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The host, Peter Deverin, welcomes Marcus Arese, a veteran, to the show. Arese talks about his experience in the military, including his time in basic training and deployments. He shares stories about the extreme heat and difficult conditions he faced, as well as some positive experiences with other military personnel, such as the British Navy and German soldiers. Arese also mentions the challenges he faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview ends with the host playing a song and promising to continue the conversation with Arese after the break. Good evening everyone. Welcome to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina's student-run radio station. I'm your host, as always, Peter Deverin, and welcome back to a Patriots podcast. Tonight we have another veteran interview. Our guest tonight is Marcus Arese. Welcome to the show. Nice to have you, sir. So tell me, you were initially, your first MOS you signed with was a 92 Gulf, which is at the time you said a culinary specialist, right? At that time it was called food service specialist, but the Army changed things a hundred times. Now it's called culinary specialist now. Okay, okay. And that was the active side of the house you signed a contract with initially? No, I did eight years of reserves. Then I got out, had a six month break, and then I went into the Guard. Nice, nice. What can you tell us about basic training, man? Where'd you go for it? Fort Jackson, South Carolina, 2009. Middle of summer. Yeah, it was miserable. It was probably a lot miserable. I went there and it was a hundred degrees every day, a hundred percent humidity. Let's see, the Army was doing an experiment that year, so actually my basic training went from nine weeks to 12 weeks. I was the only Southern guy there, so everybody was from up north, and we had like, one day we had like 45 heat caps in one day. It was terrible. I went there at 220, and when I got done with the whole basic training, I was like 160. My God. I literally, like your pants, your combat jacket, all that would be just soaking wet every day. Yeah, that's how bending was for us when we started off. They gave me the option to go in the winter or the summer, and I was like, well, if I go in the summer, it's going to be like 110 degrees. If I go in the winter, maybe it'll be a little bit more forgiving. I didn't know that we were going to be operating up in the mountains, and it would drop to like almost 15 degrees at night. Yeah, man, but Fort Jackson, dude, tell me what was your daily life like? What were some things that you liked to do to pass the time, some experiences that you had in particular when you were there? My time there was wake up 05, formation 0530, PT from that until like 7 in the morning, five-minute showers, eat chow, and our workday usually starts about 8 o'clock in the morning. It depends on what was going on. For example, if we go to the ranges, we have like a rut to the ranges, which was like 10 miles away. Yeah, that part sucks. Yeah, we had to leave like 2 o'clock in the morning, and we didn't start shooting until like 10. I was like, what's the purpose of getting up 2 o'clock in the morning? Hurry up and wait, man. Anyway, my experience there was, I remember looking at it. I thought it was hard, but I laugh at it now. Yeah, that's how it is, man. At the time, you're like, it sucks. It's hot. It's uncomfortable. You're going to be anywhere else but there. Then you look back at it, and it's like, damn, what a great story. The crazy thing is when you were there, it's like, why in the world did I sign that contract? Why? Why did I do this to myself? At the end, it was rewarding because that's how my education is getting paid for. I don't have to pay a dime for my tuition, so that's a blessing. Like I said, basic training. Then I went straight to AIT, which was in Fort Lee, Virginia. That school was only nine weeks long. It was cool. They taught me how to cook in a short period of time. Then within halfway through my school, my commander calls the schoolhouse and told them not to discharge me but to keep me on orders because I was deploying 30 days after I got home. They kept me on Title 10 orders. Damn. I basically went from there and took leave for, I want to say, about three weeks. Then I went to Fort Hood, Texas to leave. Damn. It was an experience. At 18, 19 years old, I was like, damn, I can't even get a break. I feel that, brother. Sometimes there's just an overload of what they want you to expect. Basically, I was on orders from basic AIT and deployment for almost three years straight. Yeah? Yeah. Talk about deployment, man. What was that like? My first tour, it was experience, middle of the desert, experience 135 degree heat, in the shade, 140 in the sun, dust. You can go take a shower and walk back to the tents and you get right back dirty. It was just a never-ending cycle. I had some good experiences and just bad experiences, too, but it wasn't that bad. It was during the drawdown, so we were moving equipment out of Iraq and taking it back to Kuwait. Other than that, it was just too long. Yeah. Because at that time, the Army had 12-month deployments, versus now they only have between six and nine months now. It was too long, but we did get two weeks R&R, so I went home for two weeks. Nice. That's the help. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now they come home and get that relief, man. What division or unit did you go with? I was part of the transportation unit. I can't remember what it was. I know it was the 143rd ESC Brigade, what went down. Then I came back home, obviously, after that, and I was deploying again, and I went with the 824th Transportation Company to Kuwait. Now, that deployment was lovely. I was stationed on an Army vessel, and apparently I was a cook, so I made my own meals. I did my own ordering of food and stuff like that. It was pretty much like cooking at home. I had a crew of 18 folks, including both cooks. Pretty much, if you were doing your job the correct way, you'd be the first one to get liberty or pass. For example, we pulled into the port of Bahrain. There's a big naval base there. We got first liberty, and we go out in town. Obviously, Bahrain is like Las Vegas of the Middle East. We go out in town, eat, basically drink the whole time. I bet, I bet. Then try to stagger back to the boat. I remember that one time we actually did a couple trips to Bahrain because that was the only place we could get fuel. The second trip to Bahrain, it was Christmas Eve. I remember it was like it was yesterday. It was Christmas Eve. We pulled up right beside a British frigate vessel. They were skeptical that the United States Army had boats. They came over there and brought us some cupcakes for Christmas Eve. I made them some brownies and took it over there to them. Obviously, they're allowed to drink. They're British. That's a whole other story. I went over there and took them there. They pretty much gave me a tour of their boat. It's like, hey, you want to come check something out in the walk-in reefer. I was like, okay. I walk in there, pallets of freaking Bud Light. One of the British culinary specialists was like, here you go, Yank. Drink up. Basically, me and the other cook sat in the back of their boat all night just getting hammered. It was a good Christmas Eve, I remember. That's good, man. Getting good experiences over there. That was the best performance I ever had. My last performance I went on wasn't so lucky because COVID hit. Everything shut down. I ended up getting extended from nine months until like 15 months. I spent 15 months at Camp Baron, which it was not a good place to be at. That was one of the worst performances I've been on. You know how the government is. They brought in our replacements. As soon as we got to the termite, President Trump came on the radio and said, hey, they canceled all flights to the states. We had to bus back to Camp Baron. We'd been up for like three days at that point. Geez, man. I'm so glad you decided to share that with us. Right now we're going to take a quick break. We're going to listen to some Morgan Wallen, his song Seven