Don’t Tough It Out: A Marine's VA & Vitamin M Warning

Join Kathleen Smith and Rachel Bozeman as they welcome Rob Fuller, a U.S. Marine veteran, cybersecurity leader, and community founder, for a raw look at his journey. From blowing up 300 pounds of C4 as a combat engineer to thriving in cybersecurity, Rob’s story takes a sobering turn with his struggle for VA benefits. Impacted by a culture of "toughing it out" and relying on "Vitamin M" (Motrin) instead of documenting injuries, he shares his battle with ongoing denied claims for nerve damage. Along the way, he discusses leadership rediscovery, building the Nova Hackers community, and even his role as a technical advisor for HBO’s Silicon Valley.

Chapters

• 01:59 - Rob’s Marine Corps Highlights
• 04:11 - Transition Shocks and Low Expectations
• 06:58 - Rediscovering Leadership Skills
• 10:19 - Pivoting from Government to Commercial Sector
• 13:43 - Prioritizing Family Over Work
• 17:19 - Embracing the Power of Being Wrong
• 20:00 - Building the Nova Hackers Community
• 25:01 - VA Benefits Warning: The Cost of Toughing It Out
• 29:32 - Technical Advisor Role on Silicon Valley
• 32:48 - Closing Thoughts and Marine Shoutout

Key Takeaways

• Document Everything: Don’t simply “tough it out”—get seen for everything. An injury may not bother you much now, but it could affect you down the road. Document now so there is a paper trail to refer back to in the future.
• Embrace Being Wrong: Rob has a superpower worth adopting—he doesn’t just mind being wrong, he loves it. When you’re wrong, you’re learning, so don’t be afraid to be wrong so that you can continue to progress and better yourself. 
• Prioritize What Matters Most to You: Rob’s decision not to miss his son’s first day of kindergarten reminds us that jobs are replaceable, family milestones aren’t.
• Build Your Tribe: Rob took action when a poorly organized meetup left him wanting more. Despite early setbacks, he persisted, eventually co-founding Nova Hackers, which now has over 900 members.

Follow us for more veteran stories to guide your transition journey, and text this episode to a fellow service member who’s navigating their exit. Catch you next time!

Visit us at https://exitbuddy.buzzsprout.com to learn more about the show.

Have feedback or questions for us? Email us at ashleyjones.creative@gmail.com.

Transcript

Kathleen Smith 00:40 Hello podcast world, and welcome to another episode of Exit Buddy: Veteran Stories to Guide You. I'm Kathleen, and I'm happy to join my podcast co-host who always has something sparkly to share with our audience. So welcome to the studio, Rachel.

Rachel Bozeman 01:00 Well, thank you, Kathleen. And yes, I promise
to bring the sparkle, the noise, and a little bit of fun. But I think we have a
friend here to bring a great story. So do not make our guest wait any longer.
Let's introduce our friend. Let the audience hear who it is. Kathleen, make it
happen.

Kathleen Smith 01:19 So I'm thrilled to welcome Rob Fuller to the
studio with us today. He's a community founder, in addition to being a
cybersecurity leader. And as he said before, he has a number of certifications.
The best title he holds is father, husband, and a U.S. Marine. Thank you for
coming to the show, Devil Dog.

Rob Fuller 01:43 I appreciate you having me. It's an amazing
chance to give back to people who are exiting. I wish I had something like this
when I was getting out, so I look forward to having the chance to provide that
during the show.

Kathleen Smith 01:56 Thanks so much, Rob.

Rachel Bozeman 01:59 Well, Rob, after an introduction like that, I
think we just have to jump right in. And I think a great place to start is
maybe taking us back a little bit to your military days. So tell us a little
bit about your time in the Marine Corps as a combat engineer and enterprise
security engineer. Anything that stands out, particularly that you would like
to highlight?

