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[Assistant] And you just have this, this passion for your family. And you, it just meant, it was the most important thing in the world to me for my whole adult life. But when you take that and you put that on a, you know, young kid.


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[Assistant] And you know, everyone's like, oh yeah, Jocko, he's a big reader. I wasn't reading anything back then. I was reading the platoon handbook, right? I wasn't reading. I wasn't reading Shakespeare.


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[Assistant] And you put him in a situation where the thing that he cares about the most has been...


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[Assistant] It's, it's caveman. It's caveman scenario. There you go. And, and the other thing is, and you know, those guys that were in those early platoons when I was, like I said, quote unquote,


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[Assistant] Years later, they're like, yeah, that was awesome. So glad I got raised that way. They're proud of it. Yeah. You know, but at the same time, you, uh, you,


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[Assistant] When I look back on it, I know I was not a good leader, right? By any stretch.


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[Assistant] Is setting the bar, like let's say I was in a seal platoon right now. And now I'm gonna set the bar so high that I lose track of the, lose vision of the fact that like, hey the guy that I'm trying to convince right now is a 23 year old thing and the most important thing in his world is, this is funny.


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[Assistant] Like, I was talking to someone the other day and I was like, I couldn't remember what sequel platoon, what the phonetic letter of a certain sequel platoon I was in at a certain time. I was like, I forget what platoon that was.


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[Assistant] And it's like, oh yea, what platoon was that? Because as I matured, and as I saw the rest of the world, I realized that even though a CO platoon is very important, and certainly it's the most important thing when you're in it, when you're...


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[Assistant] In a task unit or you're overseas and there's multiple people running around and there's huge missions going on.


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[Assistant] You, you, you, your mind gets opened up. Yeah. And you see more. And the little thing that you used to be so engulfed in your head becomes, becomes less. That's all there is to it.


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[Assistant] Guys in the SEAL platoon, there's no better job. Like it's the best thing in the world. And I'm sure, you know, I never served in a, in a Marine Corps infantry platoon or in a, in a Army, US Army infantry platoon, but I saw them. I saw what they were like and they have that same, you know, bond.


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[Assistant] You get from being in those tough units. So, uh, there's something very cool about that. About being a grunt.


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[Assistant] Which is what you are in the SEAL teams, you might think all the special operations or whatever, you're a grunt, you carry a machine gun.


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[Assistant] That's what being a grunt is, you're doing hard things, you're carrying a bunch of weight around.


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[Assistant] I just wanna be back in this field tonight. That's so bad. Yea, I can kinda tell. That was so fun. That was so awesome. Yea. So awesome. So meaningful. I would have fought you. Yea. Straight up. Yea. You know what would have happened.


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[Assistant] That was one of the good things about knowing a little tiny bit of jujitsu, which I actually knew a little bit.


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[Assistant] And here's the thing, they didn't know any better, all they thought was, they didn't, I don't think I ever said like, I know Jiu Jitsu and you don't. But it was just, I was so confident, like, oh, I actually know this and I know that I can choke this dude, that they just said, uh, you know what, this guy's probably gonna kick my ass. And the weird thing is, there's probably guys along the way that could've kicked my ass. You know, some kid that wrestled in high school?


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[Assistant] Here we're talking about, so I just was talking about, this is interesting. So I was just talking about mental strength and physical strength. Well here we go, back to the book. Moral courage is a far rarer commodity than physical courage.


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[Assistant] In that I agree with Patton. I have known many officers who were physically brave but who did not have the intestinal fortitude to organize the chaos around them.


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[Assistant] Often we're the first to fall apart when the chips were down.


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[Assistant] Fear is not only debilitating, but its existence also destroys the cohesion of a command.


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[Assistant] It is the responsibility of a commander to identify the limits of courage, break the paralysis of fear, and motivate his soldiers to continue with the mission. Courage conquers fear.


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[Assistant] From the book, this little paragraph, but it's basically one of the instructors, one of the drone instructors was all yelling about, we're gonna kill and blah blah blah, and then he says yeah, the next time I saw him, we were in, you know, on island in the fight, and he was getting taken away after breaking down.


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[Assistant] So this is what he's saying here. A lot of guys that are the loudest about what they're gonna do to the enemy.


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[Assistant] Yeah, okay, you're talking a big game, you know, but what's really good, you know where else that happens? UFC. Yeah. Right? MMA, yeah. MMA, it happens. Yeah.


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[Assistant] So that's what, that's what's going on here. Same thing, right? Somebody's trying to convince themselves they're not confident in themselves.


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[Assistant] Back to the book, I suspect every soldier at one time or another experiences a degree of fear.


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[Assistant] Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to rise above fear and do the things you know need to be accomplished. All soldiers hope that they will measure up the first time they get into a fight.


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[Assistant] I certainly was no exception, but I believe I had prepared myself very well that once I came under fire, I knew instinctively what needed to be done.


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[Assistant] I think I was more apprehensive, particularly before D-Day, than I was afraid.


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[Assistant] Maybe apprehension is the first stage of fear. I'm not really sure. You have to remember that Easy Company was an elite unit.


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[Assistant] We felt as if we were seasoned veterans, even though we knew worse days were ahead.


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[Assistant] That apprehension and definitely my first deployment to Iraq when you had all these guys.


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[Assistant] The guys were so fired up to get it to do real missions and get after it. That I think it was much more excitement than it was fear. Especially in the beginning. In the beginning, you know, there wasn't a lot of casualties going on. We were kind of dominating. And, you know, even showing up to Ramadi, same thing.


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[Assistant] And the more you spend time in that, the more you realize what the threat is and you start losing guys or having guys getting wounded. That's when you start saying, okay, wait a second.


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[Assistant] Speaking of fear, Steve Ambrose, who's a military historian, read a bunch of books, including Band of Brothers. Steve, Steve Ambrose says that heavy artillery bombardment will make even the most seasoned veteran eventually break. I disagree.


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[Assistant] A leader has to overcome fear. Convince himself that every enemy shell or bullet is not targeting him.


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[Assistant] The same is true in a company or a battalion. Leaders must ensure that strength and cohesion is a stronger force than fear.


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[Assistant] This is especially true in men who have been scarred by prolonged combat.


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[Assistant] Ambrose was correct when he titled the chapter in Band of Brothers Breaking Point, as he describes the horrendous artillery barrage that inflicted so many casualties on Easy Company in the Boy Jacques.


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[Assistant] Company strength was below 50% and many of the non-commissioned officers were killed or wounded.


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[Assistant] Without direct supervision by leaders, Easy Company, as well as the remainder of the battalion, could have easily been debilitated by an increased sense of morality and fear.


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[Assistant] That is precisely why I made it a point to visit the front lines as often as possible. Soldiers need to sense, need a sense that their leaders and commanders are in the game with them. Leadership by example is even more important in these situations.


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[Assistant] I noticed that when men are at the edge of their physical endurance, you tend to develop that 1,000 yard stare that you always read about. Tired soldiers will often take off their helmet and run their fingers through their hair. Talked about that before and I talk about that quite often now. At times, they literally drop their helmets on the ground.


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[Assistant] This soldier is already losing his self-respect.


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[Assistant] I didn't wait for the trooper to reach that stage. I proactively looked for these signs. Every soldier wants to do the right thing.


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[Assistant] You always know the proper thing to do, but doing it is sometimes more difficult.


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[Assistant] That's what I was talking about earlier, this thing of self, this idea of self-respect. When you don't care, cause, you know, you're supposed to keep your gear on all the time.


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[Assistant] That's like just the code, right? You keep your gear with you all the time. You keep your gear on all the time. The minute you take that off,


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[Assistant] Is where you start, hey, I don't care what these guys think anymore. Something has happened that has made you say, you know what, I don't care what these guys think anymore. And that's not good. And again, this is such a contradiction, cause you know, we can sit here and talk about like, hey, I don't care what people think, and I mean that. I mean that. You shouldn't care what people think. But at the same time,


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[Assistant] It should be extremely important to you what people think and what your comrades think. And that's such a weird dichotomy. I don't think I've fully wrapped my hands around how to describe that yet and what that means. I'll get there eventually, hopefully. Sure.


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[Assistant] But that is a very important thing. And I've always felt like I don't care what people think. But at the same time, I deeply care. What my peers think and my men think. Weird dichotomy.


