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[Assistant] Staying at the same hotel as my parents were Flight Lieutenant Jack Weatherly's widow, Peggy, and their three year old daughter, Anne.


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[Assistant] We're staying at the same hotel as his parents. At once a bond of deep understanding and affection developed between us.


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[Assistant] In August, an atom bomb was dropped. And so, at a stroke, my visit to Burma was rendered pointless.


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[Assistant] And Palestine, with the first battalion of my own regiment for two more interesting years, and finally was demobilized in May of 1947.


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[Assistant] Within a week of leaving the army, I attended a job interview.


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[Assistant] Who saw me, a pale and thin-lipped man was a business equatenance of a relative. He eyed me coldly.


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[Assistant] Slowly and precisely from his desk, he lifted a ruler which he rudely pointed at my face. I understand that you made a slight name for yourself in the war.


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[Assistant] Be that as it may, people like you, Jerry, should remember that while you have been gallivanting around the world, most of my staff had remained loyal to the comp- to the company.


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[Assistant] If you can give me one valid reason why I should even consider you for any position, I should be interested to hear it.


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[Assistant] Now I wish that I had quickly grabbing my hat and umbrella. I rose and told him that if he was the last man in the world, I would rather starve than work for him. With that I left.


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[Assistant] My heart pounding and a foul taste in my mouth. I walked aimlessly through miles of streets wishing that I was back on some battlefield with real men. Soldiers. Like 18 platoon.


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[Assistant] Armistice Day brings its problems.


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[Assistant] Peg and I would like to go to church. We used to go, but found almost without exception, a lack of perception and sensitivity amongst the clergy.


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[Assistant] The curate's theory that war being a crime against humanity.


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[Assistant] All chivalry must therefore be hypocritical.


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[Assistant] I wondered whether the German stretcher bearers and their wounded at Sindren would have agreed. I took offense.


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[Assistant] Peg and I have a lot to mourn. She, Jack Weatherly, and I, 18 platoons dead.


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[Assistant] Particularly that of a now aging platoon commander who had to lead some of his men to their deaths.


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[Assistant] During the night, I made a habit of wandering around the platoon position so that each of my soldiers could talk to me. I learned a lot. They talked about their families and their future hopes.


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[Assistant] I hardly had to contribute to those whispered conversations that sometimes took place in the dead of night or in the cold gray light just before dawn.


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[Assistant] Invaluable experience of human nature I now treasure the memory.


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[Assistant] The monotonous, repetitive bursts of the Bren, the hysterical shriek of the MG42's furious rate of fire, and the lethal chatter of the Stens and Schmeisers all contribute.


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[Assistant] All contributed to the cacophony of battle.


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[Assistant] Tracer bullets seared themselves into memory. Fired from a distance.


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[Assistant] The parabola approached almost lazily until suddenly, like a storm of fiery demons, they accelerated directly past one's head with ear-splitting cracks.


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[Assistant] I shall never forget the brain splitting shockwave as mortar bombs detonated, nor the rending of the atmosphere when a stick of Nebelwerfer bombs straddled one slit trench.


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[Assistant] The metallic stench of dead cattle in Normandy, the pungent odor of German prisoners and the vile penetrating chemical smell from a newly plowed shell crater.


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[Assistant] Why in circumstance of great danger did the palms of my hands moisten, making it difficult to grip the butt of my pistol?


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[Assistant] After 40 years, I am sure I could still prime a 36 grenade in total darkness or load the magazines of a Colt automatic pistol.


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[Assistant] At Bedburg, Lance Corporal Porteous lay by the railway crossing.


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[Assistant] At Halvin Boom, Private Jones died with a tiny cry. Lost in the chill winter air, as the bullet took him from us.


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[Assistant] Rarely since as my adrenaline flowed as an advance to combat.


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[Assistant] With all the senses alert, one lived for a few hours, sometimes for a day, at a concert pitch.


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[Assistant] Totally absorbed, one pressed on until objectives had been seized. And I flopped as I had never done since.


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[Assistant] I remember the mood of pulsating expectancy during the last few hours before battle. Old trusted friends like Dennis Clark and Bramley Hancock would arrive to tie up their artillery support.


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[Assistant] Others, troop commanders from the Sherwood Rangers, would appear almost in party mood to marry up with us.


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[Assistant] The very air was vibrant with excitement and good fellowship. No acrimony, simply an exercise in willing cooperation to help us, the infantry, overcome the day's grim task.


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[Assistant] Jim and Owen were mentioned in dispatches, but Doug was left unrewarded.


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[Assistant] Over the years, this omission has troubled me particularly because I had not been so, had I not been so young and inexperienced, more notice might have been taken of my representations.


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[Assistant] I have no doubt that they all earned a military medal on more than one occasion. And I, their platoon commander failed them in this respect.


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[Assistant] The warmth of their presence comforted me and their humor restored my spirits.


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[Assistant] Their absence left a void which, but for an exceptionally happy marriage, would have certainly drawn me back into the army for the comfort that only a soldier can understand.


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[Assistant] About how that's the best thing in the world and Sydney Jerry captures it better than me. You miss the mission and you miss the men.


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[Assistant] You can pile on the fact that when they were in Hoven Woods, the Germans had booby-trapped.


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[Assistant] The British body, so they were just laying there. They didn't get the same respect back.


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[Assistant] But I think that's one thing that Sydney Jerry is very intent on throughout the book is that regardless of how


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, you know, I think that's why this book is, this book, they give this book to everyone at, uh,


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[Assistant] Regardless of the way the enemy behaves, they don't lower themselves to that behavior. You know, the worst atrocity that gets committed by his soldiers is when they spank a Waffen-SS guy on the ass.


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[Assistant] He's right. Yeaah. He's right. And if you had the choice between getting some meathead that was gonna go do your bidding even though he might look like a big beast and he's gonna, but then if you think about how's that guy gonna act when things get tough or when things become ethically challenging. Yeaah. How's that person gonna act?


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[Assistant] Man, he's killing people. He's, you know, it's easy to get caught up in the fact that he's wearing corduroy pants and he's got this. There's a part, there's another part I didn't, didn't go over in the podcast, but there's, there's a group of, of uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] German, there's like German, uh, some kind of artillery piece and an artillery team.


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[Assistant] And they're getting, the Brits are getting their guns dialed in to the team, and they're gonna start killing them, and they make a run for it.


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[Assistant] And they have horses, and there's like six guys and some horses towing this, this artillery piece away.


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[Assistant] He's happy that the, he's especially happy the horse is like, you know, he doesn't like seeing the, the, the animals get killed.


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[Assistant] And so he's actually happy that these guys escape.


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[Assistant] And then he just says, you know, well that's wrong because these guys are gonna come back and kill my soldiers.


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[Assistant] Situations where you have the good conscience, which wants to do the right thing, and at the same time, you gotta kill people.


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[Assistant] And then the next day, by the way, they're going back to killing each other en masse. Yeah. Dang. Yeah, that's, that's the thing about


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[Assistant] You know, a book like this is so revealing of human nature because business people have to do the same thing.


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[Assistant] You know, if you're a business person and your business is losing money,


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[Assistant] Well guess what you might have to do? Cut staff. You know, if you gotta, and you, you know, let's say we're working with a small business, or you've got a small business, you've got 20 people, you know all those 20 people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not like a nameless person that you're firing right when you let go four or five people Because you need to save money next quarter or you're gonna lose your building


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[Assistant] And so it's the same dichotomy where


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[Assistant] This boss who wants to take care of his people just like Sydney Jerry wants to take care of his men.


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[Assistant] And all of a sudden the only way to do your mission is you gotta kill, you gotta, you're gonna get some of these people killed. Or you're gonna fire some of these people. Otherwise our plant shuts down. Otherwise we can't go forward. Yeah. And everyone dies. No one has a job now.


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[Assistant] And the better you understand human nature, there's two things that can happen. Number one, the better you can lead other people, but equally as important, if not more important, is if you understand human nature, you can understand yourself.


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[Assistant] What you need to conclude so that you can move forward in the best possible way.


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[Assistant] And these books allow you to gather and garner so much of that.


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[Assistant] Oh yea, yea, for sure. Even with the enemy types? Not so much with the enemy types. That's what I mean. But with the civilian types for sure. I mean, I mean obviously. And you'd see guys would go completely out of their way to try and protect a civilian.


