The Mindset of a Warrior. The Bravery of a Soldier. The Life of a Navy SEAL: Be Empowered by William Branum

So you just go and go and go.

You know that this thing is gonna end, this evolution is gonna end, and they're gonna take you to Cal.

They're gonna feed you.

SPEAKER_02: The podcast is kind of like the inspiring stories of the ordinary people of the ordinary lives.

Because this life is meant to be a good idea.

What's going on?

Welcome to the podcast.

My name is Kevin Mole, host of The Lowdown with Kevin Millow.

And today you are joining me for episode number 109.

Now, if you're new around here, well, I will let you know that this is a Wednesday episode of the podcast.

So that means that I'm joined in the studio by a guest, unlike Friday episodes where it's just me.

So today I'm joined in the studio by a guy who definitely has a presence about him.

His name is William Branham.

William spent 26 years serving this country as a Navy SEAL.

That's right, folks.

We are not messing around today in the studio.

We've got a guy here who is going to totally inspire you, empower you, encourage you to never give up on life.

That quitting is never an option.

That you can't say no.

You can't say I can't because you can't quit.

You've got dreams that need to become reality.

And this guy is here to inspire you that you can literally do more than you even think you can.

Because this guy did it.

He's been through hell and back.

Literally.

Matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, I believe he told me that he's been through hell three times and made it out the other side.

That of course being hell week the training to become a Navy SEAL.

You're going to get to hear about his experience going through hell three times and all the other details about becoming a Navy SEAL.

After though serving our country, he would eventually retire and now be in this chapter of life where he is today.

The founder of Naked Warrior Recovery.

Naked Warrior Recovery is a CBD company that he started after having his own issues following retirement.

Things like not being able to sleep, stress, all these different things.

And he started taking CBD products and realized, wow, this stuff really works.

And lo and behold, he would end up creating his own CBD company called Naked Warrior Recovery.

You're going to get to hear all about that and more.

But most importantly, you're going to leave empowered, inspired, motivated that this life is worth living, even if that means you got to fight for it.

Sometimes you got to get down and dirty.

You got to do the work.

You got to put in the reps.

But at the end of the day, that's what it's about.

It's about making your dreams reality and living this life simply based on the fact that it's your life to live.

If so inspired by today's podcast, please be sure to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you are listening.

It helps other people find the show.

And well, it's a neat way for me to even realize, hey, people are actually liking the content that I'm putting out.

So if you finish today's episode and are so inclined, please be sure to leave us a nice five-star rating and a review.

It would mean the world to me.

Now, here is my interview with William Frank.

SPEAKER_00: I sort of knew that I wanted to be in the military, but I didn't really know what that meant.

There was a naval air station in my town.

There was an Army National Guard or Air National Guard, actually, in my town.

So I saw lots of people wearing camouflage.

You know, baseball coaches wore camouflage.

They worked at the base in the air guard.

I didn't really know what it meant, but I thought camouflage was cool.

I grew up hunting and fishing and, you know, doing stuff like that.

So I was involved in the outdoors.

I was in the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts.

And so I was already used to wearing a uniform.

It was comfortable to me.

And I knew that I always wanted to be part of something that was a little more elite than me because I was just a mediocre kid from, you know, Collinsville, Mississippi.

There's not a whole lot going on there in Collinsville.

So I knew I wanted to be more than whatever I was at the time.

I just didn't know really what that was.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Now, did you have any family who who had served in the military?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like all the men in my family have been in the military, have been in the mostly in the Navy.

There were a couple members that were in the Army, and I pretty much swore that I would never join the Navy if my life depended on it.

And why why is that?

That didn't quite work out as as planned.

Yes.

Well, like I said, there was a like a naval air station right there in right there near where I lived.

I saw these young sailors that were, you know, they just graduated boot camp.

They were going to like their technical school to learn how to do whatever before they went off to be in the Navy, like the real Navy.

And, you know, for the most part, they were just young kids right out of like out of high school for the most part.

And you know, they were free for the first time really from since boot camp.

And so they kind of acted like a bunch of idiots.

And so that was sort of my perspective of the Navy.

And they had the ugliest uniforms.

And, you know, the Navy, they've they float around on these big gray things out there in the ocean.

And I had zero desire to do anything like that.

Yeah.

So I mean, the Marine Corps, they wore camouflage, they had really cool looking like dress uniforms, they shot guns.

Like that was way cooler than like being in the Navy.

So I didn't know what that thing was that I wanted to do in the military, maybe Army Ranger, maybe like a Green Beret because John Wayne was a Green Beret in the movie Green Berets in Vietnam.

Yep.

So that was something that I was thinking about.

I always knew I wanted to be part of a small, kind of elite unit.

But again, I still didn't really even know what that was.

Or I wanted to be a ninja.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Oh.

SPEAKER_00: Because I watched Kung Fu theater growing up.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think all of us boys growing up wanted to be ninjas.

Yeah.

No, that's awesome.

So so how did you then end up coming to become a Navy SEAL?

SPEAKER_00: Again, I did not want to join the Navy, but I and I was, you know, I was super poor growing up.

We didn't have much, but again, I was involved in the Boy Scouts and I was an Eagle Scout.

And, you know, right before I became an Eagle Scout, I went to what they call the National Jamboree.

And it's a giant, like it, they held hold it every four years.

It was at Fort AP Hill, Virginia, which is a place where I later went back and did a bunch of training in the SEAL teams.

But it was a let me think about this.

I went to this National Jamboree, which the Boy Scout troop that I belonged to, the or the organization, the chapter, I guess, actually paid for me to go to the National Jamboree because I was so involved in the Boy Scouts.

And they wanted to send someone, you know, and help someone who was a little less fortunate.

And so I got to go and then I met someone.

It was two different troops.

So a troop from Mississippi and a troop from Alabama that went.

And there was a the troop from Alabama.

There was this other kid, he was really good at swimming and, you know, other stuff.

And he said, you know what?

When I grow up, I'm going to be a Navy SEAL and I'm going to fly F-14 Tomcats, like the movie Top Gun.

And I was like, that's cool.

I want to fly F-14 Tomcats too.

What's a Navy SEAL?

And he just explained to me that it's the uh, you know, the hardest military training in the world, the most elite military unit, la la la, all this other stuff.

And they work in small teams and they jump out of airplanes and blow stuff up and scuba dive and shoot guns.

And I'm like, that is what I want to do.

I want to be part of the most elite military unit in the world.

They just happen to be in the Navy.

And so I so I came back from that that trip.

Like a week later, the Navy recruiter calls my house and says, Hey, have you ever thought about joining the Navy?

And I was like, Well, I want to be a Navy SEAL and I want to fly F-14 Tomcats.

He's like, check, come on down and let's have a conversation.

So had that national jamboree ever not ever happened, then my answer would have been a hard no.

Yes.

Because I didn't know what a Navy SEAL was.

You know, potentially I would have learned along the way and maybe tried to go that route.

But yeah, I didn't want to be in the Navy because again, they float, they ride on these big gray things that float around in the ocean.

And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: That's hysterical, hysterical.

And I mean, don't you just love the way life has this crazy irony about it that right after you get home, you get the call from a a recruiter from the Navy, you know?

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

And I never really thought about it quite like that.

I was like, how what?

Yeah.

I I just thought it was like, was he listening to my conversations or something?

Yes, yes.

So yeah, that was it was interesting how it all kind of worked out like that, as if it were meant to be.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

So now, in order to become a Navy SEAL, do you first have to be one of those guys in the dorky uniforms floating around on the big gray things?

SPEAKER_00: The short answer is yes and sometimes.

Yes, and sometimes.

You do have to wear the the dorky uniform.

Okay, everyone goes to the same boot camp in the Navy.

And then from there, it's a little different now.

But when I went through, I joined the Navy, I went to boot camp.

I actually joined the Navy before I graduated, before I even started my senior year of high school.

Oh, wow.

In what's called the delayed entry program.

Okay.

And so I I mean, I was I had a contract to go to boot camp in 10 months or 11 months or whatever it was.

And so then I graduated, went off to boot camp like three weeks later, four weeks later, something like that.

And, you know, I took the the SEAL screening test.

I actually failed it the first time I took it.

I actually failed it the second time I took it, also.

But uh so I joined the Navy and in the Navy, they required at the time, they required you to have a Navy job because the way that you advance in the Navy is through the the job that you have, the rate, the occupation that you have in in the Navy.