Rob Fuller 02:20 I mean, one of the most amazing experiences I had
in my life while I was a combat engineer was we were deployed out to Camp Fuji
in the Marine Corps. And they have the biggest demo range in the world, at
least that I know of, which means that you can use a very high amount of C4 or
pounds of C4, and the largest amount that you can do there is 300 pounds. So we
blew up 300 pounds of C4, and it was pretty awesome. So story-wise, going back
through the Marine Corps, it was quite the experience. I will say that there
was so much that I disagreed with, and I actually got in trouble quite a bit. I
have more page elevens than I have duty stations, which is not a good thing,
but I also learned a lot and became a different type of person, someone that I
feel it made me better. So throughout my Marine Corps career, even though I
hated a lot of it and complained constantly, I got a lot out of it. I think
that military service could go a long way in everybody's life. Just what it
creates in you, the camaraderie, the esprit de corps, the idea of getting
something done together, is something that I feel generally lacking in the
civilian space. But anyways, the chance to then switch over from combat
engineer to computer security was just a game changer for me. I felt right at
home in that space, and it was such a great chance, and I got lucky to have it
because I did not finish high school. I didn't have a GED. I had to get my high
school diploma through a correspondence course while I was in the Marine Corps,
just to get through that, so I switched over to computer security and really
found my home, really found my place in the world.

Kathleen Smith 04:11 I'm hearing a song theme in the back of my
head, sort of "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Yep,
absolutely. My sisters beat the daylights out of me frequently when I was
little. They kept saying, "Well, we're just making you stronger if we
don't kill you," but that's because I was taking up too much time in the
bathroom with my long hair in the '70s. So let's talk about your military
transition and some of the things that surprised you. Because I think, as we
talked about in the green room, there are so many different things that you
just don't know when you're going through your transition. And I believe you
shared with Ashley in our pre-call that you were in a transition class and you
heard another Marine say you'd be lucky if you earn $50,000 when you're getting
out. So how did that sort of form your mindset as you were going through
transition, and specifically about putting a value, a monetary value, on your
skill set?

Rob Fuller 05:09 Yeah, so that was actually one of the transition
instructors, not a fellow Marine, that told me that. So that was really
frustrating and actually pissed me off quite a bit because it felt like by
saying that you were setting expectations for all the Marines that were in the
room of what was possible. And what was really kind of sucky about it was that
then a bunch of other government contractors came in and said, "Hey, we
got all these roles that are for $55,000, $60,000." And it felt so much
like a setup. My first role outside of the Marine Corps was $98,000 a year. It
just still pisses me off to this day that those types of classes set the bar so
low for Marines coming out because it doesn't give them — I don't think
transition assistance gives them a proper sense of what's possible and gives
them good tools to make that transition. So I would say that if you are looking
to transition out of the Marine Corps, out of the military in general, you get
with someone who's been in the industry who's transitioned for a while, listen
to one of these podcasts, and see what's possible. Like, I didn't put
leadership or any kind of leadership on my resume for a decade because I didn't
think that I had any experience when I had eight years of experience in
leadership because that's what the Marine Corps teaches you. That's what the
military teaches you, and you have to do it even as an NCO, and so just little
tidbits like that are really important. I don't know if you want to transition
already to the medical side, but oh my gosh, I messed up in every way, shape,
and form on the medical side of things.

Kathleen Smith 06:58 I believe we're going to get to that later
on. So I don't want to put a blanket and say every single transition instructor
is going to tell you something wrong because there are a few good ones out
there. We may hear about the awful stories, we may hear about — I mean, I
remember when I was transitioning and someone told me to take a blue pen and
write on my resume my modifications because it was supposed to show that I was
so busy with my job I didn't have time to update my resume online. So that was
a really bad instructor. So there are going to be bad instructors. There also
are going to be really good ones. There's probably going to be a lot more
mediocre ones. But I think what we've all said is find a few people who've gone
before you and sort of sit down and chat with them. You touched on your
leadership skills, and yes, this is something that I don't see a lot of people
transitioning out put on their resume that they have leadership skills. I know
that you talked earlier saying early in your career you were saying no to
leadership roles because you didn't think you had the leadership experience. So
can you just sort of expand on what you said earlier about you have leadership?
How do you get your mind wrapped around that you do have leadership, and then
how do you present that?

