Jocko Podcast - 556: The World Belongs to the Brazen and The Brave.

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

>Join Jocko Underground Full Episodes< Continuing examination of René Quinton's Maxims on War, exploring courage, danger, ambition, leadership, obedience, and the randomness of combat. The discussion ultimately comes back to a powerful principle for war and everyday life: learn to distinguish real danger from the danger created by your imagination.00:00 — Maxims on War: Extreme Views and Human Nature 05:34 — War, Death, and the Randomness of Combat 16:57 — Courage, Promotion, and the Danger of Ambition 23:27 — Bravery, Jealousy, and the Power of Example 28:51 — When Danger Becomes Real 34:22 — Real Danger vs. Imagined Danger 40:20 — Courage vs. Recklessness 48:44 — The Leader Multiplies the Team 51:07 — Why It's Easier to Obey Than Decide 57:25 — Questioning Orders and the Burden of Command 1:04:55 — Cowardly Leaders and Decentralized Command 1:11:25 — Do Hard Things. Don't Let Fear Stop You.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocco Podcast number 556 with Echo Charles and me, Joccoe Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. And on the last podcast number 555, triple nickel, we introduced a book called Maxim's On War by Renee Quentin, and we didn't make it through the entire thing. Or we didn't make, we only made, the book is divided into thirds. We made it halfway through the first third. And we're going to pick up where we left off.

We might get to the second two-thirds at a later time But if you haven't so if you haven't listened to podcast 555 start with that to get some background on Renee Quentin a little bit deeper he's a biologist he's an aviator He's a soldier served four years in combat in World War I wounded seven times Decorated by France decorated by England decorated by America decorated by Belgium and Had some very passionate and extreme viewpoints about war and about human nature. That certainly gives us some lessons learned about those things and some things to think

about, some things that some underlying tones of our existence that we should at least consider. We don't have to agree with them. It doesn't seem like Echo agrees with a number of them. I do agree with most of them, yes. But I just want to make the distinction in spirit of clarification and accuracy. I do agree with them. Okay.

I just don't necessarily agree with the implied positioning of everything. Because he's saying all these things are true and that's sort of it to life. I think that that's like one of maybe three buckets that are it to life. What are the other two buckets? He's saying martial virtues like war and fighting and all that that comes with. But what he's talking about? But I think there's like one that's alongside it, which is. That coexists with it.

I think actually there's two as of right now. I'm sure there's more. That is building or one might call it collaboration. Okay. And then the other one is the, we'll call it now getting to graphic, the interaction with the opposite sex, procreation will call it. Okay. So what that entails, what the building and collaboration entails,

and then what the war entails, I think those are kind of the three pillars. There could be more. There could be, I don't know, like some artistic one or something like this, maybe. But I think those are the three pillars. So within the context of the Marshall pillar, we'll say, I agree. Freaking, yeah, all day.

In fact, it should be extreme because that's what you're talking about. That's what makes it like more clear. You see what I'm saying? Yep. I'm with it. Okay. Well, we'll dive into it. We'll offer some more extreme viewpoints here.

And, you know, extreme viewpoints, oftentimes there's a reason that they're being called extreme. But if you back them off a little bit from the extreme point and you bring them down to a more moderate position, they can help you. you understand things better. Fully, it's like the sun, you know? If you're like, hey, let me, let me let you know about the temperature of the sun, you know, very useful. Yeah.

Fundamentally useful. And you're like, the temper of the sun, the actual temperature of the sun is, but it's too hot. It's not, it's useless. You see what I'm saying as in and of itself, but it's like, no, no, no, you back up a little bit.

You find all the fruits of the temperature of the sun. Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. What you mean by it. Come on, that's a metaphor. But I thought, what I would say is this. the reason that people tend to take extreme positions is because they're easier to take. It's just easier. It's just mentally simpler.

It turns everything into a binary and you can remove all this nuance that, you know, you have to admit that you're wrong sometimes. Like it's easier just to be a no, I'm never wrong about this thing. This is the way it is. And so it's just an easier thing to do. That's why people take extreme views. And by the way, it's not only, it's like an extreme view and you're in a meeting

and, you know, echo's saying, hey, you know, we need to put all our money into this kind of marketing. You know, it's just easier for you to say that because that's what you know and that's what you believe. And even though you might not believe it fully, but you're just going to, hey, we put all our money marketing here. And I mean, clearly on the political side, it's like there, it's so much easier just to make an extreme political statement. Unfortunately, once you do that, now you box yourself in, you get no room to maneuver. and when you take something to the extreme, it's impossible that there's not some outliers. Yeah. So just extreme statements.

It's like the statement of the always or never statements, like never say never and never say always. Yeah. It's like, yeah, because there's things that are gonna be outside the bounds of what you're saying. So some of the stuff that he's saying is extreme and maybe you know, there's definitely, um, definitely outliers that are outside the bounds of what he's saying. But if you take a general principle, if you just keep in mind like, oh, yeah, uh, men like to fight, that's a good thing to know.

Yeah. That's a good thing to know. And a lot of times, you know, you, you know, from a political viewpoint, it's like, oh, yeah, we, we shouldn't go to war. Cool. And everyone says we shouldn't go to war. But if you don't remember that there's some inherent thing that makes people want to go to war, and then you're surprised when you go to war.

Yeah. Like, I can't believe this is happening. Oh, really? Really. Right. Because we've been at war with each other for 30,000 years. And again, I'm not saying that's good. I'm just telling you, don't be surprised.

Don't be surprised when a male reacts violently to something happening. Yeah. We can't be surprised by these things. So that's why I think it's good to at least hear what his perspective on some of these topics are. So let's get back to the book. Once again, Maxim's On War by Renee. Quentin here we go war kills desire before it kills men hearts there are dead to themselves This is an interesting one because it's a little bit um

Contradictory of some of the other things that he said where all this great virtue rises now he's saying that like desire's dead Then you can kind of make that connection like you no longer have these desires you just have this this this this will to fight It's like a purification ritual as I said on the last one all things are distant seen from war and again this is something about you and i talked about on the last one when you're at war all of a sudden these things that are going on your mortgage you rent there's other stuff that's back in the world like in vietnam they would call it the world right they're in vietnam you know back in the world we don't know what's going on everything's distant yeah mary joe that you were going out with and whatever you know like

you're not thinking about her you're thinking about staying alive and where you know what about the mortgage what about the rent what about this that and the other thing that you None of it matters anymore. Women, parents, children all fade into the background. The man who fights has no past. You've heard me tell the story about how my kids wanted, my wife wanted to show my kids where I was sleeping when I was on deployment.

And I went to take a picture, like a digital picture. And I looked at it, I was like, oh, no. And so I had to take a folder out of like my bag and hang up some pictures that I had to. that folder of my family took the pictures took the pictures back to took the picture of my bed with the pictures of them near it and then pulled the pins out and put it away and put those you know pictures away because it was like I didn't want them front and center yeah you know I got shit that I got to think about yeah so what are we doing so women and by the way if you're women and your parents

and your children fade that means everything's gone right you got to focus on what you're doing war heals the soul it is the realm of forgetting in war one is happy simply to live existence becomes a kind of continual gift which is interesting again he contradicts himself because in the last in the last maxims that we read he's talking about how like simply to live is not really a thing well from a heroic standpoint we're not looking to just live yeah said heroes too are sometimes tent to did to just live. War is sacred because justice does not reign there. And he's got a, he's got a footnote here.

