MOBILE HOME PARK FOR SALE
In this episode of The MHP Broker’s Tips and Tricks podcast, Maxwell Baker, president of The Mobile Home Park Broker, chats with old friend and fellow former U.S. Marine Andrew Toothman about his Mental Grenade blog site and FOB Truth non-profit plans.
As with every Tips and Tricks podcast episode, this one is brought to you by The MHP Broker’s proprietary Community Price Maximizer. Use this four-step system to get the highest price possible for your mobile home park or RV community when you sell it through The MHP Broker. Guaranteed. Call Max for details.
Here Are the Show Highlights:
Power Quotes in This Episode:
(On leaving the military) “But then you get out and you’re suddenly saying, ‘Who am I outside of this uniform? And what am I supposed to do with my life? Because if my rank is no longer part of my name, and my job title doesn’t mean anything to anybody on the outside? What am I supposed to do,’ and you have these veterans who are left without structure.” (Drew, 5:42)
“It takes more avenues of approach than you think it does to find stability in your mental health if there’s been trauma and other things.” (Drew, 7-38)
“Humans are tribal, they’re meant to be in community. And when they’re not, and they’re in their own environment, and they can just order their groceries online and have them delivered to the dorm and they don’t really have to go anywhere…I mean, imagine that the American knowledge worker sits at a computer all day, gets paid by direct deposit, doesn’t have to go pick up a check. And they can order their groceries online, they don’t have to leave their house, all the services are networked to their one place, and they live in isolation. And it’s crushing their soul.” (Drew, 8:53)
“I realized, like, we’ve got to start pulling people out of isolation and getting them into community…there’s just a lot of spiritually unmoored people out there drifting.” (Drew, 8:53)
“I just started this group, and I started inviting people online, and it slowly formed and morphed a little bit. But ultimately, it became known as FOB truth. (Drew, 8:53)
“I was spiritually lost when I was out there in the thick of combat in Afghanistan.” (Drew, 15:07)
“God’s word can transcend culture and timeframe.” (Drew, 17:50)
(On going to church as a child) “I remember just getting up on Sunday and getting dressed, going through the motions, doing the whole hand gesture, get the wine, I’m like, you know, a 10, 12-year-old boy during a while feeling like I was, you know, I was on top of the world, and the communion as well, and go home, and then forgetting about it. And then as I’ve gotten older, you realize, like, it’s just not as powerful as the community aspect that you’re talking about. (Max, 21:56)
“That’s been one of the things that God blessed me with over the last decade, was to keep my mouth shut and listen to people.” (Drew, 28:13)
“I kind of view FOB Truth as a halfway house church.” (Drew, 35:33)
00:02
Hello and welcome to the mobile home park brokers tips and tricks. This is the podcast where we talk about mobile home park investing, because that’s what we’ve been involved in for the last decade. Let’s dive into today’s episode. Here’s your host, Maxwell Baker.
00:22 Maxwell Baker
Hey y’all welcome to another beautiful episode of the mobile home park brokers tips and tricks, podcast. As always, this episode is brought to you by the community price Maximizer. It is our proprietary system that will guarantee you a higher price when you exclusively list your mobile home park with us. Today, we’re taking a break a little bit from talking about mobile home parks. I would like for you all to meet somebody that I’ve known for a long time. We served in the Marine Corps together and in the band actually, he was my guide and boot camp, believe it or not. So, we saw the suck in Marine Corps boot camp together and then he was my roommate at the School of Music. I remember getting in there and actually have a photo drew of a; I’ll make the introduction in a second but here’s a photo of him using a razor blade to get the soap scum off of the tubs at the School of Music. So, we have been through a lot of suck together over the years. I since got out he went on to do I don’t know what the MLS NUMBER, numeric number is. We’ll get that in a second. Y’all welcome Drew Toothman, Andrew Toothmaaan! and a lot of; we had a lot of names and a lot of craziness happening. Dude, I’m so happy to have you here to talk about your nonprofit and what you are doing for Vets and yeah, maybe we can get some of those listeners out there to donate a little money to him and what he does, but first welcome to the show dude! wanted to give you a big introduction because you deserve one simplified (da tara da ta!) and you know all that good stuff. Meritorious marine here, Drew, welcome to the show.
02:06 Andrew Toothman
Oh dude, thank you, man. I’ve missed that Max flair. You know, just I often remember you jumping onto my rack at the School of Music and just going (awoo woooo) (laughs)I apologize when I woke up that morning, but I laugh about it now. Yeah, dude, it’s It’s crazy to think how long ago that was. But it doesn’t seem like it was that long at all.
