14. Someday In Montana

After 25 years in Air Force counterintelligence, Neil Wheldon traded global posts and Pentagon briefings for rivers and a steadier pace in Kalispell. Inspired early by a unifying vision of America, he built a career on integrity, clear judgment, and candid counsel. His defining chapter came at the Pentagon, leading the effort to map the Air Force’s future force needs against peer adversaries a decade out. Not being a pilot—once a liability in an aviation-first culture—became his edge. As a special agent, he applied investigative rigor: define assumptions, build process, test, refine, brief. The result reframed what credibility can look like at the highest levels.

That professional high point ran parallel to personal strain—five moves in five years, five high schools for his eldest, and a remote tour in Turkey. A shared “someday in Montana” became a plan: his wife and daughters put down roots in the Flathead while he finished his final tour. Today, Neil brings that same discipline to Line 49, a Montana firearms manufacturer born from regulatory headwinds in Alberta and rebuilt around stability, precision, and small-batch excellence. From super short action bolt rifles that run standard AR-15 magazines to modular Henry Supreme conversions, the focus is meticulous QC, indicated chambers, and a signed test sheet in every box—quiet collaboration in a valley rich with makers.

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• Glacier Investment Management
• Whitefish Financial Services

Heart of the Flathead, is produced by David Wigginton, in partnership with LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at HeartoftheFlathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights are reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton by clicking the Send Us a Text link at the top of the episode description. 

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit down with the change makers, the unsung heroes, and everyday folks who give this place its pulse. If you live here, love here, or just want to know what makes Kalispell and the Valley tick, you're in the right place. And now here's your host, Dave Wigginton.

Military Roots And Family Service

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome to Heart of the Flathead. Glad you could join us today. We've got another awesome guest from the Flathead Valley today. Wanted to introduce you to. We want to welcome Neil Weldon, actually formerly the general manager of Line 49. Neil, welcome to Heart of the Flathead.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah, thank you very much, Dave.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

So, Neil, you know, obviously we've got a lot of wonderful people that live in our community here. And I had the opportunity to meet you at the annual meeting for the Montana West Economic Development Group. And I got to learn a little bit about you. You are one of the many former service people that live in our community. So I think you are in counterintelligence for the Air Force. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, that's right. Counterintelligence for the Air Force called the Air Force Officer Special Investigations. A lot of people say, what is that? We and the typical answer I like to give is, well, we're just like NCIS, but we don't have a TV show.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Maybe, you know, just give us, I mean, you're you're not a native of the Flathead. So maybe give us some color about who you are, like where you grew up, a little about your life's journey, maybe some things you learned and and how you got to be here in the Flathead.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

So, you know, growing up, I I was born in the later 70s. So I remember Ronald Reagan very distinctly, right? So Ronald Reagan, I was a kid. I remember watching him on television, and I remember thinking at the time, even, which I think in hindsight in retrospect is very interesting, but I I felt very proud to be an American just listening to what he said. The thing that I this seems weird, you know, because I was very young, but the thing that I remember so distinctly was he he was so unifying, right? It didn't matter what your background was, it didn't matter what race, creed, nationality, male, female. He made you first and foremost proud to be an American. So that was kind of, you know, one of the main driving factors that I knew as a very young age I wanted to go in the military. And a lot of the rest of my family was in the military. My grandfather served in, my dad's dad served in World War II in Korea, my dad served in Vietnam. I've got other cousins who served in the Navy. Which branches, Neil? Which branches do they all serve in? My dad was in the Coast Guard on a high endurance cutter in Vietnam, so naval gunfire support. His dad was kind of interesting. So he was in the in World War II, he was in the army. And then for some some reason, I don't I don't fully know the story, but he ended up in the Navy for Korea. And then, you know, my cousin I was talking about. He's he's a Navy SEAL down in Cornell Island in Southern California for many, many years. So I had a lot of military influence that was immediately around me. So growing up, I knew I wanted to be in the military. I think it sort of disappointed my dad because he wanted me to try to be a professional ball player. But I played baseball for a hobby, but I always knew I wanted to be in the military. So then the question was, what branch? And I mentioned, you know, just kind of that pedigree. There was a lot of family that was in the floating services, either the Coast Guard or the Navy. So I thought for sure, well, I'm gonna go in the Navy. And so I was my mind was made up. And then at one point, my I think it was my dad pulled me aside and he said, Hey, I think that's great. You want to be in the military and you want to be in the Navy, okay. And then he said, How long do you want to be in the Navy? And I said, Geez, Dad, I don't know. Maybe a few years, maybe longer. I'm not totally sure. Gonna have to play it by ear and see how it goes. He says, Well, he says, if if you think that there's any chance that you might want to be in for more than a few years, and if during that time that you're in, you think you might have a family, can I can I offer for consideration the Air Force? I said, Air Force? No, I I had thought of the Air Force. Why would I want to go in the Air Force? And so then he talked to me about, you know, the quality of life, of course, and the ability to not be at sea. My dad said, Well, if you think about it, if you're in the Navy, more than likely your job is going to be on the ocean. He says, and that's tough with a family. And, you know, again, I I am grateful to my dad for having that conversation. I'm also glad I actually paid attention and listened to him. And so I said, Oh, okay, let me see what the Air Force is all about. And sure enough, so then I joined the Air Force and and you know, of course, everybody in the Air Force, or I should say everybody you talk to, when you just tell them you're from the Air Force, they said, Awesome, did you did you fly? No, I didn't fly jets, thank you. I didn't fly helicopters, I was a special agent, right? And so I I uh I was a ground pounder, but yeah, I really wanted to do the you know that that mission, which I thought was pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