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[Assistant] I think what the key principle here or the part that may help bring this together for me is I want to be doing the right thing.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Right? And so if I'm doing the right thing, and people say, oh, Jaco's, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's stupid what Jaco's doing, or he shouldn't be doing that, but I know in my heart I'm doing the right thing. Yeah. I'm gonna continue doing it, I don't care what you think.


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[Assistant] If I know I'm doing the right thing, and other people are judging me, that's gonna keep me in line. If I, well, let me rephrase that. If I feel like I'm gonna do the wrong thing,


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[Assistant] I do care what people think. And I don't want them to think, oh Jocko's getting weak, getting soft, getting, you know, whatever. He's doing the wrong thing, he's making the wrong move. Very strange. That's the dichotomy of leadership, right?


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[Assistant] Or one of them. Actually, it's not really the dichotomy of leadership. That's just a... That's just the dichotomy in life.


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[Assistant] A guy named Lieutenant Compton who, who kind of breaks a little bit. And they show it in the, in the Band of Brothers movie. And they, Dick Winters talks about it here.


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[Assistant] Back to the book. Before you go on, I know you think I'm too hard on Lieutenant Compton for walking off the line at Bastogne.


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[Assistant] Let me explain myself. Buck, that's Lieutenant Compton, was nicknamed Buck, and he walked off the line. Buck was a great combat leader. He was a superb platoon leader in Normandy and Holland. In fact, I would say he was one of the best.


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[Assistant] At Bastogne, he broke after some of his friends were seriously wounded in the constant artillery barrages.


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[Assistant] There is a danger of getting too close to the men. And Buck crossed that line.


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[Assistant] When you see your friends getting maimed, it makes it more difficult to go on. That's why I always maintained a certain detachment from the paratroopers in easy company.


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[Assistant] Am I too harsh on Buck? Maybe, but a leader needs to rise above fear. The easiest thing to do is quit.


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[Assistant] And Dick Winters' response is, I'm Pennsylvania Dutch. I don't quit. I made a commitment. Moral courage is based on physical fitness.


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[Assistant] Courage is a combination of willpower and determination.


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[Assistant] I was in excellent physical shape. I don't think there was a man in that outfit who was in better shape than I was. And it showed. I had trained hard. In England, after we finished training, I would run at night. Blackout conditions, but I would run.


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[Assistant] Then I'd come in and go to bed. I was in maximum shape. That was the physical side of things. But there is a mental aspect of stamina as well. I've always prided myself that I do my own thinking. I have my own philosophy. I have my own answers to the reasons things have turned out in my life.


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[Assistant] By taking full accountability for my life, I've been able to meet the standards that I set for myself. I don't know any other way of saying it.


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[Assistant] Every commander must take full accountability for his actions. Stand up and be counted. As a commander, you are accountable for everything that your outfit does or fails to do.


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[Assistant] Don't worry about who receives credit when things go well. Don't play the blame game.


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[Assistant] In my case, the mantle of command provided me with the courage to succeed.


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[Assistant] Extreme ownership, that's what he's talking about. You know, personal accountability, that's what he's talking about.


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[Assistant] Being in great physical condition, that's what he's talking about. That's discipline.


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[Assistant] You know, I guess as we read this, and I, you know, I didn't read this book until a week ago.


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[Assistant] Yeah, a week ago, I read this book. So it's not like I read this book and said, hey,


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[Assistant] Personal accountability is the most important thing about, you know, being a leader. No.


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[Assistant] This guy came to the same conclusion in World War II that I came to in conclusion in my experience in the military.


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[Assistant] Now he starts talking a little bit about combat fatigue. How much combat fatigue there was. In Normandy, I witnessed lots of stress. Some in Holland, much more in Bastogne due to the intense cold, lack of sleep and inadequate clothing.


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[Assistant] In Belgium, combat fatigue reached astronomical proportions.


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[Assistant] We had spent 70 days in the front lines in Holland and didn't have time to recover before we boarded the trucks to take us to Bastogne.


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[Assistant] On reflection, I realized what happened by the time the command arrived at Bastogne.


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[Assistant] The men had been on the front line since Normandy. Men were exhausted. No hot food, little sleep, no rest, constant tension and intense pressure from combat. They were physically exhausted. Inclinent weather and constant rain and snow made matters even worse.


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[Assistant] Physical exhaustion leads to mental exhaustion, which in turn causes men to lose discipline. The loss of self discipline produces combat fatigue.


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[Assistant] Over and over again. Over and over again, we hear that. How important is discipline? It is the most important thing.


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[Assistant] And if, if discipline is what gets people through these situations,


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[Assistant] Back to the book, how can you possibly compare a man who's been under just one concentrated artillery bombardment for five minutes to a place like Bastogne, where he could be in the line for weeks or months?


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[Assistant] In one of Ambrose's books, he states that prolonged artillery bombardment will break any soldier. In civilian life, of course, we refer to combat fatigue as a mental breakdown.


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[Assistant] That is exactly the way it is in combat. It's a mental breakdown.


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[Assistant] The intensity, it becomes a problem for me to express my feelings here, but I'd like to share it with you. The intensity of a fire or a heavy concentration to be a leader,


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[Assistant] You have to be able to concentrate on that fire and move just as soon as it stops or the last rounds hit. Move. Get up. Start circulating among your men. Is everybody okay? Let's get up. Let's move.


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[Assistant] Keep your eye open for an attack. Get their attention. Move among your men as quickly as possible. And moving among them.


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[Assistant] The fact that they see you and they're talking to you, they know that you are there and you are talking to them and it makes all the difference in the world to know that you are not in this thing by yourself.


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[Assistant] That's what officers must do. Break the cycle of fear.


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[Assistant] If a soldier is concentrating on his own feelings, and on his own fear, and he sees you moving around, he realizes that you're sharing the burden with him. That's why he can then move.


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[Assistant] So that's very important. And that's, you know, again, that can apply to combat, that can apply to business. People are gonna start panicking. What are they gonna do when they start panicking? You and the leader, as the leader, need to step up, get out there, talk to people, find out what's going on, tell them that we're gonna move.


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[Assistant] Show them that you're not afraid and that you are afraid but you're still functioning. Lead by example. Plain and simple.


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[Assistant] Back to the book. Courage will be spent if you relax your standards.


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[Assistant] An undisciplined soldier feels all isolated and alone.


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[Assistant] Maintain the standards. Don't compromise your integrity. Never get up. Give up. Don't ever give up.


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[Assistant] I love this right here. There is always one more thing that a leader can do to improve his situation and that of his command.


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[Assistant] I always felt that a leader's physical presence was indispensable to unit cohesion and morale.


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[Assistant] This is why I f- Captain Sobel failed so miserably. Leadership by example always trumps leadership by fear.


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[Assistant] And an undisciplined soldier feels isolated and alone. They know they've given up that self-respect. How are you gonna give it back to them?


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[Assistant] Soldiers in war, certainly in World War II, and I suspect in every war, are generally young men in their prime.


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[Assistant] They fully realize the hazards of their profession. They take chances because no young man expects to die before middle age.


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[Assistant] When the first soldier dies, that belief in immortality is shattered.


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[Assistant] As casualties mount and the core of the unit grows fewer, the remaining soldiers grow even stronger, often shutting off replacement soldiers.


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[Assistant] They don't want to know the replacements because they are often the first to die.


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[Assistant] When I saw one of my men wounded, I was happy that he had a ticket home.


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[Assistant] A soldier killed in battle was at peace. He had lived his life among men whom he had loved.


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[Assistant] I took a degree of consolation in knowing that my men had lived rather than regretting that they had died.


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[Assistant] A soldier's real fear is not losing his life in combat, but placing his comrades in jeopardy.


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[Assistant] That's why ordinary men will perform in extraordinary ways to ensure that their buddies survive.


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[Assistant] When you're actually, and I never was at this point by any stretch, where you're looking at men that get wounded and saying, oh, lucky him, he's got a ticket home. We just weren't under that, need that kind of casualty level.


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[Assistant] So when guys were getting wounded, it was, you know, it was hard. It was, you didn't feel like, oh, that lucky him, he's gotta take it home. Cause there wasn't enough guys getting wounded to make you think that way. And not enough guys getting killed to make you think that way.


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[Assistant] Back to the book, if you have selected the right personnel, then a leader must instill discipline. I mean perfect discipline. As Patton once said, discipline is the soul of the army.


