From Athletic to Amputee: The Unbelievable Journey I Travis Mills DSH #491

I went from a six foot three, fairly athletic guy

to now laying in a hospital bed with no arms, no legs, having people feed me and change my clothes and help me, you know, with everything.

So there was moments of that, plus a little bit of like, why didn't I just die?

You know, and kind of the self-doubt of like, how could I ever, you know, do anything positive or worthwhile like this?

Yeah.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we got another veteran on the podcast today.

I'm honored for you to be here, man.

Travis Mills.

Hey, thanks for having me, champion.

How you doing today?

I'm good, man.

I love your energy.

You fired up?

Yeah.

You got humor, man.

You got good energy.

I love it.

Well, I just, I realized I can't just be funny looking, so I might as well add some humor to it.

So that's where I'm going to go with it.

And I got cool tricks.

Yeah.

That doesn't.

You think that would hurt, but it don't.

Wow.

Yeah.

In my brain, it computes as that hurting.

Yeah.

Well, the first time it fell off, it was a little painful, but ever since then, it's like daily.

Damn.

Did you get that right away or did that just come to school?

So I got

five weeks.

I got a hand finally after recovery.

So five weeks in, I got my hand for the first time.

Nice.

Learned how to open it and close it and do all the stuff.

Wow.

So it took five weeks.

So you were in the bed for the whole five weeks and then you finally got that?

Yeah.

I mean, when I was hit by

a roast head bomb,

the right side of me was completely gone never found the left side was still there but they had to cut it off during surgery and the two days after that um they took me for a washout and they took my left hand off the rest of the way so it became known as uh quadruple amputee uh i was one of five i'm the fourth out of five to survive this kind of injury wow and then during my recovery at walter reed um for the stitches to heal up and and all this stuff it took five weeks to get my my hand my prosthetic arm and i wasn't proficient by any means with it um but it took five weeks just to be able to like drink a gate raid by myself or feed myself you know for the first time crazy and during that process did were there moments of like you might not make it out of this well i mean

not not during that time like at walter reed but during like my time waking up in lotchill um germany in the hospital on my 25th birthday actually i woke up and i found out that i was injured and then i lost arms and legs and i was like you know you know i have a lot of questions like am i a bad person you know what i did wrong what did i did wrong life to deserve this?

And the biggest thing was like, how can I still be a husband and a father?

Because my daughter was six months old.

My wife and I had been married for going on four years.

And I went from a six foot three, fairly athletic guy

to now laying in hospital bed with no arms, no legs, having people feed me and change my clothes and help me, you know, with everything.

So there was moments of that, plus a little bit of like, why didn't I just die?

You know, and kind of this, the, the self-doubt of like, how could I ever, you know, do anything positive or worthwhile like this?

Yeah.

You know, because you don't know what you don't know.

Right.

So

that's my attitude.

That was my attitude at the time.

Then my wife, when I saw her for the first time, said she wasn't going to leave me.

I told her she should.

And then my daughter was six months old.

And I credit her with basically all my recovery.

Wow.

So you told your wife to leave you.

Well, you know, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I didn't think I had anything left to offer.

And then, you know,

you're engaged.

You want to get married.

And

for me, it's like what I promised to her when we got married and what I was going to offer was not what I was holding up to.

You know, like

I was fairly fit.

Like I, you know,

it's pretty, you know, pretty jacked, if you will.

I don't know what else to say.

It's not something arrogant.

But then I get taken down, lose my arms and legs, and now I need help with everything.

You know, so I just thought.

not the life I choose for you and you can pack it up and no no hard feelings and financially whatever I have will be for you but that's just not the life I want for you wow and she chose to stay yeah I think obligation kept her our story got pretty big on the news and she's like I can't leave now everybody's watching you know what I mean

yeah that and handicap parking really was exciting oh man

but uh no she decided to stay and and we got through 19 months of recovery at Walter Eden it was wild it was it was hard you know there was days where

I was up and walking, you know, and then there's days where I was so sore, my muscle spasm so hard I couldn't move.

Wow.

And, you know, every day was a new challenge um but the ultimate goal was to retire and i did that after 19 months of being at walter reed um i finally retired wow so just a roller coaster of emotions and you said your daughter played a huge role yeah i mean not a lot of people can say they learn how to walk with their kids you know so like i learned how to walk with my daughter as she was learning i was learning wow and um me and her very very close bond she's you know one of my best friends to this day and then um my wife and I, you know, through the recovery, had to find what we were going to do because I, quite frankly, lost my chance to serve my country and I lost my job.

