Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast, where we’re focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio.

And now let’s get on with the show. Hey everybody. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today my guest is Frank Larkin. Frank is the chair of Warrior Call, a grassroots campaign aimed at boosting connection among the military and veterans through increased peer to peer connection. Uh, he was also the 40th Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate and a Navy SEAL.

So with that, welcome to the show, Frank. I’m really glad to have you here.

Frank Larkin: Scott, uh, really appreciate the opportunity to be on with you and your listeners and, uh, certainly what Drive On is doing to, to pass out, you know, the message on, you know, to our veteran population, uh, and, and I’m [00:01:00] sure first responders are, are, you know, listen to this too, uh, to, uh, become better informed as to, you know, what we’re all dealing with and what we’re trying to, you know, solve.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And we’re really, uh, kind of a big family, the first responders, military veterans, like it’s a big. community of similarly minded people, people dealing with similar issues. Um, you know, whether it’s, uh, PTSD from a firefight in Fallujah, or it’s, you know, PTSD maybe from, uh, you know, a bad traffic accident and you’re a firefighter or EMT or something like that, that you’re, you’re dealing with, with those types of things.

It’s a lot of. Similar issues, different circumstances, obviously. But yeah, we, we all kind of deal with similar circumstances and, um, you know, so the, the types of work that your organization and a lot of other organizations do, there’s a lot of crossover there. And, um, uh, before we get into more about Warrior Call and, and its mission and everything that you guys do, um, For the listeners, I know I gave you a little bit, uh, the listeners, a little bit [00:02:00] of background on you, but can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and who you are and, uh, you know, how you got to what you’re doing now?

Frank Larkin: Sure, Scott. Uh, I was a veteran. I started out, uh, in the Navy as an enlisted man. Uh, eventually found myself, uh, in the SEAL teams, uh, after, you know, uh, quite a bit of intensive training. Uh, from there, I, I, I got out in the, uh, early, uh, early nineties. 80s, uh, where I got into law enforcement and I did everything from walk the beat to, uh, moved into homicide.

State Trooper, Flight Paramedic, and then eventually into the Secret Service for a 22 year career. Uh, with the Secret Service, uh, retiring out of that and, uh, found myself, uh, getting pulled into the Department of Defense to work the counter IED problem set. So I ran two organizations that were very focused on trying to [00:03:00] defeat the enemy’s ability to put IEDs on the battlefield.

My specialty was organized crime and going after enemy networks, and that’s where I played most of the time. Once I left DOD, I, uh, wound up answering my phone one day and not looking at, you know, who was calling and next thing you know, I’m up on Capitol Hill as the Senate Sergeant at Arms, uh, for about four years.

Uh, this is before January 6th. Uh, so, uh, and,...