Jocko Podcast - 72: Losing a Son To War, True Honor and Leadership That Applies to Real Life, w/ Col. Tom Manion

Episode Date: April 20, 2017

0:00:00 - Opening 0:09:04 - Col. Tom Manion. 0:09:46 - About Travis Manion. Early Years/Naval Academy/etc. 0:32:04 - Travis After Graduation and Military Service. 0:45:36 - Fallujah. 1:25:01 - Travis's Final Fire Fight. 1:52:54 - Aftermath and Brendan Looney's Journey. 2:09:11 - Brendan's Last Operation. 2:12:02 - Aftermath.  What We Can Learn.  What We Can Do. TravisManion.org 2:23:52 - Support, Cool Onnit, Amazon, JockoStore stuff, with Jocko White Tea and Psychological Warfare (on iTunes). Extreme Ownership (book), (Jocko's Kids' Book) Way of the Warrior Kid, and The Muster002 , The Travis Manion Foundation 2:39:33 - Final Thoughts.  A letter about Travis. 2:49:23 - Closing Gratitude.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 72 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. Sir, casualties are inbound. One of the Mitz has been hit hard, and we have casualties headed to Fallujah Surgical. My head snapped up from my work. I quickly strapped on my 9mm and headed off to Fallujah Surgical. The Level 2 trauma and surgical facility on Camp Fallujah, servicing the camp.

Fallujah servicing the casualties and medical needs of the eastern portion of Al-Lambar province in Iraq. I had made a habit of going to the operating rooms to see and encourage the wounded whenever I was in the command post of two Marine Expeditionary Force, Mef, forward at Fallujah. My aide, Ben and I made our way through the maze of buildings and walls of the camp. Something told me to hurry. I quickened my pace then began to run. I hadn't done this before, and I'm sure my aide was wondering what was up. As we round at the corner of the hospital, I could see the up-armored hum Vs of the MIT team and the Marines themselves standing near the entrance.

They had their hands on their hips, and their heads were down. This is bad, I thought. One of the Marines was lifting a set of body armor from the floor of a Humvee and it was covered with and dripping blood I quickly cleared my weapon at the clearing barrel barrel and stepped into the facility The medical personnel had become accustomed to my presence on these occasions and quickly briefed me on the situation Several wounded one very seriously and the survivors were down the corridor in an office I hustled down to the office and quickly got a situation report from the team leader and others of whom was wounded and awaiting treatment.

It had been in a bad ambush and the Marines had fought for their lives alongside the Iraqi troops they were advising. Then looking up at me with an anguish you can only find in combat The team leader said to me in a hush tone We think Travis is dead I didn't immediately connect the name and but I knew I needed to get down the corridor right away to the ORs where the incredible surgical teams were working frantically on the wounded as I stepped into the first O R the surgical team was just finishing their work One of the nurses was crying openly They had been unable to save this Marine and he had just died seconds before I stepped into the OR As I walked to the end of the gurney I was stunned to see Travis Mare

The wonderful youngster I'd known as one of my midshipments while I was commandant at the Naval Academy I had known his family his dad Tom a Marine Colonel himself and his mom Janet a stalwart of the family Travis had selected the Corps from Annapolis and though I had not seen him during this first this tour in Fallujah I'd heard repeatedly of his courage and bravery as an advisor One by one, the doctors and nurses left the OR leaving me alone with Travis. I don't think I had ever prayed so hard for anyone or anything in my life as I did while alone with him in that empty OR. His loss was very personal to me. Three years later, while I was deputy commander at Sentcom and headed ultimately to command the U.S. forces in Afghanistan,

I learned of an incident the previous night that had taken the lives of some of our magnificent special operators seals from SEAL Team 3. They had been operating in the Zabu province south of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and had generally made the lives of the Taliban miserable the entire time they had served there. One of the finest young leaders in this seal team,

Brendan Looney looked and lived every aspect of the ethos of being a seal. This now legendary strata of American Special Ops community. That night, we lost Brendan Looney. As with Travis, Brendan's death was not simply a loss to their respective units and missions. Losing them was a terrible blow to America, which would now never benefit from the extraordinary qualities of these two men. The irony of their relationship and their seemingly unrelated deaths was nearly as tragic. They'd be been roommates at the United States Naval Academy,

growing up together at this most hollowed institution of our naval service. They had faced the challenges of Navy and had emerged committed, ways few can understand without experiencing the powerful formative forces of Annapolis and in their intense sense of duty and their desire to serve one sought to be a Marine the other a seal remembering the times it didn't take a fortune teller to guess where this would lead them both to war in Iraq or Afghanistan or both and to war it did lead them extracting from them long separations from their families as they grew into the full realization of their roles as combat leaders but it also extracted from them their last full measure

their young lives willingly sacrificed for their country and these causes Tom Mannion has done us a great service in initiating the effort to tell this story Yes, it's about war, but it's less a history of two wars than it is about the human experience of war and what this newest generation of American warriors has experienced. It ties together these precious young lives and their growth together as warriors, as leaders, and as brothers. This book celebrates what we hear more and more frequently that these young Americans, on whose broad, strong shoulders we have fought two wars and who have kept the wolf from the door in innumerable other places are the new greatest generation. With less than 1% of our population in uniform, fewer and fewer Americans bear the brunt of the responsibility for military service, and fewer and fewer understand the sacrifices made by men like Travis and Brendan and their precious troops.

All of us who fought in these wars now pray that in the end, the outcomes will justify the cost to America and its allies. Those of us left behind must ensure these sacrifices were not in vain, and that these lives lost will have meaning and purpose now and in the future. And that is the forward of a book called Brothers Forever. And that forward was written by John Allen, who's a retired four-star Marine Corps general. And the book, which is about Travis Mannion and Brendan Looney, is written by retired Marine Corps Colonel Tom Mannion. Travis's dad. And we are honored today to have Colonel Mannion on the podcast to give us some insight into the lives of these two amazing men. Colonel Mannion, welcome, and thank you so much for coming on.

Thanks for having me here, guys. honored to have you on here and I guess with a story like this we might as well go a little bit back to the beginning and a lot of Travis's life and folks that listen to the podcast are you may remember the name Travis Mannion because when Brian Stan was on he talked quite a bit about about Travis and how much Travis helped Brian try to learn how to wrestle. Try. No offense, Brian. He did his best to teach you, but it was never your best skill set.

But obviously wrestling was a big part of his life, and I'm going to go to the book now, and here we go. He attended classes, studied, and wrote his papers, but always thought wrestling would best prepare him for being a warrior and leader on the battlefield this belief was reinforced by the qualities he saw in captain Doug Zembit Zembeck a two-time all-American wrestler at Navy who attended as many practices and meets as he could and frequently sparred with Travis be a battle axe Zembeck told him hurl yourself into your opponent I think that's good advice just Generally in life.

That's Doug. Be a battle axe. Zembach, a 1995, Naval Academy graduate, had a big impact on Travis. In the young wrestler's eyes, the gritty, tough, seemingly invincible warrior embodied everything he wanted to become.

A skilled Marine officer who used the wrestling mat to develop himself into a leader who commanded respect. Travis was a high school and college wrestling star after a strong junior year at Navy, which featured several epic matches against nationally ranked opponents, he was presented the Naval Academy's Weems Award for dedication and leadership.

As a preseason top 20 wrestler going into his senior season, Travis didn't want to simply win matches and meets. He wanted to dominate and help lead the midshipman to a championship. So we do talk about wrestling a decent amount because we're heavy into grappling. So he just started wrestling at a kid. Yeah, he started real early. Youth wrestling up through high school. But like a lot of these guys at Navy, he did a lot of different things. He did football and lacrosse as well.

But wrestling was the sport that he really gravitated towards. Yeah. Well, there's something that makes people gravitate towards wrestling. And combat sports in general, especially if you're a guy that's into combat. Yeah. You know, there's something that's beautiful about it. And so he's going now, the Penn State Open. It's like the 2004 tournament, his senior year.

He's got a hurt shoulder that he hurt his junior year. I'm going back to the book here. The Purdue wrestler slammed his struggling opponent to the ground for a takedown with Travis's injured shoulder thumping squarely on the red and yellow mat. His right arm was already numb, and this first blow left Travis with almost no strength to attempt to escape in a sport built on hand-to-hand combat one hand is almost always no match for two the match ended in an 11 to zero shutout and so that's a senior year tough day tough year you know he had a great junior year and had a shoulder that was giving him problems and instead of

getting a second opinion he went under the knife and it was a disaster yeah so So start out a senior year, looking forward to a big year, and could never get the shoulder going again. And actually won the Penn State open with that bad shoulder. I don't know how he did it. And the rest of the year. Yes. But, yeah, the year just didn't turn out well for him. It's very, very disappointing for him because he had worked so hard towards getting to the nationals and being an All-American.

and he had everything going his way, but, you know, the injury just zapped him. Yeah. And obviously zapped them. And I can't, I never put that much effort into a sport when I was in high school. I didn't do it. Am I kind of a loser because of that? A little bit, a little bit, a little bit.

But I never was that, you know, into a sport. And so, but I saw people that I knew, and you definitely see it in, once you get in the teams, you meet guys and they put so much into that sport, then something like that happens. It's crushing. I think this was a good little pickup that he got. After a brief moment of silence,

the assistant coach gave Travis a reason to perk up, telling the future military officer that though his senior wrestling season was over, it was now time for him to devote all his energy to becoming a Marine. Yeah, and it's Coach Joel Sharrady. He's now back at Navy, He went to Air Force for a couple of years and came back.

He's now the head coach down there. But a great coach, great mentor. And by the way, it was a good friend of Doug Zimbach's too. So it's like comes full circle. And I want to say that Joel would have been a warrior and a Marine too. He was a national champ at Iowa, three-time finalist for Dan Gable. If you know anything about wrestling. We do.

Yeah, he's the real deal. That's awesome. And it's interesting because in the book here, you know, you kind of start off with that story and you can see some definite strength of character from from Travis and then you take a little backstep and you talk about early in his academy a career he doesn't want to do it and it's he decides I don't want to stay at the academy I want to go to a regular college I'm out right and he leaves and I thought one of the best things about this was you know when when you when you talk to him about it and I'll go to

to the book here, you know, Travis comes to you and says, hey, I'm leaving the academy. And like I said in the beginning, you're a Marine. I can't imagine you could have been any prouder than having your son go to the Naval Academy. And then the disappointment you must have had when you said, oh, you don't want to go there anymore. But this is what you said to him. Going back to the book, look, this is your call and your decision. Tom told his son, who he always believed could excel at the Naval Academy and beyond, but I think you're making a big mistake. How? Did you know that one of the bad things you could have done was like force him to stay there,

which you must have decided in your head like, okay, if I force him to stay here, he's going to hate it and he'll be miserable and he won't put any effort into it? I mean, I get asked all the time, what do you do with your kids? How much do you pressure him? How did you come to that conclusion that that was the right move? It's sort of how I always work with him. You know, I try to treat him, you know, as a man and let him make his own decisions, give him advice, coach him, but at the end of the day, he's going to have to make those decisions.

And, you know, this was no different. You know, I was extremely disappointed. But, you know, I had a buddy there that was a battalion officer at the Naval Academy, and he gave him a hard time. about leaving and was that a major gardener yeah yeah yeah lieutenant colonel gardner and corkey gave him a hard time and said tom i'm not letting him leave let him go home for the holidays he'll change his mind and sure enough he came home and said no i'm i'm going i'm leaving and i still remember corkey called me up and he said you know tom if he ever he did great here if he ever wants to come back

you know he'll probably consider it i say corky there's there's no way he's coming back he's He's done. And sure enough, you know, I mean, he came back to me later on that following spring, late spring. So he goes to some other college. Yeah. Got a call from the wrestling coach. Come on down because I was giving him so much trouble at home. Coach said, yeah, you got a scholarship. Come on down. So he left as soon as he could get out of the house. And so you let him make his own decision. You just made him pay for it on a daily basis. Oh, he did pay for it. Absolutely.

So that's when when I didn't know that and I could not believe that they let them back in I mean that's awesome. Yeah it's very very unusual and if you're out there and you're at the Naval Academy right now and I know I know we got quite a quite a few listeners at the at the Naval Academy and at the and at West Point as well don't think you're going to get that kind of treatment you need to just stay there trust me it's going to be worth it you ain't going to be followed Travis man you know on this one no he pulled off a miracle on that one It really was. That's unbelievable.

And he gets back in, I mean, I guess with his wrestling skills, because he did well. Did well academically. Did well on the wrestling team as a freshman. But, you know, beyond anything else, when he quit, it's interesting because, you know, he quit and he left, and it made him really realize what he was missing. Yeah. And when he went back in to talk to people about going back, he had the passion. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

And they could see it in them. You know, I would have conversations with guys that were kind of thinking about their Navy career. And there's a big, there's a transition that happens mentally with people. And that is if they feel trapped, they want to escape. The minute that they don't feel trapped anymore, then they're like, oh, I want to go back in that cage. So you got it. If you can get them mentally out of the cage, which is probably what, what Lieutenant Colonel Gardner was trying to do, go home for the weekend, see what it's like outside the cage, then you're going to want to come back into the cage. It didn't work that time.

But I'm always I was a longer time outside the cage So when guys would come to me and they'd say You know I'm thinking about getting out I'd say I wouldn't go no don't get out Because then that's that's tightening the cage on them I'd say yeah man start looking at what you can do on the outside You know why don't you go get a job? There's some good jobs you know They got some good jobs you can get you know you can be an executive

There's you know you could there's probably a good cubicle that would have a nice computer at it for you and everything But I would not even be sarcastic about it I just try and make them start thinking about what regular I mean when you're in the SEAL teams It's a ridiculously good life. I mean, it's a ridiculously good life. So the minute you start looking at normal jobs in the world, you want to get back in the cage. So now he comes back and he ends up with a new roommate.

