Jocko Podcast - 97: Leadership Do's and Don'ts. Be Humble, Keep Your People Informed, and Treat Others With Respect. "The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier"

Episode Date: October 25, 2017

0:00:00 - Opening. 0:07:06 - "The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier", Jakob Walter. 1:02:02 - Final Thoughts and Take-Aways. 1:18:09 - Support JockoStore stuff, Origin Brand Apparel, with Jocko White Tea and Psychological Warfare (on iTunes). Extreme Ownership (book), The Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual.  1:47:35 - Closing Gratitude.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocco podcast number 97 with Echo Charles and me Jocco Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. To the master stone mason in the town of Mansfield. Greetings in God, much beloved parents. If my small letter finds you in good health, I should be mightily glad. What concerns me, I am pretty much in health. here in the white country will have to die all of hunger all is burnt and the Russian army

has carried off all subjects as they had such a fear of us and there is no food to be found because nobody is to be found in any town whenever a house is found it is empty and dark dear parents I have to give news of our last battle as we had already gone hungry for three days and march day and night at five in the morning we marched into this battle with a cabbage stump in our stomach and we were in in it until the evening and then we again had nothing and could not eat for tiredness only cannon fire from morning to evening. God has helped me out of the third battle also without harm, though the bullets hailed down pretty well, as if one were to take peas and throw them at someone. But none got me.

The whole cavalry is lost. Now I want to write you about the Russian town of misery, Moscow, which is seven hours walk long and as wide, and the Russians put fire to it. for four hours it burned and then it was extinguished and we were stationed before Moscow and I don't know whether we are going forward or back I don't know what to write except that you will shortly see many cripples

without arm and leg and so many must die pitifully of hunger and terrible dangers Russians appear all the time for the last battle Let's end now Finally Farewell and stay healthy Until we speak again Many greetings

To brothers and sisters brothers in law and sisters in law To the Baltsons, the Krogan's And all good friends and acquaintances And I am quite well If only I can live Farewell I remain your faithful son

Until death Johann Andreas Warnock. So Napoleon is often praised by many, including myself, praised as a military genius. And he was one of the first military leaders to effectively utilize psychological warfare. And this included most famously his bulletins de la Grand Army. which was sort of an update was like a newspaper that was sent out while the campaigns of France were being embarked upon and that was his media so he had control of it and he also controlled mail that his troops sent home and made sure that it painted a positive picture of what was happening downrange and that is where that opening letter came from and it was actually excerpts of a letter but it was confiscated by the military of the kingdom of Westphalia Which was a vassal state

Under the first French Empire which was Napoleon's empire and the kingdom of Westphalia which is a German Peace of land and it provided hundreds of thousands of soldiers for the Napoleonic Wars and when I I say provided soldiers I should say specifically conscripts which are basically slave soldiers you have no choice you will go and fight and over time Westphalia was eventually conquered by the Russians for a period and then some of the confiscated letters survived and ended up as historical documents that explained what was happening on the ground and that's where that letter came from through old Russian files where they had they had this letter and again we make a habit of glorifying Napoleon and I have done it right here on this podcast

Which is actually pretty substandard behavior for me since I always try To listen to the voice and hear the voice and understand the viewpoint of the foot soldier the grunt of the front soldier the grunt of the front line troops on the battlefield because that is where the fighting takes place those are the men that Execute the plans of the general and that is where the wars are actually one and History as a whole has a tendency to forget about them because generally it's the admirals and the generals that write the men memoirs but in this case we are going to hear from one of Napoleon's grunts a guy by the name of Jacob Walter and he is a German conscript who was fighting for France so this is a guy grew up in