Summers, coming up next. That will give you guys some nice smooth tunes for the evening. After that, we'll be right back with Mr. Arese. Thank you so much for listening. All right. We are back on air, back here with Mr. Marcus Arese. Last discussion we were talking about the British frigate, the Royal Navy. Let's pick up with that, man. Well, them guys, they're pretty cool people, the Royal Navy. They're real friendly. I was over there for Christmas Eve and pretty much got hammered on the back of their vessel. The great thing is every time we pull to port or come and leave, they always come over there, and they were really nice to us. Really, the British is one of our number one allies in the region. Absolutely. If you look at the past, which my major is history, we wasn't too friendly to them back in the day. Now, they're really kind folks. They fed us. They ate with us on our boat. I cooked dinner for them. They cooked dinner for us. It was more of a brotherhood thing. Yeah, definitely. When I was doing in-state training in New York, it was Brazil, and it was a huge coalition. They had some guys from, my God, it was one of the Indo-China countries. I can't think of it, but it was them. It was Brazil, and then it was Germany. We spent a lot of time with the Germanics. They were such great people. They loved us, and we loved them. The Germans, they're crazy folks too. Yeah, these guys were big, and they loved to party. The crazy thing is they speak perfect English. You would think, okay, they're from a European country. Their English might have an accent, but no, they speak perfect English. Actually, when I was mobilizing my last deployment, I was at Fort Bless, Texas, and there was a lot of German soldiers training there with us. The crazy thing is if you look at World War II and stuff like that, they still have, they still wear the same hats. You notice that when you go training with them, like the little field cap they'd be having? Yeah, they're the same thing from World War II. I was like, y'all don't ever change. It's crazy learning what the different cultures and different technology, the different countries have, our allies in NATO and the UN. Brazil, when we worked with their commando unit, their entire uniform was dry fit. It was all under armor. I was like, it looks strange, but it's insanely comfortable. They feel like they're wearing pajamas all day. Speaking of that, when you get deployed, you get issued combat shirts, right? You got the patches on the side. That's what it felt like, yeah. I wore that all the time because them things breathe good, especially in 135-degree heat. Yeah, they're comfortable. They're very comfortable. I was talking about the Germans, though. I actually spent at least 30 days in Germany. I was at this place called Ramstein. It was an Air Force base in Germany, southern Germany, close to the Alps Mountains. It's like southern Germany. It must have been cold. This is wintertime. We were stuck there because our plane broke down. Obviously, the government do the lowest bidder contract for flights. Our plane broke down. We were stuck there for 30 days. Me and the guys, they gave us temporary ration cards. We went back and forth to Frankfurt and Munich. I went to Berlin, too. Berlin was nice. We went to this place called—it was a beer festival. I'll tell you no lie on this. The beer over there is like 20%, 15%, 20% alcohol by volume. Versus over here, you drink a Bud Light, it's like you're drinking water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so crazy. We went to Canada for a week. We were doing—I think it was something with the boats. It was near the city of Kingston. Whatever they were drinking, it was like sugar water. It was just so sweet. The great thing is when I was there, I'm telling you, their culture, German culture, has the best cold cut sandwiches. And the best brownies or chocolate. These real dark chocolate stuff. Oh, my God. Their food is so good. They're real friendly to us over there. Obviously, they know we're military, how we look. Other than that, I went to different countries as well, too. I went to Romania. Romania was okay. I was there for a couple days. I went to Germany again, Britain, Ireland, Scotland. Scotland, there we go. That's where most of my family was originally from. What was Scotland like? I wasn't there for like an hour or two. It was like a— Like a crossover? Yeah, where the plane landed to get fuel. Obviously, we were going over to Atlantic, so they want to fuel up, get more supplies. They let us off the plane, obviously go outside, get some air and smoke, whatever. It was nice. It was cold, though. I mean, it's a different type of cold in Europe. It's like a wet cold. Yeah, you're right. It's a wet cold because we were doing a layover in Germany when we were flying to Kuwait. And I went outside. I was like, dang, man, it's like 20 degrees out here. Yeah, it's nothing like— I personally haven't been to Scotland, unfortunately. It's on my bucket list. I'm trying to get a project off the ground this year to go, but— But if you— A lot of people don't— A lot of people's phones didn't work, obviously, from the United States. Yeah, it's probably not connected. T-Mobile is the only carrier that I know that you can still get Wi-Fi internet over there. Really? The internet would pick up anywhere in the world, but you just can't call. So that was a blessing to me because I was just texting my family, saying, hey, you know— I didn't tell them why it was that because, you know, off-site, but I told you I'm fine. I'm okay, you know, whatever. Disclosure. You can't reveal any, like— But, you know, because that was a big thing, too, in my military experience. You know, you had these dummies, soldiers that would put stuff on Facebook. And off-site would see that and shut everything down for, like, weeks. It's crazy, man. It's crazy, man. Especially, like, I do Instagram. I do Facebook. But I monitor everyone who sees my account. You won't be able to see it unless I know you or you know somebody I know. So if something did happen, I could always trace back. But, like, TikTok and stuff like that, man, that's completely public. And the crazy thing is the Army, you know, they preach to us about, oh, don't do this. You know, this is off-site, blah, blah, blah, blah. My last-off homemate, they were putting stuff on Facebook. They were moving rallies to Saudi Arabia. Like, why? But you won't preach to us about OPSEC all the time. Man. But that was one, you know, crazy thing. I mean, being in the military, you always see some crazy stuff. Like, okay, why would they do this? This is dumb. Yeah. You know, why would you waste this amount of money on stuff you're never going to use? Like, for example, my unit, one of my old units was doing remodel. They had, like, almost half a million dollars' worth of equipment that wasn't even on the books. But they were just throwing it away. Like, why? Yeah. I'm trying to think of something that, like, we never used. I remember my first-ever unit. Like, they had a lot of—God, they had so much spare, like, sleep setups, like, mortar equipment. It's amazing what, like, a group can accumulate and not be in constant use. And it's just us at the cost of it. You know, that's all, like, money just going to the furnace at that point. And it's crazy that, you know, especially, you know, every four years, you know, we get a new official in office, you know. And it seems like our budget is getting, like, slashed a lot. Yeah. Like, we were supposed to do our AT this year at Fort Stewart, but somehow, in some way, the budget wasn't there. And now we got to do our training home station. I was like, that's—you're not going to learn nothing at home station. That's—I mean, we just got back. We did quals at Fort Jackson. And, yeah, you really—like, for AT especially, you need to, like, get some field time, man. You need to be in a couple of different units. They said that we're going to do, like, a week at home station, and then we're going to go, like, back and forth to McCready, I guess, to port the batteries. But that's not a real field to me. Nah. You're not far from, like, anything, man. You're right there. Yeah, you're right there. And a lot of people that's new coming to the military, you know, they complain, oh, why do we have to go to the field for a couple of days? I was like, yeah, we'll complain if y'all go to NCC because you're going to be out there about 45 days in the box. And, yeah, you know, you don't have showers out there or anything. So, yeah, you complained then. Yeah. Dude, it is—being in the field is a different beast altogether. I really enjoy the field, though, but go ahead, sorry. No, no, you're good, man. