From TOPGUN Fighter Pilot To Purpose: Author Jack Stewart On Leadership, Faith, Combat & Mental Strength (Inspirational)

What does a TOPGUN fighter pilot learn about fear, faith, pressure & purpose that everyday people can use to survive life’s toughest battles?

In this powerful inspirational episode, Reginald D sits down with former TOPGUN fighter pilot, combat veteran, commercial airline captain & bestselling author Jack Stewart. Jack graduated from the US Naval Academy and served twenty-three years as an FA-18C Hornet fighter pilot before retiring with the rank of commander. 

Jack shares incredible lessons on leadership, resilience, discipline, faith, mental strength & purpose. Jack also deployed on the ground with joint & special operations units, including a Joint Special Operations Command task force and talks about brotherhood, moral courage, and the cost of service.

From flying combat missions to operating under life-or-death pressure, Jack reveals what it truly means to stay calm in chaos, overcome fear & lead when lives depend on your decisions. He also opens up about the hidden mental and  struggles veterans face after military service, the importance of purpose, and how faith and motivation help people move forward through dark seasons. 

Jack has an upcoming novel Riptide, releasing May 12th. Riptide is the second installment in the USA Today bestselling Silent Horizons series by former Force Recon Marine & author Chad Robichaux, with co-author Jack Stewart.  

Jack also discusses:

• The reality behind military service
• Leadership under pressure
• Transitioning from Navy fighter pilot to commercial airline captain
• The inspiration behind his new novel Riptide
• TOPGUN & Tom Cruise
• Why purpose gives life meaning

Press play now to hear this inspirational conversation w/ former TOPGUN fighter pilot Jack Stewart &  discover how to lead your life with courage, faith, discipline & purpose.

Jack's Info:

Website: https://jackstewartbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackstewartbooks

Instagram: @Jackstewartsbooks 

X: @JackStewartBook

Transcript

Reginald D: Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D.

On today's episode, I have Jack Stewart.

Jack is a commercial airline captain,

best selling author,

naval academy graduate, and a 23 year US Navy fighter column. He's a Top Gun alum and a combat veteran. Jack has an upcoming novel, Riptide, that releases on May 12th.

Welcome to the show, Jack.

Jack Stewart: Thanks, Reginald. I appreciate you having me.

Reginald D: Thank you so much for coming on the show.

So, Jack, I'd like to start out by asking my guests tell us a little bit about where you grew up and what your childhood was like.

Jack Stewart: Yeah, so I grew up in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, a little place called Bothell in the north, into Lake Washington.

And I thought it was a typical childhood. You know, I had two working parents,

I had an older sister who liked to abuse me and it was full of laughs. And our family was, we like to adventure travel a lot. So we would, you know, just get in the car on a Sunday and, and go drive and see what we could see.

So that was my upbringing. I thought it was pretty normal. It wasn't until later I found out it probably wasn't.

Yeah.

Reginald D: So you've had an incredible journey, Jack,

as a 23 year Navy fighter pilot.

What was the moment you realized you were built for that level of pressure and responsibility?

Jack Stewart: I don't know if I ever came to that realization. I just sort of did it. It was just, you know,

becoming a fighter pilot was a goal of mine, you know, ever since Top Gun came out when I was 10 years old and I was like, yeah, I got to do that.

That looks so cool.

And so I just,

you know, I set my path and I just did what I needed to do to get in that cockpit. And then once I got there, I just didn't have time to think about it, you know, because if you think you're dead, you know, as the quote movie goes.

But yeah, I just, I mean,

I surrounded myself with good people and I listened to what the, you know, the, the people that came before me had to say. I listened to them, I learned from them and I just kind of fell into my role.

Reginald D: Yeah, and that's the thing about it. And what I like about what you said,

I always tell people, especially younger people,

you don't have to be nine years old, but when you like 18, 20 or whatever,

have that goal and stick to it. Because you go through life just going from one thing to the next to the next to the next,

when you realize what you want to do, who you want to Be stick to it and walk it out.

Jack Stewart: Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the biggest things that I've kind of tried to instill in my kids. And, you know, you can't see it. In my office, I have a wall.

It's full of plaques from the Navy and pictures of Navy jets and stuff. And I have a Navy pilot friend who said that he wasn't going to do that in his home office because he didn't want his kids to feel like they needed to rise to his level and do what he did.

And I said, looking at a different way, I like to show my kids that I set a goal for myself and I accomplished it, and that's what I want for them.