02:36 Maxwell Baker
Yeah, I mean, it’s just going through bootcamp. And I remember just just so many things that happen that that just changed you as from a high school snot nosed kid to being a Marine, right? Yeah. So I remember that one guy, we won’t get into details. But he got I remember he got fired as a guide. And they were like three guy you were the very last guide. I remember there was a first guy that came in. I don’t remember his name, but I think he left he got out of the Marine Corps and then the second guy came in and I was really like sharing a mic because he he had some some demons. But then eventually he got fired and then tooth man got in there and he fucking killed it. You all like tooth man held just held the flag like no other person like talking about leadership man like and he just. And the thing about tooth Minh and I remember in boot camp, and I’m really touching you up right now, which is great, because you deserve that. Every time that tooth man got hammered by the drill instructors, no matter what you just always bounce back. Like it didn’t matter. Like some shit would hit the fan. He get quartered, act, do a bunch of stuff and then just like get back on his feet like nothing happens. So I commend you for I mean, that’s why you lasted as a guide for so long, like your mental strength there, dude. so props to you on that. But tell us about your story like what you’re doing today. And I’d love to hear kind of like really how you are today with the nonprofit man. I would love to love to just hear that story.
04:14 Andrew Toothman
Yeah. So, I’ll give you like 32nd backstory to get you to where I am now. So like Max and I went through boot camp together. And then we went to the school of music together and we were supposed to go to our first unit in San Diego together and I I just feel terrible but the monitor screwed up my orders and like we got separate. I went to Okinawa for a year. And then I flew back got married to my wife and we went out to Twentynine Palms like that’s a whole you could spend two hours talking about the special in the Mojave Desert, like if your parents can survive the Mojave Desert in the Marine Corps, like it’s probably locked locked on. So, while I was out there, like I just started, I really needed to change jobs. So, I went into explosive ordnance disposal and then we moved to Florida and I went through that school, then we went to Maryland had kids, then I moved to North Carolina, and deployed to Afghanistan, and deployed on ship for another year. And then after that, all my medical stuff caught up with me like just being exposed to, you know, like 1000s of blasts, small sub concussive hits, and then a few like serious concussions, my feet were trashed, I had to get them both surgically reconstructed, and all this stuff sort of added up to me getting medically retired from the Marine Corps after a little over 12 years.
05:42
So, at that point, like misty and I and the kids moved to Pennsylvania, where I am now, I got out went to auto diesel school. I really didn’t give myself any transition period. And that’s that’s where a lot of the guys coming out of the military truly struggle is, it’s it becomes an identity crisis, because the military tells you who you are and what you’re supposed to do almost all of the time. And when was your choice, again, when you’re no longer you get programmed in your formative years when your brain is still reaching maturity? And you don’t realize, like certain choices that you have. And some of them are not available to you while you’re serving. But then you get out and you’re suddenly saying, Who am I outside of this uniform? And what am I supposed to do with my life? Because if, if my rank is no longer part of my name, and my job title doesn’t mean anything to anybody on the outside? What am I supposed to do, and you have these veterans who are left without structure, and without the tight camaraderie of people that have had mutual suffering, like if you look around the world, like the tightest communities that are the ones that have suffered together, democracy doesn’t really bind people together, it makes people very successful. And it makes people quite wealthy. But like tight communities are built in communist and socialist countries, I got to observe that the year I was on ship, we made port in quite a few socialist countries. And the communities are just different because things are more oppressive. And so they have to work together and bind together. And the social fabric is a lot tighter, because, you know, they don’t have the freedom to just be an individual and do whatever they want. But that’s interesting.
07:31 Maxwell Baker
Go ahead, I’m interrupting you, I’m just commenting; That’s a good, that’s an interesting way to look at it. That’s amazing.
07:38 Andrew Toothman
So, many of these things were recorded, but weren’t processed until last year, I was out of the military, and God lined up a lot of time for me to have periods of intense personal reflection, and steal those words from some other smarter people than me that that I’ve had some long conversations with. But yeah, so I got out, I went to school, I started going to another college. And I was still dealing with a lot of PTSD, that like I had started to work on. But it’s a long process, like you can go through one type of therapy, and maybe it cuts down on things a little bit and starts to open you up. But usually, you need multiple disciplines to come in and help you resolve a problem. If you think there’s a one shot solution, you’re dead wrong. It takes longer than you think. And it takes more avenues of approach than you think it does to to find stability in your mental health if there’s been trauma and other things. So for me the last few years, like so I was in college, started making some college kids cry, I realized that
08:49 Maxwell Baker
I’ve been through that.
