Words from the Wise Podcast

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He joined the Navy to stop sitting in classrooms, then the Navy sent him to years of school anyway and that’s where the real story starts.

I’m back with my shipmate and one of my favorite Chiefs, Nick Riggs, to walk through a full Navy career arc: high school uncertainty, choosing the service, surviving the training pipeline, and learning what “ready to roll” really means when you’re forward deployed. Nick breaks down what it’s like to come up as a Fire Controlman, how hands-on maintenance finally makes the textbooks click, and why Japan shapes sailors in a way stateside commands often don’t.

We also talk about September 11th from the perspective of a sailor stationed in Japan: the sudden phone calls, getting to base fast, force protection ramping up, and ships surging with no clear return date. From there, Nick shares the less-glamorous leadership moments that actually define careers: being out of rate on shore duty, culture shock on a stateside ship, and getting tapped to fix problems outside your comfort zone by simply being consistent and present.

Finally, we get real about military retirement and the transition to civilian life. Nick explains what he wishes he knew about VA disability claims, why using a service officer matters, how he used the GI Bill for a cybersecurity degree, and how he unexpectedly became an elementary computer science teacher so he could be present for his kids. If you care about Navy leadership, veteran transition, and building a second career with purpose, this conversation will hit home.

Subscribe to Words from the Wise, share this with a shipmate, and leave a review if it helps. What part of the transition do you wish someone had warned you about sooner?

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She shows up in Maryland at 21 with big dreams, a Tanzanian upbringing, and a problem a lot of immigrants recognize instantly: the U.S. system does not always “translate” your education the way you expect. Nelle Kigembe turns that moment of confusion into action, and within months she’s taking the ASVAB, shipping to Great Lakes, and learning English while learning Navy language. The result is a 22-year journey that ends with her retiring as a U.S. Navy Master Chief Petty Officer.

We trace the whole arc, from joining alongside her sister and pushing through boot camp challenges like the swim test, to ship life on USS Kearsarge, the post-9/11 operational shift, and how citizenship opened doors at exactly the right time. Nelle breaks down what leadership really looked like on a DDG when she had to learn the expectations beyond culinary specialist work, qualify, stand watches, and earn trust in a culture that sometimes “teaches” by pressure instead of explanations.

Then we get into the part every service member should hear: personal finance and retirement planning. Nelle shares how credit card mistakes and debt can quietly follow you, how consolidation and better habits gave her breathing room, and why she now focuses on financial literacy for active duty, veterans, and military families. Her favorite lane is protection: protecting income, protecting a family’s legacy, and understanding the difference between a will and a living trust so your plan actually works when it matters.

If you got value from this conversation, subscribe, share it with a shipmate, and leave a review so more military and veteran listeners can find it.

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A three by five card was all my parents got when they adopted me: teenage mother, premature baby, three and a half pounds, and almost nothing else. I grew up loved, but I also grew up with a quiet, constant message ringing in my head: you’re different. That one word can shape how you attach to people, how you handle conflict, and how hard you chase belonging, even when you can’t explain why.

I walk you through my adoption story from Utah, including the LDS faith lens my family used to frame my place in the world. I share what it was like to have my origin story retold at family events, how frequent moves and early trauma affected my choices, and why my teen years spun into trouble, school changes, and searching for acceptance in all the wrong places. Then I talk about the shift that came with the U.S. Navy: structure, standards, and a sense of being chosen for something bigger, plus the life-changing stability of meeting my wife and becoming a dad.

The turning point lands in June 2014. I’m in Virginia, I’m up late, and I run a search I’ve run countless times before, except this time it works. I find a post on an adoption reunion board written by my biological mother on my 18th birthday, and she’s been looking for me for years. One email leads to a call, the timing collides with the birth of my second son, and a DNA test result hits my inbox like final confirmation. We talk nature vs nurture, identity, genealogy, adoption reunification, and what it takes to reconnect without blowing up the life you’ve built.

If you’ve ever wondered where you came from, or what belonging really means, hit play. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Your body can be exhausted while your mind keeps sprinting. That gap is where stress turns into insomnia, jaw clenching, doom thinking, and feeling disconnected from the people right in front of you. I’m Gary Wise, and I sit down with Tim Thomas, a veteran of the Australian Armed Forces who worked alongside special forces teams and spent time in the early underground era of mixed martial arts before stepping into a high tempo military career.