I mean, whatever it is,

set a goal for yourself and accomplishment. And I want to show them that if I can do it, they can do it.

Reginald D: Right. That's well put. That is well put. So, Jack, you flew combat missions. What does leadership look like when lives depend on your decisions in seconds?

Jack Stewart: Man,

you know, probably the biggest honor I had in my career was doing close air support for troops in contact on the ground.

Fear, their voice. And I just knew I needed to do my job well so that they lived and they could go home to their families. And so when I look at leadership in that aspect, it's really about just stepping up and doing what you need to do.

Whether it's hard, whether you're tired, whether you're, you know, hungry, doesn't matter. But you need to step up and do what you need to do so that others can go home to their families, so that you can go home to your family and not, you know, be plagued by,

I should have done this, I should have done that. So that, to me, is what leadership looks like in that situation.

Wow.

Reginald D: Wow, man. What a responsibility and what a sacrifice, too, you know, because I tell people in life a lot of times,

sometimes you got to put yourself aside to help others, you know, Absolutely. Be selfish. You can't be this. You may feel this way, you may feel that way. Like you said, I may be tired, I may be hungry, but I got to complete this mission.

Jack Stewart: That's right. That's right.

Reginald D: So, Jack, a lot of people see the highlighted reel of military service, but what's the reality behind the scenes that most people never understand?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, I mean,

you know, the reality is kind of what we're seeing today with a lot of veterans.

Unfortunately, a lot of veterans are taking their own lives.

The reality is that sacrificing time away from your family, sacrificing your own personal safety for the good of the country and for the good of your teammates and,

and your squadron mates and whatever means that you're taking on an immense burden. And at some point that burden needs to be relieved.

And so what I've found in life after service is that if you don't have a mission and if you don't have something that you're working towards or something that you can put your energy to,

you kind of get lost and you don't know what to do. And so that's where people turn to booze, that's where they turn to drugs,

that's where they turn to self destructive behaviors that ruin families and marriages.

And that's why a lot of veterans are taking their lives. So the reality is that I think the military service is one of the most noble things that you can do.

I look back on my time fondly, even though I know it put a strain on my marriage, I know that it put a strain on my family.

I know that I engaged in self destructive behaviors at times, but it was a noble thing to do.

And so I think people need to recognize that you're not asking somebody to just to go shoot a gun or go fly a jet or drive a ship or drive a tank or whatever.

You're asking somebody to have a life of the consequences of their decisions and they have to live with that. And that's that hard thing. So I think supporting our veterans is one of the biggest things that we can do.

Understanding the mental health aspect of it, not closing them off like if past generations did. I'm not calling anybody names or anything, but you know, in the Vietnam conflict, veterans came home and they were shunned and they were called baby killers and all this.

And fortunately our generation hasn't done that. But that's one thing we really need to focus on.

Reginald D: Yeah, you're right, Jack, because I'm going to tell you something about that that's kind of dear to my heart because I was part of this outreach ministry at my church. My grandfather had a church.

He left it to my cousin as a pastor and I was over to outreach ministry.

So we would go downtown and we would, you know, we're not witnessing the people until, you know, pushing God on people and stuff like that. We're just loving on people, we feeding people.

And you will be amazed at how many homeless people were Vietnam veterans.

Jack Stewart: Yeah.

Reginald D: And I'm like, wow, what in the world, man? And so I would have a conversation with them and it came to point they knew me by Name. And I would walk downtown or whatever.

They were like, hey, Reggie. Hey, man. You know?

And it's crazy how they have to live after such a dramatic experience,

you know?

Jack Stewart: Yeah.

Reginald D: But I'm gonna tell you something, man.

I grew up in a generation of pastors and ministers and preachers. I've heard so many sermons. I've heard so many things. But it was one night,

I was sitting on the bench downtown talking to this guy that was a Vietnam veteran that was homeless,

and he spoke something into my life.

Changed me forever, man.

Changed me forever,

you know? And I'm like, man, it shouldn't be like this. I don't know what the answer is, but it shouldn't be like this.

Jack Stewart: Yeah. No, absolutely.

Reginald D: Yeah. So how did your time with special operations units and high state mission shape your mindset on fear, discipline, and purpose?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, I mean,

it was an extension of what I'd done my entire career.

And what was unique about special operations was that, you know, rank didn't matter.

So in a sense, I could have been. I was a lieutenant commander. I could have been reporting to a first sergeant. So the normal military rank structure didn't matter. What mattered was how proficient you were at your job.