It says justice does not preside over combat. It is the virtuous or intelligent male who triumphs, but the one who is strongest in that moment, or sorry, it is not the virtuous or intelligent male who triumphs, but the one who is strongest in the moment. the same who will fall when faced with a stronger man. Life and death then are matters of occasion. It is in fact virtue that nature most often punishes. This is interesting because this is something that is 100% right.

Like you, there's randomness in combat where you just, someone just gets killed by whatever, by a random bullet, a stray bullet or a bomb. And the bomb goes off and it could have hit you, it could have hit him, could have hit my vehicle, could hit your vehicle. There's a randomness to it. So justice does not preside over combat. That being said,

you kind of want to as much as you can stack the deck in your favor, right? You can't pull all the ace of spades out of the deck. There's an ace of spade in there that can catch you, but you want to at least stack the deck as much as your favor as you possibly can. That's interesting because kick-hole, cake nuts. He talks about this just to me very often where he's like, Hey, like a lot of this stuff, because, you know, he did some cool stuff. And, you know, he's a decorated, you know, person.

And, but he's like, he's like, Brad, so funny. It's like people like, they give so much, this is his words, you know, just his perspective. It's like people give so much credit to this stuff or whatever. But it's like, it's just all luck. It's like, there's so many bullets and bombs and all this stuff that happens unintentionally. Like literally bullet can hit you and not be meant for you. Literally that's the way it is. Of course.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and to me, that wasn't like, ooh, some big surprise. I was like, bro, that's half of what I think goes on most of the time. Even when you watch like war movies, you're like, bro, you know. So he'll just talk about that the whole time. Or it's like, bro, it's just like I just felt like I locked out in a lot of ways, you know? And it's like people, a lot of times some people they think that they're this big, massive hero. But it's like, bro, you just lucked out.

You know, there's guys who didn't make it for the same reason you made it. Just luck just on the other side, you know? Yeah. There's like you can make decisions as a leader and it can it can be the dumbest decision that you made a total mistake on and everyone's fine and you can make a great decision that's the perfect tactical decision that moment and you can lose three guys. Yeah. Like that shit. And by the way, you can also make bad decisions and get a bunch of people killed. You can make good decisions and everyone lives like it.

But there is an absolute element of what does he call it? Just just randomness. And again, it's not the virtue not the virtuous of the intelligent man. Helicriams or the strongest. Those are definitely stacking the deck in your favor. You want to be strong. You want to be smart. You want to do the right thing.

But that's no guarantee. No guarantee at all. No matter how invulnerable one imagines oneself, some blows land so near, they remind us, we are mortal. And there's no doubt about that. Death is nothing. The horror of war lies in physical life. again he says some stuff that's very extreme right but what i and he's got a footnote on this one

in war morale means overcoming physical life more than facing death and it's sort of like the idea you're the idea of like letting go of your ego and how you how that's liberating right i think this is the same type of thing is like oh death is not the thing that i'm trying to overcome it's like all these attachments that i have to life yeah so the horror and war is physical life That's what I'm that's what I got to get away from Death? Oh, let's go Yeah Okay, I'm not encouraging that

I'm just trying to give his perspective Interpret his perspective Only one thing is truly great To play one's hand against fate The true games are those Where life is at stake There you go It's kind of tough to argue with that

But But, you know, this is, again, not encouraging people to go out and put their lives at stake for the sake of doing something truly great. Now, when Alex Honnold climbs L-Cap solo, free solo, like, what is it that makes that so special? We all know what makes that so special. All of us know. War is a terrible game in which one always wins, except once. You ever see the movie Heat? Oh yeah, I saw Heat.

Hell yeah. You need to step up your classics. I know. Because the last podcast, I had to just do a full quote. Yeah. From Apocalypse Now. And now I ask you, you've seen the movie Heat, and you give me a hesitation than like a subtle, I guess I've seen it. These are classics, bro.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, look, some movies I've seen. some movies I've seen many many times What's the movie you've seen the most times? I got a feeling this is not going to be a good thing No, they're pretty obvious ones Cunning the Barbarian These are ones that like you can say like five words

I don't know the whole scene So Cunning the Barbarian Training Day Terminator 1 Training Day made the list huh Yeah yeah I've watched that many times And Tremors 1 by the way You've told me about Tremors 1 before What's so good about Tremors 1

I don't know it's freaking just good I think it's just good It's a lot of things all put together correctly, in my opinion. Well, in the movie Heat, the cop played by Al Pacino tells the crook played by Robert De Niro. At least I think that's the conversation. Yeah, it is. And he's like, I only need to win one time. Like you make one mistake and you're screwed for life.

Hey, if I catch you, it doesn't really matter to me in my life. I carry on. But you screw up one time, it's game over for you. Is that the scene in the restaurant? Yes, I'm pretty sure it is. I recreated that. You might notice it. I recreated that scene.

Kenny Florian and Hennato had done the job. Dude, Ken, Kenny Florian did an amazing job. Yeah, he did what he was doing. Like, he should have gotten some kind of like acting award. To be honest, they both should have, if you watch it.

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Oh, yeah, that's right. Because Hennach plays Robert De Niro. Yeah. That's right. Yeah, they did great. But Kenny stands out because you just wouldn't expect it. Yeah.

Because Hanato was face. That guy goes. He can do a lot of stuff and we're used to it. You know, we've seen him in action before, but Kenny just came freaking off the top ropes with the award-winning performance. Anyways, that's the idea is like, hey, in war, you win every time.

You only lose once. You only lose one time. And this is the same thing we know. For America fighting in the past, like in Vietnam, in Iraq and Afghanistan, like we value human life so much and the enemy doesn't value human life so much so you know we kill a number of them and to them they just carry on and for us like every loss of life is a travesty and so we we can't make mistakes and it's a very similar unfair setup but they don't value human

life like we do they don't the most attentive man is the one who awaits death I can give an affirmative to that. I can give an affirmative to that. And yet, it's funny how you can be, like, out on patrol and, like, someone's falling asleep. Or, you know what I mean? Like, as attentive as you're supposed to be. The nearness of death brings peace to the soul is because men believe themselves immortal that they consent to evil.

One must believe in time enough to reap its fruits to bring oneself to commit a crime. That's an interesting thing, right? You're only committing a crime if you think you can have enough time to like reap the benefits for it. So if you're not going to reap the benefits, well, I guess I'm not going to commit the crime. Napoleon always based promotion on courage. Courage reveals physical vigor, energy, strength of character, and above all, love of combat, the supreme quality in war. Courage confers the prestige that inspires the troops and the experience that legitimize that legitimize the troops and the experience that legitimizes bold decisions.

It implies the prudence without which it would be punished. It proves a cold intelligence clear-sighted in the conditions of battle. It guarantees daring in success, firmness in adversity, and morale that seizes or salvages a situation. It shapes the commander who is supple, resolute, bold, and unflinching. No other military quality assures so many other. To deny courage a central role in promotion is a fundamental error. I got to give it up for that whole statement. Now, can you have people that are very courageous and perhaps they're not the person that you want to put in charge of a major operation or at an operational level or at a strategic level?

Yes, of course. but should it be a heavily weighted component? Yes, because for the very reason that he's talking about here, like if someone has courage, that means they have energy, that means they have strength of character, that means they have a love of combat.

That means they're going to go get after it, which is why you need to heavily weight that in war. You can't put all the weight on it. And he even talks about here, he's like, you got to, it implies prudence, right? It implies that you're courageous, but you're prudent.