New roommate at the Naval Academy named Brendan Looney. And I'm going to the book here. Brendan and Travis, who carried the burden of being Division I athletes, along with their academic and drilling responsibility, rarely if ever complained just after the start of the 2001 fall semester Travis and Brendan met up for an early morning run the wrestler and football player both had practice later on that afternoon but as two varsity athletes who wanted to be the best they were determined to work harder than everyone else after talking about the start of the NFL season their mid-jog

conversation shifted to their backgrounds they had a lot in common including the love of sports and their love of country both midshipmen had been raised Catholic and tight-knit families although Brendan's was a little larger with Brent Brennan had four total of five I think total of five siblings and so now we're introducing you know Brendan Lutie into the into the story here and I actually knew Brendan slightly because when he was the seal he went through the training that I ran out here on the West Coast for the West Coast SEAL teams. And just a stud, you know, that's, you just stud. And the one thing I, one of the things I remember about him was,

I was not, you know, the most caring and affectionate instructor as a, as a, when I was running that training. And, you know, and guys would get a little, you know, kind of freaked out. sometimes when I'd be talking to him about the decisions that they were making during the training and and he would usually just be smiling at me like yet hey sir got it makes sense sir you know with a smile on his face just a stud just a straight-up stud and so these guys are now fall 2001 and we know what's coming next September 11th comes and you know our country's under attack going to the book here and the entire Naval Academy student body realized that after graduation they would become part of a fighting force that was now at war. And, you know, that's the whole military instantly thought that, you know, we were all thinking, oh, here we go. Yeah, we had, in 2004, it started to come home to us at Navy. You know, we had JP Blacksmith.

We lost in the Battle of Fallujah. Ronnie Winchester was lost over there around the same time. both football players you know and now Travis's senior year the football team's coming out with the flag and they got Ronnie and J.P.'s jerseys draped over the bench

you know and it was coming home for all of us and you had guys like Doug Zimbek coming back from the Battle of Fallujah and talking about what that was all about being in the wrestling room, wrestling with Travis you know was all over at Navy

yeah Yeah, that's a total game change. And it was definitely like that in the SEAL teams, too. You know, we went from, what was it, years and years since Vietnam, because we had some little, you know, there was Panama, there was Granada, there was Somalia, there were some things that happened, but those were little flashes of combat action, and all of a sudden we were facing what's now turned out to be, you know,

a decade and a half or more worth of war. Unbelievable. these guys So you know As you said Their intensity It's just You know

They might have been intense before But now their intensity Is going to be through the roof Yeah They know what's coming In May of 2004 Brendan and Travis graduated With their naval academy classmates

And were commissioned As U.S. military officers Brendan would go to serve In the naval intelligence community While Travis would head To the basic school For Marine Corps officers In Quantico, Virginia

So Brendan Didn't get picked up for the SEAL teams right out of Right out of the Academy, which is fairly normal So they only have a very small number of openings For guys from the Naval Academy And you can imagine how competitive it is To have a guy like Brendan not get picked up is crazy And so he goes out to go to go into the intel community

And then Travis heads down to Heads down to Quantico for the little bit of the basic school. And actually, this was interesting, and I wasn't aware of this, but the lacrosse championships, did those happen after they graduate their seat, after they get commissioned?

The way it read in here, it was like it happened after they got commissioned. Well, it was, actually. It was the championship was after graduation. That weekend. Same weekend. That's awesome. Yeah.

So, and Brendan, at some point, the Naval Academy started playing lacrosse yeah Brendan was a football player he went there was recruited for football and um played football for a couple years dressed and played and decided that he wanted to go out for lacrosse um his both of his brothers were playing lacrosse and he went out there and just picked up a stick as you said earlier just such a natural athlete so gifted big strong and you know picked up a stick and by the time he was a senior in that

championship game if you ask anyone who was the heart and soul of that team it was number 40 Brendan Looney I mean he he led him all the way to the championship he and his two brothers were the heart and soul of the team yeah it's unbelievable and so they get to the championship game

I'm going back to the book against Syracuse though Navy followed with a goal Syracuse won its third championship in five years and eighth overall title Brendan was absolutely crushed by the 14 to 13 defeat this was supposed to be Navy's day It would take some time for the loss to sink in but Brendan who had just played his final collegiate game and everyone associated with the Navy program knew deep down that the team's improbable final four run had been a truly amazing feat I don't think I've ever felt this low man

Brendan grumbled we should have won that game I know No, Travis replied, but don't do what I did to myself in wrestling. What do you mean, Brendan asked. When I lost that match in Texas, I thought my whole life was over. I hadn't been that miserable since I quit the academy. But there are bigger things out there. Think of what we're probably going to be doing a year or two from now. So same thing.

You know, a little bit of glory getting crushed. Right. Little glory getting crushed at the end there. And, you know, Travis saying, look, man, and this is true. And I say this all the time, you know, sports with a ball and the referee and all that stuff, it's a game, you know, and these guys are about to go into something that's no longer a game. And that's what Travis recognized and helped Brendan see that. Going back to the book, now that he was a young second lieutenant training at the basic school in Quantico, Virginia,

was difficult for Travis to imagine that the months after. graduation could be even more challenging but in fall of 2004 the harsh reality of war became more personal for Travis Brendan and their fellow Naval Academy graduates on September 2nd 2004 Marine First Lieutenant Ronald Winchester a driven popular former Navy football player became the first combat death in the Naval Academy's 2001 class when he was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq Al-a-Lombar province. Less than 48 hours later,

Travis and his fellow Navy wrestling alums were hit by another freight train. Upon learning that Marine second lieutenant, Brett Harmon, a friend and teammate who had graduated in 2003, was murdered during a melee at a North Carolina State University football tailgate. And that's a story that... That's a story that Brian Stan told as well.

What a tragedy that was. I mean, you know, stepping in to help out and the guy came back and killed him and his friend was hit everyone hard Brett was a really popular guy and so coach charott he and again this is something that that Brian Stan talked about you know when they were heading to the funeral and here we go let's do an exercise this is this is coach shot talking let's do an exercise I'd like your to both close your eyes and picture that you're leaving a building a friend picks you up and takes you to a place where people are somber crying and there seems to be an audience then you

realize you're at your own funeral write down a few words about what you'd want a family member or person of faith to say when reflecting on the lives of Travis Mannion or Brian Stan Stan nodded and after a few minutes of pondering what to write started drotting down a sentence about one day being remembered as a good husband a loving father and a US Marine Travis went through several pieces of paper before settling on one sentence Travis Mannion was a man on afraid to stand for what was right and as I mentioned earlier Travis started helping out Brian with his wrestling and and eventually as Brian started fighting because Brian's a maniac

started doing MMA matches and he needed a corner man so he needed to have the wrestling corner man and so again this is something that we covered with Brian Stan but for if he didn't hear it that first time there you know you got Brian's about to fight he's literally you know whatever 20 minutes half an hour from getting in the cage and fighting somebody and Travis gets a phone call and Brian can tell something's going on and And Brian saying, hey, tell me what's going on. Travis says, I'll tell you later. Brian Stan says, you tell me now.

Travis looks away after the fight. No, give it to me straight. Brian demanded, what's going on? And then Travis tells him J.P. Blacksmith was killed in Fallujah last night. So again, your point is that these are people you know. Real close to home. Yeah. And it was tough for Brian.

It's tough for anyone that's sitting on the sidelines, which is what you feel like. You feel like you want to help and you can't do anything. You're literally thousands of miles away. And that's what these guys are feeling. Yeah, a lot of frustration there. But I think also at the same time, it built a lot of resolve with those guys.

I mean, they were determined to make sure that they honored them in their service and work hard. to do all they could do to make a difference now there was a story told in here that I I definitely wanted to go over because it revealed a little bit about Travis to me that was a little hard to pick up a little earlier and that was obviously that he was funny as hell and didn't mind taking some risks so these guys are in a training situation and you know, Travis was on the radio and he's given commands and he's given orders and they're being listened to by some higher up training officer that's kind of monitoring what they're doing.

And so Travis is going back and forth on the radio with his guys. They're doing some training. And then as Travis pressed the button on his radio to relay the final order, a loud familiar voice suddenly overtook the frequency. Lieutenant, this is coyote six, the voice said. I'm not really sure what you're trying to do out here, but you're not following proper radio procedure. Sir, Travis asked, puzzled. You need to figure out what you're trying to do because I sure as hell can't tell by listening to your orders over this radio. The rising voice said, do things right or do us all a favor and just go home. So, okay, Travis thinks about that.

And he just keys his radio and says, yes, sir. So they're continuing they're doing a little bit more Travis is continuing to direct his troops in his training operation And Finally the voice comes on again lieutenant manion this is coyote six He said his dozens of eyes rolled I have a I have to ask you a question son Do you have any idea what the hell you're doing out there

Radio is dead silent for almost 30 uncomfortable seconds as everyone waited for the young second lieutenant's response. No, sir, Travis had, Travis said, but I did stay at a holiday and express last night. No, for those of you that aren't in the military, when you key up on the radio, it's not like I'm just cracking a joke to my boss, just me and him.

No, there's like dozens and dozens, if not, you know, 40, 50, maybe even 100 people that just heard you say that. So that was a ballsy comment. funny, risky, but kind of showed, and it's classic. It's great because that tells the guys, hey, look, we're going to get through this. We're going to push on. We're going to make this happen, so I thought that.

Yeah, guys from First Recon shared that story when they came to our place, and it was typical Travis, you know, and he said he just like, everything got silent. The coyote shut up, and they said when they got back to the headquarters, they all wanted to meet this new lieutenant. You didn't catch me out from Coyote 6 on that Coyote 6 got quiet That was it Yeah You got punked so hard He just shut down

He probably couldn't help But understand that Yeah that was that was brazen But that was a good joke You know what you know what too I bet if he's a good guy And he's putting pressure on his troops He might have just

He might have just sat back from his radio And just thought to himself respect I respect that We gotta respect what's coming out From the Holiday Express That's awesome. So now we fast forward. We get to Travis's first deployment.

And he's in Al-Lambar province and with First Recon Battalion. And here we go. As the first reconnaissance battalion's maintenance management officer at Camp Fallujah, his responsibilities, which were focused on making sure vehicles were correctly allocated, fueled and repaired were undoubtedly important. But sitting on the sidelines while others went outside the wire to fight. was definitely not what the Marine had envisioned when he was back training. So he got assigned as a logistics officer. He did, yeah.

He was, he actually had intel officers his first choice because they have the sniper squads. And he had infantry for a while. And then he said, you know what, I think I'd like to work with a sniper. So he switched it. And he always thought, since he switched it at the end, that's how he ended up being a logistician. So he always, you know, was kicking himself for that. But, you know, when he went out there, started to work in logistics, realized how important it was, the mission.

I think he was still a little frustrated, for sure. But he started really integrate with First Recon. And actually, Colonel Higgins, the CEO, said, look, when you come back from this second tour, we're going to give you a recon platoon. So he was pretty, you know, jazzed up about that and looking forward to getting a recon platoon. And, you know, it was part of why when he was over there as a MIT team member,

he was doing logistics as an advisor, but also he was also taking the platoons out on patrols. Probably more than anyone over there. I mean, that's sort of the way he was. I mean, he was going to get ready. So he was like, okay, another patrol, I'm going. Yeah. I got it. It's, I mean, obviously, logistics wins wars.

Yeah. That being said, I don't think Travis was the logistics kind of guy. And in logistics, they truly do. I mean, if you can't get bullets and beans, you're not going to win the war. That's the way it is. And that's one of the great things about the Marine Corps is the way they do their spread and they put really high-quality guys in every aspect of the Marine Corps, including logistics. But yeah, I can imagine he was pretty frustrated about that.

You're a frustrated. And now the Marine Corps gives out an annual award to the logistician of the year. and it's the Travis Manion Logistician of the Year award So there you go Okay That's awesome You know and

Sherat Sharrat Is that how you pronounce his name? No, Sherrett Sherrott Okay sorry So Sherrett I thought this was another Awesome piece of advice

From Sherrett You know who Travis had reached out And you know It's great to be here I'm doing the best I can You know But I'm definitely getting frustrated

I want to get outside the wire And Sheret says learn everything you can, every second you can. Study the tactics, study the people, study the culture, and know them. More importantly, know yourself and be vigilant not to let up on yourself preparing for the unexpected. So that's just incredible advice, you know, and it doesn't matter what situation you were in, you try and make yourself better. You know, and actually I work for one of the senior seal admirals that when September 11th kicked off, he was in charge of acquisitions at the Pentagon as a captain. And, you know, here's everyone going to war and he's, you know, doing acquisitions, which for those of you that aren't in military, that means high-level logistics.

And something that he told me that always stuck with me was, you know, he was the same thing as Travis. He's frustrated. Here I am in the Pentagon every day. And what he told me was, you know what? I said to myself, Jocco, this is my foxhole. I'm going to fight. So his foxhole is in the Pentagon dealing with paper. And that's what he did.

And he knew that that was what he had to do. And now he's going to do it to the best of his ability. And hearing this from Sharra. Sharot? Share it. I'm going to keep listening to that way. Well, Joel was a great mentor, you know. And he always had solid advice for Travis

and the other guys that wrestled in Navy for sure. All this being said about, you know, logistics being inside the wire. Logistics, when you're running convoys all the time, those logistics guys, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, CBs. We had CBs that ran logistics. You're doing convoys, and you're doing convoys down heavily laden IED streets. So there was all kinds of logistics. As a matter of fact, you know, there's a lot of female logisticians that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh, they're supposed to be in a non-combat role.

Well, guess what? They got after it. They had to. the middle of it all. You're in a convoy. Yeah. So speaking of that, back to the book, during one late night evening convoy through Fallujah,

the deafening thunder of an IED shattered the relative tranquility of first reconnaissance battalion patrol. The group of Marines had been attacked before, but this is the first time that Travis was with them during a hostile incident. Keeping his composure while following orders of the more experienced officers, Travis, his heart pumping and ears ringing helped evacuate a Marine who was wounded in the attack. so again might have been in logistics but you're still those guys are out there they're right in the

middle of it yeah exactly now he comes home from that deployment i'm going back to the book iraq changed newly promoted first lieutenant travis mannion for the better as the marines mom dad sister and several naval academy buddies all noticed he was still the same Travis who had willingly traded doyels town for one of the world's most dangerous places but after returning to the United States Travis carried with him an aura of seriousness and quiet self-confidence that was unfamiliar to some of his closest friends and loved ones. When Travis talked about life, he acknowledged its fragility, having felt the pulse of an IED blast and seen dead bodies in the streets.

For a young Marine who had just spent eight months in Fallujah, it was almost impossible not to mature. No matter what Travis was doing, he was acutely aware that every single day, Americans, Iraqis, and Afghans were fighting and often dying. I love the fact that that paragraph starts off by saying that that deployment to Iraq changed Travis for the better. Because so often, you know, we hear and civilians get told and the public gets told that war does all these horrible things to people. and they failed to realize that in many cases, war makes you a better person. Well, you could definitely see the difference with Travis. I mean, he went over there, and eight months later he was a different guy.