08:53 Andrew Toothman
I need to be and so I broke off. And at the time, like I had been invited in some spaces, and I started working with some civilians, on some nonprofits that work with veterans. And it was these older men that sort of called me out into service. And they’re like, Hey, I see you doing these things. Will you come and help me set this nonprofit up? So I spent a couple years helping these guys set up a nonprofit and then working for them. I reached a point where it was mutually beneficial for both of us if we parted ways, and that was the the end of 2019. And so at that point, I was trying to reach zero my life and say like, Okay, what do I need to be focusing on and the wife’s like, I think you should work on your writing a little bit. And so I started this veteran mental health oriented blog called mental grenade, and I started writing for that. But then COVID hit and that that changed life a little bit, but right before that happened, so while I was working with the nonprofits, I identified a need, right? There’s things that that are groups and organizations do quite well. And then there’s gaps. And I was like, these organizations, they have a one week window, and they give you this excellent, intense session. And you’re like, man, I’ve made some serious progress in my life. But a lot of times, what happens is, they open the book on something that you haven’t fully dealt with yet. And now you are left after this intense period, to deal with some of that stuff that you had kept compartmentalized for a decade or 30 years, depending on what war you fought in. And there’s no, there’s not a lot of follow up from a lot of these organizations. They know what they do, and they do it well. But they can’t overextend themselves into the other side, because you know, then your resources are being squandered because you’re trying to do the thing you do well, and then do something else after. And, you know, when you have a lot of people coming through your intense week long program, the costs grow exponentially. And there’s nobody there for a catch all. I remember, particularly one alumni of the nonprofit I was working for, at this one particular time, and I was the director of Veteran Services. So I was doing the interviewing and that relationship building prior to the week long event. And the guy calls me up afterward. And he’s like, Hey, man, like, that was great. But I truly feel spiritually unsupported. And that just stabbed me in the heart. Knowing that these guys are after the fact, they’re not getting the connection that they need, and like we’re trying to network them together and keep them in communication. But yeah, the mass of American landmass, and like, how easy it is to exist in our country in isolation. It leads people into this, this black hole. So when you have people in community, and they’re tight, and they’re there together for a week, and they’ve really invested technology, like, that’s when you see massive progress made, because humans are tribal, they’re meant to be in community. And when they’re not, and they’re in their own environment. And they can just order their groceries online and have them delivered to the door. And they don’t really have to go anywhere. I mean, imagine that the American knowledge worker sits at a computer all day, like gets paid by direct deposit doesn’t have to go pick up a check. And they can order their groceries online, they don’t have to leave their house, all the services are networked to their one place, and they live in isolation. And it’s crushing their soul. But they don’t realize it and they’re looking for that thing that’s going to make them feel alive. And the problem is, is that the very thing that’s sustaining them, is killing them. Okay. And so, for me, I realized, like, we’ve got to start pulling people out of isolation, and getting them into community. And there’s their steps to that. Right. So after I started the blog, mental grenade, then God finally started to put all the pieces together in my life, because he had shown me a lot of things. And I was like, alright, what am I supposed to do with this. And then he was like, You need to start like an online group, where people can join from the safety of their home where they’re already doing that in isolation anyway. And then you work together to get them out into the community. And so like, I just started this group, and I started inviting people online, and it slowly formed and, and morphed a little bit. But ultimately, it became known as FOB truth. Now the military of FOB is a forward operating base. And it’s a place where you, you gather together, you equip you train, and then from there, you go out into the outlying areas, and fight the battle. But in this case, FOB stands for fundamentals of biblical truth. So it’s FOB truth. So it’s, it’s the military orientation, and meaning with the actual thing that I have found, makes the most difference in personal recovery. Like, your spirit is the thing that governs the rest of your life. If your spirit is in a dark place, the rest of your life will follow. And so if you don’t have spiritual wellness, it doesn’t matter whether you have physical wellness, or whether you have like emotional wellness, like the regulation of the soul is the baseline of everything. And so there’s just a lot of spiritually unmoored people out there drifting and
14:26 Maxwell Baker
I think that applies to money as well. Yeah, you know, like if you’re, if you have money, wellness or wealth in general and your soul is not right to what you are talking about through like, I think I think it lines up to that, but I don’t want to interrupt you but I wanted to add that to their like, because I’ve there’s a lot of people, especially in our industry and mobile home parks, that listen to this as a as a sign to, to you guys to reach out to build your faith and to maybe even do some things about it. But go ahead. Go ahead. I just wanted to make that comment real quick to add a little color to what you were saying.
15:07 Andrew Toothman
Yeah, so spiritual health, it took me a long time to really get onto that train, like I was spiritually lost when I was in the thick of combat in Afghanistan. I had been raised in a in a church household. But I didn’t see the the love that that Jesus told the show, like, unless you see someone actually living it out. Everything rings false. And you don’t, you don’t believe it, because you don’t see it. Now, it’s true. A lot of humans will judge God by the actions of other humans. And I think that’s a massive logical fallacy. But when you’re looking to see the reality of God through people, and nobody’s living it out, then why would you believe God exists? Yeah. So you know, God took me on a very long journey. And he took me to some really dark places, so that I could empathize with other people. Like he allowed me to suffer in certain ways, so that I could go through things with other people and understand what they were going through. And, you know, when you’ve gone through this, this recovery journey, and you realize that your greatest strengths are the most difficult things that happen to you, like, you realize that, you know, people will misinterpret the worst things in their life as the anger of God and that there is no God. And that’s, it’s a confusion that I think the devil is excellent at bringing on people and they’re like, Oh, you believe in the devil. It’s like, trust me. I’ve looked into the face of evil. And I know that there is a God and there’s the devil and there every day is spiritual warfare. You think? You think the reason that you feel weird that one day and you’re just like depressed? Like you think that’s just you? Whether people are willing to admit it or not, like there’s there’s thoughts that are in your head that aren’t yours? You know, what, I think that crazy thing, but there are spiritual influences that are trying to get you one direction or the other and there’s a much deeper conversation to go into that but…
17:21 Maxwell Baker
No, I love it. Man. It’s; you make a valid point. Because it’s, you get these random thoughts in your head. I mean, I struggle with it. I’m like, I mentally think it’s funny have a grenade blowing that thought up. So, it doesn’t live there anymore. It’s funny that you have the blog called mental grenade, but and I’m visioning that thought blowing up because it’ll creep in and you’re just like, nope, nope. Just kind of blows up and you keep moving forward, right?