Rob Fuller 08:22 Sure. So early in my career, I worked at a
company called General Electric. Probably everyone knows that, one small little
company. I mean, now it is, which is crazy, but General Electric — I was on the
red team there. I was a senior red teamer there at General Electric, and our
leader moved on and went to a different company, and there was kind of me and
one other individual who was on the team that was being looked at from a like
next-in-line perspective. I almost immediately declined it. And the reason I
declined it was I thought I did not have the experience to jump into that role.
And the moment I got home and told my wife, "Hey, our manager moved on,
and they looked at me and this other person for a leadership role, but I don't really
have any leadership experience, so this other person's gonna take it," my
wife, I think, slapped me upside the head like five seconds later, and she's
like, "What do you mean? You don't have any leadership experience? You
were in the Marine Corps for eight years. You were a corporal, you were a
sergeant, you started Nova Hackers, and you've been leading that for 10 years
at that point, or five years at that point, or whatever. And like, there's tons
of people in that. How many other leadership things have you done, like CCDC
and so, so zero leadership experience. What are you talking about?"

Kathleen Smith 09:45 Kudos to a wife who does a Gibbs slap.

Rob Fuller 09:48 Yes, yeah, but it really took that, honestly,
just to reevaluate what I thought was expected and what leadership experience
looked like. I was thinking about it like as a resume line item. I don't have
that, so — and then I started adding that, honestly, the leadership experience
inside the Marine Corps, leadership experience as an extracurricular outside,
doing Nova Hackers and stuff like that. So it took my wife slapping me around a
little bit to for me to do it. So just to be honest.

Rachel Bozeman 10:19 Speaking of choosing different roles, you
talked a little bit about your transition out and going into the commercial
side, but want to talk a little bit more about that. So you pivoted into the
cyber roles when you were going into the government space to the commercial
sector. What really drove that leap? Was it another slap?

Rob Fuller 10:37 So it was — oh man, how do I say this as nicely
as possible?

Kathleen Smith 10:44 You're among friends. You don't have to say
it nicely.

Rob Fuller 10:47 I was having a hard time with government
contracting and the speed at which it operated and the speed at which people in
it operated.

Kathleen Smith 11:01 We're all friends here, and we think we know
what you're saying.

Rob Fuller 11:06 Coming from the Marine Corps, we operate quickly.
We get things done, we move on to the next task. That's the space that I was
at, my headspace was in, and when I started working as a contractor outside it,
it felt like I went from 100 miles an hour to 10, and it was such a rough
transition for that. So I stuck with it, even though it was eating me — just
the speed of it — because I had a clearance. And that's one of the things that
I see and hear a lot from people, is "I don't want to lose my clearance
because that's X number of dollars that I could get." And ultimately,
after about three jobs, and it just ate me alive, my wife and I talked about
what it meant to lose my clearance and moving over into the private space and
making that leap and saying, "Hey, it's going to be better for me
psychologically, emotionally, and so on," and put me in a better space.
And honestly, I went from 10 miles an hour up to 60, still not that
100-mile-an-hour pace I was used to from the Marine Corps, but at least I could
understand it, and I've been happy not to go back to the government space ever
since.

Kathleen Smith 12:20 Well, one, thank you for doing cleared work.
It's difficult work. It supports the mission, but I totally hear you on the
pace at which it goes. And if it's not for you, I applaud you and your
Gibbs-slapping wife that got you out of that. Sometimes it's — we say the
hardest job sometimes is not the person on the front, but the person supporting
them from behind. So, yeah, I loved in our pre-call, you mentioned you're
taught to give everything to the mission when you're in the military, but when
you work for a company, the mission becomes enjoying and experiencing life,
which I'm going to disagree that I think is your really great mentality. I was
coaching somebody earlier — you know who you are — about the fact that a job
will be thrown at you, and most of us are willing to give 120% without thinking
of everything else. So I love your quote that says your mission when you're
working in the civilian world is to enjoy and experience life. So tell us a
little bit more about this mentality. And I really love this example, the time
you refused to miss your son's first day at kindergarten.

