream
And you take the balloon and you place it underneath the door so you don’t have to go into somebody’s room you can do it from the hallway and when you smash the balloon shaving cream just goes everywhere explodes like all over the bedroom so a lot of times the pleaes the
Freshmen would do this uh to the upper class to kind of you know because the PES get a bad rap they get a lot of the you know they get uh they have a hard year so it’s kind of a way to push back a little bit to the upper class so and
The upper class aren’t very happy about that but worst thing that you did there oh worst thing oh God worst thing that happened to you maybe I I don’t want to have you have a you go yeah yeah yeah yeah um trying to think I did have to March some
Tours so if you get in trouble you have to March tours that’s like the penalty you have to wake again you have to wake up early in the early in the morning um and you’re literally walking in a square for like an hour with a with a rifle like not a real
Rifle but a uh ceremonial rifle so I think I had to do that one time which is I’m pretty proud of that’s not that’s not too bad I think the reason it wasn’t even good I think the reason was because uh our room like wasn’t clean enough like that was
Like like if you’re going to go down for something like that’s not that’s not even that great of a reason but yeah um that’s all I got yeah I got a followup question about the whole you know shaving cream in the balloon thing yeah so I’m just imagining he’s looking for
Tips let’s go I I don’t want this to happen to me so if let’s say I were to do it um how do I make sure that I don’t smash the balloon too hard so that it actually pops on me yeah that you gotta
Be careful with that you know I I mean I think YouTube might be a good start there’s probably some good winter like because I honestly can’t say that I’ve ever done it nor have I seen it done but I’ve just I’ve only heard the stories
About it so I don’t know yeah I’d be worried about friendly fire in that situation yeah yeah you don’t want that you don’t yeah it is such a great experience in college though and I think it’s just the perfect time for it is playing pranks on
Each other and it was something that we did on ihaul a lot something we did with the girls Hall uh they played a prank on us we got back at them as this kind of War back and forth um without any specifics one I just remember April
Fools one year they got us pretty good we got back at them in kind of a retaliation within an hour or two and we said you know you better knowled that what we did was great because that’s what we came up with in 2 hours can you
Imagine what we could do in 364 days and they refused they were so angry and so for the next year we did psychological warfare and I just I found it so fun where I would create a map of what we were going to do their room and it was
All fake plans and we planted it and we had a friend betray us and he came he’s like guys I’m really worried Casey’s going crazy he’s he’s going beyond what he should be doing and they were just so worried we didn’t have to do anything it it was
Great oh man I remember in high school Saran wrapping my friend’s car for his birthday oh yes you know the classics I love them that’s good do you ever put it on a toilet uh no I haven’t because I think that’s a bit much with my luck I’d
Forget that’s right talk about friendly fire right no I’m always we doing it in the Friars you know it was one with thing in college but when you live with octarians you know I I heard the sisters one time put a a statue of Jesus in the
Shower and um you know I would love to do that you open up the shower like oh my gosh Jesus the guy would slip and fall and like I’d get you know manslaughter and I’d be thrown in jail or something I I I just can’t do
That I was telling we did the one to one of our brothers Josh grle for his birthday we taped in his so it was his birthday so in the at night time uh John and myself put just clear tape outside of his door cuz the door opens inwards
So then when he when he open the door he’s like you know how do I we were hoping he would like walk into it and get stuck and like but obviously he just ripped it was like what what is going on here like what is this yeah oh man okay
So Steve you’ve uh you’ve gone through Anapolis right you’ve done all the all the cool stuff all the fun stuff and now you eventually ended up uh flying helicopters right so so how do so how does that work how do you how do you go from like student life to then okay now
I’m no longer just like you know Naval College student I’m in the Navy and I’m flying helicopters yeah I mean so there’s a there’s one uh in your junior year at the Naval Academy there’s a period that you uh select basically you select what if you want to go ships or
If you want to go on submarines or if you want to go in the Marine Corps um or if you want to fly and I was I was like you know flying looks like it’d be pretty cool like I’m going to go for it yeah um I mean there’s a little bit more
To it but that’s kind of what it came down to and the only downside is that you owe more time so if you go sub if you go surface or submarines you owe about five years but if you fly um there’s training a little bit more training involved so you end up owning
About it comes out to about eight years or so um so with that I was like you know what I still think it’s worth it and I just went for it and and the first thing they they do you go to train in Pensacola so I went down to first move