You know, I guess one of the greatest and the worst life lessons I ever learned was that I was replaceable.

And not that it's the Army's fault, but within three hours of being injured, you know, somebody else flew in to take my job.

Dang, that quick.

Well, they have to.

The fight continues, you know?

Yeah, you were mid-fight, right?

Yeah.

So I think it's helped me understand that, you know, I am replaceable.

So I got to work hard every day no matter what I, you know, I get myself into and I do.

but also it's helped me understand that you know life's pretty precious so enjoy the moment if you know as much as you can as well yeah so when you stepped on a mine on that mine was it instant blackout or did you have no second to witness it so i took my backpack off um about 120 pound backpack full of grenades and ammo and waters and food and stuff and i put it on the ground and it landed on top of a bomb wow and we swept the ground with a minesweeper damn yeah and we just missed it and when the bomb uh went off i was conscious the whole time.

They actually,

I mean, I was on the ground to the point where I told my medic he should just leave me.

Like, don't worry about it.

Not going to save me.

Not that I was suicide, but my line of work, I've seen a lot of guys die for a lot less injury.

I radioed my lieutenant with my left hand.

I still had the use of my thumb, index, and middle fingers.

I radioed my lieutenant and said, hey, I need your medic with mine.

I got guys injured.

And then they got me a helicopter.

And I was yelling at the flight medic a little bit, not in a bad way, but one of my guys was yelling out.

And he had every right to.

He was in a lot of pain.

But I yelled at the flight medic.

medic, and he wasn't listening to me.

He had this big old, like, um, space, you know, style helmet on.

So he can't hear me yelling at him.

So I got my arm out of the strap, kind of broken and dangling, and I swung it over my head to motion to take his helmet off.

And then he did, and I told him, give my guys water, tell them they're going to be okay.

And then

that medic actually wrote my wife a letter about that.

And we published it in one of my first book.

Wow.

And then I was able to get to the hospital, go into surgery.

And then as I got into the ER,

after I kept trying to sit up and they pushed me down enough, they just kind of knocked me out.

That's when you got knocked out?

Yeah, they had to medically sedate me.

Not because I was going crazy or nothing, just because, you know, I

just, it was time to work on me.

Right.

And I looked at the nurse after she pushed me down finally and I said, hey, my little girl, am I ever going to see her again?

Because, you know, Chloe was only six months old.

And then they knocked me out for 14 hours of surgery where like nine doctors or seven nurses worked on me continuously.

Crazy, man yeah and i know at one point you were in a coma right for five days see so they had to medically induce a coma um because my pain levels were so bad and i felt like my feet were getting ripped off my hands were on fire um just a lot of different kind of um chronic terrible pain and they tried these different case studies and finally they did this um ketamine coma and i was second in the nation never have it 30th in the world and the idea was it would reset my brain to think where my nerves end is where they end now because the fan limb pain everybody talks about is your nerves trying to find your hands and feet again when it's not there it like stings you and tries to find a different route and continuously so they did a ketamine coma and you know for five days they gave me 600 milligrams of ketamine per hour through my body geez oh yeah it was wild you were hallucinating like crazy

yeah if it was on tv i was there um for the first 10 days after i got out of there out of nuts what were you seeing well it was different so Genghis Khan, somebody was watching a history channel, and I was like fighting with Genghis Khan.

You saw Genghis Khan?

Yeah, Arrows just zipping by me.

Oh, yeah.

I think Rob Deerdeck was on Fantasy Factory.

Yeah.

And me, him, and Drama, you know, we just hung out.

And then one time, a lady walked by with a dog, and I was like, oh my gosh, a lady dressed like Lady Gaga is like...

crawling on her hands and knees and on a leash.

I thought the dog was like a lady dressed in leather.

Wow.

So it was whatever was on TV.

You were just saying it.

Well, it was like TV and just like whatever.

Like I looked out my my window thinking like two nations were warring with each other at one point and there were SWAT guys on the building.

It was nuts.

Crazy, man.

So yeah, that was that was a wild, wild ride for like 10, 10, 15 days.

Nuts.

Here you are now, one of the biggest motivational speakers in the world now, dude.

I appreciate you saying that.

I am working on my weight, though.

We talked about the carnivore diet already.

I'm going to not be the biggest, but one of the most inspiring.

If you make it through that, man, let me know.

Cause that diet sounds intense for me.

No,

I just got to figure it out.