So for example, I was a gunner's mate, and my job was to work on these big gun systems.

I thought gunner's mate had to do with small arms, guns.

It doesn't have really anything at all to do with small arms, it has to do with these big gun and missile launching systems on Navy ships.

So so they they focus heavily on electronics, pneumatics, and hydraulics.

Okay.

And then the specifics for individual missile launchers or gun systems.

And so that's how you advance.

You take tests that have to do with those systems or basic electronics and pneumatics and hydraulics, and then you know, other things are like basic Navy, military bearing, and things like that that are how you advance in the Navy.

Okay.

So I had to go to this school for six months and after boot camp.

And so I walked around, you know, I was one of those guys that I didn't like when I was at home, straight out of boot camp, walking around the malls and stuff and in my uniform looking dorky and and being an idiot.

So, and so we came to the end of that, that school, and I was high enough in the class, I was like, well, I haven't taken the screening test again to go to BUDS.

So I'll take this other school to get in better shape for four more months, and then I'll, you know, take the screening test and go to BUDS.

Well, what I didn't know is I took this other school for four more months.

I had 24 months of obligated service to the Navy on one of those big gray things that are floating around out there in the ocean.

So that was, you know, a little bit depressing.

But I went and I did my time.

I eventually passed the screening test.

And then it came time to for me to go to my next command or call the guy who's in charge of sending you to your next command.

And I called the guy up and I said, Hey, I'm putting a package in.

I want to become a SEAL, so I'm just letting you know.

And he was like, That's great, but I'm not gonna let you go become a SEAL because that school that you went to for you know, four more months after your initial school, you are too critical to the Navy.

You're too critical to me, you're too critical to the Navy.

So I'm not gonna let you go.

Even though BUDS has a super high attrition rate.

He was like, Nope, you're you're not going.

And so I went and got letters of recommendation.

I got, you know, did all the medical, all the physical, all the everything.

Everything is ready to go.

I'm talking to the SEAL detailers, and they're like, sorry, bro, we can't help you until your detailer says you can go to BUDS.

And so everyone is telling me no.

And uh eventually, I'm about maybe six weeks out from you know the my orders being up, not really knowing what I'm gonna do next.

And the chief of naval operations comes to my ship in Yakuza, Japan.

And to give it a little bit of a little bit of an idea of who the chief of naval operations is, he is the most senior guy in the Navy.

The only people who are more senior to him is the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States.

Most senior guy out there at the end.

And he came to my ship.

There's, you know, 15 or so ships in Japan, but he only came to my ship.

He didn't go to any other ship.

And he, you know, had CNOs call and it's like, hey, this is my vision of the Navy, blah, blah.

I have no idea what he said because all I wanted to do was ask him if he'll let me go to BUDS.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: And so he finished his thing and he's like, hey, okay, does anyone have any questions?

And I raise my hand, he calls on me and he says, he's he, and he says, Yes, sir.

And I said, I joined the Navy to become a Navy SEAL.

I think I deserve a chance to go.

My detailer won't let me go.

Will you let me go?

And he turns to my commanding officer and he says, Is he a good guy?

And my CEO says, Yes.

He was the sailor of the quarter this quarter, which is like employee of the month.

He turns back to me and he says, Okay, you'll be in the first class after your time on the ship is up.

And six weeks later, I'm off to California to SEAL training.

So that was a very long answer to a very short question.

We don't we don't all have to do what I did.

Yes.

But you know, uh back then, everyone still had to go to their, you know, their Navy ranked school, and then from there they could go to SEAL training.

Now you can go to boot camp, then you can go to what's that kind of a prep course, and then go go to Buds.

SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.

Wow, wow, wow.

Do you feel and in and looking back on things now, do you believe though, that going ahead and and not going straight into SEALs was a benefit in any way?

SPEAKER_00: I definitely have different experiences than other people.

And so I I look at that as a benefit.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

You know, I I wasn't happy about it, but I again I still got to see parts of the world that I never would have gotten to see.

I've I was able to experience things that I never got to experience, you know, not all good.

You know, I I considered mess cranking, which is like KP duty, okay to be harder than SEAL training.

Yeah if you if you ask me.

I mean, it was three months of like working in the galley and serving food and doing like and and that was that was terrible.

That was miserable.

But you know, some people are are okay with it.

I was not, and then you know, when I was like suffering there on the beaches, like trying to keep up on runs and buds, you know, the instructors would be behind us and they would, you know, be saying, they would say, look to your right at that big gray thing out there in the water.

Some of you belong on that ship.

And I'm like, not me.

I've been there, I'm never going back again, not on your life.

So it was uh it was definitely an interesting I got to experience it and I'm glad I will never have to do it again.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Now talk to me about actual SEAL training because how how long is the entire SEAL training?

SPEAKER_00: You know, I have to I look at where what I went through and then the way it is today, but basic underwater demolition SEAL training is six months long.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: From like best case scenario, beginning to end, and then there's other training that follows that.

But the kind of that that weeding out period really is the first six months, and really it's like the first eight weeks or so is the like most of the weeding out.

So, and so it's six months long, and it took me a short 13 months to get through that six-month block of training.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: I got injured a few times, and you know, uh yeah.

So it was I wasn't happy about it, but it I eventually got through it.

So it's six months, and then there's other training that happens on the back end of that, another like four to six months of training.

And then you go to a team, and on the team, you're actually when I went through, I I went through that block of through that training.

And then I I went to airborne, Army airborne school to learn how to fall down through for three weeks before they let us jump out of an airplane.

And then I went to the team.

And then when I was on the team, I went to another block of training to teach us, like in in BUDS, they only teach you like the absolute basics.

Make sure you're safe with a weapon, make sure you're not gonna quit, make sure you're safe underwater, you can figure stuff out underwater.

And then, you know, once you go to the team and you go to this other block of training, you learn more advanced techniques.

You learn how to navigate underwater, you learn how to do ship attacks, you learn how to actually shoot, move, and communicate on land.

And, you know, you jump out of airplanes and fast rope on, you know, from helicopters and use night vision goggles and and do all the things that you see in the movies or or whatever, or you hear about on TV.

But then you're still at a very basic level of tactical proficiency.

And then you get to the SEAL teams and then you actually learn how to be a real Navy SEAL.

So it's about it's about a year and a half until you like actually show up at the team, okay, ready to go.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

That's that's so interesting because the the the whole reason I was curious about that is because you know, from from uh my civilian perspective, we we watch the Discovery Channel.

Yep, and it's one week, it's how week.

That's all we hear about.

That's what everyone thinks.

So I would I and I and I thought, I'm like, surely it's it's more than just one week.

Yeah.

So now tell me about the the overall experience of SEAL training, because I mean, my goodness, I mean, from from what I know, what I shows I watch, I mean, from what most people say, it's absolutely just grueling.

And so I would love for you to just kind of unpack a little bit of it for me and and and describe it from you know your perspective.

SPEAKER_00: So I I think that almost anyone can make it through SEAL training.

Okay.

Because I did it, and I'm just a mediocre kid from somewhere in Mississippi.

SEAL training, I like to say SEAL training is not easy, but it's simple.

All you have to do is show up on time, do what you're told to do, and then go home.

And then the next day do it again.

It's but like I said, it's not easy.

There's a path, you just have to go down the path.

You know, you're you're going to find out potentially where your limits are.

And on different days, you have different limits.

Like some days I feel like I can go a lot harder or last a lot longer doing something that I'm asked to do than I could on another day.

And you know, Hell Week kind of exposes a lot of that.

So Hell Week is it's five and a half days of you don't sleep, you're cold, you're wet, you're miserable the entire time, and and you you work as a boat crew, which is seven guys, and you carry this boat around on your head pretty much the entire time.

And then different classes are, let's see, have a different level of hardness or a different kind of hardness.

If you're in a in a winter class, the Pacific Ocean, people don't think that Southern California is cold and the Pacific Ocean is is frigid.

It's absolutely frigid and it's absolutely cold.

Although there are a couple of months out of the year where the ocean is nice and warm and the the the weather in California is is like hot and yeah, great beach weather.

The rest of the time it's cool.

It's usually it's usually like foggy in the morning, and uh the water is generally about between 40 and 60 degrees.

That's frigid.

Using that like 50, 60 degree range.

Yeah, it's chilly for sure.