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to listen to some Chase Matthews, and we'll get right back on that topic of the field when we return from break. Thank you so much for listening, Patriot's Podcast, as always. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back to a Patriot's Podcast. I am your host, Peter Deverin. I am back with our guest star, Marcus Larrisse. Marcus, we were talking about time in the field, man. Oh, yeah, good stuff, you know, out there, you know, eating field rations, obviously. They call them MREs or UGRAs or UGR regulars. Field life wasn't too bad. If you like camping, being outdoors, it would be good for you, but a lot of people complain because you can't take a shower. Well, you can take a shower, but we call it the field shower where you stand on a pilot and just, you know— Grab your wipes. Yeah, or dump a five-gallon jug on you, you know, type deal. The longest I ever spent in the field was about 45 days. Damn, really? Yeah, 45 days. I slept basically like a homeless—you know, being homeless, you sleep in the back of your truck. Oh, my God. Yeah, I slept back in my truck. I put canvas over my truck so I can get out in the sun, you know, whatever. Yeah, that was a real experience, you know, and you didn't want to sleep on the ground at that place because there was, like, rattlesnakes everywhere. Man, when I did a detail at the West Point, and all these cadets, they have, like, all the nicer stuff, so they had all these things where they put, like, netting over their face, and I was like, what the hell is this? I'm like, I've never seen this before, and they're like, oh, it's to stop the millipedes from getting in. I'm like, damn, millipedes? They're like, I don't got to worry about that. I'm going to put my face in my sleeping bag. It'll be fine. They're like, oh, you should buy the PX, man. I woke up, and the whole—it was from the bottom of my right cheekbone all the way up to my eye, around my eye. It looked like I had a swollen question mark on my face. Oh, wow. It was terrible. That thing got in my sleeping bag and screwed my face up terrible. Oh, wow. Most of my field time was in the desert, so we didn't have to worry about bugs or anything, just snakes, whatever. The heat. Which was cool to me, because when I was over there at NTC, there was, like, a lot of wild donkeys around there. And you'd be sitting in the back of the truck, and they'd sneak up right to you and just start going off. I was like, what in the hell? It was like 2 o'clock in the morning, and you're hearing donkeys going off. Dude, that is crazy. But, you know, I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy the food so much. I usually, you know, bought a lot of stuff at my dollar store or Walmart, like non-perishable items, and just ate that, because a lot of that food they feed you in the military is not really good for you. No, it's not. And there's a lot of preservatives in it. And actually, one of my old platoon sergeants, during the initial push in Iraq, that's all they had was MREs to eat for six months at a time. And before he passed, he got diagnosed with stomach cancer. And the doctors even told him, you're eating all that preservative stuff, you know. There's a reason that's bad for you, because that stuff's going to stay good on the shelf, like, for five years. Yeah. So, yeah, that's why I don't eat that stuff. It's like, I don't know, sometimes eating the MREs, I will say they have improved over the years. They've gotten a little bit better. But some of them are just absolutely disgusting. Spacesuit, that's all it is. Yeah, it's just like... It's like, you know, I don't know if you ever ate spacesuit. I know one of my own. Like the toothpaste? Yeah, my teacher, when I was in high school, we were doing an experiment. So she ordered stuff. Well, actually, NASA donated stuff to the school. And I tried some of that spacesuit. I threw that shit in the trash, man. Yeah, man. I was like, this is nasty. And, you know, talking about astronauts and stuff, how can it survive off this stuff for months at a time? Man, they're a different breed, I'm telling you. Like, they have that one meal, the pork patty, dude, that is disgusting. And people are like, oh, it's so good. You throw all the stuff in there. I'm like, did you just look at it? It comes in like a bronze package. It slips out. It is the slimiest piece of meat you've ever seen. It is so non-appetizing. I would say the worst thing I ever ate in MRE was the omelette. I don't think I ever had the omelette. The omelette was disgusting to me. Oh, God. But I ate MREs a couple times when I was in basic because that's all we had to eat when I was hungry as hell. The best thing I ever ate was the chicken pasta stuff. I ate that, but that's one out of the two I like is the tuna because I know that's real. That tuna is good. I think that's the king of the MRE world. Everyone loves tuna. I love tuna. You don't have to worry about all the preservatives because it's basically a name-brand tuna package, so you don't have to worry about that. But other than that, field life was fun. You get to drive a lot, shoot a lot, experience real Army world stuff instead of being stuck in the Army all the time. Did you ever deploy under support of any major division, something like 10th Mountain, Navy, Airborne? No, I always deployed with units that people never heard of. Actually, you might have heard of this, the 30th Brigade ABCT. 30th Brigade ABCT? Yeah, Army, was it Armed Brigade Combat Team. That sounds kind of familiar. Is it Reserve or Guard? Is it Guard, the one with the oval patch? Yeah, okay. So I deployed with them. They're actually well-known. Call them Old Hickory for a reason. During, like, the 1830s, was it President Jackson or General Jackson actually commanded that unit a long time ago. Actually, that unit had been around for a long, long time. I wouldn't advise you to go to that unit, though, because they do some dirty things over there, you know. They keep you up for days at a time without sleep and expect you to drive. Oh, geez. But there's some good people over there. I had some good experience with them. Other than that, I mean, I'm getting to the point in my career that I just want to retire in five years. Yeah, man. I'm done. I'm pretty much the only reason I'm in it because of the insurance. That's it. You know, like, some people have this hard time grasping that concept, and it's awesome that you understand that at some point in our career it has to end. You know, some people are war hawks. Some people love it. Some people are iffy about it, and some people hate it. Some people can't wait to get out. And, you know, no matter what your stance on it is, at some point your journey in the Army is going to end, and you're just going to have to move on, and sometimes it's just catastrophic for people to deal with. But I'm glad that you've come to that closing mark, and you're ready to, like, take the next steps. That's huge, man. That's what I want to do because I have roughly five. Well, actually, I was supposed to retire in five years, but I had one bad year. So, actually, I've got to stay in that extra year, which is crazy. But, in a way, after I do my 20 years, I want to get out, even though I'm not going to get my retirement until, like, 50-something. But at least I have insurance for the rest of my life at that point. Yeah, it's important. Yeah, I just – military is not for everybody. That's why they call it less than 1% of Americans served. But with all this stuff going on in the Middle East, you know, around the world, and then having recruitment issues, you know, I personally believe, you know, if they