#5 Brandon Lam Gilroy BJJ

Transcript

0:00

Today we've got a special guest who embodies hard work, perseverance and passion. I first met Brandon Lam through an open mat group called the Koffee Krew. Right away, I was drawn to his unique energy on the mats. As a photographer, I've had a privilege in capturing moments of Brandon's jiu jitsu journey. Watching him move and display his game is something special. His technique, precision and ability to push through challenges reflects not only his skill, but also his relentless determination. Brandon, thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. Let's get started, Brandon, from the beginning. Tell me about your childhood and your parents upbringing. Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Brandon Lam. I'm 29 years old, and I was born and raised in San Jose, California. I was born to an immigrant family. So my dad's side is from South Vietnam. They came to the U. S. after the Vietnam War, and then my mom's side is from the Philippines. My mom was born here, and my parents met in San Jose playing competitive volleyball. So I met Luckee through jiu jitsu, and I think she kind of knows me as, like, a competitor. Absolutely. And I don't think I compete in the same way of, like, trying to, like, win championships or, like, win glory I kind of just always had that in my upbringing with my parents, just like always trying to test ourselves or improve or find a way to get better than just like staying stagnant. So that's kind of like the upbringing that I had. What was it like growing up in San Jose as the child of an immigrant parent? It was a unique experience, actually, because the house that I grew up in in San Jose was the first house that my grandpa bought, coming over from Vietnam. They first, when they came to America first, they were in, uh, Texas. They got to Texas to a refugee camp. And then, from there, they were able to get filtered out to different parts of the U. S. And for my family, it was the Bay Area, and they ended up in Campbell first. And then, they bought a house in San Jose. Then the house that we grew up in was like a house where everyone lived. So my grandparents were there. My family was there. And then throughout the years of growing up in this house, there is different faces and different people trickled through. And it was like really cool to be part of this like big family experience where we always had to like rely on each other and look out for each other. That's great. So, growing up, I played baseball like I tried to play baseball. I was like, not very good. I wasn't good at all. I had to wear glasses as a kid, so I had like poor eyesight, so I can't really see the ball. So I wasn't a great hitter and I was also really small and I missed the season because I wasn't a very good reader, so, my mom actually took me out of baseball one season so I can get tutored to, you know, get better at being a student. And then so the season that I came back, all of a sudden there was no T anymore. Kids were pitching, they were stealing bases, and they were hitting it into the outfield. That was, like, unheard of. For going from T ball to all of a sudden, I missed, like, a huge portion of skills that I had to, like, learn on the fly. And then, so one of the things that I do to like be effective on the team, cause I used to be bottom of the batting order. So you have nine hitters. I was the ninth hitter. I stood in the outfield and I missed five balls all the time, until I changed my game where when I got up to, to the plate, I started to squat down to shrink my strike zone. Right. And then I would crowd the plate. So it'd make pitchers very uncomfortable. And I was also a lefty batter. Nice. So like most kids did not know how to pitch to me. So they'd either walk me or they hit me with a ball or I'd bunt and I'd get on base every time. And then, so I went from being a non effective player to being a contributor. I think I've adapted to like the way I approach life and especially jiu jitsu into that same mindset is like making the game work for me. Do you have any siblings? Yeah, so I have a sister and it's my immediate family. It's my parents and my sister and I. So. Growing up, I grew up, my dad was a firefighter for the Santa Clara County Fire Department and then I am actually a Santa Clara County Firefighter as well. So, uh, growing up I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps. And he got that job before I was born in, 1994 I was born in 1995 and my dad worked a 26 year career with the department. And during that time when I was growing up, he was working a bunch when I was a kid. And it was really inspiring to see my dad be a firefighter because he got deployed to fires out of state. So like wildfires in Colorado. He went out after Hurricane Katrina happened, and he went out as a rescuer and responder to that. So, it was really cool to see my dad, have a great career where he got to help people, but it was also a career that he, like, provided for my family. So, my mom was a stay at home mom, and that was really special to have all those years with my mom, that she, like, took care of us, taught us how to be good people, and, look out for people, and be a good team member and a good family member. And at the same time, my dad was working a ton of overtime to afford, like, a great life for me and my family. Okay. And then you said, growing up, you had an early interest in things like Star Wars. Marvel. Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah. So growing up, I was a really nerdy kid and I feel like all my friends would say that I'm still a nerdy guy, but I do other things that isn't so nerdy. Like I have a great passion and interest in jiu jitsu. And then I'm also a firefighter. So I think a lot of people have this image of firefighters and people that do jiu jitsu as like these macho guys. But me on the other hand, I'm kind of like a soft spoken, quiet nerdy kid and that's who I was growing up as a kid is like I wasn't very good at sports like I talked about with my baseball skills and I was like because I wasn't a good reader and I got taken out of school to get better at reading I all of a sudden became super obsessed with reading books I read a ton as a kid and my favorite things were Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, all that stuff. And then, so going into middle school, I think that kind of made me a target for being bullied, you know? And then, so, that definitely did happen growing up, is I got bullied for all sorts of reasons, but in response to that, I remember coming home from school one day and telling my dad, and my dad was like, well, you need to, you know, get stronger. You need to get physically stronger to like, stand up for yourself. So he was the one who got me into fitness. And then So, from the age of like 12, I got addicted to working out and fitness, and then at 14, my dad and I did some research and we found the San Jose Fire Department had a Fire Explorer Program. So that's a cadet program for, people, young people from 14 to 21 to get involved with the fire service in their fire department. And so I started doing that at 14 years old. Wow. That's a lot of responsibility for being 14. Yeah, I know it's a lot of fun and I think it really made me who I am today. So I started that program and that program called the San Jose Fire Explorer Program. You had an interview for so actually my best friend that I grew up with that lived on the street with me. His name is Andy. Andy and I, we, applied for this Explorer Program as a freshman in high school. And then I interviewed for it, and that was a pretty intense interview process, and then we got selected. And from then on there, every other Saturday for the rest of my, you know, teenage years, I was going to these meetings. That started at like 7: 30 in the morning, and it would start with physical training, then getting exposed to all the, you know, the gear and equipment that line firefighters were using. And it taught me a lot about discipline and a lot about myself. What did you learn during that time that stayed with you through life? What stuck with me Building relationships like strong camaraderie and having great mentors and a good foundation of people the like creating a network because I think everyone that has gotten hired as a firefighter with me or with different departments, we all acknowledge that it's taken not just one person or yourself. It takes like a village, just like they say, it takes a village to raise a child. Same thing with getting anywhere in this career. I think that's why the fire service is such a beautiful career as well, because it's really not