Was down to uh Pensacola Florida and actually even before that just to make sure it’s a wise investment for the Navy they put you through I think about 30 flight hours in a Cessna so this is just to like this is like right around right around Annapolis or right around right
Around the Naval Academy so they can be like okay this person you know is actually is a good fit we’re going to send them to Pensacola for training um so that was a lot of fun you want some guy getting into training and like getting the equivalent of Seasick you
Know you get in the plane you’re like oh my gosh I’m terrified of heights exactly exactly yep um so it was cool like it it was crazy like I never you know I wasn’t one of those kids that had like model airplanes as a kid like I never you know
I was never like dead set on flying uh but it just it just presented itself and I was like you know I think that’d be pretty fun um and then I mean I always dreamed of that as a kid I don’t think I ever really wanted to be a pilot but to
Fly is awesome uh now granted you know flying for the Navy is slightly different than just like flying around and doing whatever I wanted but uh you know you got the the joystick you know I remember playing the video games and it’s got to be terrifying right I mean
What was that what was that like the first time that you were in control of the plane yeah I mean it was you know it’s definitely uh a little nerve-wracking and I remember just you know the controls are very sensitive so like you push you know whatever the uh
Whether it’s the power or you know just a little bit and you can feel it and you’re like whoa that’s like I don’t want to crash this thing like that’s a little bit I didn’t expect it to I just thought it would like continue to fly
Straight and level um so honestly it was definitely a little bit scary at first just but you know the way the training is set up like they it’s very gradual um they build you up your confidence so that you’re comfortable doing it um they you’re in a simulator for a lot of the
Beginning phases so that you’re you know um you’re not actually up in the air you’re in like a a square box just flying around uh so there’s a lot of practice that leads up to you know your first real flights I guess if you will so you’re you’re pretty well prepared at
That point um but there are also days like you know on the ship flying the helicopter when it’s it’s pitch black outside the the the boat’s rocking back and forth you know you’re tired and you’re just looking at this hunk of metal this big helicopter and you’re
Like we’re going to take this thing up in the air like this doesn’t even this doesn’t even seem like a smart idea right now like what are we doing um we’re out in the middle of nowhere like in the middle of the ocean and we’re
Just going to go up and fly and like but somehow we do it it works thanks be to God yeah I I learned something recently about like helicopters and like the challenges that they face for example if they’re pulling someone out of the water if they’re lowering someone into the
Water or maybe just lowering something onto a ship is um as you have to be really really steady because as that thing lowers whatever it might be it can pick up momentum swinging back and forth so how do you guys comp do you guys train for that and how do you compensate
For it yeah that’s a good question so we have uh so there are two pilots in the front and then we have an air crewman who sits in the back and that the air crewman uh really helps to you know to say cuz you can’t as a if you’re flying
You can’t see what’s underneath you right uh but the person in the back can look down and they you know they really guide you they can say hey it’s swing in left or right you know if you’re carrying something they can give you a heads up like if it’s you know to steady
Out or you know kind of to give you instruction to help uh to get things under control but yeah that’s a good point you know being up front you can’t see what’s underneath you yeah so Top Gun obviously a huge movie for the Air Force a lot of
Military movies out there have you watched someone like that’s not the way things go or others like that’s that’s my experience what’s it like watching movies Steve correct them Navy top Navy no oh it is navy sorry I’m sorry yes but they they fly like spider Jets and you’re flying helicopters yeah fair
Enough fair enough um yeah I mean I I don’t know the jet Community as what I can’t I can’t say oh that’s correct that’s incorrect uh but I do have buddies who fly Jets and I ask them uh especially the newer one that came out like you know and he said yeah it’s
Pretty accurate like he’s like one of our guys watched that movie like eight times as soon as it came out so like I mean that says something about the accuracy I guess but do you watch something like Apocalypse Now that has helicopters or other movies that you know Blackhawk Down or something you’re
Like that’s that’s not my experience no I don’t know I guess I haven’t really I don’t know yeah no yeah yeah um no I don’t know I I mean I think the helicopter scenes are pretty um I don’t know usually chasing a car you know it’s usually like
A something kind you know something like that I don’t know I guess I haven’t gotten into the military uh helicopter movies as much but um they seem accurate as far as like I don’t know yeah one thing that impresses me is like I grew up in the air force and uh the the