So is that a technical term, ground pounder?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Well, the air force, yes.

Transitioning from the Air Force to Civilian Life

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Right, right. Understood, understood. So how many years were you were you in the air force? 25. 25, wow. And so when did you decide to retire? And what what kind of led to that, I guess, point to get up? Because 25 years, I mean, you've you're born in the late 70s, I mean you're probably in your late 40s now or mid to late 40s. That's right. That's good math. Yeah, and so you're you're you know more than half your life you in the Air Force then.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, that's right. It was it was really my adult experience, right? And uh it wasn't an easy decision, to be honest. I really enjoyed it. I liked, you know, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad. You know, it was moving every few years is hard on the family, and and you know, that you know that kind of going into it, and you know, lots of deployments and lots of time away from from home, but it was it was a good experience. And what kind of led to that was, you know, probably over the last five, six years of my career, we had moved a lot. So I think we had five moves in the last five years, and my my oldest daughter was in five separate high schools, and that was partly to blame on COVID as well. But I mean, it was it was becoming very hard, you know. So I've got two daughters, and I was on a remote tour in a remote remote assignment means I was by myself. I couldn't take my family. So I was on a remote assignment in Turkey for a year. And at the end of the year, the my boss backstayside, he called and said, Hey, Neil, great job. Really appreciate everything you've done out there. Yeah, where do you want to go next? Well, you know, I used to be the chief of assignments a long time ago, and I understand what that question means, which a lot of times it's not a real question. But so I said, Well, sir, if you're if you're really asking me where I'd like to go after this, thank you very much. I appreciate the compliment, but we'd like to go as far west as possible. You know, all our families you know from the west side of the country. And he says, Okay, awesome. How about the Pentagon? I said, Oh, geez. I said, that's that's not very far west. I said, are there any other options? And he goes, No, not really. That's where the general wants you. I said, it's west of Turkey, though, right? No, it's west of the Turkey. And I said, I told him at the time, I said, Well, awesome, it's uh it's west of the Atlantic, so so thank you very much. Well, my wife was not impressed by that exchange. She did not want to go to DC. We'd been stationed there before, did not, you know, we're not city people, and and she was she was, I could hear the crack in her psyche when I came home and told her we've got orders to the Pentagon. You know, she had a little bit of a lip twitch, and I said, uh oh. But she, you know, like a good military spouse, she said, okay, well, let's go. And so we went to the Pentagon and I was there for two years, and I actually really enjoyed it. I did some some amazing things, even though I was at the Pentagon. You know, they they put me in charge of designing what's called the future force of the Air Force, which is, you know, what capabilities do you think the Air Force is going to need to support the DOD or Department of War now and our allies and partners around the world to be able to compete and win against peer adversaries 10 years in the future? I was like, holy smokes. I mean, my crystal ball, I don't know about you, Dave, but my crystal ball is not very good. I even know I don't have for lunch tomorrow. So they put me in charge of that. And I said, well, okay. And fortunately, it was pretty neat because I had a bunch of PhDs, other senior officers working for me. And uh really we just kind of deconstructed it and we figured out a process for the ability to do it. And, you know, they they told me when they gave me the job, they said, Hey, good luck. We've been trying to figure this out for 20 years. So I thought to myself, well, if I fail, I'm in good company. You know, expectations are sort of low. But sure enough, they they locked us into a corner of the Pentagon for a few months and we came out and we we actually did it. And I'll tell you kind of a funny story that ties back to being a special agent was we were briefing all the senior leaders of the Air Force about you know our process and what we had proposed, which of course is very classified, highly classified still. And I got done briefing all these people and they looked at me and they said, Hey, this is great. And they said, By the way, what is your background? And I paused and I thought, oh no, because I'm not a pilot. I thought, geez, I'm gonna say I'm not a pilot. They're gonna throw this whole planet in the garbage. So I took a deep breath and hopefully I had a good poker face on. And I said, Well, ma'am, I'm a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. And then inwardly I cringed a little bit, waiting for the, oh, geez, you're not a pilot. But that wasn't what they said, to my surprise. She said she's instead, she what she said was, wow, that's perfect, because you're gonna look at this thing completely differently than we've been looking at this before. Well done. And I said, Oh it went better than I expected.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