Rob Fuller 13:43 Yeah, that all actually comes from my dad. My dad
had three jobs growing up, and he was away for pretty much everything. He was
amazing when he was around, but he was trying to give us the best life he
could. So no hate, no anger there. But I did say to myself that I would never
do that. I would find a way that I would not miss these things. While I was
working for a company, I was asked on a Friday to jump on a sales call. Totally
fine to support someone who was out of office. Happens all the time. So I was
like, "Yeah, absolutely, no problem." Then the salesperson kind of
threw me under the bus and said, "Hey, Rob is going to be out there next
week and support you." And I'm like, "What are you talking about? I
cannot do that. I have time off on Monday. I am absolutely not going to be
there." And they kind of took me aside and said, "Well, we need this.
There's no one else available. You have to go." We got on the call with
the customer, and this is not the right way to do it, but it was the only
option I had at the time. I told the customer, "Hey, do you mind if I show
up on Tuesday instead of Monday?" My salesperson in the background was
messaging me like, "What are you doing? You're going to lose this
money." Blah — and just yelling and screaming at me in text — and the
customer was like, "Absolutely, no problem." And it was my son's very
first day of school, kindergarten. First day ever, school on a day off for
years. It felt like I had put it on, like, months and months ago. So like, no way
ever would I miss that. And this job tried to get me to miss it, and I was
actually yelled at by my boss for forcing us to change a contract and all kinds
of things. I was at a new job in two weeks after that, and that was of my own
free volition. I did not want to work at a place that forced me, as I had
promised to myself after my dad's example, that I'd miss stuff like that. So
what I mean by you're there to experience life is that a job is a job. Like in
the military, there's a mission, you go after that mission. In a corporate
world, in a private space, there might be a really good mission. It might be a
nonprofit saving the ocean or something like that. There may be really good
missions, and I'm not trying to discount that, but most for-profit companies
are for profit. You are replaceable. You are expendable. You are a cog in the
wheel of that corporation. You might be well appreciated. You might be well
loved in there, and it might be a family environment, but at the end of the
day, that company will move on when you move on. It's not going to be there
forever. And so you need to put in what you feel is the effort that you want to
put into that job. But you should never, ever sacrifice life experiences for a
job. Ever. It's not worth it. And I saw what it did to my dad. I won't let it
do to me. And so that's what I mean by that. Don't put your whole self into
your work. I think 110% is the 100 miles an hour that I was talking about
earlier. But if a job decides that I need to be somewhere on an important day
for my son, I'll go find another job. That's the other thing a lot of people
aren't ready to sacrifice their current role and responsibilities for that kind
of life experience. I will go be a Walmart greeter if it means that I can be
around my family when they need me or when they have an experience. So I don't
— DGAF, yeah.

Rachel Bozeman 17:19 I was gonna say I've been dying to ask this
next question because I was so excited to learn about it, but after hearing
that story, that might be my favorite question that you've answered. So no
pressure, but this is going to be another good one, but that is a beautiful
story and a good reminder that at work we have to be our most authentic self,
which is being your most authentic self and doing the things that matter to
you. So thanks for that great reminder. Again, no pressure, Rob, but I'm
heating it up here for you. So I heard that you have a superpower. Is that
true?

Rob Fuller 17:48 I feel I do. I feel like I have a superpower.

Rachel Bozeman 17:52 Okay, well, here's the one that I heard. So
not the one about flying through buildings or anything like that, but I heard
that you just love learning and that you're okay with being wrong. So can we
all just take a moment here and give a golf clap for the ability to be wrong in
the moment? I appreciate that very much.

Rob Fuller 18:07 I love being wrong. I do. Do you love being
wrong? Why is that so important? And how can others get in on this good
superpower?

Rachel Bozeman 18:11 Why is that so important? And how can others
get in on this good superpower?