Planes like my dad worked on f-16s right that’s like so many generations ago now we’re on like f-22s f30 you know whatever um is how much uh the technology has changed right so you know I I was listening to a a fighter pilot uh speak recently he said you know those those ’90s
Planes uh are just better dog fighters like they were built for that whereas like the F35 now can’t is going to lose in a dog fight the the problem is the technology has advanced so much much that if like f-35s and f-16s were coming at each other the f-16s wouldn’t even
Make it to the fight so they would just like be noticed by the other planes so much more quickly now so has the technology like changed just as much for helicopters like have you kept up and like have you seen like some of the some of the ways things have evolved yeah I
Mean so just as I was kind of leaving the Navy there’s a new um kind of a new type of helicopter an updated version if you will so that the basically the cockpit is like glass so there’s like so the instruments uh you know are
Basically on a on a glass panel um so that was the latest you know those are pretty uh that was a big change a big update um and that of course I just missed that as soon as I left those came in so I wasn’t able to to fly them but I
I probably not as significant as some of the fighter jet updates but you know still enough to uh to make a difference yeah the um cool yeah yeah what uh you know what life lessons you got from the the Navy I know um you know military people always like to go
Talk to high schools and they always learn important things along the way you know something about being a helicopter pilot about going to drill Camp about um any of it the camaraderie what sticks out to what do you take from the military yeah I mean I think uh the
Biggest thing is just like you meant the camaraderie so it’s that that sense of um you know we don’t and the probably you know in any line of work you don’t necessarily know or maybe get along with everybody um but especially in the Navy or you know probably any military branch
You kind of at the end of the day you have to make it work somehow you have to make things like you have to put aside the differences and just um you know kind of make make the best you can with the situation so I think there is that
Spirit of um I mean I guess I call it camaraderie but the spirit of just like teamwork and and you know it doesn’t matter what someone’s background is what their education is uh what they’re where they’re from you know at the end of the day it’s you know whoever is with you
Those are the people that you need to work with to to get along with um in order to be successful so I think that’s that that’s probably one of the biggest lessons I learned is just that that Spirit of teamwork that Spirit of putting differences aside in order to um
To work towards a common goal you know that makes me think uh we used to have a guy here at the college that I work at who was in charge of Public Safety right our sort of policing on campus and he came from a military background and his whole model was
That it you know it in most police forces you arrest someone for committing a crime you book them and then they become sort of the issue of the legal department right uh but in the military it’s different if someone does something wrong in the military you’ve got to
Correct the behavior but you’ve also got to live with them and keep working with them because you know it takes a lot for someone to get dishonorably discharged right so would you say that that kind of shaped your perspective on like how do I address issues with people how do I
Address issues where we ired Behavior but we also continue to live together yeah I think that’s that’s a really good point um at the end of the day when you’re when you’re out deployed on the ship like those are the people that you’re interacting with every day um so
Yeah you have to uh correct issues you have to um you know be able to move forward in a way that’s going to help that’s going to be helpful for the team for everybody um but yeah at the same time if things you know if somebody’s not doing something correctly or or just
Wrong uh you know that does have to be corrected uh hopefully gently hopefully in a encouraging manner um but at the end of the day you know we do we got to work together and and kind of you know and and figure it out yeah thing I’m most interested especially with the Navy
Is where have you been have you been all around the world I mean that’s what they say on the the commercials you know join the Navy see the world yeah so I mean pretty much so I was stationed uh majority of the time out in San Diego um
So any exotic any deployment I did was yeah was San we took we left from San Diego and uh headed west so that meant usually a stop in Hawaii which was pretty brutal um uh but then yeah so then we would just continue West so we did um you know
Been through all parts of Asia Japan Thailand uh Hong Kong Singapore um but then you continue around uh to the Arabian Gulf so we went up into Dubai um deah Rin um and one of our deployments we went up in the Red Sea we
Got all the way up to uh Cyprus up in the Mediterranean and then came back down um so yeah you do you really do get to see a good part of the world it’s uh it’s kind of an an adventure in that sense and did you go into the cities you
Have free time to go out I mean obviously you’re not just you know on vacation but how much of the culture did you get to experience yeah so that’s a good question anything stick out to you yeah so depending on where you uh so usually you’ll find out maybe a couple