You know, I lose 30 pounds every night.

What do you mean?

Take my legs off my arm.

I gain it back in the morning, though.

But no, I do the motivational speaking.

I really enjoy it.

Get up there and tell people, you know, a few things that maybe

they need to hear.

And my biggest thing is like, I need people to realize that just because I have no arms, no legs, and I got blown up in Afghanistan, it doesn't put me on some pedestal.

I don't think that I'm

more injured or more hurt than anybody else.

And I think everybody has to realize that their biggest problem is their biggest problem and like that's real and i've worked very hard at letting people know like whatever you're going through whether it's you know there's there's people out there with crippling you know anxiety yeah that they can't even leave their house you know and i can get up and drive my you know drive my vehicle and take my kids to school and all that stuff you know so i just i think it's important for people to understand like what happened to me is you know yeah sucked but there's ways to get through any situation any curveball that gets thrown at you yeah do you feel like there's a lack of motivation these days in a lot of younger people um

i don't know know.

I guess.

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I guess a lot of conferences I speak at, it's usually like a big sales conference or a big sellers motivate people or a bankers conference or real estate.

But I think that sometimes,

you know, as a parent, I do coddle my kids a lot more than my parents coddled me for

Like, it's like, oh, did that hurt?

Not like, you know, I think I saw a thing on Facebook.

My mom and dad used to say, or my dad, especially, he was like, why are you crying?

I'll give you something to cry about, you know?

And then my wife is always like, with my son, like, oh, what's wrong?

Yeah, tough love.

Yeah.

I'm like, kids got to toughen up, you know?

It's different.

Yeah.

These days, you can't really get in fights in school.

Like back then, you can throw hands and it's normal.

Yeah, yeah.

And I started seeing that change when I was in high school.

Like,

I've never been in a fist fight, as weird as that might sound.

Really?

Yeah, yeah.

like I was in the army, and I had to deal with like Taliban and stuff like that, but never was in a fist fight.

Wow, never hands-on?

No, I was so afraid because I was a lot bigger than a lot of people.

Yeah, um, that my mom had it drilled into me that if I did get in a fist fight, I could kill somebody probably.

Oh, I could, you know, and then I would, well, I don't know.

You watch the UFC, 6'3?

You watch the UFC, though.

Like, none of those guys kill anybody in the UFC.

Well, they stop them.

Right.

Yeah, I don't know.

I just

think that there's

the thing with street fights is concrete.

UFC, they're landing on a mat.

Yeah.

If you're in a street fight, I mean, they hit their head on the concrete.

I tell you what, I do enjoy the UFC, and

I watch just about every single one.

And it's not like I'm a barbarian.

I just like the sport of it.

I used to do a lot of that ground fighting tactics, ground fighting tactics, they called it, in the military.

And

I do a little jiu-jitsu here and there.

Not that I'm very good at it, but I'm hard as an opponent because you try to grab my wrist and I don't have it.

Zion Wright, the black dude, he just fought.

Did you see that?

He has no legs?

No, I didn't see that.

Or Zion Clark.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the guy didn't know how to fight him.

Yeah.

He literally has no legs.

So, like, how do you take him down?

Yeah.

I think I've seen clips on him, but I didn't see his fight.

Yeah.

Yeah, pretty nuts.

I love UFC, though.

Shout out to Dana White.

I love what he's doing over there.

I don't know about PowerSlap, though, Dana.

No, I'm just kidding.

Oh, geez.

I wouldn't do PowerSlap though.

I wouldn't.

That seems like it'd break your whole entire face.

You're just asking for a concussion.

Yeah.

At least UFC, you can defend yourself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But now, what do you, so out here in Vegas, what do you get into?

I do.

I do podcasting.

I host events, man, and I love food.

So this is the best spot for all of that.

You love food.

What's your favorite kind of food?

I like steakhouses, I'd say.

Yeah.

I like seafood, too.

I know we were talking about lobsters, which you don't like, but.

Wow, it's just, you know, it's a flavor thing for me.

Yeah.

I don't have a refined palate, obviously.

Yeah.

But now, when you say steakhouses, like, are you, like, I'm a Cajun rub ribeye kind of guy?

So that's the dry one?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is that

eat dry, but I like the wet probably more.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

I gotcha.

No, no judgment coming at me, though, right?

No, no, I love, love some short rib, you know, melting off the bone.

That's That's my thing right there.