And so in that sense, everyone kind of had to leave their egos at the door.

And it was mission first. Right. So it didn't matter that I was Navy in a mostly army or Air force unit. Didn't matter what branch he came from, what background he came from.

None of that mattered. All that mattered was accomplishing the mission.

And I thought it was a really unique experience because I saw some incredible heroics from all types of people. Not just the door kickers, trigger pullers, you know, not the ones you see on the movies and stuff, but people behind the scenes that were doing incredible things to make sure that the mission was accomplished.

And so it just gave me a different perspective. I had gotten an opportunity to be in the jet, supporting the guys on the ground, and then I got an opportunity to be on the ground and relying on the people up in the sky for support.

And so just realizing how it all works together and how we all work together as a team, that was a pretty incredible experience.

Reginald D: Yeah. And that's the biggest thing. I think if everybody would think that way, not only just military,

but in life, you know, we all pulling from the same rope, man. We got a mission. We got to get the mission done. No matter what the title is or who you are, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, you put the right people

Jack Stewart: in the right place.

Reginald D: At the right time, we should be all right.

Jack Stewart: Yeah. And that's one of the things that really stuck out to me, especially now. We live in a society that's so polarized politically,

you know, along racial lines, along gender lines, along political affiliations, whatever.

None of that mattered, you know, when I was down range, like, none of that mattered. It didn't matter where someone came from, where they grew up,

who they voted for. What mattered was that they did their job, that we cared for one another, that we took care of one another.

And so I'd like to bring more of that into society today and just be like, I don't care who you voted for. You're my neighbor. I'm going to care for you.

You know, and that's something I wish we could. You know, I wish every American could see that.

Reginald D: Right, Exactly. Exactly. So, Jack, your new novel, Riptide, is rooted in real life experience. What parts of the story come directly from things you've lived through or witnessed?

Jack Stewart: So Riptide is book two in a series about Foster Quinn, who was loosely based on kind of Chad Robichaux, my writing partner, his life and career trajectory.

But we both put a lot of our lives into this. Riptide itself is like, a very low point for the character where he's really struggling with his relationship with his family,

with his wife, and he's kind of being kind of pulled maybe towards, you know, a darker side of humanity, you know, the urge for vengeance.

And I think we all struggle with that at some point. You know, somebody wrongs you,

somebody wrongs your family. Like, there's this natural instinct to want to be like, I'm not turning the other cheek on this one. You know, I'm going to punch you in the nose.

And so in that regard,

I'm kind of allowing the main character to live out some of those things. But we're seeing what the spiritual ramifications of it are. You know, we're seeing what if you go down this path, you're going to be lost for good.

And so I look at Riptide as being a very dark point in his life. And so for my own personal life, like I talked about earlier, you know, my military service put a strain on my marriage and my family at points, and, you know, we've thankfully have overcome that.

But I really put a lot of my emotion into the character in that, and I know that Chad did the same thing.

Reginald D: Yeah. So what do you want your readers to feel or walk away with after reading your novel Reptile?

Jack Stewart: So I want readers to feel like if it could be this bad for this guy, that it's not that bad for me.

And that's been the whole point for this series, is I want readers to connect with the character in some way and say, well, if he can do it, so can I.

So, I mean, a lot of times you'll read books and the protagonist is this, you know,

mega hero that does nothing wrong, and he's just handsome. He's smart,

he's, you know, all this stuff that no one can relate to.

Whereas this guy is a flawed character. He's human. He has,

you know, sinful thoughts. He is being pulled kind of by the darkness, and he has to resist it. And so I want people to look at that and go, if he can do it, I can do it, and how do I do it?

And, you know, kind of start asking those questions. And that's what we're hoping, that people will look at this and turn to the last page and look and see what Mighty Oaks foundation is all about.

So maybe a veteran can find out how they can get help if they're struggling with some of the same things that Foster Quinn was struggling with.

Reginald D: I like that, Jack. I like that. You got to get down to reality,

you know, like you said,

everybody ain't handsome. Everybody's not fit. Everybody, you know, don't win every battle.

You know that.

Jack Stewart: So,

I mean, I grew up in a Christian home. I went to church all the time, went to church camp and everything. I mean, I consider myself a relatively spiritual person.

And I think Christians are some of the most judgmental people.

And when you look at the Bible, Jesus wasn't judgmental. You know, he accepted people of the lowest class, you know, in his circle and welcomed them. And I think that's what we need to be more like.

