Today’s podcast guest is John Willis of Special Operations Equipment in Camden, TN. Some of you may remember that I went to Tennessee twice in 2023: in April, to attend Nicole Sauce’s Living Free in Tennessee Spring Workshop, and again in October, to attend and present at the Self-Reliance Festival. SRF is held at Special Operations Equipment. When not being used to host events, SOE is a sewing factory making high-end tactical gear. John and Amanda Willis are amazing people, and John graciously spent two hours last week visiting with me. The story of Special Operations Equipment is fascinating and one that I thought podcast listeners would enjoy hearing. And John is a great storyteller. Because our Zoom visit lasted longer than usual, I’ve posted two versions of this week’s episode. The “short” version is about the length of a regular podcast episode and covers the sewing part of our conversation. The “extended play” version includes the entire discussion and gets into more of John’s personal experiences and observations about life. There was so much wisdom in that part of the conversation that I felt it needed to be shared even if it veered off the topic of sewing a bit. Note that the EP version is marked “explicit” for some language, but we’re all adults and I expect people to make the appropriate choice for themselves. The two episodes are identical save for the length, so if you choose the EP version, you'll also hear what is in the shorter version.