Because if you were just to say reckless, like we go one step beyond courage and now we get to reckless. So courage is like, oh, there's prudence in there. Is that why you say sometimes not because someone with courage or let's say over indexing? Right. Overindexing courage. Let's say they're brushing up against recklessness. Now we go full recklessness. Right, right.

Like do you really want that guy in charge? No. We want something that has at least, you know, some level of prudence. Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. Soldiers pay with their lives for promotion errors. Yep. Ain't that the truth.

Seniority costs armies dearly. It is the shameful side of promotion principles. Seniority being like, oh, you've been in this job for a certain amount of time. Cool. You're the next guy to get promoted. Instead of saying like, Echo, you know what? You're better than Fred and I'm going to promote you over Fred, even though Fred's been doing it longer.

So just advancing people just based on their seniority is not good. outside of genius ambition is a flaw in war it discredits a man the man who seeks elevation through war forgets that war only asks of men their sacrifice the reward lies in displaying one's virtues the rank does not matter and by the way if there's a few times that he mentions genius and like genius being the exception I think he's just solely doing that because of Napoleon. Like he's solely, as a French dude, he's making this exception that,

oh yeah, ambition is terrible. Except for, unless you're a genius, which is, by the way, that's Napoleon. So he's saying if you're a genius, then ambition might not be as terrible or ambition is worse than, oh, sorry, genius is worse. If you're a genius, ambition's fine.

Oh, okay. But outside of genius, if you're anybody else besides Napoleon, then it's a flaw. Because now you're trying to get promoted through war. That's not good. That's a freaking problem. And I totally agree with that. Ambition in war is found only among non-combatants. Yeah. Not necessarily precisely true because there are people that realize that the way they get promoted is through getting some level of combat. Like even in

Vietnam, in Vietnam they had all kinds of jacked up things. But one of them was like they would take a guy, they wanted to get as many people through combat leadership positions so that they could get promoted. And so guys would get like a six-month tour as a company commander or four-month tour as a company commander. Yep, I've done company commander. I'm ready for, you know, Excel or operations. Like the system had ambition built into it.

Yeah, that's interesting. There's a clip, and it was an NFL guy, if I'm not mistaken. And he was on the bench at this point. And he's, I think his coach or maybe the officer, defensive coordinator was saying I'm gonna paraphrase this thing but this is literally you can watch the clip he was like hey like they're winning the game you know that I'm pretty sure they're winning the game and he was like and he was a start he was like hey you're about to break this all-time record of some sort

with I think it was rushing or something like that you're about to like the all-time record whatever but you know we're winning and we got guys who are coming up and you know to get them some reps would be beneficial for the team, blah, blah, blah. He didn't explain that that much, but it was sort of implied, you know, because he didn't want to like, because you could tell this coach was really looking out for this guy, like, hey, bro, get that record, you know, this is going to be good for you kind of thing. And the guy was like, the words he said was, no, no, no, let them eat, let them eat.

Let them eat. I don't care about the record. So, because they were already winning the game. The game was kind of, you know, kind of won. So he was like, no, no, no, let them get the reps. You see what I'm saying? He's not playing this game for his promotion or, you know, for his external personal. Yeah, who this guy is.

I forget who it was it. We salute him. Yeah, yeah. It was, but I remember watching, I was like, bro, that is a real guy right there, a real team, teammate, you know? That's solid. But that's a demonstration, see what I'm saying? Of, because let's face it, I don't know who.

I'm not saying who or whatever, but I'm saying some people would be like, bro, let me get that record for my legacy and all this stuff, which to me, like, kind of makes sense, you know? And it wasn't the kind of like, I don't think he knew they were being filmed or nothing. It was like way that, you know, one of these things. But, yeah, so, yeah. so like, freaking, yeah, that's what that's what that demonstrated right there. Yeah.

He was like, yeah, he was doing that thing for the, for the, uh, the virtue or whatever. Chuck. Ambitious men have been seen heading to the rear to earn their stripes. They are not the most guilty. The real culprits are those who organize promotion. So it's like bad enough that these guys are trying to escape the combat. But the worst guys are the guys that are looking at the guys that escape combat and giving them promotions From a certain rank onward bravery discredits

It counts it casts doubt on one's judgment There's a lot of stuff coming here to a superior or peer who lacks bravery the brave man is an enemy That is just such jealousy and ego just so so clear and there's a little footnote when one lacks courage, the courage of others feels almost like an insult. One does not always like to acknowledge courage. There is almost an offense, an offense in another's bravery. God, isn't it sick when you see like that kind of thing seep out in the world? Yeah.

When people's not just their ego causes jealousy and the jealousy becomes straight resentment. Yeah. That's a very disturbing thing to see. the world from what I understand that process on a more light level is like very natural because you know how like you see us in the fitness kind of space we'll say for lack of better term or you know like let's say you have a friend group and like one of them decides to like quit we'll say drinking and get into just get into better health right and so when people who didn't choose to do that part of the

group that that are that's used to that whole you know that that group dynamic and they see like someone getting in in better shape and stop drinking and we'll say they'll look at it and it'll reflect back on them so you'm saying so that's kind of where it comes from where it's like okay so now it's a it's a clear reflection of my failings you know to be a better xyz kind of a thing so it's like oh okay that makes sense how that can work yeah but you're right when that turns into toxicity you say yeah that's crabs in a bucket right all day long. War is about killing,

not being killed. Okay, so now he's kind of retracting a little bit. Wars about killing not being killed. By the way, the last time, the last podcast we talked about, like man's purpose is to die, right?

So a little back off. I have seen massacres that a single order could have prevented. Bravery is said to be contagious, and it is because it discredits danger. that's such a such a powerful thing to recognize right it's like not it's not just hey

you're watching someone doing something courageous and therefore you're inspired you're watching them doing something courageous and now you're going well it's not actually that dangerous it's like Mikey and the dragons right Mikey and the dragons the dragons the dragons are small like once you realize the dragons are small well who's going to show you that the dragons are small

the person that shows courage and goes up and faces the dragons It's wild to watch that stuff with kids Like with kids there's some challenge or something And no one wants to do it And then someone does it And then everyone just falls in I mean remember the four minute mile Like no one had ever broke the four minute mile

And when it got broken It was like within months It had gotten broken three four or five more times Yeah Because people see oh it's doable Yeah Yeah there's a Might be a separate different thing

But there was an element of I forget what they call it Some long lines of like collective permission Or something And it's like a psychological thing where it's subconscious where it's like, hey, we can't do that. You know, we can't do that until someone actually like is like, oh, I don't know, like kind of breaks the rule, you know, just subconsciously. And then they kind of break the rule. And it gives everyone this subconscious psychological permission to do it.

And then everyone's everyone's doing it now. Is it what I'm saying? Jack. Courage inspires envy. even in those who scorn it. So even the people that are like, oh, you're running around, running to your death.

Even the people that talk shit about bravery still makes them jealous. And again, we know that, right? Do you agree with that statement? Yeah, that makes sense too much. Okay. Why is that? Because you know,

even if you're a person that goes, oh, that's a waste. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't take those additional risks. Even that person that says that deep in their soul, they're like, you know, that's heroic. Right? I don't say you can't be denied.

It's in there. I got it. The brave rarely die on the day they expose themselves the most. It's like the dynamics of heroic action are just disrupting to the natural order of things. And it just, you can live. That's what it feels like. Danger attracts nearly all men. Great dangers attract only exceptional natures.