So,

you know, after I was injured and trying to figure out what life was going to be like,

my wife and I started the foundation, the Travis Mills Foundation, which was a $5,000 donation

to send care packages overseas.

And now it's growing to be one of the top VSOs, you know, in the nation, veteran service organizations.

Wow.

We bring out combat and service-connected injured veterans that have been through physical injuries due to service and trying to do things adaptively.

But on top of that, we have a post-romatic stress program we partner with now, which is one of the best in the nation called Warrior Path.

Nice.

The reason I'm telling you that is because after I found my way of finding this foundation and all this stuff out, I decided I like entrepreneurialism.

So

you said short rib, and it made my mouth salvate because I have a restaurant and we make one of the best short ribs around.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

There's a little town in Maine.

It's called White Duck Brew Pub.

It's in East Winthrop, Maine.

We just got an article written about us.

Not like a big publication, about one of the best restaurants in

small towns.

Sign me up, man.

When I'm out there, I'll go there.

Come on.

I'm putting a brewery in right now as well.

Actually, we're in construction right now.

You still drinking?

I mean, you know, responsibly, of course.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think people, you know, everywhere I go, I always got to try the local brews just to see if I know what I'm doing.

Yeah.

Which I don't.

I have a brewmaster that does all that.

It sounds like it's complicated, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

A lot of science in that.

Yeah, a lot.

I had on a professional whiskey taster on the show last week.

What?

Yeah, that's a job.

He's the number one guy in the world

okay yeah his name's fred manick and he ranks he has a top hunter whiskey list every year that comes out really so all he does is drink whiskey how do you get into that line that's what i'm saying right you know imagine doing that for beer or for vodka or whatever you like to drink you know my problem is like i just like everything i'm just you know no favorite alcohol you just like them all well i mean

yeah i have a favorite you know uh

but

I'm not like a fan like I like Basil Hayden's probably better than anything I've had a lot of fine whiskeys if you will but I'm like basil hayden's good Yeah, it works for me.

I feel that but what about you?

I'm not big on alcohol man.

No, yeah, I used to be heavy I was a big partier in college.

Yeah, yeah, they called me uh tomato face I would get super red I would black out and just be super dumb try to look cool.

There you go.

It was a phase.

I don't I don't go that level.

No, I have you know, I have a wife.

Yeah, it's not worth it.

Especially these days where everything's filmed.

This was back then where I caught the tail end of

it or the beginning of it.

So I got you.

I got you.

But no we we just get a lot of fun you know with uh like the foundation i never could have imagined that sitting around a dining room table with my in-laws uh my father-in-law who's my you know travel companion right-hand man if you will business manager and my wife signing paperwork um thinking we'll just give back to these veterans with care packages that are overseas um to now bring out families and watch the whole transition come through of like you know they have no arms and legs or they have a wheelchair they're in or things like that.

We have a barrier-free resort that we show them.

Like, no matter what, you can do anything.

Yeah.

And unlike my football career in college, you know, live life off the sidelines.

Yeah.

That's where I stayed most of the time.

Sidelines?

Yeah.

I mean, I was red-shirted, but I'm just saying.

It didn't work out for me.

Yeah.

What position were you?

I think they called it Asback, actually.

Ass back?

Every time I try to get in the game, the coach said, hey, Mills, get your ass back.

Can I say that?

I'm sorry.

Is that okay?

No, that's funny.

No, so I was a fullback.

Fullback, okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, I feel that.

That's a tough spot.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love what you're doing with the Foundation, man.

I donated to Wounded Warrior, and I don't even know what they spent it on, to be honest.

But with yours, you could actually see where the money's gone.

It was very clean on the 990s.

I don't take a dime, never paid myself, never got a bonus, nothing like that.

It's not about me making any money off from it.

I get the chance to go speak, and I have a pension and all that stuff.

So it was never created to make me or my wife any money.

Wow.

This is about giving back.

And, you know, we are very, very

cautious with anything we get ourselves involved into, just because there are things that other nonprofits have gotten in trouble for, good, bad, or indifferent.

And since it's like literally my name,

you know what I mean?

Yeah, your reputation's on the line.

Yeah, so I got to make sure everything's above board at all times.

Yeah, because you probably get offered to fund a lot of stuff, but you got to be really selective.

Oh, yeah, there's a lot of things.

I mean, and you know, we get a lot of people that reach out about like medical marijuana.

And, like, it's still taboo in a way where I'm being advised by some people, like, oh, you can't, you can't have them do a fundraiser for you.