about a single person. It's about the whole community. And what I took away from the Explorer program is that. I didn't realize at the time that I was making these friendships for the rest of my life and it's really cool and surreal to look back and see how I still talk out and reach out to all the people that I was going through it with. And we still check up on each other and we still celebrate all the great milestones that we're all hitting in each other's lives, like going to each other's weddings or their graduations or their ceremonies when they get promoted at their jobs. It's really special. absolutely. I can see that. In the San Jose Fire Explorer program, describe what your day was like, when you went out there, just, just in case some of our listeners are wanting to go into this direction. Yeah, so I think the staff at the San Jose Fire Explorer Program really did a great job of emulating what it would be like if you got hired and you were going to be in the academy. So a day in the life as a fire explorer was really replicated from the San Jose Fire Academy itself. So the training staff at the Explorer Program wanted us to be prepared if and when we got hired with San Jose Fire or any other department, that we'd be ready to do an academy. So, reporting on duty to a drill at 14 years old, it was started at like 7: 30 in the morning at the crack of dawn. And as soon as you get there, we'd be doing PT, or physical training. So it'd be about an hour to two hours of CrossFit style exercises, or like boot camp style, like obstacle courses, like monkey bars, hopping fences, pull ups, a lot of like relay sort of drills. My favorite thing was that we'd run up and down downtown San Jose. So I have like very fond memories I was just at a Sharks game last night and I was getting nostalgia for like how when I was an explorer we used to run all those stairs around the stadium just like up and down just doing stairs Wow And we're running down to City Hall and then running to the top of City Hall the 18th story. It's just like a lot of good moments of like suffering but like suffering together with like your best friends, right? Some people could call it trauma bonding, but I felt, felt like it prepared me for a lot of the stuff that I've run into throughout my career. And then that was just the PT alone. And then they would, you know, train us to do firefighter skills. So we got issued. It was really cool that the San Jose, the city of San Jose and the department would like let us. These teenage kids wear the same gear that frontline firefighters were wearing, and we were training in that stuff and getting to use hand tools and power tools and hose and going up and down the tower and wearing the breathing apparatus and working together as a team. That sounds fun. Yeah, it was awesome. Especially from 14 to 18, right? To 21. So transitioning to adulthood. Okay. So you said after high school you pursued fire science and EMT training. Yeah. So from 14, I knew that I wanted to be a firefighter. So I kind of didn't do the normal path that the rest of my classmates were doing in high school. Everyone was applying to colleges, studying for the SAT. And then there was me, and I was like, I know exactly what I need to do. I need to go to, Mission College to get my EMT. I'm going to try to become a volunteer firefighter somewhere. And then after getting through the EMT program, I'm going to do a Firefighter I certification, boot camp. And then hopefully I can work as an EMT somewhere. And then after that, hopefully I can work for CAL FIRE. And these were all things that luckily I had a mentor to tell me how to do all this stuff and my dad. And that's like exactly all the things that I did. When I graduated from Pioneer High School in San Jose, I went to Mission College starting like right out of my, senior year. And then that was the first class that I signed up for was the EMT program. So I was doing like general education and the EMT course at the same time. So it was a full load. For the first two semesters of my community college career, if you will. Got my amt license and then I went through a Firefighter one Academy through South Bay Fire and that's through Evergreen College. The way that program works is like it's a six month Firefighter Academy but there's no job at the end. So it's like exactly replicating what it'd be like to get hired as a firefighter, but it'd be for a certification that you could use to apply to different departments. Okay. So I did that for six months, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday while going to school full time and then also working part time as a, someone who made smoothies at Jamba Juice. You had your schedule pretty packed. Yeah. And it was good that it kept me busy and just like focused because at the same time. My parents, were going through a divorce and then, my sister kind of was like needed a little help and guidance because my, dad was busy providing for us. And then my mom in the event of the divorce, she had to start a new career. And then so I felt like being able to stay busy and focused and then also. help out with the family a little bit because I was like making money, I felt like I was a functioning adult. How much older were you than your sister? Not very much older. I'm only a year and a couple months older. You took on that responsibility trying to pitch in and help out with your little sister. So you ended up, getting into Cal Fire, correct? So before Cal Fire, I, got hired as an E. M. T. With the interfacility transport company. So the difference for listeners is at home is that you have different levels of ambulance service. So there's 911 first responder emergency ambulance service. And then there's also in a facility transport ambulance service. So in the event that the 911 system is saturated, you'd be a first responder, but the company I worked for, it was more so taking a lot of patients from in two different facilities from the hospital back to their care home from the care home to the hospital, or we had a lot of psychiatric patients was another big pull for us or critical patients that were going from specialty facility to another specialty facility. Okay, so your EMT service was more of a transportation Yes. Okay. And I did that. I got hired at 18 to do that. And I remember my first position with the company was in Contra Costa County. So I was living in San Jose. So I was commuting from San Jose to Concord. for like minimum wage and I loved it. It was me and another 18 year old kid and we pretty much didn't have like a direct supervisor and we got to drive all around the Bay Area, you know, talking and interacting with people and we embarrassed ourselves because we met a lot of like doctors and nurses that had like years of experience and we looked, I still look young, but I looked even younger back then and they're like, I remember having patients be like, you guys are the ones picking us up. Like they don't have an adult to come and get us and then I was there for a year and I eventually went from Contra Costa County to Alameda County. So driving all around Oakland and the East Bay and then worked my way back home. Finally, I'm in like Santa Clara County. And I was working the nights at the time and they also made me a trainer. So it was a 19 year old kid training like people in their mid twenties or thirties on how to be a caregiver to sick people. So that's so cool. And then, after the last three or four months of working the night shift in Santa Clara County, I got hired with Cal Fire because I was trying to get hired as a firefighter anywhere. So I got a seasonal position with Cal Fire. Oh wow. So how old were you then? I got hired at 19 and I turned 20 I think my first weeks of working for Cal Fire. And then my first experience with Cal Fire is I went out on a strike team. So a strike team for, mutual aid in the California system. it's, we send out crews of five engines. So there's trucks and then there's engines. So trucks have the big ladders. Fire engines carry water and then in the fire engine world, there is, you know, different types. So the ones that you see in the city are type one, not four wheel drive. And then, so the ones that we use for wildland fires are type three engines and they're all wheel drive. A lot of the times they have a smaller water tank, but there's more maneuverable, shorter wheelbase, lighter generally. And then, so that's what a strike team is. So a strike team is you send out five crews on type three engines that are three to four people, and then you go out for up to 21 days. That's what it was for Cal Fire, or longer. They can reset you in a rest period, and