So danger Attracts nearly all men good and he's got a little carve out for you Because you're like oh well not everyone feels like that you're right he's agreeing with you Great dangers attract only exceptional So I would agree with this One often heads into danger without believing in it Then it presses close and one wishes to be elsewhere Yeah see this is what this you're starting to see the the human

behind the him, you know, war is the best. And now he's going, yeah, you're heading into danger when you don't really believe it. But once I get there and you feel it, man, I kind of wish I was somewhere else. When's the last time you had that feeling? Last time, I had it a little bit in the same situation in the ocean in Hawaii.

So I went to a beach that I literally grew up going to. And it was, there was no one in the water. Middle of the day. It's called Branachies. Good beach. It's outside. Kauai. And then

Yeah. So I went in and immediately I feel like oh the current is kind of stronger and the sand that's usually on the bottom it was gone. There's no sand. So it's deeper and it's just rocks. Like you can't get your foot.

And yeah. And it was just rough. And the current, you know, the current didn't like wash me out or nothing like that. I was just like, oh, this is not fun. You know, I can't like get my bearings. You can't really like do much out there. So I'm like, all right, let me just go back in.

And I was trying to go back in. and it just wouldn't let me go back in. And you can't really touch either. So I'm fighting like whitewashing current the whole time. So basically the moves that I was making to go into shore were not working. And after like a few minutes, I was like, bro, am I like, this is more powerful than me, this whole situation. I don't have control. So, yeah, but I eventually just went slowly by slowly.

Did you like swim parallel to the shore, like the whole? What did you do? Just kept getting after it? Yeah, you tried to swim to shore. Yeah. So you can do you do little things like that's the kind of beach you can't really do the parallel thing because it's a pretty small beach and I was in this zone that I would have to swim way out to see to do that and then I'd be at a different beach whatever But no I just basically like I wouldn't fight the current but when a wave would come I'd then I'd swim with the waves so each wave would push me a little bit See what I'm saying with my swimming so I was just slowly but surely gaining ground like that

Rather than trying to fight the current the whole time in white water too you know how you don't have that that much power whatever and then just slowly but surely I just ended up or whatever but before that was with my kids the beach right next door Poi Puibu Beach so I went out with my kids my son was three and then my daughter was you know six or something like that where they could swim but you know there's still little kids and again a thing we went we've done this many times and we went and the lifeguard was there I thought I told you the story a lifeguard was there on a surfboard he was just right by us he was like hey guys just to let you know like the current is strong yeah and I'm like

like I grew up on this literally learned how to swim on this beach right here two years old what up I was like yeah thank you you know like so we just start going and he's just following us with the surfboard and then he's in the water he's on land in the water with us so we were saved

and we hate to pull you guys in yeah because bro we were starting to swim and I was like bro we're not even getting there and we're not even near shore anymore and we're getting pushed you can't you can't touch and my kids are with me so my son had a mask and a snor so he didn't know what was going on.

He was totally good to go. But I'm still worried because I no longer have control. See what I'm saying? And then my daughter, she was a good swimmer, but still it's like, oh, oh, I got two kids here. I got to account for. And I am not in control of the water right now. And so we started drifting, getting pulled out to sea a little bit.

And then, so I was like, ah, let's just go. And I started to feel the control leaving my body. So I was like, hey, I got my son, put him kind of on my back, which I shouldn't have done, really, because he was good to go with a snorkel. And then, yeah. So I started to get kind of tired going in, making no ground. This was a few years.

This was like years ago. Then, so finally at some point, I look at the lifeguard. He's still, he's there looking at me the whole time. Like, are we good? Like, you know, can I grab you guys now? Kind of a thing. And then I was like, yeah, yeah, come kind of guy. So he just grabbed the kids.

And I just swam next to him, like to go, you know, whatever. So it's more. What did you say when you got to the beach? Thanks. Yeah, thanks, whatever. Talked him for a little. Did he scold you at all or anyway? No, he should, he maybe, I think he was well beyond that.

He knew what was going on from the beginning. The lesson was learned. Yeah, like, all right, dude, I don't got nothing to say. Exactly right. Even me saying it's okay, like he, you know, if I put myself in his shoes and I see a guy with two kids, like, I, in fact, what he should have done has been like, you know, like, I understand, but I'm not going to let you guys go. Sorry. He should have done that. And I probably would have been like, all right, respect.

He was a young guy too. He was like 19 year old guy. So maybe he wanted to scold me, but didn't, whatever. Check. But yes, I should have got scolded. And that was a less than 100%. But yes. You know, I'm trying to be brave in when I'm in because I don't see the danger.

Yeah, I was going to say you didn't see the danger. Nope. I've done it a million times. That falls right into this next maximum here. It is difficult to assess great dangers. Experience is not enough. one would need memory. So there's a difference between memory and experience.

So to this one, right, you had experience, right? Experience in that beach, you learned swim on that beach when you were two years old. But all of a sudden it's like, you don't have a memory of being sucked out against your will. And so you had experience,

but you didn't have memory. So it was very difficult for you to assess what was about to happen, the great danger that you were facing. Now, the lifeguard, he has memory. He's watched this happen. He remembers exactly. I saw a guy with one kid and he got sucked out and I see you're doing the exact same thing.

Cool. Watch this. Yep. I'll be right here. Let me know when I can save you and your children from drowning. Next one. One must never confirm through words the danger one imagines. Some circumstances in war are so harsh that one has the right to find them so, but the duty to remain.

silent. Morale is a form of lying. This is a something that I cannot agree with more, especially in terms of confirming through words the danger one imagines, or even in some cases, like what you see. I am not real big on vocalizing something that's not good. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, have you ever seen the movie aliens? Aliens, of course, yes, sir. I've seen aliens. The guy who recently died that's kind of panicking.

Yeah, who's that Paxton? Yeah, Paxton, right? 15 minutes, 15 days, we're going to make it 15 minutes. Like that attitude? Don't like that attitude. Yeah, yeah. Like, hey, we all kind of see it. Be quiet.

Deal with it. Just deal with it yourself. When you verbalize it, I feel like you're, you're giving it traction, right? You're giving it traction. One must distinguish between the danger itself and the imagination of it. Men of average courage always exaggerate great dangers.

You know that the idea too of like, he says morale is a form of lying. This is going back to the last one, morale is a form of lying. But, and I agree, but it's almost like lying through omission. You know that term? Yeah, fully. Whereas. And,

lying is such a strong word. And I always like, do not lie to your people, right? But maybe putting the most positive spin on a certain situation when the morale of the troops is counting on you as the leader to get them through a very challenging thing is you have to do that. And again, to me it's not lying. Like if we're going to die. If we're going to die and I go, we're going to be okay,

That's lying. But if we're in a really bad spot and we're going to need to work, do these things to make it to make it out of this spot. And I say, okay, brace yourself. We're going to stand by. We're going to get some right now like that. I might be de-emphasizing the amount of danger. Yeah. But I wouldn't consider that lying.

I'd say looking at it with a positive outlook. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a very, I'd probably think I already, you know, nerd out about it. I'm sure there's an actual. technical difference between, you know, putting a positive spin on it or something like this. Because when you think of something as a good situation or bad situation, let's face it, on a technical level, that's a matter of opinion.

Good, bad, whatever, you know, so it's like, hey, are we going to die under, there's not that many circumstances where you're guaranteed going to die. Guaranteed under zero conceivable, imaginable circumstances could you live under zero, right? That's very few. So you're saying there's a chance. Exactly right. Exactly right. Let's focus on the chance.