I'm like, well, they're just trying to help.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, but that's, and I'm like,

you know, does it really matter anymore?

I'm siding with weed on that one.

I know, I know.

There's too many benefits to it.

That's where I'm at with like with these people that reach out.

But then, you know, there's just always a discussion about like, well, put her name next to it.

Is it going to look bad?

And I'm like, I don't think it does.

Nah.

We have the foundation because Maine's legal, right?

Yeah.

So we have to, we take people to the local recreational place.

Yeah.

And they get all the stuff they need and they hang out out around the fire and just chill out.

So it's cool, man.

It's huge for post-matic stress.

I feel like I heard it is.

And anxiety.

It actually makes my anxiety worse, but I heard for most people it helps with anxiety.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

But not for me, man.

I got you.

When I get too high, I just can't hang.

Can't do it.

I think I overthink.

You know what I mean?

When I was a kid, I could smoke all day, hit like 20 gravity bongs in my bomb's basement.

But nah, these days, too much.

That's because you're a genius.

I think there's a...

I'm not a genius.

Well, maybe, but my dad was a genius.

So his IQ was 150.

I thought you're, you're like the prodigy, though.

Like, they said you're smarter than your dad.

I think my mom, it probably takes the evens out a bit.

You know, my mom's got the work ethic.

So I got that from her.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I haven't taken a test.

I don't really care about IQ tests.

People place a lot of importance on them, but I don't think it measures all intelligence.

I know people that are super dumb and they make a ton of money, honestly.

Yeah, I'm, if you want, they can show me something.

I mean, I walked into a bomb for early retirement.

I was just like, man, 20 years sounds like way too much.

How do I get like that retirement?

You know?

Yeah.

And I just hit a bomb, found a way.

But now you're making millions with speaking and your books.

Doing all right.

Doing all right.

Chilling, man.

But, you know, being able to inspire people.

My new book just came out, you know, last November, Bounce Back.

And the thing is, like, in,

it's.

Every time I went and I'm getting mumbled up here.

Every time I go and speak somewhere, people will come up and tell me a a story about themselves, like what they went through.

But then they'd always be like, but you know, it's nothing like you.

Like I was saying, like your biggest problem is your biggest problem, right?

So I actually took other people's stories, divorce, cancer survivor,

widower, post-traumatic stress.

I put their stories in this book and had medical theories and research articles and different papers that are published on like why.

you know, your brain and you feel the way you feel.

And it showed people going to the very bottom of the barrel and how they bounce back.

And I did it because I want people to realize like, I'm not special.

I just found the right, you know, tools to get better, which was my support group.

You know, hard work, realizing that I didn't die and I couldn't just make myself die.

So I might as well get better.

And,

you know, we live in a country that takes care of veterans like me, like takes care of me.

100%.

Yeah.

Takes care of me.

You know, taught me how to walk, how to feed myself, how to do my cool like spinning tricks.

Doesn't even hurt, like I said.

Got the Apple Watch too, man.

Well, you have to.

You know, that's how I text and I call people.

Oh, nice.

But,

and, you know what?

They went away from like the heat sensitive.

So I can't touch a phone.

So like people always, they watch me.

I'm on my phone, right?

And I close one eye and I just use my nose.

Yeah.

And people are like, how do you do that?

Wow.

I didn't know they did that on the iPhone.

Oh, my nose is, you know, it's warm.

So I can do that.

Okay.

They didn't do it special for me.

That's just why I figured out it works.

Wow.

Yeah.

That is interesting, man.

Yeah, I've seen you talk about the past and, you know, not to kind of live in it or dwell in it.

And you seem to be doing really well at that mindset.

Yeah, I just, I realized in the hospital bed when I used to close my eyes and,

you know, think like, I'm going to go back in time.

I'm not going to make this not my reality.

I'm going to open my eyes and be back in my base.

It never happened that way.

So instead of dwelling on what happened, I just reminisce.

I had 25 amazing years with arms and legs.

And then this April makes 12 years without.

And

I don't look at myself as different now.

So that's my big thing.

People are like, oh man, this is so much different.

And I'm like, I just have a few extra steps in the morning, right?

My pants go on or my legs go on, you know, then my pants.

My arm goes on, then my shirt.

So a few extra steps here and there.

And he asked a little bit different, but this is just my new normal.

And as soon as I can accept this, my new normal, life got a lot easier.

Yeah.

And the biggest thing was like, I had to stop asking why.

You know, you ever like have a problem you can't figure out and you keep asking why?