So so help me understand here. So you keep kind of negatively referring to being a ground pounder. And so if you're not a pilot in the Air Force, then are you kind of a second-class citizen and and within that branch of the military?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Well, you know, I mean they wouldn't say that, and I wouldn't necessarily say that. I was treated very good in the well in the Air Force. However, if you think about it, the entire branch is there to fly. You know, so if you are the person that does the flying, you know, well, that's everything else in some degree or another is is considered to be supporting those roles. That's changed to some extent. You know, drone warfare has changed that. Of course, we've got ICBMs and other technology, and there's a whole lot of, you know, there's there's satellites, which, you know, we had that Space Force split off recently, and then there's a lot of cyber technology. So there's a lot more to the Air Force than that. But I will tell you, typically speaking, yes, it is predominantly Air Force, or I'm sorry, aviators, pilots, navigators, other air crew that lead the Air Force. So to have a guy who is not a pilot designing the future force design, I thought my credibility could be uh questioned, but that wasn't how they took it. So, like I said, that's why I'm pleased with that. Yeah, it was fun. It was very neat. I learned a lot. And then after that, they said, Hey, good job, Neil. We want you to go down to OSI headquarters, you know, come back to OSI headquarters, which was south of the Pentagon at Quantico, Virginia. What's OSI? Office of Special Investigations.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Air Force Office of Special Investigations. So OSI Headquarters is at Quantico, and it's co-located with NCIS and Army CID and the FBI is down there as well. And I thought, okay, it's too far to commute. So I went back and talked to my wife. I said, okay, we've got one more move. And that was when I saw in her face that enough was enough. And so what she said to me was, happy to happy to go with you if you want, but I I think that maybe a better option would be if the girls and I went to Montana and then you go finish up your last year in Quantico, and then when you're finished, please come and finally settle down. And when I say that a little bit, you know, out loud it sounds harsh, but it wasn't. And the her logic was, you know, at the age that our kids were at the time, wherever we moved to next, that's where they were going to define home. And she said that. She says, So if you want the kids to define home, or if you're okay with the kids defining homes, northern Virginia, we're happy to come with you. She says, I don't think that's what you want. So if that's the case, then we're going to go to Montana and we're going to start settling, setting in roots and please catch up. And it was the right decision. I mean, I give her all the credit in the world because that was airtight logic, and it was the right decision. But I went down to Quantico. I had one more, it was about 14 months. Then I finished up at OSI headquarters in Quantico. And I had another great job. You know, we were developing global counterintelligence strategies for OSI, which was fascinating. I mean, it was a lot of fun, it was a lot of coordination. We needed a lot of input from people all over the world. And I was able to certainly leverage a lot of the experience that I gained from the Pentagon. And then it was time to retire. And so this is sort of a long way of answering your question. And, you know, I mean, 25 years, yes, that was that was that was my adult experience. And I was excited to retire and also torn about the thought of retiring. Because I mean, it's it's frightening to become a civilian, you know. How do you do this? And uh, but you know, I figured, okay, I'll figure this out. And then I had one more curveball, the OSI commander, great person. I I think very highly of her. And uh she said, after this is after I had my retirement approved, she called me, she said, Would you please consider pulling your retirement paperwork? Uh we've got we've got another job for you to consider. And uh I was very tempted. And I called my wife, and my wife said, Dear God, please no.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

So no, was she already here in Kalispel then at that point? Or was she somewhere else in Montana?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

No, she was here in Callispel, so yeah, so you know, again, that was the right decision, but it was like I said, it was tempting, but you know, went through it with the retirement and and uh became a civilian.