I mean, he was so much more focused and mature, and, you know, he had a chance to lead over there in these incredible situations where you have to make quick decisions, and, you know, he got a lot from it. I could just sort of see it in the time I spent with him. And the other thing about it, I think, is like appreciating what you have. I mean, I saw that so much from him. You know, when he was back here, he was just like, wow, this is the greatest place in the world, you know. There's no doubt about that.

That's something I think everybody that deploys comes back and you, at a minimum, you're going to appreciate what we have in America. Things like bathrooms. Yeah. Because over there, you're only in porta potties, right? Or you're in the field, but you're in porta potties in the summertime. We used to call them the blue saunas because they're blue-colored plastic. Right. And then inside, it's, you know, it's 120 degrees outside.

So inside the blue sauna, it's, you know, 160 degrees. And you don't want to leave the doors open because that's just nasty. So you just leave the blue sauna shut. Yeah. So when you come home from that, you get to start to appreciate. Small things. There's the little things in life. And meanwhile, this time, Brendan, he now has gone on a deployment to South Korea,

working as an intel officer and doing that. And even in doing that, he felt like he had, you know, a lot more to do. And this is when he focused on, you know, he wanted to be a seal, but now he's going, yes, I need to be a seal. He told his girlfriend who he had met while they were going to the Naval Academy, Amy, Amy, I've got to do more, Brendan said during a late night phone conversation. Travis is there, my other buddies are there, and I want to be there with him. When Amy reminded him of the dangers his friends like Travis were facing,

Brendan was undeterred. I should be in the fight, he insisted. Now there's an issue here And actually I was I talked about this How surprising it was that Brendan didn't get picked up for the seals out of the Naval Academy And I and I forgot the reason But there's a really distinct reason Colorblind he was colorblind

He was colorblind and you can't be colorblind in the SEAL teams at least you're not He's the first guy to get a waiver for that You're not supposed to be colorblind in the SEAL teams And that's why he didn't get picked up I still remember that call from Trave He said, Dad, got great news. Brendan just got selected for the SEALs. Navy SEALs just got one hell of a leader.

Yeah, that's awesome. And before he got picked up, and this probably helped him, back to the book, in August 2006, Brendan deployed to Fallujah, where he gathered and analyzed intelligence for combat missions, including operations carried out by SEALs. So, actually, I was in Ramadi at this time, so Ramadi's, I don't know, 40, 30 miles from Fallujah.

And he was working he must have been working at our Intel shop And so the intel he was gathering we would go out and prosecute those targets And he's working with working with seals and that that must have helped them out Back to the book meanwhile Travis was making another visit to the east coast for the christening of his niece Maggie Rose So so he's christening his daughter and And also he found out now that he's going back to Iraq. And this is another thing that he's sharing that news as the as as as your

granddaughter's getting christened. Travis is telling you, hey, I'm going back to Iraq. And he's going back with the with the what is it, the third battalion second brigade first Iraqi army division military transition team, MIT team. I said that in the opening. So little little bit about the MIT teams. I've talked about the various levels of comfort that you have in the military or that we had in Iraq and how you know us guys and the SEAL teams generally for the most part high level of comfort you know we would get to a place we would bring we would build a gym immediately we would have our CB's

constructed gym if we didn't have one we would get you know we would get video or internet service we would live pretty good We'd get food shipped and we would live pretty good. Now, that being said, of course, there were special ops guys that were way out in the middle of nowhere, living on a fob somewhere, and that's living rough. There were some people that were even more comfortable. There were some headquarters units that had swimming pools. I'll say that again, swimming pools. So there's some headquarters areas. You know, if you got into the green zone in Baghdad, you're, yeah, I'm on deployment in Iraq.

I'm going to head out to the swimming pool for a few minutes You know there's those there's those kind of living And then you get you know you got in Ramadi we had the conventional guys that were living in The combat outposts in the city real rough living and then you go One step rougher and where you end up with is mid teams And mitt teams so this the the the the the stands for military transition team And This is when you are the direct advisor

to an Iraqi battalion and in this case it was the three to one you're gonna hear me say that about it's the third battalion second brigade first Iraqi army division so this is this is a battalion of Iraqi soldiers supposed to be six or seven hundred probably a lot less than that because they were generally highly undermanned but the MIT teams had a really really hard job a incredibly hard job it was you know we did advising to the Iraqi soldiers and we work with the Iraqi soldiers side by side and these guys did it not just on the battlefield but with everything that they did helping them with their pay helping them learn how to how to do the logistics side that you

mentioned Travis was doing the MIT teams just nothing but respect for the mid teams and on top of that we go out with the SEAL teams you know we had great training and then we had other SEALs with us mid team we'd have we'd have a minimum usually of like six to eight seals with us we got mid teams sometimes those guys going out with one other mid team guy out with 40 Iraqi soldiers poorly trained poorly motivated you know they lived right there with them you know they were totally embedded with them so yeah eating the same food tough job yeah horrible I remember that the uh the uh the call from Travis when I first heard that and I was just like wow you know much more comfortable

as a dad with Travis with 200 Marines yeah the comfort levels the comfort levels incomparable. Yeah. Between being with 200 Marines and being with 200 Iraqis, it's completely, the level of risk is so much higher. There was a, when there was a MET team that came out in Ramadi, and they were turning over to MET team. The ongoing MET leader and the offgoing MET leader were turning over,

they got attacked. Both of them got killed one attack. That's how much risk they're taken with these MIT team situations. Well, the other thing about these guys is, you know, They were going out in patrols with them, and, you know, if they're going to train them the right way, they were out front. I mean, one of the things with Travis, last time I talked to him, one of the last times at home, I said, Travis, you're an advisor. Make sure you just tell the Iraqis what needs to be done and step back and let them execute. And it was like, okay, Dad, I got it.

And I knew exactly, you know, what he was going to do. He was going to lead from the front. And that's what he did. You know, that's what all those guys were doing. They were, you're out of patrol. You're right out front with everyone else, you know. When the Navy SEALs came back, Eric Grightens was a Navy SEAL with Travis, and he said, you know, Travis was always there, every patrol.

So. Yeah. So that's what he gets tasked with. And I'll tell you what, if you want to get some here in a MET team, you know, like you said, you know you're going to go out and patrols with the Iraqis. You know you're going to get out. There's no doubt about it. Nothing but respect for the guys.

We worked with a bunch of MET teams in Ramadi. Just outstanding guys doing a really, really hard job. Yeah, tough, tough job. Yeah, tough job. Well, you know, at the end of the day, it was strategically. It was the surge, right? And they put everything behind the mid teams at that point. You remember in 2006, 2007.

Before Travis left, he actually had a chance to talk to General Mattis, came and talked to his mid team about how important that mission was. So we're putting a lot behind our guys that were embedded with the Iraqis. Yeah, and again, for those of you that just to dig into the strategic piece a little bit more, our goal was to turn over Iraqi security to the Iraqis. And the only way to do that, and we realize this, and that's one of the things that made people realize the importance of the midteams was, you weren't going to do it, you weren't going to educate them on how to do a combat patrol in a classroom. You weren't going to educate them on how to do a combat patrol even on a training field you needed to take them out and teach them and

And force them to go out and do these things because the Iraqis if they have the They if they have the opportunity to either stay on base or go out on a patrol a lot of them would do it Yeah their their goal is to stay on base many of them And so of course there were some guys that were more motivated but a lot of them were just they They just want to survive, right? They just want to survive. So strategically, that's what we had to do, was we had to take them out and give them on-the-job training and simultaneously push them to go out and try and lower some of the level of violence out in the various cities.

So, yeah, at this time, also, as you mentioned, Brendan got approved for his lat transfers. It's called a lat transfer, and so now he knows that he's going to, he knows that he's going to go to buds go to buds and and be a seal or at least try and be a seal but i bet he was pretty confident yeah i'm certain of that one of the first things Travis did here he's he's going he's got a couple more days left he meets up with marine major steve cantrell an assistant navy wrestling coach and they go to new york Travis and cantrell decide to spend a few days in new york where Cantrell had arranged a visit to New York Fire Department's Rescue One headquarters. Located in Hell's Kitchen, Rescue One had become a revered place over the past five years.

The small Manhattan building, which was still fully functioning, had been the home base for 11 firefighters, almost half the unit, who were killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. As they were leaving the firehouse, one firefighter and former Marine thanked Travis for coming out. Lieutenant Mannion, I want you to have these hats and shirts, said the Marine Corps veteran. No matter how crazy things get over there, you can always put one of these on and remember what you're fighting for. And he comes home and he's got that rescue one hat with a rescue one fire department, New York logo on the front. And 9-11-1, never forget on the back. And he says to you, Dad, I want you to have this and please wear it while I'm gone.

No matter what happens, always remember that this is what we're fighting for. Yeah, I always remember that discussion we had, you know, down the hallway. And it's so impacted him to be there with those guys. And he actually went up there to thank them for all they had done. And he said, Dad, they couldn't thank me enough for my tour and what I was about to do. and he was you know he got real serious about it and always remember that was one of the last conversations i had with him interesting side note to that story so my wife and i after we lost Travis went up to rescue one talk to the guys we were up there and they sort of remember

maybe you know somebody coming through and but it never really clicked for the guys are with, but great guys, and we ended up leaving and never felt like we had the connection that we expected, because Travis had talked about it so much. And a couple of years later, I'd say about two years ago, so what were you talking about, like seven, six, seven years later? Well, the book's out. And there's a New York City firefighter that gives his buddy the book and says, hey, read this book. He said, mentions Rescue One. So the guy's on the treadmill, He almost falls off the treadmill. He says that was me.

He had since been transfer. So Tim Sullivan calls me up and says, I'm the guy in the book. I want to come have a beer with you. That's outstanding. Yeah. That's outstanding. And that's also the same conversation

where you told Travis, you know, hey, you're an advisor. Advise and then let the Iraqis execute, which can be really hard. It's you know It can be hard because they won't execute It can be hard because you want to show them how to do it right And oftentimes if you don't lead from the front

It's not going to happen It's not going to happen there no So Now Now your son-in-law Dave And Travis Go to a football game And here we go back to the book

As they reach a flight of stairs Near the Lincoln Financial Field exit Dave with a clear hint of humor finally conveyed his concerns he was concerned you know he's concerned about him going overseas and he says hey trav if I tripped you right now and you fell down and broke your ankle do you think they'd let you sit this deployment out he asked Travis chuckled at Dave's joke but didn't say much in response a brief moment of slightly awkward silence followed while drunken Eagles fans shouted and chanted all around them suddenly Travis spoke up you know what though

Dave, Travis said with an unmistakably serious look on his face, if I don't go, they're going to send another Marine in my place who doesn't have my training. If not me, then who? You know what I mean? He continued, it's either me or that other guy who isn't ready. So I'm the one who has to get the job done. So think about that because, you know, you think back to the time with Coach Sharrett and Brian stand and they're in the plane and Travis says I want to be known as the guy that always you know

stepped forward and did what was right if not me than who is another way to say it right yeah and it's you know it's not I don't share that because it's unique to Travis you know I share that because it's and this whole story is really a representation as so many men and women in uniform you know it's their story but it's a story that can be told about so many And that if not me, then who, you know, we use that now at the foundation to sort of drive momentum around, you know, what we all need to be thinking about as Americans, stepping up and doing the right thing. And I'll agree with you 100% that there's a lot of people that say things like that. But, you know, to have an example that's someone that's so clearly lived that is awesome to look at. Now we're getting ready for deployment back to the book more than a hundred American troops were killed in Iraq in December 2006

Including major Megan McClung the highest ranking female officer to die in Iraq war in the Iraq war and the first female Navy Naval Academy graduate to be killed in combat and by the way that she was stationed in Ramadi I knew her and she was killed along with a another army specialist named Vincent Pimante. They're killed by big IED on Route Sunset, I think it was. And also another guy was with her, a guy named Travis Patrick Quinn, who was just an unbelievable guy.

And this was a huge loss to lose, to lose Travis and Megan in that IED. I knew both of them, and it was just a huge loss. Never, never knew her, but I certainly meant her parents, you know. Yeah. She's buried down in Arlington, Section 60. She was, she was just like really just a huge smile all the time, a real go-getter, just making things happen.

And I didn't work with her a lot, you know. I mean, I'd see her at brigade meetings because we were both, you know, working with the 1-1-A-D. And, you know, she was just, yeah, I got that. And she was just really positive. And she was, the thing I remember most about her was just her smiling. You know, she always had a big smile on her face. And, and Travis, you know, and I'm going to do Travis' story on here someday.

You know, Travis was the guy. He made this, this PowerPoint brief for how to win the war in Iraq. And it was stick figures. And it explained like, hey, here's you. You're an American. Here's this Iraqi. And you don't know if this Iraqi is good or bad. But you know who does know?

These other Iraqis, and it was just all these stick figures, and it got published, it got circulated. That was Travis. That was Travis Patrick, and he spoke Arabic. Just a fantastic guy, and I'll definitely cover it. There was a book written about him as well. So, incredible people. On her, at her grave site in Section 60, it says, be bold, be brief, be gone.

Well, she was indeed all those three things. Yeah. Going on here. Now, Major Doug Zembeck, the Naval Academy wrestler turned warrior whom Travis admired. He was killed as well. Yeah, it was shortly after we lost Travis a couple weeks later. Doug was over there in Baghdad and was killed. Yeah.

He was, I don't know if you knew him. I didn't. It was kind of a big personality at the Naval Academy and had the Marines and flew. Yeah. Came back into the line of Fallujah. Yeah. Yeah, quite a leader. And I really didn't know him either.

And Travis's junior year, he was back wrestling with Travis at Navy. They were about the same size. Doug was a big guy. And he was a guy behind the bench yelling and screaming like crazy as Travis was out there wrestling. Had a really tough match. He ends up winning like one-nothing against this kid from North Carolina. I said, Travis, who is that guy behind the bench? He said, that's Doug Zimbach.