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[Assistant] General Washington said the same thing when he described the Continental Army in 1776. Discipline is manifested in how well a soldier keeps his uniform, how frequently he cleans his weapon, and the pride he has in his unit.


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[Assistant] Joe Hogan of EZ Company speaks for all of us on the subject of pride in company E.


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[Assistant] During an argument with a soldier from another company about whose company was better, Joe said, my company E will lick your company in 15 minutes.


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[Assistant] And if you wait until the guys who are AWOL come back, we'll do it in five minutes.


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[Assistant] And this is important. Unit pride leads to unit discipline.


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[Assistant] So again, now we're going back to the feelings that I had when I was a young kid in the SEAL teams. Total pride in my platoon.


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[Assistant] When we, when I was in a single platoon, we, it wasn't our bosses.


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[Assistant] That were, were trying to keep us in line. We kept ourselves in line. You didn't want to get outside. You didn't want to do something wrong. Because we, you're gonna get policed up by the boys. The E5 Mafia is, is what we were.


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[Assistant] So the E-5 Mafia, that's a real thing by the way. The E-5 Mafia and the Seal Platoon, you got the senior guys, there's like the platoon, the platoon chief, the leading petty officer, those are like E-6, E-7, and you got the assistant platoon commander, those are like, they call them the top four. Those are the guys that kind of run, they're the actual leadership.


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[Assistant] And then in the middle of the pack right there you got the E5s. They're the guys that are actually running things and making things happen. And the E5 mafia is what we call them. And then in a SEAL team sometimes there's an E5 mafia that all works together to make things happen.


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[Assistant] But with the E5 Mafia, if you've got a good unit, that E5 Mafia, they're policing up everything. And you don't need to, as a leader, you just need to make sure that they don't take it too far, is the only thing you need to make sure of. But they're gonna, they're gonna make sure guys are doing the right thing, they're gonna make sure that they're performing well, they're gonna make sure that they're in good shape, they're gonna make sure of all those things.


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[Assistant] And this was an interesting quote. What you tolerate, you condone. So again, extreme ownership.


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[Assistant] Written by myself and Leif Babin. Well, Leif Babin wrote a line in there that says, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate.


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[Assistant] And he hadn't read this book, and here it is. What you tolerate, you condone. It's just saying the exact same thing. If you let standards start to slide, that's what you're done. That's the new standard.


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[Assistant] There's a little bit more to leadership than what we've talked about so far. Back to the book, Leading in Battle is the art.


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[Assistant] I can't speak of higher command, but I know a few things about leadership at the small unit level.


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[Assistant] Leadership at all levels wins wars, but soldiers at the platoon, company and battalion levels win battles.


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[Assistant] I think this is particularly true in a national army where soldiers need to understand the reasons behind the officer's orders.


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[Assistant] We have to know why we're doing what we're doing. Would I have succeeded had I been promoted beyond battalion? I don't know. I do know that I felt comfortable at the small unit level. This is one reason why Easy Company holds such a tender place in my heart. I knew the strengths and weaknesses of every paratrooper.


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[Assistant] I could rapidly ascertain what I wanted to do and felt confident that I could convince the men to do it.


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[Assistant] After commanding Easy Company in Normandy and Holland, I know that the men felt comfortable entrusting their lives to my care.


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[Assistant] I'm not bragging because it's not my nature to do so, I'm stating fact.


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[Assistant] Knowing that I would never ask them to do anything that I wouldn't do myself led to EZ Company's confidence in me as a leader.


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[Assistant] They knew that I would never quit, and that I would do everything within my power to bring them home after the war.


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[Assistant] I'm proud when I hear a paratrooper from easy company or second battalion remark about my courage under fire and my willingness to share their hardships. I told you once that wars do not make great men.


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[Assistant] But war sometimes bring out the greatness in good men.


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[Assistant] That's what it is. And, you know, that's sort of how I describe this podcast now. An exploration of human nature and if you want to see human nature reveal itself in its most clearest form,


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[Assistant] Upon returning from the war, here's what Major Winters had to say. Back to the book. The war changed me. I returned to the states bitter.


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[Assistant] A different man than the young man who enlisted in the army in 1941. I was hardened when I returned.


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[Assistant] First impressions were more important than they had previously been. I looked at things differently.


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[Assistant] When you return from a wartime environment, you have to adjust to society. The life that you are going to be sharing with others just to make a living.


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[Assistant] Though I was comfortable in a combat environment, I wondered if I would feel at home among civilized people who wouldn't be able to understand how a soldier thinks and feels.


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[Assistant] I came to understand that I would have to make changes to be accepted into life at home


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[Assistant] While on the front lines in prolonged combat, I often wondered about my friends back in the states, old friends I had grown up with, some of whom had avoided coming over, either by becoming conscientious objectors, or working in war-related factories that the federal government had declared essential.


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[Assistant] I understand everyone doesn't have to share my belief that military service is the only form of service in wartime, but I took immense pride in my contribution to the war effort.


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[Assistant] We who fought the war were part of something noble. Military service is an honor, a privilege.


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[Assistant] Funny thing is that when I finally returned home, I had no desire to pick up with those friends who managed to skip the whole thing. I completely shut them out. I wouldn't come downstairs when they knocked on the door.


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[Assistant] Does he have leadership capabilities? Would she be good in combat? Does he or she have what it takes?


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[Assistant] When you come home, those are things I think everybody goes through. Of you're looking at people, you're kind of judging people. It certainly will leave a mark.


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[Assistant] I'll tell ya, I don't think there's enough veterans now. You know, you're not gonna be able to just hang around with veterans. It's not gonna happen. You gotta, you gotta understand and accept the fact that not everyone served the way you served. That's just the way it is.


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[Assistant] Don't outwardly hold people to a higher expectation. And the other thing is...


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[Assistant] I think you have to walk a fine line and you gotta make sure you're not looking down on people because they didn't choose the path that you chose. Now World War II is different because


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[Assistant] Or at least, appears to be different. Because it was so easy, so many people went on the path of, okay, you know, December 7th happened, I'm going to sign up tomorrow, today, whatever.


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[Assistant] And I think that the way these wars that we've been fighting have gone down hasn't been the same. It's been different.


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[Assistant] And I think we veterans right now have to use some caution before just shutting out everyone else that didn't serve the way we did.


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[Assistant] We'd be shutting out, basically. You'd probably be shutting out most of the people in your lives. Most, most of my friends outside the SEAL teams, they're, you know, jiu-jitsu. Got a bunch of friends from jiu-jitsu, none of them served. I can't just shut them all out.


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[Assistant] So I think we have to be careful about that. As, as veterans to make sure we


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[Assistant] Understand that there's more than that and you gotta, you gotta accept other things going on in the world besides what we did.


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[Assistant] Another letter that Dick Winters wrote to Deanna Allman.


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[Assistant] Going back to the book, when you're an officer, you are responsible for the lives of soldiers in your command.


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[Assistant] You think about kids like this one paratrooper I knew well, and you soon become old beyond your years. In the three years since I had entered the army, I'd aged a great deal.


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[Assistant] It seems as if college days and days of civilian life when I did as I pleased are long past.


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[Assistant] I must have been a, it must have been a dream, a small and short but beautiful part of my life.


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[Assistant] Now all I do is work. Work to improve myself as an officer. Work to improve them as fighters, as men. Make them work to improve themselves.


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[Assistant] The result is, I am old before my time. Not physically old, but hardened to the point where I can make the rest of them look like undeveloped high school boys. Old to the extent where I can keep going after my men fall over and sleep from exhaustion.


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[Assistant] I can keep going as a mother who works after her sick child and exhausted child has fallen asleep. Old to the extent where if it's a decision or advice needed, my decisions are taken as if the wisdom behind them was infallible.


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[Assistant] Yes, I feel old and tired from training these men to the point where they are fish and fighters.


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[Assistant] I hope it means that some will return to those girls back home.


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[Assistant] And again, the reason I put that in there is because there's, that's pressure, right? That's the certain amount of pressure that a person that's been in the military has felt. And...


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[Assistant] And his wife said Dick fights the Battle of the Bulge virtually every night.


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[Assistant] Dick Winters, you know, a very thoughtful and squared away guy, was still living those nightmares. Virtually every night, his wife said.


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[Assistant] Dick also said back to the book, I know I did everything within my power to ensure as many soldiers made it home from the war as possible. But when you survive, and your soldiers don't, you feel guilty.