Tim shares what selection, deployment cycles, and military culture taught him about identity, belonging, and nervous system load, including the hidden cost of “speaking your truth” when a group rewards conformity. We talk candidly about how pain often morphs into loneliness before it becomes dangerous, and why that isolation flips on fight or flight, hijacks sleep, and drives people toward short term fixes like alcohol, pills, or checking out.

Then we get intensely practical. Tim walks me through simple breathwork techniques you can do in bed to downshift fast, including nasal breathing for nitric oxide, jaw and vagus nerve release, humming for vibration, and a quick “three breath” reset that changes your state in minutes. We also dig into his Breath Working Bed app and the idea of winning the five minutes before sleep and the five minutes after waking so better sleep becomes the foundation for better mood, recovery, focus, and resilience.

If you want calmer nights, steadier mornings, and tools you can use anywhere, hit play. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs better sleep, and leave a review with the one breathwork step you’re trying tonight.

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A single phone call can reroute your entire life, especially in the Navy. We share the true story behind how I got handpicked orders to the USS George Washington, the forward-deployed nuclear aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan, and why the road there started with a major shipboard fire and a deep-dive investigation. From my years at Afloat Training Group San Diego, I learned how carrier readiness really gets built: damage control training, firefighting standards, drill packages that actually work, and the uncomfortable truth that complacency can hide inside “normal” until it doesn’t. 

The investigation introduced me to Master Chief Damage Controlman Mark Weathers, a mentor who shaped how I think about accountability. Instead of chasing pure punishment after a casualty, he pushed for learning the full chain of causes and fixing culture, training, and leadership expectations. That perspective matters later, when I’m asked to bring a training framework to Guam and help align how a forward-deployed team supports a carrier. 

Then the career opportunity collides with family reality. My wife Erica is dealing with the strain of a newborn, sickness, and sudden trips, and I’m weighing an overseas move we didn’t plan for. When the detailer calls early and the George Washington wants me as their next Damage Control Chief, we have to decide fast. What I walked into onboard was even wilder: leaders rotating out, a thin bench, and a training program that needed a reset right now. We talk through taking ownership, fixing admin before ATG arrives, pushing back professionally when standards drift, and rebuilding manning by growing our own junior sailors. 

If you’re into military leadership, Navy Chief Petty Officer stories, damage control culture, and what it really takes to lead on an aircraft carrier, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share it with a shipmate, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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55% of adults are struggling and not receiving treatment, and the scariest part is how easy it is to miss the moment when someone needed us to lean in. I’m joined by Justin Goodman, an insurance industry leader and mental health advocate, for a grounded conversation about what it really takes to support people without pretending we’re clinicians or having the perfect words ready. He shares the personal turning point that pushed him into this work, including chronic pain, addiction risk, and the intervention that changed his life. 

We also get surprisingly tactical about learning and performance. We talk the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, why most training fails without spaced repetition, and how AI tools can weaken memory, focus, and executive function when we use them as a shortcut instead of a tool. If you’re a parent, teacher, coach, or leader, the ideas here translate directly into better study habits, stronger onboarding, and clearer communication under stress. 

Then we break down Project 55, Justin’s free online mental health first responder training built to remove the excuses that keep people silent. We cover stigma at work, fear of being labeled a liability, why “help” might be the bravest four-letter word, and how saying no can pull you out of the red zone. If you want practical mental health resources, leadership lessons, and a way to show up for the people you care about, this is for you. Subscribe, share this with one person who needs it, and leave a review, then check out the free training at Project55.org.

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Judas is one of the most recognized names in history, yet most of us never stop to ask a simple question: if the crucifixion is essential to Christianity, was Judas Iscariot destined to betray Jesus, and if so, what does that mean for free will, guilt, and redemption? We wrestle with that tension alongside Ocala author Steve Marks, whose faith-based fiction novel Judas Otherwise reimagines Judas with a backstory, real motives, and a human struggle rather than a cardboard villain. 

We also talk about the courage it takes to stop hiding creative work, especially after years of doubting yourself. Steve shares how he chased different careers, learned what didn’t fit, and kept coming back to storytelling. Along the way we get into education and work ethic, why “learning how to learn” matters more than the title on your diploma, and how on-the-job reality can challenge your values fast. 

Steve’s entrepreneurial streak shows up too, from QR-code business ideas shaped by pandemic-era change to a QR medical alert band built to help first responders access critical info in seconds. That leads into a practical discussion on execution, networking, and building partnerships with people whose skills complement yours. 