then you can go out for another 21 days on top of that. So tell us what it was like, your daily job as a seasonal Cal Fire firefighter. So a lot of the stations in Cal Fire are rural. My station was the Pacheco station off of Highway 152, where Casa de Fruta is. So if you're going down south out of Gilroy and you're trying to get to I- 5, you take Highway 152. And it's like this windy road, and, uh, being a seasonal there was awesome because there was a lot of, places to get experience because it was pretty busy from the wrecks that happened on the highway. And then it's all grass ranch farms out there. So there's a lot of grass fires and because the Pacheco Valley is one of the windiest valleys in the state, you get like these unpredictable winds. So it was a place for you to like really learn and get experience. So out there when you're waiting for calls, it was like, since it's a rural station, you had to be pretty self sufficient. So we got used to all the stuff. It was almost like being in a cabin with a lot of your like your best buds. There's like a lot of chorin and so we'd like chop wood, move wood to different places sharpen your tools clean the station clean the grounds a lot of yard work and then during the fire season when you're responding to these fires and going on the strike team deployments It's like being on a road trip with like family members So it's like a long road trip movie. If you, you know, if you watch like road trip movies, like dumb and dumber, right? And then there's moments of chaos when you're like getting to work and you're going to these fires and responding to these big events. So when you go to these big events, how are you directed? How are they organized? The way it works is if a fire breaks in the initial attack window, that's the first 10 hours, you'll have all available resources and closest resources go to that fire. So in the event of LA, that just happened recently, everyone just goes down and there's not a lot of organization at first. The message or the initial mission for initial attack is stop the fire and then do the most good possible. So, like in the event of LA, since there was so many structures involved and so many people involved, those strike teams that went down initially, their job was to try and save houses if they could, but the ultimate priority is life, so evacuate as much people as possible. Absolutely. And then, as a large fire like that develops, and the days go on, hopefully, base camp can be established and there's like organization at the government level. So. The way, emergency response works in California, it's like very hierarchical. So they'll, all these resources will come together and they'll streamline into structure. But for me, boots on the ground level, when you're on a strike team as a firefighter on an engine, your day to day is usually 24 hours on the line and 24 hours off the line. So it's a 24 hour shift and then a 24 hour rest, either in base camp, so there's like sleep trailers. Or you pitch tents and base camp or there's a hotel program provided sometimes. So what is it like being on the line? So being on the line is every morning that you show up for an operational period is what it's called. There's briefing at 7 in the morning at base camp. You'll eat chow at the chow tent or like a feeding area, then you'll get your assignment from your strike team leader after they attend briefing and then you'll go out to the line. So you'll drive out to usually a spot on the fire. And if it's an active fire, your assignment will be either offensive measures like going direct, like spraying water, using hose to put it out. Or you're supporting hand crews that are going in and clearing brush and or you're doing a firing operation So like if they're using fire to fight fire Mm hmm That'll be another operation But a lot of the times the fire had already blown through and you're doing mop up is what it's called So cleanup overhaul, so essentially making sure that the fire is completely extinguished And that's a lot of work that doesn't really get talked about. Okay in the media because it's not like the Yeah, I mean, I think the, the most, magnificent part, you know, the glory, like the glorification part of like tankers, like, airplanes, putting drops directly on fire. But like, the big part is making sure that the fire is like all the way out, When people come in and reenter, things can happen if there's still something burning, correct? For sure. Give me an example of what can happen if somebody enters into an area, just the, Smoldering, ash piles, they're super carcinogenic, you know? Right. there could be unsafe structural members that are smoldering that are at any moment can, like, give way, and then in the wild land world for us, I was talking to you beforehand, that a common way that a lot of firefighters have died on these big events are either from trees falling down or just fatigue behind the wheel and vehicle accidents. So it's like almost after the fire is out, it's still very dangerous. Working with the Cal Fire as a seasonal firefighter. Can you share a specific story from the field that stands out to you? Yeah, I actually have two moments in my career that I look back on as big teaching moments. Takeaways where there was a near miss accident where I feel like they, even though they were scary times, when it happened to me, they have stuck with me and they have taught me valuable lessons, looking forward for the rest of my career. So, the first story I have is when I was a seasonal with Cal Fire. My second season, we responded to the Loma Fire, which happened in the Santa Cruz Mountains. If people remember who live in the area. Yes. There was like pretty famous pictures of a giant smoke column coming out of the Mountains from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. So that's a pretty iconic picture and that happened in 2017 and actually happened in late September, almost October, and I feel like this was at a time where people were thinking that fire season would last from May and pewter out in October. But now we've seen in current times that it's getting later and later, right? So I felt like This fire, this Loma fire was like an indicator to me early on my career. This is like what fire season is going to be the rest of your career. It's going to be like this unpredictable and late in the season and when you least expect it. And then so what happened on this Loma fire is that it was burning in Santa Clara County, even though it was the Santa Cruz mountains is burning in Santa Cruz County and we had an assignment to prevent the fire from crossing the County line. We weren't on a strike team yet because we're all individual pieces that responded from our stations because it was still in that initial attack 10 hour Window. Mm hmm. So we were a bunch of different crews piecemeal together and we were parked along this mid slope road with fire coming down below us. So for anyone that works in the fire service, you all you know that these are what we call watch out situations or like situations where the hair on the back of your arms should raise because you're putting yourself in a bad spot because the way we look at fire behavior is if you hold a match upright, it'll burn like a match. But if you hold that match upside down, the flame will start running up quickly up the handle. So if you're on a hillside with fire below you. That fire is going to climb up that match handle extremely exponentially fast, right? And that's what ended up happening to us. We had a wind shift that happened at midnight. So this was at the middle, middle of the night. I just remember like right at midnight, I remember my watch beeping cause I had a digital watch at the time. And I looked at my watch and it showed the four zeros, zero hundred hours. And then the wind, the fire was coming up and I just felt like the wind that was on my back all of a sudden was on my face. Oh no. And then you hear this roar of a jet engine. And it's the fire coming up out of the valley. And then we all had our hose streams and our nozzles and you open up the nozzle and then nothing happens. You're just literally peeing in the wind. Oh no. And we had a, luckily none of us got hurt or burnt, but I remember having to like scramble into the engine. I had to jump into the engine, slam the doors. My captain driver drove out of there. We were dragging hose behind us and it was literally like our tail was between our legs because we affected and did nothing to that fire. Wow. So. That was, you know, learning lesson number one, right? And then the following season, I went from the engine to hand crew. So for a hand crew