Yeah.

And like you just go in these different like, you know,

rabbit holes.

Yeah.

Like I.

I can ask why this happened all day long, but I'll never get an answer.

Right.

So I had to accept like this has happened.

You know, this is my life.

And if I stop asking why, my life's going to get a lot better because I'll never get an answer.

And if I did, say I found some answer.

I was like, oh my gosh, that's the answer.

That does nothing for me.

You know what I'm saying?

Because I really will never know.

You still can't change it even if you find out the answer.

Exactly.

So, you know, for me, I always control my attitude.

My situation doesn't change, but my attitude is always positive.

I mean, I woke up in Florida this morning, right?

And I took a shower, but I already knew.

that the hot water heater wasn't working.

Something about the GFI popped and I couldn't get it reset.

The electrician came over this morning, but I knew I had to go take a cold shower this morning.

I was sitting there.

I was just like, this sucks.

I just kept saying dopamine because I know that cold water releases dopamine.

So I took a cold shower and then we got an airplane and flew here.

I missed my connecting flight because maintenance on the first plane.

So caught a second one and I still made it here.

So many delays these days, man.

That's so normal.

Yeah.

I just expect it.

No.

I think my last 10 flights have been delayed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know what's going on, man.

You go back out to Jersey anyway?

Yeah, I'm going back in May.

My mom's still out there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You been there?

Yeah, I've been a few times.

What do you think?

I,

you know, everywhere's kind of the same.

They got great places to eat.

I mean, I go to a lot of conferences, though, right?

So, like, I mean, I'm usually like in a bigger city when I go and go check out the local fair.

And, you know, I don't know.

Jersey's nice, right?

Or no?

What do you think?

It's a good family state.

Yeah.

Good Italian food, good Indian food, but not for business.

I'd say, no, no, I was bullied.

I was different out there for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But now you got your jersey or your is it?

No, is it Jersey's?

Yeah, I started jersey company out there.

That's that's how it started, but I got made fun of for that.

Why?

Just a town of nine-to-fivers.

I mean, it's just all corporate, and that wasn't normal.

You know what I mean?

I think I saw something where it said,

you know, it was like the entrepreneur, everybody's, all these graduates and all these nine-to-fivers, like, are all mad because their boss is like way younger.

Wearing sweatpants.

Wearing sweatpants.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've seen that.

Yeah.

I can't remember the saying exactly.

Not that you're wearing sweatpants, but that's what I'm doing.

I usually am, actually.

I wore this for you today, man.

I wore shorts, but you take my legs off their pants.

I usually wear shorts in the summer.

Yeah, and I wore a long sleeve, too.

You know what I'm saying?

I got to keep it classy.

I feel that, man.

But

no, it's a lot of fun, you know?

And then, you know,

I just got to know how you do it.

Like, how do you get so famous and so popular?

I actually don't consider myself that yet, dude, to be honest.

What?

Yeah.

It's all just...

About stay humble.

Yeah, I don't know what it is.

I don't.

care about followers.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

That doesn't impress me.

It's more the story.

Like when I have on guests, it plays a role, like if they have followers, but it's not the main thing.

Right, right.

I care more about the story, the message, the value.

Okay.

You know what I mean?

So that's just how I frame it.

That's how you got everybody because you care.

I love it.

And I'm a master connector.

So after this, you'll see I'm going to add you to a WhatsApp chat.

It's every single previous podcast guest.

All we do is give value to each other.

There's 550 people in it.

I appreciate that.

I'm just saying I just, I'm impressed with you as a person.

And then I'm just like, I'm not on your level of brilliance.

And I know that.

But I mean, I can say a couple of jokes here and there.

it's a different type of smart man you're probably good at what you do i'm good at what i do but i think just having that ability to connect the dots has gotten me far yeah absolutely and then are you big gamer right here big yeah yeah what's your favorite basketball

but you play in a league right yeah are you dunking at 6'6 i'm dunking man yeah yeah were you dunking at 6'3 back in the day i was yeah but i was like the two like you know both uh both feet two hands slam i'm a two hand two junk two leg guy yeah yeah i wasn't like that win man nah i'm not mac mcclung no dude that impress

six feet man impressive right how the hell is he doing that dude who's he is he even played for anybody right now he's on the g league team for the suns i think or something which is a shame he's third in the g league in points per game wow and no one wants to sign him for some reason i think it's the height

blows my mind blows my mind only 10 of the league now is white too so i feel like they just favor the athletic more than the skill.