Weeks before sometimes sooner than that but where you’re going to pull into Port um and then the MWR it’s like the they they do a lot of the morale planning stuff for the port so they’ll they’ll have activities that uh Sailors can do in Port so that they’re not just just
Out running cuz you know you’re on this ship for X number of days so it’s like y the reality is I mean I hate to admit it but the reality is like you have a lot of builtup uh tension and so you get off the ship and it things can get a a
Little wild some you know like the movies don’t lie um hey I I went to nishit you know I know what it’s like once you get free from your vows and your outs in the city yeah there you go yeah um but they do they do a good job
Of trying to you know create activities that are uh pretty safe um so anyway so you pull into different ports and you get to it’s usually for about two or three days uh maybe give or take a couple days it could be but and you get to experience the culture you usually
Have duty one of those days so you’re usually stuck I don’t want to stay stuck but kind of stuck on the ship for a day um and then but you you it’s it’s still it’s enough that you’re able to get out there kind of Meet the people uh
Experience the culture you know um try the food it it it that I think that’s a pretty cool that’s one thing I definitely miss is you get to you know you you’re literally just inserted into these uh different countries communities and they’re usually pretty welcoming and
Um I think uh so yeah it’s kind of a cool experience what’s one Country faor Places yeah I was just going to say yeah I mean they’re all you know I mean the the the answer really is they’re all every one of them has been awesome like
There’s no bad experience oh please come on big place I mean Dubai definitely stands out Dubai just because they’re like um they always have like the tallest building or uh the one thing I remember I guess two times we pulled in Du to Dubai on differenta different
Deployments and each time we went to it was like the middle of summer it’s the Middle East it’s brutally hot and and you like okay let’s go check out their Mall cuz the mall’s air conditioned uh it’s pretty comfortable and everybody I mean you you’ll see 90%
Of the ship walking around the mall you’re like oh I know that person um but at one end of the mall okay mind you again it’s like the middle of summer it’s super hot one end of the mall you go through uh there’s it’s it’s set up
And you you get the right gear you get everything that you need you go through these revolving doors and you enter into winter and there’s it’s just this massive this massive ski snowboard uh facility that’s just like open year round in the in the middle of Dubai um
So every time we pulled in there we made a point to go you know to go ski in Dubai because it’s like when else when else are you gonna be able to do that of course I was thinking about this and I’m gonna ask you now could you afford
Anything in that mall yeah no I mean maybe a movie ticket you can go movie ticket which would still be expensive but yeah yeah no everything good just to be around people though exactly yep yeah I I had a friend who uh he was in the Navy
For four years then he went and became a chaplain he went and became a priest and that was a naval chaplain uh his favorite place that he went to and I think partly it was because of the name was jaib boti did you ever did you ever
Make it to jaib boy I did not no I know people that many people that went there but I yeah I yeah yeah he got his mom a t-shirt apparently says I made it to jaib boti baby there you go yeah yes yeah we never no never never made it there
But so you were telling us something the other day that I I want to ask you more about but you’re saying some of the training for this you know that that’s the fun stuff you get to go to jib boti um but what about practicing sinking you shared this story tell us
Again you you’re in a simulator and they practice drowning you I mean is this what this is yeah pretty much yeah it’s sounds like waterboarding yeah um yeah so it’s I’m probably I can’t do it justice like you have to actually experience this but uh so it’s it’s just
It’s an indoor facility there’s um kind of like this module if you will that that hangs uh you know it basically hang I guess from the ceiling and you it’s it’s to be like it’s supposed to be like a cockpit like you’re in the helicopter
And so you can you can get a few people in there you’re strap in just like you were in the helicopter and then this is set up over a large swimming pool so what it does is it it’s supposed to simulate a crash landing over water and
Um so it it drops you down onto the water and then it flips literally flips you upside or fills up with water first um and then it flips you upside down and the point of it is to to stay calm um but then uh once once all motion stops is
When you you know calmly uh release your seed harness and then exit out the window and swim up uh to to uh to the surface and they have you know they have a number of scuba divers around to make sure that you’re not you know nothing
Too crazy is going on um and so you do this a couple of times and the last time that you do it you actually wear goggles that are blacked out so you physically can’t see anything yeah so it’s just like as if it weren’t scary enough right
And and I remember because one of this one time it was funny that like you have somebody next to you and and the best seat in the house is the one next to the window so the like there’s one seat that’s next to the window the other one