Why Montana Became Home

SPEAKER_02 13:26

So how did you guys pick Calisbell, Montana, out of I mean, all your global experience, how did you end up here?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Well, I was part of it. So 20 plus years ago now, we were stationed over in Spokane at Fairchild Air Force Base. And we are very outdoorsy people, but we spent a lot of time outdoors, you know, in Spokane, around Spokane, northern Idaho, and of course, western Montana. And so we said at the time, you know, when it's all said and done, whenever that time is, when the Air Force is done telling us where to go, this is the part of the world that we want to come back to. And we weren't really serious, you know. I mean, we're geez in our mid-20s at that point, and we just said, yeah, that's that's right, that's where we want to go. Well, over time, it became the mantra, right? It was, you know, I'd get sent on a deployment. You know, I was gone for nine months on a deployment, and it was two weeks after my youngest daughter was born. That was hard on my on my wife, of course, you know, and you know, it's moments like that when you say, someday in Montana, right? That became the the mantra. So when we would have a bad assignment or, you know, a stressful day, or you know, who whatever, you know, we just say it's okay, you know, because someday in Montana, they came up. And then it became real, right? So we're like, huh, do we really want to do that? Yeah, I guess we do. And the more we came back to visit, and the more we were like, yep, this is this place has all the things that we want. And it was really a reflection of everything that I said that I wanted to sign up for to you know, raise my right hand and support, defend the constitution and that way of life. That was here more than anywhere else that we'd ever been. So it became the thing and and it it became a reality, and here we are.

About Line 49

SPEAKER_02 15:06

That's great. That is great. So you get here, and I know you had to find a job because you're retired. Now you're a civilian, so you're not you're back, you know, in in the, I guess, what we would call the real world. And that's I know it's different from what you are, but the the normal world for us civilians. And you end up getting a job with line 49, a firearms manufacturer. And so give us just a little bit of background that because they're they're a new company. They moved here or they opened up shop, but have roots to Canada, which is kind of interesting given how Canada's a little less gun-friendly or a lot more gun friendly, a lot less gun-friendly than the in the US. But how how did this company start and what are they doing here?

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah, so it's it's interesting. So I was previously co-workers with one of the owners, and she told me that hey, they're they're starting a firearms manufacturing company here in Calisbell and come work for us. And I said, Okay, that sounds interesting. You have my attention. You know, tell me, tell me about yourself. So, what what their story is, they do have roots in Alberta. They started one of the other owners started an indoor shooting range about 15 years ago. And it it did well, and I think it surprised them how well it did. And so they said, geez, this is doing well, and maybe we should rent some firearms. So they bought some firearms and they had them for rent, and then their business did even better. And they thought, well, maybe we should sell some firearms. And so they they bought some more inventory and they were selling firearms, and their business did even better. Well, to your point that you just made, the Canadian government is less gun-friendly. And what happened was, you know, the Canadian government would come down and say, hey, this this gun is going to be, or this firearm or this attribute is going to be illegal in the very near future. And so now they're sitting on this inventory, and a good chunk of it is potentially going to be illegal, you know, based on this new decree from the Canadian federal government. And so they thought, oh my gosh, what do we do? Well, a lot of the other gun companies or or retail firearms dealers or similar type of industry in Canada, they're like, oh my gosh, I guess we're just going to go bankrupt. Well, what line 49, the original owners did, was they said, well, let's let's study this and let's find out what it is that makes these firearms illegal. And let's see if there's anything we can do about it. So they did. They studied it. They sort of dissected the bits and parts and pieces that the Canadian government said were illegal or attributes that made these firearms illegal. And then they went back to the Canadian federal government. They said, well, if we change this and this on this firearm, for example, you know, firearm X or Y, is it still illegal? And the Canadian federal government says, well, no, not technically. So then they said, okay. And they hired a machinist and they bought a lathe and they started changing their parts. And they they converted those firearms to make them legal per the Canadian law. And their business exploded because now they've got this inventory that you know everybody thought was going to be illegal. And now they've got legalized versions of whatever firearm was about ready to be outlawed. And and their their business exploded because of that. And that sort of became their their model, their business model, not by desire, but by necessity. And as additional firearms became, you know, that were going to be banned in the near future, they continued to do that. Well, they finally got tired of doing that because it just became very, very difficult. And it was it was hard for them. It was stressful for them. So they said, we need to make a change. What do we do? And of course they looked south to the United States and they said, Well, if we go to the United States, where they have at least the stability that's provided by the Constitution, and in particular the Second Amendment, that's that's where we need to be. And so they did, and here they are, and they're do they're making a go at it.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