Rob Fuller 18:18 So I think I had a cheat code for the superpower.
I had my villain story where I fell into the vat of ooze or whatever. I worked
at a place where I was quite literally the dumbest person in the room. The
people I worked with were just ninjas. I didn't even compete. I was not even
close to what they could do. And it was so amazing because they were all
welcoming. They all were teaching. If you want to sit down and have them walk
you through it, they were, and I'm getting goosebumps thinking about that
experience because it was awesome. And I don't know if we have a lot of spaces
that are like that. Schools should be, and I don't know if there always are,
but making an assumption, making a guess at things, and being wrong about it
and being like, "Yeah, no problem. Here's the right way to do it,"
was really just a life-turning experience. For those who were with me in the
Marine Corps, they know that I had quite the ego when I was in, especially in
the cybersecurity space.

Kathleen Smith 19:16 You mean there are Marines who don't have
egos?

Rob Fuller 19:21 We can talk about what a required level of ego is
in that space, but being in that work experience really transitioned me into
loving, loving that I didn't know stuff, and being happy when I'm wrong.
Because I think that Simon Sinek says it, but a lot of other people say it —
motivational speakers and stuff — when you're not wrong, you aren't learning.
When you are wrong, you are learning. You have a chance to learn, and I like
learning, and I think that that's the way you progress. So why wouldn't you be
happy about being wrong? Because that's the time you're getting better. If
you're right, then you're not getting better.

Kathleen Smith 20:00 Well, I think you also have another
superpower because if it wasn't for this superpower, I actually wouldn't have
met you or have had the opportunity to work with you, and you and I sort of
share this superpower of building community. It's a very special superpower
because you take a lot of grief, you have to have a lot of ingenuity. You have
to have just a little bit of grief, just a little bit. I still have the scars
on my back from several of them. So you founded something that you mentioned
earlier, Nova Hackers — like many of our other guests, sort of build their own
tribe, build their own community, because you were struggling to find one. And
I think that's really important that you couldn't find your tribe. You didn't
realize you were a leader. You didn't realize you liked being wrong. All these
superpowers, you probably had this epiphany or somebody hit you alongside the
head or something — I don't know, that's good. No scars on your back. So you
kept pushing to have this community, even though you had several setbacks. What
inspired you to create a community to help others?

Rob Fuller 21:12 Selfishness, honestly. When I first — and it
wasn't called Nova Hackers initially, it was like Cybersecurity Meetup in DC or
whatever — oh God, I remember that one. Yeah. And so I was really — I don't
know what the word is — jealous, I guess, is the word. There were so many cool,
interesting cybersecurity groups, and they were in Austin or LA or in Nevada.
And when I went to the one in DC, there were three people. They all bickered,
and they didn't have any idea what they wanted to do with the group. There was
no organization or coordination. My mother will kill me if she ever sees this,
but she is a planner, like down to the minute, kind of person, or five-minute
increments, I think. And I got a little bit of that, and I get frustrated when
there aren't plans in place or things put together. So when I went to that DC
meeting, it was like, "Let's hang out and drink coffee." It was no —
like, I want to learn something. I want to move. I want to get better.

Kathleen Smith 22:21 I know that gut-wrenching moment when you're
just looking there and you're like, "God, you guys can be so much
more," and just do it.

Rob Fuller 22:27 Yep. And so I started a group. Said, "Hey,
let's meet up. I know there's a bunch of DC people, let's do it." And the
first one I went to, not a single person showed up. I invited 23 some odd
people. I went to Lafayette Plaza, and it was just empty, and I could have
given up.

Kathleen Smith 22:46 I've done that too. They've done that too.