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[Assistant] Uh, the enemy over there is a lot. It's different, huh? Yeah. Well, there's a, there's a, there's, you know, here you have a uniformed soldier. Yeah. You know, there you don't have a uniformed soldier. You got somebody that's trying to sneak around and, and blow you up in an IED. Yeah. And, yeah, you don't see that same level of now, uh, I mean, once you get a guy captured,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You definitely, what he talks about is this mutual respect of like, look, we're sitting in a slit trench getting murdered. And when I, like when I meet you, you're on the other side, but I know that you've been sitting in a slit trench getting murdered all day. Right.


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[Assistant] In Iraq, it's asymmetrical warfare. So they're not suffering the same type of situation. And, and they also, you know, one thing that, that really throws that stuff out the window is the way that the insurgents treated the civilian populace. You know, so, so we're witnessing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Non-judicial murders like when executions we're seeing that we're seeing civilians getting tortured. We're seeing


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[Assistant] You know, people being beheaded, and so when you see that, they're trying to help these people, and you start to think, look, if you're another infantryman in an opposing army,


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[Assistant] I can, I can empathize with you. I can understand what you're going through. But if you're, even if you're another army, but I see you raping, torturing, murdering, burning people alive, I don't empathize with you anymore. It doesn't work that way. So, not really.


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[Assistant] The vehemently, you know, pro al-Qaeda. Some of them were just, hey look, I'm gonna get paid 50 bucks to put an IED in this.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and, and if you paid me 50 bucks to go and plant, you know, crop over there, I'd just as soon do that. Yeah. So you'd see some of that, there'd be, okay, look, this, this kid's just, you know, he's just caught up in something he doesn't understand and...


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[Assistant] Let's say Al-Qaeda had taken over Iraq, and you were fighting either the hardened Al-Qaeda guys, or some normal, you know, infantrymen from the Iraqi army. Yeah, those guys you'd have been like, hey look, this dude surrendered, okay. The Al-Qaeda guys, first of all, they're probably not gonna surrender. And if they do,


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[Assistant] That's, they're gonna not get the same treatment that a, that a guy that's a victim of circumstance. Right? A lot of the Germans, they're a victim of circumstance. Hey, this guy came into power, I was a soldier, I'm still a soldier. You know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Man, it's heavy. It is. But there is definitely a mutual respect that you have for, for another serviceman that you know has been through the same kind of crap that you've been through.


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[Assistant] Oh actually, we were talking to Leif. Remember Leif said he ran out of krill oil?


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[Assistant] Heads up, if you're looking to get 18 platoon in the book, you actually, you can get it on Amazon. Used.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For like 40 bucks. A used copy. Which they'll all be gone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the time whoever you are listening to this, you can also get it from a website.


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[Assistant] Rifles Direct dot com, which actually supports the rifles regiment in the UK. So uhm, you can get it there as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, anyway, I am compelled to subscribe to YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There you go. That's what you're trying to say. You're saying a lot of other stuff right now. Well, you know, which is not helpful.


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[Assistant] What's the, uh, What's Jocko Podcast is the channel.


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[Assistant] It'd be cool if you put videos on there more often. I do.


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[Assistant] Oh yea, 2-3 week now. Okay good, I'm looking forward to that new-


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[Assistant] I was meeting some people, I was meeting some people, talking to some people at a group the other day who were not familiar with me or with anything.


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[Assistant] And they said, oh well, do you have, you know, one of them said, oh, he's got a podcast. And then the other one said, oh, what's the name of the podcast? And I said, oh, the podcast is called Jocko Podcast. And...


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[Assistant] So just think about where my mindset is, and you may want to step it up over on your


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[Assistant] And sabotaging my efforts. I made the better shirt. Uh huh. And you don't want to print it.


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[Assistant] Because you're self-conscious, and that's not gonna stand.


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[Assistant] Cause everyone in the world will, like someone will be there with a camera, and they'll get me a big jelly donut in my face.


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[Assistant] Alright, like I said, 18 platoon, you can get that at riflesdirect.com from the UK. It supports that regiment, which I'm all about. Also, you know, speaking of rash guards and stuff, check out originmain.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My boy up there, Pete Roberts. He's kind of a-


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[Assistant] He's kind of a psycho actually. Kind of a mad man. He's all about manufacturing in America, which I'm all about too. And I'm going to go into this.


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[Assistant] In America, in Maine, and like I said, that's kinda crazy. Borderline.


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[Assistant] Psychopathic, which I kinda like. And, yes, that's kinda why we're-


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[Assistant] It's going down. We're gonna make something happen. I'll keep everyone informed as we finalize the plan.


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[Assistant] But the thing is, that rash guard, it's a- it already sold out.


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[Assistant] You know, so now he's printing a bunch more, but there, but he's gotta, he's gotta weave the material. Yeaah, yeaah. Right? Or he gets, he gets one of his producers here in America, weeds the material. So anyways, check out that originmain.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Big time. Uhm, also, Jocka White Tea on Amazon. Here's a, here's an actual, again, this is a certified verified report.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now my cat is bringing home raccoons, full grown rabbits, and even the neighbor's dog. So, be careful. Don't let your cat get it. Unless your neighbor's dog is being annoyed. No, that's chocolate tea. You can have it.


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[Assistant] And it's not, doesn't taste, the thing is it doesn't taste like normal tea. It tastes like victory.


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[Assistant] Alright, Way of the Warrior Kid. Boom. Also, this is a warning about Way of the Warrior Kid. When you order Way of the Warrior Kid, just go ahead and also order a pull-up bar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some flashcards, some healthy food, and a jiu-jitsu gi. Cause when your kid gets done reading this factually, they're gonna wanna


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stronger, better, tougher, and smarter. So, supply them the way they need to be supplied. Quit playing around. Get some. Also, the discipline equals freedom field manual.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's no book like this. Doesn't exist. Uhm, it is not a normal book.


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[Assistant] It's kinda like the podcast. This podcast is not for everyone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not everyone wants to listen to this podcast. That's okay. I'm not making a podcast for everyone. We're making a podcast for people that like to get after it.