can't get the numbers, they're going to have to start the draft back over. It's a factor of the generation just being so different than what it used to be. Like, for example, like, you know, I talked to the recruiter a couple months ago. He was like, it is so hard to recruit people, right? He said he'll try to take, like, 20, 30 people to MEPS, and out of them 30 people, he might get two deadlifts. Yeah. Yes. Nobody wants – it's not even just the military. Nobody wants to work anymore. Nobody wants to put the effort forward. Everyone's becoming lackadaisical, like, you can work from home and online. Yeah. And the crazy thing is, it's like, okay, you're doing the military. What are they offering you, right? And the crazy thing is they cut so much of our funding, and, you know, a person can go work some big corporation after college and make more money than the military. Like, you go in there as an E4 with your bachelor's, you're only going to make about, like, maybe if you have a – it depends if you've got a family between $3,000 and $5,000 a month. I totally agree. So I feel like if they do more for the service members, more benefits, I feel like they can resolve the recruitment issues. You know what I'm saying? I agree. And I feel like the whole direction of our services need to change. Yeah, and the crazy thing is if you look at the recruitment, you know, I think it was like the Marine Corps was the only one that made their recruitment goals last year. Yeah. Out of all branches. You know, even the Air Force, Navy, and the Army didn't make it. Yeah, it's such a hard ball, man, because, you know, it gets worse every year, and I know that we're hurting for people, and that's why the bonuses get so high because I know the Guard's hurting bad right now. Oh, my God. Yeah, I think we're down to only 70% of what we need. Is that just your unit or? I think that's just the state overall, man. I know our unit, that's the reason we're not going to AT to store the numbers. You got to have people to, you know, do ammo and all this, you know, and we don't want to have the people do that. Yeah, it is crazy. Yeah. Yeah, man. So other than that, yeah, I enjoy my service. I'll continue doing it as long as I can. I might stay past 20 years because, you know, that's a 20-year mark and yet your pension will go up. So I might stay an extra couple years after that. I know somebody that's in my unit, he did 25 years, and he's getting a good amount of money back. I don't know. I could go out soon. I don't know. It depends if my VA comes through. Yeah, man. You know, if I get a good percentage, I might just hang it up. Yeah, I mean, it all comes down to self-assessment, what you want to do as a person, what the organization can offer you, and you got to compare the two. And I'm all about the money, so, you know, you're not going to offer no money. It's a big incentive, man. You got to keep that green fresh in the mind, man, because some of the jobs we do, like personally, I love my job. I love, I don't know how you do that in Bravo. There's no way I can do that. Air assault infantry, man, my knees are gone, but by God there is not a day that goes by that I don't love going out of those helicopters. I have. There's nothing quite like it. It's like a rush. And I can't wait. Hopefully down the line I get a jump contract, and maybe that adrenaline can go up. I couldn't imagine myself jumping out of a perfectly fine airplane. That's probably my favorite line ever. Why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? I'd probably freak out and I'd be like, no, I'm having a moment here. Just take me back down. Yeah, man. It's, I don't know, like I always wanted to do service when I was younger, and, you know, everyone has a different way of serving, I always say. And I felt like there was no other job for me other than infantry. It's the only thing I ever wanted to do. It's the only thing I really will do. It's the same thing with me, you know, being a big history buff, I always wanted to join the military. I should have listened to my family members and waited to join the Air Force, because I actually got accepted in the Air Force, but the wait time was two years at that time to go to basic. And I didn't want to wait two years to go to basic training. That's two years gone in my life. So the Army offered me like next month shipping to basic training type deal, and then they gave me like a bonus of $40,000. The surprise in the Air Force wasn't even issuing anything at that point. Yeah, man. Air Force is good. I have some guys who are in the Air Force, and they, you know, it's a humongous IT population, yet the security forces, they have their own, you know, they got the PJs, which is cool. It's very limited as to the job field, but the benefits, I feel like, tanks everything else. Oh, yeah, and the job that I had selected was a C-130 crew chief. And I wish I would have done that because that would have put me in the innovation world, which I can probably get a job like at Boeing or something like that because, you know, they rather hire people like that, you know. Hey, man, you can always transfer over to Air Guard. Is that free? I don't know. That's probably hard to do. Oh, no. I don't know a lot about the Air Guard, but I know, like, the reserve components, it's not too hard to switch back and forth. I know it's extremely hard to go from reserve or guard back to active. Oh, yeah. I know this one guy in my unit, he's been waiting for his packet to be approved for, like, a year now. Yeah, man. It's a hard thing. Yeah, it's a hard thing to do. Yeah. Dude, I think that is a perfect closing to our show. Is there anything at all that you would like to say to our listeners out there? To the listeners of this show, I would just like to say thank you for having me on here. Thank you for listening to me, and be safe. Have the rest of your school year safe, your spring break. Get good grades, and hopefully you all will be back safe next week or two weeks from now. Yeah. Marcus, thank you so much for coming on our show. We here appreciate hearing the stories of all veterans, and yours was absolutely amazing. We loved hearing about you traveling the world, all your different experiences, opinions on the organization. That is what we look for in our veteran community. We want to know more about you guys. And I really appreciate that, too. And thanks for having me. Yeah, of course. As always, listeners, this is WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina's student-run radio station. This is a Patriots podcast with your host, Peter Deverin, signing off. Have yourselves a lovely spring break. Be safe. Be good. Come back, and God bless America. Good night. Hello. You're listening to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina University student radio station. I am your host, Zakira Greene. Today I'm here with special guest. Marcus Robinson. Yeah. We're going to start our social media. I'll start it with mine. You can follow me on Instagram. I'm going to start it with mine. I'm going to start it with mine. I'm going to start it with mine. We're going to start our social media. I'll start it with mine. You can follow me on IG, Zakira Greene. TikTok as well. My YouTube, Kiribay with three Ys. And on Instagram, I am DKingMarcus, and that is T-H, the number three, K-I-N-G-M-A-R-C-U-S. All right. Okay. Make sure y'all also listen to my other show every Friday as well, 12 to 1 p.m. where I cover the news and events for Coastal. So let's get started. Are you ready, Marcus? Yes, I am. I'm very excited to be here. Thank you for having me on. Yes, no problem. All right. So for today's topic, we, okay, so I brought him in here today. We're going to discuss leadership and development skills, and how does it take, and you know, how does it take on, we're going to see how do you take on the skills and roles and tasks to be a great leader. He is the CAB advisor, the CAB advisor. So we're going to ask him some questions. Are you ready, Marcus? Yes, I am. Let's do it. All right. So first starting off, we're going to say, who are you? We're going to let you introduce yourself for the listeners. All right. So go ahead and introduce