And so when we wrote this book, we didn't want to tone cross as being preachy. You know, we wanted it to be something that people could, you know, relate to or maybe give them a space to explore Christianity a little bit and what Jesus has to offer.

Reginald D: Yes, absolutely. Because like I say, a lot of people in church will get you all twisted up, man. Some people will, anyway,

so.

Well, let's talk about mindset. You've operated in environments where one the wrong decision could cause lives.

Jack Stewart: Yeah.

Reginald D: How do you train your mind to stay calm under pressure?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, I think it's through just practice. I think it's through repetition. I think it's through.

Well, in my darkest moments, I have this firm belief, and I always say this to myself. Like, when things seem like the worst,

I always say,

the sun's going to rise tomorrow. And that, to me, is a promise that doesn't matter how bad today is.

Tomorrow's a new day. And so,

in essence, what I'm saying is God has a plan. I don't need to worry about it. You know, I just need to just do my job,

go through the steps that I need to do. So if I'm in an airplane and I have an emergency, I'm trained in those steps. I just perform those steps, and I just trust that it's going to work out the way it's supposed to.

And that's.

I think that is the number one thing,

is just having that faith, you know, that it's all going to work out if you do what you're supposed to do.

Reginald D: Yeah, absolutely.

Because that goes into my next question. I was gonna ask you, what is one of the principles that you can apply for somebody who feels overwhelmed by pressure in their own life every day?

Jack Stewart: Yeah,

yeah. I mean, that's it. Like, just take a deep breath and just say, you know, the sun's gonna rise tomorrow. It's gonna be a new day.

Maybe the challenges that you're facing today aren't gonna seem so daunting tomorrow. And just keep driving ahead.

Reginald D: Yeah, that's it. You know, and I feel like if you got another day and God wakes you up the next day,

then, hey, you still got purpose.

Exactly.

You still got things to do. It's not over yet.

Jack Stewart: It's got to keep. He's not done with you, so you got to keep going.

Reginald D: That's it. That's it. So, Jet now transitioning from combat missions to being a commercial airline captain, how has your perspective on responsibility and leadership changed?

Jack Stewart: If it did,

the perspective doesn't change too much in the sense that,

you know, in combat, I'm thinking about the troops on the ground and sending them home to their families. When I'm in the airliner and I've got 100,

you know, 75 people sitting behind me, they're trusting me to get them to their destination.

That's still quite a responsibility.

Stakes are a little bit different. You know, no one's shooting at us, and, you know, I feel pretty confident that we can get where we're going with no problem.

But it still means that I have to prepare myself for that flight. I have to, you know, make sure I take care of myself, make sure I'm well rested, well fed,

you know, doing the things that I need to do throughout my day. So that when I go do that job,

I don't have to worry about them, you know, they don't have to worry about me. I'm just going to do my job and get them where they need to be.

So from a leadership point of view,

it's really just about, like I said,

doing what I need to do and then taking care of the people around me. So in a jet, like, when I go fly, I have a first officer that sits next to me.

I have flight attendants in the back, and I'm always checking on them. How are you guys doing? Do you need anything? You know, we stop somewhere. Can I go get you food?

Can I go get you something to drink? Coffee, whatever?

Just because we need to take care of each other, you know, that's the.

If I can sum up my entire goal in life is that we're all humans,

you know, we all are born, we all die. We all have unique experiences, and if we just take care of one another,

then our unique experiences are so much easier.

And so I try to apply that to the sphere of influence that I have, which is on an airplane.

Reginald D: Okay, so let me ask you this question. What's something people don't realize about being a commercial pilot that will surprise them?

Jack Stewart: It would surprise them. Yeah.

Reginald D: Because I don't see them. We board and then, yeah, they might come out. I don't know what's going on up there. Okay.

Jack Stewart: I will say, I think that most people will be surprised. Like when you're in the back and it's bouncing around pretty good with turbulence, and you're maybe gripping the armrests a little tighter and you're kind of looking at people like, are we okay?

You'd be surprised. The pilots are probably talking about last night's baseball game or. I mean, it's not even a worry to us because that's, you know, it's like driving on a road and hitting a pothole.

We don't even think about it,

you know? So people in the back might be a little bit more nervous than we are, but we're not, because we know it's totally normal. The jet's totally fine, you know.

So, yeah, I mean, I've been in some pretty heavy storms with lots of rain and lightning and, you know, everything and not worried at all, just because that's like, hey, I know we're okay.