It doesn’t have a window so they have to come across this other seat to get to the window and I remember they said you know you so you wait for everything to stop moving and the person next to the window goes first and then the other person
Follows behind them I remember I had the seat next to the window um you know calmly uh releasing my seed harness and before I can even reach for the window that person’s like gone right in front of me they got out before I could even get
Out so I was like out of the way snooze you lose yep there they go so Tito Tito you’re not a huge fan of heights so you know the the whole being in the cockpit in the air not good what about the cockpit in the water prefer well here’s
The thing so you’re right I’m not a fan of heights flying doesn’t bother me though and I wonder if it’s because I’ve done it since I was a kid but um I think i’ would actually be more freaked out by cockpit in the water than cockpit in the
Air cuz uh and I mean don’t get me wrong like I’ve Expos I I trained to be a firefighter at one point so I’ve exposed myself to like different scenarios like this because that’s part of that training too it’s like okay we’re going to burn a building and you’re going to
Run through it you know with all the gear on it’s simulated it’s controlled uh but it’s still a burning building so um so I feel like I could do it but it would take I would take a little bit of training in this too like it I would
Start to get nervous I I know my my uh heart rate would start to rise for sure yeah let me jump out of the plane um I I don’t want to be in the water I don’t want to be submerged I can’t hold my breath that long I can swim all right
But I assume you’ve got your gear on as well right or some sort of like suits and you’re not packed up but you know I can’t imagine swimming in Boots and all that stuff what’s step one what’s that what’s step one Steve when you’re when you’re in the water in
Your uniform I don’t even know what is the you take off your pants take off your take off your boots there you go yeah yeah take off your boots time them together put them around your neck there you go it’s a flotation device it’s not but you’re going to want them you’re
Going to want them when you’re back on land sure enough well I thought is like the pants aren’t they supposed to be like inflatable or something they there is a trick yeah that you can do I don’t know if they teach that do they teach
You guys that tie the ends tie the legs and then yep yeah you can catch air in the seat of the pants yeah yeah so Steve you uh you went to the Naval Academy you’re part of sports teams you joined the Navy you’re a part of a Brotherhood
And then you leave and you say I want more brotherhoods you weren’t tired enough of being a bunch of a group of men you decided to be a frier I know well I think I grew up with three older sisters so you know this was like I need
I need some brother in my life you know like I I always complain to my mom like what the heck you know like so that’s interesting none none of us on this call have brothers right true yeah yeah yeah maybe that’s it yeah maybe we’re all looking for
Brothers oh man and then we got so what what led you to the Friars did you grow up thinking you might be a priest did you were you always religious what led you here um so I never honestly can say I never thought nothing against it but I
Never thought uh religious life or priesthood or any that just never was on my radar um I thought I really thought married life was going to be the next step um while I was in the Navy and I mean the faith you know we grew up our
Parents uh you know pretty devout I mean going to church on Sundays and um but I and continued that my whole life but I never it wasn’t really on my radar until the last couple years in the Navy and uh I just just I literally just felt
Something inside like I just felt uh a yearning for something more for something different and I think my family was like what is wrong with you um what like what do you what is I and full disclosure like I was actually going through some pretty tough times um
During that period too just own you know uh just own struggles depression Etc um but it but it really shed some light on this deeper search in my life I think and it and I wasn’t I I felt like God wasn’t calling me towards married life
Towards a wife and kids but uh towards a vocation and that’s really uh you know I was out in San Diego at the time I reached out to the Friars out there and never look back and I mean that’s really interesting to hear um that your family
Was kind of like what’s going on um just because I you know I was lucky I blessed I got to be at your ordination you know and I remember seeing your parents there and I chatted with them and uh the pride that was on their face like the joy The
Pride all of it was unmistakable so yeah I you know it’s all it’s easy to forget it’s a journey for us but it’s also a journey for our families and our parents that’s true that’s true I think they were just shocked like where is this coming from like you know just you know
I thought we were gonna have some grandkids and you know nieces and nephews and you know I mean I’m sure yeah yeah did they know anything about the the friers or was it just Romeo and Juliet and frier Tuck I mean sometimes our public images are not the best yeah
So I mean I I don’t think we had any interaction with Friars growing up so my mom grew up in Western Maryland so there were some capin out there but um you know I don’t we we grew up in a Redemptorist Parish so that you know