firefighter is. Instead of using hose and water like you do on an engine, on a hand crew, you're a crew built of 7 to 21 firefighters sometimes. The crew that I was on my last season was a crew of 7. And you're using gardening tools that look a little more rugged. They're all named after different firefighters. So like, an axe like thing is called a Pulaski. A giant rake is called a McLeod. They're all named after these firefighter legends. And then you have chainsaws. And you're using these. Pretty much gardening tools to do my buddy calls it high speed gardening to remove brush and fuel away from the fire And so you're not using any water. You're just using gardening tools. And so that's what I chose to do my last season and then so This following season after the Loma fire I'm responding to this Bear fire and this is you know that same time of year late September early October same time when the Loma fire happened In this year, it's 2017, the Atlas and Tubbs fire are raging in Santa Rosa. So our unit, so I was in, and Cal Fire is broken up into many units, so I was in the Santa Clara unit. So our unit was stripped because we sent everyone and everybody to the Atlas and Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa. So Setting up the story of this next season, we're responding to the Bear Fire, and we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's pretty much a skeleton crew of like piecemealed firefighters put together, and all these units are responding to this 300 and something acre in the middle, of the night in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Again, in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Bear Valley. And, uh, we're on day 10 of being on, potentially being on duty for way longer. So in Cal Fire world, if there's a staffing pattern, that's an order that the administration gives out, pretty much meaning you're not going home. So we're only on day 10 with the possibility of going forever. And we have been getting these small, like one to two acre fires, like every other night. And we were training really hard because we were getting cabin fever. That's happens when you're on duty for that long, it's like you get cabin fever and then you start just like. Doing things to pass the time. So we're doing these crazy morning hikes and crew workouts during the day and then going to these fires at night. And then so we're going to this bear fire and I just remember having like a weird feeling in the middle of my stomach because another lookout and watch out situation is that you're going to an area that you've never seen in daylight and that's where we're going in the middle of night driving up this windy road in Santa Cruz mountains. And we have our lights and sirens going, but against you, you have everyone coming down the hill, all the residents, and they're evacuating, and they're Right. So there's that, like, feeling of, like, you're going up, and then people are leaving. And then, we get to this fire, and we start doing our job. Mm hmm. We start cutting line, that's the phrase, or the term, so, like, we're making a fuel break along the fire's edge. And at the time, we had, this is like getting towards the end of the season, so I was like very close to this group of guys. I consider these guys my brothers. On Task Force 41, that was our unit designator. At the beginning of the season, we all got assigned saw partners. So, like, that's your partner that you're with. So, we all got paired off in a, so, in this tight knit group, we had even tighter groups among us because we had pairs of two. So my saw partner was, his name is Andy. And then, so me and Andy, we're the saw team of that day. So we're leading the charge on this, assignment. So we're cutting line, and we're working with other crews from different departments, or from Cal Fire, or different Cal Fire units. And we're getting deeper and deeper and deeper into, our cut. So we're like, probably like a couple thousand feet into cutting this line. And the entire time we're on the bottom of this hillside mountainside. Okay, so it's like the Bear Mountain and Bear Creek Valley and you have on top of like securing the fire's edge. We also had because we're on the steep hillside we had like a bunch of logs and like boulders rolling down on us. So we're getting a bunch of spot fires. So we had to control those spot fires like the entire length of our assignment. And that's another like red flag warning that we should have been like looking out for and then at the same time we were all hell attack hopefuls. So like our ultimate goal is we wanted to work on the helicopter because the Cal fire is a really cool aviation program and like The baddest dudes that you think of, or like, the coolest reputation that is in Cal Fire is people that work on Helitac, or helicopter firefighters. We were all Helitac hopefuls, that's why we got on this hand crew. So like, we're at the same time, we're like, trying to prove ourselves. And like, we're like, we can do this, we can take on this, like, tall order, we can do anything as a group. That's like, what we're thinking. And then all of a sudden, we get to a sketchy part in the line, where we have to start going downhill. And then our backup leaves because the engine crews, they run out of hose because the way the hose works is you have to bring, hike in all the hose when you're on a wildland fire. Oh wow. And then, we start committing downhill and then all of a sudden we're on our own, there's no one behind us and then the fire is responding to the topography. So, the fire hits like this certain side of the hillside and then it starts burning faster towards us. So then what we have to do is we start after using our escape routes, which is not a good thing in the wild land world because you have to establish escape routes and safety zones before you do any assignment. Right. So we start using our first escape route, which is going back the way you came. And as we start going back the way we came, there's this giant wall of fire in front of us. And I learned later from a buddy that was on a different rig that it was actually a redwood tree that fell across our line. Okay. That was on fire. So we weren't going to get back through that way anyway. And then, for me, I had just lived the Loma fire from the year before, so I was, like, truthfully starting to get, like, worried, anxious, and getting to the point of panic was almost setting in. Because I'm like, this literally almost just happened to me last year, I don't want it to happen to me again. So, I start using our second escape route, which is heading downhill. Mind you, this is in the middle of the night, it's pitch black. And we're using a lot of our vision from the flames of the fire. Like the cool thing about fighting fire at night is that at least the flames you can see, but since we're falling back and retreating from the fire, it's getting darker. Right. And the Santa Cruz mountains hasn't burned. I take that back now, but it has burned since, but like what happens when there's no wildfire that comes through an area, the area becomes overgrown. So there's duff in the, on the ground. Duff is like, Years and years and years of pine needles falling on top of it each other and it creates like a snowy powdery effect. Okay, so we're walking through like waist high duff and it's kicking up all this dust So you can only see out to your hand with your headlamp So we have headlamps like you can only see out to your hand. So for me, I'm like I have to get out of here. I can see the lights of another fire engine like their code three lights their emergency lights. So I'm like, that's what I need to get to and then since I'm on part of the saw team, we're leading the crew so like I'm like I'm gonna lead us out of here I can see where we need to go to I see lights across the way. So I start blindly heading towards those lights just like moth to a flame and then I take one more step and there's nothing underneath me anymore. Oh, man. I'm just like free falling. How far did you fall down? I think I only fell hopefully maybe like 10 to 20 feet, and then I had my pack on, and I landed on my back, and I slid down the rest of the way. So, being on a hand crew, you have, your wildland pack for, like, equipment and gear that can last you up to a day, out in the woods. I also had the chainsaw fuel, so it's called the Delmar, but like a, a plastic jerry can of fuel on my back. And, I forgot what else I had on my back. I think, oh, the saw, like a, the, on top of my own gear and equipment, I had the saw bag. Right. So that, I landed flat on my back and I slid down the rest of the way. So I think it was, it wasn't