Exactly right. That's kind of the distinction, you know. But lying by omission or something like this is, hey, you're asked a direct question and you both kind of as much as you possibly can understand what answer we're looking for. We're looking for like a yes or a no or a yes, but this very specific thing, you know, kind of a thing. And then you omit very relevant elements of the answer that are kind of required for the full answer. And you know it. You see what I'm saying?

And also there's, you have to be careful because if you think, you know, we're in some terrible situation and I look at you and like go, hey, echo, we're good to go. Like if you're doing that kind of lying, that's not, I'm losing credibility with the troops. Yeah. But for me to be like, hey, listen, it's going to sock for the next 15 minutes. We got to push two over here. We're going. Like, whatever. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Like if, if, let's say the bad guys are coming, but they're coming at noon and it's nine, right? And they're coming. At noon they're coming. And they're like, and you're in a bad spot or whatever. And they're like, hey, are they coming? And you be like, oh, well, technically right now they're not coming.

So you say no, that's lying by omission. Yeah. They're like, no, they're coming. It's not a good move. At new. Exactly. Right. Check.

Next. Panic is the poisoning of the individual by sensitivity. We get a little hypersensitive about stuff. It causes panics. There are no dead or wounded in battle. Bullets kill four men and intimidate a thousand. Now, I almost didn't read this one because I'm like, this does not make sense to me.

The first part, especially, there are no dead or wounded in battle. Like that makes no sense. But the second part makes sense. Bullets kill four men and intimidate a thousand. And what's really strange is when you look at the amount of men that are in combat and the amount of them that actually are wounded or killed.

Generally speaking, it's a lot smaller of a ratio than people think. And yet, you know, people get killed. Everyone gets scared. Everyone gets nervous. Everyone gets intimidated. So that's an important thing to remember. Men who love adventure may expose themselves in ways that are blameworthy, but never in ways that are useless.

Danger tempers the soul and alone makes the man of war. check even the man of war dozes off in the second line hence me and dave burke asleep on the rooftop of cop falcon as soon as the morning broke and security was set it's like we're going to sleep what is the true what is the true odd what is true of audacity in war is true everywhere all that matters is daring the world belongs to the brazen so Getting after it. Stepping up, taking risks. It's not just true in war.

It's true in life. The world belongs to the brazen. Danger creates genius. Yeah, when you've got to figure some shit out. In the thick of action, prudence follows courage like a shadow. Intrepidity without prudence becomes recklessness. And we kind of already talked about that a little bit. If you are going to be courageous, but you actually no longer are being cautious at all,

all of a sudden it becomes recklessness. So we do not want recklessness happening. In routes, minds seem struck by madness. This is like when you're getting your ass kicked. The footnote was, the most defensive positions are in routes, abandoned without a fight. Stallwart officers suggest blowing up the cannons, the cannons leave without their ammunition. So it's just saying when you're getting your ass kicked, everything just falls apart. The enemy's mistaken blows bring a smile.

Fair enough. At the start of wars, one feels bound by honor to take risks that a few days later, one would avoid. Yep. That little indoctrination period, feeling like you're feeling froggy, you know? It's funny. In Tasking, Bruges we talked about like the first, you know, month where they're everyone, everyone wants to go on every month. but everyone wants to go on every mission. And then, you know, you fast forward three months.

It's like, hey, what, what's this mission for? You know what I mean? Because guys are like, oh, a second, bro, what are we doing? Like in the beginning, guys didn't give a shit. We're going. And then in the middle, it's like, hey, why are we doing this? What's this about? You know, they wanted to know.

Good on them. Once courage is assured, prudence becomes a virtue. So now you know someone, you got someone that's courageous, right? Cool. Now their prudence, their caution, them being cautious is now a, virtue if they're a coward you know we we don't need to see any prudence from them yeah we need to see some freaking courage bold strokes must be brief ain't that the truth if you're trying to do something that's going to be like taxing it's bold it better be over pretty quick

boasting is no flower of the battlefield oh interesting Footnote, very important footnote here. Boasting is born of an incomplete sense of duty and responsibility. This is when you get the person that's insecure about the way they performed or what they've done, and now what do they do they brag to try and make up for it. The natural leader is the bravest of all. At the onset of war, when everyone is new, subordinates may look down on him. The leader's worth is unknown.

His experience presumed nil. The tone changes after a few days. Leaders must earn their stripes before their men. Yeah. Men must consecrate their leaders in their hearts. Yep. So when the team doesn't actually believe you are the leader, you're not the leader. You can say some orders and stuff, and they might, may or may not do them.

But they have to believe. You have to prove to them that you are worthy of being in this position. And you don't do that by barking orders. You don't do that by being a tyrant. You do that by listening to what they have to say, making good decisions. That's what you do. A leader who is not exalted by the brave men he commands belongs in the rear. Can you imagine the leadership anecdotes this dude saw in four years at World War I?

He's thinking of actual people. you know what I mean yeah that what you just the leader who who will give orders but you're not really following up you know that one's

obviously I was in the military you know this about me but I was a valet once comparable okay hey we're in the game actually more specifically I work We haven't explored your valet like I remember a couple

incidents about it but I don't remember you know we need to explore your valet your valet. Yeah, yeah. Maybe not at this time, but, you know, I got a podcast about it.

Yeah. Yeah. So tell us what went down. What small context. So there you were. So Aloha Tower, right? In Honolulu. Okay.

So I'll say. Loha Tower has a parking, parking scenario. So the parking will say a lot, I guess. But anyway, the whole parking system, that's what I worked for.

So there's different positions and I moved up to valet. That's where the big bucks was. What's below? What's below valet? More so than it was necessarily below it. This is what I did before that. Maybe it was below.

That's where I started. It's a cashier. You know, like the old school parking lots. Now there's just a gate and a ticket and it's automatic, you know? Back in those days. Six dollars, please. Yeah, there was it exactly right. The cashier collecting the money and all that.

So you were that person. Did you have to wear a uniform? Yeah, yeah. What was it like? Well, just typical Aloha shirt, some shorts. It's like you were a little touristy situation. Well, Aloha shirt in Hawaii is is the uniform that's what I'm saying it's a tourist

spot your parking cars for everybody okay cool yeah yeah it's every track my statement no no it's don't get wrong dressing you up like with like you were dressed up like moana well actually you're not wrong with that like what you're kind of imagining yeah yeah but that's keep in mind that that that's how that's how even if you're not you know like if you go to like a nice place like it's the dress up yeah oh lohalo shirt you know um so yeah that was just the you know for yellow shirt so anyway uh I was valet and I had a boss that nobody liked them nobody it was annoying way overweight like someone who you look at just and listen to it you just don't look up to this guy at all

meanwhile I'm just finished football I'm for you know running valet you know running getting cars that solid body habitus was it was pretty strong you know and my immediate supervisor, Kuyapel, shout out, chiropractor on Kauai right now. He was the opposite. He was fucking awesome.

He actually taught me some, some really cool stuff, like to influence like the people, you know? Anyway, he was super good. But the main boss boss, nobody liked this guy. And I remember he would be like,

hey, he'd kind of give us some orders. And it was that exact same dynamic because you're talking about where it's like, bro, like you happen to say it out of your mouth and we understand that that's true down here. You know, so yeah, this XYZ needs to be done, which we probably want to came up with anyway, but whatever. So yeah, technically you said it, but bro, we're not listening to that guy, you know?