You don't know who Doug Zimbach is? So that's when I first met Doug. And so at this point, he hadn't been killed yet. He was, he was, but the point that they were making here that I kind of misworded was that he was a classmate of, of Megan McClong's. Apparently, a classmate. And so that was the connection there. Yeah. That was a couple, that was what, a couple weeks.

a couple weeks before Travis arrives that you know he's getting this news Yeah Now Travis is back in Fallujah Back to the book Travis had seen his share of blood But never needed to wash any from his hands

That all changed in January Less than a month after he turned Returned to Fallujah for his second deployment Travis and his fellow members went on combat patrols virtually Every day Sometimes running as many as three missions Over a punishing 18-hour span

In Fallujah throughout Iraq, Marine, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Iraqi troops did everything from hunting insurgents and weapons caches to disposing of dead bodies. Adding to 321 Mitz challenges were joint patrols with the Iraqis through some of Fallujah's most dangerous sectors. The Iraqi soldiers would sometimes respond to the slightest sign of violence with what some U.S. team members nicknamed the Iraqi Death Blossom. When a shot was fired in their direction, the Iraqis would sometimes be a moment. form a circle and fire in every direction with little regard for consequences

including tragically catching innocent civilians in a crossfire civilian casualties were sometimes unavoidable an unavoidable reality of war but Travis and his fellow Marines were determined to use every means at their disposal to prevent them while some MIT team members understandably became frustrated with the often untrained underpaid Iraqi soldiers Travis position himself as a mentor. During lunch, he would bring his child to their mess hall and sit with Nick, an Iraqi translator, who helped bridge the gap between U.S. and Iraqi armies.

They not only talked about combat strategy, but also simple things like soccer. So this is just pure professionalism. That's what that is. Pure professionalism. Well, I had a chance to go over to Iraq in 2010, and I met with the Iraqis that Travis served with. and they said that, you know, Lieutenant Mani would always come over and sit down and eat with us and talk with us. And it was part of what you needed to do, right?

If you're going to be there and be their brother and help them with the mission they had, you've got to be part of what they're doing. And he understood that. I mean, it's not like, unlike Brendan would. I mean, when you're playing athletics, you sort of get that. teamwork piece, you know, you know, if you're going to make it work, you got to all be together. Yeah, and it's, it's, the book makes it sound like it's fairly easy to do that. It's not, man, it's hard. There's a huge cultural difference between Iraqis and American.

And, you know, it's not that big of a deal, but I'll tell you what, going, you know, you're overseas. The one time you can kind of relax is when you get to sit down and eat your chow and you're in the chow hall, And you're actually fairly well protected most of the time. You don't have to worry about anything You clear your weapon before you go in the shower I mean it's it's usually a relatively safe place and you get to relax You get to be around all your American friends and it's good To to deny yourself that and now you're going into because you know at this time You don't you you can't give full trust to the Iraqis You're you're gonna you know eating with them the conversations are stilted

It's just not this little thing it's a big deal it's a it's a it's a big deal to make that extra effort and and clearly you know many times you know I'm I'm pretty engaged in my job you know many times I ate with Iraqis when I was in Iraq on my last deployment maybe twice maybe twice yeah maybe twice you know because you know when I was in a little bit I was in a different position but maybe twice yeah and you know at the end of the day they recognize that oh When I went over, they talked about that quite a bit with me and how they'd recognize that and how it was important to them.

And he knew that. He absolutely did. That's the point. He knew that making that sacrifice, building those relationships. That was his primary mission, or at least one of his primary missions, was to build relationships with these Iraqi soldiers so that they could get to know them so they could build trust and so that they would go out there and do their job. So professional. at all times and this is another really good example of Travis's leadership. Back to the book, just as some U.S. Marines became frustrated by the raw battlefield tactics

of the Iraqis, which could put all their lives at risks, some Iraqi soldiers rolled their eyes when Americans gave them orders. Whereas previous Marine lieutenants had barked instructions at the Iraqi Army leadership, Travis took a different approach, starting with a knock on the door of the Iraqi Lieutenant Jalal. Good day, Lieutenant. I was wondering if I could speak with you about the upcoming raid on the high-value target in the industrial sector, Travis said through the interpreter.

I was wondering what time you think you would like to execute our mission. I think 5 p.m. would be a good time to leave, Jalal replied. My men had a long day and I don't want to keep them up too late. Okay, Travis said, but I'm wondering if you might consider leaving a bit later, possibly after sunset. My concern is that our presence during daylight could endanger neighbors who live near the house were going to strike, not to mention little children who could be playing in the street. Respectfully, Lieutenant, I wouldn't want to be the one to tell their parents that their son or daughter might still be alive if we had waited a couple more hours.

After a pause and a sip of water, the Iraqi officer nodded. The raid would not start until 8 p.m. So again Real leadership And I talk about this all the time in here You know the real leaders aren't barking orders The real leaders are the ones that are flanking And using indirect approaches

Sure With the people that they're trying to influence And there's just a phenomenal example of that Got some email here Email coming from Travis Send it to you You know send it to the family And some of his buddies send it to Brendan as well

Here we go All my job is definitely going well after all the horror stories we hear we heard about the Iraqi army army and their unwillingness to work with the myths they have been very open and willing to listen to advice creating an initial relationship with my counterparts was the right move and it has allowed me to help them start shaping operations there are many dedicated men in this army and it's been an eye-opening experience so far the best iA's that's Iraqi army soldier the best IAs are definitely dedicated to their cause and have a warrior

mentality that rivals some Americans however there are still those enemies out there that wish us to fail there's a lot of work left to do but the city is definitely at a different place than it was last year I really feel that it is at a critical point where if the present situation continues to progress it could have huge positive impact in other areas Also, I found a good balance between my logistics job and my company advisor role. Although going on operations definitely requires a good amount of time, I'm able to work with the battalion logistics officer on a fairly regular basis. I also appreciate all the good food and gear that has been sent.

Workouts and your support have definitely helped keep me going. As I said before, we're pretty busy, but I wanted to take a minute to thank you guys for everything and keep you updated please continue to write I enjoy your updates as well take care and I'll talk to you soon semperfy Travis yeah that was one of his um last notes home but you can see I mean he's a glass half full type of guy you know we're we're getting it done we're working hard we're going to make a difference you know that's sort of how he approached everything and and that was what he was trying to share interesting thing also about the because when I was over there talking to the logistics guy that he worked with sort of in a kidding way he said you know lieutenant man he was a horrible logistics officer and they started laughing he's never he was always on patrol he was never there with us when we had to do logistics stuff so that's I guess that's expected now we're going book the next morning Travis and his teammates awoke around 530

a M to a huge explosion a few minutes later they learned that observation post Baghdad a new makeshift base they had been working to set up in Fallujah was a pile of rubble They go to that location with gunfire initially surrounding them before a secure perimeter was established Travis Albino my saying that right Albino doc Albino albino and others spent the next eight hours entering and reentering the rubble while their team members controlled the crowd outside for all they knew the rest of the bombed-out complex could have crumbled or there could have been other bombs time to go off when the quick reaction force arrived.

They went into the ruins anyway. Carrying a large flashlight, Travis crawled into the rubble, sweating profusely due to the heat, which is exacerbated by small fires burning throughout the compound. Travis dug through dirt, sand, and remnants of brick searching for trapped Iraqis. Travis, Albino, and their teammates

recovered two injured Iraqis and two dead bodies from the attack site. Their selfless actions had an enduring impact on many of the Iraqis who bore witness. So, you know, this is even in America, when there's something, when a bomb, when a building is collapsing, they don't, you know, it's really, really risky to go in there. And Travis is like, no, we're going in. There might be survivors. Iraqi civilians, he has no idea, or maybe they were military guys, he has no idea. He doesn't know them.

He's going to risk his life just to go and help them. Back to the book, less than 24 hours later, Travis's ears were ringing after an IED blew up underneath his vehicle. The blast jarring, pounding force loudly and abruptly halted his vehicle's patrol through the city's volatile eastern industrial sector. Travis had encountered IEDs during his first deployment and as recently as nine days earlier. After ensuring that fellow Americans and Iraqis were uninjured, Travis looked down at the San Diego, Street where the crude explosive device was buried see that wire Travis said to another Iraqi lieutenant that's a command wire and it's stretching towards that building gather your men and follow me he said to the Iraqi before turning to his Marines

you and the other guys cover us just in case they're snipers lieutenant why don't we just leave the Iraqi said to Travis because they'll keep planting bombs around here and kill more of my men more of your men and probably kill some kids Travis said so respectfully lieutenant I'm going over there to find out who's responsible with or without you after a brief pause the Iraqi lieutenant got three of his men and followed Travis as he traced the command wires origin rounding a corner Travis saw a man in civilian clothes kneeling over what appeared to be a pile of grenades which along with the attached wires appeared to be some sort of booby

trap without hesitation Travis squared up to confront the threat the Marines out on the street heard the pop of Travis's M-203 grenade launcher and the subsequent explosion. Several ran toward the sound while others stayed to keep watch over the exterior. The tall, sweaty insurgent took off running, now being chased by a fearless determined Marine. Travis had a bad guy in his sights and he wasn't going to let him get away. Stop, Travis shouted in Arabic while pursuing the suspect. By the time the U.S. and Iraqi reinforcements arrived. Travis was dragging the frightened suspect down off a wall. He had tried to scale in an unsuccessful attempt, unsuccessful attempt to escape.

After body slamming him to the ground, Travis put the insurgent's hands behind his back, then made sure he was taken in for questioning. The suspect eventually led the MIT team to a room not far from the ruby trap, which contained grenades and many more bomb-making materials. Without losing any lives or ruffling more feathers in the Sunni enclave, Travis had helped remove deadly weapons and another terrorist from Fallujah's streets. Yeah, so when I heard that story, when it was share with me, one of the other parts of it is that when Travis ended up catching this guy, put a, I guess, a good wrestling move on him, put him down the ground.

The Iraqis actually wanted to take this guy out, you know, and he's like, no, you're not doing that. Okay. We're taking them back, you know. And they figured, we'll just take care of this guy right here right now. Yeah. And they just, he just got, Travis got just got hit with an IED. By the way, it must have gone low order, which means it must not have detonated properly. Because if you're in a Humvee and you can hit with a legitimate IED, it hits your vehicle under your vehicle, your chance of survival isn't great.

And so to have this guy actually hit you with an ID that you're lucky enough to survive and then you catch him. And then, you know, I bet you that, I wonder we could, I wish we could find out if the Iraqis that saw this, if we could find out what wrestling move he used to put this insurgent on his back. I think it's suplex. Yeah, suplex, yeah. Hey, he had a good headlock. Yeah, I bet that was not a happy insurgent at that point. But, you know, this also, the other thing that was good about this is it shows you how Travis had to lead from the front.

because like I said, the Iraqis are just content to say, hey, let's just go back to base. You know, let's just leave. That's very common for them. And Travis has to lead from the front. Has to say, no, we're going to stay. You can stay here, but I'm going to go get these guys. And, you know, kind of shame them in to help him now.

Yeah, you know, and he was doing that, but he was also seeing that the result of that was progress, that these guys were starting to take on more and more. Yeah. And that was important to him. Even just the fact that they followed him, you know, but that's what they're doing and then what they do is they gain confidence and they say, yeah, you know, we can do this too and and that's how you eventually turn over battle space to him. Yeah. Going back to the book, half a world away in California, Brendan was about to embark on his most difficult challenge since 9-11, Bud's training. So, you know, I just wanted to point out that while Travis is now back in Fallujah, Brendan has got his orders and he shows up at Bud's and, you know, he trained super hard. to get ready for it and and there we go while helping turn the tide in Fallujah first lieutenant Travis Mannion wrote a letter to the

intelligence or one of his hometown newspapers in Bucks County Pennsylvania and here's that letter there are many views on our mission here however all I can say with certainty is that there are thousands of Americans over here working hard towards a positive outcome in Iraq every day I'm here I see great things being a under harsh circumstances from young Americans. I'm truly honored to serve beside these Marine, sailors, soldiers, and airmen. I'm not sure the average Americans sees the positives these servicemen and women accomplish

or even understands the sacrifices of their efforts. However, whatever course of action our leadership decides upon, there are those in waiting, ready to carry out the mission in support of our country and in defense of its people, and their freedoms. Respectfully, Travis Mannion, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps. Yeah, that sums it up totally for him. I mean, you know,

you always knew where Travis was coming from. Very straightforward. And I mean, obviously I agree with him. That's a lot of people don't understand, and still don't. A lot of people still don't understand the positive things that were occurring over in Iraq, the positive things the the the simple having lunch with them the simple trying to prevent

collateral damage you know that's been mentioned several times you know the Iraqi soldiers they get content somebody shoots at them they shoot in 360 degrees they don't care where it hits and they're doing everything they can to train them and and put some discipline on them so that they don't hurt those civilians so and the willingness you know you guys tell us what to do you guys give us give us the mission and we're staying in here and we'll get it accomplished yeah yeah so now they're looking at a a mission in an area of philuzia which is called the pizza slice and if you go look at a map of philuzia it's really obvious to figure out where the pizza slice is i did i did actually did one operation my first deployment

to iraq in the pizza slice and they're looking at doing an operation there they got some intelligence that there's a bad guy there that they want to go and get and we're going back to the book after discussing the idea with several fellow officers including Travis Major Kubicki I said that right Kubicki yeah major Kubicki announced that a team would head into the pizza slice to follow up on new intelligence about the snipers whereabouts so it's a sniper that they're going after an enemy sniper hopefully they could find the terrorist sniper who is shooting at US Marines Iraqi soldiers and civilians two American Humvees would

accompany two full vehicles of Iraqi army troops. In one Humvee would be Kubiki, Albino, and Kim. They would be joined by the driver, Staff Sergeant Paul Petty, and the turret gunner, staff sergeant Josh Wilson. Morang and Segal? Seagel. Seagel, Chuck Siegel. Morang and Siegel would ride in the second Humvee.

The driver would be Staff Sergeant Chad Marquette. Turrugner, Corporal Briner, and Mohammed, an Iraqi interpreter. Travis and 2nd Lieutenant Scott Alexander, a friend and fellow Mitt team member, were supposed to go to a nearby school with Iraqi soldiers and hand out candy, crayons, and coloring books to local kids. Travis was excited about the mission because he cared about the Iraqis and loved to see the smiles on the faces of the kids. So they got two operations that they're about to execute.