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[Assistant] Some people don't get the podcast. Some people aren't gonna understand the book. They're not gonna know where it's coming from. That's okay. I'm not, I'm not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not ton- we're not toning down the podcast, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you want to listen to a little jangle or a little, you know, metallic riff to get you in the zone on the beginning of the podcast, that's cool. If you want that, that's awesome. There's other podcasts that offer it. We don't offer it here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what you're gonna get. With the book, if you're looking for a, you know, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Little heavy, mhm. Little dark, right? Sparse, right? Sure. Get after it, that's in there. Anyways, discipline equals freedom, field manual. Order it. It's, it's not printed, I'll give you an example. It's not printed on white paper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So straight up, let's just go from there. It's actually printed, the background is all images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There you go. Little indicator as to what the field manual is like. You can get that. You can pre-order it now. Of course, Extreme Ownership. It's a little book. It's about leadership.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually, it's about combat leadership and how you can take the combat leadership principles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We also have Ashland Front Consulting. Me, Leif Babin, JP Danel, Dave Burke. We will come and help your team align your leadership so you can crush your enemies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You just heard Sidney Jerry saying it. A leadership is the thing that makes you overcome seemingly impossible things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if your leadership isn't squared away, you're not gonna overcome them. So you need to get in the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can contact us info at EchelonFront.com if you want that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Also, the muster, we just got back from the Austin muster.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Outstanding. It was awesome. So many great people in there. Lessons learned. Knowledge spread.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kennedy showed up, uh, and it was cool, and I didn't realize it until we were at Jiu Jitsu.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think I came up to you and said this during Jujitsu. So the last night we had Thursday, then Friday, and then Friday night we go to Jujitsu. We went to 10th planet at...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Austin, Austin 10th planet, Jujitsu, with my boy Curtis. Todd White was there. And Todd White, old school represent. Yeaah, he's old school, like he's, me and him are from the same era. Yeaah, we're from the same era.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People say, aw man, I wish I had that book when I was a kid. And extreme ownership. People say, aw man, I wish I had that, I wish I had that book when I started out in my...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I got promoted five years ago. And you know what I say about Way the Warrior Kid? I wish I had it when I was a kid. You know what I say about Extreme Ownership? I wish I had it when I was a, a, assistant platoon commander. I wish I had it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't have it. And what's cool about the muster is, so that feeling,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pragmatic information that you can take and you can execute with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, only one quarter of the people that came to jiu-jitsu had ever trained jiu-jitsu before. The other, what was it, 50 people that had never trained before. So they're getting this gift, the gift of jiu-jitsu.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, little intro now. I would say 50% of them will go back and start training. Yeah, maybe more. I wish it was 100%. Yeah, it might be. It might be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's hard. It was always bizarre to me that when I introduced someone to Jujitsu, it wasn't a 100% conversion rate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, you just choked me and I couldn't stop you? I need to learn that 100%. Otherwise I go through life vulnerable to being choked by anyone. I don't like that feeling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I say it all the time. Yeah, yeah. No, there's me, Leif, Dave, JP, Echo. We're not. There's no green room. It doesn't exist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No green room. So, that's the muster. Uhm, and by the way, they've sold out. All of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we've done have been sold out. Now the next one that we got coming up is September 14th and 15th back at the Omni Hotel in downtown San Diego, California. Muster 004. It's gonna sell out. This is a known fact. So if you wanna come, it's September 14th and 15th. That is right around the corner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, if you want to come to that, come to that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Extremeownership.com is where you can register if you want to. Also, by the way, this is interesting. If you train jujitsu, or if you're interested in training jujitsu,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're going up there. It is, there's two sessions that they run. It's the 20th, August 20th to the 23rd, or August 24th to the 27th. Those are the two different sessions, or you can come for the whole week. Anyways,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm gonna be there for those middle three days, like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So I'm gonna be there for the last day of the first camp and the first day of the second camp. And I'll be on there on the middle day. We're gonna be training, rolling, talking, hanging out, eating lobster, eating steaks, uh, just generally getting after it. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that's not a lot of spaces. So if you want to come up, register quick and I'll see you guys up there in Maine. I'm gonna, what I like about it is unlike the muster where everything is scheduled, like we don't have a lot of break time and even the break times are working.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what I mean? Two hours in the morning, two hours at lunch, two hours in the evening. So that's six hours. You know, you're gonna sleep four hours, so you still got 14 hours left in the day. So what are we gonna do? We're gonna kick it. Yeah, we're gonna cruise. There's a lake, there's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, uhm, bunch of good people coming up after that. If you want to come up and hang out, do it. And that will work. We'll see you up there either at the muster or we'll see you at the immersion jujitsu camp. Wait, how do you register for that one?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] OriginMain.com and then you click on the immersion thing and you'll find it. Or you press Google.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Facebook people watch. Echo is at Echo Charles, and I am at Jocko Willink. And finally, thank you to everyone for listening to this podcast and for supporting this podcast. Which, by the way,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our great nation from evil. This podcast is made possible by police, law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, first responders that keep us safe and orderly here at home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's made possible by each and every one of you out there working in the economy, making and creating and building. So don't stop doing that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those that still shine down on us and remember that we are not here long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Immediately too, by the way. Bro, you'd be surprised. I'm not surprised.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's the idea. Just like I said, like we all want to like stay cozy in our bed and kind of take our time getting up and kind of thing. Yeah, it's the idea for sure. That's what I get from it anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The mandatory. Yeah, 430. And if you don't wake up at 430, you're black or something. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, yeaah, that, that whole thing, I mean, I, I dig it, you know, how they're talking to you guys like that, but that whole thing where, how do you expect to do this when you can't even, you know, tie your shoes right, or whatever, you know, like. Or you don't buy into that, huh? I do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually no, it's good. You're like, how are you gonna re- cause a lot of things it's like a false little equivalency there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, I get it. I get that part of it for sure, but I'm saying like if they're not explaining why and it could be wrong. Well, they're explaining why.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, well that's really the thing, ultimately, like uhm, you know, like, and I mentioned Mr. Mia, like on Karate Kid, right, where he's like, wax on, wax off, you know, and he's like, oh, this is so dumb, then at the end he gets the picture, you know, but as he's doing it, I mean, he didn't say, you know, if you can't send the floor, how are you gonna fight in the tournament, nothing like that, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. No, I dig it. That was not fun. I worked at Footlocker. That was hard. What did you do there? Worked at Footlocker. But did what? Were you selling shoes? Like a sales guy in the back stocking shoes and stuff like that. Yeah. You know what's funny, man?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but I'm sure we're all like, but we're both of that. I'm sure everybody is both of those things in one way or another, you know, like in, you know, like we're probably both in like the comfort zone big time as far as certain things, you know, I don't know why, you know, I can't speak for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, guys will be working out and like getting their fresh haircut or whatever. And then they'll get married and then they won't work out as much and guys, girls, whatever. Um, you know, and do that. They, they quote unquote, let themselves go after they get married, like that kind of stuff, but they might focus a lot more on their career and then they might want more of that. But then the, you know, it's like that kind of stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, pretty much anybody, really. Everybody. You've watched the social network, bro. I watched that show. It sounds weird. It's a, when you first hear the idea of Facebook about Facebook and Zuckerberg.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe, maybe, uh, yeah, maybe, I don't know, I don't really follow Zuckerberg to know his awkwardness or whatever, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, cause he has to get in here, so he's trying to solve these, it's all code, and you know, so he's trying to solve this problem, but then this problem comes up, and then this one has these specific problems, so he has to solve them, but he can't just deal with the current tools, he has to bust out these other tools.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, it was, it was like, it was a slow evolution into it, cause at first it was like, he started with this thing called face smash, which was basically just comparing the girls on campus, like who's hotter, and then you click, okay, she's hotter, then you go to the next one, she's hotter, you know, and then,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, man, that was a big part of it. It was like, that's what people would hate him and stuff like that. And then it just slowly, um, no, it was a social network. These guys, like some rowers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah, big time. And that's what they were trying to emphasize too, more like he just wanted to be liked by people or something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I guess that'd be pretty common to kind of be inconsistent in that way or, or have it be inconsistent as far as your experience with that person. Seems like that'd be kind of common, right? Because a lot of people, if they're famous or if they're, you know, famous, popular, whatever, you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of times you kind of got to turn it on for the camera, right? Especially because you're essentially a performer in one way or another, whether it be actor or whoever, you know, even like businessmen, you know, like it's weird and it's not even necessarily a bad thing. It's more like, for lack of a better term, a required thing, you know, so like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's there, he's rolling with everyone and everything, you know, it's like he's known there or whatever, you know, like a calm, just another person there as far as training goes. And then, um, so he's kind of cruising down the side. So it's like, well, I'm going to go ask him to roll.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I was like, hey, what's up? Yeah, I met you with Dean long time ago, you know, a few years ago, whatever. It was like, he was like, yeah, that must've been a lot. Like he totally didn't remember me, you know? It's not like, oh, I remember you so now I'm going to be cool to you. It was like, he did totally didn't remember me. I was probably one of many people and he was still just as cool. So he starts talking about UFC, you know how like you, you go, hey, small talk before you guys roll.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then uhm, so it's small talk and he starts talking about current UFC stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's this indicator, you know? He didn't remember me, so really, since he didn't remember me, for all intents and purposes, I was just another person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And same exact treatment. Just cool. Just normal. Oh yeaah. It wasn't like, I mean, you're you and there's this separation kind of thing with none of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. You don't know. Cause it's mental, right? It's mental and physical. It's mental and physical. Hey, can you get cut from buds just cause you're not like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's see, is there like, I don't know, but you know, like let's say there's a run. And you gotta, you know, do they, is there any circumstances that are this or similar to this where you gotta make this run in, you know, 10 minutes, whatever. And if you don't make the 10 minutes, you're out. But there's stuff like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so that, that's what you mean by it's physical, cause like. Yea, it's physical, like if you don't. Yea, you can fail physically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Depends on what you mean by fast and depends on what you mean by slow. When I used to like run, I would run on the treadmill and I would run a seven minute mile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like, but a nine minute mile is pathetic. Right. That's, and that's what the pace I would run my four miles and I wouldn't be dead, but I'd be, that'd be to go harder. If I'm, if I, if you want me to run an eight minute, seven minute, eight minute mile with boots in the sand, even some of the time you're crazy, I would be, I would have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Apparently, yeaah. I would be going like you as fast as I possibly can to make it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, she has all her stuff that she needs and she's gonna do well on the vacation, as far as comfort goes, whatever. But she can't even carry it. You gotta carry it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah. Yeaah. Remember Leif was talking about that. Yeaah. Remember he was like. Yeaah. First patrol in her body.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it wasn't as much as it was the amount of meals a day. It was, uhm, like the type of meals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to say cream cheese in there with watermelon and banana. It was like interesting little mix, but it was good though. But it was like, it's like a lot of the stuff is like, cause you, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically the resources of your body. Start going to your stomach now. And now you want to demand some resources for the rest of your body when you go to train. The stomach's like, hey, what about us? Resources bail from the stomach a little bit, stomach feels upset. You might throw up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's why you bring your rings when you go on trips.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Provides less distraction from your goal, cause like in, in fitness and, you know, like working out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bodybuilding, a lot of time, like that's a factor big time because you gotta eat a certain amount to maintain or gain weight and all this stuff. And.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, maintain certain, you know, macros, you know, fat levels, all this stuff. So you can't just be going to KFC and wherever you think is super delicious and just eating and be like, Hey, this, you gotta have like certain amount of like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clean stuff and you can't add a bunch of sauces because there's extra calories in there, you know, all this stuff. So yeah, if you, if you can endure that kind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I'm sure that, you know, that kinda helped him. Helped him with what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like accepting of conditions, right? You know, like you, it's like if you're, if you're used to sleeping on the floor with like no AC or heat or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you know, you can go sleep on someone's couch, you can go get rest pretty much anywhere, and that's a good luxury, especially when you compare it to a situation where you don't have that kind of tolerance, you know? You know the kind where...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, usually you hit that one steak that's like prepared perfectly. And then in your mind, you're like, dang, I love steak now. And then even if you get another steak that wasn't prepared that perfectly, you're still pursuing it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sure it'll be cold, but it's not about how cold or not cold it is. Sure it'll be hot, it's not about how hot or not hot it is. And you can't complain about that stuff. And if you complain, that's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's so funny because before I thought like that, I would have thought that's so dumb. Like, bro, put on your sweat. You're ruining your experience or whatever. You're at the beach with your whatever friends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it could, and also it's kinda like that now, where like, you know, let's say, let's say quote unquote, grown adults, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why are you saying it in a weird voice? No, because I would say generally speaking, that's kind of like, oh, you chat children, you know, like, what are you guys doing? Oh, people make fun of that? Yeah, if two grown adults are having little feats of strength competitions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Totally agree, but I think if it's not like organized and then like presented, you know, kind of thing, like if me and you were just cruising at the beach and then I'm like, Oh, that's funny. We did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Me and, me and Halleck went to Australia, right? And we're like, oh, cruising some downtime. We're filming this, this, um, you know, this video and Brad just turned into that 100%. It was just me and him. So we went from pushups. He was like, Hey, he's like, Hey, what about the challenge?