a sheer cliff, it was like a sloped cliff. Okay. I just remember screaming out, having like the life flash before your eyes thing happen. And then, sliding down to the bottom. So I slide down the hill. I get to the bottom and I do the pat down to make sure like I have all my pe like I'm not injured. And I'm just thinking the whole the whole time like, holy cow, how did I not get injured? Like my back was sore, but like how did I not like break anything? And then I was trying to radio to the rest of the crew and at the very least yell, to the guys above me like do not follow me, uh, and I was okay. And then right when I was saying that, like I hear the worst sound I've ever heard in my life. And it was like the crashing and booming sound of someone falling down the hill and rolling head over heels. And I didn't know who it was at the time. I just remember he was wearing his helmet, but then I remember his helmet was careening into the darkness. Cause I just remember the, his headlamp just flying out into the, into the blackness. And, uh, it was, my buddy Andy, he was falling head over heels and then I watched his face crash with a boulder on the bottom of this creek bed that we landed in and his head was the first thing that made contact with the boulder and I thought I just watched someone die. What had happened at the time was another good friend of mine on the crew named Brandon had slid down next to me and thankfully he was okay. And then me and Brandon pulled Andy out of the water. And I just remember Andy was like trying, he was groaning in pain and he was trying to give me a thumbs up. And I told him like, Hey, do not give me that thumbs up. You're not okay, dude, because he was trying to prove that he was fine and that he can soldier through it. What ended up happening was. Since we're at the bottom of this creek bed, we had to make a, makeshift harness out of his wild land gear, his harness and, the chainsaw chaps that you wear to protect yourself. And then we made a stretcher out of that. And then we had to like semi hike him out of like chest high water until we could get to a point where a rope rescue team could get us. And then eventually we got made contact with the rope rescue team and they made a whole system to pull us out. Wow. But all the while, we're having to stop and take breaks because Andy was a big guy. He was like 220 pounds plus, like huge, strong, power lifting dude. And then, so we were like. Stopping constantly and then along some of the banks that we're stopping on there is boulders still rolling down from the fire burning above us. So, some boulders got kicked loose. Brandon ended up getting a bone bruise. We thought he had his wrist broken from blocking a boulder from hitting Andy's head that was rolling down the hill. And then when the rope rescue team pulled us out, they kicked loose a boulder on accident and that struck another one of our guys in the hand and he broke his wrist. And then, when falling down the hill, Ricky, another one of our guys tore his knee, so it was carnage in Bear Valley. Yeah. Wow. We eventually get pulled out and then, Andy gets flown from the fire to Stanford and he spends 21 days in the Stanford ICU. And then a year later, no one thought he would make this giant comeback, but like to put a cherry on the top to the story is that he made a full recovery, and then he I worked on the helicopter, I think on the next season, that was the goal. And then now he's a firefighter for Oxnard Fire. amazing story. Yeah. And that was my last season with Cal fire. And, then I got hired with Santa Clara County fire, a few months later and the, or the next year later in February, but I was just kind of joke about it because it was two years in a row where I had to call my dad at like four in the morning and tell him that I just almost died. Not a conversation or a phone call. A parent would ever want. Yeah. And he was very calm about it both times. I think he was just very happy that I was okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a dangerous job and being so young. So after my last season with Cal Fire in 2017, I got hired with Santa Clara County Fire in 2018. I'm 22 years old. I started with a, as a volunteer with Santa Clara County Fire when I was 18 in 2014. It's 2025 now. So that's pretty much 10 years being with the department as like a volunteer. And then I just got like my five year, pin five years of service of being a paid firefighter. Just a few, a couple of months ago. That's great. Yeah. it's cool. Full circle. I said in my interview. I've always been a family member or the Santa Clara County Fire Department has always been family to me. That's where my dad worked. So luckily I had that opportunity. Uh, nepo baby, as they say, but I feel like I've proved that I've worked hard to get to where I'm at, right? where I've earned the position to be where I'm at. So I'm a firefighter engineer with the Santa Clara County Fire Department now, and I've been with the hazmat team at our seven spring station for the entire time I've been off probation. Tell us what it's like a day in your position So we work a 48 96 schedule. So that means 48 hours on the job. So two days on and 96 hours off, four days off. I'm on B shift. So when we come in on B shift, what happens is you show up, you get your gear ready, you make contact with the other shift. You talk shop, uh, you catch up, and then you kind of hear what A shift, since we were taking over A shift, has to say happened. During their tour, we call it a tour or shifts of two days. We call that a tour. So you ask A Shift how it went. And then you get in a uniform, you put your gear on the rig, and then you do your daily checkout. So, I'm not a medic, but we have a paramedic. We have 15 stations and a paramedic on every frontline piece of equipment that we have. So the paramedic goes through their medical equipment. And then me, being an engineer, I make sure that the rigs that we have are fueled, they're in working condition, and they're safe to operate for the remainder of the shift. And then we'll have morning meeting, just like kind of like in Reno 911, you know, in the bullpen where they talk about all the stuff that they have to go, they have going on. So we might have like special training for the day, like this last tour we just taught at the Academy. So we might be teaching at the Academy all day. We might have to have a school tour come for visit, or we might have some sort of busy work or paperwork or any chores that we have to do, we'll figure out during morning meeting. And then the next most important conversation is cooking. Or eating, more importantly. And, we always try to figure out who's going to do the cooking. But I love cooking, that's like one of my side hobbies, so I always try to volunteer. But, lucky for me, I work with some of the best cooks in the department. I'm going to shout out JP and Sam, my two older brothers, or cuyas. I feel like we eat well. That's like the benefit of being a firefighter. Awesome. Now your position as a firefighter for hazmat. Yeah. So can you tell us about that job? Yeah. So, we are hazmat specialists. So that just means six weeks of specialty training, for like hazmat recognition and some sort of, different protective actions. We're one of the few type one teams in the bay area and we're in the county. It's us in san jose fire that are the two hazmat specialist teams or type one teams and we respond to different hazmat events. If it could be like a fuel truck turned over on the side of the road. residential gas leaks. We go on a lot of those or we've had some high profile calls like apple. Sometimes drug busts, but we're never in the busting side more. So hey, tell us if it's drugs or not. And then we tell the cops yes or no. Okay. In the fire department, you were mentioning that 80 percent of the calls that you get are for medical. So I think, In the annual report, it was like anywhere between like 60 something to 70%, but it feels like 80 percent of our calls are medical calls. So I was mentioning that every single one of our units has a paramedic, so that's true for our department and in this county, is that, paramedicine is required. And, yeah, it's definitely needed because that's the majority of the calls we go on as medical calls. Is there any, um, call that really stands out to you during your career? I just remember, the first time I was in EMT school, the first time I did CPR was on a 10 month old baby. Oh, wow. in the ER at Good Sam, and I feel like that was kind of like an eye opener to the rest of my career. Like if you want to do this job, this is what you're going to be doing it for is trying to help