They didn’t my family I don’t think knew much about the Friars at that point but uh but yeah but they you know you’re right and and cut like pre fast forward to present day and you know every one of my sisters their husb you know they’re
All there they’ve been there um so you know eight years later sooner than that really but they’ve you know they they see it and they’re supportive um they’re encouraging and you know I don’t know if they totally get it I don’t I don’t totally get it all the time but uh but
They are be worried if you did yeah yeah yeah I think it’s it’s part of this life that you know you join this life because you’re crazy you just have to be the right type of crazy but everyone else is crazy in this life too so fraternal life
Can be a bit of a mess there you go there you go yeah yeah but why why the Friars why not the Jesuits why not the the redemptorists yeah so I I literally the first email was to the Redemptorist vocation office and they didn’t they didn’t respond I was like
Okay oh man we came to find out I know we we came to find out several months later uh that the priest that I reached out to he was like oh that was like the wrong an old email address so it was it probably was it was user error really um
But uh but yeah Divine Providence we’re to have you good call there we go there we go um but yeah you know I I browsed around a little bit I looked at the you know I was in San Diego so I met with the diois guys out there didn’t quite
Feel right um I felt like this contemplative piece so I I uh my parents family probably thought I was crazy but I met with like the Benedicts um out there and that that just seemed like too much um and then i’ I’ve literally found the friers I
Mentioned this the other day a big part of it was your blogs your you know everything that you had out there um on your formation experience and that literally just gave me life I was like I was I loved reading about um your poshley postulancy experience and formation experience and that helped me
To be like okay I could see myself you know a couple years a year from now doing the same things um and I met some of the friar there in Santa Barbara uh it helps it then you join and you realize this is a load of crap what was
He talking about what have I gotten myself into I want to meet this guy and tell him yeah so what was the difference you obviously the the blog was for that purpose I wanted people to have an experience like I did where you could kind of read about it and experience it
From afar um how did it match your actual entering in because everyone can always have those imaginations but then we you know Tito has this as well you join the friers you’re like all right some of this is what I expected and some of this is you can’t prepare anyone for
Nope yeah no that’s exactly it’s totally accurate I mean I think I took it with a grain of salt so I didn’t you know I didn’t hold you to every word and detail that like yeah um obviously our experiences are going to be different um
But I think it just helped for me just to paint like a rough picture and uh I think thankfully for whatever reason I I came with a pretty open mind so I wasn’t you know I didn’t I don’t I don’t feel like I had a lot of disappointments or
Like you know I wish it could have been like this or that um so you know I I just I think my expectations were open I wasn’t you know I obviously had some but I think they were um I wasn’t like set like it has to be like this it has to be
Just like Casey’s experience or you know um that helped me to kind of paint the picture but I think I was open to whatever experience uh whatever whatever happened so I have a I have a question because you know I you served in the military I grew up in the military one
Of the things that I’ve noticed is that there’s a lot in common between the military life and The Franciscan life in terms of like you get moved around you get stationed different places um it’s a big Community but at the same time feels very small you see a lot of the same
People in different places um what’s something that you think the Friars could learn from the Navy or the military in general and what’s something you think the military or the Navy could learn from the Friars because although there’s a lot of things in common there’s some very important different
Things yeah this is you know this is a tough question and uh I think my answer I think the the thing that the Friars could learn from the military is um it’s kind of a catch 22 but I think that you know the structure the the the military is very organized
It’s very regimented um you know and as Friars like we obviously have an organiz an or you know we’re organized in the sense that we have chapters we come together to pray um but things tend to be a little bit more loose um so I think that’s what the
Friars could learn from the military but on the flip side I think the military can lo can learn that looseness from the friers which is perhaps an even bigger like I think I think that’s like our gift is that we are you know we’re not we’re not totally constrained or there’s
There’s there’s some freedom to move um like we’re not totally uh I don’t know there’s just there’s a little bit there’s a little bit more freedom to to move we’re not we’re not so regimented that it’s it’s like you have to do this or do that or you know there’s there’s