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, of gravel, by the way. So it's not like a 200 pound barbell. It's a gravel thing. Yeah. See, and that's a perfect example. But that makes you strong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think so too. I agree with it. I agree with it. I'm just, I'm just saying like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If, let's say we were all at a, like a barbeque, with just a vast variety of, like that's totally acceptable, you know, the 200 pound bag challenge, it's all just guys, like, you know. But if we were at a barbeque, you know, let's say my daughter was at a birthday party or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but if I challenge you today to a kettlebell, like let's see who can do the night, whatever, the 90 pound one or something at my daughter's birthday party, I think aside from me, you and maybe a handful of other guys that are our direct peers, aside from them, I think people would be like, you guys are dumb. That's what I think. They might be right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you think that's okay? I do think it's okay. I don't. I know you don't. It's not an absolute yes or no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, fully. And these are all different things that all kind of enter into the equation. So again, it comes back to like, why are you, why are you training? Like, why are you there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or whatever, like why are you there? So yeah, if this thing, what he's talking about where it's like, okay, if you're like letting yourself go, if you're kind of giving up and then justifying it with in this case, Oh, I'm old, they're training for world. And that's your, your.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Version of giving up, then yea, that's bad. But if it's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's say you're like an older guy or whatever and maybe you kind of lost a step or whatever, you know, like, like people do when they get older sometimes. Uhm, and you're like, hey, you know, this guy's getting nuts. If I rise to that level of intensity, I could get hurt or something like that. And it's like in the decision, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, a lot of times when people get married or they, um, they stop training or whatever and they, they blame it on the marriage or they blame it on their career or something like that. It's like, ah, you kinda lost it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In their defense, everybody's different. If they have two kids, you have four, they're not you and their kids aren't you. So there's that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It does make it hard. It totally does. And it does make it harder with the kids and a career and stuff like that. I'd say it was easy. Yeah, agreed. That's what I was going to say. It's like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, kinda goes for everything too, yeah. Like, cause it kinda keeps your whole, uhm, like, approach to life in that, that battle frame, you know? Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so, so looking at things through that fr-, you know, whatever it may be, whether it be military history, whatever, you're always kind of looking at things in that way. Yes. Like this night, we had this guy, we called him Uncle Jill. He was my friend of the family. In Hawaii? In Hawaii, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And his, he was a really good artist, but he used to climb trees and take us, just tree climbing. I know, random hippie thing, actually me talking about it right now, but it was super good fun. This guy, he'd always be like, hey, I think I can climb that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's kinda like dang, if you kinda have these, like, looking at things through frames that are, that are useful, you know, like, I think, like, but it's like, man, you can figure a lot of things out that you, a lot of people wouldn't figure out, you know? Like, I know videos like that for sure, be like, dang, that's like a good shot, how that, you know, no one's, no one cares, it's just a beach or what.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, like it disperses the way he has. He did it. It's good, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think of the two that you just said, the first one I think makes more sense to me that that's what he meant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly right. Like, like, it's kinda like you only have one life, and if you're gonna die, make it legit. Don't be dying trying to cross the river. You better die doing something big time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where, you know, Bodhi, he's looking for the 50 year storm, remember? Same thing. So he's like, I'm going to be there and all this stuff. He's always trying to push the limit, all these things, bank robbery, skydiving, all this stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't let up at the end mentally, you know, just go, just keep pushing the way you feel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, so it, it's just a mental state where it's like finished strong. It's finished strong in your mind, you know. So yeaah, don't worry about your, in jiu-jitsu I'd get this all the time man. When, when I'd win a match and then I'd win another one, you know in jiu-jitsu you gotta win like matches to the final.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just relax, you've made it this far. That tells them that it's okay to not to be, to check out, you know. So it depends on what their state of mind is to go into that, that comment or to go into the situation where you say.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If that's like kind of the underlying attitude, like relax, have fun, regardless of what match, first match, last finals match, whatever, then yes, I think so. But if it's like, come on, you got this, you can do this, you can do this. And then right when he gets to the final, then you say, okay, yeah, you made it this far. So it's like, relax.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's good to say. If someone told me that go do what you do, that would really be empowering. Go do what you do. Yeah. That's good stuff to say to me. But anything to put pressure on me, like if you do this, you win. Like, you know, like one more match and that's it. No, but I'll tell you what's interesting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's like you fall for the trick. And as I mentioned this as a trick, your mind's trick. So like, you're getting, it is mind games. You know, when you, uh, uh, you fall off the path, you say when you feel like crap because you're off the program.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the fact that you're off the program, aside from just your physical physicality, you feel like crap. So you got to alleviate that feeling. So you go to something that's going to give you pleasure, but ooh, guess what? Wrong pleasure. You went short-term when you needed long-term.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have a girlfriend, you get in a fight or something like that or they break up with you. Whatever, whatever. You know, something that makes you in a bad mood for whatever reason.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Krill oil, the main one, and joint warfare. So, joint warfare, glucosamine, and chondroitin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes. What is that? It's more goodness for the joints. Some stuff to wage warfare against joint inflammation, pain, degeneration.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so, and that's a big deal. Cause again, I'm gonna say, I said it before, but I think this is critical. I mean, you know, I'm sure there's like supplements that'll help you build your muscles if you're into building. I'm sure there is, but really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you can maintain your joints, especially if you're jujitsu pushing weights, any kind of like elbow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're a straight up generating, huh? Yeah. No, no, no. I dig it. And the, this is one of the, the cruel oil thing. Um, I'm not embarrassed because it's kind of a funny story at my expense in a little bit. It's not funny, funny, but it is that I was like, to my father in law. Now you know the truth. Yeah. I'm like over here pushing cruel oil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like in life, I mean, you know, um, Brian, his name is Brian. Remember we went to the, uh, retreat in Maine or Brian, the black belt that came from New Hampshire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I kind of keep contact with him. He's like, he's like, Hey, do you have any, like, what's the cool supplements or whatever? I was like, probably, you know, and I sent him some, some of mine and he was, I didn't get the report back. That was like the other day, but nonetheless in life, I'm straight up pushing it. Like tell Greg about it all the time. I don't think, I don't think, yeah, maybe I gave him some, I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it's like, you know, can you get benefits for something? And then you're like pushing it on other people. Some people do it with, uhm, begrudgingly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know bravo, I think we kinda equated to our identity in a way. That's kinda what I do with cruel oil. It's part of my identity now. It's part of my joints identity, I can tell you that. And joint warfare. Good ones also. Oh wait.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like a recurrent. Yeah, so you just can get it every month. That's what it should be. I know, I know. We'll get it set up. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jocko's a rash guard. We'll start with that. American hands. I've worn it many times. Can I talk about 19% improvement in performance?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you were bringing it like you had 26 cause you typically don't wear that right? You don't really wear rash guards that much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't say you got lucky. I can't believe how pathetic it was. You want me to give you a breakdown of your guillotine? Cobra, which I think is even more so than the guillotine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep, no adjustments. So, it's gotten to the point over literally like, what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's how my whole body reacts when I feel it gets sunken.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This again, we've been down this road, same outcome, you know, my body's used to that outcome. So it just kind of accommodates it. That's what it feels like. And I think that's part of what I meant by it's like, I saw that coming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think so too. I don't like the fact that it's like that by the way. I think, I think talking about it might help or it might straight up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They don't like ship in some stuff and then, Hey guys, okay. Are we starting to make yet? Even though it's been, you know, yeah, they make or make it from the thread. And the key, the key is good. The key is good. I think the video is coming out. Yeah. It's out. The origin. It's our main video. Megan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whole long story I won't go into right now. Nonetheless, videos out. Megan made the video.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a good one. Actually, you kinda made the video too, you made that one. Nonetheless, uh, Jakku's gi is out, other gi's on origin, all good. I got two other ones. So three origin gi's altogether. Me. It's the only gi's I'll ever wear, I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unless someone else can make their own material in America and, you know, provide the same everything, then hey, maybe, maybe not, but just saying as of right now, that's how it is. Also...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kettlebells. Alright, I'm gonna keep you updated on my kettlebell situation. I'm addicted to em. I'm addicted to em. Collecting and doing em. So I got one more, that's the Cyclops from Onnit. The designer one. No, no, uh, what do you call it? The regulation, regular ones? None of those. Anyway, Cyclops I think is 40 something pounds. I only got one, I'm getting after it with that one too. Anyway, the good thing about these is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah bro, I didn't get that. I thought I was going to get really into Turkish Gaps.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah, you take it as like a challenge. Yeaah. Yeaah, maybe my whole outlook is different. Anyway, when you do these kettlebells, if you want the cool ones!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To me kettlebells are dope, but if you want them extra dope, you go to onit.com slash jockel. Get your kettlebells there. Just look at them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got light ones, heavy ones. I say start light, but hey, whatever your level is, you know, get em. Also, when you get your copy of what is the translated.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Grocery bag holders. Even though I don't recommend that stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, yeah, click through there. So on our website, jockapodcast.com, good way to support also subscribe to the podcast. If you haven't already on iTunes, stitcher, Google play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually in, not to split hairs, but it's called Amazon Echo. Alexa is just the name you say.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just want us to go in correct and insane and doing the right thing, that's all. Nonetheless, subscribe, if you haven't already. Is it? So put it this way, I'm not saying subscribe, I'm saying subscribing is a good way to support. Also on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel, put some videos on there, excerpts, not as many excerpts as I did last week, this week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Might be something that only I'm noticing. Maybe, maybe not, but nonetheless, that's gonna be how it is. Either way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a good way to support.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A rash guard that says small action on one side, big reaction on the other side. When I wore it for the first time, uh, keeling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's coming out good. Anyway, that one's coming out soon. JockoStore. JockoStore.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do not worry because Psychological Warfare is an album with tracks that helps you write through that. Most situations, pretty much all situations, really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Waking up early, skipping workouts, procrastination.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Staying on the program diet wise, all this stuff, a lot of stuff, bunch of tracks on there. And it's Jaco telling you pragmatically ways that you can practice, wait, practical, right? Practical, meaning you can practice these things. It's not just some philosophical slash inspirational stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's more due. Practical. It's kind of the tame word for it. But nonetheless, practical advice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is Jocko Podcast number 90. With Echo Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening Echo. Good evening.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This past week has been one of the most challenging of my life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You really have no idea how much a few words of encouragement can mean when you are at a time and place like this. Thanks again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My platoon is in a very active area of operations in southern Afghanistan. Our mission is to close with and destroy the enemy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is no outside the wire here because there is no wire. My boys are simply always on alert.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We haven't had a shower since we've been in Afghanistan. We've run nonstop missions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And have been very successful at accomplishing these without experiencing any injuries to our own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just trying to paint a picture of life here. And not trying to make you feel sorry for us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trust me, I belong here with these guys and we are a family.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rather, I want to paint a picture because I'd like to tell you about Travis Mills.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know you don't know him, but it would mean a lot to me to be able to spread his story.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My platoon string of missions without injury came to an abrupt and violent end last week when we hit a dismounted IED during combat operations. I had three paratroopers injured from the blast. One was minor. One was severe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The most severe injury was sustained by my weapon squad leader, Travis Big Mills. I'd like to take the opportunity to tell you about him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even under the conditions that I've described, he is the best of us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was the biggest guy in the platoon and has the biggest heart to go with it. He was eager to please and always cheered us up. He led from the front and was injured because of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He preferred that he take the injury over any man in his squad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was the most fearless person I have ever seen in combat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He woke up every morning and sang a bunch of different songs to us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Usually Keisha or Britney Spears or the songs of some other girl band.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had this ritual. Anytime we finished a patrol where we had a firefight, once we returned to the strong point, he'd run to the front of the formation and sing songs about the 82nd Airborne. He would do dance gestures and all. He even did it for the brigade commander when he came to visit. It was a big hit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I laughed at how, or he laughed at how serious I am and how I don't like to be touched.