yourself, will you? Yes. So as I said, my name is Marcus Robinson. I'm originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. I grew up in a small town in South Carolina about two hours away from here called Pageland. Outside of that, I am a family man. I'm a newlywed back in August. So shout out to my wife. Love her very much. And shout out to my little daughter, Samaya. So that's me currently, and now I'm about three weeks into this new role, just advising with CAB. So very excited about that. I'm so excited for you. And this is what the show is for. We're going, I love a leader. So I looked at him, I said, he's a leader. Let's come on the show and talk about leadership skills and development and how we can just become better individuals. So after the break, I got some questions for him. Are you ready for these questions? Yes, I am. Let's do it. Yeah. So just stay tuned. After the break, we're going to ask Marcus some questions. And make sure y'all listen and just take on the advice he gives y'all. And just, you never know. What he may say may make you think or have a different aspect or something in life. So just make sure you listen. Okay? Stay tuned after the break. Hello. You're listening to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina University Student Radio Station. I'm your host, Zakira Green. And today we're here with a special guest. Marcus Robinson. Woo! So y'all, he is a leader. He is a CAB advisor. So I brought him in today to just ask him some leadership skills and development for you all to take on advice. Okay? So are you ready for the questions, Marcus? Yes, ma'am. I'm ready when you are. All right. So first, first up, describe your leadership style and how you lead others. Yeah. So for my leadership style, the way that I go about doing it, I'm very big on communication. So I need to know what you need from me, what your expectations are. That way I know exactly how I need to go about serving you. So that's my biggest style in terms of leadership. I'm never going to ask you to do something that I wouldn't do personally myself. So if I'm holding you to the expectation and that standard, I'm going to make sure that I'm doing the same thing. And I made my team that promise that, you know, I will never ask them to do something that I wouldn't do myself. And I'm never going to ask you to do something that I don't think you're capable of doing. And also I'm going to be with you there. So I trust what you do. I trust what you're made of. And I know that you're in this position for a reason. So I trust you fully. But just know I'm here to lead you in the areas that you don't understand. Absolutely right. Love that. So what motivates you as a leader? So there's a lot that goes into it, and it's kind of three different parts. So I have my self-motivation because that's where it starts. You know, you've got to be able to know it in your mentality that you're able to do these things. Following that in terms of my motivation, I have to know my why. So every day that I wake up, I have a purpose now. You know, I have a family that I have to take care of. I have a little girl, a little daughter that's looking up to me. So, you know, from that aspect, just taking care of my responsibilities and knowing what I have to take care of on my own, that's another motivation in myself. And then for the students, I try to think about the things that I didn't receive as a student, things that I wish I had for the person that was in this role. And I try to look at other people's mistakes and look at my own self and just see, like, okay, what do these students need from me? How can I go about helping them and serving them in the best way possible? So at the end of the day, it's all about the student experience and making the best experience possible for them. So with that, every day that I wake up, I make it my mission to meet somebody different and give it all that you've got for the amount of time that you have it. Right. And, you know, I love that, that you said you wake up every morning, how can you be a leader if you don't know your why? Absolutely. Why do you want to be a leader? You've got to motivate yourself. And another thing about me, to follow on with that, you know, a lot of people ask, why are you motivational? Why are you inspirational? Because I never had that. I want to be that because I never had that. You know, so that's why I go so hard. That's why we go so hard as leaders, you know. Sure. So how do you delegate tasks? So I do it based off of level of importance. A lot of the times I like to get the easy stuff taken care of, and then I like to chip away at the bigger things as time progresses on. So that's usually the best way to go about doing that. That's just my personal method. There's lots of different ways that you can go about doing it, but you have to find what works best for you. So that's what gets it done for me, and I am a very dedicated hard worker, so that's always what's going to get it done. Take care of the easy stuff and build your way up. Right, right. Okay. So with working with CAB, how do you motivate the team? Yeah. So the first thing that I tell them going in, just like I said earlier, you guys are all in this role for a reason, and you have so much power and so much potential that you haven't tapped into yet. You have lots of good creative ideas. So I told them, you know, regardless of the event, regardless of what's said about it, be proud about what you put together. That's something that I learned when I was on the executive board, especially dealing with COVID. You know, in something like this, you're not going to be able to please everybody, but the majority rules. And the majority starts with you, though. You have to actually believe that this is something that could work. So when you believe it, I'm able to support you 100%, but I can't do my job fully if you're not expecting good things to come out of it. So I tell them up front, I'm like, if you don't believe that this is something that can work, don't put it on because you're not going to give your best. You're not going to give everything that you have. And moving forward is going to be a trickle-down effect in the rest of the events that you're putting on. So you need to have the confidence. And just like I said before, it's those little confidence boosters. So start with something small, keep working your way up, and as time progresses on, the thing that I like to say is only crazy until it happens. Right. Okay. Okay. So with that being said, how do you set goals for the team? Like, we're going to make this work, we're going to accomplish this. By the end of Friday of this week, we're going to have this put in place. So how do you set goals? Yeah. So basically it boils down to what do you need from me? That's the question that I always start with whenever we're setting up that goal. So I'm like, all right, what is it that you want to accomplish? And then from there we're able to set aside what we need to do, what you want to see happen, and we're able to go out and do it. So I'm the type of person, all you have to do is tell me what you want, and from there we can get in touch with the right people. The rest of the things can happen. We just got to take the necessary steps and the precautions and make sure that we plan and go out and execute. So you really just got to go out and do it at the end of the day. There's no excuse that can stop you from doing what you need to do or from, you know, creating something that can be as big as it needs to be. You just got to be willing to step out and do it. Exactly. Love how you answered that. Okay, another good one. Now we know with working with large teams or even in large groups, we may have a little conflict. How do you handle conflict with your team? Yeah, so conflict is actually welcome. I mean, it builds your character. That's what you need in those moments. So anybody can stay in it while things are going good, but I need to know how you're doing whenever things are going bad, whenever nobody else is on your side, whenever your back is against the wall. That's what you see. That's how you find out what you're really made of. So at the end of the