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SPEAKER_02 21:15

So what what is their differentiator, their specialty? Because I mean we talked a little bit about this last week and I thought it was pretty interesting.

Collaboration In The Valley

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yeah, they they've there's two things that they are really focusing on right now. And they're starting very modestly to begin. You know, and they've got their own design for what is called a super short action. So it's a miniaturized bolt action rifle. It's smaller than a regular short action rifle. And it and the difference between this and anything else is it uses a regular AR-15 style magazine. And those are chambered in like you know, small-ish calibers like 223 and 300 blackout and six arc and things like that. And then the other thing that they do is they they take lever action guns and then they they convert them. One in particular that they're really having quite a bit of success with is the Henry Supreme, which is a really neat rifle from Henry, and it's a relatively new gun. It's, I think they Henry released it a couple years ago. But what Line 49 figured out how to do in conjunction with their their sister company I was just talking about up in Alberta was they figured out how to take the barrel off, which is very hard to do. It's easy to get the barrel off, but it's hard to do without destroying the receiver. Well, they figured out how to do that. So they're able to take that barrel off, put one of line 49 precision with barrels on it, and then reattach it with an AR barrel nut. So they're able to make it very modular, much like an AR. And so that's receiving a lot of attention as well.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

So what is the the precision barrel then? Is that just mean it's more accurate than another, or what what makes it precise, I guess?

Life Lessons

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Well, the thing about line 49 that's that's very interesting and I and I appreciate is that it's it's small batch, right? It's very, it's not mass produced. So it's very very much attention to detail for every step. They indicate every indicate for precision, every chamber. They do the whole thing, you know, from from chamber to contour to muzzle threads and crown, right there, you know, in a in a single run it in batches. And they Check those barrels multiple times throughout the process. And they keep extensive QC records. In fact, every gun that you buy from line 49, you get in it. It is a no-kidding QC sheet that says, yes, this was this was checked off and this was done to it. And it's signed and signed by both a technician and then also, you know, one of the leaders within line 49. So they take a lot of pride in not mass producing, but making high-quality firearms.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

That's nice. So you know, line 49 is just another of many firearms manufacturers in the valley. Do you do you guys all get together and and share notes or are you guys kind of siloed? How is there an interaction, I guess, between the different gun manufacturers here?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

There is. You know, it's surprising. There's there is quite a bit of collaboration and there's quite a bit of support. And I think because the the valley is relatively small and the opportunities are very large and vast outside of Calispell or outside of Flathead County, you know, so the rest of the country. So there's collaboration there. Of course, you know, there's there's trade secrets that you don't want to give away. But yeah, there's there's a surprising amount of positive collaboration.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

That's great. So what a life, I mean, serving counterintelligence throughout the world for the Air Force, now in the Flathead, and having had experiences now with Line 49, moving on to some other experiences as well. What what are some of the things like I would say, I don't know, some of the most important lessons you feel like you've learned throughout your your life's journey?