17:50 Andrew Toothman
Well, sometimes you end up dropping that grenade into people conversations as well, because they, they specifically want you to think a certain way. And all you need to do is ask one or two questions. And it makes them question everything you just like, blow the mind. It’s like is, is that really how it is? Is that what you want? And they’re like, I don’t know. Is that what I want? You know, and like it just it goes away, like the tiniest things you say, will make lifelong ripples in other people’s life. And I, I told my son this story the other day, like I was the duty and CEO and Twentynine Palms and this, this kid was on duty. And I was like, Hey, before you leave for the night, all the doors in the windows, and he’s like, Roger, that sergeant. And so I went, and I opened one window, and I left. And I came back the next day, I check the logbook, and I’m like, hey, you know, did you? Did you lock up? Did you check everything? And he’s like, yeah. And I went, and I checked the one window, and I just called them over. I’m like, check the window, man. And he’s like, Oh, I’m like, yeah. Now, I totally forgot that I did that and that it happened. But I was at somebody’s retirement like 15 years later. And this guy was a corporal in 2004 comes up to me as a gunny in like 2018 19. And he’s like, Dude, I never forgot that. And I’m like, I did. Little things that you say and you do impact people in in massive ways. They do. So now running farm truth and, and meeting with people every Thursday. So faab Truth, the basic outline is the first two hours, we’re meeting and we’re talking biblically. And the main premise of it is, what is the book say? Because we’ve all been in services, and we’ve talked to other people, and we hear what they say. But did you read it for yourself? Do you know what it actually says? Because that’s where the truth is, and man has misinterpreted it forever. But if you ask actually read it and you talk about it in community, you’ll find the truth and it’s there, and it changes your life. So like, every Thursday, I run an online zoom session. And people just log in, I hand out cards with a QR code. So people can just scan it with their phone and log straight in. And, you know, we get together, we read through some material, but it’s mostly focused on the scripture, and then we talk about it. Because I personally think that church is meant to be all community, like, it’s good, like the American church is a good organization. And it’s trying but I truly believe that the house church was how it was meant to be, you look in the New Testament, and that’s how it was run. Because we need to talk about these truths. I don’t need to go and sit through a 30 minute lecture and then sing for 20 minutes, and then walk away and think that I’m good for the week. I need somebody who’s going to challenge me, and we’re going to read this stuff and go, is that really what you think it says? Because I think it says this, And then the third person, think You’re both wrong, look at it this way. And then we bring in the context of what it meant, you know, at that time period, in that hemisphere, in that culture, well, I think we’re just truly handicapped as Westerners in certain ways. Now, God’s word can transcend culture, and timeframe. But like to understand truly what some of the things mean. Like, it’s, it’s exceptional to know the culture and the history and what was happening, because it brings a greater depth to it. People waste a lot of conspiracy theories and, and like researching that, but they’re quick to dismiss the Bible and be like, Oh, it’s filled with contradictions. And they don’t do any research. They just repeat what they heard and walk away.
21:42 Maxwell Baker
Yeah, cuz like, as growing up, I know, for me personally, growing up Roman Catholic, I think you were Catholic, too, right?
21:52 Andrew Toothman
I went to the EU once or twice, but I;
21:56 Maxwell Baker
Okay. And I remember, like, I remember just getting up on Sunday and getting dressed, going through the motions, doing the whole hand gesture, get the wine, I’m like, you know, a 1012 year old boy during a while feeling like I was, you know, I was on top of the world, and the communion as well, and go home, and then forgetting about it. And then as I’ve gotten older, you realize, like, it’s just not as powerful as the community aspect that you’re talking about. I’ve since started doing a Bible study with a couple of my business partners, and man out of the, you know, few months of doing it, like, I’ve gotten so much more out of just talking in depth as second mini community, but man, we crack open, I think we’re in Matthews, chapter eight, where we went over today. And I mean, man, you just get so much out of it, just talking and hearing all the different interpretations. And sometimes there’s a little bit of debate, which is okay, I think it’s healthy. Absolutely. But you’re absolutely right, do like, I really feel like the community aspect of, of having your personal relationship with God is, well, the community aspect as well as your personal relationship with God is, maybe it’s a rebirth, because I for some reason, I’m hearing more and more of it as I go through life of people doing this. So it’s pretty amazing to hear that you’re doing it as well. But go ahead and when I interrupt you, but I just wanted to add a little color to it just to say like, amen. Do like yeah, Elia.