day, the conflict is really what makes your event what it is. So, you know, everybody might not see it all the time, but there are some times where things just don't go according to plan, and there's no such thing as just a 100% perfect event. That's true. So whenever you're going out and doing these things, you know, you just have to know it's like, okay, don't plan for something to go wrong, but if something does go wrong, be able to think on the spot, be able to move on your feet, be able to get in touch with the right person, and let's handle the situation. So you can't shy away from the moment, and that's something that I learned growing up as a kid, playing sports, having just several different backgrounds, dealing with health issues, just several different adversities in my life. So don't shy away from the moment. Embrace it. Embrace it. Right. Be in the moment. Be in the moment, okay? Okay, you've got to care about what it is you're doing. Be there and be available, okay? So how do you balance the needs of your team with the needs of your organization? So with the needs of my team and the needs of my organization, they kind of go hand in hand, but, again, they are two separate entities, just like you said. So for my team, you know, that's one side of the spectrum, so it's like, all right, how can I incorporate the two so I make sure that I'm dealing with both parties properly? But also how can I cater to my specific team just to make sure that everything that they need is taken care of? So when it comes to, you know, taking care of my team and their needs and everything that they need taken care of, basically it's like, okay, what have you already done? Where do I need to fill in the gaps? So that's really my role and my purpose. I'm a very behind-the-scenes person. I can take the lead if necessary and step out, but more times than not, you know, I'm behind the scenes filling in the gaps, getting in touch with the people that they may not be able to get into connection with. And then for the other side of that, I kind of use that same strategy because every now and then there will be some roles or some people that are a little bit higher up that I may not get to speak to. So, you know, it's just all about knowing who to talk to and who to communicate with at the end of the day. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So, you know, how do you stay motivated and avoid being burnt out as a leader? Yeah. How do you keep Marcus on track? Yeah, and, again, that boils down to why you do what you do because burnout is real. And I will say, even in my last role, you know, I got burnt out, but there's these little nuggets of hope around the way, you know, just the little things that keep you going. So when somebody says, like, hey, I really appreciate what you did or I'm proud of what you did, thank you for helping me, it's little things like that that keep you going and remind you why you do that. And I will say, for my last role, you know, we kind of shared the same story coming from smaller backgrounds. So being able to help students like that especially is definitely what makes it worth it. All right. Great, great, great. Love how you answered that. Now, y'all stay tuned. After the break, we have more great topics and questions for Marcus. Y'all don't want to go nowhere. Stay tuned. Hello. You're listening to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina University Student Radio Station. I am your host, Akira Green, and today we are here with Marcus Robinson. All right. So we were talking about being a leader. What does it take to be a successful, great leader, you know, to make sure as the listeners, y'all are taking notes. Yes, you hear what he's saying, but you know what I told y'all last show? What I told y'all, when you take notes, you know, you're training your mind to remember these things because he's saying some good stuff. He's saying some good stuff. So make sure y'all are taking notes because these are great, great, great information that he's giving us, okay? All right. Are you ready, Marcus? Yes, ma'am. Let's do it. All right. So how do you handle feedback and criticism from your team members? Yes. So I have told my team, you know, feedback to me is just constructive criticism. Yes. So we need that for growth. Does it always feel good? Absolutely not, but it makes me better. It makes you better. So for me, constructive criticism is just a way that I can take my mental notes and make sure that I follow instructions, and I'm very good at doing that. So I can do whatever you tell me to do in the best way of my capability. So when it comes to that, all you got to do is tell me, like, hey, I don't like the way that you handled this. So then we're going to dig deeper. That's me as a communicator. I want to figure out, all right, what was it that didn't make you feel good? What was it that you feel like I could do better? What is it that will help you operate the best in these situations? So when you're going based off of that and just figuring out what everybody needs specifically, it's not that hard at the end of the day. Like I say, you just really got to be willing to make the changes that's necessary. So anybody can do that. Anybody can make those necessary changes. You just have to be willing. So whenever my team brings a problem or just flat out doesn't like something, as it happens, I'm not perfect. I don't try to be. I just try to be the best me that I can be because nobody can do it like I can. I'm the only market that gave you Robinson for a reason. That's who God made me to be. So whenever that happens, though, just listen to what they're saying. Really try to lock in and make sure that you make the changes for their better growth. So everybody needs something different. Nobody communicates the same way. So their wants and needs, everything is important. It's essential. Right. You seem like a very, very wise man. With that being said, do you have a pretty good support system with, like, friends and family? Yes, I do. I do have a good group of people that keeps me going. And even with them, you know, I give them advice and things of that nature from time to time. But also, too, you know, you have to have those people that feed back into you. So a lot of people don't see it, but my wife is definitely the behind-the-scenes person that is always building me up, always keeping me going, and even in those moments where I don't feel like fighting. Even though they are few and far between, I am a natural-born fighter. But there are some days where I'm just like, I don't know. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I even feel like going to do this. And she's like, you're made for these moments. So having somebody like that in your corner all the time, 24-7, regardless of your feelings and emotions and things that kind of switch on the daily, no matter what form or fashion you come in, just having somebody that's always there in your corner is very, very comforting. And it allows you to keep on pushing. And then my little girl, she's five, but, you know, God always uses her in such an amazing way. She's always giving encouragement, it seems like, at the perfect moment. So I truly believe kids are definitely just a gift from God because the stuff that she says sometimes, I know for a fact it's not her. It's just a straight message from God. So she'll tell me, Daddy, I love you. I'm proud of you. So those little things like that really do make the difference. But my family is everything. That's who I do it for. And God knows they've made such a tremendous impact on my life. And it wouldn't be the same without them. I know that, you know, a lot of the things that I have now, yes, they would have came in timing, but they're more enjoyable and they have more of a purpose now that they're in my life. My God replaced people in your life for a reason, you know. I love that. I love that. So who do you look up to for inspiration or mentorship? So ironically, even though they might look up to me, a lot of the younger people that I inspire are people that I look up to. The reason being is because sometimes they're dealing with things that I couldn't imagine dealing with