Why The Flathead Fits

The Flathead Five

SPEAKER_00 24:39

I am surprised that I was able to go as far as I did in the military. And I say that because, you know, I never really had a champion. I never really had some you know general officer who was taking me and tucking me under their wing. And all I wanted to do every day was just show up and do the best I could every day, you know, work as hard as I could and work with integrity and see where the chips fell. And I just didn't know how far that would take me. And so I would say that you know that that proved to be quite successful. You know, show up, work as hard as you can, do everything you can with integrity, and then play your own game. You know, yeah, there's there's there's wisdom in not bucking the system, of course, too much. But on the flip side of the coin, it's okay to say I don't think that's the right fit, or you know, I don't, I don't know if I agree with that, or you know, speaking up and speaking your mind. Professionalism always, you know, always if you're professional or if you have a high degree of professionalism, that can really, you know, carry you through. And I think what I learned was that was that was apparently not always as common as I would have expected. And people seem to appreciate it, particularly the senior leaders. You know, well, Neil, what do you think? Well, I'll tell you what I think. I'll I'll be very professional, polite, and courteous. However, I think this is a mistake, sir, man. And I just didn't know how far that would take me. But in hindsight, it worked out quite well.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Awesome. So you mentioned that you and your wife back in your mid-20s had uh determined that this must be the place, right? The uh the flathead cowsspell area. Well, what's what do you like about here? What makes this a great place for you and your family?

SPEAKER_00 26:15

It's like going back in time 30 years in all the right ways. You know, there's there's some things that are a little bit inconvenient about that, you know, like when we were stationed in northern Virginia, you could go on Amazon in the morning and order something, and a few hours later it'd be sitting on your doorstep. Well, that doesn't happen here. It might take a week or uh 10 days for something to get here. But you know, it it is a great quality of life. And I do know that you know people say, geez, yeah, but it's really exploded in growth in the last five or ten years. Yeah, that's that's true. But you know, when you have the perspective of having lived all over the world, this is still one of the best places on the planet. And that's why we came here.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

That's awesome. We're glad that you guys are here. We great addition to our community and super appreciative of your service. You know, to wrap up today, we're gonna we're gonna move to our our flathead five, and these are the five questions that we ask all our guests, the rapid fire. And so we'll jump in and and don't think too long about the answers. So, what is your favorite spot or gem here in the in the community?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Ooh, my favorite spot or gem. I will tell you that this may not surprise you, but I do like going up in the national forest. You know, and every chance I get, I like to go up there. I like to hike around, I like to take my dog, I like to go out and shoot, and uh like just being outdoors.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

So, do you do that with others or do you do that on your own?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Both. You know, I yeah, I do that with happy to go by myself, but you know, people want to come along, I'm just as happy then too. Grizz or Bobcats? Well, my daughter goes to MSU, so bobcats.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

All right. So I think you already answered this, but what's your favorite outdoor activity in the valley?

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Well, you know, hunting is is is probably my favorite thing that I like to do. I mean, every chance that I get, I got a little uh beautiful little English setter. So I like to go bird hunting, I like to be out outdoors hunting whatever chance I get. And then, you know, when when it's not hunting season, of course, you know, you probably find me on a river fishing. So those those two are probably my favorite things being outside. Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

And what do you know today that you wish you knew when you started out?

SPEAKER_00 28:15

I've always been very idealistic, which I think is good and bad. You know, I think it can be sometimes it can bite you, you know, because when you're idealistic, you realize, especially when you're young, you realize as you get older, you know, the world is perhaps not as not as wonderful as you hope it is. However, I still think that that's you know, I'm an optimistic guy, so I I think that that's okay. But maybe knocking a little bit of that naivete off from when I was you know my early 20s was probably a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Right. Yeah, I fill you on that one. Yeah. So when when it's all over, when it's all said and done, what uh what do you want the one or two sentence review on your life's work to be?

SPEAKER_00 28:54

You know, I I hope that when it's all said and done, that my family looks back and they say, you know, dad was a great guy, that my my wife says my husband was a wonderful man, assuming she others me, of course. You know, and then I just want people to say, you know, he was uh he was a good human being. He he he gave everything he could to his community, his country, and we'll miss him.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

That's great. Neil, thank you so much for for joining me today and for uh coming on Heart of the Flathead. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and look forward to uh seeing you around in the community in the future.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Likewise, it's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the Flathead. We'd love to hear your thoughts about today's episode and the podcast in general. You can listen at heart of the flathead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can reach David via the contact page at heart of theflathead.com or by clicking on the send us feedback link at the top of the episode description and your favorite podcast app. Heart of the Flathead is produced by David Wigginton in partnership with Left Brain Right Brain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at heart of theflathead.com and left brainrightbrainmarketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead Podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wiginton. All rights reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton at heart of theflathead.com with your request. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. The podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.