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[Assistant] It haunts me to this day that I lived and so many of my paratroopers died.


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[Assistant] As the veterans of Easy Company pass on, I am reminded of those who never returned from the war.


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[Assistant] Obviously they had a memorial service.


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[Assistant] A big memorial service for him, back to the book. Those who remained alive voiced their sympathy. Said former platoon sergeant William Grenier, who had lost a leg outside Bastogne.


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[Assistant] Dick always said hang tough and follow me. When he said let's go, he was right in the front. He was never in the back, a leader personified. He was the best commander we ever had. We'd have followed him anywhere.


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[Assistant] Edward Babe Heffron, who served alongside winners at Bastone and who helped liberate Hitler's eagle's nest, added, he was one hell of a guy, one of the greatest soldiers I ever was under.


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[Assistant] He was a wonderful officer, a wonderful leader. He had what you needed. Guts and brains.


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[Assistant] He took care of his men. That's very important.


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[Assistant] Popeye Wynn added, it seemed as if he always made the right decision.


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[Assistant] He was a real soldier. He was one of the best. It started with him doing the right thing.


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[Assistant] Another easy company veteran concurred, noting every one of us, we'd follow him to hell.


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[Assistant] At that ceremony was a guy by the name of Eric Jendrenson.


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[Assistant] series to be as accurate as possible and so he spent a lot of time with Dick Winters and he got to know him very well. And I found what he said about Dick Winters.


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[Assistant] To be very important, here we go back to the book. Dick Winters made it his personal quest to excel.


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[Assistant] Whether it was executing the perfect push-up or training himself to run three miles up and down Currie Mountain, this pursuit was his private tool. His solution.


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[Assistant] And it was that solo effort, that obsessive clarity and pure, determined, self-contained purpose that his men observed and that caused them to follow when he said simply, follow me.


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[Assistant] Not just through that hedgerow in Normandy, and across that field in Holland under enemy fire.


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[Assistant] But follow my example. Follow my commitment.


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[Assistant] In the Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery in Ifrata, Pennsylvania. The Saturday following his death.


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[Assistant] Before he died, he said, I am the man I am today because of Easy Company. Easy Company made me.


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[Assistant] As I reflect upon my life since the war, I can honestly say that it has been a lifetime search for men like those I knew in easy company.


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[Assistant] I don't think I know braver soldiers than Joe Toy, Bill Guanier, or Floyd Talbert. I live with these guys every day. I mourn when they pass.


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[Assistant] Carwood Lipton died in December 2001. His death struck me particularly hard. So did Bull Randleman's.


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[Assistant] Lipton didn't live to see the acclaim Easy Company received when the miniseries was released.


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[Assistant] I try not to think of the bad times anymore. I think mostly of the good times.


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[Assistant] Major winners before he died said, well, it probably sounds strange to you, but when I brought easy company to Utah beach so we could board the LST to return to England on July 11th, 1944, I saw that beach for the first time with that vast armada of ships as far as the eye could see in every direction.


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[Assistant] Suddenly that flag meant something different than it ever had before.


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[Assistant] I have never looked at our flag since, without that memory in mind.


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[Assistant] Now I'm an old man, but that feeling has never left me.


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[Assistant] I sit here in this house and I gaze out the window.


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[Assistant] Police and firefighters and active duty military and veterans. Just people.


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[Assistant] And we feel this pressure about the future, about what we should do or what we shouldn't do or where we're going and how we should get there. And I get that.


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[Assistant] Life is hard, and if you aren't careful, it will grind you down.


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[Assistant] Talk about detachment a lot from a leadership perspective and we talked about it today and it's certainly important. But it's also a tool for your mind.


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[Assistant] This life, your life, not surrounded by the pressure and the war and the failures and the violence and the nightmares and the mistakes and the grind. Not that life.


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[Assistant] With the first of the 506 Band of Brothers in the Battle of Ramadi. We had, uh, the Delta Platoon commander and a group of his guys spent the whole time over there and what an incredible bunch of soldiers they were.


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[Assistant] And whenever I think of the band of brothers.


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[Assistant] My first thoughts when I think of the Band of Brothers isn't about Dick Winters, it isn't about the series, it isn't about the books. My first thought of the Band of Brothers is the first of the 506th Battalion.


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[Assistant] That we were honored to work with in the Battle Ramadi and one of my platoons worked intently with the entire time.


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[Assistant] And so, for their service and sacrifice, we, I am eternally thankful for what they did and what they taught us and for us being alongside them. It was real humbling. Real humbling.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, I think we hear that a lot, this idea that, you know, talent.


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[Assistant] If they didn't have discipline, they would be overrun. If they didn't have discipline, they would, they would starve. They would just die. They would die. So they have to have discipline. And your point is, in this world, in this life, in 2017, living in the first world,


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[Assistant] You don't have to have discipline at all. And you'll still survive. And you might even do okay. But just imagine.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Just imagine if you applied the discipline to your life, where you'll end up. Yeah. And how much better off you'll be.


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[Assistant] The one life you have, by the way. How much more you can do with that life if you just have the discipline and work hard and get after it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, it's not, it's not, it's not some fancy crazy thing at all. Yeah. It's real straightforward.


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[Assistant] I think that was one of the first podcasts we did where I said something along the lines of like, you know what you need to do. Like we all know what we should be doing. There's not too many people that are lost that are going, oh I'm just not sure how to do this. No, they know exactly what to do. We know exactly what to do. I know exactly what I should be doing.


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[Assistant] Well, we're talking about the very fact of some of your discipline can be used to create things that are actually distracting. I mean, if your goal is to create some artistic piece, whether it's a movie, whether it's music, whether it's whatever,


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[Assistant] That, that's a distracting thing, but that's not, that doesn't mean that it's negative, that you want to make that happen. Because there's people that'll find something, I mean the reason you want to create something is,


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[Assistant] I guess you create it for yourself, but then the reward is when other people say, yes, I get something out of that too. Yeah, recognition for me appears. Yeah.


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[Assistant] I agree with you, yea, but there's also just, just, mentally, just, just weakness. Just the easy path, I should say. Right. The discipline path is hard.


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[Assistant] The path of least is resistance, and then we throw distraction on top of that.


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[Assistant] For instance, when you open up your computer, cause you gotta write a book, and instead of opening the word processor, you go, I'm just gonna check the interwebs real quick. Distracted. Yea, you're distracted, there goes 45 minutes. You ever notice? Seriously, the internet is, the internet is a mind, a time warp. Your time just disappears again.


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[Assistant] From, like I've been on the road all over the world, did the muster, did a bunch of speeches, did some consulting, was all over the place, on the plane the whole time, and


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[Assistant] I flew home from the east coast when was that? A couple days ago and when I flew I haven't done this in forever. I flew home. I watched a movie I just did a total distraction because I said, you know what? I can't I'm not I I'm not I'm not in the game right now Like I need my brain just needs to shut off. Yeah do something


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[Assistant] Which I don't like to do, which is, you can either do two things. I, I look at it, you can either consume,


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[Assistant] Or you can produce, right? I want to be producing. I want to be putting together. I want to be writing. I want to be thinking. I want to be writing, reading for the podcast, prepping. That's what I want to be doing. I want to be producing something. Consuming is I'm just absorbing what someone else made. Right? I'm just going to absorb this, absorb this, absorb this.


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[Assistant] A lot of times it is garbage. So, but I flew home, had a long flight and I was like, you know what? I need to check out. I need to check out right now and just do nothing. So I watched two movies.


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[Assistant] About DOS that Mel Gibson directed. What's it called? I don't know. This is a big, successful movie. Consciousness Objector, World War II.


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[Assistant] So, that was a good movie. You know, it's a World War II movie. I liked it.


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[Assistant] It's not, in my opinion, five star, but it was good. It was entertaining. Sure. It told the story. And then after that, I watched... Zoolander.


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[Assistant] That was when I was going into full decompression mode. I watched Zoolander. Because it's a hilarious movie. I have a buddy in the teams that we nicknamed Mugatu. Yeah, cause you know, he would go crazy. So we had to call him Mugatu.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and yeah, that was just a funny movie. I just decompressed and I don't do that very often Hey, you know the grind is always happening. So just had to take a little detachment. What was the name of that movie with?


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[Assistant] There's not, uh, famous actors. I guess there's one. Who's the really funny guy? Anyways, this is a good movie.