23:37 Andrew Toothman
Well, to hop on to that, that point, like, we see things changing in this country, and I’m not trying to bring up the crazy rhetoric of old people. It’s not like it was, but things are shifting and restricting religiously, as far as freedom goes. And when you start to see that, that oppression, it’s what starts to build community. You know, it’s the same thing that I observed, politically in other countries. But when, when faith is persecuted, faith is strengthened. And, you know, it’s just incredible to see the way that that God can work but the western world is so it just lives in opulence, like, they don’t lose opulence to me. It’s, I’d love to read you the exact definition. But basically, it’s like, a lot of wealth, like things are just too good and too easy year. So, back when I was first restarting my spiritual journey, it’s like 2013, I had come back from being deployed on ship and I was getting surgeries done and my wife had, it’s going back to church while I was gone, and like I could, I could tell you another hour long story about this beginning but basically, there was an African pastor who was brought over to America And he was at our church and one of the deacons, he was living with one of the deacons at the time. And so the guy was running some errands, and he took him into Best Buy, and improve the guy’s mind, you know, he’s an Africa, they’ve got nothing. Not to say that all of Africa has nothing. But there are places in Africa that I’ve really have nothing. And so the guy walks in, and he literally says, Wow, if we had this in Africa, and we wouldn’t need God, either. You know, like, all it is, is just technology like that. We don’t have need for faith, because we have all these human based services, but people that are living by faith that are struggling for basic survival things, have deep faith. That’s why the Bible says, you know, the meek will inherit the earth, the poor will be the most wealthy and spirit, because they rely on God for even their basic necessities. It’s like, hey, look, I don’t know, if I’m gonna have my daily bread. You know, when they look at the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day, like, just today, like, can you help me get some food today? Like those people are the most spiritually rich, because they live with a dependence on God, and so their spirit is full. And so all of the other suffering that they they deal with, is rather inconsequential in comparison to the soul being right. The soul being filled, like;
26:24 Maxwell Baker
So question for you. Yeah. So, my wife is always coming at me. And maybe you’ve experienced this too. But she’s like, Max, why do you like, why do you lean into suffering so much? And like, just your comments I got, I mean, you go work out, and you’re like living in the suck. Or if you’re doing, you know, some stuff at work, and you’re just like, I hate doing this, but it’s like living in the suck. And by all means, I’m not trying to compare myself to the people that can’t put food on the table, because that’s a different kind of suck. But it’s suffrage the way to be closer to God. Is suffrage the way to, to move the needle forward? Like, that’s, that’s the question.
27:14 Andrew Toothman
The short answer to that is, is yes, because people don’t realize their need for God. Unless there is suffering, they’re suffering still, like if I have food on the table, and I can come home, and I can watch Netflix for 10 hours, and then go to sleep and get up and make a good paycheck and go out to eat like, yeah, all of my physical needs are taken care of, but I feel like there’s something missing, like my soul is unsettled. And that’s a worst feeling than being right with God and being hungry, like suffering is what brings you to the point that you analyze who you actually are and what you’re supposed to be doing with your life. But if you grow up, and everything’s given to you, then you really don’t have to think you just live in that Roman mob mentality of being entertained. And just shrug off the feeling. And just disconnect your soul.
28:09 Maxwell Baker
Wow, that’s powerful. That’s real powerful!
28:13 Andrew Toothman
I do spend a lot of time and a lot of places, thinking and listening to people. That’s, that’s been one of the things that God blessed me with over the last decade was to keep my mouth shut and listen to people. Even when you think nothing’s going to come from that conversation. Like, someone will teach you something. And, you know, I’ve had some conversations where you just want to smack the person and you’re like, Dude, what are you doing, but some of their actions and some of their speech patterns are based on trauma that they had in childhood that’s unresolved. And so the immaturity that they’re displaying is a reflection of the suffering they’re still going through, because they never did the work for the early trauma, and it’s just caused more trauma in their life now. Like, we’re all looking for resolution. But only so many people are working for it.
29:12 Maxwell Baker
Yeah, and I know a lot of people out there like, for I’m trying to see how I interpret this, you know, as becoming of who I am today, and going through wanting to be successful, in trying to fill the void of being worthy because of my own personal demons growing up, like, pushed me to want to be more and pushed me wanted to be as successful as Katherine and I are today. But when you get there and you don’t have faith or God in your life, it ends up being exactly what you were talking about earlier. It’s just empty. And it’s quite the realization when you stop aren’t seeing like when you’re empty inside, the devil comes in starts filling your cup with bullshit, let’s be real. And eventually you’re like that bullshit gets to, you know, you can have as much wisdom and all that jazz, like I was a big, I still am a big follower of stoicism. And it’s it’s all about wisdom, but there’s no faith in that and you can be wise but the devil is still gonna come in and put bullshit in your life because stoicism doesn’t really help defend against that. The demons that come, it just helps you become wise and how to be in the moment and whatnot. But having the relationship with God, I feel like is really, really defended me even more against the temptations that the devil comes at you. So what you’re saying, ring serves a lot of truth to like I Amen to that, dude.