Some of that of course but it’s uh it’s a little bit more free free moving if you will which which I think is a good gift I think it you know it has to be that way to kind of um I don’t know because people are different the spirit
Moves in different ways uh so I think so I think they each have a a pro that they can offer each other but I think the friar have something better to offer the military I don’t know yeah sure I’m not sure if I want you know soldiers going
Out to battle like oh the spirit moved me to do this you know so there’s something to that order that’s really good and I do think you know the friers as you say could earn learn a little bit more in like organization uh we are chaos incarnate um but yeah there’s
Something maybe to that that Mercy that forgiveness that flexibility that the military is not known for and maybe rightly so but I I assume could make the experience a little bit better right that’s it that’s it yeah do you think do you think question you not to not to say
That Tito’s question wasn’t good but clearly the better question um which was more difficult basic training or initial formation with the Friars yeah I I mentioned this the other day like hands down initial formation with the Friars like yeah no but I think I think for
Different reasons I mean the as we met the physical aspect of you know uh joining tough yeah yeah there yeah there you go um yeah no but the physical aspect of the military is obviously challenging uh but the you know with initial formation with the Friars was
More challenging in the sense of um I I felt challenged to be patient with the process and um uh just you know I think it’s I think it’s tough to come into this life as a second career if you will um at least I found that challenging
Because I felt like I’d kind of established myself uh identity in the Navy do doing a lot of things um and then coming to the Friars you kind of have to start over um to you know I think as males maybe we we gravitate a lot towards our identity and what we do
Um so I I know for me it was challenging and maybe not just for everybody males and females but uh I know for me it was challenging to be patient with the process I felt like I want to be there I want to profess solemn vows I want to
You know I want to I just wanted to get to the finish line which probably isn’t the best approach but that’s just how I felt so that was that made it more challenging I think than the basic training part for the military it was just being patient for the through the
Process I think we all reach a point you know in formation where we’re like I I want to get to the Finish Line yeah I think that’s just part of it um you know it is anything in life yeah it is there is a dying to self um there are times
Where you get frustrated I mean I remember when I I realized that my formator didn’t know when tax day was cuz he never had to file taxes and I’m like you and I have had very different lives so yeah it’s it you know it’s just part of it yeah I remember having a
Meeting one time and um you all might know exactly who I’m talking about but I was supposed to meet with this person as my you know Mentor throughout formation and he said so how are you feeling and I said well you know I’m I’m angry and I’m
Frustrated and I don’t feel hurt and you know I shared all these words and he says okay okay but but what feeling words come to mind like what are you talking about I I just told you all of them and you’re making them worse making worse yeah we can be a
Little touchy feely lovey doy and he just wanted the the good feelings I was like no these are still feelings there was a point where I had to go through um I had to meet with a with a counselor uh every two weeks uh
And I told him earlier I was like I hate the question how are you feeling and he’s like why and I was like because I feel like I’m pretty good at explaining how I’m feeling you know and so when someone asked me that I’m like have you not been paying attention I’m telling
You so yeah I I I feel that Casey so anyway Steve how you feeling with your new so great so awesome so good yeah cuz you made it through you you made it to the Finish Line not a Day Too Soon you’re now ordained you’re somly professed you’re you’re working as
A campus minister is it everything you imagined 10 years ago oh it’s yeah it’s rainbows and sugar pies and yeah there’s no bad no bad day and yeah uh no I mean it’s it is good I mean I it’s there are times that I’m like man
I wish I could go back to formation though like yeah the Grass Is Always Greener but uh yeah yeah um but no it’s good I mean there’s I definitely look back you know somebody recently asked me about uh the process they’re like man it just seems
Like it’s a long time you know to go from uh to start the poeny to be Sol Solly professed to be ordained you know could be almost eight years um it just seems like that could be done a lot quicker and I was like you know I Pro I
Would have agreed with you a few years ago but now like looking back at that process like you know there maybe not the book knowledge maybe not you know not a ton of stuff there but like I think there is like a maturing process that goes on over that course of time
That’s just like you know that that your vocation grows and you’re you’re willing to wait you’re not like you know granted there’s this I want it right now I’m ready I’m ready but um but you work with it you’re you’re patient with it and then you have that time where you’re
Allow you’re able to grow um and maybe understand your vocation a little bit better so um I don’t know somebody recently asked me that question and I think that it all it all works for the best yeah well I can tell you we’re blessed to have you well wonderful to have you