people not trying to, you know, do it for an ego boost or make it so it's like you're part of your personality. You know what I mean? Right. I remember you mentioning that, you really love this job. You really love helping people. and this is why you got into it. Yeah. But on the flip side, on the positive note, I've been on a couple. calls where we've delivered a baby, so I think that is probably, like, gonna stand out way more than, like, the negative, is like, there's always moments where you get to see, like, great human moments, and that was the one call that I went on where, this lady was having her second kid, it was her oldest that answered the door, and then, we're like, is your mom having a baby, and then he just nodded his head and grabbed, my medic's finger. And like, let him to the room where his mom was in labor and I'm just like, we're part of like the start of life. Wow. So that stands out to me. That's beautiful. Let's start off on how you got into the martial arts. I was telling luckee asked me what got me interested in martial arts. And I've always been in the martial arts as a kid. So like, I never got to train martial arts as a kid. I didn't have like any Karate or Taekwondo growing up as a kid, just watching a lot of like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee movies. And then. When the UFC became popular, like the BJ Penn days, GSP, Anderson Silva, at these family Filipino parties that we'd go to, like they were always on, the pay per views were always on. So I always knew about the UFC, and I always knew kind of about Jiu Jitsu, because I remember BJ Penn being a small guy, and being the prodigy, and being the best, I'm just like, oh that's really cool that he's tiny, for the sport at the time, and he's so good. But growing up at the time with my family, we had different priorities and we just didn't have the budget for me to do martial arts as a hobby as a kid. So it wasn't until I started making money on my own and then it was my first off season with Cal Fire. So since I was a season with Cal Fire, every off season, we used to call it fun employment. But I really focused on being a student during fun employment. So I was like going to school and I was doing my fire classes at Mission College at the time. And then. I was doing all the electives at West Valley, the sister campus, and then at West Valley there was a, martial arts program, and there was MMA, boxing, and kickboxing, and I think karate. So four different contact sports all at the same time in the wrestling room as a class, and that was taught by Matt Ghilani. Okay. And then so I started taking that elective class, and he was actually, Matt, the sensei there, was actually a Shotokan Karate black belt. So I started training under him in karate, so I did karate as an adult, which was a cool experience because I always thought the UFC or MMA was everything, but I kind of got to learn about a different setting of karate, not just from my karate kid. from practicing it and then doing the katas. Like, I used to not see value in it, but, training karate and doing the katas, I realized, like, it's almost like a form of, like, martial arts yoga, to me. A way to just, like, really appreciate the techniques. And then, from there, I kept on doing that class until I couldn't take that class anymore, and then I signed up for a official gym, and before it was FightCraft. Josh Vandergrift had banged Muay Thai out of the small studio off of San Carlos in San Jose. Okay. And then he eventually opened Fightcraft and I trained at Fightcraft from pretty much 2018 until I moved to Gilroy in 2020. And I only did striking for that first year at Fightcraft and then I eventually started doing jiu jitsu and now I only do jiu jitsu. I don't do striking anymore. Even though I've competed a few times in striking. I've done a couple smokers, like, IKF point, karate or point kickboxing matches. But I found that, for jujitsu, there's more, I feel like, longevity for me as a hobbyist. Also doing a physical career, like being a firefighter. So I'm able to do. It was hard to do all three of those things, try to be good at kickboxing, try to be good at jiu jitsu, and then also try to be good at my job and then also have a family social life. Right. So I picked jujitsu because. I felt like I found the most value out of just doing jiu jitsu. What was it like when you first started jiu jitsu? I kind of knew some stuff from, watching UFC because, I felt like just from watching like any kid, you kind of learn, like the basics. So I knew about closed guard and I would do a lot of that when I first started Jiu Jitsu. It was just like trying to keep my closed guard closed and not like getting smashed too bad, but I got smashed a ton, and I still get smashed a ton. So after Fightcraft, you said you ended up moving to Gilroy BJJ. Yeah. So, and yeah, we moved to Gilroy. My dad and I bought a house in Gilroy at like the end of 2020. And I think the beginning of 2021, Gilroy BJJ just opened classes again in July. And then so I like happened to walk in and the end of July or August, like right conveniently when they reopened. And then, when I was training at Fightcraft, I was full committal. Like even though I had a career, I was training like I was trying to get a career in fighting, even though that's like, no, it wasn't my goal. I just liked it so much. But I was like training like two to four times a day. Oh, wow. At Fightcraft. So I tried to continue that, at Gilroy BJJ, just like going from like doing nothing during COVID, not anything, martial arts. We were talking about like a lot of stuff that I did, keep busy during COVID. So I like, I did like different, exercise challenges. Like I did like a Murph a day for a month and then I did like a 10 K a day for a month, but then I was really just missing doing martial arts again. And so when I got to train at Gilroy BJJ again, I was like off to the races. Why don't you tell me about your experience, in jiu jitsu at Gilroy BJJ? So when I started at Gilroy BJJ, they just had reopened at the tail end of the COVID pandemic. And I think it was like perfect timing because there was an influx of a bunch of new members. One, they had reopened, so people had been waiting for martial arts to come back. And then two, I think I was part of the wave of a bunch of other Silicon Valley people that were moving further south to Morgan Hill or Gilroy because it was like more affordable. So when I joined up, Anthony Rutherford just took in the reins as being co owner. And then, we had Kyle Hand, another black belt, move down to Gilroy as well. So we had, like, it felt like new life and new instructors had, been brought into Gilroy BJJ. The reason I got put on a Gilroy BJJ other than living in there is cause one of my co workers, one of my close co workers, Jason Lucero, his kids were training at Gilroy BJJ at the time and Jason's on my crew so we're like very close. Jason's like a uncle brother to me, so he was the reason why I checked it out and then so yeah, I came in at this time where like a bunch of new members were joining. And, there's new instructors. And, for me, it's, like, really great because, like, Anthony's style is he's, like, a skinny guy, plays guard. I feel like his jiu jitsu is exactly like the jiu jitsu I'm, like, trying to do or trying to aspire to. Right. But at the same time, the head instructor at Gilroy BJJ is Carlos Melo. And he's, like, a giant of a man. Like, they just, the new logo for the school is a gorilla. I saw it. And it's based off of Carlos, I believe. So, like we learn different styles of Jiu Jitsu instead of just one, you know, there's the heavy guy style. Like, when I first started training at Gilroy BJJ, a lot of people that I met at Koffee Krew would be like, oh, there's a lot of big guys there, and they do like a big guy style. And that's true. I feel like there's a large population of our membership is blue collar workers that have like blue collar strength. And then the other population of our membership is guys like me, first responders, a lot of cops that do like this kind of like cop style of jiu jitsu. But so it's nice to have a guy like Anthony, who is like the counter to the heavy big guy style. Right. And then we have Kyle Hand, another black belt of ours, who just has this like grueling punishment pain sort of style, whether it be from top or bottom. So like. I feel like Kyle has like the mix of both worlds. Anthony is like the light, playful, experimental, tactical style. And then Carlos is just this heavy handed, old school, cross face for lunch style jiu jitsu. So I feel like joining, Gilroy BJJ at the right time and then kind of a lot