But I imagine the people in the back are pretty scared.

Reginald D: Trust me, you got one. Because I went through one turbulence I never in my life went through. I was like, whoa, we we about to crash, man.

Yeah, so.

So, Jet, do you ever find that your military training still shows up in the cockpit today? And if so, how?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, I mean, it absolutely does, because whatever unique circumstance I'm encountering. So let's say I have a medical situation in the back where some passengers having a seizure, and I need to get that plane to the gate as fast as possible so that I can get EMTs on board so they can take care of them.

You know, my military, you know, brain kind of clicks in and I think about it in steps, like,

what do I need to do?

What do I need from other people? And I just methodically go about, you know,

knocking down those dominoes, if you will, just like step one, step two, step three, just move forward just to make sure I can get that person the amount of treatment they need.

I think that the military training that I received makes me uniquely qualified to do that. I'm not saying that you have to be military trained to be a. A good airline pilot to react to those situations, but in the military, you are encountering those kinds of situations, you know,

on a daily basis.

And so that definitely trained my,

I don't know, my thought process,

you know, the way I respond to stressors,

you know, whatever. And so, yeah, I find it coming back quite often,

which I think is a good thing, because I don't really stress out about situations. I just sort of take it as it comes and, you know, just very methodical and move on to the next step.

Next step. Next step.

Reginald D: Yeah, so.

And that's the difference. In some people,

you've seen both war and now civilian life at a high level.

How has your definition of purpose evolved over the years?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, and that's is the tricky thing. I think the number one thing for veterans is that lack of purpose or that lack of,

you know, mission. Because, I mean, I went to the Naval Academy at 18. I was wearing a uniform of some type until when they're 20, 22, so four years ago.

I mean, that's a long time for me to be,

you know, a fighter pilot, you know, a naval officer. I mean, that was my identity.

Not having that identity,

it's like I have to have a purpose. And so that transition is the hardest thing. And so that's where I look at other ways that I can have purpose. I can have purpose with my family, you know, in leading them the right way.

I can have purpose with my kids and raising them to be upstanding citizens. And I can have purpose with my wife by being the kind of husband that she deserves.

And so I just find it in little ways like that, you know, And I'm giving myself little missions, you know. So I started writing books, and I said, okay, that's going to be my new purpose,

my new identity, if you will.

And I think that's really important.

Reginald D: Yeah, it's really important. Because I always tell people that purpose gives you life,

and I think purpose gives you extended life.

Because I've seen people, and, man, I'm telling you, I know within myself that they die before their time.

Oh, absolutely. They just didn't have nothing to get up for every day.

Doesn't have fortune every day and doesn't have anything to take care of yourself every day. Because you got purposes. You got me. I got to take care of myself. I got to do this so I can keep pursuing this and things like that.

I've seen it so many times.

I've seen it.

Jack Stewart: Yeah.

And the airline pilots are required to retire at age 65. And I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people who retire at 65 and then are dead within two years.

And not because they were,

you know, out of shape or overweight or whatever. It's because I think that because they lacked that purpose, their whole purpose, their whole life was to be a pilot, and then they didn't have that anymore.

It was like, what now?

You know? And so I think a lot of them went way too soon because of that.

Reginald D: Yeah, exactly. So, Jack, if someone listening right now feels lost, stuck, or unsure of their path, what would you say to them?

Jack Stewart: Okay, so for every young person out there, I'll say this. For every young person that doesn't know what they want to do with their life, I highly recommend looking into the military.

The military is not for everyone,

for sure.

But I say, you know, I told my son, it's the one place where you can go and you don't have to worry about deciding things. Like, they tell you where to be, they tell you when to be there, they tell you what to wear, they tell you what to eat,

tell you what to do. I mean, there's no thought process involved. And then along the way, you're learning skills that are very valuable. You're learning manners, you're learning etiquette. You're learning a marketable skill, like something that you can physically use in the civilian workplace.

You're getting an education. I mean, you're learning how to show up on time. You need all this stuff.

So for young people, if you feel like you don't know Your path. Look at the military. I think that's a really good way. And for anybody else, that is kind of maybe outside that, like, hey, military, I can't go join.

I can't go. Unless, you know,

I say find your purpose. And I'd say start small. Look in your family. Find purpose in your family first and then find purpose in your neighbors, in your community,

whether that be a school, whether that be a church, whether that be your actual neighborhood. And find purpose in your city. Find purpose in your state. You know, do something, get engaged, get involved.