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[Assistant] No, it wasn't a distraction. I should have grinded though.


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[Assistant] Well, there's also no consequence. Or I shouldn't say that. The consequence isn't visible. The consequence, you don't say, you don't say, hey, if I would have had discipline, I would reach this ultimate potential. You're just okay with not reaching that ultimate potential. And you're okay with just like turning, putting microwavable popcorn in and watching a movie.


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[Assistant] I'm still here. Hey, I'm still here. I'm good. And you know what? That was a good movie and the popcorn tasted good. You know what I mean? That's the wrong answer. You don't recognize what your potential is and so you're just okay with this kind of half potential. You don't reach your potential. And since you don't know it,


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[Assistant] And the other thing, it's hard to see, it's hard to see how that long-term affects you. You know, like, ah, yes, just one bag of popcorn is just one movie. But you did that three times this week. Yeaah. You know, that's, that's not good. Thirty times.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you could write 30,000 words. No more than that. Yeah, you're right about thousand words an hour a good way to look at it, and I think I'm gonna say


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[Assistant] Yeah, I was gonna say that's a real straightforward thing. Work out.


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[Assistant] Yeah, if you're gonna go train jujitsu with Andy, Taylor, Dean,


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[Assistant] Craig Baker. Yeah. Greg Train. Echo Charles. Just take. Take the shroom. And you know what? Sport. Yeah, shroom, track, sport. Take three of them.


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[Assistant] Sorry, I took three. Felt a little bit more. Legit, yea, I always take-


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[Assistant] I take vitamin C, actually, when I'm on big travel. Vitamin C, Shroom Tech Immune.


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[Assistant] I've taken zinc before to try and overcome a cold, but I wasn't very, uh, you know, convinced.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I can power, I will power some vitamin C though if I feel like some kind of a disease coming on. Just power the vitamin C.


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[Assistant] It's awful if you, if you sneeze or cough when you're on a mic in front of a big group of people.


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[Assistant] You know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna get, uh, two, cause I've been taking mostly on it, uh, mostly alpha brain in the pa- in the powder. Cause it tastes good. Yeah. The peach and the spice spice. I've been taking it in that more than I, I'm gonna get, and I actually ran out of the, uh, pills. The capsules.


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[Assistant] But to me, that means more to me than, I don't know why, but like when you say, oh it's a double, triple, blind, placebo, blah, blah, blah, control, but I would rather have like someone that I know say, bro, I'm telling you, take this stuff. Like I did with Krill Oil to you. That was more important than reading a bunch of facts about it. If you take someone that you know,


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[Assistant] And they're saying, look man, give it a little crack. Trust me on this one.


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[Assistant] Yeah, everyone seems to do that when there's a guest. Yeah. Cause they don't know who that person is, they know what you look like, they know what I look like.


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[Assistant] And so, there's no reason, sometimes, although,


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[Assistant] Sometimes you can see, like, when certain subjects come up and there's maybe some intensity in the podcast, more people watch it. But if it's a pretty mellow podcast and we're just talking about whatever we're talking about, maybe not everyone feels the need to go to the YouTube, but when a guest comes on, people want to see what that person looks like. And there's usually some more animated interactions.


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[Assistant] You know what, it'd be cool if you made a little clip of when Tim Kennedy was on, and I read a question from the audience, it was something along the lines of I said, I said,


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[Assistant] They took away bayonet training from bootcamp and Tim Kenny just goes, god dammit! That's one of my favorite parts of any podcast ever.


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[Assistant] Yeah, just 12 seconds long. It would be worth having on there because everyone should know that that's a travesty that they stopped doing bayonet courses in army bootcamp.


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[Assistant] I think so. Oh, they'll hear it. Yea, they'll dig it fully. But there's good animation. Yea. You know, he's getting crazy.


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[Assistant] And also, if people subscribe to the YouTube channel, then...


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[Assistant] When they can sign up where if you make an excerpt, then they can get that. Cause that's cool. That's the good thing is it's much easier to share an excerpt from a podcast than it is to share an audio. I don't even know how to share an audio piece of a podcast. I don't even know how to do that. It probably can't be done.


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[Assistant] Whatever. Yeah, that's a popular one. Um, cause everybody that went to college already wishes they had that when they went to college.


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[Assistant] And then I, I didn't intentionally do it on the podcast in the beginning. I just happened to be wearing it two or three times. And then someone said, is that the only shirt Jocko wears? And at that point I said, why yes it is.


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[Assistant] Oh yea, that is me. That is me. I like to have things that are the same. But, people would come and ask me, hey, where can I get the t-shirt, where can I get the t-shirt, so now we put it on.


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[Assistant] Boom. So you can get that one if you want it. You can represent.


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[Assistant] You know what I'm talking about, the one that you use. You know what, I have actually, my wife, once, she searched forever to get me a cup that I like, and she found it, and then she went to Target and bought


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[Assistant] You know, a dozen of them, they're big, giant, plastic, but feel like glass, whatever that is, acrylic or something. Can't break, but you can, but they, they feel good in your hand, so I have a bunch of those, but apparently it's getting replaced.


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[Assistant] No, we don't want to talk about this anymore. I know you like it. I'm glad you like it. I like it too. This is my first time utilizing it actually, and I'm impressed. My teeth, my ice teeth is still icy.


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[Assistant] Boom, there it is. Very, very cool. Very cool. Warrior kids out there.


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[Assistant] That's pretty cool. Also, while you're on Amazon, you can get this book that we just covered today, Conversations with Major Dickwinners. Jocko White Tea is also available on Amazon if you don't want to drink sodas. Yep.


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[Assistant] Which no one should be drinking sodas. At all. You don't need them. They're actually horrible for you.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I was, I was gonna actually just, I was surprised.


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[Assistant] Don't drink that, drink chocolate tea, which actually tastes better than coke.


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[Assistant] One time they had a, we have a PT situation, we call it a monster mash, and you just do a bunch of crazy events, pull ups and rope climbs and carry boats around and swim, and we were doing it when I was the, the, oh, the officer in charge of trade at. And so, yea, oh I see a trade at, so I brought my son with me.


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[Assistant] And they had did this monster mash, and one of the things you had to do in the monster mash, and this thing's being timed and serrated and all that stuff, you had to drink a full Coca-Cola through a straw. So my son's doing the monster mash and he's probably seven or something like that.


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[Assistant] And he'd never even had a coke before. It burned his mouth, probably. Yeaah, and he just hated it. It was so nasty to him. Yeaah. That's how I looked at you the other day.


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[Assistant] I was like, dude, you're making me sick. So, Jocka White Tea, you know, go on there, read the reviews as well. You know, you'll see things like this. Excellent tea when I need to crush and power through all the work, I brew me some Jocka White Tea. If I need a little extra kick to crush it,


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[Assistant] That's what I do. I've begun working fewer hours at the office as my productivity has risen 900%.


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[Assistant] That's pretty legit. Actual numbers, yeah. Yeah, and obviously that's a hundred percent accurate because it came from an Amazon review. So, and actually, there's a warning as well.


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[Assistant] Caution regarding this product. Leaving your supply of Jocka White tea out in the open will require Overwatch. I now have non-tea drinkers hitting my reserves almost as badly as dedicated tea drinkers.


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[Assistant] No double blind study required, right? That's, this is the thing, it doesn't taste like tea, right? It doesn't taste like tea, in my opinion. It tastes like...


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[Assistant] The book is out as you know. Thank you for getting it.


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[Assistant] Kids have been crushing it. It's awesome. That's one of my favorite things that has happened to me in the past several years is people started posting pictures of their kids reading Way the Warrior Kid.


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[Assistant] And that was awesome for me to see. And I'll tell you why it was awesome. Cause I know, I know those kids are reading that book and


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[Assistant] A fi- a video of his kid. You know how you have little, uh, night vision in your kid's room so you can monitor them?


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[Assistant] Get that if you got kids, get it from them. If you're an adult, that's cool. Get it anyways. Adults have a lot to learn from Uncle Jake, myself included. So, run out, go to your local bookstore.


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[Assistant] So that other kids can see it and get it. Let's make people better. Also you can pre-order Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. Again, you can find it in the Get After It section of any bookstore or online bookseller. It is the only book in that section. If your bookstore doesn't have that section,


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[Assistant] And then put discipline equals freedom there and get a copy of it for yourself.