bunch of people were like locked in on competing and then so I was competing a lot with the kickboxing because I just liked it so much. The challenge of testing myself and it's a way to really expose the holes in your game. So when I got my blue belt after a year of training at Gilroy BJJ, I was competing like every other month for a solid year. Up until this last year when I became more busy and I got engaged, right? It really like exposes the giant holes that you have in your game like I think every time I've competed, I've, you know, even if I didn't win or if I did win, like I got exposed, like something was missing and I've, I felt like I've improved every time I've competed. Even if I don't win the next one, I'm still like working on other stuff. So most recently I competed at the, central coast fighting championship five in Santa Cruz at the civic auditorium. And that was like such a special experience. Because I got to fight on the biggest stage that I've ever competed on in an MMA cage with a walkout song so I walked out to this hardcore band From Santa Cruz. I made it a point that I wanted to walk out to a Santa Cruz music group. So there, it was Drain from Santa Cruz to the, their title track, California Cursed. So that was like really cool. And then I got absolutely obliterated. But that's like, that goes with it. Like I got off a 96 hour shift that morning. And I got hurt in training camp for like the first time. Even though I'm using the term training camp loosely because I'm a hobbyist, you know, with a full time career, so I couldn't train for like two weeks, but it was just, a testament who I am as a person is just like, try to be denied, you know, like, even if it doesn't go well, there's like still takeaways from what happened and we went all seven minutes, I didn't get submitted and, there was some of the submission escapes that I've been working on, working on that worked out. So. I still count it as a victory. Yeah, absolutely. You survived Yeah. Okay. As someone with a smaller build, how do you adapt to challenges of competing against larger opponents? Yeah, that's a good question.'cause my entire style and inspiration, has always been about like the David versus Goliath. I've always been like attracted to those stories since I was a kid. Like my favorite Jedi was Yoda. You know, the best to ever do it, and he's the smallest on the planet, so like, my favorite fighters in the UFC are guys like Demetrius Johnson, Mighty Mouse, or like the smaller weight classes, and then like my jiu jitsu idols are like guys like Marcelo Garcia, or like Mikey Musumechi, like giant slayers. So, I try to adapt my style off of the best that can do it at my size, and, what they do is they, I feel like a guy like Demetrius Johnson is just like attacking all the time. I felt like that's what I was lacking in my last match against, at that central coast fighting championship is like, I just didn't imply like for a small person with a small build, you just have to be a little busier than the bigger person is what I feel like works out for me. And I feel like that's kind of like the wall I've been running into. My Jiu Jitsu is kind of trying to like. Put on the, as a, like recently getting my purple belt, like I'm really trying to find what is going to be working for me in the long runs of doing jiu jitsu. Well, at open mats, when I was starting the podcast, I was looking around for, you know, different belts, different levels. And I was thinking, Oh, Brandon, he's a blue belt. So I want to get them on my podcast. And then all of a sudden. Right when I asked you they just leveled you up. Yeah Yeah, I didn't get the blue belt. I wanted. Sorry about that. No, it's okay. I mean I saw the blue belt mentality and I think what helped me a lot in the you know upcomings or the upbringings of jiu jitsu even as a white ball? It was like just you could say no to rolling with anyone but I just chose not to. Like, I just rolled with anyone that I could. Because I feel like, to answer your question as a smaller person, like, what can you learn from people? And I learn from everyone. I learn from, like, big people, and I learn from small people. I love watching like at our open mats, like the women roll, because I really take off of like small women that use like beautiful technique to like, you know, counteract, someone using weight. But then I also love rolling with big people because they show me how they're using their weight and like, I'm like, I'm going to avoid letting them do that. Like, I think the simple answer we all say is just like, just don't let them on top, but easier said than done. How can you stop them from getting on top? Or how can you stay on top of a big person? Okay. That's that makes sense. So actually like my proudest moment that I've had in jiu jitsu. So as a blue belt, I was competing at the U. S. Police and fire games in San Diego. This is the first year I did it. I've done it two years now. The first year I did in 2023, they split up Gi and No Gi in two days. So I won the No Gi bracket day one and then day two for Gi. No one in my bracket showed up. So there was another guy. He was in the 225 pound plus category. He was a fellow blue belt and I think he was, I was in the adult category and he was in masters one. So I had an age advantage, but he definitely had a size advantage and being able to beat him and round robin two times in a row, that I felt like that was a big feather in my cap, like to be able to do that. Like this is like what I trained jiu jitsu for is to defend myself against a larger person. So what was your style? What was your, game plan to beat this guy? My game plan was to, survive and then, attack at a moment of opportunity in the both matches that I went to, because they didn't do IBJJF rules. So the both matches that we had, the first one ended in overtime. So it was a five minute, match and then a minute overtime first to score. Highest score at the minute over time would win. So, in the first match I was just like, I just get to survive. So I just like, well, I think everyone just pulls guard when they're just trying to stall. So I literally had a stalling tactic in mind. I pulled guard and then, got up a few times, preventing some guard passes, pulled guard again. I think I ended up pulling guard like three times on him in regular time. And then when we went to overtime, I shot a double leg. And then that totally caught him off guard because he was probably expecting me to, pull guard again. And then in match number two, I told my buddy that lived in San Diego, surfer guy, not jiu jitsu guy, just buddy from high school that moved to San Diego. And then he came out to coach me. Right. And I told him, just tell me when a minute passes and then I'm going to pull guard again. So like for a whole minute, I just pretended like I was wrestling and I stood up with him and then pulled the guard again. And then in the last couple minutes, it was scoreless, and I was just like thinking, survive, survive, survive, and then I got to a point where like he was so used to me playing bottom again that I was able to hit us, catch him off guard with the sweep, and then I got sweep points and then took his back and then ended up winning both matches by points. Oh, wow. That's great. What's your future like, in jiu jitsu? Well, I just got my purple belt. I'm in jiu jitsu for a long haul. I always tell people like, it doesn't matter what color, like, piece of cloth is around my waist, so I'm going to be training jiu jitsu. People ask me like, do I prefer Gi or no Gi? And I prefer Gi because I'm at a Gi school mainly, but if we did no Gi, I'd probably prefer no Gi. So the answer is like, just how I approach firefighting, I wanted to be a firefighter anywhere. I just wanted to help people. I love the community. Same thing with jiu jitsu. Like I wanted to be training all the time and training anywhere because like, yeah, I love it for. Physical fitness, and I love it for, the skill of martial arts, and for, you know, the thrill of competition, but I also like it as like a third spot, you know, they talk about third place, you know, work, home, church, for me, a non religious person, my third place is, jiu jitsu, so, I do it for the community, that'd be awesome to stick around till black belt. I think I'm going to be able to do that. Who knows when, if it's 20 years from now, as long as I'm still rolling and meeting cool people and learning stuff from people, I'm going to be having a good time. But I'd mentioned to you that if I could open up my own school one day, cause I love teaching, that's like beyond cooking and jiu jitsu. Teaching is another one of my passions. So