Oh, yeah.

I don't know about that.

I'm just saying, I saw him dunk two years in a row now.

I mean, he won it easily both years.

He's probably going to win it again if he plays.

Yeah.

Dude, it's not.

It's my friend Chase is his dunk coach.

He is it?

They have dunk coaches?

Yeah, so the guy that was holding the guy on

yeah, that was Chase.

He's one of those directing people, too, right?

Yeah, shout out to Chase.

He's been on the podcast.

That's awesome.

Yeah, man.

He trained me for a bit too.

Is that how you got?

I was windmilling when he was training me, but then he tore his ACL off the bone or something.

He was out for a year.

I got to get back in there.

That's you, man.

Yeah.

Geez.

So a big game tomorrow, night.

Now, how's the team looking?

Team's good, bro.

I'm averaging 15 a game.

I'm doing all right.

Yeah.

You got some good pieces.

Can't beat that.

Now, when it's not basketball season, I guess it's always basketball season, right?

Pretty much.

Yeah, they got Summer League.

I don't care about it.

You got a team?

No, I mean, I just.

You follow or you just like players?

Celtics, I guess.

Celtics.

You know, because we live in Maine, so New England.

They're always good, but they can never win it lately.

Yeah, I know.

I came to get rid of Smart, too.

I didn't realize.

I was about thing.

Did he go for the money or was he

shipped out?

I don't know.

He got traded for someone.

Oh, they did get Christopse.

Is that...

I don't know.

He played for Memphis?

Christops?

Yeah.

No, he was on the Knicks and then he got traded to the Mavericks.

He's been all over the place.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know.

Is that your favorite sport to watch?

No.

No.

I like college football as my favorite.

Wow.

I've never heard that before.

I'm telling you, it's, I don't know what it is.

Just college football is my favorite thing to watch.

Well,

I found it, if there's football, baseball, basketball, like hockey, golf, and UFC on, I'm always watching UFC.

Okay.

Yeah.

UFC is tough to beat, honestly.

Yeah.

Have you been in person?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's electric.

So I went with my wife.

She probably

back at Fort Bragg.

No.

It was a fight for the troops night.

Josh Koshnek.

Koshak was the main card.

Yeah.

And we got.

tickets and we went and hung out.

First fight, I think Bob Sanders was the guy's name.

Got a huge

uh hematomin on his head forehead.

Okay, they called the fight because it got so big, like huge.

And the next guy kicked, um, and kicked a guy in the leg.

The guy checked it with it, and it broke his shin, wrapped it around, and showed it in slow motion.

Yeah, I can see why she's trying.

She goes, Yeah, I'm out, we're done.

So I had to go home.

So I got home in time to watch like the main fights on my TV in my living room.

We got Anthony Pettis coming on after.

I heard, yeah, that's gonna be lit.

Who's your uh, who's your goat in the UFC?

Oh, geez.

You know, I was a big Matt Hughes guy.

Okay, that's old school.

Yeah, Matt Hughes for sure.

We used to get all of the

UFC, you know, 10

35.

No, my buddy bought him.

He'd get him from the bazaar.

Oh, yeah.

And we'd watch him like all the fights.

Damn.

And it's kind of, I know you're not supposed to like New York Yankees as well as the Boston Red Sox, but I like GSP too.

I know that they were back and forth with each other.

I couldn't believe Volkonovsky got beat.

He got wrecked.

Yeah.

I think his legacy is kind of taking a hit now after the last couple losses.

Yeah.

And then

Sean Strickland, I just feel like, is he really as crazy as he comes off?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've seen him live stream.

Yeah.

He's he just beat up this kid named Sneeko.

He's he's pretty wild, man.

I saw that.

He was walking him down.

Like, you're at this point realizing you can't hurt me.

I mean, he's got some deep traumas because I saw him on Theo Vaughn's podcast, and the dude was like about to ball out crying from some deep stuff that happened to him.

So, yeah, I think he's just pent up and letting it out.

Yeah, that's crazy.

And then

I guess Ortega.

I like Ortega.

I like John Jones, dude.

Is he are they are they gonna fight?

I think he's gonna do one more before he retires, yeah, but he's pretty much undefeated.

If it wasn't for that drug thing, he'd be the goat by far.

Oh, yeah, John, yeah, that held him back.

But he was gonna fight, he wanted to steep, didn't he?

But I don't think he wanted him, yeah.

But he'll probably be on UFC 300.

That's gonna be nuts.