31:02 Andrew Toothman
Yeah, I think we could sit here and talk about this for hours, I want to make sure that I give you a full picture of FOB true. So the first two hours there are biblical study. And then the second two hours, our support group, no, I’m not asking people to hang around for four hours, if you show up late. There, I’m just glad you’re there. If you want to take off, like at any point, awesome, dude, we’ve got lives to live. And as a rotational population, we’ve got people that are there for a year and punch out, we got people that show up twice and never come back. And then we’ve got people that have been there the entire time. You know, and the core people are always inviting new people in. And I try to make sure people know like, I’m not going to track you down and guilt you because you don’t show up. I’m just totally stoked that you’re there at that moment. And I hope you get something out of it. Because we’re all different places in life, and you need something for a season. And then you have to move on. Like maybe you have this lonely period, we’ve got some people that are separated from spouses or like already divorced, and they they find community there every Thursday night, like we were on 52 weeks a year. And like, yeah, it’s a light crowd on Thanksgiving. And I thank God, I tell people, like if you don’t need to be here, don’t be here, stay with your family. But, you know, I had a vet show up. He was the only person that showed up this Thanksgiving. And we talked until about one in the morning, because he needed to get some stuff on it off of his chest and talk about some things. And I learned some stuff. And he learned some stuff. And it was it was great. Yeah, that’s awesome.
32:31 Maxwell Baker
I mean, I commend you for doing that. Is there like a YouTube channel that you have or anything I don’t, I’m guessing you probably don’t record it because of privacy stuff. But I was gonna say if it was, it would be very powerful to hear all these stories, and
32:46 Andrew Toothman
I tried recording once or twice, but we we went through deep and you can’t publicize the things that that people are talking about. I mean, it runs the gamut.
32:59 Maxwell Baker
You know, but it does,man, it’s probably pretty powerful what you hear and sometimes scary, I can imagine!
33:05 Andrew Toothman
Well, cuz you have the; we have a few active duty people that are on. And few like people in other aspects of government. And, you know, we still heavily handle things with operational security. But there are conversations that aren’t necessarily fit for the open public. But then there’s also extremely deep and painful things that are spoken about that it would help people to hear about, but if they’re not there, and they don’t know that people, it doesn’t hit in the same way. And people are always using video clips and audio clips against people at this point. So to publish some of that stuff would be I think, a violation of trust for for the group. I think there’d be smaller groups of people that would want to publish conversations. And that would be worthwhile. But honestly, the place I am in my life right now, I don’t have time to do the editing and to do all
34:05 Maxwell Baker
The drama. So a lot of a lot of work a lot of drama. Maybe we can talk offline on some of that stuff. Maybe I can help you with a few editing and whatnot of my resources. Yeah. If you’re if you’re interested.
34:19 Andrew Toothman
Yeah, I mean, also living with a couple teenage boys and like we just moved our daughter out. She she went to college locally for the first semester. And then we took her down to Virginia for the rest of her college career. Having two teenage boys in the house, like, I know where my priority lies, and right now, like the main core of my effort is making sure that I pour into them so that they’re the most independent, God fearing, like, contributing members of society that they can be and that they’re able to think independently and be like a witness for God. But in the right, you know, you’re not you’re not going out and being like, Jesus just slapping people. It’s it’s about living your life. So people actually see Christ in the way that you live. Yeah.
35:08 Maxwell Baker
So, there was a couple of things you mentioned in the past when we talked just kind of casually that you do these zoom meetings, I guess, a resume or whatever, y’all use the software. And then you sometimes get together, right? And y’all do like talks in the in the wilderness? Can you show give us a little color on? What kind of events you guys put together? And I’m assuming it’s just a Zoom meeting, but it’s in real person.
