Set the Charge, Aim High: Mortar on Brotherhood and Leadership

📌 EPISODE SUMMARY On Episode 264 of the Glue-OOM, The Plague sits down in the Nomad with Mortar — Council Bluffs kid, former Army National Guard mortarman, high school wrestling coach, and past Site Q at Bockscar — with his phone face-up on the table because his M is two weeks into contractions with twin girls. Mortar walks through the training-ground TBI that ended his military career weeks before a deployment, the torn meniscus that ended his running right after he'd finally become a runner, and the two men — Fun Dip and Chernobyl — who keep setting a bar he is still chasing. What comes out of it is not a highlight reel. It's a man who has had two things he loved taken away by his own body and refused, both times, to make that the end of the story. Aim adjusted. Charge reset. Next target.

✅ EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS ✅ The guilt-trip EH — Fun Dip works on him all wrestling season, and his M says she'll believe it when she sees it 3:50 ✅ Three coats too many at his first post at the DZ, and getting humbled anyway 4:40 ✅ The Namorama: a 22-year-old with nothing to give the circle gets named for the tube he fired 6:15 ✅ The TBI — a fluke in training, a neurologist who wouldn't release him, and a deployment he never made 7:20 ✅ Council Bluffs roots, Thomas Jefferson High, and real talk about planting F3 flags over the river 9:45 ✅ He heard "come to The Pit" and pictured barbed wire and a burn barrel. It's Halleck Park 12:45 ✅ From "a mile and I'd be dead" to a half marathon with Fun Dip and the 1776 13:20 ✅ The knee locks at 45 degrees — and the sentence that changes everything 15:50 ✅ Chasing Fun Dip and Chernobyl on the IPC board, and why that's a gift 18:20

💥 POWER QUOTES "I told my wife, and she was just like — okay, I'll believe it when you actually get up and do that." "I couldn't believe how out of shape I was, even though I was still lifting." "My neurologist wouldn't release me. And we were right getting ready to deploy." "I envisioned some fenced-off barbed wire location with a barrel of fire. And then I show up and it's just Halleck Park." "Coming from running a mile and I'd be dead, to doing that — that was awesome." "I've never been able to really run again. So trying to find new challenges is the new thing." "Trying to find new unique ways to challenge myself within my boundaries of what I can do." "They kind of raise the bar for me, and then I'm over here just chasing it." "I'd rather run with my kids and be an active father than go run a 5K for no reason at 4:45." "Hearing other people's prayers gives you a purpose as well." "Put your stamp on it. We've all been to the same site so many times — somehow put your stamp on it." "Find a way to leave your mark. And always try to leave it better than when you found it."

⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Kotters at the Nomad: Meet Mortar 3:43 The Guilt Trip EH: Fun Dip, Wrestling Season & 5:15 A.M. 4:40 Three Coats Too Many: First Post at the DZ 6:15 The Namorama: A Mortarman Gets His Name 7:20 The TBI: A Fluke, a Neurologist & a Deployment He Never Made 9:45 Council Bluffs Roots: Thomas Jefferson, Midland & Flags Over the River 12:45 The Barbed-Wire Pit & Becoming a Runner 14:45 The Knee: Locked at 45 Degrees and Never Running Again 17:44 Chasing Fun Dip & Chernobyl: The IPC and the Bar They Set 20:00 Eleven Lawns, Two Jars of Peanut Butter & Wrestler Math 24:23 Shield Lock in Sarpy: Small Check-Ins and Picking Up Where You Left Off 28:15 Twins Any Minute: Alarms, the Delivery Room Race & Going One to Three 33:30 Cadence, Q School & the Fellowship Rhythm 36:20 The Root Beer, the TBI & Faith From Catechism to The Chosen 43:30 Serving: The Bleed Board, Drives & Showing Up 45:20 The VQ, Bockscar & Handing the Flag to Otis 51:30 Leadership Without Rank: The Cheat Sheet & Coaching Young Men 56:15 The Ask, the Namorama & "Thoon"