at that age. And, you know, some of the stuff that they're dealing with at their age is just some of the stuff that I'm dealing with right now, getting ready to be 25 years old. So just the little things like that is really what makes a difference to me. For my motivation, you know, I will say my dad is a big inspiration for me as well. He's a pastor. And, you know, growing up, he didn't have a father. So for him to be such a big inspiration in that area of, you know, raising four kids, being married for 30-plus years, like that man is my hero for sure. So we butt heads from time to time. We don't always agree. That's just the father and son bond. But I had to realize, you know, he's still learning how to do this. He's just now really starting to get a grasp on it because he didn't have it. So anybody who is brave and courageous enough to take that step definitely deserves some praise. So shout out to my pops, man. He's a great person. And also my friend group. They are the most, you know, inspirational group of people that I know. The amount of things that they go through from mental health issues to relationship issues to, you know, just things that they deal with on a day-to-day basis, the way that they just keep fighting, that always keeps me going. That just lights a fire under me and it allows me to, you know, pour back into them. So I've got a big group of inspirational people. And, you know, sometimes it's way too much to really, you know, name. You know, that's good. You know, it's who you surround yourself with. You keep surrounding yourself around negative people that's always sad and want to do bad things. What do you think you're going to be doing? You know, I don't really like to go off stereotypes, but that stuff is true. Energy is real. You've got positive people around you, people that are pushing you, motivating you. Get up, girl. Get up, boy. Let's go to the gym. Let's go to church this Sunday. Let's go to EMC Bible study 6 p.m. y'all Thursday, by the way. Come on. You know, it's who you surround yourself with. And people, they like to say that's just stereotypes, you know, just because my friend like that. I'm not like that. But it's, energy is real. And timing. Yeah, you become the company that you hang around. Yes. And timing. Yes. I love that. That you, I bet, you know, it probably took you some time to see. I bet when you were younger, did you always have good people around you? Or when you were younger, you had some challenges. Like, you know, you had some friends that were, you know, like, you know, suspicious about them. But you grew. You learned. Yeah, absolutely. I had to learn the difference between having good friends and being a good friend to a lot of different people. So my perspective on that definitely changed. You know, I don't throw that term friends around very lightly. But I do have lots of brothers and sisters that are definitely in my corner. So friends to me are more like associates. And brothers and sisters is more like family to me. So it goes beyond that friends label. Yes. Yes. Right. So who do you think are the most important attributes of successful leaders today? Yeah. I personally think communication. That's really where it starts. Communication. I mean, it's really building your mentality towards the different aspects that you've got to handle. I mean, without the communication, it just makes everything so much harder. Right. Just the simplest things, you know, what you're saying, how you're saying it, that makes all the difference in the world. And it's a simple process, but it's so effective. So your communication, how you have everything organized, that's really going to be your breakthrough or your downfall. And that's really what it boils down to. So everything from my leadership style to, you know, the way that I execute things, none of that is worth anything at all if I don't communicate. Yes. So just knowing the power of communication and realizing how each member of my team communicates, it all helps us in the long run. Right. We're going to talk a little bit more about that after the break. Y'all stay tuned with Talks with Kira. Hello. You're listening to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina University Student Radio Station. I am your host, Kira Green, and today I'm here with Marcus Robinson. All right. So we are back. We are back with the questions. Okay. Are you ready, Marcus? Yes, ma'am. All right. So he's a great leader. So we're going to finish asking these questions. Are y'all ready? Okay. So do you feel that anyone can be a leader or take on leadership roles? I do think that anybody can become a leader. At that same time, though, I do believe that some people are born natural leaders. So no matter if you are born a natural leader or if you're trying to take on a leadership role, everybody needs to work hard at that skill. Yes. That is not something that you just get up and do. There's always something that you can learn. There's always something that you can add to the arsenal. There's always something that you can do to become a better leader because nobody should just be complacent. Nobody should just sit around and just think that they got it all figured out. There's always something that you can learn from somebody. Just like I said, you know, I learned from my five-year-old. I learned from everybody. That's what I try to do. No matter if it's somebody out on the street, no matter if it's somebody at church, somebody in a classroom, whether it's a professor, a teacher, an administrator, a janitor, whoever, I like talking to everybody because everybody has a different perspective and they can teach you a different aspect of life that you haven't gone through. So when it comes to leadership, don't downplay where the skill comes from. Try to get something from anybody. So whenever you are leading, take as much as you can, take as many experiences as you can go through, and continue to do all that you can to be the best leader you can be. Yep. All righty. Loving to reply what you said. I feel that, you know, with the right support and with the right principles, you know, anybody can grow and to become a great, influential leader. You know, so it takes time, like you said. And in addition to that, I would like to add, I think the best leaders are also the greatest followers, too. I feel like in order to truly lead, you have to know what it means to follow. Because as a follower, if you're looking up to the leader and you're always questioning what they're doing, that's a pretty good indicator that you don't follow instructions too, too well. So if you can take instructions, even if you don't agree with it, you're a pretty good leader. I will say that in your following, if you can, you know, carry out those instructions that's been passed down to you, when you get in a leadership role, you're going to be more relatable because you understand what it first means to follow and you can be relatable in that position. Right, right. Love that. I really love that. Okay. For my listeners, how can they, for the ones that deal with, you know, work and life, how can they balance everything? Yeah, just like I talked about earlier, you know, just level of importance. Obviously, it can be tough to balance and juggle all those different things. So, yes, you got to lock in, but, you know, on a humanistic side, you also need to get your rest, too. You don't need to push your body too far. Make sure that you're doing what's necessary. Make sure that you listen to your body because I promise you, speaking from personal experience, your body will give out on you. You better pay attention. Your body will give you a sign. It will make you do it. For sure. Your body will give you signs. Pay attention. Mental health, that's another topic they're not ready for, Mark. No, they're not ready for that one. Mental health, you know, you got to make sure your mental health is right before you get up there trying to be a leader and tell people, Is you right? Is you good? Do you have a good relationship with God? Make sure you're a great person before you go out there trying to talk inspiration and all that, you know? Absolutely. Right. Do you feel