That's good for you know keeping the inflammation of your body down.

Yes.

But in the winter more winter classes, you spend more time in the ocean, and that cold water gets a lot of people.

In summer classes, they just have you carry that boat on your head like pretty much nonstop.

You're still carrying the boat on your head, but remember you know, there's 24 hours in a day, it's five and a half days.

It doesn't matter what you do, it just it sucks.

But all you had got to do is just keep going.

SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.

So let me ask you this is you said at the beginning that it's relatively easy in principle.

So why then is there such a high rate of people who don't make it through?

SPEAKER_00: I think it's just in your head.

You made the decision to not make it through.

That's what I think.

Just because I've I spent a lot of time there.

I watched a lot of guys come and go.

And, you know, I watched guys quit.

They would come in, this would be their second or third time showing up.

They would quit the first day.

They've been there before.

They already know what's happening.

They did all this work and did spent all this money to get your uniforms right and name tapes.

And like it's a lot of work just to get ready for the first day of SEAL training.

And they don't just like, you don't just like, they don't just like you show up and like they they shove you in there.

They actually try to prepare you because they actually want good quality guys coming out the back end of it.

And they know that you you don't show up knowing everything.

So they kind of hold your hand a little bit as you get started.

And then like day one, you you know what's gonna happen.

You know what's happening, you know how it's gonna go down.

There's no secrets.

And then guys like quit like just a little bit into it.

And so I think they're they just don't have they didn't actually want it.

Like I had so many people tell me you're never gonna make it, you can't do it.

A lot of these people actually went to SEAL training and quit.

I found that out later.

You know, I had other people tell me you're never gonna make it, or I had people saying, Well, are you gonna make it?

And I would just say, Well, I didn't come all this way to not make it.

I didn't come here to quit.

Yes.

So uh not finishing the training was never an option for me.

And I think it's just people had that as an option in their mind, like, oh, I don't really want it that bad.

I want to go do something else.

Yes.

And I think that's I think that's what a lot of it was.

I mean, some of it were, you know, people were just like, I'm just, I'm just not getting back in that ocean.

That water, it it broke them, like kind of physically, like psychologically broke them.

And you know, if if like these same people who quit during a winter class would have been fine in a summer class because a lot of those guys were just like amazing athletes.

They made everything look easy.

And uh for me, I just suffered the whole time because I had like I had no natural ability.

I didn't play sports in in school.

I I wanted to, but my dad wouldn't let me.

My grades were not good.

I'm not a good leader, I'm not a good, like I was I'm not good at any of that stuff.

And so, and I, you know, learned how, you know, I was pretty good at feeling sorry for myself.

But when I was surrounded by people who wanted to be there, it didn't matter how much I felt sorry for myself or how much my legs hurt or how much I wanted to slow down on a run while we're carrying this boat on our head.

As long as I was, and it was interesting, I was surrounded by people who wanted to be there and wanted to win at some points, and I was surrounded by people who just didn't want to be there at other points.

And both of them were super motivating.

One of them, like when people didn't want to be there, I'm like, get out.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: You don't belong here.

Like, you got to go.

You're slowing me down, you're in my way.

With teams that were, they just want to be in the front, they wanted to win every race.

I was like, I don't know if I can keep up, but I'm just gonna do my best and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna slow down.

I'm just gonna suffer through this pain that I'm struggling with right now because I'm not gonna let the team down.

Yes.

And so it's I think it was Jim Rohn who said you're you're the the sum of the five people that you surround yourself with.

Well, in SEAL training, you're surrounded by six other guys when you're working together and they can bring you up or down.

And I was fortunate, you know, during Hell Week that they brought me up.

They brought me up to their level.

So it was, you know, again, SEAL training, it's it's hard, but it's simple.

You just have to do what you got to do, you just have to make it.

And I I tell people you have two choices in SEAL training.

You can you can quit or you can keep going.

And then if you decide to keep going, you have another, you know, option.

You could either be keep going and be mediocre or you can keep going and be awesome.

And I try to surround myself with people who want to be awesome.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.

It's it's kind of like the uh the principle that you never want to be the smartest guy in the room, right?

You know, you you always want to be learning from others.

Yeah, I love that.

I love that.

So, so talk to me a little bit.

You you mentioned earlier that you had some injuries that that you actually took still training, you took you longer than normal.

Talk to me about that.

What what is that that story?

SPEAKER_00: I had so many injuries.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: Let's see, one time I I uh I think one of the first ones was once I got stepped on and I had some sort of like it wasn't compartment syndrome, but uh we later found out that there was an actual fracture in my leg.

Uh but that's you know, that was many months later.

But after that, I I rolled my ankle and actually broke my ankle.

And I didn't realize, and this was I was just about to start my first class, and we were kind of doing like this two-week prep phase to like learn all the skills that you need to really get through first phase.

Uh, you just have to like keep going and make it through first phase.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I was not a great runner, so we have what's called the goon squad.

Okay.

If you can't keep up on a run, then you get a little extra training.

And so I'd spent a lot of time.

I spent most of my you know times in first phase in the goon squad.

But so I remember I remember it happening like as if it were yesterday.

I heard it audibly, but I we were like running over these giant sand berms that are in in Coronado, California.

And I rolled my ankle and I heard it, and it was no big deal.

I was just like, whatever.

I it sucks.

That's I'm back in the ocean, I'm back out, I'm getting wet and sandy, come back, we you know, we secure for the day.

The next day I go out and we're running the obstacle course, and I just don't have the power that I normally have doing some of these obstacles.

And I was like, that's super weird.

So I went to medical and I was like, I don't know what's wrong, but I just don't have the power.

Like I rolled my ankle, maybe I sprang it, whatever.

And I remember the doc, she was like, So you probably just need to suck it up because she sees kids come through there all the time, whining and complaining about stuff that's not really wrong with them.

And she's like, You probably just need to suck it up, but we'll send you in for x-rays.

And I came back from getting x-rays, and she apologized to me.

She was like, I'm sorry, I was wrong.

Your ankle is actually broken.

There's like about an inch piece of bone that's detached from the like on the at the bottom of your, I don't remember the outside bone, tibia or fibula that's detached, and your ankle is for sure broken.

And I was like, Wow, oh, I guess that explains a lot.

So they gave me like a an air cast to put inside my boot, and then a like a carbon fiber plate that doesn't flex to put in the sole.

So I would just wear that, you know, inside my boot and my foot wouldn't move around, and I could still walk and do certain things until that that bone is still not attached.

Yeah, it's still floating around in there, but everything else was able to like compensate for it.

And so that was my first injury, my first time, you know, getting hurt.

The second time, no one knows really what was wrong with me, what happened doing a run.

I'm about, you know, three weeks into first phase, three and a half weeks.

I'm stoked.

I keep up on my very first run, my very first kind of conditioning run.

And I'm like sitting there stretching, all good to go.

This was uh Thursday, I think.

And then, you know, they have the goon squad going over there, and I'm like, I'm so proud of myself.

I'm like, dude, I made it.

I'm getting becoming a better runner, I'm faster, I'm stronger.

And then the goon squad is done, and they say, All right, everyone, go hit the surf.

And I stand up and then I fall down.

Something uh no one knows.

There's like MRIs, nothing shows anything and wrong with my knee, but my knee just stopped working.

Like if I stood on my left foot, I would collapse.

And so I hobbled out to the to the to the surf zone, got wet, came back, and I was like, then I went to medical the next day.

I was like, hey, something's wrong with my knee.

And they're like, okay, yeah, nothing.

We don't see anything.

And so they were going, the medical said, okay, we're gonna roll you.

But then I went to, you know, the staff, like the the senior SEALs on staff.

Okay.

And the first guy that I went to said, yeah, clearly this is your second time getting injured.

You clearly did not prepare to show up for training.

So I recommend that we kick you out of training.

And I was like, hold on, hold on.

And so he sent me out of the room.

I still remember that guy.

And I remember when he became a CEO of SEAL team four, I hated him.

I've hated him ever since that day.

I still don't like him.

Love it.

And I've deployed with him.

Yeah.

So and I still don't like him.

But and then I went to, it's funny, I can't stand that guy.

I remember everything about him.

But the guy, so I went to see the next guy who has the final say.

And uh, and so I like I'm standing there in his office on crutches, like crying and telling him about you know, the CNO, if I leave, I may never have an opportunity to come back, blah, all this other stuff.