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[Assistant] So, he made it his personal mission to make me laugh.


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[Assistant] Usually this involved an overly aggressive and a little too intimate man hug followed by a middle school style dance where he'd grind on me.


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[Assistant] He kept me sane. I laughed at his antics constantly. In combat, there is no one we would rather have been with.


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[Assistant] He risked his life to save others constantly, and I can recall two times specifically where he literally saved me.


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[Assistant] Needless to say, I took his injury hard, including the personal guilt that a leader feels when he is responsible for his men. So I wanted to tell you these things.


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[Assistant] More importantly, Travis is going to be okay.


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[Assistant] The truth is, I've seen things here so terrible that I'll never be able to put them into words. Travis's injury being at the top of the list.


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[Assistant] But I've also seen things here so wonderful that I'll never be able to put them into words either. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true.


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[Assistant] How do you put into words the spirit like the one I've just described in Big Mills?


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[Assistant] The reality of it is that I have the honor of leading people like Travis. There are many more in my platoon just like him.


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[Assistant] So while I've seen some things I'd like to never talk about again.


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[Assistant] I've seen just as many that I'll spend the rest of my life trying to explain to anyone who will listen.


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[Assistant] I've seen a tremendous love and care between brothers that have only each other to rely on.


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[Assistant] It's a selfless, deep, everlasting bond that I consider myself lucky and absolutely privileged to be a part of.


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[Assistant] Thank you so much again for your support, but know that I am fine.


