Last week, the fog felt nameless. This week, it has a face and a playbook.

In Episode 2 of “What The Truck?”, we sit down with operators, founders, and veterans who got tired of waiting for a plan and became the plan themselves

We cover...

- The Debrief: Last week’s fog, this week’s mission

- The Signal: Ibogaine and the treatment nobody could talk about

– The Mission: Bob Parsons, Wes Moore, and the “too late” lie

– The Foxhole: 40,000 veteran nonprofits and the support industrial complex

– The Playbook: Build your own table (step‑by‑step)

– The Rally Point: “Permission granted”

Subscribe to @WhatTheTruckTV on YouTube to watch the full show and shorts

This show is not about sympathy. It is about performance, reinvention, and building the next mission.

A New Kind of Mission

If this message landed in your inbox, it’s because at some point (maybe months ago) you crossed paths with Adam House, Josh Kent, or myself.

You might’ve seen the What the Truck? Raptor, heard about the House of Bricks Veterans initiative, or just told one of us, “I’d like to support something like that.”

This is that something.

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It’s been a minute since those first conversations. Life, work, and resistance have a way of pulling focus, but we haven’t stopped. We’ve been laying bricks behind the scenes, building what you saw a glimpse of into something real.

What you’re reading now is the beginning of that next phase, a movement we call What the Truck?

It’s a platform that rolls straight into veteran communities, on a Black Ops Ford Raptor to listen, connect, and help veterans who might be out of the military, but not all the way home yet.

We’re doing this because we’ve lived it. We know what it feels like to fight invisible battles long after the uniform comes off. We’ve seen how isolation can creep in and how hard it can be to find purpose again.

And we also know what happens when people decide to show up for each other anyway.

That’s what this is about, not perfect plans, not polished messaging, but real people stepping up together to do something that matters.

From Alabama to Georgia: Our First Ride

Tomorrow, I’m flying down to Alabama to meet up with SFC Josh Kent, our first What the Truck? ambassador and the founder of Joker Tactics LLC.

He’s competing at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park, surrounded by other service members seeking mastery in the arena where discipline and purpose meet.

After that, Josh and I will load up the Raptor and head east to Georgia, connecting with regional VFW leadership and joining the Veterans Day celebration at VFW Post 658 in Macon, GA.

We’ll be there listening, learning, and collecting stories, the kind that don’t make the news but tell the truth about what it means to serve, to transition, to lead a family, to believe again.

This drive marks the maiden voyage of the first deployed Raptor and you’ll be able to follow that journey right here on Substack as we post photos, interviews, and stories from the road.

Who is Josh Kent?

SFC Joshua Kent has spent more than two decades serving his country and community across U.S. Army Special Operations, law enforcement, and now the U.S. Army Reserves, where he is currently competing for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Team based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.

A Special Forces Weapons Sergeant (18B) with over 72 months deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, Josh has led and trained elite teams in sniper instruction, advanced marksmanship, and direct action missions. He’s served as a lead sniper instructor, Special Operations Target Interdiction Course (SOTIC) NCOIC, and advisor to Iraqi Special Operations Forces during multiple combat rotations.

In civilian life, Josh has built an equally distinguished career in law enforcement, serving on SWAT teams, narcotics units, and protective details for city and state dignitaries. Today, he continues that work as a law enforcement officer and founder of Joker Tactics LLC, where he trains civilians and veterans in tactical readiness, firearms safety, and mindset development. He also instructs with the Warrior Poet Society, helping everyday Americans become more capable protectors of their homes and communities.

Josh is a husband, a father, and a man of faith. He’s the kind of leader who doesn’t talk about service in the past tense, he lives it every day.

When House of Bricks handed him the keys to the first Black Ops Ford Raptor, it wasn’t about recognition, it was about entrusting the What the Truck? mission to a man whose life embodies what it means to serve long after the uniform comes off.

The Bigger Picture

What the Truck exists to reconnect veterans with the right kind of help, the kind that comes from people who understand and have earned trust.