35:33 Andrew Toothman
Yeah. So, case in point, I had two of the guys from the Zoom meeting, one from Kansas, and one from Indiana, they spent my house this this past week, actually, one of them just left, right before we got on here. And, you know, like, they were helping me with some stuff around the property, because I’m, I’m prepping my property, to do more of those in person events and build community here in the same way, I’m doing it online. And, you know, I need the help from these guys. But at the same time, we’re able to sit in person and eat together and have that, that community and those in depth discussions that sometimes are far more organic in person than online, like I don’t, I don’t want community to be online, I want it to be in person. But the first step out of isolation is usually community online. And then we build people to go and connect in their, their personal world. And, and do it. So I kind of view FOB truth as a halfway house church. Like we’re just trying to build you back up so that you’re, you’re immersed in the Word, and you’re confident in who you are in Christ. And then you go and you connect locally like guys that, that hated the church and didn’t want anything to do with it, are now connecting with men’s groups in the church, maybe they’re not attending on Sunday morning, but they’re getting more scripture or scriptural instruction and like, serious biblical instruction on Thursday night, and then they’re also going to like a men’s group on Tuesday morning or whatever, but they’re still connecting in their community, they’re still connecting with their people. And it’s, it’s all about that it’s all about building the community, because that’s where the difference is made. Christ met people one on one, and changed their life individually. He didn’t make a mega church. Occasionally, he spoke to a large group of people, but that was, that was abnormal, all the life changing, really happened with the one on one interactions. And that’s how you make a difference in somebody’s life. You don’t categorize them as liberal or conservative, leftist or alt right. It’s simply whose Max? You know, who is Drew, like, get to know that person, because we all have the same needs and, and wants. And, like, you just need to learn to love a person. And that can be really hard.
37:54 Maxwell Baker
Yeah. That’s, that’s pretty incredible, man. Yeah, I’m excited to see what to do with these meetings. I’d like to join them. I have to be quite frank with everybody. I have not joined one of these meetings. So first of me learning that you had a Thursday regular, is it every week on Thursday?
38:11 Andrew Toothman
Every week, same same bat time, same bat channel, so I’ll send you the info like you can link it to this or anything else. Everybody’s welcome. It’s it’s a very frank conversation. So like, if you’re, if you’re not willing to be honest with yourself, then you may be in for a shock. But you know, it’s more vet. And first responder oriented just because people have gone through the sock, and they’re willing to be very honest and raw about things. And that can be unsettling for some people. But like, we’re just straight to the core of the matter. But anybody’s welcome. Like we have some like minded civilians amongst us. We have like, law enforcement, EMTs nurses, we have a couple therapists that are in the group, a couple pastors that are in the group, like there’s a quite cool, right. So nice.
39:06 Maxwell Baker
That’s cool, man. So if they wanted to find you online, where do they go to find your blog? Where do they go to find the link to the meetup group? Like, can you give us some feedback or some? How do they get in touch with you?
39:24 Andrew Toothman
That’s the best way to say like, I’ll make sure that I get you all that information. You can post it in show notes or wherever you want. The first place you can find me is mental grenade.com. It’s just mental grenade.com. And I’ll try to put another link on there for FOB truth. Like I own the the URL for FOB truth, but I’ve never built a website because without the right purpose. I was going to just build a landing page and I’m more focused on the community aspect on Thursday nights. I am not a web designer, but I don’t have the money to pay a web designer either. So it’s just been sitting there.
40:01 Maxwell Baker
I’m gonna be able to help you with that might be able to help you with that.
40:05 Andrew Toothman
Yeah but like, I’ll put the information for FOB truth on a page on mental grenade and maybe I’ll work on the the landing page for FOB truth.org. But right now it’s just sitting on the Coming Soon page because there’s, there’s a lot of development like my, my wife is a full time lawyer and I’ve got teenagers in the house, I’m the stay at home parent. So like when people ask me what I do, I’m very confused about answering that question because it’s like, there’s a lot of things going on. But how do you explain it in 10 seconds or less? So, you know, sometimes it’s whatever the situation needs for me to make the impact in the person’s life that I’m talking about?
40:48 Maxwell Baker
Or talking to a loving man. And then if it ever want to, because I think what they said, Well, you told me before is you live off of donations to help the vets and the first responders get traveled to the venue that you’re at. And maybe it’s it’s your house. Maybe I’ll do fishing, or whatever it is. I think what I remember you telling me is y’all go sometimes do events together, and then sit around like, I’m correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sitting, I’m seeing y’all sitting around a campfire, and just talking deep shit. Like, that sounds like the most fun I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I love talking deep stuff. So is that kind of that kind of how you guys how you guys handle it?
41:28 Andrew Toothman
Yeah, like, I would always prefer a fire, like fire is elemental. It’s the beginning of community. Like when people have nothing, they gather around the fire, and they’ll cook what little they have together and share it. The pores of people are the richest and community and man, I could tell you quite a few stories. But yeah, you want to unlock people share a little food around a fire. And the conversation will be unlike any we’ve ever had. And I I’ve spent some time like finding locations for for us to group up. But I’ve also been working on making my property that place. I’ve got like eight acres here where I’m trying to build community not only for the people around me, but if people come in and they need a place to stay for a while. I’ve had multiple that’s live with me in the past. And it’s it’s always challenging, but it’s always good. But I have a fire ring that required a tractor to build like this is cool. It’s it’s a serious place to build a fire. So yeah, like we’re, I’m planning on building a a bike shop in my garage so I can bring in more people and bring more community to the area. It’s about making a place to gather. It’s not about making money. It’s not about like, the purpose is community. The purpose isn’t like just working on bikes or like it’s working with people. Because relationships are the only thing that you know.