Rob Fuller 22:50 And then I messaged everyone that said they would
be there, and they all had excuses on why they couldn't make it. So I said,
"Okay, we're gonna do this again next month." Set up another one,
showed up, and it's like a 23-minute commuter line to get to where I was going.
And again, no one showed. Third time, I was like, "Okay, this is the last
time I'm gonna — third time's the charm. If this doesn't work, I'm done."
Invited a bunch of people, showed up, and I waited around, and I was like, "That's
not gonna happen." And then Chris Gates comes around the corner a little
late, but still shows up. And he's like, "Hey, is this the DC security
meetup?" I'm like, "Yes." He's like, "Where's everyone
else?" I'm like, "You're the first, congratulations." And he and
I worked together on building it after that, and he and I are the co-founders
of Nova Hackers. We are at 900 some odd members these days, and it's still
going pretty strong. And it's a group that, like, we have DEF CON meetups
sometimes, and gets a good collaborative group of people. We have our problems,
and there's management stuff that has to go in there, but as any group that
size, but that's a good group of people, and I've learned so much from that
experience — like one, managing such a large group, two, just the shared
knowledge that happens at those things. It is not sitting around and drinking
coffee; it's everyone sharing the information and how things work. And it's
such a great experience. And I go just because I like to experience it, and
even though I founded it, but like it's more for me again.

Rachel Bozeman 24:23 Love it. No, it's beautiful. It's a great, a
great way to be out there. So I want to go back in time to the beginning of our
conversation, and you were talking about that transition out of the military,
and one thing you said — oh, you wish you had slapped yourself in the head —
was related to the VA benefits and ways that you could have handled that
medical transition better. So I want to give you a little bit of runway here to
talk about that and just kind of mention why it's so critical for those
transitioning service members to make sure that they're documenting things
early and really making sure they understand that VA process. So do you mind
kind of sharing a little bit more about that?

Rob Fuller 25:01 Sure. I've just gotten denied for the third time
for my VA benefits just a couple days ago, actually, which really hit pretty
hard. One of the things that I — and every Marine does this, at least most of
the Marines I was in with — they tough it out, they drink or eat that vitamin
M, Motrin, and they just deal with it. And what you don't know in your 20s and
early 20s and late teens is that all of that comes to bite you in your butt
later on in life. When I was in, I barely documented. I barely went to medical
ever. It was a negative for me, like you're missing out. You're letting your
fellow Marines down by not being available. And it was rough because there's
such a stigma about going to medical for anything that I don't have anything documented.
And so as I was getting out, the transition team says, "Hey, go get a full
work-up and stuff like that," but that stigma is still there. I don't want
to do all that, and because of that, I have quite literally nothing wrong with
me getting out of the Marine Corps. And so what that translates to is all the
things that were service-related are not documented, so I don't have a way to
go back in time and fix that. I have to find a doctor that will conclusively
say that this happened during this time. It might be unimportant, but like
during my time in the Marine Corps, I lost all the feeling in my feet. I cannot
feel the bottoms of my feet at all. I have permanent nerve damage, and that
never really bothered me a ton because I could walk farther and I could run
farther, and it wasn't like it didn't bother me, and Motrin was the easy way
out when it did hurt. And so I have gone back to the VA and said, "This
happened while I was in the Marine Corps. This is nerve damage." And
they're like, "Yep, you have extensive nerve damage, but we have no
documentation saying that it was part of while you're in the Marine Corps, so
sorry, you're denied." And I had some PTSD stuff that falls into that and
that was not documented, so they're not claiming that as well. Like, so every
little thing that bothered me a little bit, even a tiny bit, I should have at
least gotten seen for, and I didn't, and that is hurting me now because all of
that is coming back to bite me, as I said. And VA benefits is a huge
differentiator. And I mean, I'm not looking for more than my share of things. I
think there are a lot more people that are worse off than I am in every way,
shape, and form. But I am afraid that as my feet get worse, my wife, who is not
6'2", 240 pounds, is going to have a hard time — one, slapping me around
anymore, but two, like helping me with what I need to as I either can't walk or
otherwise — and without VA benefits, I have to rely on either my savings or
insurance or stuff like that, and it's just not as good. And so I screwed
myself by toughing it out. And I hope that just anyone hearing this who's still
in or exiting soon, please understand that you might not feel it right now, you
might not hear right now, you might not understand what's going on in your head
right now, but go get seen for everything, complain about literally everything,
even if you don't go for VA benefits. The minute you get out of the military,
you may want to 10 years from then, and you don't want to be in my place. You
don't want to be where they're denying you just because they have no
documentation of it.