We’re partnering with regional and national organizations that deliver real impact in:

• PTSD and TBI recovery

• Faith-based and spiritual support

• Financial readiness and credit repair

• Career development and veteran hiring

• VA home loans and lines of credit

• Entrepreneurship and mentorship

We’re also opening doors for veterans ready to start or grow businesses through StartupX, our online accelerator available right here on Substack.

Who Is Paul Riedner and the 100-Year Ripple?

I’m Paul Riedner, a former U.S. Army Deep Sea Diver turned entrepreneur and storyteller, committed to helping veterans come fully home through connection, purpose, and community.

Adam House often says the hand of God reveals itself through the people placed in our path at just the right time. I believe that, because I’ve lived it.

During my time in uniform, I deployed with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) to locate and recover the remains of a B-17 bomber crewman, a rear gunner whose aircraft went down off the coast of Corsica, France during World War II. Seeing that wreckage resting on the seabed was humbling. It was a reminder that our nation’s promise to bring every service member home is still unfinished. There are over 83,000 Americans still missing around the world, and in a way, some of our living veterans are still out there too, unreturned from the battles they’ve fought within.

Years later, I met Adam House Sr., who shared that his grandfather, George Hulst Jr., had flown 50 missions on a bomber and was the original inspiration behind What the Truck? That connection stopped me in my tracks. Two generations later, I’d unknowingly been diving on the same type of aircraft that carried the man whose legacy would bring Adam and me together. That’s what Adam means when he talks about the hand of God.

Since leaving the military, I’ve interviewed more than 100 veterans for projects, community initiatives, and research, conversations that shaped the foundation for a program I created called Veteran Cultural Competence. Through Shadow Culture, we use these stories and roundtables to help organizations and communities understand the warrior experience and to unlock the same courage, discipline, and moral clarity that veterans once brought to the battlefield.

For me, What the Truck? is an extension of that calling: finding those who are still out there, listening deeply, and bringing them home: body, mind, and spirit.

Josh Kent and I are leading this next phase of What the Truck (WTT) under the mentorship of Adam House Sr., a serial entrepreneur and grandson of WWII veteran George Hulst Jr.

When Adam handed Josh the keys to the first Raptor, it was the continuation of a 100-year ripple of service that began when his grandfather came home from war and built a life of faith, family, and service.

Now, we’re carrying that same spirit forward from the Greatest Generation to the Global War on Terror, rebuilding bonds, Brick by Brick.

How You Can Join the Movement

This isn’t polished. It’s not corporate. It’s alive.

We’re building this in real time, testing ideas in the field, failing forward, learning fast, and growing stronger with every iteration. That’s the House of Bricks way, Test. Fail. Learn. Grow.

We’re not afraid to get it wrong, because that’s how you get it right. Every post, every trip, every conversation is part of that cycle, proving that progress beats perfection every time.

Here’s how you can build with us:

• Share your story. Record or write something honest. It doesn’t need polish just truth.

• Send feedback. Tell us what works, what doesn’t, and where you see opportunity.

• Connect us. Link us to veteran-friendly employers, service orgs, or community partners.

• Engage. Comment, like, and share so other veterans know they’re not alone.

• Support. If you’re a civilian ally, walk with us, this mission needs all of us.

• Email veterans@houseofbricks.io with your thoughts, stories, & feedback

We’ve already trained and deployed millions for combat. Now we’re redeploying that same drive, grit, and adaptability for rebuilding our communities, our families, and each other.

Failure isn’t what we fear, indifference is.
So we move forward, one test, one failure, one lesson, one brick at a time.

Closing Thoughts

This Veterans Day, we remember those we’ve lost, honor those still fighting, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those trying to find their way home.

We don’t have all the answers. But we’re not waiting for perfect conditions to start.
We have the will, the people, and the drive.

Like the truck we ride in, this mission is built for the long haul.

Stay in the Fight,

Paul Riedner
What the Truck

ps. email us privately at veterans@houseofbricks.io or leave a public comment of support below

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