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[Assistant] My family here is taking care of each other and we will persevere as one.


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[Assistant] Explaining his unbelievably positive attitude. His courage under fire.


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[Assistant] And very solemn. And I know that you have an issue with both of those terms in a broad perspective.


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[Assistant] So, for those of you that haven't heard anything from Travis before,


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[Assistant] Yeaah. No, I thought he did a great job of capturing, you know, what everyone's feeling over there. And I didn't, I didn't go in Afghanistan, but what, just similar to what we'd feel in Iraq. Uhm.


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[Assistant] And you know, I talk about this a lot. About the fact that...


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[Assistant] This is why guys miss combat. You know, you miss combat even though it's when you're over there and you're-


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[Assistant] In this crappy situation and you're like, I can't wait to get home. But then when you get home, you have that little thing in the back of your mind that says that misses that camaraderie, which only comes from that place. So he did a good job of describing that. So


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[Assistant] I think to understand where a man ends up, we kinda gotta understand where a man comes from.


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[Assistant] The young Travis Mills and you know how you grew up and all that.


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[Assistant] So hold on, so you were playing three sports in high school? And I got a quote from your book in here, by the way. Uhm, I'm gonna read it.


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[Assistant] I was big for my age, and for a lot of boyhood years, I had a big gap between my two front teeth.


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[Assistant] Uh, I like to wear my hair shaved in a buzz cut, particularly in the summers when it got hot. With that Opie Taylor kinda look, I fit into small town America. And, you did karate, by the way.


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[Assistant] Actually, you had a contest here. I'm gonna read about it. It wasn't all easy.


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[Assistant] In one of my first karate matches, I got kicked hard in the sternum and couldn't breathe. I gasped, panicked and tried to suck air. When my normal breathing didn't return immediately, I raised my hand and forfeited the match.


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[Assistant] I'm kinda disappointed. My dad rushed over. Travis, what are you doing? You forfeit a match. You never forfeit a match no matter how hard you're hurting. You never quit. Ever.


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[Assistant] How did, how did she produce your big ass? I don't know. I don't know. How tall is your dad?


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[Assistant] That's a lose-lose situation. But then your mom, your mom told you no, go hit her. Yeah, she cleared it. That's what it says in the book. Like she was like, hey listen, you gotta go beat her up.


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[Assistant] The, uh, football team. Vince Lavelle. Did I say that right? Ah, Lévié. Okay, well, you know, I'm not so much of a French speaker over on my end. Or whatever that language is.


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[Assistant] I'd heard about him, so I went over to watch him. He won the shot put, which meant he was strong. Then he ran over, then he ran over to the 100 yard hurdles and won those, which meant he was fast. You don't see that combination a lot. I knew that this kid was gonna be a special athlete.


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[Assistant] In high school, he became a superstar. Three-sport athlete, baseball, basketball, and football. He was the leader on each team and made first team all-conference in all three sports.


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[Assistant] With football, he was definitely a big cog in our team's wheel. We were the smallest school in our conference and we got beat up for a lot of years. But his junior year, Travis and his friends got into weightlifting and powerlifting and went to all the football camps.


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[Assistant] That year we won the conference championship and made the playoffs for the first time ever. Travis' work ethic motivated everybody, everybody got stronger because Travis was their leader. Jack and Steel.


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[Assistant] That's gonna disrupt science class. Yeah, a wee bit, a wee bit.


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[Assistant] Right, right. Big time. Yeah. Yeah, I saw some video footage of you at those games. There was like madness at those games.


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[Assistant] And did you maintain the high level of discipline in your grades after that point?


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[Assistant] And so that, that meant, did you get looked at, did you get looked at for college ball?


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[Assistant] But then you, uh, you're in debt, you're, uhm, Collin was on the scene now, that kind of threw a loop. So you end up joining the army.


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[Assistant] That's all. So I showed you an, uh, is it like airborne recruiting video?


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah, so that's totally different from me because I joined the Navy in 1990.


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[Assistant] Yeah, we're talking old school. So, there was no war going on. And even though in my mind, I always thought like, the SEALs were just like fighting wars worldwide at all times. Which was not true. But I thought that. But yeah, it wasn't like everyone that was joining the military


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[Assistant] It's not like when you guys joined, your generation of people joined, you knew you were going to war. Oh, absolutely. 100%.


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[Assistant] Well you would've. Did you start thinking about that further in your career?


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[Assistant] It's a weird thing, it's a weird thing, and I don't really, like, anybody, like I was, if you compare you as an athlete in high school, and me as an athlete in high school, it's not even comparable. You, you were like ten times the athlete I was. For some reason, I was stupid enough to think like, I can make it through that training.


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[Assistant] You know, this is ridiculous. It's an interesting, it's an interesting, uh, it's actually humility. It's you being like, hey man, you know, I don't know, I played, you know, football and baseball and ran track, or was that it? Is that right?


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[Assistant] Oh, football, baseball, and basketball. I'm a great athlete, but I might not make it through. That's actually a form of humility, you know? I think it is.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, yeaah. I mean, but the 82nd Airborne, which is where you ended up, is a freaking awesome unit.


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[Assistant] How'd you like, and this is something I, because a lot of people that listen to podcasts, uhm, they join the military. Believe it or not. And, like, we just met a guy the other day who's going, September 18th, going to the Marine Corps. But, I always want to tell them, like, when you show up,


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[Assistant] To bootcamp, it's gonna be a shock to your system, right? I mean, it is gonna be, you're gonna lack of sleep, it's not gonna be stuff that you're used to. It sounds like you got a little, you know, shock to your system when you showed up there of just normal military stuff. And I guess my point in saying that is, when you show up to bootcamp, bootcamp is not gonna be fun for you. It's gonna be a transition.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's, it's cool. This is a cool, uh, thing that you wrote kind of as you're wrapping up bootcamp, uhm.


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[Assistant] You're thinking about September 11th. You know, like I said, that for you is one that you clearly knew that going in in 2006. And here's what you said, I remember feeling a ragged mix of emotions, anger, confusion, dismay, and wondering why anybody would want to do this to us. I was American.


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[Assistant] I understood we'd been attacked and that our country was now at war. And that when there's a war, somebody needs to have the courage and intestinal wherewithal to do the actual defending, fighting, and unavoidable killing that accompany military actions. That would turn out to be me.


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[Assistant] And that's another thing that people need to think about if you're joining the military. And I've gone through this with a bunch of people that, you know, this happened to me a long time ago. This parent, you know, said, can you come talk to my son? And he really wants to be a SEAL. And I was like, yeah, sure, no problem.


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[Assistant] And so I meet this kid, strapping young kid, looks super happy and positive, and he does water polo, and he's a great athlete. And he's like, I really want to join the SEAL teams. You know, what advice do you have for me? I'm like,


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[Assistant] Are you ready to kill people and are you ready to die? And it was like the whole room got, well just them two, but they're looking at me like I'm crazy. But my point was,


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[Assistant] Like, that's what the military is. You kill people and you risk your life. That's, that's what the military is.


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[Assistant] Dude, uh, this cracked me up. You're at airborne school.


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[Assistant] Most, uh, you're, you're doing your first jumps. Do five jumps at airborne school.


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[Assistant] Most, back to the book, most were without incident, except my third jump, which was supposed to be a daytime combat jump with full gear. On the way down, I dropped my rucksack too slowly. You're supposed to release it when you come to the tree line, but when I released the pack, it stayed just ahead of me and I landed on top of the metal frame. Frame. Ouch, I yelled in pain.


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[Assistant] The jump master was already on the ground and yelled back at me, Did you bring something Private Mills? I said no. He glared at me and added, Then shut up! I shut up.


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[Assistant] Airborne school's really funny. And so this is what happened to me at airborne school. I was a- for- for every- I'm not like, uhm...


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[Assistant] I'm a person that falls fast through the air when parachuting. I don't know why. I'm just one of those people. You don't float. No, I don't float. And, and the other thing was I didn't like doing a PLF.


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[Assistant] Which is the proper way to land, which is you keep your feet and knees together, and then you like act like you have one big leg, and that's the way you're supposed to prevent getting injured, breaking your ankle or knee or whatever. And so when I was parachuting at airborne school, I wasn't really doing a PLF, I was just kind of athletically landing on my feet, right?