Kathleen Smith 28:40 That's a really very poignant story because I
know one too many Marines — and I'm married to one — who did have those pains,
did have those challenges, and it is part of the culture to say, "Tough it
out. We're not going to show weakness. We're not going to go to medical."
And I'm really very honored that you shared that story because it is something
that everyone needs to hear. So let's turn to something fun. I'm dying to hear
this one. You became the technical advisor for the HBO show Silicon.
Yeah, kudos. How did this come about, and how was it like applying your
knowledge in the entertainment world? I mean, did they sex it up? Did they make
it more gruesome? What did they do?

Rob Fuller 29:32 So if you've ever seen the show Silicon
Valley, it is not sexy at all. But I wish there was a good reason
for how I got involved with the show and something that's repeatable, and it
kind of is, but it's a friend of a friend, and that's just how it worked out.
And I mean, networking is your biggest superpower, and so that kind of happened
because of it. But Silicon Valley's season one is based on an algorithm
that compresses video and audio. I just happened to be a good friend with one
of the people who built that at YouTube and built that at Google Video and
built that at Facebook. And so when she was being consulted for Silicon
Valley for their algorithm, and they were saying, "Hey, do you
know anyone in cybersecurity?" she's like, "Yeah, my friend
Rob," and so that's kind of how that came about. But it is one of the
weirdest experiences I've had in my life because I value my time, and I think
time is one of the things that we never get back. And that goes the same reason
for not missing kid events and stuff like that. But when they first signed me
up, I got $1,200 for an entire season of being on call while they were
recording. What that means is that at any moment, for a three-month period,
they can call me up and say, "Hey, does this make sense? Does this line
work?" And what sucks about that is they record all the way into like
midnight LA time, and that's 3 a.m. my time. And so I would get phone calls at
all hours asking, "Hey, does this make sense? This is work," but it
was also a really good experience. I got to — and I didn't even know these
existed — but I got to go to a premiere. I got to go to three of them, I think,
two or three. And it was a great experience there. I got to meet some good
people, got to meet the actors, got to be on set. And it was — I actually got
to be in the writing room on season six. And that was just a whole different
experience, being able to help design how the series ended and say what was
possible and what wasn't, was really amazing. Spitballing with the guy who made
Beavis and
Butt-Head, the producer that did that, he was awesome, very quiet,
and just — it was, I don't know how to explain it. It was a great experience.
They did work back and forth on making sure that things were in their real
space, that things would work how we say they worked. And it was really great,
their attention to detail on making it believable and authentic, even though
they were kind of with season six going into the future space of what could be
possible. They always kept it within a believable boundary, whereas I know that
there's a lot of shows that don't even try on that space.

Rachel Bozeman 32:30 Well, what a cool story. I know we were so
excited to hear about that one. So Rob, it has been an absolute pleasure
getting to meet you, to learn from you, and hear your stories. Thank you for
your vulnerability and willingness to share them, and appreciate you. And
thanks for stopping by Exit Buddy.

Rob Fuller 32:48 Thanks for having me, Rachel.

Kathleen Smith 32:50 Appreciate it, Rob. Is there something you'd
like to share with our audience?

Rob Fuller 32:53 Yeah, just I want to say happy birthday to all of
the Marines out there. Keep doing what you do, and let us know if you ever need
any help. All of our fellow Marines are here for you.

Kathleen Smith 33:03 Thanks, Rob. Great seeing you again.
Absolutely. It's always fun for me to have more in-depth conversations with
folks that I've seen at networking events like I've seen Rob at several
throughout the Washington, DC area, and I loved hearing his story of being
wrong because I know that's really hard for a lot of military folks — being in
an environment where they fail, they're wrong, and they have to learn. And I'm
so thrilled that he was in such a supportive environment to be able to learn,
and he was able to put that forth in building his own community with Nova
Hackers. So that's a wrap, Exit Buddies. We've learned a lot today. Share this
episode with your fellow service members. Hit follow for more stories, and keep
looking for your own course because we're here to inspire you. Catch you next
time.