And so he says, Go stand outside, I'll be back in a minute.

And he leaves and he's gone for like four hours.

And I'm just standing out there in the on the buds in the middle of the compound, waiting on my crutches, busted up knee.

And uh he comes back, he's like, What are you doing here?

I said, You told me to stand outside.

He's like, Oh, go check in over there, you'll be in the you'll we're gonna roll you one more class.

I was like, Okay.

So after that, I never healed up.

Yeah, like the next class, I didn't heal up.

I was still like gimpy and hobbling around and everything.

And I had to pass certain events in order to keep going, in order to make it too hell weak.

And so I was able to pass one four-mile time run in enough time to, you know, to pass it in the 32 minutes or whatever the requirement is.

And I remember that day again, as if it were yesterday, like these little moments that just stick out in my brain.

And I remember wake, wake, like I woke up that morning and I was like, I'm going to crush that run today.

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm not a good runner and I'm broken.

But I got out there, I remember it was after lunch.

I skipped lunch that day, uh, or they brought me a box lunch.

I eat like some pieces of it.

Maybe I eat dessert or something, I don't know.

And I just to kind of like save my legs because to go to chow, it's a it's a mile run to the to chow and then a mile run back.

And you run as a whole big group and it takes however long.

And so I just stayed back in the compound and I helped, you know, prep the boats for the boat evolution that we were gonna do after lunch.

I think we did the four-mile time run and then we did the the boat evolution, but we had to have the boats ready.

So I stayed back, worked on the boats, got out there on the beach, and I passed that run, and that allowed me to go to Hell Week.

And then in Hell Week, about Wednesday or Thursday, my legs started working again.

And I was like, oh, this is awesome.

And so I, you know, made it through Hell Week, but because I had been limping all that time, I had stress fractures on my other leg.

And now I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.

So I go to medical again and they're like, okay, we recommend you, you know, rolling you.

And then I go before those boards again, and you know, I'm like, hey, I if I need to like, and I'm like, I'm very clear, if I need to run on a broken leg, that's what I will do.

That's how I got up to here.

I know you guys have seen me like gimping along this whole time, you know, told the whole CNO story and all that other stuff.

And they're like, go sit down over there.

And they came back, okay.

Check, you're gonna be in the next class.

We're gonna roll you.

This is your last roll.

I'm like, okay, three strikes.

So I'm on like strike three, so I there's no other options.

Like I have to make it.

So those were that's kind of a long story to all my injuries, but yeah, eventually made it through.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when you say that they roll you to another class, does that mean literally starting at zero again with another class and going through it all again?

SPEAKER_00: Not always.

So if you there are these major milestones in buds.

So first phase, you have it's it was, we'll just say, we'll just say it's eight weeks.

Like each block is eight weeks, eight weeks long.

Hell week is a major milestone.

Like each block of training, like first phase is like just sort of the the the grind it out, like see if you have what it takes, Hell Week phase.

Second phase is all diving, and there's a a like a mini Hell Week in second phase, and then third phase is all land warfare stuff.

Okay.

So since I made it through Hell Week, this major milestone, I didn't have to go back and start the first day of first phase.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: I healed up, I you know, I I I was in this sort of holding area, still working out twice a day with the instructors and with like new guys that were coming in, getting ready to class up, waiting for you know, the new class to start, go through Hell Week, and then I join them after Hell Week.

SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow, wow, wow.

This is this is incredible.

Now I have I have one last question about actual SEAL training.

Yeah, and then we'll we'll move on.

Is I always remember watching the shows, yeah, and there was always the bell.

Would you talk about the bell, the bell when somebody basically quits?

Yeah.

I would love for you to to share about that.

SPEAKER_00: So it's interesting.

So uh you can quit on an evolution.

Sometimes they bring the bell with you, with them, out on the beach doing all this, you know, surf, we call it surf conditioning now, but it's surf torture, is what they called it back in the day.

Or cold water immersion, something like that.

And, you know, they bring like oftentimes they'll say, you know, we will secure this evolution if we get five people to quit.

And no one's quitting, no one's quitting, and then like the one guy quits, and people are like, Oh, it's okay to quit, and they just follow in suit, and you have like 10 people quit.

Like, what happened?

Wow, how you just were it's not any colder, it's only two minutes longer, and not thinking like this evolution is gonna end.

Like, that was one of the things in in SEAL training that I think got to most people.

They couldn't conceptualize like this thing that you're doing right now is going to end.

It's fine.

Like it'll it's only gonna last for so long.

And so I, you know, I do some some speaking from stage and I talk about never quit, and I talk about creating small victories, and you know, and I use Hell Week as an example, like it doesn't matter how much it sucks, they feed you four times a day.

So you just go and go and go, you know that this thing is gonna end, this evolution is gonna end, and they're gonna take you to chow.

They're gonna feed you.

So they they can't, even though it's like five and a half days, there are still breaks along the way.

And I would think, you know, there were nights where I'm like laying there in the surf zone like before Hell Week, like jackhammering, dry heaving because the silt, silty sand is going up my nose and down my throat and like causing the gagger effects.

I'm like dry heaving, which has kind of maybe warm warmed me up a little bit.

All I was like, I'm like, dude, in an hour, I'm gonna be in a hot shower and you know, wrapped up in my with my down blanket.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: That's what I was thinking.

I'm like, this is only gonna last so long.

Other people weren't thinking that.

So in Buds, you there's a bell, there's two bells.

There's one they carry around and one that's in the main compound.

And so you can be out on this evolution on the beach and you can quit, and that's that's not the end of it.

You quit, maybe you ring the bell there on the beach, but what they do is they make it very ceremonial.

They're like, there's gonna be no question about this.

Go back, put on a clean uniform, brand new, pressed everything, shiny boots, go to the first phase office, stand on those footprints, ring the bell three times, and then go put your helmet in line at the end of like a line of like 150 other helmets.

Or, you know, maybe you're the first guy to quit and put your helmet right there.

And there's, you know, there are pictures of just like lines and lines of of helmets of guys that quit.

So they make it very ceremonial.

So in order to like, there's no question, like, no, I didn't really quit.

No, no, you quit more than once.

You quit like on the evolution, and then you went back and you like quit for real, like this very ceremonial, like, I don't want to be a part of this program, and then put your helmet on the on the grinder after ringing the bell.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Why do you feel that they they they do it like that?

Making quitting such this big kind of ceremonial, you know, deal.

SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes there's regret.

I think there's most of the time there's regret for quitting something.

You know, it doesn't matter what it is in your life that you maybe quit on.

Maybe I could have kept going a little more.

They're trying to get the best qualified guy through training.

And there are times where you like maybe you're like, oh, I I I had a micro quit, and then that they're like, maybe I can turn around and go back.

But they they just want you to go through the motions, like, all right, you know, you know in your heart that this is not for you.

Yes.

You can come back, you can change your mind and come back.

But in your heart, you've made several very conscious decisions demonstrating that you you don't want to be a part of this program.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: And so, because I I can't tell you how many people I have run into who says that they, oh, well, the instructors didn't like me, or something happened.

I got injured.

Yeah, everything, everybody gets hurt, everybody, whatever.

The instructors don't like anyone, but they quit.

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, I was injured.

Well, you know what?

I was injured three different times, and I cried like a baby and balled my eyes out and poured my heart out in order to stay.

Yeah.

So it's, you know, lot lots of people have lots of excuses, and that's fine, but you quit at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02: You know what?

I I have to, I have to say this.

SPEAKER_00: I I sound kind of callous there, but you know, no, no, no, no, but but I am a little bit, I think.

SPEAKER_02: No, but what what I what I love about this, and and and I think back to a quote, I don't know if I heard it, it was some type of show or something I heard one day that it was it was about the seals, and it was a guy who said he's like, no, he's like, we're we're not any better than anyone else.

Everyone else just stopped.

And and so when I listen to you and I think I'm like, I can see this is this is one of them guys, you know.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

Yeah.

I yeah, I and you know what, it's some people just don't have the physical capacity to do it.

For example, in my class, we'll just use race as an example.

Okay, you know, black guys can't swim that well, yes, unless they're good swimmers.

And I remember my first class, we had like six, six black guys, and you know, there are quotas like we want to have more black seals, la la la, whatever, if they meet the requirements.

Yes.

And we did have a, you know, a a bunch of guys quit the first time, and they're like, so the instructors all brought them, they were like, whoa, what the heck happened here?