42:57 Maxwell Baker
It’s interesting. There’s a guy that he does something similar to you. I don’t know if I ever mentioned it to you. His name is John. And he’s doing a gathering as well. But he his his specialty is farming. Here we go try and pull it here. It’s called comfort farms. Ever. I don’t know if I mentioned it to you. But it’s a veteran that has a farm. It’s a micro farm. And he’s created a system method and process to have PTSD vets come in live in a mobile home, work on the farm sweat, you know, they even have a ceremony where they slaughter the cows that they’re selling to the butcher shops here in Atlanta. And there is an old Indian Sweatbox that they’ll go slaughter the cow or the turkey or a pig as a group. And then afterwards, they go into The Sweatbox and just wash off the the death off of them. It’s a whole ritual how he does it. Pretty amazing. But it sounds very similar to what it is. So, like the community effect is very powerful. So, if you guys ever want to check out Drew’s information, I think drew Do you have a donation page or anything if anybody wants to donate to you?
44:19 Andrew Toothman
The short answer is yes. But I need to get it funneled to the right place like you can make donations to mental grenade right now and that that I will push over to fob truth I need to get the other stuff in line like I wish I had a more professional answer for you. Like I’ve got the bank account established for the nonprofit but I don’t have the storefront up you know I’ve been I’ve been personally financing this for a while now and it’s time to I guess go a little bit more public.
44:47 Maxwell Baker
That’s why we’re here man. I’m trying to try and get the word out to the to the Word of God that Amen. This is something that I think God is put in front of you to do for veterans. And if I can just, you know, they always say it to serve God as by serving each other. If I can serve you, and help you, you know, maybe just get a little fire under your ass, let’s be real. Whatever it takes to do it, man, that’s what it is. So y’all reach out to him mental, mental, mental grenade.com? And is there a phone number? Or can they just reach out to,
45:29 Andrew Toothman
You can call me directly, my number is (434) 473-8886 and that’s, yeah, that’s bold. That’s my personal number, bring it, let’s have a conversation. I’ll talk to you. And I’ll be real, I’ve got, I got nothing to hide. It’s been a painful life. But you work through that pain so that you can talk to other people about it. And they can work through theirs. I appreciate this max, I really do. Because a lot of people have been injured by the church and finances in the past. And like, I specifically don’t ask people for money, because like that brings up that injury. And until they’ve worked through those things, and they realize that you know, where you were, money is where your heart is, like, gotta get your heart right before you’re willing to put your your money towards God. And I’d rather be working towards getting people’s heart right than asking them for money to run this.
46:29 Maxwell Baker
So, well, there’s people out there that I mean, I’m talking about the park owners that know me that, you know, there’s guys that are listening to this have, you know, well over 100 communities, bringing in at least a million dollars a month. That’s the kind of money that is out there with mobile home parks. So, y’all if y’all are listening, here’s your chance. Here’s your chance to help. That’s here’s your chance to do some big things with the big things you’ve already done in your life. So again, reach out to middle grenade.com Oregon tooth, man, what’s our phone number again?
47:06 Andrew Toothman
It’s (434) 473-8886 and you can find both FOB truth and mental grenade on Facebook and Instagram. There is a like if you go to fob truth@gmail.com You can email me directly there about FOB truth. Yeah, I’m not a real web designer. But I’m scratching it together.
47:28 Maxwell Baker
Hey, man, that’s why we’re here. We’re gonna make it we’re gonna make it a reality. So appreciate your time, man. sfms M***** ***** and will always will always will always celebrate our, our relationship and I’m glad that I can be a part of your journey and you can be a part of mine, man. So thank you for your service. And, and Thanks for Thanks for just being a good dude for society.
47:52 Andrew Toothman
Thanks for your time, Max. Love you! Bye, y’all.
47:55 Maxwell Baker
Love you too, man! I love you! We’ll talk soon. Y’all feel free to reach out and, as always, let’s keep moving forward.
Andrew Toothman
Bio: Born in Lynchburg, VA, Drew joined the Marine Corps in 2001 after a year of college. Working as a musician and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, he served 12 years, 2 deployments (Afghanistan and aboard ship), and was medically retired in 2014. He moved to Pennsylvania with his wife of 20 years, Misty, and their three kids Karis, Canaan, and Carsen. After spending a few years volunteering with nonprofits, Drew refocused and started the veteran oriented blog, “Mental Grenade” in 2019. Desiring to combat the rising crisis of isolation, he then started Fundamentals Of Biblical Truth in Jan of 2020 and has consistently run the Christian oriented, online support group every Thursday since then. FOB Truth serves not only veterans but active duty military, law enforcement, first responders, and like minded civilians. He currently resides in Birdsboro, PA where he serves as a high school mountain bike coach, bike mechanic, and photographer.
Make Trailer Parks Great Again™