One of them is to go and hunt down this sniper and the other one is go do some build some win some hearts and minds Handing out candy the kids now Kim is one of the other Mitt team officers He's the ops oh the office officer that's that's who Kim is and we're going back to the book Kim Who had smelled ugliness in the air when he woke up that morning And had reiterated reiterated his uneasiness just minutes earlier told Travellinger that the smiles of Iraqi school children would be a welcome sight. Kim was a brave Marine who repeatedly distinguished himself on the battlefield, but on this day, he felt worn down.

Fortunately, he and Travis were close enough that he felt confident asking his friend to take his place on Major Kubicki's Pizza Slice Patrol team. Is it cool if I head over to the school instead? Kim asked. No problem, Travis replied. His eyes lighting up because he knew this meant he could help go find the sniper. Are you sure, Kim insisted?

Go ahead with Scott to the school, Travis said. We're all good. Thanks, Travis, Kim said. I'll see you in a bit. See you back here, Travis said with a nod. Yeah, so never knew that story. And we're writing the book, started to talk to Chris about that day.

And, you know, he said, hey, I've got something I want to share that I never has shared before. And he mentioned that, you know, was supposed to be me on that patrol. Imagine it would take for him to sort of come forward with that story. But he and Travis and Scott were really close. And I know it had to be bothering him for a while, and he shared that.

So they roll into the pizza slice, which again, this is, just to just a picture in your mind what it looks like, it's kind of your stereotypical combat Iraq city. Small narrow streets, you know trash in the streets buildings really close together Threats everywhere dirty run down wires everywhere it's just a it's kind of your stereotypical Iraqi combat city that's exactly what it what it is in the pizza slice and Fallujah They're in their perimeter and boom here we go to the book the enemy sniper pulled the trigger Blasting what felt like a metal pipe through Albinos lower left abdomen the bullet which ricocheted off the Corman's radio then tore through his left lung

Albino fell to his knees dropping his weapon and landing flat on his face in the soared trash filled streets Motherfucker yelled petty who had gotten a thumbs up from the DAC a split second before in an instant Travis and Kubicki started running toward the wounded Corman Casualty screamed the court the turret gunner of the other American Humvee He was the only one in the vehicle to see Albino go down. Everyone in the Humvee froze. Iraqi? A stunned meringue yelled out in response.

Despite the sudden jolt of adrenaline, their heart sank when they heard the gunner's response. It's Doc! He yelled, opening fire. Ambush! Travis reacted as soon as the first shot rang out. He took off running toward his wounded comrade as the thunderous sound of American turret gunfire rang out. the once quiet alleyway even with the enemy shooting above from above Travis didn't care about his own safety He knew he this could be his only chance to save doc

At the other American Humvee Marang and Siegel also took off in albino's direction though they were trained to never run towards a sniper's victim The warrior ethos of never leaving a fallen comrade behind had overridden their sensibilities Travis who reached Doc first grabbed him by the left shoulder in Kubicki who was running close behind clutched Albinos right arm a few seconds later Come on doc Travis yelled as he as he in the major pulled Albino closer to the Humvee Bullets were now raining down from multiple rooftops which meant that more insurgents had been waiting with the sniper to ambush the American and Iraqi troops The MIT team was encircled by insurgents and without a fierce counter-attack the entire patrol was almost certainly doomed As Bedlam ensued The Marines realized that both Iraqi vehicles in their patrol were gone

After the Iraqi soldiers heard the gunfire the front vehicle subsequently hit an IED while trying to loop around towards a better fighting position The Iraqis were stranded which meant not Americans and their interpreter were left outnumbered in a confined chaotic space. Yeah, so, you know, with Travis that day, you know, he helped pull Doc in. Doc said, when I went to see Doc at the Bethesda Hospital, he said, you know, I just felt this big hand come in and grabbed me and pull me in, and they were surrounded there. and, you know, the sniper was there firing away. I don't know if you're going to share,

but Chuck Siegel was also wounded as he came in. I actually got an email from Chuck recently just to, you know, so many years later just to sort of talk about that day and what it was all about. But you can imagine that the cloud of war, chaos, confusion. Nobody really knows what's going on. As I talked to the guys that were there that day, nobody was really sure where things were coming from.

They just knew they were in big trouble. Yeah, that's one of the hardest things about the urban environment. It happens in all environments, but in the urban environment, you hear shots coming and you don't know where they're coming from. It's very difficult to tell because the sound reflects and refracts off the different buildings and, you know, the sniper or the shooters can be one or two rooms deep.

You just don't know where the rounds are coming from, and it's just very, very confusing. A lot of confusion from all the guys I spoke with. Going back to the book here, Travis and Kubicki dragged Albino out of the kill zone and closer to the vehicle's front side where the sniper couldn't deliver a fatal blow to their bleeding, gasping Corman.

As they tended to Albino's wounds, Travis saw Morang and Siegel running toward him at full speed. Another piercing crack of gunfire abruptly echoed through the alley. In an instant, Siegel was somersaulting in mid-air, feeling like Mike Tyson had just punched him in the stomach and landing in the middle of the bullet-riddled street. All around, Siegel, who broke his rifle while collapsing the ground, a hectic battle was unfolding in an eerie, slow-motion silence.

Siegel's wrist convulsed with tremendous pain, The sniper was firing at the wounded marine as he lay in the street and the young Lance corporal who had just been shot in the wrist and still unbeknownst to him also in the stomach would soon be dead if he didn't get in front of that Humvee. As Siegel laid powerless, unable to do anything but wait for the crushing blow of another sniper bullet. Travis pulled him out of the sniper's crosshairs. Moments later, Siegel lay next to Albino, who was still being worked on by Kubicki. So again You know if you got a sniper scenario and there's a guy down The last thing you want to do is run over to try and help get him out of that situation

Unless you're Travis and then that's the first thing you're gonna do By the time the confused Lance Corporal looked up into the dust Travis was gone He'd already run back into a cloud of bullets Travis dashed across the street not far from where a seagull had been hit twice and meringue had barely escaped death. Without blinking, he blasted a grenade onto one of the rooftops buildings, sending chunks of concrete tumbling the ground. When Travis switched to M4 rounds, his suppressing fire was equally relentless, which gave Kubicki and Morang enough time to help the wounded. With one rooftop silent, after stunned insurgents had experienced the crushing

power of Travis's grenades and countless M4 rounds, the battle's tide began to turn. Seagel and Albino, couldn't see Travis firing but they could hear the welcome sounds of the American counterattack which only paused when Travis needed to reload go Travis screamed to his fellow officers who moved into new positions so they could join him in firing at the enemy Travis moving east in the alleyway from the Humvee's passenger side to the driver's side as he blasted away at another rooftop was now causing the same kind of pandemonian among the enemy that the sniper had initially wrought on the Americans just in front of Siegel, the corpsman initially pulled to safety by Travis and Kubicki dragged himself

almost completely under the vehicle with only his legs sticking out. Desperally trying to breathe while tasting a mixture of sand and his own blood, Albino was almost certain he was going to die. Amid dizziness, extreme thirst, and the crashing sounds of concrete, the wounded Corman pictured his mother, whom he didn't want to suffer in the wake of his death. But at the same time, Albino could see Travis' boots Travis's boots firmly planted in the sand while he fired at enemy positions The situation was bleak, but maybe there was still a chance to survive So you got Travis

It's interesting they use the word counterattack And usually when you think of a counterattack you think of a platoon or at least a squad That's maneuvering to counterattack an enemy And in this situation we got a one-time man counterattack. That's the initiative is Travis stepping up, putting down suppressive fire, putting down grenade fire, exposing himself to the enemy to make that happen. Well, trying to build the momentum the other way because the momentum's coming in so, so much so on the other side that you got to sort of get out and get it on them, get the rounds on them.

Yeah. To have them, you know, lose that momentum. Yeah, and just like any military unit, the insurgents, if they have the upper hand, they're going to press. But the minute you can press them back and you get the upper hand, the chances are they're going to retreat because they don't, they're not holding the ground. They don't care if they lose ground. They'll run away. They want to live. They're cowards.

And so they'll back away. But, you know, if you don't do that, if you don't step up and you don't take the initiative, they will absolutely overrun you. They'll overrun you. And so Travis one man counter attack here and then and then he's yelling to his teammates. Hey go help out. Let's go. Let's make this happen back to the book although the sniper would usually have been long gone by now the AK 47 fire from other buildings caused so much initial confusion that the MIT team still wasn't sure which building he had fired from like a vulture circling his prey the enemy marksman continued scanning the alley before spotting Travis who's firing away on another rooftop.

So this is a cover and move situation too where the snipers taking precision shots, but the guys can't really identify because they're getting shot at from a bunch of different locations as well. Back to the book. Across the city, First Lieutenant Kim was handing crayons to smiling Iraqi kids with second lieutenant Alexander. Though Kim wondered how Travis and the guys were faring inside the pizza slice, they'd been through so many battles in the last five months.

without a casualty that the MIT team seemed indestructible. As Kim knelt with a happy child, he suddenly heard unintelligible screaming from the radio inside his vehicle. Contact! yelled a voice. Possibly Staff Sergeant Perry, the driver of the Humvee Kim was originally supposed to be in. Kim looked straight at Alexander, who had heard the same frantic sounds, and both men motioned to their Iraqi counterparts to sit with the kids while they check things out. the transmission the transmissions were broken but now the sound of Petty's voice screaming contact came through crystal clear about saying a single word about what to do

next Kim and Alexander jumped into separate vehicles with their respective drivers told the Iraqis to handle the rest of the school supply drop and sped towards the pizza slice and its unknown turmoil as they listen to broken radio transmission and try to communicate with Perry who was frantically trying to contact Camp Fallujah and request a quick reaction force the Marine silently navigated through the pizza slices narrow confusing streets not completely sure of where their MET team brothers were pinned down they knew a battle was raging but neither Marine had any idea how serious it was nor did they realize albino and Siegel had

been hit after looping around the pizza slice the two vehicles turned right on to route Elizabeth near the Blackwater Bridge heading east and the serious of the situation slapped Kim and Alexander in the face the normally bust bustling packed marketplace was completely empty if tumble weeds had blown across the street this section of Fallujah would have looked exactly like a deserted town in old Western spaghetti Jesus Christ Alexander said where the fuck are they Kim yelled in frustration suddenly they heard gunfire there Alexander said pointing at the besieged alleyway where the two American Humvees were still being riddled by bullets

As both Marines stopped on route Elizabeth facing east, the Marines jumped out and ran as quickly as they could, ducking his rifles continued to crack towards their comrades. Kim then confronted an image that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Travis was lying near the back of the driver's side tire of the Humvee he had been riding in, his eyes wide open but glazed over with emptiness. Kim saw no blood, but it was obvious that something horrible had occurred in that Richard violent alley for the first time in the entire deployment sheer panic seized Kim as he ran with Alexander up to Kubicki who is kneeling by Travis while filing firing

his 9mm handgun at one of the buildings after running out of rifle ammunition Kim asked firing his own rifle where do you need us to go get the wounded Kubicki said get them out of here who else is hit Alexander said Siegel and Doc Kibiki said before moving to another position to continue firing Swinging open the passenger's side back door for cover as he fired Kim saw Siegel who had avoided being shot again but was still in great pain lying in the back seat Despite being on his back he was reaching down to the floor trying to find more ammunition for the turret gunner

His left wrist was breathing profusely The major orders us out Kim said do you need help? I can make it Siegel said you got to get Lieutenant Mannion I think he's dead my vehicle is right over there Kim said pointing toward route Elizabeth go now that reinforcements had arrived the sniper was gone and the insurgents were pulling back Siegel mustering all his strength exited the Humvee on the passenger side and hurried to Kim's vehicle where he collapsed in the backseat He knew he had been shot in the stomach by this point and wasn't sure if he would make it But even Siegel ran to the intersection even as Siegel ran to the intersection the wounded Marines thoughts were focused on the unforgettable scene He had just witnessed Siegel didn't see Travis get shot by the sniper

But after dragging himself to the driver's side of the vehicle the Lance corporal was shocked to see the first lieutenant Lying face down and motionless his arms stretched toward the curve with his feet facing toward the bullet-riddled vehicle when Siegel pulled himself towards Travis and asked him where he'd been hit he got no response he realized Travis was seriously wounded and started feeling underneath his fellow Marines body armor with his left hand despite the hole in his own aching wrist he found a bullet wound on the left side of Travis's rib gauge he whispered in Travis's ear Hey Travis, said Segal, Siegel, who normally would have addressed him as lieutenant or sir, I'm here for you.

Travis didn't respond. Even without realizing that the sniper's bullet had struck the first lieutenant from the right side and had exited at the spot he was covering with his left hand, Seagull knew the situation was grave. When Travis began jerking with convulsions. Is he dead? Kubicki yelled over to Siegel while continuing to fire enemy positions. Not yet, but he will be if we don't do something. The Lance Corporal said, his voice shaking. Siegel turned to Travis, whose eyes were still wide open.

I'm here for you, Siegel, repeated over and over again into his ear. As soon as Kim and Alexander had carried their unresponsive friend into the vehicle, Kubicki ran over and dove into the smoke-filled Humvee where he clutched Travis and began trying to identify his wounds, stopping the bleeding and perform CPR. He ordered Petty to start driving towards Camp Felucia while Wilson fired the last rounds from the turret. This was probably Kibicki's last chance to save his fellow Marine. As four vehicles sped toward Camp Feluzia,

Father John Gaten, a Marine Corps chaplain from Pennsylvania, sat in his tiny office on the makeshift American base. He was reading emails from home while sipping from a large water bottle to keep hydrated on the steamy Sunday afternoon. A few minutes later his phone rang. We got two wounded in action and one possible killed in action arriving at the field hospital, a nurse reported. As the Marines ran over to the wooden complex, he saw a group of Marines. Kim, Alexander, Kubicki, Morang, Petty, Marquette, Wilson, and Briner huddled like a

team on a football field as he jogged by one of them turned around and looked at him father john saw the redness in the eyes of this marine who had obviously been crying it was clear that something terrible had happened any marines with typo positive blood report immediately to field hospital room four a voice said over the loudspeaker as they tore off as they tore off his bloody fatigues before finding the wounds on each side of his rib cage and trying to resuscitate him, crowds began to form in the hallway outside the operating room. Word was quickly spreading that first lieutenant Travis Mannion, the heart and soul of the Mitt team, was badly wounded.