What's going on?

So they did like a whole big come to Jesus and like what's going on.

And they're like, Okay, if you want to do it again, you can start in the next class.

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: You quit already.

We'll let you start again.

We'll give you another shot.

And that's also kind of that ceremonial.

They're like, I didn't mean like I just got scared.

I'm sorry, like this was like day one or something.

And it was a water evolution.

And so most of those guys, actually, a couple of the guys made it.

Some of them couldn't make it through the dive phase part of it.

Like they made it through Hell Week, they made it through, you know, first phase, but they got to the second phase and they just couldn't do the underwater stuff that well.

So they went over and they did, you know, became boat guys.

They're still part of you know special operations, but they're not Navy SEALs, they're naval combat crewmen.

Okay.

And drove these really cool high-speed boats that we have.

Yeah.

So they weren't like sent away.

They still like they they proved that they could do really hard stuff.

They just couldn't do stuff underwater.

Yeah.

I had a point.

I was going somewhere with that.

Oh, so there was this one guy in in one of my classes in the first phase, and there's this evolution called drownproofing, where they tie you up, you're you tie your hands and feet, feet together and hands behind your back, and you have to do all these different evolutions in the water.

So you have to like you have to bob, like go to, you know, blow all the air out of your lungs, sink to the bottom, jump just high enough to get a new breath of air, and then blow it all out.

So you have to, this is like about commitment, like 100% commitment to this evolution.

And then after that, you have to float.

Well, this guy, he was he was big, yeah, big black guy, yoked, like yoked.

He played uh football for Tennessee, and then he went out for the Raiders, and then he hurt his shoulder and they dropped him.

But like he's like he was big as big as a like he was a professional football player for a short amount of time.

Then he came and became a SEAL, or he came to SEAL training.

Okay.

They tried as hard as they could to get this guy to pass this evolution.

Like the instruction, like he still has to do the standards.

You have to meet the standards no matter what.

Yes, that's why the standards are there.

He just couldn't float.

He was just so thick, so dense with muscle.

Like his like they just physically couldn't float.

Yes.

And so he didn't make it through because of his anatomy and the way that he was just built.

Like if he would like gone away and like lost like 30 pounds of muscle and put on a little bit of fat, he probably he, you know, it'd have been a uh better odds of making it.

But he just couldn't like he couldn't do that physical evolution.

He just was genetically superior in so many other ways, but he couldn't do it, you know, the the thing in the water.

So he wasn't a great swimmer, but he was good enough to get you know past the swims.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So that I mean that that's a little bit of it, is you know, we I don't even remember the question, but I remember it was it was something.

And I just I just threw race in there just because

SPEAKER_02: What whatever the question was, you answered it really well.

So I like it.

No, but but so so so moving on a little bit, I would love to know.

Obviously, you passed, you became a SEAL.

All this crazy training that we're talking about, does it even prepare you though for what you're really facing when you're out there?

SPEAKER_00: No.

No.

I will tell you, I have been more so in in training, they're not gonna let you die.

Yes.

I mean, you can die.

There have been kids that have died in training, and that sucks.

So a lot of it's like pre-existing heart condition or something weird, or you know, we there was uh two classes before mine.

A kid got like flesh-eating bacteria and he had to get he got you know kicked out because like he lost half of his half the muscle of his leg because of this weird bacteria stuff that was in the like the mud in kind of South Coronado Island.

Okay.

But you know, they're not gonna let you die.

You know that, like I talked earlier, you know that the thing that you're doing is gonna end.

I have been in training and real world scenarios where you don't know when it's gonna end.

Like if you have a really good training staff, really good training cadre, when things get hard, they make it a little bit harder.

Because the theory is the you know, the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war or whatever.

It didn't matter if we were like doing you know really long, complicated underwater, you know, diving in harsh conditions where someone could really get hurt and like super cold and things are going badly, and you're like, I can I just start over?

I would love to just start over.

Like they're like, no, just keep going.

Like finish the problem.

That's your job.

You're you're a Navy SEAL for crying out loud.

Yes.

Oh, okay.

So make me feel bad.

Or in combat, where you, you know, you go out for like a a short mission like overnight, and you're still out there three weeks later.

Yes, kind of like that.

And you're like, Well, how did this like I'm not going back and you know, I'm not there's no warm, hot shower and uh down blanket waiting for me.

Like it's yeah, I don't know if I will even ever see that again, if I'll ever come out of this situation again.

So for sure, it's like all BUDS is all SEAL training is is a selection process.

It's like an interview process.

You're interviewing for a job.

So I do you know consulting for some companies and and we talk about hire fast, fire fast, or if hire slow, fire slow, or how that whole thing works out.

And really, SEAL training is just like it's that interview process.

Do you have the mental capacity to do this really hard thing that we're gonna ask you to do later on?

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna do it as safely as possible.

And so I just kind of think about it like that, because what you're gonna do in the real world is gonna be hard and scary and and test you more than anything that they could have ever done to you in SEAL training.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

So kind of leading off of that, what was, if you wouldn't mind sharing, what was your your experience like first deployment mission that that you went on?

SPEAKER_00: So let's see.

Not all, not all deployments are super combat.

Okay.

Some of them are a lot more, which we we prefer super combat.

Yes.

Some of them, you know, some of them, you know, turn out to be more like, okay, we were fighting this guy or this warlord or this village elder or this, you know, this group of people, but now, you know, we we won, but now we have, you know, they're gonna live here after we leave.

So now we need to build diplomacy.

We need to turn those people that we were fighting a few months ago into better soldiers or police force or whatever in order to take care of their own country.

So it's like they're weird, interesting dynamics that you have to, or the the team that was here before, they had a lot of combat, you know, broke the tribe, and now we're building them back up.

And so that's super weird to do stuff like that.

But my first deployment was Afghanistan.

I had an opportunity to go over, not as a not as necessarily a shooter like in the in the platoon, but as someone, a senior guy working in like the headquarters element in Afghanistan.

And I'm like, yeah, sure, uh, okay, I'll go.

And while I was there, every opportunity that I could find, I went out with either the platoon or some army guys, or there was a buddy of mine who I actually went to buds with.

He left the SEAL teams and joined the army to fly helicopters.

And I ran into him in Afghanistan, Bogram, Afghanistan, of all places.

And so I was like, you know, he's like, we're gonna go do this mission, we're gonna do this and that and whatever, and some whatever.

And I'm like, yeah, can I go?

I just want to, you know, get out of this like tent that I that I work in.

And I think, you know, it so we got shot at, we did some other stuff.

Uh eventually I I got to go out and spend a bunch of time with the platoon because my next job, I was gonna be a platoon chief.

So I got to go observe someone leading in combat, like how to do it.

It was kind of like OJT, like, okay, I'm I'm watching you.

What are the good things you're doing?

What are the bad things you're doing?

And so any gunfights or any adversity that we ran into, it was cool.

We ended up like we were gonna go do like a little drive around until someone shot at us or tried to whatever.

And then that ended up being like four weeks out in the field, like basically car camping and then driving to find more bad guys.

Wow.

So it was it was an interesting mission that I had never done anything remotely close to trying to prepare for, but I just, you know, because of the training that I had, we just I just what's everyone else doing?

Okay, I'm gonna do that too.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Now, when was all of this in relation to say 9-11?

SPEAKER_00: So I was actually teaching sniper school when 9-11 happened.

Okay.

I somehow was the senior, I was a senior, I'm gonna say senior instructor on the ground.

I was not the senior guy.

The guys that were more senior to me were off, they were in California trying to consolidate.

So the East Coast had a sniper program and the West Coast had a sniper program, and they were just trying to consolidate the programs into one, make it like a fit, like official, like sniper school, Navy doctrine, whatever.

And so we're like loading up to go to the range, and I turn on the truck and an NPR comes on, and they talk about like the you know, first attack on the World Trade Center, where it was like a bomb, uh a truck full of demo that went off, and they that was all repaired.

And they said they started saying something about airplanes, and I was like, What that like the the guy that was in the truck, his name was Jeff, and I was like, Jeff, that what I feel like we should go back inside and see what's on the news.

And so we went back inside, and you see like one of the towers on fire.

And so I was like, So I think we should like cancel the range and like bring everyone back.

And then there was other news about maybe the Pentagon.

I don't really remember like other airplane stuff because it was very kind of chaotic.