And then if he says for us to do some other stuff or whatever, we'll either slow roll it or straight up, just not do it. You know, see what I'm saying? You know, I'm saying? Yeah. So yeah, bro, that's real. You know, you drop on your experience when you say this guy is talking about actual people. Oh, yeah.

Fricking, that is actual people. Yeah. And there's, you know, there's like a primal order, what I call a primal order of just like, there's a pecking order, you know, it's a real thing. And it's, it's underneath the on paper chain of command that exists. And it can be overridden by the paper chain of command, but the paper chain of command can also be overridden by the primal order.

The leader's bravery multiplies the value of the troop. It guarantees his control and the sound, of his men, boom. Each soldier, each officer is worth four under a fervent commander. Solid. Four X that you're going to get from a badass. I was talking to some frogmen the other night. And one of these, you know, what he's dudes is like a totally, um, uh, awesome, you know,

reputation many many decades in the seal teams and he was just like you know I want a freaking commander that's going to feel to kick ass you know you're like yep everybody feels that way a body without a soul a troop without a leader always needs a rest no soul no leader we guess what you want to do sleep inflame your men with passion they will never ask for rest No unit ever grumbles against honor I wouldn't throw ever on that You know what I mean? You can have units to go sideways

Like they don't care about their honor We don't give a shit You know what I mean? That shit happens Shouldn't happen but it does Especially bad leadership The noble soul wants more than to obey It wants to exalt the one who leads it Yeah

Yeah they actually want to do a really good job It's always strange some people like they get a little bit uneasy when it's like make your boss look good Yeah Make your boss look good some people don't like that it's subservient right? Yeah, boy it's a good move It's a good move why well your boss has got the mission we're all trying to accomplish the mission you make your do the mission well You make your boss look good. It's that's all positive Put that in your little put that in your little uh your little thought process in great action where men give their all supplies may run dry passion sustains

there are always challenges when a leader takes a new command cool that's a good thing to know oh you're going to you're taking over something cool it's going to be there's going to be problems there's going to be issues it's going to be challenges no big deal just work through them it is less hard to obey than to decide yeah that's that's always true It's easier to obey than imagine as a little alternate take in the footnotes. Yeah, they decide one's a day-to-day significant thing. You know what's interesting is there are some people that, for instance, working out, that just they just want to get told what to do.

They just want to get told, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. And there's people like that with their finances. There's people like that with their diet. There's people like that with everything. Like just tell me what to do. And so sometimes I find people that are having a hard time because they're trying to not only imagine a program and create a program,

but it's like they're the ones that are formulating their own suffering and it's harder to formulate your own suffering. For some people. Yeah. You know, there was a, there was a, in the SEAL teams, sometimes various teams, depending on the way that they're set up, and this has changed throughout the years, sometimes there's an emphasis on the platoon training itself, and sometimes there's an emphasis on an external force training the platoon. And generally speaking, what I always saw was that, sure, dude, if you got a good platoon chief, the platoon training itself will be awesome.

If you got a decent platoon chief or an okay platoon chief, now we're trying to write a program for our own suffering. And sometimes people have a hard time doing that. And by the way, also having externalized look at you, you know, when you critique yourself, maybe you're not quite as honest as you should be. So sometimes if you're having trouble with something, like let's say you're having trouble with your diet

or you're having trouble with your workout program. Sometimes it's like, you know, get some, someone to give you the assignment and do what they tell you to do. Take the decide out of it and just obey. Yeah. Yeah. It's real. And you're, I believe that you're 100% correct. 110% correct. Okay. Even more correct than, you know, I have even imagined about this applies to everything. Because even like down to the daily, nightly, hey, what do you want for dinner? And it's like, I don't know, whatever you want kind of thing. Even though you know what you don't want for, you know, kind of a thing. It's like a, you know. Or even like,

work you know like some people they'd weigh rather you know you tell them hey you be a start a business you be the business owner they'd be like no no no no no no what to do yeah but you tell me what to do they go heart yeah I'm saying yeah and there's you know it's funny because sometimes people get the sometimes people impose their own kind of framework on everyone else yeah like I can't believe this person doesn't want to you run this department it's like no no that's totally normal that there's a person that just wants to be told hey here's what you gotta do make it happen yeah that's Just fine, don't be mad about that.

And there's also people that would be better off doing that. And there's other people that would be better off stepping up. Like some people have a much easier time being the person that makes decisions. And some people have a much easier time being a follower. And there's nothing wrong. That's just kind of a natural thing. And sometimes people grow into it. Sometimes people grow out of, you know, out of this wanting to lead.

You know, where they're like, I have friends that were like, yeah, I made it. I took a crack at it, bro. You know, what are you doing now? They're like, oh, I'm working at this such and such corporation. Oh, I thought you were doing this. Bro. You know, like, it's a lot. It's a lot when you, when you're making all the decisions.

It's a lot of pressure. Right. I mean, not to mention just the 24-hour, like, something goes wrong. They're calling you. I think, and even though all those things feel like they're part of it, I feel like the underlying fundamental reason is because it's way more, way more mental energy. So like the

This is gonna This is an odd example But it's so clear So when we're young We first got our driver's license Right you know when you get your driver's license And quiet's 15 And 15 years old you can get your driver's

So I had this friend named Byron He's a pilot by the way Now for the army He flies helicopters if I'm not mistaken He was he was like You know my friend at that time So he got his driver's like his birthday Because his birthday was in January

You know He's one of the first guys get his driver's license. I was like, cool, he got his driver's license, and he had a car. So we'd be like, on quiet, shoot, we'd all jump in the car. It's like, yeah, let's go cruise around, right? But he would always be like, hey, so where do you guys want to go? And we're like, I don't know, you're the driver.

Like you go. And he kept asking like, I don't know where to go. Like, I'm like, and you kind of think like, what I don't get like, you're the driver. I thought we're going somewhere. Every single time in my life, besides tonight, I jump in the car. The driver knows where we're going. See what I'm saying? But he's like, where do you guys want to go?

Where do you guys want on? We're like, oh, I don't know. Where do you, you know, kind of a thing. We can literally go anywhere for the first time in our life, by the way, that we want to go to. We go anywhere on Kauai. We don't know where we want to go. So much mental energy, bro. And I remember thinking, why don't we know where we want to go?

And everyone's looking to everyone else. And non-drivers, by the way, to go somewhere, to make the decision to go somewhere. And then ironically, I guess, you could say, no matter. where he would have said that we were going, I would have been 100% down to go. See what I'm saying? And I think vice versa. So it's like I think that's natural. I think that's a natural thing to like conserve that mental energy unless you're doing it for a purpose. Yeah. And I think that's also that there's people fall in different categories and also different categories even within different arenas as an individual. Like sometimes, you know, if we're doing

this type of evolution like I I will step up and run it but if it's this type of evolution I'm like oh cool I'm setting back right so that's totally normal like your kids you probably have your kids one of your kids when you're doing some certain thing they step up and they're like oh I'm doing you know I'm let me blah blah blah they're leading and then some other evolution they're like letting the sibling leader letting you lead so there's but it's just it's just important to understand people's nature and don't try and fight their nature too much you know don't try and swim upstream and some of this has to do also with this next maximum which is subordinates are unaware of the burdens their leadership bear their leaders bear they do not take them into

account this is like you know the guy that's like well I could do a much better job than this guy okay cool you run the next mission total disaster hey boss I'm good I'm sorry you know so people don't realize the weight the strain and they're not supposed to and you shouldn't as a leader transferred onto the troops but don't be surprised when they think, man, I could do a better job than Echo at this. Like, I watch one of your videos. I'm like, dude, I'll freaking, I think I could do a better job editing that. And then I try and open up the editing program.