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[Assistant] So anyways, they got these loudspeakers down on the, on the, uh, field. And as all these new guys, all of us are just new.


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[Assistant] And the guy's on the megaphone, he goes, and he's talking to me, cause my feet are apart, and I'm just gonna do an athletic thing, and he goes,


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[Assistant] Those instructors, how long is the Jump Master School to be an instructor at Fort Benning?


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[Assistant] But they didn't make you memorize the term and oh they did, did they?


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's a, that's a good times. Uhm.


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[Assistant] You're getting ready for your first deployment. She's open 82nd, everyone. You're, you're there. You're getting ready for your first deployment. You know you're going to Afghanistan. And you're leaving just after Christmas. And here, we're going to the book. My dad didn't talk to me about leaving.


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[Assistant] Over the next few days, we hung out and did whatever we normally did.


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[Assistant] But most he said during that time was be sure to keep your head down.


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[Assistant] Then, the day before I left, dad told me a story about when he went into the army.


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[Assistant] He'd taken washable paint and written a note to his parents in their shower stall where they were sure to be able to see it. It said one short sentence of reassurance. All will be fine.


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[Assistant] Early the morning that I left, I took a washable marker and went into my parents bathroom. Right above the faucets, where they were sure to see it, I wrote the same short message. All will be fine.


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[Assistant] I was miles away from the house when my dad called. He told me he saw the note. I didn't say much and he didn't say much. He told me he loved me. Then his voice became hoarse and his words of support for me came out broken and choked.


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[Assistant] Someone wounded or killed, they know that that could be their, their loved one. And that's why, that, that's, I mean days before you're leaving, man, that's, that's harsh.


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[Assistant] So your first deployment, what are you, are you an E3 or an E4?


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[Assistant] I'm literally a Colonel. So that was a relatively cush. And you were living on a- if you were the Colonel, I'm assuming you were living in like pretty good-


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[Assistant] How often are you rolling out into town? Everyday. Okay.


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[Assistant] And, uh, you guys, it sounds like on that first, well you didn't, you didn't even shoot, you didn't even shoot your gun, first of all.


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[Assistant] But, still, that, I mean, that, that, having a suicide bomber hit your truck, that's like, uh, that's at least a reality check at a minimum, right?


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[Assistant] How many gun trucks, how many gun trucks would you take on a convoy? Just four.


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[Assistant] But it, it, it, the threat level was like medium?


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[Assistant] I mean, cause you have to take, yea, you have to take a bigger convoy with more aggressive facilities, if...


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[Assistant] That's awesome. Uh, good times. Yeah. Why didn't they give you a real gun up there?


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[Assistant] Now, you went to, for, is this the, is this the deployment you went home for R&R on? It is. And you had your, uhm, first meeting?


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[Assistant] How did her brother feel about it? Was her brother in your platoon with you?


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[Assistant] Yeaah, yeaah, no that's awesome man. That's a great story to tell it, uhm, in here. That, it's pretty, uh.


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[Assistant] How long, how long after you went home for Christmas did you come back?


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[Assistant] That's what I was going to say, so it's 18 months between deployments for you?


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[Assistant] So you, you get back over on deployment, uhm,


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[Assistant] And this is, this is like within days, and you'll, you'll tighten me up on that, but one of your, one of your friends, Tyler Juden, is saying that right?


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[Assistant] He's, uh, out on a mountain patrol, IED hits the first vehicle, then they get a small arms ambush, and I'm going to the book here. Our guys needed to get the disabled vehicle out of the way. And while they worked toward this objective, Tyler sprinted up to a high site on a nearby hill, and fired through some 5-7 magazines of ammo, protecting his soldiers below.


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[Assistant] When the disabled truck was finally cleared, Tyler Sprintered back to the truck.


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[Assistant] But the enemy had specifically targeted him. An RPG flew in, and he was hit. They rushed him back to the hospital at the FOB, but it was too late. Tyler died on the operating table. Fury rose up inside of me.


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[Assistant] I wanted to find whatever Taliban savages did this to Tyler and shoot them in the face. Tyler was always cautious. He took his job extremely seriously and never made mistakes.


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[Assistant] There was no reason for him to die. He described to me once how he believed his job as a sniper ultimately saved innocent lives. He was putting into practice what he knew to be true.


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[Assistant] He was helping the world, not hindering it, and he'd been trained to be one of the rough men who stands ready in the night, prepared to do his duty, prepared to visit violence on those who would do us harm.


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[Assistant] Tyler's death hit far too close to home. And we'd only just arrived.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and I'm sure like everybody, if you held them in that regard, everybody held them in that regard. And so everybody's feeling that same kind of straight up nervousness, right?


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[Assistant] You, it sounds like you guys ended up doing overwatches of a road in uhm, what, up by


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[Assistant] Didn't serve a little, you know, impression or...


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[Assistant] Of, of what it's like and I thought this one wrapped it up pretty good going to the book here. Going so long without taking a shower came with its share of complications.


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[Assistant] Guy's got trench foot from their feet being wet and sweaty and not taking care of them properly. I got strange rashes and intimate areas and it wasn't uncommon for a guy to mutter about his balls sticking to his leg when he hiked.


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[Assistant] Every dude got chafed up pretty badly in his bodily crevices, and a common complaint was that a guy had swass, slang for sweaty ass.


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[Assistant] My armpits hurt. I sweated so much that the salt got trapped in my skin and my back broke out in a raised bubbly rash. This happened to other guys too. The only solution is to get your ID card out and have another dude scrape your back hard until the salt crystals pop out.


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[Assistant] It's a brutal procedure and it feels like getting cut with a razor blade, but it's all part of the fun.


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[Assistant] But I was already sick of them. It wasn't no 50 days, I can promise you that.


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[Assistant] Dude, it is legit, like we'd go out to some rant, my first point we'd go out to, cause we were living, we were on Biop in Baghdad, big chow hall, everything good, and we'd go out to do an op somewhere, there'd be some SF group in the middle of nowhere.


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[Assistant] And you'd see how they're living. It wasn't always an SF group, someone's just an army, you know, some army platoon or company out there in the middle of nowhere and you're like, dang, these boys are roughing it. Nasty.


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[Assistant] Can you guys go sit over there? We're just gonna sit here, leave us alone. You know what? We've gone three days without a shower. This is crap, man.


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[Assistant] Yeah, uhm, speaking of going through stuff.


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[Assistant] We shot our rifles and Schwartz let loose with several bursts of machine gun. Ratatat tat ratatat tat ratatat tat. This is my first large scale fire fight of any kind.


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[Assistant] It hit me with a wham that this wasn't merely a training exercise anymore. This was the real deal.


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[Assistant] My adrenaline rose and with it a surge of energy. But I also felt calm, as if all my training had kicked in at once, and I just did what I was trained to do. I honestly wasn't afraid.


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[Assistant] I took aim and fired at the bad guys, they fired at me, and it didn't faze me to think that I might kill somebody when I wanted, when they wanted to kill me first.


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[Assistant] I saw several Taliban members get hit and fall, more fell, and more. The last few who were left turned around and took off, took off up the wadi.


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[Assistant] We got word to get, not to give chase because Wadis are great choke points for potential enemy ambushes.


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[Assistant] When the shooting died down completely, we approached close enough to see the bodies of the enemy soldiers I just helped kill.


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[Assistant] It was a surreal feeling, but I reminded myself that this is what a soldiers are built to do.


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[Assistant] We received reports later that three of my men, three of the men killed were top Taliban leaders in the region. So there's your first gunfight.


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[Assistant] Was this the, uh, was these the strong points like Corvette and Impala that we're talking about now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, these are in your book. Uhm, you talk about those being, and Impala was the, the even worse one, even further in enemy territory.


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[Assistant] What was Impala, physically, what is it, like a little, uh, former, like, like house or something?


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah. Dude, the conventional army we were with in Ramadi were freaking getting after it every single day. They were awesome. Awesome. Uhm. Like, you were getting in a firefight every day there, huh?


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[Assistant] You are, yeaah, same thing happened. You were like, you were like, did you find, you found triple stacked IEDs in your position?


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[Assistant] So was it, do you figure it was like a commandette that had the battery died or something or?