Yes.

And so we called everyone back from the range, and like as people, the guys were walking in the door, we watched the second plane fly into the into the tower.

So uh I was like, oh my God, what do I how who I am and all the guys are like, what do we do?

Are we do we go to New York?

Do we do like we didn't know that we're going to war yet?

Yes.

And so eventually I called back to the headquarters and I was like, hey, what do we do?

How do we do this?

And he said, you know, the guy called, he was like, take the rest of the day off, continue training, uh, because we're gonna need those skills very soon.

And I was like, okay, check.

Yes.

So that was 2001.

I didn't get to deploy to combat until 2003.

Okay.

Because it was September, it was like a year late, year and a half later before I got to go.

The battlefield was a little more mature, but still nothing compared to, you know, the last time I was in Afghanistan, which was just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: As far as like infrastructure and things like that.

I was living in like, I was living in like a, they call them a beehut.

They're just a plywood building.

Yeah, a plywood building.

Yeah.

And working in a tent.

And, you know, mortars were coming in and landing all around us.

And it was like, I was like, oh, or when we're like off with the, you know, you know, driving around country and stuff starts blowing up around you, or we stop in Kandahar and you know, for the night to like brush our teeth and and take a hot shower before we head back out and you know, pick up supplies, and mortars are like slicing through the tents that we're sleeping in.

So that was kind of weird too.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we weird is a uh understatement.

That's that's incredible.

So now when was that the your last deployment to Afghanistan?

SPEAKER_00: Let's see.

I have to think about it.

It was uh I want to say 14, but I could be wrong.

I think 2014.

Okay.

I could be way off on that.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

I I guess I was just wondering what was it just the difference in the mission that you were there for?

Why the the vast difference of experience from from when you first went to then that time?

SPEAKER_00: So there was, you know, 20 years of combat that happened, you know, during that period.

So when Afghanistan first kicked off, you know, all the guys that that got there in the in the first place, they were like living in like whatever sort of existing shelter air hangar or whatever, or just in a tent somewhere, not really knowing what to expect.

And over time, the area got built up.

Bagram got built up, Kandahar.

There was not a whole lot down there.

There was no wall, there was like very little security down there.

When I went back, it was the last time I was there, I didn't even recognize the the place.

I didn't recognize Kandahar.

And, you know, when I was in Afghanistan, we had just started the war in Iraq.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: And so half the military was in Iraq, and then there was like maybe, you know, 30% of the people were in Afghanistan.

And I would see stuff, there would be like all kinds of stuff happening in Afghanistan.

You don't see anything about it on the news, but you see like something about something in in Iraq.

And I would call buddies that were over there, and I'm like, what's going on?

And they're like, not that much, really.

And so it was just, you know, you didn't hear about it because the media was focused on Iraq.

They weren't looking at Afghanistan.

Yes.

And, you know, eventually Iraq shut down.

And so all the focus came back to Afghanistan, all the money came to Afghanistan, and you know, it was like I said, I didn't recognize the place.

Like I heard that in Kandahar, which was a place that didn't even have like real security when I was there the first time, they had a Ruby Tuesdays and they had an ice skating rink.

And I was like, we are not at war anymore.

What the hell is going on?

So it was, you know, 20 years of like just shoveling money into you know some big organizations for the quality of life of the soldier, I guess.

Wow.

You know, it was it was a it was a completely different place.

And you know, we I mean, we had people like spread out all over the country.

We had people living in villages.

Like I it kind of pissed me off a little bit.

I had we had guys living in villages with the locals, and I visited them, and they were like austere, like the most austere, you know, third world conditions that you could imagine with you know as much security as they could provide themselves, while there's a Ruby Tuesdays like a hundred miles away.

Wow.

Super weird, and like I'm like, there's a an inequity going on here.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, totally, totally.

Wow, that's incredible.

So during your your time serving, were most all of your deployments all based in like the Middle East in that region of the world?

SPEAKER_00: So pre-9-11, they we had a very different construct.

So pre-9-11, there was no war going on.

Yes.

Most of the work, the deployments that we did were training other other units.

Okay.

Other, you know, allied special forces.

So, you know, my first deployment was to Rota, Spain, and then from there, it was really a European vacation where we we were we deployed to Spain, and then I went to we went to France to train with the French, we went to Italy to train with the Italians, we went to Germany to train with the Germans, we went to Greece to train with the Greeks, we trained with the Spanish, and we did stuff with uh the submarines and and all sorts of other stuff.

That was like the pre pre-9-11 deployments.

You know, all the teams were geographically poised.

So, you know, there were teams that were focused on South America, there were teams that were focused on winter in Europe, there were teams that were focused on the Middle East, there were teams that so you know we deployed all over the world, but then when 9-11, we there were teams that would like all they did is go ride on a ship and wait to go take down a you know some sort of vessel in the Persian Gulf that was, you know, sanctions against Iraq or Iran or something like that.

So that was the beginning, and then towards the end, now we have guys all over the world Philippines, Yemen, Africa, and there wasn't a lot of focus on Africa at the time.

Now there's a lot of focus on Africa.

And so I have seven deployments to combat, but ten deployments total.

So some of my deployments were more strategic, yes, if you will.

SPEAKER_02: Interesting.

That's right.

Question as far as your your team, you know, you mentioned in training you guys had team.

I I believe you said it was, was it seven men total per team?

SPEAKER_00: So a boat crew in training, a boat crew it was seven guys.

So you have three guys on each side, and then a coxswain.

So it's just a little rubber boat, it's about 250, 350 pounds that you carry around.

You they use it to build teamwork and leadership.

Okay.

And so you're part of a boat crew, you're part of a, you know, you could call it a platoon, you could call it a squad, you could call it whatever you want, but we carried boats around, so we called it a boat crew.

And so everything was a race in training.

And so again, you learned, you know, the coxswain, the guy who was steering the boat, was telling you like stroke, stroke, or get out, or he was giving all the commands, but you could rotate that position out.

Yes.

I never wanted that position, I never wanted the the stress of being the leader in that group.

And it turns out I ended up being, you know, filling a tremendous amount of leadership roles that I may or may not have been prepared for.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Got it.

So so I was I was curious about that because then when you talk about when you're actually going out on missions and stuff, what size like team are you working in?

Is it still a small seven-man team?

SPEAKER_00: No, so it so interesting.

So my first deployment to Iraq, the very first mission was probably the most complicated of my entire career.

Oh, wow.

Brand new, never led anyone in combat, had been to combat, but never led anyone.

And we had seven targets that we needed to hit as quickly, as simultaneously as possible.

And doing this in conjunction with an Iraqi trained force, uh, they were trained by the like a three-letter agency, and we had two SEALs that were connected with them.

And so I was like, I need more people.

So I reached out to other platoons that were there in Iraq and I said, Hey, who can you spare?

And so I my first mission that I was leading, I had 74 people from six different SEAL teams all kind of working together to go do, you know, we hit I divided everyone up into like three groups, and uh we hit, you know, three buildings as simultaneously as we could.

And then once those were secured and we got the bad guys out of there, we flexed to the the next two and then and then cleaned everything up.

But I have a lot of lessons learned from that first mission on kind of the things that you should focus on and the things that don't really matter.

And it's interesting the things that you focus on are not the things that are sexy, they're the things that are the most basic things that if they can go wrong, they will go wrong.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

Wow.

So so no, that that's another thing that's very interesting because again, I don't think I think of these small teams going in doing these strategic missions.

I never think of a large group of SEALs working together in a capacity like that.

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

There were missions and and deployments where we would get a little bit of intel that showed us exactly where a bad guy was, but not exactly.

Like it was sort of good, but not really.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: So we would go in and we would basically take down like half of a city block, like you know, have snipers on roofs, have guys on roof on surrounding the target, you know, looking out for enemies coming in.

We had vehicles on the ground, and then we had the main assault force going in.

Sometimes, you know, we would have the whole everyone climb three stories up on some rickety building in downtown Baghdad and then assault the target from the top to the bottom.

Wow.

And then have guys like standing by ready if anyone ran out the, you know, ran out the the bottom floor.

And so it was uh, you know, if no one is expecting you, no one is expecting an intruder to come in from three stories up into your house.

Yes.

So we would, you know, mix things up.

And but yeah, we would have you know 50, 60 guys on the ground and then you know, managing the the command and control.