we teach a lot at work already. So I'm like, I'm used to teaching at the academy at work or teaching new people. And I'd love to do that through jiu jitsu, you know, to have my own school. My pipe dream of mine would be to have my own school with a, a lobby, but like a sandwich or cafe window and maybe like banh mi sandwiches on the side. Yeah. While also having a jiu jitsu studio. That'd be cool. That would be How do you see jiu jitsu as a way to enrich not just your life but the lives of others? So I mentioned giving back through teaching before, and I feel like that would be the most valid way to give back and enrich other people's lives through jiu jitsu. In the fire service, we use the term paying it forward. And I heard that from a lot of my mentors growing up, going through the fire explorer program, working for Cal Fire, and then getting through the academy with my current department. And being with the department for the last five years, we've all had mentors. I've been a mentor before where you pay it forward and to do that through jiu jitsu, where I think about how in the beginnings, as a new white belt for myself and many others, you get submitted or you get smashed or some days you feel defeated. But then when you have aha moments. Where like it just clicks and you figure it out and you start flowing and you're still, you know, start expressing yourself as a martial artist. And even if you're losing, you're still having fun because you're able to like try new things. I feel like being able to give that power to new students, new people in jiu jitsu would be like the ultimate goal. That's amazing. Where I first met you was at the Koffee Krew and what I saw was your unique style and you were always on the bottom and you were always working from the bottom and always moving. Always moving. So that's what attracted me to your style and just taking photos of you because you had some dynamic moves and I really enjoyed watching it. Thank you for saying that. And you know what? I think that really benefited me in the beginning of when I was doing jiu jitsu because I knew less. So I felt like to make up for my lack of knowledge, I tried to counteract it with more activity. And I feel like over the past couple of months, that's kind of gone away from my style. And I feel like I need to like. Go back to square one sometimes and like revisit like maybe I need to reintroduce being kind of like a spazzy white belt back into my game like because I feel like in the past couple months. I've kind of just like I'm taking this like passive style cuz like I'm trying on all these new different hats and none of them are fitting. But I remember having like the most fun of like back starting as a white belt when there's like no expectations and you didn't know any better. It's just like, I'll just try anything and everything to survive. Right. I think that was the funnest part of taking photos of you as a white belt and a blue belt. Yeah. And documenting your journey. Let's get into, your personal life. Sure. And engagement. Yes. Can you tell us about how you met your fiancé and what drew the two of you together? Yeah, so I was just, before we literally just started, we were kind of like, I don't mind teasing myself a little bit, but my fiancé and I, we met through Hinge, one of the dating apps. And I'm a firefighter, and she's a nurse, so my opening line was to something of that effect, like something corny, and luckily she agreed to like, go on a first date with me, and then we hit it off from there, and I think not only did we have, like, similar, like, work backgrounds, where we could, like, talk to each other, that we, you know, vent to each other all the time, but, we had, like, similar upbringings, like, her family is from Hawaii, they're, Chinese, Japanese, like, mixed family, and they kind of had a lot of that, like, same family values that I grew up with, and, my fiance, McKenna, and I, we just, we're best friends, we click, we're a good team, beyond being best friends, like, we work really well together. We've had some practice rounds with, pets, our fur babies. So, like, you know, we put my dog, our dog, Ellie through training. Ellie is a Basenji, which is a African hunting hound. So, like, kind of like a little terrier dog. 20 pounds, but so full of energy and has, like, this crazy prey drive. So, that was kind of a challenge to, like, McKenna and I to get on the same page of, like, a pretty, like, strict regimented training. program for a dog. And then we have two cats that we have together. So we're kind of busy with our impromptu family, but it's been great. And every day is, the best day ever. So, how did you pop the question? so our birthdays are two days apart. She's a year older. September 8th is her birthday. Mine is the 11th. So the first official year we were together, we went to O'ahu and Maui together to visit family because we have family on my side and her side on the islands. And then, so we've made that kind of an annual trip. And then this most recent trip I proposed to her at, the botanical gardens in Kaneohe on the side of the island where her family's from, and that's where I popped the question. Oh, nice. Was the family in on it? Yeah, so we were staying with her aunt at the time, and so her aunt and uncle were part of the surprise. And my mom, who lives on Maui, flew from Maui, and She was part of the surprise. It was awesome. She knew I was coming because we went ring shopping together. But we went to the Big Island a couple months or a month before I proposed and that's where I asked her parents if I could propose. So everyone but her knew that it was happening. Well, she knew it was happening. She just didn't know when it was gonna be on the trip. So I did it the first day of the trip. So it was like a 10 day trip where we went to O'ahu and Kauai, and then on the first day of, the first full day of the trip is when I proposed, and McKenna was just like, thanks. Now I don't have to dress nice or do my makeup nice every day. So what's it like balancing your training career, your personal life with someone who shares a similar hard working mindset? I think we've gone through phases where, one, it seems to outshine the other, the one of those three things, you know, training, working, and just family life, and I think I've learned, I wasn't very good at it when I was a young EMT at 18 years old and a young seasonal, where I felt like it was always about my survival and to a degree, my family's survival, like my sister's survival. Versus like being able to enjoy things. And now I've gotten to an age where as much fun and as awesome as training makes me feel like I've kind of like reduced the amount that I have been making that my priority. My priority is life enrichment. Like so everything needs to be in balance. So I'm getting better of like training the appropriate amount, not to the point where I'm getting injured anymore. Right. And then, Working when I need to work and then being home is like the ultimate goal is if I can be home and helpful to my fiancee because she works the night shift so her job is way harder than mine as a nurse at El Camino. Okay. Just being able to support her and our pets and then our future children that's gonna be the goal. So if looking back at your journey, what are some of the biggest lessons you've learned? Don't be afraid to ask for help. That is a big takeaway. I used to try to do a lot of things on my own because that's kind of what it felt like when I graduated from high school is like everything I did was I had to be independent and I didn't ask for help a lot of the times. So, asking for help from others, advice, now that I look back on it, like I said, for Jiu Jitsu and for my career, you can learn something from anybody, doesn't matter who it is. You had mentioned off camera that this community that you're in, the firefighting community Yes. That they are, very helpful Yeah. With one another. And especially for maybe somebody that would want to go into your path. Where can they reach out to you if they need some advice or some mentorship? If you want to reach out to me about trying to start a career in the fire service, please reach out to me. So we can find you on Instagram. Yeah. Right. You can find me on Instagram at blam house. It is a private account, but, just shoot me a DM if you're trying to follow me and we'll get in touch if you're trying to, you know, start a career in the fire service. Sounds good. Okay. So, we'll end with that note. Thank you, Brandon, for being here. Thanks for having me. Okay. We'll talk soon. Yeah. Hopefully you'll be back. Yeah. For sure. Okay. Take care. Thanks. Bye. Bye.