If you like Christian fiction, biblical retellings, theology-adjacent “what if” questions, and honest conversations about faith journeys, this one will give you a lot to think about. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big questions, and leave us a review. After you listen, do you think Judas had a choice?

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Ocala is growing fast, and the veteran community is changing with it. That sounds like opportunity, until you realize how many veterans still fall through the cracks between “here’s a number to call” and actual help that shows up. We sit down with Navy veteran, father, nonprofit builder, and serial entrepreneur Chad Walker to talk about what happens after the uniform comes off and why follow-through matters more than good intentions.

Chad walks us through his path from a rough high school track to walking into a Navy recruiter’s office, choosing the AECF pipeline, and becoming a Fire Controlman working systems like CIWS. We get into the reality of fleet life after 9/11, deployments that include Unitas and counterdrug ops, and why force protection and VBSS changed the day-to-day for sailors. Then the story turns hard and honest: divorce during a rapid turnaround window, full custody of three kids, and the moment the Navy couldn’t offer the shore duty option he needed. He chooses his children and separates, then rebuilds in Florida.

From working technical roles at Disney to navigating TBI, seizures, and VA disability, Chad explains how he finds purpose again through volunteering at Vets Helping Vets and eventually stepping into operations leadership. He also breaks down veteran entrepreneurship as structured problem solving, the creation of VetNet to connect veteran-owned businesses, and the launch of Cadre, a coalition built to close the gaps where veterans get lost. We dig into his “Battle Buddies” concept for trauma-informed crisis response and de-escalation, plus what a changing Ocala housing market and shifting veteran demographics mean for the next generation.

If this conversation helps you think differently about veteran resources, PTSD support, VA benefits, veteran-owned businesses, or building a stronger local network in Ocala, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s the biggest gap you’ve seen in veteran support where you live?

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Trust is getting harder to hold onto, and it’s not just because people disagree. In 2026, AI-generated content, deepfakes, and polished “thought leadership” have made a lot of listeners wonder: is any of this real, and who is actually behind the message? I sit down with Gabrielle Dolan, a global authority on authentic storytelling and the author of Story Intelligence: The Craft of Authentic Storytelling Made Smarter With AI, to unpack what leaders can do when credibility feels fragile.

We dig into why storytelling is not a soft skill or a performance trick, but a leadership communication tool that helps people understand the message, remember it after the meeting, and retell it without losing the meaning. Gabrielle breaks storytelling into four practical types you can choose from on purpose: personal stories, professional stories, public stories, and parables. You’ll also hear a powerful example from a risk leader who finally got her message across by using a simple childhood story as a metaphor for risk management.

Then we go straight at the AI question. Gabrielle shares how to use AI to brainstorm, refine, and speed up your work without losing your voice or outsourcing your judgment. Her “letter to AI” is a clean framework for accountability: AI can support, but it cannot drive. If you lead teams, teach, sell, present, or write online, this conversation will sharpen your authentic storytelling, workplace communication, and trust-building skills.

Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a leader who cares about credibility, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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A Hollywood career can look like the dream while quietly draining the life out of you. We sit down with Preston Zeller, an award-winning filmmaker and growth leader, to talk about the moment he realized the “successful” path wasn’t making him whole and what it took to rebuild his faith, his work, and his sense of purpose.

Preston walks us through growing up with music and storytelling, getting indoctrinated into film culture, and then colliding with the realities of the entertainment industry: politics, image, and the pressure to chase power instead of peace. From there, we get into the leadership side, including how he learned marketing technology by testing ideas in the real world, how reputation creates unexpected opportunities, and why communication is the skill that keeps teams healthy when the stakes are high.

The heart of the conversation is grief. After losing his brother to a sudden drug overdose, Preston commits to painting every day for a year and eventually turns that process into his feature-length documentary, The Art Of Grieving. We talk about art as a practical way to process emotion, the cost of unresolved grief, and what it looks like to grow through loss instead of getting stuck.

We also explore Psalm Log, Preston’s AI-powered Bible app built for Christian journaling and reflection. He explains why most prayer journals get abandoned, how AI can surface patterns and scriptural guidance responsibly, and what it takes to design with empathy and safety around sensitive topics. If you care about faith-based leadership, mental health, grief support, and responsible AI, this one goes deep. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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