And they're not all SEALs, some of them are I have a combat camera guy, I've got some other guys helping me without with Intel, I've got other guys doing other things, dog handlers.

Yeah, so it can be a very big element.

It's not where we started, but my first team, I worked in like four to eight man groups, and then like my first combat deployment, I have like 74 guys that I'm like kind of running around on the battlefield trying to do the command and control.

And because I'm a SEAL and an operator, I want to like get in there and kick the doors and and do those things as well.

So exactly I had a lot of lessons that I needed to learn along the way.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.

So, how many years total did you end up serving as a SEAL?

SPEAKER_00: 23 of my 26 years, I was in the SEAL teams.

SPEAKER_02: Is that like that seems in the capacity of the type of missions that SEALs are doing, that seems like a really long time to me, is it?

Or is that average?

SPEAKER_00: Well, I you're not always in a platoon.

So some of my time I was working at the headquarters doing, you know, admin jobs.

Okay.

They're jobs that have to get done, so you get assigned to do it, so you do it for your two years or whatever, or three years or however long it is.

So my, you know, when I went to Afghanistan the first time, I was actually doing air coordination for deployment flights, getting ready for, you know, I'm I'm like just doing my time behind a desk before I go back to the team and do, you know, regular Navy SEAL stuff.

Or, you know, guys will be at the team for five or six years and then they'll go become an instructor somewhere, like either running land warfare training or close quarters combat or diving, or maybe they go to BUDS and they train guys out there, and then they come back for the team with a little bit of a different skill set, a little more mastery of certain skill sets, and then you know, take over leadership roles like that.

So you're not always well, you're in the teams, but you're not always in a platoon doing that work.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00: But it's, I mean, you know, if they would have let me stay for for 30 years, I I would have.

Yeah.

What made you finally get out?

They only let me stay for 26 years.

Okay.

And it's really based off my my rank.

Okay.

So if uh so I I retired as a as an E8.

I'm not politically correct enough to be an E9.

Okay.

I don't, you know, I sometimes speak my voice when I shouldn't.

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I'm authentic.

Yeah.

And so I I didn't play the political game very well.

I've failed at it, actually.

And so as an E8, you can only stay 26 years, maybe 20.

You could maybe push it out if you're doing some kind of special something somewhere in the world out to 28 years.

But that would that would have been the max for me.

So at 26 years, they're like, all right, see you later.

We got to make room for you know these new guys coming up through the ranks.

So yeah.

Thanks for playing.

SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow.

So so that brings me kind of to to a new chapter in our conversation of what was that transition like for you going from that career for so long to civilian life?

SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was terrible.

It was the, you know, I say that the my transition from the military to civilian life is the hardest military mission I've ever been on.

And I'm still on that mission.

I'm still working it out.

I'm still transitioning, I'm still figuring it out.

I'm much further along, and I'm I've figured a lot more stuff out along the way.

But, you know, being in the military is all I've ever known for my entire adult life.

From 18 years old till whatever 26 years later is, late 40s.

Yes.

So that that's all I've ever known.

And so figuring out what the next thing for me was was was hard.

And so I went through a lot of different things, a lot of different failures, a lot of different I gotta like I say, I have a lot of baggage.

And uh some of it's baggage that I, you know, put in there myself, some of it's baggage from occupational hazards, some of its baggage from not so awesome relationships, you know, and and I say everyone has baggage.

We all have baggage.

You know, I don't say anything about I don't talk about PTSD or anything like that.

I'm like, I just have stuff that I have to like I carry around with me, and it's it's up to me to.

keep carrying it around or take it off.

And so so I have this through my my process of of of figuring my stuff out, I I came up with this, you know, acronym, it's this mindset.

I call it the get naked mindset.

And really what that's all about is is taking your ego off, taking that baggage that you carry around off, taking that off and kind of setting it in the corner and being a little bit vulnerable so you exposing yourself so you can actually find healing that you that you really need and and try to quiet your mind a little bit so you can have a little bit better self self-talk.

But it took me a long time to to kind of figure that piece of it out.

CBD oil was a was a part of that.

And so I was like it it had such a positive impact on my life.

I started my own C BD company mostly to help me but also to help other veterans and and first responders who are carrying around a ton of baggage to maybe help maybe turn the noise down in their head or anyone else out there that you know has a bunch of stress and anxiety and and baggage that they're carrying around you know to help them to to also to get naked.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely absolutely does the military do anything of helping our soldiers and any of our any of the the armed forces with this transition back to to life?

SPEAKER_00: There's a very there there's a one week course that you go to to kind of uh teach you how to write a resume help you figure out a budget.

I don't remember much more of what it covers but they they dedicate one week that you have to go to for this transitional time which is interesting because they dedicate so much time to bringing you in and making you a part of the military weeks and months to make you like a member of the military but they give you one week on your way out the door.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So it's not it's certainly not a a very robust program at all.

There's several nonprofits that I'm I'm a part of that does a little bit better job of helping but still there's there's still not a lot of assistance in the in the transition.

SPEAKER_02: Some of it's like all right you're big boy go figure it out yeah or big girl yeah unfortunately from from you know your your experience and and experience of of knowing other other guys do you feel as though there is something that people getting out of the services could do to make it easier some type of program organization or just something in their everyday life tips advice for that person?

SPEAKER_00: And so I I've discovered you know being on the outside now that there are so many people who go through these I call them life transitions.

I should probably think of a a sexier name for it.

But it's you know life transitions whether it's you know you got married you had a kid you got divorced you bought a house you sold a house you find yourself in financial straits you lose a job there's a global pandemic you whatever you lose your eyesight whatever it is there's there's like some of those things you can't really plan for but some of those things you can see coming.

And if you create a plan, you know I have a friend who he took a company from$300 million a year to$3.5 billion a year and sold it.

And when he sold it he was like he thought he lost everything.

He was like I don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore.

You know I've met the drummer of Slayer.

He's like I well I'm not gonna take the vaccine so I can't be on tour anymore around Europe.

So I got to figure out what I'm gonna do now.

And so these, you know, there are these these transitions that we have to go to where we go from like one state of life to another and we have to figure out what those things are.

So you can do a little bit of planning.

So getting out of the military you can plan you can like think about what you're gonna do.

What do you what do you want to do?

Like you've been doing this thing if you want to do more of this thing maybe find a job or an occupation or start your own company to do things like that when you get out.

And as a matter of fact you should probably start that company before you get out and start creating some revenue over there so that you can just like have an easier transition.

Absolutely or like find a job that you know and you know build your resume and several resumes to meet this job that maybe you want to do when you get out and start interviewing and doing all the things that you need to prep or maybe you need to go get more education.

Do that while you're in the military as best as you can you know I went from having a PhD a public high school diploma you know in my in in the military to getting my in my last three years while doing my job I still I got my a bachelor's and a master's in three in my last three years in the in the Navy.

So it's doable.

I haven't used those those degrees at all but uh you know it's certainly doable.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah well it sounds good it sounds real good you know no and and and I and I feel like from from basically what you're saying is is this idea of having a plan because I I feel like in in so many aspects of of life and in transition it's when we don't have anything to focus on we don't have any goals set that that's when we can kind of get in trouble in our own our own heads.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah 100% it's kind of like you you become complacent and that's when things really happen you when you have no no plan you have no no idea really what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely absolutely so talk to me more about the CBD oils and in and treatments.

I don't know much about them.

I would love for you to share more about how they've helped you and then of course about you know your own company doing this.

Please expand on that.

SPEAKER_00: So CBD oil it was something that I had heard about while I was still on active duty but I I knew that I couldn't try it because you know as far as I knew it was all marijuana based and you know I'm a child of Nancy Reagan's war on drugs just say no.

Yeah.

And so I was you know pretty terrified we get drug tested and things like that in the military.

And so when I retired, you know, I was pretty much just drinking myself to sleep at night just to kind of turn that noise off in my head.

And and eventually I'm like I've kept hearing more and more about it and I was like I maybe I should try this but I don't know where to get it or how to do it or anything else.

And so I was uh having lunch with a buddy of mine and I said hey when I'm done I'm gonna go see if I can find some CBD oil because I was in Virginia because maybe what you have in Virginia is better than what we have in Hawaii.

I don't know anything about it.

I didn't even know that it would had just become federally legal.

Okay.

You know, like right before then.