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[Assistant] Extreme ownership. Yes, the fundamental principles of combat leadership. They will help you win in any capacity. On the battlefield. On the beat. In business. In life.


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[Assistant] Extreme ownership written by myself and my brother Leif Babin. You can get that book as well. If you need more than the podcast and the book, that's fine. It's okay.


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[Assistant] Contact our leadership and management consult consulting company Echelon Front info at echelonfront.com now the muster


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[Assistant] The muster. We just got done with muster 002 in New York City. What's your assessment? Echo Charles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it was getting great feedback. Awesome. And like you said, I think the important, well, one of the most important things that you just said is it's very pragmatic.


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[Assistant] It's not like, hey, you're gonna learn some stuff, but it's not gonna be really applicable. No, no, no. It's gonna be applicable. When you walk out, when you finish that section and we get done talking about it, boom. You can, you can implement that immediately.


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[Assistant] But it's like at work, you know, like what do I do? Yeah, and exactly in every one of those situations we answer them I'd say we answer them with both business examples that we've experienced and military examples, but yeah you you absolutely We've seen this is the thing


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[Assistant] We've seen it happen before. Whatever that little issue is that you're having, I've seen it before. You know, I've seen it before. I've seen something like it. We'll be able to find an answer, come to a conclusion, and move forward with the techniques, the principles that we talk about in Extreme Ownership. But it's like this. Extreme Ownership, the book, is an awesome way to get the fundamental principles.


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[Assistant] Now you can really personalize it. You know, you can really make sense of it. It's just like learning jujitsu. Like, it's cool. Yeah, watch the YouTube videos. Also go to class. Also go to the seminar. Learn it from as many different angles as you can, because the more angles you learn it from, the better you, the more proficient you'll be at applying them to your world.


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[Assistant] You know, you can't go try to choke the guy at the end of it. You know, you can't say like, hey, I'm going to go see this concert and then afterwards I'm going to pick up a guitar and play, you know, the solos with


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[Assistant] Clapton. Yeah, exactly right. That doesn't happen. This you can't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so anyways, if you didn't make it to New York City, which was awesome, Times Square, we had a great time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The next one we're having, July 13th and 14th in Austin, Texas, the Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa. Now this is one thing that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It just is what it is. In New York, we, we were planning to do like 350 people and then we sold that out. We opened it up for another 50.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we, and we, and we had to expand our room to get that. And then that sold out. And so then we, we rearranged the, or the situation in there to get more people in there. It looks like in Austin, we're capped. We can't get any bigger than the room that we've got. And so it's 350.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you want to come sign up quick, uh, before it gets sold out, cause there's no way we can expand it into more people. So just be, be aware of that. If you can't make that for 13th and 14th of July, 13th and 14th in Austin, Texas, San Diego, California, September 14th and 15th, we're back in San Diego for follow on operations. So come and get it while you're waiting for the muster. If you need to pass communications.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And thanks to everyone for listening to the podcast, for sharing the podcast, for supporting the podcast. We really do appreciate it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thanks to the military personnel out there that are protecting our freedoms overseas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And also the law enforcement, the firefighters, EMTs, first responders that keep us safe here at home. Thanks to you all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Put forth your greatest effort in everything you do from the small, seemingly meaningless tasks to the big goals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, a trained guy who holds one arm and just beats you down with the other.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you see that a lot in like, team sports. Like in football, for example, you get a guy, he's, he don't know, he doesn't know how to do anything. You can't teach him. He's, I don't know, whatever, but...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has a hard head, you know, and he's just down for the cause. That's it. It's like, dang, seemingly useless. You put him on special teams, you put him on the kickoff, and you make him a wedge breaker. There you are. Boom. Best wedge breaker in the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and you hear that, that romantic story where, you know, this guy did that, you know, he was tired of his job so he just up and quit and then he got desperate and he bounced back and all this stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's such good, it's because, almost because it's so hard, that's such good advice. Yeah, it's so hard. I mean think about everything, even like, you know, you probably have your favorite gun. You have your favorite everything, really. I prefer the, I prefer gi, I prefer no gi, I prefer this gun, I prefer the, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, boxing too, you know, the whole idea of a counter punch is that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What did Solo, Solo Ribeiro has this really famous saying, he said uhm, it's about being late, you know? So like if someone basically out tempos you or disrupts your pattern and then now you have to catch up when you're late, he says when you're late, you muscle, when you muscle, you tire, and when you tire, you die.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're trying to hang on and things are happening and you don't know it. Yeah, and if he, and if he does that thing where he keeps the pace, and he, and you, man, he just, it's like he's pulling ahead, pulling ahead until you're like, until you die. Yeah, until you die.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, maybe last time it was a few weeks ago about distraction. That's really what it is. Distraction is useless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so like jujitsu for example, right? You know how when you're a white belt, brand new, they teach you the move. Here's the move. Here's the step one, step two, step three. You practice that enough times along with all the other moves. Now you're just jumping in there and flying. The moves are flying, you know, just going on almost automatically. You're just free to do whatever move at whatever time you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that's what those tube things are kinda for. Yeaah, no, of course.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not professional debaters or nothing, but they're arguing a point. You know, one guy's point versus the other guy's point. And with...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Debate a lot of times comes interruption. You know, like you're saying something and I interrupt you, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, every once in a while you'll notice one person say, hey, can I finish? You know, you keep interrupting me. And then another guy might say, well, I'm just saying you gotta- and slowly that debate of the two important issues gets pushed to the side actually, and the debate becomes whether or not they-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Justified or justifiably interrupted the other person. So it's now about the interruption. That's like, you know how you say, don't focus in on these little details that come about in a big situation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, even on those four minute deals where there's four or five people in there, even if they don't interrupt each other or talk over each other, like, one person can talk for what? A minute? About some complex thing?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, and that's how they get you too. Like if there's, let's say if it's like a sited issue, you know, you say the one, and there's so many details and nuance to it, you know, but man, I gotta get my, my core point across. Meanwhile, there's all this nuance, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, sometimes when you're watching surfing, sure you wanna see a guy shred, you know, for a second or two or whatever, but sometimes you just wanna sit back and watch the wave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep, that's actually the key right there, something developed. You know, you can't, just like you can't watch a shape, someone doing the same shape for a long time. You wanna see the full developed thought, like how you put it. Yes. You watched North Shore? Ever watch that show? Yeah, you watched that show.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, Arizona, he wins. Rick Kane goes to North Shore. Oahu. Why? You know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Learns to surf all over again, technically, you know, big waves, the culture, all this stuff. You know, not as accurate as maybe it could have been, but a fun watch nonetheless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In hopes that you can't weather the storm. Right, right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and that, typically what that is, when they punch themselves out, is what they call it, when they get...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Too excited, like they don't maintain the normal face, you know? They don't maintain the normal face, got issues there. And apparently, you know, I'm listening to this and there is a difference between normal face and then being aggressive, you know, in attacks, you know, like being offensive or whatever. So that's a good thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so a lot of times in MMA where you see a guy, you know, boom, you got the other guy on the ropes and he maintains, you can, you know, a guy getting too excited, you know, he risks punching himself out if he doesn't connect or if he, you know, if the guy just does a good job of defending.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tim... Lytle, maybe? What's his name? Anyway, I forget. Uhm, so he gets hit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the liver, I think. And it buckles him. And he's, you can tell all the fights over for this guy. And the other guy comes running in, haymaker style, you know, like sloppy, but super aggressive. And he sneaks one in as the guy's getting, knocks him out. And it looked like the fight was over for that guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nope, not at all. He was way too excited and he got sloppy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and you just compare that to the alternative of not knowing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, but you know how they have the, the girl, you know, walks. That's, that's the, the, the decoy. So obvious. The girl's not gonna be in a war zone. For sure. Right, you gotta, you gotta know that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's one of the drawbacks of having the same training partner. You know, cause you, like I train with Greg so much that we just sit in this weird stalemated position so much of the time. And it's almost like, and it's subconscious at this point where you're not worried about certain things now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But even that kinda, and this is totally splitting hairs, but even that in a way, he might have little micro-surprises, you know, to establish the position.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Especially with Jujitsu, well Jujitsu is so complex, you can go for a guillotine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the way you went for the guillotine can change a lot too, you know, like uhm, like, I won't try it from this very exact position, you know, two, three times. I'll go one, didn't work, maybe I'll try it again, oh, obviously didn't work, he's good at defending from there. Maybe he'll do something else, something else, something else, and then come back to it. You know those guys who are-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you're gonna set it up different, typically. You know, uh, you know those guys who are really good at triangles? Yeah. And they'll just fly them out of anywhere. Yeah. So all that is is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's the same thing where they'll go for a triangle and sure you can even be like, yeah, I know this guy's good at triangles. So I'm going to defend the triangle. So you know how to defend the triangle, but you're not as good. So you're used to defending the triangle from the, from the guard and that's it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Meanwhile, this guy's doing some half guard thing to sweep you here, when you base to sweep, he's going for that triangle, you know? So he knows it from everywhere, so it's the same eventuality, but the way he approaches it is different, so it's like attacking this mountain. We're not gonna go up this straight,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the front of the mountain, we're gonna try the front, okay, defended, we're gonna try it from the side, okay, defended, we're gonna try it from the side here, then go to the front, then go to the other side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me ask you this, like, you're obviously well-versed in a lot of detachment, for example. Do you conduct, like, your everyday life just that, just on the forefront of your mind?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah, it really seems like that's like, the GOAL.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, cause really the default, I think, for, you know, your average person is, it's not like, okay, what's the scenario, what's the problem to be solved, how do I solve it, it's more, how do I feel about this, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so it's like you, it's almost like you, you recognize just over and over again where the advent or the beneficial position is and it's outside. It's not inside as far as mentally.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's good man, that's the goal right there. It is. Man, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, is it like how, like they might be focusing too much on being powerful?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep. Yeah, in a couple of ways, for sure. That itch thing, I've done that before, like, actually a lot of times, just to see, not because, ooh, I'm gonna, you know, see how tough I can be with not scratching the itch, but just to see, like, what's gonna happen to the itch? You know? It usually gets scratched and that's it, like, what's gonna happen though if I just let it go?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, of course. When you say quickly, you want me to just talk in a fast pace or... Keep it short. Or both. Dang.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well let's talk about on it. I feel that's the best way to start. I went to Hawaii. Yea, story. That's right. I went to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii. Forgot my crude oil. Oooooh. Rough deal. It's warm over there so not too bad. And, a lot of the workouts I was doing were pretty like light.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it was less of a factor, but when I came home the next day, I walked downstairs. Strangely, cause in Hawaii you do a lot of, you know, walking on the beach, all this stuff. I'm dragging my kids around in this wagon. So it's weird, your feet get a workout. So I'm walking down the stairs today and I'm like, oh, my feet are all stiff anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No krill oil. Boom. Back on the krill oil. Back home. All good. So, point there being, don't stop taking your krill oil. You will feel it. Look, it's not a detrimental thing. Well, for me it's not. I don't know. I can't speak for everybody. It could be detrimental if you stop, you know, like your joints being stiff all of a sudden. I think it's detrimental. Might affect


