
Ep. 166: The Trade Gap Is Killing Us - Here’s What No One’s Talking About
The Silvercore Podcast with Travis BaderShow Notes
Zach Hanson was thriving in the world of AI and big tech...until the layoffs came. Two mortgages, a family to support, and no job in sight, he did what few with a white-collar background ever dare: he turned to trapping to survive. In this raw and timely conversation, Zach reveals how losing the comfort of corporate life reconnected him to skills that most of society has forgotten, skills that may be our only hedge in an uncertain future. Travis and Zach explore what it means to be truly self-reliant in a world increasingly propped up by fragile systems. From welding school to wolf trapping, from modern brain rot to the mental health cost of career fragility, this is a conversation about grit, identity, and rediscovering the value of getting your hands dirty. Zach's new book, The Trade Gap, might just be the blueprint for how to stay human in an AI-powered world.
Order Here: https://geni.us/the-trade-gap
https://www.instagram.com/letmedielearning/ ______ Silvercore Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Online Training - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Other Training & Services - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Blog Page - https://www.silvercore.ca/blog Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____
Timestamps of Key Moments: 00:01:42 – The nostalgic charm of Merits Café and small-town hospitality 00:04:50 – Fishing in Idaho and the surprising joy of tenkara rods 00:08:00 – Life in Atlanta, Idaho and Travis' transformative trip to the Hansons' cabin 00:09:55 – From white collar to off-grid: Zach’s journey into trapping and trades 00:10:45 – Laid off and out of options: how trapping paid the mortgage 00:14:10 – Welding school, starting from zero, and why it matters 00:15:30 – How America abandoned trades and built a fragile workforce 00:18:45 – The great shift in education: STEM vs. self-reliance 00:22:15 – Redefining general education and the modern renaissance person 00:26:50 – The Venn diagram of AI and trades: where the winners will be 00:30:05 – Brain rot, social media, and the cost of convenience 00:34:45 – Travis' AI blunder with GSP and the perils of outsourcing sincerity 00:39:00 – Should we disclose when AI helps us? Ethical lines in creativity 00:44:20 – The power draw of AI and the trades crisis nobody’s ready for 00:47:05 – Oklahoma’s model for reviving trades in high school 00:52:25 – TVM vs. TVE: Why building it yourself will always matter more 01:00:55 – What do you really do? Redefining identity outside of job titles 01:04:00 – What success looks like when you stop chasing titles 01:10:30 – A friend lost to suicide and the mental health cost of obsolescence 01:15:15 – The Adobe example: fear of learning something new vs. choosing growth 01:17:00 – Why The Trade Gap is ultimately about giving people more options
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Mark Twight joins Travis Bader on the Silvercore Podcast for a conversation about alpinism, Gym Jones, the training behind 300, and life after peak performance. The booking took five years and one condition: in person only. Twight climbed in the Alps, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, including The Reality Bath, a route that went unrepeated for 37 years. He climbed the Slovak Direct on Denali in 60 hours with Steve House and Scott Backes. His books Extreme Alpinism and Kiss or Kill were picked up well outside climbing, including by military units who found the chapter on attitude and character applied to their work. He later worked on nine feature films, most of them with director Zack Snyder, building physical transformations against production deadlines. In this conversation, recorded in person in Montana, Twight talks about what separated him from better technical climbers, why he keeps walking away from things at the top, and what he has found in the valley since. Topics covered: - Growing up the son of a National Park Service law enforcement ranger - Taking up shooting in 1995, and mentors including Brian Enos and Pat Rogers - Getting disqualified before firing a shot in his first match in 21 years - Self image, permission to fail, and why some competitors stall - Mount Hunter in 39 hours nonstop, and the arithmetic of pack weight - Writing while drinking, and the decision to stop - Building the cast of 300, and why fast results do not hold - Leaving the Aquaman job when the paycheque became the only reason to stay - Declining physical capacity, and purpose after achievement A conversation about total commitment, and the bill that comes due for it. Learn more about Mark Twight: Website: https://www.marktwight.com Substack: https://marktwight.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wfmft _____ The Silvercore Club keeps you sharp and has your back. $5M excess liability insurance for hunting, fishing, and shooting across Canada and the US, member discounts, and a community that gets outside. $59/year. Join the Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Firearms & hunting courses - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors This content is for information and entertainment only. Nothing here is professional, legal, or safety advice. Firearms, hunting, and outdoor activities carry real risk. Know and follow the laws that apply to you, use safe practices, and get proper training from qualified professionals before acting on anything discussed. Silvercore accepts no liability for how this information is used. ____ 00:00 Five years and a one word reply 06:20 A ranger father, an anti-authority son 12:50 Nine films, mostly with Zack Snyder 17:20 Forty pounds and a changed life 20:00 Extreme Alpinism