And so and this was 2019 it became federally legal December 20th of 2018 after the passing of the farm bill making hemp legal and the definition of hemp is it has it has uh 0.3% or less THC in the dried weight of the plant.

So it still has all these other minor cannabinoids CBD, CBG, CBN, THC, these are all cannabinoids and they've been used for thousands of years as medicine.

It also has like terpenes which are essential oils that do different things for the body.

So I was like it's well I I certainly can't try it.

So finally I decided okay I'm gonna try it my buddy he just happened to have some at his house he's kind of an M uh you know an Instagram influencer and people wanted him to kind of push their product and so he was he had some and he gave me a bottle and I tried it and you know you know I like to say that water boils at 212 degrees and I was probably living at like 210 degrees.

It didn't take much for me to hit that boiling point.

And so when I was taking the CBD oil I didn't really notice anything really very much at all.

Maybe I was a little less pissed off maybe I slept a little better not really sure.

But when I ran out I kind of did a little self-assessment I was like did that really do anything and what I kind of what I've figured out because I was living at like 210 and I went from like 210 to 205 to 200 to 195 to 190 maybe 185 and I got out of that red zone and made it really more into like an orange or like a bright yellow zone probably not yellow yet.

And then you know I ran out and I started getting closer to that boiling point again because I was like why am I like more pissed off today?

Why are things like not going as well?

And so I was like maybe it was the C BD.

And so I tried a different brand I had similar results and then I met someone in the in the C BD industry and I was like I really wanted her to hire me to like because I'm like I'm super interested now.

And uh she's like well why don't you start your own CBD company and I said I don't know how to do that and she said you are a Navy SEAL you can figure it out.

So I asked her for my man card back and she gave it to me and so then I started I started Naked Warrior recovery you know and and our like most of our products are their broad spectrum so they still maintain most of the minor cannabinoids and terpenes but we remove that little bit of THC that's that's in the product.

Now we're starting to transition to having some products that have you know a little more THC just because there's uh a demand for it.

And I think probably federally that THC will not be outlawed the way it is right now as a Schedule I drug.

And if you look at the history of how marijuana became you know illegal it was deeply rooted in racism.

Really?

Funny enough yeah you know and and you know THC does it does so much if you compare THC to alcohol alcohol does so much more damage to your body and your brain than what THC does.

Doing a you know a ton of of research now.

But uh yeah it was deeply rooted in in racism the line was something like those Mexicans they're smoking that marijuana and they're gonna rape your daughters and you know stuff like that and and black people and and whatever black people and Mexicans they're smoking that marijuana and they're gonna come and rape your rape your daughters and that's that was the driving factor that outlawed marijuana in the United States and really around the world.

Yes yes wow wow wow so talk to me talk to me about what kind of uses somebody would use the CBD oil for yeah I get on PubMed quite often just to find new research and new things but the you know without making any medical claims because I can't make any medical claims but there is there is documented research showing that it reduces stress it reduces anxiety it reduces chronic inflammation reduces different kinds of pain not so much acute pain like you stub your toe CBD oil is not so

great for that it's more for like chronic inflammation you know chronic pains that aren't you know like stubbing your toe or a headache you know we have some topical solutions as well inflammation is one of the worst things that you can have with your body you sugar creates like so many things in the environment create inflammation.

And so what we didn't know for a super long time is that every mammal has what's called an endocannabinoid system.

And this is a giant neuroreceptor system that's in the body that's connected to every other system in your body.

If you think about your your central nervous system your respiratory system your immune system your endocrine system every system in your body is connected to this endocannabinoid system.

And the body creates its own endogenous cannabinoids and you know sometimes it doesn't make enough and so the body gets out of out of balance and that's where a lot of like chronic illness comes from is you have this dysfunction in the body and why CBD oil like many people say oh it's like this it cured my cancer it cured it did this it got rid of my Lyme disease it didn't do CBD oil didn't cure anything.

Basically what CBD is the molecule CBD it goes in it's like I call it like a super multivitamin it goes in and it feeds that endocannabinoid system and it brings it back into homeostasis.

So once that your endocannabinoid system is back into homeostasis it brings all the other systems back into balance and then the body starts healing itself the way it's designed to and the way that we discovered the endocannabinoid system is actually it was I think it was discovered in the 1960s by an Israeli but then it was discovered again in the in the late 90s when some scientists in California were trying to figure out what does THC do like with medical marijuana what's THC do for the body and how how is it helpful?

And so they put a radioactive isotope on a THC molecule and put it in the human body and they so they could track it and see where it was going and what it was doing.

And that's how they found this endocannabinoid system the CB1 receptors C B D2 receptors and things like that.

So you know when you take CBD oil you don't get high you don't like anything like that.

It it just helps calm down your your anxiety that you might have or you know sometimes it helps with chronic different chronic pains.

I mean I've been pretty beat up with from my time in the SEAL teams and I have less pain today than I did a couple of years ago when I wasn't taking CBD Yeah that's really really incredible.

SPEAKER_02: Now last question on on it the products that don't contain the THC does that mean then that somebody working in a profession where they are drug tested is it then not a concern?

SPEAKER_00: So I can't I can't make that claim because I don't know what else you're putting in your body okay but but I still maintain a top secret clearance I still get drug tested and I have zero issues.

I was actually so I have a a CBD energy drink actually we just ran out but on my way to my last drug test I was using that to hydrate to you know to to give a sample.

SPEAKER_02: Okay that's that's quite the testimony I love it I love make any claims no but no of course this is my experience.

Yeah I love it I love it well listen man I want to thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to to be a guest on the podcast to share just your totally awesome story man.

It's uh so motivating empowering and um for anybody who who's interested either you know just learning more about you following you or you know obviously with the the CBD products that you're doing where can people go to to learn more?

SPEAKER_00: I think for the the CBD product you go to nw-recovery.com or naked warrior recovery.com I originally had it naked warrior recovery and then I thought well maybe people don't want to write naked in their search engine I'm not really sure why I had that epiphany but you know you can still write it in there naked warrior recovery or nw-recovery.com or you can google me William Branham I'm pretty done a lot of podcasts I'm pretty easy to to Google and you can probably find my my company pretty easy.

There's also you know I have this uh website called five seal secrets and it really talks about you know the get naked mindset and and things like that.

You just go in there put your name and email and if you want to like have a conversation with me about coaching or speaking or just random questions you can the email that I send you with my my five seal secrets you can just reply to that and that comes directly to me to my email so or you can follow me on Instagram at at William dot r.branham I think is my Instagram handle or naked way recovery.

I have two of them I post the same stuff on on both of them.

SPEAKER_02: Okay well fantastic well I will be sure that all of those links are are provided in the episode uh show notes for for easy access again uh thank you man so much for for being being on the podcast I appreciate it yes sir thank you for having me I appreciate it I appreciate you absolutely absolutely and for you listening today I hope you have been totally enjoying another awesome conversation with William Branham on the podcast today you know as always you know the goal here on the podcast is to make today a little bit better than

than yesterday in the hope of that tomorrow who knows what will be in store for you so uh we'll see you next before I send you out into the world I want to leave you with three final thoughts taken from the Navy SEAL and basically this is to take what you've listened to today and help you apply it to your own life.

These three things by the Navy SEALs first one the only easy day was yesterday.

If you wake up each morning with the mindset that there's going to be challenges that you have to overcome you're gonna have to fight a little you're gonna have to get a little dirty well you know what and that makes it a little bit easier when obstacles do pop up go into the mindset each and every day that you are a warrior.

You are capable of overcoming the unthinkable because the only easy day was yesterday.

My second thought taken from the SEALs get comfortable being uncomfortable.

The only way that any of us are going to grow and become bigger better stronger people is if we step outside of our comfort zone and start to embrace the uncomfortable get uncomfortable put yourself into uncomfortable situations and watch yourself grow.

I guarantee you'll see yourself becoming a better version of yourself than you ever thought possible.

Third and final thought all in all the time that means I want you no matter what it is you're doing I want you to be all in you have that no quit mentality quitting is not an option giving up not a chance because you are all in all the time all in on life all in on your marriage all in on your career all in on being the best version of you all in all the time you got it you're capable of this you are taking the field today and this is your game to win or to lose and losing is not an option so

get out there and crush the day each and every day and again as always this is the lowdown with Capital Low.

And remember this it's worth living to get out and lowdown with Kevin Low I hope today's episode inspired you and motivated you and get out and enjoy obstacles