Ask a police officer who they talk to after a bad call, and most of them will tell you nobody.

Tyler Van Handel is a police officer here in the Fox Valley. He sat down in the roasting room with Sam for an hour to talk about the things first responders carry home, and what it takes to build a life where you actually have somebody to call.

Sam and Tyler get into the idea of a fire team — in the military, the four guys you run every maneuver with. In the civilian world it's four or five people at different ages and different stages of life, the ones you call when the crisis comes. Because it is coming. Building one takes years, and most people don't start until they need it.

They also talk about mentoring, about being honest with yourself, and about how much of this work is just refusing to do it alone.

Tyler's Hold My Coffee moment goes back to his grandma and her instant coffee — the constant on good days, bad days, and everything in between. Now it's the first sip after a scene that left him frozen to the bone, and the cup he makes for his wife every morning before work.

Recorded in the roasting room at Operation Coffee in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

Coffee. Conversation. Connection.

David Tellefsen spent his career in the Marine Corps and retired as a First Sergeant. Now he's the Veteran Service Officer for Fond du Lac County and this conversation is about the road between those two things.

We talked about the part nobody warns you about: what happens when you take off the uniform. The struggle of transitioning out. Losing the mission, and finding a new one in helping other veterans.

We got honest about something a lot of us carry. In the Corps, you learn not to get too attached — because getting attached means getting hurt. So you leave, and you keep people at arm's length. David and I talked about how hard it is to let people back in, and why it matters that you do.

If you're a veteran: reach out to your County Veteran Service Officer. That's what they're there for. You don't have to figure this out alone. And it's OK to let people in.

Grab a cup and sit with us. — Sam

Operation Coffee: Coffee. Conversation. Connection.

Welcome to the Operation Coffee Podcast, Where every conversation starts with a cup of coffee. In this first episode, I share why I started this and what you can expect when you pull up a chair. Each episode, I sit down with someone and ask about their "Hold My Coffee" moment: the person, the event, or the turning point that shaped who they are. We also will sit down with veterans and non veterans alike to get different perspectives about different subject matters around the veteran community.

3 Most,

Sam