And I'm like, all right, we'll just lead that shit to Echo Charles. Troops are not always ready to strive. A junior officer can draw more than his due from his men, but it takes tact. And this little note here is, you can ask anything of a troop if the reason is sound. So they'll get it done, but you have to have a reason. discipline permits a leader to question the orders he receives. That's an interesting one. This is coming from World War I.

Discipline permits a leader to question the orders he receives. You get some weird orders. Like, no, this doesn't make sense. And then it continues. But when the order is harsh, delaying obedience, Zapp's command. So if you get like the, hey, we need to go now, you might want to just go now and not question the order,

unless it's just freaking suicide. Only heroes have the right to question hard orders because in doing so they do not underman the spirit of command and he's got something okay I'm gonna be with echo Charles on this and disagree with Renee a junior officer can do nothing against ill-fated orders which I totally disagree with if you have ill-fated orders it is your duty to stand up and push back against them and if they are so ill-fated then it's your duty to not do them now to bring up what a just the perfect example is of this is the movie the show band of brothers and the they do a recon the end of the war the war's going to end in a couple of

days they do a recon across the river a guy gets wounded i forget if a guy gets wounded maybe a guy gets killed they come back the next night they get orders to do another recon and major winters is like we don't think we should do it nope you're doing it well i really don't think we do it nope you're doing it roger that they went and sat and drank wine in one of the buildings and didn't do the recon so are there times where that's the right move hell yeah because if you would have said we i refuse to do this guess what okay you're fired next guy take them tell me what you see do the recon so you got to be careful of that fighters do not take well to criticism from those who do not fight yep war is learned only in combat

without courage there is no experience yeah it's one of those unfortunate things you got to actually do the thing and and and you can get close like the proximity to an mma a professional mhm a fight you can get really close really close you can do all the sparring all the grappling all the wrestling you can put it you can get the fake crowd in here hey friday night fights everyone's going to watch you know echo fight we're going to do the full three five minute rounds and everyone's going to yell and cheer and we that's like we close proximity but you still weren't in the cage at UFC right that's a different world same thing with combat like we train we get as close as we possibly can but there's an element that's not that's just different like death is at

stake knowing the enemy is the leader's first duty going back to sun sue for that one there are men for whom the law of war is never to expose themselves there are leaders who dare remain in the rear and this may not hinder their advancement. This guy you could tell he would walk by some dudes

in the rear as he's going to the front for the ninth time. Observation is rarely what it ought to be in war. At entry, at every level, the leader delegates it to a subordinate so that the armies eyes fall to the lowest rank in the hierarchy.

That's a very good point. You know, the colonel is, the brigade, the full bird colonel is relying on the lieutenant colonel to send out his captain who's going to send out his lieutenant, who's going to send out his sergeant, who's going to send out his private to go look and see what they're seeing. It's an interesting thing to think about. And not only that, then you have the, the, the, you know, mistakes that get made as the information gets passed back up. Do you think that that is, I mean, in principle,

and ideally because in theory, everyone else has something better to do or should have something better to do? You know, I think it actually makes sense, right? It makes sense. Like, yeah, you're right. The colonel does. The colonel can't go and observe from nine different positions on the battlefield. He's got to have the battalion commander send his company who's going to send his platoon, who's going to send his sergeant.

Like it makes sense. And you know what? The private is trained to do that. He knows who he's looking for. He's out there on the battlefield. So it makes sense, but it's something to be aware of. It's something to remember. When you're a colonel, it's going through a lot of layers to get this information back to you.

And there are times a private doesn't have the experience, doesn't have the strategic experience, obviously, or the tactical experience that a colonel or, or lieutenant colonel or a major is gonna have or a captain. So are we making sure that we're getting the right information from the eyes, which are the most junior people out there and the most inexperienced in some cases? The most delicate organs of the body are the eyes and yet they are the most exposed.

In war, oh, and then it also, this was just, this is like his biology, you know, background, perhaps it is not without reason that nature placed the eyes at the head. That was a little bit of an additional statement around the leader delegating the eyes to the outer limbs. Imagine if your eyes were in your fingertips. In war too often, those who see do not command and those who command do not see. since those who see do not command they sometimes lose interest in looking the voice of leaders without courage falters when they speak to the brave yeah those are the facts right there the most subtle of cowardly leaders do nothing but sneer around the brave only the brave know how to speak to the brave

he's like so important that you remember these things and how how just transparent it is when you get the documented coward coming in and putting out word it's like do we all know there are moments when the life of a leader matters more than that of half his men you know that's unfortunate that's not a good thing

It's not even a positive reflection on the leader other than to say, obviously, he's a very inspirational individual, but he's done a really bad job of decentralized command and training his subordinate leaders to step up if something happens to him. So you're saying that's a bad thing. Yeah. It sounds cool. Like, oh, you know, if Echo gets killed, you know, that's worth half of his men. But that's actually, it sounds like Echoes this great leader. Right.

So valuable. Yeah, you're so valuable. But no, you've done a terrible job. You have no follow-on plan if something happens to you. So this is bad. Yeah, like you've failed to build a good, strong organization. For sure. For sure.

Yeah, if you can't, if you disappear and everything falls apart, that's not good. You've done a bad job as a leader. One has the right to break in war only to maneuver. you must be certain of your genius to consent to a retreat. Again, he carves out little things for Napoleon. But if you think the only reason you can break contact in a war is just a maneuver. It's a very, it's a very aggressive attitude. It is in the infantry men that the heart of the fatherland beats.

In extreme fatigue, be temperate, honor is at stake. I have seen staffs drunk from four fingers. of wine after three sleep this nights. This is just like, this is not a maxim, a philosophical maxim, right? This is just advice to a brother. If you haven't slept in a while,

don't drink because you're going to act like a jackass. Think about this guy and all he's been through in his life, and he had to throw this maxim in there. You know what I mean? That's, you know, he's seen some jackassery. Yeah, yeah. Advice to a brother. Yeah.

Once danger has passed, feed your men. The stomach cries out. when the mind comes to rest. The animal that digests is no longer fit for combat. Beware the staffs that eat too well. Without fasting, there is no asceticism. In battle, the spirit is elevated through hardship.

A man who is full has no passion left. This says a little footnote here. Fasting was invented by the orders to elevate the spirit. the orders being like the religious like monasteries right like just you want to you want to elevate your spirit don't eat i agree with that actually on the line of fire discipline no longer exists only mutual consent discipline resumes in the rear i read that i was like wait a second no we need to have extreme discipline once we're on the front lines but what he's saying is it's not here anymore because what I hear is like self-disciplined and you're going to do your job and I'm going to do my job.

This is mutual consent because if we don't do our jobs, we're going to die. It's mutual consent that we're making this happen. You're not going, hey, Janko, do this. I need to do it. Otherwise we die. It's mutual consent. I want you to lead me. I want that.

I want you to tell me what to do. And then the last one from this first section of this book. In a dangerous area, do not seek shelter, pass through. So, there you go. It's, again, if you keep that little thought in the back of your mind, do not seek shelter, keep going. Like, that's a, there's always times where we want to hunker down, right? Take a little breather, take a knee, as we used to say in the military.