Part of the fraternity uh hope to live with you someday I mean we’re about as far away we can be at this point on the East Coast you’re all the way up in Upstate New York you’re close to Tito but still like eight hours West I guess
Yeah five five hours all the way down in Georgia here but uh hey it’s a it’s a long life and you know you’re just jumping from fraternity to fraternity I’m sure we’ll we’ll find each other somehow let’s go let’s go definitely we’ll definitely end up finding each other
Absolutely well any final questions for our illustrious uh guest here um I don’t know I I kind of want to go back to real quickly to like our first little part there where we were talking about pranks um uh not so much the pranks part of it
You know but you you know you went to the to the Naval Academy um and you know I’d heard uh and we you know you verified this the other day but uh tell me a little bit about about boxing in the Navy so you know what what
Uh is that like a four-year course is it a one-year course you only have to do it for the first semester like tell me a little about it yes that’s a good question so everybody I I imagine it’s still the case but you take a boxing class um honestly can’t even remember
Which year but it’s I believe it’s a semester long it’s so one semester um and I was heard so it must have been either maybe my junior year sophomore junior year because those are years I was hurt but uh so I wasn’t able to physically I you
Know take the class so in order to pass the class I had to spar basically box with somebody um so I don’t have I didn’t have a lot of boxing experience so I asked a buddy on uh on my lacrosse team Brian wolf great guy and he’s like
Oh yeah yeah he he accepted it too quickly I should have been hor concern oh yeah Steve you just just pick the day man I’ll box with you no problem like we we’ll get it done it’ll be no problem and I’m just like why is he so eager to
Box like and then I start talking to some of our other buddies and they’re like you know Wolfie Wolfie’s a pretty good boxer man like you better be careful I love that his name is Wolfie yeah yeah why didn’t you pick the small guy I know I’m an idiot
Um so so so sure enough we’re like it’s comes the day we’re boxing it’s like a I don’t know like a Tuesday afternoon just a normal school day and we’re there boxing with uh probably Richie me or he was the head coach at Navy coached to
Ferman but he also taught boxing um and we’re like all right here we go and you know before but I felt like even before that whistle blw Wolfie was like knocking me right in the face like just like okay this is like this is this is
We’re not messing around like he’s uh I just have this image of like the playgrounds it’s like fight fight fight everyone and they’re like crowded around yeah yeah and he uh yeah he didn’t go light he I was I was I was a minor a minor character that day for
Sure he was definitely the main character yeah but uh but it’s all good it was a good memory and he you know he still lets me know to this day that he uh he outbox me so yeah that’s good but I pass yeah well I apologize I I feel
Like we’ve buried the lead there that was really the story and uh if you if you can go back you can amend your question what can the Friars learn from uh you know the military we should bring boxing can you imagine with formators and students there’d be some pent up
Aggression let’s do it there we go no better way to scandalize the church than have the men of Peace the francisc boxing yeah I don’t know I mean yeah we could try it yeah he seems well brother thank you so much I have no interest in boxing you so you know you
Would you would kick my butt even if you won’t do the push-ups you would win sure I I don’t think I could throw a punch couldn’t hurt that beautiful face of yours thank you so much for joining us hope that your your priesthood is going
Well you’re so new you got the the baby priest uh Aura around you hey hope you’re doing wonderful work I know you will pray for me pray for us pray for all us so Tito what yes what a good dude yeah no he’s awesome what a good
Dude he’s awesome he’s a joy to live with I love living with him in Chicago and I hope to live with him in the future again yeah man but I’m I’m still I gotta say I’m disappointed he’s not taking the push-ups I’m just still I’ve been single
Track mind on this the whole time look come on I I now want to do this as a part of a chapter we’re going to have a push-up competition you can go right ahead I’m on his side I’ll I’ll take the 25,000 and this is why we’re following
Falling behind the Dominicans this this is it right here really I don’t think the Dominicans are doing 65 push-ups a day if you told them that Thomas aquinus did it they probably would they that’s fair but I don’t think Thomas aquinus did no no the ox couldn’t do a push-up
His belly was too big that yeah I don’t I don’t know how about all those Legends oh it’s very true and they were all started by franciscans that that’s that’s probably true we definitely help spread him yeah well Tito two down yep I think it’s going great I can’t wait for our next
Guest hopefully he’s out of quarantine by this point I I think it’s going to be wild this man’s got some stories so he home some stories you’re going to want to hear this a wise a wise man who has seen a lot has taught a lot and knows
All the dirt of History you’re going to want to come back next week peace Everybody
source
