How This Air Force Veteran's Journey Led Him to Peloton

As we celebrate Veterans Day today, we want to honor the many Peloton Members who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Every veteran has a unique story, and we’re proud to count among our own Brett C, a United States Air Force Veteran who served his country for almost 15 years. Brett lives in Oxnard, California, with his wife, AJ, who is a Navy veteran herself, and his son, Hunter, who plans to join the Air Force soon. The Copeland family also has a dog, Nala, and two bunnies, Gus and Lydia.

Brett caught our eye through his lively Instagram account, @milesandbeers, where he shares his outdoor runs around Southern California wearing his signature t-shirt (“Run all the miles, drink all the beer”) as well as some post-race celebrations. His enthusiasm for mixing sweat with beer also extends to his Peloton Bike, which he’s owned and used as an essential part of his training routine since July 2019. (He got really into beer thanks to San Antonio’s brewery scene, where he lived right as he quit smoking and his taste buds got more complex.)

Brett grew up in Suffolk, Virginia, and joined the Air Force after graduating from high school because the training a military career provided seemed more fitting to his career goals than a college education. After completing basic training, Brett was stationed just a few hours from home at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In his words, “It wasn’t an exciting place to live, but the group of people I worked with made it worthwhile.” Early in his Air Force career, he began learning about information technology—everything from network administration, help desk, and website design.

In 2002, Brett was deployed to Kyrgyzstan in support of the 9/11 response. There, his task was to set up initial communications on a base being constructed to provide airlift support to operations in Afghanistan. After a two-month deployment, once the operation and set-up was complete, Brett came back home. The year after Brett set up network operations in Qatar for six months, and because he had more time in the country and a more established base, he was able to enjoy cities like Doha—a world away from home.

After six years in North Carolina, Brett applied for tour in South Korea, which meant leaving his family behind for a year, and when he returned he was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, working on cybersecurity for the Defense Intelligence Agency at a Navy base. After four years there, Brett went to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, although he spent the majority of his time there on airplanes and in hotels because he was traveling to places like Guam, Germany, Japan and Hawaii to inspect various intelligence agencies and facilities.

Then, after 10 years of no deployments, Brett headed to a Navy base in Djibouti, right around the Horn of Africa, for 5 months. It was in Djibouti that Brett’s fitness journey began. From July until December he ran every day, even going as far as coordinating a virtual half marathon on the base. As a result of his consistent training, Brett was in the best shape he had been in for a long time—his low was in 2011 after failing a fitness test, which made him decide to run more seriously and quit cigarettes. This time in Djibouti ended up being Brett’s final deployment, and he was on his way out of the Air Force in the fall of 2014. Brett’s job hunt led him to a defense contractor in Oxnard, California, where he and his family have been ever since.

Brett’s relationship with fitness played a huge role in making the move to a new place easier as he transitioned from the military to civilian life. He and his wife began signing up for every race they could, in hopes of meeting new people. Their foray into the local fitness community was successful, as they’ve met lifelong friends through races who Brett says have “treated us like family in a place where we didn’t have one.”

It was through this network of friends that Brett first heard about the Peloton Bike and how much it improved their fitness levels. Brett felt his training had stagnated and running started to feel tedious, so he decided to invest in a Peloton Bike. He started with just the cycling classes, of which his favorites are Power Zone rides—he loves the statistics and the ability to train endurance for 75 or 90 minutes—and metal rides to get the frustration out after a bad day, but as he’s spent more time with his Membership, he’s also gotten more into strength, yoga, cardio, and outdoor running classes.

Because he doesn’t use Facebook, Brett doesn’t connect with the Peloton Community like he used to in Facebook groups, but he does utilize Tags. His Leaderboard Tag is currently #BlackLivesMatter, “because there is still much work to be done to ensure there is equality and the conversations need to continue.” Additionally, during class he’ll filter the Leaderboard by those with the same Tags as him and give out high fives.

Fitness has also helped Brett deal with his mental health, which was struggling in October for both personal reasons and because of current events. “Kendall Toole’s World Mental Health Day ride could not have come at a better time,” Brett says, and he’ll go back to that ride whenever he needs a mental reset.

Brett, Team Peloton thanks you for your service and we’ll be looking out for you on the Leaderboard to give you and everyone else riding and running with a Tag like #Vets or anything else related to being a veteran a high five.