And I think you'll find your path naturally when you do that.

Reginald D: Yes, exactly. Exactly. So, Jack, I have what I call quick fire questions.

Jack Stewart: Okay?

Reginald D: It's not a right or wrong answer.

Jack Stewart: I hope not. I'll probably get them wrong.

Reginald D: Just have a little fun. All right, so one word that describes your mindset in combat.

Jack Stewart: Calm.

Reginald D: The biggest lesson, flying an FA18. Talk to you about life.

Jack Stewart: It's short.

Reginald D: Commercial pilot.

Jack Stewart: Life.

Reginald D: Calm or controlled chaos.

Jack Stewart: Controlled chaos. And it's not even my control. It's out of my control.

Reginald D: Right. Do you consider fear your fuel or enemy?

Jack Stewart: I consider it my fuel.

Reginald D: Yeah. I'm the same way.

Now, I got to ask you this,

okay. On a scale of 1 to 10,

how accurate is Tom Cruise flying those jets in the movie Top Gun?

Not really that cool in real life.

Jack Stewart: I'll answer the second part first. No, no, we're not that cool.

I think we're closer to, like, Animal House or something. Like, you know, it's pretty. Pretty immature. I'd say fighter pilots are pretty immature. And we act like we're 13 or 14 most days.

But the flying in the first movie, not very accurate. The second movie is a little bit more accurate. The tactics are not. But the actual flying, I'd say, is.

I'd say pretty accurate in the second movie.

Reginald D: So, yeah,

so no shade against Tom Cruise. But I'm ask you this. If Tom Cruise had to go through real Top Gun training with you guys,

is he making it through or is it getting sent home early?

Jack Stewart: I'm gonna say he's gonna make it through. I'm gonna. You know, like,

one thing I have to say I admire about him and a lot of other actors is their dedication to the craft. They're definitely students. And that's the number one thing you got to be a Top Gun.

As a student, you gotta be willing to learn. You gotta be willing to, like, adapt to the environment. And I think he'd be well suited for it.

So, yeah, I think he'd do well.

Reginald D: All right. And here's the question. I think everyone wants to know Tom Cruise's Go to song. The Top Gun was Danger Zone.

Jack Stewart: Yeah.

Reginald D: Is the go to song for you, Top Guns, Danger Zone. When you were out there?

Jack Stewart: I mean, it's. No.

When I flew in combat, I listened to heavy metal before I would go fly combat missions. And so a lot of bands that people probably would not like. My commanding officer used to refer to it as kill your mom for Satan music because it was just like, you know,

angry that no one could understand the words. But it right. It got me in the right frame of mind. And funny enough, this is a little sidebar. One of the bands that I used to listen to a lot was called Five Finger Death Punch.

They're a heavy metal band. I used to actually fall asleep listening to them. It was very calming to me. I don't know why. Like listening to heavy metal, my brain just shut down and go to sleep.

Reginald D: That's wild, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Jack, if you could leave the world with one message, what will it be?

Jack Stewart: The message I'd want to send everybody is that we're all the same.

We're all just humans. We're all just trying to do our best. And when I look at the conflicts around the world, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, whatever,

you take a person from each country,

they're all. Their bodies are the same. You know what I mean? They've got a skeleton, they've got a brain, they've got a heart, they've got lungs. Everything's the same.

And the only thing that's different is how we're viewing each other,

you know? And I think if we just realize that we're all the same, life would be a whole lot easier. So I try to do that in my life, you know, I just try to treat everyone with respect and dignity.

And that's kind of what my message would be to the world is. Try to leave it in a better place than when you got here.

Reginald D: Yes, exactly. And lastly, how can listeners follow you on social media, purchase your books or sign up early for Riptide when it releases on May 12?

Jack Stewart: Yeah, Instagram is probably the social media platform I'm most active at. That's Jackstewartbooks, Twitter. Or X is Jackstewartbook. No S, because there's too many characters. And you can follow me there.

You can go to my website, jackstewartbooks.com and I've got all my books listed on there with links to where you can buy it,

or you can just go to your favorite retailer and purchase the books there.

Reginald D: There you have it. Jack Stewart. Jack, man, thank you so much for coming on the show, man. I had a blast with you, man. Got a lot of insight, too.

Jack Stewart: My pleasure. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Reginald D: Thank you for listening to Real Talk with Reginald D. If you enjoyed listening to Real Talk with Reginald D, please rate and review on Apple Podcast. See you next time.