like you could ever possibly change your leadership style? Like, you know, do you feel like you can give yourself room for improvement? Always. I know that there's always ways to improve, and I don't necessarily know what that looks like all the time, but sometimes it's just very in the moment. It's like, oh, I didn't think about that before. Thank you for telling me that. That's something good that I can add. Something that I just learned recently from a conference that I went to, you know, they talked about what you speak about in the space should stay in the space, but what you learn in the space should leave the space, and that is a big, huge thing that I didn't even know I related to at first, and I thought about it. I was like, it means the world to be able to have the conversation, but what are we doing with the conversation after we have it? Is it just staying in a room? Because if so, then it doesn't matter. It died right there because you just left it there. You didn't give it any life. You just left the conversation where it was. So you've got to take the conversation and put action behind it because at the end of the day, the old saying is true, actions speak louder than words. That's always going to speak 10 times louder than anything that you've said. So if you're going to say one thing and you can't show it to me, don't say it because words have meaning, but action behind it is truly a difference maker. So you've got to add that for sure. But, yeah, I would say that's my biggest piece of leadership that I took. Don't wait. You don't know if you're going to get that moment. So when you get that opportunity, take it because it doesn't just always come and fall in your lap. So I had a lot of opportunities that just kind of fell in my lap when I was at that conference, and best believe I took every single one of them. There were times I was tired. There were times that I just wanted to go back to my room, but I was like, no, I've got a group back home that I'm fighting for. I've got a group back home that I'm working for and trying to get things done for. They've been asking me and they wanted me in this role because they felt like I could make a difference. Why would I do myself or my team a disservice by not giving them everything that I got, especially while they're not in the same room with me? So I just don't want to tell them that I'm going to fight for them. I want them to know, like, hey, this is what I did, and I actually have that proof in my hands to be like, this is the benefits. This is the fruit of our labor from really going out here and taking every opportunity head on. Now, something you really just inspired me. You have so much gift in you, Marcus. So I'm going to take that with me today, honestly. You said, okay, so Kira, from now on, you're in a room having a conversation with somebody. So basically what you're saying is don't just leave it in the room because then the conversation dies. So just try to hear people out. Oh, my gosh, it's easier said than done, y'all. I'm telling you. And I'm a communication major, and I'm still working on learning how to communicate with people. And I can admit, I sometimes leave the conversation in the room because I feel like I'm done talking. But, you know, you really inspired me. Kira, you've got to stop that. Maybe God really, you know, maybe it was for you to say that for me right now in this moment. I needed that because, for real, I've been dealing with some things, and, you know, I'm trying to learn to work on my communication skills. And if that was me, I would just leave the conversation in the room and go back to being bitter. Honestly, I'd go back to being bitter. But you can't have that in your heart. You can't have hatred in your heart, you know. So what you're saying is just, are there some ways that I can move forward and just take the conversation up instead of just leaving it in the room? Like, how can I do that? Yeah, so this is actually something that I learned with my wife. And, you know, we learned this during marriage counseling. So basically what our counselor told us was, you know, your perspective on the situation is not wrong. It's just different from the other person. So once you look at it that way, it teaches you how to be empathetic. It teaches you how to kind of put yourself in the other person's shoes and be like, okay, I can understand why what I said would make this person feel the way that they did. And then on the flip side, they're able to do the same thing. So it's like, was it really something getting upset over or was it just a misunderstanding? So it teaches you to be intentional about the way that you talk and the way that you communicate. And, you know, trust me, just because I'm telling you this now doesn't mean I'm not an expert at it. Me and my wife, we love, you know, communicating. But at the same time, there are those moments where we don't want to talk. So somebody has to break the ice. Somebody has to make that move. Somebody has to just be willing to be like, hey, I'm sorry. It's my ego. Sometimes it's an ego. It's an ego. I'm trying. We're all trying. We're trying. It's progress over perfection. You always got to find a way to grow, and that's the perfect way. So just think about that next time you're having those tough conversations. Okay, because, oh, baby, when I tell you, sometimes it's just the ego. It's the ego that don't want us to hear the other person's point of view. It's the ego that stops us from understanding, trying to understanding why, why. So y'all stay tuned after the break. We're going to finish talking about the ego, honey. Y'all stay tuned. Hello. You're listening to WCCU Radio, Coastal Carolina University Studio Radio Station. I am your host, Zakira Green, and I'm here with Marcus Robinson. Whoo, y'all, we're having a good conversation. And y'all, like I said before the break, it's what he said that really stuck with me. You know, we got to learn how to communicate and try to understand other people's point of view. But don't let the ego and the pride get in the way of stopping you from receiving what it is the other person is trying to tell you, you know. Or, you know, just try to understand people. I really love that you touch topics on that, Marcus, okay? Yeah. I love that. So what is one mistake you witness leaders making more frequently than others? I would say the biggest thing that a lot of leaders will make the mistake on is thinking that they're higher up or they're better than the people that are helping them in the role. So I tell my team all the time, I was like, realistically, my job is no good if you're not in this position behind me. I can't do anything without you guys. You guys are doing all the planning. You're doing all the executing. And really the only thing that I'm here to do is to help you enhance that. So without you, I wouldn't have a job. Like, let's just be honest about it. And I tell them all the time, I'm like, you know, I know I have a title, but realistically, I'm only two to three years older than you. How would it look for me to just act like I am better than you or I just know everything because you are better than me in a lot of different areas? I've just had a little bit more time. So I think that's the biggest mistake is just they let the titles get in the way rather than viewing each other as equals. All right. I love how you answered that. Time went by fast, right, Marcus? Yes, it did. We had a lot more to talk about, y'all, but time went by fast. And he might come back. Will you come back, Marcus? I definitely will. We'll have to do it again sometime, for sure. I enjoy him on the show, y'all. It's 357. Time is going by fast. It's about time for us to wrap it up. The conversations are getting so good. But Marcus said he will be back. He will be back. And y'all, y'all stay tuned for the next Talks with Keira. I learned a lot. I hope y'all honestly learned a lot today because I learned a lot. He is very inspirational. We talked about leadership and just really communication. That was the two biggest things I got from today, how to be a great leader and how to communicate with people better. So I hope y'all all took your notes.