Yeah, you're gonna have to come back out here for that.

Oh, that'd be a good time.

I haven't met Dana White.

I feel like he lives, he has a house up in Maine.

He's from Bangor, so I just haven't ran across him.

Really?

He's from there?

He's from up in Bangor area.

Wow.

I didn't know that.

He's got a house out here now.

I think he lives here.

Yeah, he's building one up in Maine as well.

Yeah.

I believe, right?

I heard that.

There he goes in the summer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So just up like an hour from me.

Yeah, shout out to him.

Damn, man.

But no, yeah,

I don't know.

I guess.

Who do you go to?

Who do you go with?

Besides, I gotta go John and

I like Sugar Sean right now, but he's still building his legacy.

So I wouldn't consider him like the goat.

Isn't he going for...

Is it him and Vera going to fight?

Yeah, I think they're fighting.

He's pretty much undefeated, too.

He has that one loss, but it was because he did.

Oh, his shin.

Yeah.

What about Patty Pimlett?

You like him?

No.

You don't like Patty the Batty?

No, you like him?

No.

No.

But you can't deny he wins.

He does win, man.

I don't know how.

He looks out of shape.

You know?

Yeah.

Everyone's got their own style, I guess.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I look out of shape, too, because I am.

But I'm working on it tomorrow.

What are you doing?

I don't know.

I just am on that mañana diet.

So that's what I tell everybody.

Mañana diet.

It's always tomorrow.

Yeah.

Fasting is what they call it, right?

Yeah.

Well, I do that all night when I sleep.

So I'm pretty good at it.

Yeah.

If you sleep 12 hours, it's a long time.

More like a six hour.

That's all you need?

Yeah.

Six hours.

I don't know why.

I think I just, I don't know.

It's a good thing.

I mean, I wish I could do that.

Really?

Sleep eight to nine.

Is it better to sleep less?

So I just had a doctor on before.

He said six and a half is actually the perfect range for most people.

Really?

Yeah.

So I'm oversleeping.

So

I got to chill chill out, I guess.

Yeah.

I just love sleep, dude.

Nothing wrong with that.

Not when I was grinding, though.

When I was grinding, I was sleeping four to five hours.

Yeah.

But I'm at a comfier place in life now.

Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah.

So.

So now, what's the next big thing on your horizon?

Just grow this thing to a monster, man.

Get to Joe Rogan.

Yeah, he is a monster.

Nah, dude.

I got high expectations.

It's decent right now.

The momentum's good.

I could feel good energy, but it's not where I want it to be.

Okay.

Okay.

How can I help you?

I got to get to Jocko level, man.

I got to get to Rogan level.

So just guess, and that's pretty much it.

All right.

Cool guests to have on.

Yeah, because I mean, I offer sometimes, I mean, I can send nudes if people want, but then my wife would be jealous.

So maybe I won't do that.

Yeah, no nudes.

I think they'll get banned.

They'll get my account shut down.

You know?

No, I'm just kidding.

Sorry.

You can edit that up.

I'm just going to make a joke, man.

You ever have any nudes get leaked?

No.

God, no.

I don't think I have.

I've only sent a couple in my life.

There you go.

After I was high school.

Yeah, no, I never.

Never with your face, though, right?

That was the thing with guys.

No, I just never did, but I get what you're saying.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, you never took them?

No.

No, really?

I don't get the hands for it.

No, like in high school, though, in college and stuff.

No, no, I don't think so.

Damn, I don't know.

Cell phones weren't really, selfies weren't a thing, you know?

Oh, yeah, back then, yeah.

Yeah, we had flip phones.

Okay, you probably couldn't take it.

Yeah, that's different.

Well, damn, we'll wrap it up there, man.

No, I appreciate you having me.

Thanks for your time.

Absolutely.

Where can people find you, too?

I tell you what, if everyone wants to check out TravisMills.org or TravisMillsFoundation.org, that's where I'm at.

My Instagram is like at SSG Travis Mills and Facebook as well.

And I do a lot of fun videos on there.

But again, I just appreciate you having me.

I mean,

I'm not here to, you know, do anything except for just be your friend.

I appreciate it.

That works.

Now, how would I catch one of your games?

You live stream those?

No, we'll have to get you back out here, man.

I'm not going to be able to see you windmill.

Not today.

You're getting back on the horse.

I'm excited.

I'll get a videographer next game for you.

All right.

We'll go.

See you next time, guys.

Thanks for coming on, brother.