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[Assistant] They would, you know, go, okay, we're gonna shoot from here, and when we shoot from here, they're gonna take cover over here behind this log, so they'd put a big claymore underneath that log, and you're talking about how the Taliban's doing the same thing over there. Uhm, you know, basically, oh, as soon as we start shooting at them, they're gonna run to these covered positions, so we'll just put booby traps or mines in any of these covered positions.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's what I was reading and I was just, that's what it reminded me of. It reminded me of that's what, that's what my predecessors in the SEAL teams in Vietnam would do to the enemy and now the enemy was doing it to us or to you guys. It's really scary.


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[Assistant] Uhm, this is, this is an interesting spot. You're heading home for leave from there. I left in May and caught a series of connecting flights home to America. I gave Kelsey a huge kiss at the airport in Dallas. When I got back to the house, gave our dog buddy a big hug. It felt great to be back, but it also felt surreal. And this is a strange part of this leave time. I didn't quite know what to do with myself.


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[Assistant] I could take a hot shower anytime I wanted. I could sit on the couch and play video games. I could drink a beer and eat a cheeseburger outside on the back porch. Nobody was shooting at me. Nobody stunk. Nobody was sleeping on triple stacked IEDs.


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[Assistant] Kelsey was finishing up the semester with college and work, so I bought a truck and we drove up to Michigan to see my parents. We had a few bright and happy days with them, then it was soon time to go just like that. I hugged my parents, gave Kelsey a big kiss, and flew out to Detroit to head back overseas. It felt oddly good to be back to Afghanistan.


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[Assistant] The feeling is difficult to explain. In America, when I'd hung around with some friends in Dallas and got reacquainted with some of my buddies from high school back in Michigan, I'd seen firsthand how most of the people my age lived.


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[Assistant] If a dude was 22 or 23 like me, he was usually finishing up college or hanging out trying to find an internship or an entry level job.


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[Assistant] He might be living in his parents basement, trying to scrape together enough money to move out.


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[Assistant] Or maybe he was partying hard on weekends, or maybe still in a frat.


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[Assistant] He was almost always short on money, almost always wondering what to do with his future.


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[Assistant] Not that there was anything wrong with any of that. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. But by contrast, at my age in the military, I led people in combat. I controlled firefights. I handled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I made decisions that affected whether people would live or die. It felt real.


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[Assistant] On a personal level, I made decent money. I was married. I had a good credit score. I was thinking of buying a house soon. It felt good to be trusted with this much responsibility. I was proud of my drive and sense of accomplishment. I was already a man.


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[Assistant] I think statements like that are like what get kids or I say kids, but like when I meet kids, like I've just met it at this event we were just at and this, you know, he's like, Hey, I'm 19. I just joined the Marine Corps. I'm leaving September 18th and that statements like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is what I think makes people join the mil- gets a lot of people to join the military. Like 22 years old. Oh yea. You're getting paid.


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[Assistant] Okay. Yeah, I'll get some kid in the gym in my gym will be like, Oh yeah, well, you know, well, I'm only 23 and all. Oh yeah. When I was a 23, I was in my third seal platoon. Actually, we weren't, we were drinking beers because there was nothing going on, but anyways, killing blood. Why is it like a, like a beast? Um,


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[Assistant] So then, how did you feel about that two weeks leave during the middle of deployment?


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[Assistant] But they're pretty, aren't they? Don't they push it pretty hard? No. I mean, I always thought they pushed it hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I just remember guys going from, from guys that were in combat all the time. Not Fobbits, but, and they, it seemed like the command, their commands wanted them to go home for those two weeks and, hey man, you need to take this break on your 14th month.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know how often you called home, but I try to call him like once a week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because if you start doing more than that, I think it's worse on both of you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, totally. And I think if you're, if you're calling home every day, then you're like, you're, you're missing it. You're connecting and just like, no, like you said, let it build, have something to talk about real.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, and you know another like thing is You know, you got all this stuff going on and then your wife's like you won't believe this and you're like what and she's like, um


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We lost that library book that we got out, and now they called and they want us to pay for it. And you're like, just cut the check. Just give them the check. We're gonna be good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Going back to the book, my parents flew down from Michigan, Josh and Deanna. This is your, Josh is your brother-in-law. Deanna is his wife. We're there. And some of the guys from my unit came over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I manned the barbecue, the smell of charcoal fired hamburgers drifted over the neighborhood and I felt like the luckiest man alive. Kelsey and I had a dog, two cars, and now a house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're a young family living the American dream. So you had the gold vine house and now you actually bought one, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Back to the book, fortunately after I got home I didn't struggle with any past memories of combat, although I do, I know any number of soldiers who do. I told a few stories to Kelsey about our units time in Robat and BMG, about going without a shower for so long, and about some firefights we got into at Impala and Corvette.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But she didn't like to talk about those things much. And I understood that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I found I could shut off the memories pretty easily. My logic was straightforward. I was a combat soldier. That's what I did. I told my mind to go to certain places and I refused to allow it to go to other places.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I found that I could connect with my family best that way, although I know other guys handle things differently with equal success.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the reason I threw that in there is just cause, you know, I get a lot of guys that ask me about...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How to handle the, the, whatever memories they're bringing home. And I thought that was a, you know, pretty good methodology, man. Like, okay, I'm not gonna think about that right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking of minivans, you found out you're gonna be a daddy at this point too, when you came home from your second deployment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, September 27th, 2011, our daughter was born.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow, I made some weird noises in the back of my throat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There our kid was with goo all over her and she was wrinkly and scrunched up and all I could think of that she was the most beautiful thing in the world. It's okay to cry, the nurse said. I didn't know how to cry. So I just kept making weird noises in my throat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a good driver, so. Yeah, that's good, luckily. Uh, and meanwhile this time you're still a soldier, you go to, you go to Jump Master School, and you failed Jump Master School the first time. I did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I thought it was cool in here, you talked about uhm, you know, one kid you threw out the plane.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I get- Another kid you kicked out of the plane. They were fine. Yeah, and that's the thing, they came and thanked you later. Cause they're just like scared, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like a broader perspective than just airborne school is like so often, man, people just need to like go. Cause like you said, once you go and you get that first thing under your belt, then they go and they jump, it's no problem. You know, but so often people, they just hesitate, they're just scared of the unknown. You know, and what you gotta do is just go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, yeaah, that's not good to have a, uh, have to pull your reserve at airborne school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So now you're, now you're staff sergeant. Take over a weapon squad. Which is a.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and Kelsey, she didn't really want you to go overseas again, did she?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The way you put it in the book is the reason I went overseas was because of the soldier next to me. The guys in my squad. Our job was to protect America and keep the Taliban at bay. I trained my men. I taught them all I knew. It was my job to take care of them. I couldn't imagine them deploying without me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Josh is going away at the same time, your brother-in-law, your wife's brother going away at the same time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here we go, back to the book. She was in tears, a beautiful mess. Josh was leaving on that same deployment too, but a day later than I was. So he came to see me off and support his sister. I hugged him and he hugged me back. Chloe was five months old and sleeping soundly in her car seat. She never woke up when I kissed her cheek.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I unstrap my daughter, picked her up and cradled her tightly one last time in my arms. She inhaled deeply, smiled, and carried on sleeping. Then I waved goodbye.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Walking away from my loved ones, I had to ask myself if this third deployment felt different from the first two. I had a child to think about now. A family.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I knew there would be tense days and firefights ahead, but honestly, I wasn't afraid of dying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wouldn't be reckless and make myself an easy target, and I didn't wanna die. But I knew that if I got hit, then I got hit. If it happened, then it was meant to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a soldier, it's not like I talk about my emotions every day. I don't write poetry. I don't watch romantic comedies as a rule.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm trained to kill people. That's what I do. You've got to be tough in the 82nd. You've got to be as hard as life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't want to show weakness ever, particularly with any of your guys around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you're overseas and out in the middle of nowhere and you have 12 to 20 guys with you, you can't take a seat and say you're done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a leader, I couldn't throw my helmet down and complain that things weren't fair. You have to make the best of it. You have to keep going. You've gotta be as tough as they come.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But even so, as I walked away from my wife and child and brother-in-law, the wind struck my eye.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I wiped away the wetness with the back of my sleeve.