Jeremy Mahugh On His Journey From Special Operations To Fighting Human Trafficking, Launching Caim Technology

04/26/23 • 92 min

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From Navy SEAL sniper with Special Operations and Intelligence Community experience to Co-Founder of Caim Technology, a counter human trafficking organization.
That’s this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast guest, Jeremy Mahugh. Marcus and Jeremy get in the weeds regarding Jeremy’s involvement in the development of cell phone app technology capable of identifying potential human trafficking risks as a preventive measure against being victimized.
Caim Technology
www.caim.tech
In this episode you will hear:
• [While in a float tank] I thought, “I wonder what it’d feel like if I just rolled over?”. I got the salt in my nose, and eyes, and ears, and the rest of the hour was shot. (8:41)
• Everybody has the ability to travel now, but some people still don’t. (15:24)
• [My grandfather] was in the Army Air Corps and was shot down over Yugoslavia in World War II. He was a POW. (22:44)
• I’m still not sure if they know what soccer is in Texas. (24:03)
• I just wanted to be part of a team – I wanted to part of something that was gonna push me to be better. (27:26)
• [Caim Technology] is focused on collecting any kind of data on human trafficking or exploitation. (57:39)
• One of the things that’s been missing is having a tool to put in the hands of the consumer. So we have a mobile app that will tell you if you’re interacting with someone in the [human trafficking] database. (58:02)
• You can connect a consumer with a product via smart phone. That’s also happening in the human trafficking world. (59:51)
• Q: Is the app available? A: We’re probably a month or two away from being launched. We’re collecting data from a multitude of websites. (66:11)
• It will go to the app store soon, and has to go through beta testing. (66:30)
• Technology has gotten to the point that it is everything to us. (70:22)
• It’s the Wild West. There’s never been good parameters on how [AI] can be used. (75:16)
• Everybody has a need to deal with this [Caim App] and has a need for good information. (78:04)
• What I love about what we’re doing now is we’re here to support all of you. Our for-profit is there to make money, but provide tools and prevention and have a huge hammer in the fight against human trafficking. (82:15)

Previous Episode

Robert "Cujo" Teschner: Award Winning U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot, Senior Joint Staff Officer, 2x Bestselling Author

What a privilege it is to have the top graduate of the Air Force Top Gun School and retired U.S. Air Force F-22 and F-15 fighter pilot and squadron commander, Rob “Cujo” Teschner in the studio with Marcus for this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast. Listen in for an inspiring conversation with Cujo, whose life is an amazing success story, and whose life mission is to teach and inspire others, bridging the gap between the principles of high performance combat veterans and high performance business.
His fight with Colorectal Cancer is what prompted Cujo to retire from the Air Force early. Yet his ambition led to his path of entrepreneurship, leadership and team development. Cujo is the founder and CEO of VMax Group, an international leadership training company and he has authored several books, two of which went to #1 on the Amazon bestseller list.
In this episode you will hear:
• I loved being part of the Air Force family. We lived all over the place. (7:57)
• 1977 when Luke Skywalker wants to join some academy and then join the rebellion. That resonated with me. (9:49)
• As a kid, I felt like the military was my family. It’s what I knew. (10:50)
• I thought it was always cool to hop on an airplane to go someplace new. To meet new people along the way. (13:00)
• My letter – the one that says “thanks for applying” never said “try again”. (18:26)
• The more people told me it wasn’t gonna happen the more committed I was to proving them wrong. (20:47)
• I had never flown an airplane before I went to the Air Force Academy. (23:32)
• Isn’t that stunning how fast we accelerate leadership – how fast we accelerate somebody to realize their potential? (27:07)
• If there was a time period I could freeze it would be First Lieutenant to Captain, because that’s when I was out there doing the mission. (28:28)
• What we need is a constant stream of warriors who are ready to go forth and do. (35:18)
• The biggest honor of my military career was being called to be an instructor at our Fighter Weapons School, basically it’s the Air Force Top Gun Program. (36:49)
• You can beat people up and tell them how much they suck and they can learn from that, but another alternative might be Hey Cujo, we were 2 decisions from victory today. (43:55)
• I try to apply that to my kids. (44:46)
• One of the huge blessings of my life was being a part of teams that mattered. (48:09)
• Our family team got a whole heck of a lot better as a result of my failure with cancer. That caused us to focus where we needed to. I’m eternally grateful for it. (52:32)
• One of the best 4-star bosses I ever worked for would come in every month and ask us “Hey what are you doing for the home team?” (55:33)

Next Episode

The Power of Advocacy: The Inspiring Story of Sarah Verardo, CEO of The Independence Fund

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From enduring her husband’s life-changing, horrific war injuries to becoming a National Advocate for wounded Veterans and their Caregivers, Sarah Verardo’s relentless never quit attitude has driven her to the forefront of two separate organizations who see the needs of Veterans and Allies, which have given her the opportunity to steward resources and support where and when they are most crucially needed.
Sarah’s husband, Sgt. Michael Verardo was catastrophically wounded in Afghanistan in two separate IED attacks that took his left leg, much of his left arm, and left him with polytraumatic conditions that have required over one hundred surgeries and years of speech, visual, physical, and occupational therapies.
Nevertheless, Sarah speaks with Marcus about the everyday challenges she and her daughters face in the care of her husband, her involvement as the CEO of The Independence Fund, and being at the forefront of Afghan Ally inclusion within the Veteran community. In August 2021, the collapse of Afghanistan led her and three others to co-found the direct-response rescue and aid organization - Save Our Allies, who evacuated more than 17,000 US citizens, SIV holders, and wartime Allies from the country and assisted in medical and humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.
In this episode you will hear:
• [Michael Verardo] was injured the first time. He was riding as a gunner and hit a roadside IED. He was ejected out. (12:54)
• On his very first foot patrol back in - It was 14 days to the day of the first IED, there was an old Russian land mine that had been hooked up to 2 – 15gallon drums of homemade explosives, and it was game over. His left leg was immediately blown off. Most of his left arm was blown off. They actually ended up sewing it to his back on his medical flight. He burned over 30% of his body. He had damage to his airway, his eardrums were blown out. It was significant poly trauma. (13:29)
• Marcus: “He got banged up and then you all got married?” (17:02)
• Marcus: You know the odds of that happening? That’s when you know you’re not behind the wheel. (17:46)
• That sense of patriotism calling – That’s all he wanted to do. (18:02)
• It’s been horrific. More than my worst nightmare. (18:26)
• He actually handed me a Bible before he handed me an engagement ring. (20:18)
• He said holiness needs to be more important than happiness. (20:37)
• His only prosthetic leg broke, and I duct taped it for 57 days while I waited for someone at the VA to sign a piece of paper. (33:18)
• The Navy and the Navy hospital took care of him as if he was one of their own while we waited for VA to kick in. (24:23)
• I think there needs to be permanent designations for certain conditions. (26:24)
• It seems that some people – not all - at VA would rather fail by following the process, than succeed by deviating from it. (27:21)
• Independence Fund started out in the halls of Water Reed, wanting to give independence back to those who sacrificed theirs for us. (34:39)
• If someone did not care about Afghanistan at that time, it told me everything I needed to know about them. (41:47)
• I think the White House wants us to move on from Afghanistan. They’re not only not helping – I think they’re actively in the way of groups that want to do good. (52:36)
• Reach out to the wounded veterans in your community and help these families. (59:15)