reaches Special Forces 26:50 The mountains are not clever, men are 28:40 Guns are stupid, then a range day 31:30 Brian Enos, Gunsite and mentors 41:50 Back to competition, DQ'd first match 49:40 You never outperform your self image 51:20 Permission to fail 57:20 Seven lives in one lifetime 1:01:00 Mount Hunter, 39 hours nonstop 1:04:50 The Slovak Direct in 60 hours 1:11:00 Why he stopped climbing 1:16:30 Writing drunk, and what it cost 1:29:00 Coming down to the valley 1:38:40 Borrowed beliefs and in-group politics 1:44:40 Hunters, conservation, common ground 1:47:20 Paragliding before anyone knew how 1:56:40 Something to rebel against 2:00:20 The first gym, and what it taught him 2:06:40 Invitation only, everyone on parole 2:12:30 300 and the website that crashed 2:16:30 Fear, rationalization, walking away 2:23:20 Walking off Aquaman 2:31:50 Fast results are unstable results 2:46:20 Why dangerous things matter 2:51:40 Risk tolerance over technical skill 3:03:40 No off-ramp for veterans and athletes 3:08:00 Intent i
Ian Sim spent nearly three decades in the RCMP. In December, alone in his apartment, the strokes came. He saved the wine, booked an Uber to emergency because it was faster than an ambulance, and days later faced a decision about a clot-busting drug with minutes on the clock and nobody to call. The man who returns to the Silvercore Podcast is in what he calls the afterglow. Colours are brighter. Food tastes better. Any familiar face is an old friend. Ian cold-called the SAS out of directory assistance and got a yes. He policed Wreck Beach by getting out of the car and learning names. He wrote a counterterrorism paper that got him summoned to the principal's office, and he has rebuilt his off-duty carry proposal into something a province could adopt on its own. And he answers the question an RCMP recruiter asked him at 19: do you have a healthy or an unhealthy interest in firearms? His answer got the room to go quiet. Ian speaks as a private citizen. His views are his own, not those of the RCMP. _____ The Silvercore Club keeps you sharp and has your back. $5M excess liability insurance for hunting, fishing, and shooting across Canada and the US, member discounts, and a community that gets outside. $59/year. Join the Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Firearms & hunting courses - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors This content is for information and entertainment only. Nothing here is professional, legal, or safety advice. Firearms, hunting, and outdoor activities carry real risk. Know and follow the laws that apply to you, use safe practices, and get proper training from qualified professionals before acting on anything discussed. Silvercore accepts no liability for how this information is used. ____ 00:00:00 Welcome back 00:01:00 The warning shots 00:12:00 The big one 00:18:00 The clot buster decision 00:29:00 A song and a $5 bill 00:43:00 Is there any such thing as a coincidence? 00:53:00 A Reaper in the desert 00:56:00 Cold-calling the SAS 01:04:00 The afterglow 01:12:00 They don't look like supermen 01:19:00 Radio, Wreck Beach and who works for whom 01:32:00 Smart on crime 01:35:00 Off-shift carry, the proposal rebuilt 01:48:00 Define the problem first 01:55:00 The paper and the principal's office 02:10:00 A Liberal beat him to it 02:14:00 "I wanted to live my life armed" 02:26:00 The next sidearm 02:36:00 Courts and credibility 02:38:00 Until next time
Retired Delta Force Sergeant Major Kyle Lamb returns to the Silvercore Podcast to talk about his new book, The Next Mission, co-authored with his wife Melynda. Kyle spent 21 years in the US Army, 15 of them in Delta Force, and fought in the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The day episode 124 finished recording, Kyle got a phone call telling him he had bladder cancer. He had just told Travis, on tape, that he was living as though he had six months left. What happened next changed how he and Melynda live. In this conversation: The phone call after the last podcast, and the lung finding that followed for his wife Why The Next Mission reads the Bible through a special operations lens, and why Bible scholars are not the audience Ehud the left-handed assassin, and how researching a bronze dagger led to Herodotus and tin from ancient Britain The Apostle Paul chained to a Roman soldier, and the two words that would have stopped his beating Why Melynda's name is on the cover, and the five chapters she red-X'd out of Leadership in the Shadows Two poems read aloud that have never been published anywhere Twelve years without a drink, and the conversation in Hawaii that changed how he saw it Why the Christian who did the most for his faith in two years is a Muslim friend What tribe actually means, and why it has nothing to do with skin, geography, or religion The redactions left visible in the book, and the note inside the cover confirming no AI was used The Next Mission is 432 pages, published June 6, 2026. Signed and personalized copies are available direct from Viking Tactics. It is priced at $27.17, a reference to Proverbs 27:17, iron sharpens iron. Kyle Lamb and Viking Tactics Signed copies: https://www.vikingtactics.com/shop/the-next-mission/ Stay in the Fight Foundation: https://www.vikingtactics.com/stay-in-the-fight-foundation/ Team VTAC Podcast: https://kylelamb.libsyn.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikingtactics _____ Silvercore Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Online Training - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/canadian-firearms-safety-course-online Other Training & Services - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Blog Page - https://www.silvercore.ca/blog Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____