Yeah, he's gave it all, you know, gave it all that day, gave it all every moment he was over there in working with the Marines, working with the Iraqis, and, you know, that last event, he ran out of ammo. You know, I was talking to the gunner and start to ask him about what he saw, trying to figure out, you know, we've got what was written up in his award, and just trying to get some insights. And the gunner said, you know, Lieutenant was calling for more ammo. So I'm thinking that Travis I saw when he was over there, he had all sorts of magazines. So I don't know how many rounds, but I'm guessing around maybe 90 to 100 rounds he had on himself.

And he'd actually laid down a lot of fire to change the momentum. But he knew what he was doing. He exposed himself. He had to do that to get out there and lay down the fire. and when I spoke to the gunner, Wilson, he said, you know, we threw out a magazine, I turned around. When I turned back, Travis was laying on the ground. So maybe he was trying to get that magazine and load it into his weapon. He'd run out all of his ammunition and laying cover for these guys.

Yeah, and like you said, I mean, just somebody had to turn the momentum. Yeah. Otherwise they were going to get overrun. Yeah, and he knew that. He knew that. If not me, then who? You know? He knew what he had to do.

I know that, because they had lost, I got a letter from Kibiki shortly afterwards, and he said, you know, we're using Travis's words to go on because they had lost some guys, and he had pulled the team in and said, look, they'd want us to go on. We've got to keep working. We've got to turn the tide here. and so he used that session that Travis had with the team and said look you know what Travis would think you know what we got to do we got to keep fighting on and that's what they did father John anointed Travis's feet and said a prayer as the medical staff tried feverishly to revive him if only the marine could show the doctors some sign any sign of life soon after the physician in charge announced a time of death For the next minute, the only sounds heard in the operating room came from the hallway outside.

As doctors and nurses watched in silence, Father John, standing above the fallen U.S. Marine, broke the silence. God, the Father of Mercies, through the death and resurrection of your son, you have reconciled the world to yourself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins. he said looking down at Travis through the ministry of the church may God grant you pardon and I absolve you of your sins in the name of the father and of the son

the Holy Spirit one by one Marines filed past their fallen brother Kubicki the senior officer who desperately administered CPR in the Humvee was the first to walk by meringue was next then Wilson Marquette and Bryner, when Petty looked at the fallen First Lieutenant's face, he saw an officer who had given everything to the Marine Corps.

When Alexander approached the operating table with tears streaming down his face, he put his hand on his friend's head. He didn't know how the mission could carry on without him. Kim approached the table with weak knees and a broken heart. He paused to take one last look at his friend who had saved his life by volunteering to go on a patrol he knew would be far more dangerous than a school supply drop. Pausing for a moment, Kim pondered the story that was already spreading throughout the hospital complex without thinking twice. Travis had leapt squarely into enemy crosshairs to direct gunfire away from his patrol. on April 29th 2007

a line of the Iraq war was struck down by a single bullet cut through Travis's aorta causing massive internal bleeding that couldn't be controlled though the fallen Marines loved ones would undoubtedly suffer everyone else on the Pizza Slice Patrol was still alive

by fearlessly protecting his Marines and the Iraqi serving beside them first lieutenant Travis mannion had done his part yeah so clearly in in writing this is sort of as a father obviously really tough to to go through and and you know talk to the guys that were with them and relive that but the other side of it is it's a little healing to just sort of know exactly what was going on and what the guys that were there with him felt about his actions that day. And so, you know, as I went through, struggled at times, but I realized that, you know, unless we tell these stories, the rest of the country is not going to know what these guys are

doing. So we got to make sure that we get the word out there. it was a big part of it is sitting down and talking through that day a big part of the struggle for me and putting this book together and and you just i mean it's a it's a i would say it's a miracle that everyone else lived but it's actually just Travis that everyone lived in a situation like that surrounded by enemy a sniper multiple enemy positions firing on you you got nine guys and two on these that is not a good situation to be in and it's going to take a miracle to get out of it and the fact that he's the only guy that was killed is incredible and it's clearly you know due to his actions clearly i mean again you have the enemy has elevated positions too yeah they're on the rooftops and yep so yeah i mean it's important obviously to tell the story and people to know the sacrifice and i mean a lot of a lot of people listen to this that are active duty in the military and that sort of aggressiveness on the battlefield when things are going bad is going to keep people alive and obviously you got to be a courageous courageous human being

to do that but the alternative you know in this case would have been an incredibly horrible I get it um several the guys were there whether it was the doc when I went to see him at Bethesda talked about the impact of what Travis did or Lieutenant Morang was there and he sent me a message and said hey you know there's no doubt in my mind that Travis saved my life and the life of the entire patrol that day so I mean the guys that were there were with them they know what happened and how much longer after this did you start writing this book wow about five years afterwards started to get down to writing it

and I you know there's a story behind that too right I mean I uh the last time I talked to Travis was a week before we lost them

and it was an unusual call because normally I was with my wife and this time I wasn't it was by myself and I guess he felt a little bit more open to share with me what was going on and he was you could sense that there was a lot happening.

And he had a message for me. He kept sharing that he said, Dad, it's incredible what I'm seeing over here. It's incredible what these young Marines are doing. What I'm seeing every day they're fighting in the streets. They're putting it all in the line. I don't think the rest of the country knows what's going on. And he knew that because he'd go back to Camp Feluzia, turn on the TV and see what we were watching back here. And then he'd be on patrol and just sort of see the incredible things that were going on.

and it was a huge disconnect for him. And he got cut off several times in that phone call, and he kept calling me back, and he'd start all over again. Dad, you really got to get the message back to people. It's incredible what's happening here. The American people don't know the incredible things these guys are doing. And so I got cut off with them the last time, and I always signed off to tell them how much they loved him

and it was the first time that I missed him. I figured, okay, I'll hear from him next weekend. And we got to knock on the door that next weekend that we lost Travis. You know, your worst nightmare, your only son, so proud of him, I figured, okay, most natural thing for us is to roll down the shades, lock the doors and just tell everyone to go away.

And it was because that last conversation I had with him. We knew there was going to be media. And sure enough, there was. I pulled my wife and daughter together. I said, you know what? When they call us, we're going to talk. And really, this book is about talking, about sharing the stories. I've been on that mission since the last time I talked to Travis,

and he gave me that mission to do this. And so I was pretty certain early on that I was going to do something. initially I thought okay I heard about travis and his Marines in in Fulhuia and how they turned the tide so maybe that that would be the story we could talk about how these brave Marines and work together with the Iraqis to make that happen and then we lost Brendan you know and I realize you know maybe it's not that story maybe it's the bigger story of our Navy seals and our Marines and everyone that that's putting on the uniform and the sacrifices

they're making. And so that's why it sort of took me a little while. I mean, we lost Travis in 07. We lost Brendan in 2010. And I had just come back from doing some of the stuff over in Iraq. I started to think, well, maybe it's a different story. And when you do a really, you know, an amazing job in the book of talking about how your family, how you and your family, you know, dealt with the loss.

And, but is there anything that you find, I mean, did you find it to be sort of therapeutic to say, look, we have a new mission now. Our mission is to get the word out and tell this story and learn as much as we can about it and let other people know what's going on? I think it was, it definitely helped, you know, to know that we could do something with his loss, you know, get out there. there and if we could do something to bridge the gap between

the country and our military and our guys and men and women serving in uniform, you know, it certainly gave us something to get up every morning and have a reason. You know, when we start thinking about his message, you know, part of that, if not

me, then who message, that goes back to that last conversation I had with him. Because when we started telling the stories, my son-in-law shared that story with the newspaper. And all of a sudden that, if not me than who is sort of caught on and people started to say you know what i like that it was five simple but really really powerful words and that's what we use now is our sort of rally cry for our foundation if not me than who you you went through this you know you went through your loss of

Travis and did you get closer with with brend after that or did it maintain or we got a lot closer with Brendan. I mean, absolutely. Brandon was in seal training when we lost Travis. And I still remember that call with my wife. But, yeah, he would come and visit us and still remember when he came back and he came right up to our place. And mostly people felt uncomfortable

coming to visit the parents by themselves. So they'd come in groups. But when Brendan called up shortly after he got back, And I said, okay, who are you coming up with, Brendan? He says, I'm coming by myself. And we spent the night doing shots of patron at our bar and talking about stories of he and Travis and their friendship. Well, another thing was Travis or Brendan had just started Buds. Yeah.

And, you know, he was saying, hey, I'm going to come home for the funeral. And you and your wife said, no, you do what you got to do. You got to get through this training. You know, you can come later. Yeah. Which is. Well, we knew. He was just sort of struggling with the loss in a big, big way,

and he wanted to be there, and, you know, he was sharing that with my wife real strong. And, you know, he knew what Travis would want him to do as to carry on. And so he did that, you know, and he sure did that in a big way out there in San Diego. Yeah, and Brendan crushed, crushed buds, and you don't throw that around, lightly you don't throw around someone crushing buds lightly and one of the things one of the quotes that they pull out in here that he applied during buds was one of one of brendon's favorite quotes was one he rarely spoke out loud but always kept in the back of his mind be strong be accountable never complain yeah that's brandon absolutely and that attitude going in he ended up being

the honor man of his buds class and so the honor man is the guy that's basically the best performer in everything and again you're going to buds you got some competitive high level athletes in there and to be the honor man you got to be a bit of a badass yeah well some of the guys who were there with him share with me that it wasn't even close even you know i mean like he was blowing everything away so he's he's He was possessed as they share with me. That sounds like he was definitely getting after it. And, and, you know, I won't even say I imagine. I actually know for a fact that Lewis and Travis must have fueled his fire beyond anyone.

He probably had, you're right, there was no, who's going to compete with that, you know. Right. He knew he had a job to do. so much so that when when he got done and graduated and my wife Janet and I were at the wedding with Amy and Brendan that he called Janet over and gave Janet

his Navy SEAL Trident and you know he just did it privately it was the way Brendan was gave it to her and said you know I couldn't have gotten this without Travis being there with me every step of it away And I want you to have this. And I was at the other end of the room,

and I still remember Janet coming up with tears in her eyes and sharing that story with me. It was just sort of the type of guy Brandon was, you know? Yeah, that's just, I mean, that was another thing that in the book you talk about is he got the honor man plaque and like he like mailed it to his parents. Yeah. And his attitude was, hey, this isn't on me, you know,

this is on you. Thanks for support over the years. Yeah. And then give him the trident to, to your wife, Janet. I mean, just a humble, humble guy

that always gave credit to everyone else. And your wife gave him the black bracelet that said, First Lieutenant Travis Mannion, USMC, Spartan hero leader.

Killed in Iraq. Iraqi freedom, 29 April of 07. And then this had to be hard for you because now you're even closer with Brandon, with with with with Brendan you're even closer with Brendan

and he tells you guys at his wedding so you're there celebrating the wedding and all of a sudden he says I got something to tell you going to Iraq in 48 hours yeah yeah it was uh

and by the way he's going to Fallujah did he tell you guys he was going to Fallujah yeah he told us where he was headed um you know hard to believe you know he's there celebrating such a great day and then to find out that his honey

moon's infusion you know I think and you know you hear about we hear so much about our guys in uniform and what they're doing but just sort of think about those types of sacrifices you know we don't hear enough of that stuff you know what the families are going through and missing those special times you know it's a big big impact all the way around well I was trying to remind people that the heroes that we talk about they're heroes and their people They're people like everyone else with wives and families and And they miss their home They miss their family

They want to be at the dance recital and the basketball game and the wrestling match They're not just these You know Foreign objects that just do nothing to fight man They're people and I always try and remind Remind everyone of that and this is a classic example Here he is marrying his sweetheart who he'd met at the Naval Academy me yeah spending time with you spending time with his family and he's leaving for Iraq 48 hours

later honeymoon and Fallujah yeah big big sacrifice for these guys and he does that deployment to Fallujah and um kind of you know here's a here's a letter that he wrote home on that mrs mannion it was great seeing you guys at the wedding i'm glad you guys were able to make it it meant a lot to both me and Amy to see you both there. I'm doing okay over here. Since arriving, I've been tasked with reviewing all the evals, its evaluation and awards for the command, as well as work in the Tactical Operation Center.

I'm sure you've heard about the decreased violence out here and provincial Iraqi control taking place in Al-Lomba. To see how much different it is over here since last time is a true testament to the work that everyone over here has done. I've not had the opportunity to get out to combat outpost Mannion on a trip out west to al-Assad while myself and rob Sarver another U.S. Naval Academy O4 guy who knew Travis were waiting for our helo to show up we struck up a

conversation with a young Lance Corporal this young Marine was a Mitt team member and had mentioned that he'd just come from cop manion when we heard that I let him know that Travis was a good friend of mine and a college and a roommate during college he said that he did not know him but he'd heard great things about Travis he also said that there was a room at the cop dedicated to him with pictures I just thought you would like that story since Travis is still influencing the men and women over here love Brendan yeah he eventually made it out there Rob shared with me but oh he made it out to to Cop Manion was it was Com Manion in Fallujah or was it was it was it was North of Karma

okay if you've ever been through karma I didn't go through karma Yeah, so karma's, when I was over there, they flew me out to Canfaluja and then Karma's not too far away from Camp Fallujah and it's a little north of karma. So the Iraqis said they wanted to name the outpost after Travis, which was, you know, again for their recognition of what he put on the line for them. Yeah, awesome. So, but you could see even from that note that what Brendan was facing in, in Fallujah at that time, even over what had been a six-month period or something, maybe longer than that,

but it was completely mellow compared to what Travis was enduring. You know, we were just way ahead at that time. Yeah, it changed dramatically at that point, for sure. And so Brendan had a fairly mellow deployment. Comes home and then It goes back on deployment. You know again like you just said new wife you just went on deployment doesn't matter We're sending you back on deployment that's the way it works two three four deployments yep yep Yeah, so now we're talking he goes back this time and goes to Afghanistan

You know, you know just a little bit about about Brendan's leadership with the Taliban launching its annual spring offensive Brendan and his platoon started to see more action in May just as he had predicted in his email to Tom and Janet, surrounded by jagged cliffs, extreme poverty, and acute desolation, which many of the younger seals had never experienced. It was Brendan's responsibility

to keep them optimistic, focused, and sharp, considering that the seals were sleeping on a fob in the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles away from home, setting a positive tone was never an easy task. Rather than barking out orders to the seals under his command, Brendan was loon dog. The enlisted seals, as they loved working for the 29-year-old lieutenant

because even though Brendan was an officer, he still thought of himself as one of the boys. So, you know, you see a very similar type of attitude. Yeah, his guys, you know, having a chance to talk to them. You know, everybody loved Brendan. I mean, he was just a great, great leader, right? Yeah. Yeah, no doubt.