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Other people more than others. Yeah, yeah, yeah, in my case for sure. Well, krill oil is for your joints. I get mine on it. Choco gets his on it. On it is the most reputable place to get it. Omega 3 is for your joints. Also,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What else do we need to get after it? If you're going high intensity, if you're going high performance, for yourself, I'm not saying Olympic athlete necessarily, I'm not saying not Olympic athlete necessarily. Shroom tech sport keeps you in the yellow and the green, it doesn't allow you to go in the red, that's how it feels, that's my best way to sum it up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like if you have another round, let's say you're on your last set of like, I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or you're doing circuit training, you gotta do one more round. This one will- will-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Remember that next time you're breathing. I don't need to breathe. Also, you know, breathing exer- I thought breathing exercises were like, oh, these yogis, they're just doing breathing exercises. You know, like I know how to breathe. I was breathing when I was born. And I know how to breathe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Three something, some odd years of breathing experience, I know.


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[Assistant] Amen. You know, you gotta jump in the water every once in a while. Swim underneath it. Anyway, when you breathe those muscles, you know what I mean? That help you breathe in your, you know, your ribs and your diaphragm. Like if those are strong, you can breathe better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just saying, don't neglect that. So the breathing exercise, people, respect. But, chemically, if you want, you know, better oxygen uptake, shroom tech sport, that's the one. Krill oil, alpha brain for your brain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna say borderline literally, there's stuff for anything on there. Like if you need supplementation for something, there's even workout equipment on there. Like good stuff too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually, just so I'm clear though, if you want 10% off this stuff, there is a lot of cool stuff. They even have normal, like workout stuff, but the cooler version of it. Like how I always mention the kettlebells. Kettlebells are cool in and of themselves, and beyond the coolness, they're one of the best exercise equipment. Equipments.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then boom, right to burpee, so I go six and five, six and five. MatCon, just go eight minutes, boom.