That definitely happens. But man, when you're in a dangerous situation, that is not the time. When you're doing jih Tzu and you get caught in a bad position, that's not the time to rest. Get out. Scramble. Get out of there. Pass through that. Move.

Don't let the discomfort trap you. That's not what we're doing. Do not seek shelter when things get agro. Move. So, like I said, we covered the first third of this book. The second two-thirds of this book, they are working through the notes that he left. after he died because as he was writing this book July 9th 1925 he he died and he left his notes on his deathbed he put his uniform back on

and told his old comrades that he identified only as a soldier which is why he insisted to die in his soldiers uniform in 1931 because this guy was highly decorated in 1931 they built a statue of him in the town of his birth as a memorial and a commemoration of this individual and his heroic acts, repeated heroic acts throughout the First World War. And then when the Nazis came in and occupied the town in 1941, they tore down the statue, they melted it. So now it's only the base that is there.

Kind of horrible to think that they build a statue to, you know, immortalize someone's memory. the Nazis rolling and just tear it down and melt it. But all that remains now is just the base of that statue. And, of course, these words, these maxims, so that his lessons could be passed on. And at least considered. At least considered. We don't have to believe them all, but we at least have to consider them.

And, of course, one thing that we, one thing that we have definitely learned is we have to do hard things in order to preserve. our soul right what does that mean means we got to get after it we means we got to shoot we got to run we got a sprint we got a lift we got to fight we got to swim surf and if we're doing that guess what we need fuel we highly recommend you check out joncle fuel you need to replace the protein in your body so that you can build stronger bodies so we have a plethora of protein flavors for you we have ready to drink we have powder we also have incredible supplements we have greens we have hydration we have hydration ready to drink we have hydration six we have energy we have a pro line we have a savage pre-workout and I don't use pre-workout a lot I use a

pre-workout when I need it I don't need it very often but sometimes three four hours asleep for whatever reason travel whatever like this occasionally I have some work to do in the morning or I travel in the morning and I get working out in the like mid-afternoon you ever get that 1,400, 2 o'clock to you civilians? What about it? Start feeling a little bit of a fade. Yeah, yeah, from time to time. A little bit of a fade.

But I work out at that time a lot. Oh, okay. So I don't know. For you, no factor. No fact. You're just stepping it up. Well, for me, there's a reason why I'm not working out at that time because other things kind of got discombobulated in the schedule.

Right, right. And you're, we'll call it typical workout time. Also, your wake-up time is a lot earlier than my. Earlier than yours. So occasionally. pre-workout we got it all so we got what you need to fuel your efforts fuel your mission check out joccofield.com or go to whatever store you go to i don't know what store you go to but there is a high likelihood that at that store you can get jaco fuel and if they don't have jaco fuel

ask for joccofuel and we'll get it out to you in the meantime joccofuel.com that's what we got also origin usa.com we are making clothing here in america We're making jeans, boots, hoodies, t-shirts, boots, socks, belts, little wallets, hats. We're making everything 100% made in America because we do not support slavery. We don't support the destruction of the environment. And in order to not support the destruction of the environment, we make our stuff here in America. in America we don't allow a factory to take all of its chemicals and dump the waste into the river so the river dies we don't allow that here it used to happen here it doesn't happen anymore we have laws against it we don't want to support slavery slavery is bad and what is slavery technically the person is owned well maybe certain cases this isn't technically slavery that's taking place but if you see see the way these people, these human beings are being treated, it's borderline.

So we don't do any of that. We support freedom. We support America. We support American manufacturing. So go to origin USA.com and get some gear that is built by freedom. Best genes in existence, by the way. 100%. Oh, yeah.

Also, just heads up for people who are familiar with Jocco store. We're going to have what we call it drop. So you know what it drop is? Yeah, yeah. Come on, man. Drop culture. Yeah. Sure.

Well, we're not in mesh, didn't drop culture. Okay. Well, maybe. Kind of sounds like you. Maybe a little bit. Hey, maybe we got, what are we dropping? We dropping a new shirt that was part of the shirt locker. I guess technically still is like one of the original designs that everyone wanted.

Which one? All your excuses are lies. But there's more to it than that. You got to see what the shirt looks like. And you'd be like, okay, I get it. Anyway, it's probably dropped at this point, but if it's not, boom, spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. So if it's not, what do you do, you sign up for the email list.

You'll get an email that tells you when it's dropped so you can get the jump on it. Trust me, they do. They sell out. I'm trying to work on threading the needle and all that. You know, they sell out. Just know that. So if you go to joccaster.com on the bottom, you can put your email in there. I'll let you know.

I won't spam you, nothing like that. But it's a good shirt. All your excuses are live. Yep, that's the shirt. Yeah, exactly right. Check. So, yeah. And, you know, if that's not the one for you,

or even if it is the one for you, keep in mind there's other stuff on there, discipline equals freedom, you know, good, many versions of that one, many versions of discipline equals freedom, many versions of standby to get some. You want to represent that. That's a worthy one of representation.

Some other stuff on there as well. Some more of your kids stuff on there, by the way. Right on. You got some kids and they're kind of in the game and on the path. It's cool. Yes.

It's a very cool. cool combination of like kids vibe and discipline oh yeah so oh yeah if they're on the path and they want to represent you they there's some good stuff on there uh for them as well it's all on jocco store.com oh also the shirt locker i mentioned if you don't know what that is which we do already but if you don't subscription new design every month seems to be good you can click on there and see what it's all about so you're not in the dark about it anyway yeah jocco store dot com check we're there we got we got the books so i've written a bunch of books about leadership I've written a bunch of much kids books check those out also check out put your legs on by rob jones check out need

to lead by dave burke the book that i've reviewed on the last two podcasts called maxims on war by rene quentin it is from imperium press and you can check out imperiumpress dot org if you want to order that thing also we have a leadership consultancy called echelon front if you need help inside your organization you want to send your leaders to learn how to lead you can send them one of events or we can come to you go to echelonfront.com if that is what is needed also check out extreme ownership.com we teach the skills of leadership in an online environment we have courses to take online we also have live sessions that we do weekly so check out extreme ownership.com and if you want to help out service members active and retired you want to help their families

you want to help gold star families check out mark lee's mom mama lee she's an amazing woman with an amazing charity organization if you want to donate or you want to get in involved to go to america's mighty warriors.org also check out heroes and horses.org jimmy may's organization beyond the brotherhood.org warriors and need.org and stronghold rescue.org a bunch of great people doing great things if you want to connect with us check out jocco.com and then if you want to waste a big portion of your life you can find us on social media i'm at jocco willink echoes at echo charles just be careful because the algorithm is evil and it will destroy you. Also, thanks to our military personnel who are, as we speak, standing watch

and protecting our freedom. We thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Also, thanks to our police, law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, Border Patrol Secret Service, as well as all other first responders, we are thankful for your service as well. And everyone else out there, I think it's a good idea to keep One of these maxims, a bunch of them, but I'm going to call one out in particular. It is that our mind must distinguish between the danger itself and the imagination of it. One must distinguish between the danger itself and the imagination of it. What are you afraid of?

That's what it's asking. What are you afraid of? What crazy thing are you imagining that Mike could possibly happen? That thought, that view, that exaggeration. I'm an exaggerated hypothesis that you have in your head that is preventing you from actually doing the thing that you're supposed to be doing. You have to push through that.

Do not let your imagination of danger keep you out of the game. Instead, set those fears aside and go get after it. In fact, set those fears aside and go to war. That's all we've got for tonight. And until next time, Zekko and Jocko. Out.