Like I said, the biggest thing I remember about him, you know, was no matter what I was saying to him, Not an attitude, but just like a positive attitude. I'll say that. Yeah. He's getting towards the end of that deployment, like right towards the end of that deployment. And goes back and forth emails with Amy. On Monday, Amy and Brendan exchanged emails.

Six months that Amy dreaded were coming to a close. And finally, they would be living together again as husband and wife. Brendan could barely contain himself during his last reply before his last mission. Can't wait to get home and going a long overdue vacation with you. I call you when I get back from my op. Love you. Miss you.

Me. So they roll out on this operation. Brendan's assignment in support of Operation Sea Serpent and ongoing joint anti-terror assault was to watch over the village of Ayatala in the mountains in southeastern Afghanistan province of Zabul as on other tactical overwatch missions on this one Brendan and his team

would serve as guardian angels much like when Travis held the roof during after a chlorine attack in Fallujah no matter what transpired in the darkness below Brendan and his seals equipped with night vision equipment would be watching quiet and focused Lieutenant Brendan Looney flew above the skies of Afghanistan on the 59th combat mission of overseas deployment as bright moonlight shined into the chopper through the war zone soaring mountains the words Spartan hero leader reflected from the bracelet Brendan always wore on his right wrist moments from landing on top of the mountain the seals and soldiers aboard the chopper unhook their safety belts and

prepared to dismount suddenly a terrible piercing sound stunned everyone aboard the helicopter, which rapidly tumbled down a jagged steep cliff before plunging into the darkness. The frantic moments that ensued were harrowing, dreadful, and tragic. So that's Brendan's, just think about it, his 59th combat mission, and he's two weeks from coming home, and the new group comes in, and who's the one guy that says, you know what, I'll go with the new guys, and show them around. We've been out here the whole time. I don't want them going out there without anyone.

And that's Brandon Looney. Yeah. You know, and he jumps in and helicopter went down, and only one survived. Yeah, it's a turnover operation, is what we call it. That's when you're taking the new guys, as you said. I think these guys were from Team 4, taking them out. You know, you're just, you know, one guy that's, hey, we've done this before,

We'll just do a turnover Make sure you guys know what's happening and give any advice we can and like you said You're you're ready to go home. Yeah And Somebody's got to step up and do that. Yeah, and like you said who's gonna do it? Well Brendan's gonna do it. Yeah And you know after after Brendan was killed and

You guys You know, Amy had had said said she wanted Brendan to be buried next to Travis. Yeah, you know, you wonder why things happen the way they do, but we never had that talk with Travis, like what happens if you don't come back? And when we lost them, my wife and I were like, well, we should have them near us here at home.

So we buried them close by us and outside of Philadelphia. And then shortly after that, we heard from some family and friends, that, hey, they had a serious conversation with Travis, and he said he wanted to be in Arlington if anything happened to him. So I called down to Arlington, they said, yeah, we've reinterred, we can do that, just let us know if you want that to happen, and we'll make it happen. So we never got Travis situated, never had a headstone, had a wooden cross there,

and we kept talking about it, you know, and it's almost three years later. and my wife was the one that was most reluctant because she was visiting Travis every day and she just couldn't come to grips with making that decision and then we get the call the first person that Brendan's mom called was my wife Janet when she got the news and we were just devastated and we got down there and Amy came into town she said you know I want I went Brendan next to Travis in Arlington now she knew she was at Travis his service she knew Travis wasn't at Arlington but maybe she'd forgotten in the shock and I know how that goes you're just in total shock and um at that point I could just see it in my my wife's eyes she said

this is it this is now we need to do this she was ready to do it and they moved mountains to make it happen. I mean, the Department of the Army and Arlington moved, helped us move Travis down there in two weeks. And then we laid Brennan that following Monday. They originally said, let's do this the same day. And I was like, well, no, this is, this is Brendan's day. We're just like a quiet ceremony. So we did it the Friday before. And this quiet ceremony, We had all the Marines from Manion Hall down at where the officer school was. They have a hall named after Travis. They all showed up.

And, of course, the Loonies, you'd think about our service members, but the strength of the families, they insisted, with all they were going through, that they were going to be over there. And they were there with us. So we laid Travis down on that Friday, and then Brennan the following Monday. Secretary Gates was there and all his Navy SEALs were there to pay him respects and they put their tridents in his you know his coffin and it was a real emotional time obviously you know just like such is such a tough time I'm going to close out the book here with the words that you spoke on the day that you interned Travis at Arlington. I want to thank the Looney family for their presence here today.

Our hearts go out to you as you deal with this incredible loss. Brendan represents the best this country has to offer. We mourn him now and we will forever. The passing of this American hero. There are so many mixed emotions for us as we move, Travis, this place of honor Brendan's loss fills all our waking hours yet we're moving Travis to be next to his great friend and together with all their warrior brothers and sisters who've paid their full measure defending freedom this solemn

place leaves us with a sadness for the sacrifices but also extremely proud of these brave Americans who so unselfishly and courage Step forward to confront the evil that faces our world. We The families of these defenders of freedom can't begin to describe the void that fills our hearts But we can tell you how much our sons and daughters love this country and all that it stands for We are now their voice. So Travis as we lay you here today beside your brother Brendan and with all your fellow patriots we will always remember the selfless service and sacrifice

and we will continue to rally in your honor with the call if not me then who to make a difference for others and to always step forward to do what's right no matter what the cost God bless you my son and rest in peace with your warrior brothers and sisters first lieutenant Travis Mannion United States Marine Corps lieutenant Brendan Looney United States Navy Warriors for freedom brothers forever yeah so you when you think about section 60 and all the loss there and you know symbolically there Brendan and Travis great friends and they are side by side in Arlington.

If you're ever there, when I'm out talking to people, I say, you know, if you haven't taken your family to Arlington, put it on the list. You're in D.C. or make a special trip to D.C. to go see Arlington and teach your family about that sacrifice. And make sure you go to Section 60 where all those heroes of today of Iraq and Afghanistan are. There's always something that's that's happening in Section 60. And after that September, when we moved Travis in, that following spring, the Navy SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden.

And then a couple weeks later, the president spoke about Travis and Brendan as an example for the country in Arlington in his Memorial Day address. We were down there with the Looney's to hear that. but again their story is a story that could be anybody's story there's so many in uniform that do so much and for me writing this book is is telling their story but making sure it's part of that bigger story and that people appreciate our men and win them in uniform and all they are and what they stand for well it's an amazing story and Travis is still doing good right now with his name and you know you guys started the the Travis mannion foundation tell us a little bit about

that well you know as I shared earlier you know we wanted to make sure we made an impact and we got the word out and and part of that was my wife said you know I'm going to start a foundation and I wanted to be there for our veterans make sure I'm supporting the families of the fallen and the last part of it was was making sure that we do something to support that next generation of leaders. So she started a character program. Character does matter. Where we get veterans in front of young kids

and talk about character and service and integrity and leadership. And, you know, my wife started that. We had good friends that were there when we lost Travis. They said, you know what? You guys should set up a memorial fund in lieu of flowers. And we did that.

And before we knew it, when we turned around and looked at the bank account, we had money coming in from all over the country and we had $200,000. My wife had $200,000. And she had those five words from Travis, if not me, then who. And she got going with that, with those two things.

And she came in every day, first started right in our kitchen and started working it. And she worked it to when we lost her, lost Janet five years, almost five years to the day to Travis, we lost my wife to cancer. And I guess you think about that sacrifice and the impact on the families. And I remember doing some research after we found out she had cancer and said she had a significant stressful event in the last four to five years.

Yeah, you know, she lost her son. You think about that. And then you think about Brendan's mom who recently died of cancer or J.P. Blexman's mom who died of cancer, you know. So the impact is significant across the board for our families and our guys and gals in uniform. So we got going on that, and my daughter's picked it up since, and she's doing a great job with it. She's working with a lot of great young people. Amy Looney's another one of the leaders of the foundation, and she heads up operations in Washington, D.C.

We've got an office here in San Diego. We've got one. We just opened up in Atlanta. We're outside of Philadelphia, Washington. We're getting ready to open up an office in Chicago, and we've got an office in Houston, Texas. And we're working with our veterans and helping them through transition, working with the families. And you asked before, was this somewhat telling this story a little bit therapeutic and doing this foundation and pushing that forward?

Was that therapeutic? He can, you know, we really believe it is, you know, and we believe, you know, there's a grieving period, but we know that Travis would not want us to keep grieving. He'd want us to say, hey, let's go, you know, pick it up and get out there and do something and make a difference. And so we do that, you know, that's what we do every day. And we give some of the families a chance to do that, too. We get families that go out and go on expeditions and help those that are. in need, build houses, and it's really great for them. You know, it's great to see them out there doing something in honor of the lost one,

loved one and making an impact for others. What's the best way for people to support? Where can they find out information about the Travis Manion Foundation? Yeah, they can go on our website, Travis Manion.org. Okay. Got a lot of information there. We're around the country doing different things. We've got offices in some locations, but we've got activities.

We've got activities almost everywhere. And for us, it's about joining the if not me than who movement, making a difference wherever you can, and you can do that in a lot of different ways. That's awesome. Echo, speaking of supporting things, if someone wanted to support, let's say, for instance, this podcast, how would they do that?

Well, a few ways, obviously. I'm not going to make this one a whole long, spiel but you know we'll start with On It that's a good way That's a good way

To support yourself too By the way Which I think we already know But Okay on it These are supplements There's other Other stuff to work out stuff

And whatnot But anyway Go to Onit.com slash jackel's 10% off Kaya A guy on Twitter Was asking me Oh what

I think he was asking Both of us What are like some supplements To gain muscle, lose fat. Burpees? Yeah. See that answer, though?

It wasn't a supplement, you know? Yeah. He was like, what are the best supplements? And that's what I thought, too. It's not the supplements. Right. It's like you've got to get on the correct workout to do that. Supplements help, though.

And it's going to take certain supplements for whatever results. So anyway, to answer that question, get on a muscle building fat re-ed. loss workout met cons and I hate to say it like a bodybuilding routine you love saying it you don't hate to say it yeah well in front of you I kind of hate to say it because the look you give me yeah yeah see Tom knows I know yeah yeah but the supplements will help and like we always say the krill oil like you get on the krill oil real cool is good yeah you know so long time ago my father-in-law he he would always tell my wife no krill oil it's good for your joints it'll maintain your and meanwhile lifting

like krill oil where's the you know where's a protein powder type attitude even actually i never really was into supplements but i was like why would i need the krill oil i'm looking for for gains muscle mass exactly right you know i mean respect on the krill oil you know is obviously my father-in-law's older than me and so i get it but you know you don't have to indirectly tell me about it man i wish i just would have listened to him you know it keeps you in the game way longer way better anyway get on the krill oil good advice yeah got to get on it I'm doing it too yeah yeah right how can you not really I said do it yeah get on that part in the pun on it get on it on it on it dot com slash jaco get 10% off of anything you get on there there's some

good stuff on there by the way you can get addicted to the website itself because it's so interesting and informative if you like um interesting and informative I didn't say like Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Pretty much you did. No comment. Anyway, there's some good stuff on there. Also, Amazon click through.

What that does is, before you do your Amazon shopping, go to the website, joccalbpodcast.com. Click on the Amazon link. There's a few of them there on the front page. You can find them. Click on there before you do shopping. Do your shopping as normal, whether you're getting the book, any book or anything else. tape whatever click through that link and it supports this podcast a little bit also subscribe iTunes Google Play Stitcher all these podcast platforms that's a good way

to support leave a review if you're in the mood right I say affirmative yeah approved approved by Jocker reviews also on YouTube we are putting excerpts I think now on a regular basis right would you would you Give you like a out of 10 like a 3.2. See that's better than zero. See so boom subscribe to YouTube You'll get some excerpts along with the video version of this podcast if you're into looking at what Chaco looks like what Tom looks like or what I look like You can watch it on YouTube there was a lot of controversy when we first put on YouTube because

Echo doesn't look like What he sounds like apparently he sounds like a Hipster 15 year old Hipster. Hipster. Oh, okay. Something. Yeah.

Yeah, something more along. Uh-huh. Okay. Little did they know that, I mean. Until they saw him, huh? Then they figured out he's a 20-year-old hipster. Yeah, I know, man. Dang.

But yeah, you know, if you're interested in that kind of stuff, but the excerpts really are helpful because you can share them and people actually watch them. Like, my brother sends me this. Actually, you know what? I was about to say this, like maybe two, three times ago. But I ended up for whatever reason not saying. J. it'll send me a video and be like, hey, watch this.

And then I'll be like, bro, I'm not going to watch this video right now. It's like 10 minutes long. Actually, it's like nine minutes something. Too much for you. Too much for me. And the thing is nine minutes, that's not that long. But the point still stands. You can't just send somebody episode 72 of this podcast that's almost three hours long.

As hey, watch this real quick. You can't do that. Right. It's not a quick one. Exactly. Right. Especially if it, you know, especially if it's just, that one little part that they want to get some highlights yeah yeah extra usually he highlights

himself yeah yeah here's echo yeah echo with another amazing point yeah yeah yeah man you know so yeah all that's on youtube i even put them in little playlists too so you know some people are like hey i like this point and then it'll lead you to the next point and you know you can kind of keep it going um but yeah that's cool i think it's cool anyway also jocko has a store it's called jaco store jocco store And for this website, really it's a website with a store. And I put those wallpapers back on there for your phone. The thing is I didn't technically I didn't take them off is when we switch platforms, they just failed to translate. So it was the platform's fault, not yours.

No, yeah, yeah, no, extreme disownership on that one. And, you know, I blame tech on that. Chaco, White T over there. Dig it. Oh, we're going to get to that. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's on the, on that. jocco store.com yeah you can get the jocco white tea on there through there um if you like t-shirts

those are on there discipline equals freedom the reason i think that that's a good shirt my opinion is because of course the layers i get it but it is one of those simple little things like it's not and it's not like too extreme either it's not like echo when we designed this shirt Echo wanted to put a flying tank with dragon fire coming out of its mouth. Yeah, and a skull. And a skull. Yeah. Where was you putting that?