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[Assistant] I wasn't focusing on as many as I can. I was trying to go for like seven sets. Oh, okay. I lost count of the sets. It was the first time I was doing it. My son, he's nine months old by the way, he's crawling around. I can't be flying the kettlebells and landing on his...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly right. So nonetheless, the point is I lost count. When I was done, 8 minutes 30 something. That's what it was. Good work out, Metcon. Boom. Anyway, so, if you do kettlebells, go to Onnit, look at their kettlebells. Tell me what you think. That's all I'm gonna say. Anyway, Onnit.com slash Jocko, get 10% off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On there. Back to Amazon. Amazon, click there. If you like these books, what is this? Musashi, of course.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what that has to do with Amazon is we have all these books listed on our website in the books section. Top menu books on the podcast. Click there, they're in order. Buy episode. Click on there, take you to Amazon, the Amazon link. Boom, you get the book that supports the podcast.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, you know, any other shopping you may or may not want to do. Boom. Click through the link. You're good to go as far as support goes. Small action.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well, I know you know, and everyone else may or may not know, but if you don't, the answer is sodium.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you click through, uh, you know, the website for your Amazon stuff, the books or whatever, duct tape, all that stuff. Also good way to support, subscribe to the podcast. That's on all of these things. iTunes, of course, Stitcher, Google Play, all the podcasting providing platforms. Subscribe. Good way to support. Leave a review. Reviews are good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, very much so. It's fun, like, when, and I don't get bored, but when I'm compelled to read the reviews, it can be very fun to read. I'll probably read yours if you left one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, the good thing about iTunes reviews are their like, quality. And I don't mean like, ooh, all necessarily good or whatever. I'm saying quality, like you can tell someone's like, okay, here's my review, here's my legit review. Even if they're getting nuts with the review.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and let's face it, you get more people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boom. So yea, subscribe. Uhm, also you can subscribe on YouTube if you are interested in the video version of this podcast. Wanna see what Jocko looks like if you don't know already?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's on YouTube, uh, also some excerpts on there, right? Providing small Jocko McNuggets of value.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you don't have to share the whole two, two and a half hour thing, you know, with your friend. If you, if you like a concept, you can just share the, uh, you know, the two minute excerpt, three minute, whatever, you know, shareable. So they can watch it and then go to work rather than be late for work after listening to two hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Potentially. Also, Jocko has a store. It's called Jocko's Store. JockoStore.com. No haiku there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you are interested in what, t-shirts, rash guards. We're coming out with some hats here pretty soon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Some travel mugs on there. Good travel mugs that, you know, they insulate the heat. Apparently that's not like a new thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I could, I could easily tell you the story about the ice water I had that lasted till the next day the ice was still in there. I could easily tell you that. I'm not gonna waste your time today. Nonetheless, when you have it, boom, keeps the heat in there for like eight hours. And it looks dope, black on black.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Women's stuff on there. Shirts, of course. Jaco's face saying good. If you have, so the good video. A lot of people have seen that video. You know, Joe Rogan says good things about that video. Some people have watched that video. So essentially, that shirt is that video. Personified in a shirt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here's a little tip, I've said it before, but sometimes people miss this part of it. The good on the bottom is written backwards. You know why? Because it's for you when you look in the mirror.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's not, that message is not for everyone else looking at your shirt. That's what Jocko's face is for. Jocko's face is also for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you look in the mirror, he's telling you, good, you know, good will come out of your situation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I would say I see what he's getting at. I don't think you look creepy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess technically I'm allowed to say that, but that is not why I say it. Okay. I say it because I believe it. I believe it is iconic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, they're thinking like- Standard of iconic. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I'm stretching the term. I don't know. It's like, when I went to Kwai, that was the shirt that I wore the most, I think. That one and the Jodie Middick podcast shirt. Oh, nice. They're both the same color too, by the way. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Props. Yeaah man. So yeaah. JockoStore.com. See, see what shirt you like. If you like any of the shirts. I'm not saying to buy a shirt or a rash guard. I'm not saying that. I'm saying go to JockoStore.com. Take a look. If you like something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Psychological warfare. If you don't know what that is, which I know many people do,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the event of you not knowing in this case, Psychological Warfare is an album. With tracks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is available on iTunes and Amazon Music and these places where you can buy MP3s and albums and stuff like that. Digital music, if you will, but this isn't music. It's Jocko. Each track is Jocko telling you why, pragmatically, by the way, you should not succumb to weakness in your journey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. All in your journey in getting after it in general. You're waking up early in the morning. I know that's not easy to do every single day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're, you know, sticking to the diet, especially at work, you know, when they bring those donuts, right? We understand. Yeah. When you get those moments of weakness that you're gonna start slacking, even just for one moment, you listen to one of these tracks, the appropriate track, and you will.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'll say this 100% with 100% certainty, you will not slack. You will wake up and you will continue. There it is. It's like a little spot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My father was about to be inducted and so he moved us to a little tiny town in Kansas where he thought, uhm, my mother and I and my big sister.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, could live there while he went off to war. Well, as it turned out, he couldn't pass a physical, so he didn't go to war.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that's where I grew up, in a tiny town in the middle of Kansas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess that's true. I read a statistic one time of all the, of all the successful people in the world. Most of them were paper boys when they were kids. But not anymore. You're right. You don't see that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's it. No, I, I threw the, uhm, the Topeka Daily Capital. There you go. In this little town of, uhm, 300 people and I had about 55 customers. The route was five miles long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And on a cold, uh, February morning in Kansas, that was off, that was a long way. I finally convinced my father that I could, uhm, that I could buy a motor scooter with all of my earnings, and so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We went across the river where there was no bank in town, went across the river to Perry, Kansas, and uh, borrowed enough money to buy a Cushman motor scooter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was only fourteen when that happened. Yeaah. So uhm, I got arrested one night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was, he was actually, uh, he, he was a vet, but not a pilot. He was a doughboy in World War I. Oh, wow. Yeah. And he had shrapnel in his leg from his war and he walked with a limp. Uhm, and, but, and he was quite a disciplinarian.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he tried to make that little basketball team work, but we were just really not very talented.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, quite a long transition. See, this was early on in my career. Now, I had a coach later in high school that had been a pilot in World War II.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A pilot, in fact, he flew F8s off aircraft carriers. And I was fascinated by that whole idea. But I will tell you that being a hayseed from Kansas, I never even dreamed of flying an airplane. I'd never been in one. I'd seen them fly over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The whole idea of ever even riding in an airplane, let alone piloting one, was beyond my grasp. It really was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, that was kind of by accident too. Uh, I needed an education. My parents were too poor to send me to college. I started looking for scholarships. And uhm, uh, my older sister was dating a guy who was an NROTC student at the University of Kansas. And he gave me a book.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That says, here's how you apply for the NROTC in Kansas. Well, the back page of the book in fairly small letters said, oh by the way, it's the same qualifications to go to the Naval Academy. Well, what the heck?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just ignorant about the military in total.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The congressman of my district in Kansas, uh, did it by a competitive method, and everybody who was interested took, uh, a government, uh, test. You know, for a G rating, you know, a government service rating, a GS test.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there were about 35 guys that took the test. And so he nominated five of us who got better scores on the test than the rest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then he appointed one, uh, one guy to the Naval Academy and an alternate, and I was the second alternate. Okay, well the first guy also had an appointment to, to the Air Force Academy, so he took that. The second guy discovered girls.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not really, I still, uh, I still kind of assume that I could never qualify to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, and thinking back at it, you know, I think, well, where were my dreams?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, kids that grow up in little towns don't usually have big dreams. We don't know how to do that. And my parents, my father had completed the eighth grade, that was his education. My mother had in fact completed high school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I was one of the first in the family to ever go to college. And so uhm, you know, it was, it wasn't even, it wasn't even a part of the thought process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, once I got to the Naval Academy and, you know, thought back to Bob Johnson and, uh, and that kind of experience and saw that there was a possibility of doing this, then my energies and efforts turned towards naval aviation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was, as a matter of fact, and it's a great revelation, you know, when you finally


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Talk to yourself into accepting the fact that you do have the talent to do this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and until that point, you don't really try as hard, I guess.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, finally, I think it was Thanksgiving. Uh, yeah, yeah, it was, it was right at Thanksgiving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I intercepted a letter that she'd gotten from Bart. Wait a second.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said, I don't think he's coming for Christmas. And so if he comes, I'll back off and you don't have to worry about me trying to kiss you anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, and she went to University of Kansas, uh, for her first year there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, but we continued to communicate and, and I was, well I saw her at Christmas time when I came home and then she decided to move to Washington D.C. to work for a senator out there. And, uh, so she spent the next three years, the last three years at Naval Academy there close enough so that we could, you know, continue to see each other. So it was, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was one of those, uh, you know, one and only kind of a thing, cause I didn't really date a whole lot in high school and she was it. For sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can't get married while you're at the Naval Academy. At least you're not supposed to. A couple guys did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't. And so the day after I graduated from the Naval Academy, uh, we were, we were married and my six buddies held up their swords. Well, one was a Marine. And so, uh, he held up his saber as we came down from the chapel through the arch of swords. And it was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. And from there we went immediately to flight training.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our senior, yeaah, the last, uh, last part of our senior year you could apply and, uh, and then you go through all of the hoops that, uh, that you go through to try to qualify for naval aviation. So I found out probably a month or six weeks before I graduated that that was going to be my, my, my tour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't remember ever hearing the word Vietnam while I was at the Naval Academy. Wow. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, well, Ev Alvarez, Ev Alvarez was shot down, the first, uh, uh, P.O.W. to be shot down, uh, in August of 1964. Okay, so, it became a reality that while I was in flight training, another naval aviator was in prison in Vietnam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, uh, I didn't, you know, I didn't understand the politics. I didn't question the politics of it at all. Uh, I just did the best I could in flight training and, uh, and enjoyed it. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's a kick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it was very slow. Uhm, you know, the, the old story of, uh, of the, of the frog in the, in the pot of boiling water, you know, he jumps out in a hurry, but, but no, it was, uh, it just warmed up very slowly for us and, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't even, as I went through fight training, you know, I mean, I learned to drop bombs and shoot guns and all that stuff. And it was, it was challenging and it was exciting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I got my wings and then was assigned the F-4 Phantom, which at the time was the hottest airplane in the world. I mean, we had the time to climb records and the speed records and it's a, it's a twice the speed of sound airplane. And it was, felt very fortunate to, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To have been assigned that airplane. And so I came out here to San Diego to, uh, to fly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, because that's uhm, you know, I saw this thing go down. At the Naval Academy, in the summertime, you get exposed to the possible billets that you might have in the future, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We go play marine for a while and we go to submarines for a while and, and we go aboard ships, uh, to, to be, uh, uh, line officers for a while and we go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To, uh, to, to Pensacola. And so I got a little touch of it there, of actually being in airplanes. And then my senior, my senior crew, between my junior and senior year, I went aboard the, the Constellation, the aircraft carrier Constellation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, and we were out of, uh, Sasebo, Japan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Launching and recovering on this aircraft carrier.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a phantom came in and actually broke the wire. The pilot did okay, but he broke, he picked up the wire and the wire snapped. This cable that traps an airplane is two and a half inches in, uh, in diameter. It's a very thick steel wire round cable. I mean it's really, really strong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, for whatever reason, the cable broke. Okay, the cable snapped around and it cut off the legs of three different guys who were on the deck. Okay, and it was so fast that I couldn't even see, I couldn't even see it. My eyes couldn't even follow this cable because there was just, I mean, there's so much pressure, so much, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Energy involved. And then the airplane, the F-4, was slowed down to the point where the guy couldn't get it back in the air. And so it just dribbled off the bow of the aircraft carrier and into the water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course, then I turned my view to the stern of the ship to see if I could see what had happened. Well, the few seconds that it took from when it settled in the water until I could see out the back of the ship, it was gone. There was no debris.