He was going to put it all over the whole thing. Yeah, all over. Yeah. See, and that'd be like too much. Yes, yes, yes. So, or, you know, like, a saying, like, I'll eat your kids for breakfast. If you mess with me, you know, those kinds of crazy sayings that will only hit maybe like one out of a hundred times, you know, when someone reads it.

It's not that. Only the cannibals apparently that one. but you know what I'm talking about it's not many of them left right I don't think so but dismal it's it's for lack of a better term understated yet powerful that's my opinion anyway other shirts on there um you know various uh messages and with those messages come layers and what that means is you can look at and be like okay that's a cool shirt but there's more to it so if you listen to this podcast or listen to jocca you'll be like oh Oh, I get it.

You know what I mean? Yeah, okay. There's more than just what's on the surface. There's another layer to it. Yes, exactly right. If you listen, you know. Some rash guards on there. New rash guards are going to come out in less than one week.

Also, good way to support this podcast. Very good way to support yourself in your journey. Journey, are we, do people still use the word journey? It's your word, man. Go with it. I never felt comfortable using the word journey. It's because you weren't going anywhere. Right.

I don't think I've been on an actual journey. But, you know, it's one of those things that you kind of hear people saying. It kind of sounds epic. But then when you say it, it sounds real stupid. I felt like the word journey is kind of like that. Anyway, yeah, all right. If you're on your journey to, what, get up early, be more discipline, get a better diet, just get your health together, get your whole thing together.

this is what will help you there. Okay, so on this journey, it's not going to be, you're not going to be hitting every day, like killing every day. You're going to have some days going to be harder than others. So if you're having trouble,

for example, waking up really one day, this is what you're going to do. You're going to search psychological warfare, Jocco, Willink, on iTunes or Amazon music. Okay, so it's this album with tracks

and you put it on your phone, whatever. you listen to the track that's going to help you get out of bed that one's called wake up what's it called wake up and get after it boom so instead of uh instead of hitting the snooze you hit or put it as your ringtone clear it with your wife or whoever you sleep with but put it as your ringtone

it's jocco's voice he'll tell you why you should wake up and get after it and you that's convincing it is you'd be surprised i i mean wait who's there was like We've had almost 100% success rate. There's one guy, because there's actually three chacks to wake up. The first one to wake up. The second's like, what did you just do? You didn't get out of bed. There's one guy out of a lot of people that has made it to the second track.

Everyone else's first track. Yeah. You can't not get up. And again, that's a rare case. You know, that guy, he probably had a really hard night the night before looking into or looking forward to really, really hard day. And that's why he was considering. It's like training wheels, right?

Yeah. In a way, he calls it a spot. A spot. Like when you're lifting. I like spot. Yeah. It's better. Yeah.

Training wheels kind of seems like without it, you fall down. You know, this is just for, you know, if I'm trying to get that max on bench, this is a big goal I got now. I'm going to wake up for one year. I'm going to wake up earlier or something like this. It's just like if I have a huge goal with a bench. I'm going to get it. I'll probably get it.

But in the small case that let's say I'm not strong enough today I didn't get enough sleep or whatever I got a spot there boom yeah then I'll get it same It's good same exact thing so yeah there it is psychological warfare and this goes for for waking up early Skipping workouts that's a big one in my opinion skipping workouts but that's just in my experience Somebody asked me on the other day what was it what What do you say to yourself when you get tired and you want to quit? You don't want to do anything anymore and I said I don't say anything to myself. I just keep doing it. Next question.

See, what that is, that's that manual set. You know, if you're on auto, you're like, what are I feel like doing? If you're like not doing it, if I feel like I want to quit, you're just going to sort of quit automatically. No, I'm switching to manual. Control. Yeah. Take control. Yeah, exactly. Right. So yeah, boom, there's a good, psychological warfare. Jocco Willink.

It's good for waking up early. If you have a day that you don't want to wake up earth, you're going to slip on your diet. Let's face it. We come home. Hungry nothing's in the house except for some donuts. Oh snap the chance of you eating the donuts goes up little bit Let's just face it actually a lot What do you do there? Exactly right that's the question you shouldn't have donuts in your house but if you do in the event of you having donuts yes Listen to psychological warfare sugar-coated lies that's the name snack time and and the

Psychological Warfare album number two is being slowly prepared at this point it's it's in the mix people are asking me for specific tracks little areas of weakness in life. Yeah, also, Jocka white tea, you can get it on Amazon.com after you click through. If you don't want to deadlift in excess of 8,000 pounds, don't get it. Get a different kind of tea. If you want to deadlift 8,000 pounds, guaranteed, get Jocka white tea. Yeah, because that's what it does. It does taste good, though.

Yeah. In all seriousness. I gotta get some of that I think we have any here Otherwise I'll give you some Is there age limit on that or what? No No we are

I do have to give you a heads up There is we haven't done it yet But we're gonna have to put some kind of a fertility Warning on there as well Because apparently several drinkers have Impregnated their wives Shortly after drinking jocco white tea Okay

Some unplanned So you just gotta be careful Is that what it says Discipline equals freedom on the other side Or sort of Yeah you kind of got to Kind of. You know what I mean?

Yes, exactly. You need to heed that with your loved one. Way of the Warrior Kid. Guess when it's available. Now. Now. Now. So order it.

Amazon's going to start pre-shipping it in a day or two. So get ahead of the rush. Get it while you can. Because otherwise, you're not going to get it. And all the other kids. are gonna be destroying your dreams with their strength and power. Big it. You can also pre-ordered Discipline equals Freedom Field Manual.

That comes out in October. Of course, extreme ownership. You get that one if you want to lead and win. You can get a copy of that for you and your team. Also, while you're on Amazon, you can get this book right here that we reviewed today. Brothers Forever. It's read it, get it, read it. You know, written by the colonel here.

And again, we went over a fraction of it today. There's so many lessons learned in it. Pick it up. If you need leadership training beyond books, you can contact Eschelon Front, leadership, and management consultants. Applying combat leadership principles to business and life. Email info at echelonfront.com. Also, the muster coming up round the corner, Marriott Grand Marquis, New York City. May 4th and 5th, leadership, strategy, tactics, and winning.

Go to Extreme Ownership.com and sign up for that. You can also sign up for the one that we're having in Texas, by the way. That's available now. We're in Texas. Austin, Texas. Good spot. Onet Academy over there. The Honor.

The Honor Academy is there. We will be having a session at least there. It's been discussed with the folks that On it. Very good. We're also hanging around on the interwebs, by the way, on Twitter, on Instagram. Instagram and on the facey book echo is at echo Charles I am at jocco willink and for the Travis Mannion Foundation on Facebook and Instagram you can search Travis Mannion Travis Mannion foundation on Twitter it's at TM Foundation at TM Foundation if you want to check out the

Travis Mannion Foundation and on the inner web itself it's travis mannion.org echo you got anything else what weight did Travis wrestle at he was 184 that navy so what did he walk around at like 250 you know the guy's gonna brussellers cut weight

that's cutting a lot of weight there but he's probably about 210 215 he's big guy that's still a lot of weight that's a hawse right there yeah the big guy's at 184 college wrestling oh yeah oh yeah for sure for sure it's like a all-out battle yeah like injuries yeah tough tough that kind of seems like the most um i don't want to say dynamic but the most like the you know how you get heavy weights huge power but they start to slow down light weights they're

flying around super technical but they don't have that you know what i mean that power then the 1804s the middle weights are tough they're tough really tough yeah they got yeah they got both battles some beast in there respect thank you sir do you echo do you have any any any closing comments yeah well i just um i want to thank you guys thanks jaco and echo for having me here and give me the opportunity to talk about the story a little bit and thanks for what you guys do to to talk about leadership and the lessons that you've learned jaco and in the navy seals and sharing that with others and bringing new insights about our men and women in uniform. I mean, you hear so much these days about the troubles that our service members have,

you know, whether they're missing a limb, they don't have a job, they've got PTSD, but, you know, what we also should be talking about is what an inspiration they are. The guys that put on the uniform, the men and women who put on the uniform, are an inspiration for this country. and thanks for what you're doing to get the word out there. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about this book, but more broadly the story of our men and women in uniform and how they live every day with that if not me, then who motto.

Thanks. Absolutely an honor, sir. And, you know, sir, one more thing before we close out. I know you were talking about a letter that you had that kind of talked about some of the leadership principles that we really learn in the military and really make military leaders excel, and it's a letter that you got from one of the Marines

that worked for your son. Can you share a couple? It's sort of interesting that I, you know, here I am coming out to talk to you, and I've had the book published for a couple years now, but I just got this letter through Coach Sharrett. You talked about Coach Sharrett, and this Marine that was with my son, served with my son, hooked up with Coach Sharrant at one of the wrestling events and said, hey, you knew Colonel Mann, you'd give him this letter.

And, you know, here he is checking in after 10 years. And he says, things, he'd like to share with me a couple things, things that are not well known by people other than those and myself that served with Travis and Fallujah. those memories are things I'm able to hold on to, but have been wanting to share with his family as well. I apologize for such a long silence. It seems to be the best opportunity for me to share them with you by passing along this letter. And he actually passed along the bracelet.

He had Travis's name on a bracelet he'd worn for the past 10 years, especially, as he says with 10-year anniversary coming up. And he talked about, you know, the back. Back story is from Columbus, Ohio. He joined Lima Company. Then meant Travis and the rest of the Marines in January 2007 as they rotated into work with the Iraqi Army counterparts. At the time, I hit my two-year mark in the Corps, but had not yet had an opportunity to work with a true leader. With so few Marines assigned to the mid-team, Travis was my team leader.

Travis was a true leader and someone that was easy for me to look up to and respect. He had the perfect balance of caring for his Marines without babying them, discipline without being too harsh, being laid back when we're not involved in missions while still leading from the front once it got time to get the work done. And we talked about that. As I progressed through my military career, Travis was a leader that I strived to be. your son set the example of how a leader should be. I read the book and enjoyed learning more about him as a man, not just a Marine.

I also enjoyed getting to know Brendan and their incredibly rare friendship. It made it easy for me to connect how he was as a person back home and how he was raised. So he said, I wanted to share two stories. So I hit the highlights of this, but the first story, he found kind of humorous. And you talked about Travis having a sense of humor. So here you go. It's February. They were out.

The patrol turned out to be uneventful for the most part until they started return to the outpost. As they were returning, an IED that was initiated and the ambush started. Thankfully, the IED did not detonate the artillery shell it was attached to, but only the blasting cap and nose of the shell blew. this injured soldier and another Iraqi soldier was shot while rushing to the aid. Both were non-life-threatening. Once the ambush started, I began radioing back to request QFR. Although Travis was not on the patrol, he managed to find a way to get on the QFR team.

As a short ambush subsided, the QRF showed up. Travis' presence calmed any nerves that I had. The injured Iraqi had already taken back to receive treatment. What I remember most about the situation was that Travis always about Travis that brings a smile to my face. I was standing on the north side of the road and Travis was on the south. I remember he began to cross the road in a jog just as an Iraqi soldier led out a burst from his A.K. To the east to stop a vehicle from approaching. As soon as the burst went off, Travis tripped across the road doing a barrel roll.

and coming back to his feet with his helmet pushed back on his head. As soon as he reached me on the north side of the road, he said, is everybody okay over here? I replied, yes, sir. Everyone is okay. Are you okay, sir? To which he responded, yeah, but somebody should get that pothole fixed. And a near-death experience for me, this brought a laughter as my leader had just been startled

by an Iraqi army warning shot, causing him to fall and barrel roll in the middle of Iraqi Street. So having that sense of humor, right? Being able to laugh at yourself. And then the other story he shared is about this guy's birthday. My second story of Travis is more sentimental. My birthday is April 3rd, and I'm turning 21. That night, we all slated, we're slated for overnight observation searching for

possible IEDs. But I've been pulled from the mission to remain behind. I thought nothing of it and went to bed on the second, ready to be on the QR. in case anything were to happen. At midnight I was woken up and told I needed to go to the COC because they were requesting me over the radio. I shook the cobwebs from my head and walked to the COC. After calling to the patrol on the radio, I was greeted with Travis' voice in a whisper simply to wish me a happy birthday. Throughout the madness of patrolling, staying awake all night and searching for IEDs, he had kept me and mine. And as soon as the day transitioned from the second

to the third. He called over the radio to wish me a happy birthday. A week later, I left Iraq, the Mith team, and Travis. I will never forget that. I'll never forget him. Yeah, so you know, I just received this the other day and

you know, I still hear from guys that he served with and just little things that, you know, caring about your people, having a good sense of humor, leadership traits that we can all use. No doubt about it. You know, crazy how these themes, they just, they're coming.

You hear them everywhere as far as good leaders, you know, like all the good leaders, they have these themes, that dichotomy. Like, you got to be strict, but you can't be like a slave driver. You know, it's that balancing act. And I guess that's why there's just a few leaders because it's so hard to do. You know, it's like some people think, oh, I'm just going to go. I'm an extreme guy, you know, I'm going to go extreme, but it's not like that. Yep, even a guy with an extreme personality like Travis, who can push himself that hard to be a national level wrestler,

understands leadership to a point where he knows what it means to call back to base while you're out on patrol and wish a happy birthday to one of your men. Yeah, yeah. It's just awesome. It's a good way to put it, too, Echo. It's a balancing act, you know, for everyone to sort of figure it out, you know. It's not one situation for everyone.

Well, sir, thanks again for coming on the show and and sharing this story. Thank you for your service in the Marine Corps, and of course, thank you for raising such an incredible man and Marine and hero and son. And once again, we see. another another tale another legend of bravery and of sacrifice

from these two heroic leaders but I still want to remind everyone as always that these are not imagined legends or myths and these aren't

symbolic stories that were made up to reinforce some ancient parable these are the lives of men real men who stepped up and stepped forward and gave everything for us in that sacrifice we see the unmeasurable suffering of the families rock with pain and yet filled with pride absorbed the light and the love that these men emanated in life a light that will not fade and will not grow old like the flesh a light that will guide us all the righteous path toward the good regardless of the cost for them we hold our heads higher and do our best to make the world a better place we'll do our utmost

to emulate but be strong we will be accountable we will not complain and in the most trying of times we will ask ourselves a simple question same one the Travis Mannion asked when he faced darkness of the world not me next time Thomas Mannion and ECHO and Jocko out