Germany but when Germany was became part of and became a vassal state like a subordinate state of the empire of France then he ended up fighting for France but even more and you're going to find this out quickly he was fighting for his own survival so let's go to this book the book is called the diary of a Napoleonic foot soldier by Jacob Walter and here we go in the year 1806 I was drafted with many of my comrades into military service in the conscription at that time and was assigned to the Regiment of Romig. In the fall, I traveled with the regiment to Prussia in the campaign, which Emperor Napoleon

with the princes, then his allies was conducting at that time against Prussia. And this is interesting, because I've talked about on this podcast before, the Battle of Jenna. And what happened at the Battle of Jenna, and what happened at the Battle of Jenna is that the Prussian army was defeated Pretty savagely by Napoleon's army and that made them make some major adjustments To the way they ran things and that was kind of the beginning of decentralized command from the German perspective

But this guy Walter Jacob Walter was actually there Now this is what's interesting and I go take some time to paint this picture of the way these soldiers operated back then First of all they marched just about everywhere and sometimes they'd ride horses but sometimes they but Most of the times they marched and when they marched what they would do is just wherever they were Whatever village they were in they would go in and get quarters in that village they'd go in Hey, we're here where we need to stay in your house and we need to get fed and that's what they did and people allowed them to do it. I mean bunch of people with guns Show up at your house and say we want food and beds. You know these people gave them what they wanted

Sometimes willingly depending when they were traveling out of their own country So when they were in Germany there or in their Westphalia The locals as they were leaving the locals would give them hey we'll support you It's like military guy will support you and then when they got into enemy territory They would be have to be more forceful But here's how it starts off with him Marching we were given good quarters everywhere Which kept me always healthy and cheerful in spite of the continuous marching

Furthermore, I was only 19 years old a fact which caused me frequent to participate in thoughtless and dangerous enterprises I think he was getting after it as a young 19 year old and this is another thing it's interesting So this guy these conscripts they weren't they weren't permanent soldiers They were more like reservists where they would go and fight and when the war was over they go back home and continue with whatever their job was And so that's what happens to him he you know gets tasked he's only 19 years old boom you're gonna go fight he says okay Starts going and marching back to the book in this city had happened in my quarter that a comrade wanted to force the landlord to sing however he refused to do so sitting the whole night on a bench near the stove weeping since this man could not

sing because of his sorrow soldier Hummel wanted to frighten him took his rifle cocked the hammer and shot the bullet passed by me and another soldier and lodged in the wall I wanted to mention this in order to show how the soldiers were running wild at that time so like I said when they were in their own country they'd get good support and everyone would take care of them but then the further they got into other countries they had to use force a spy who was in the village a spy who was a village Smith was brought before the guard house he had letters and orders to tell prussians of our strength in manpower he was laid on a bench and whipped by two or three corporals

two men had to hold his feet and to his head his leather breeches were stretched out and water poured on them and then he received about a hundred and fifty blows at last he could no longer speak because he was half dead after this experience the Smith was taking to the threshing floor and shot blows with clubs also were heaped upon many innocent people in this city so these guys are things turn bad real quick things turn bad real quick things turn bad real quick And I can't even imagine these days where there's a lot less accountability and you have 19 year old Soldiers coming into towns and just basically doing whatever they want back to the book finally when light fire now they're getting into a In attack situation finally when light firing began upon the outposts we were commanded to attack by waiting through the rampart ditches

With fan scenes with fascines to tread these in and to scramble up the outworks by chop and shoveling when I stood in the ditch each first soldier had to pull up the next one with his rifle the ramparts were of sand and everyone frequently fell back again because of the attack of the enemy or just because of the sliding sand yet in that place the huge cannonballs flew above us thundering so violently that we would have believed the earth would burst to pieces when everyone was almost on top of the earthwork the Prussians were slaughtered with great vigor and the rest took flight into the gate then we too wanted to gain possession of the gateway in order to enter the city but at this critical time many of these prussians were shot along with our men by small and large guns and the gate was closed since all sorts of shells and rockets broke out of the fortress like a cloud burst we had to take flight those who meanwhile were scrambling up the outworks had to jump from the fortress into the moat along with their prison And all the rest had to do likewise during this retreat many fell on bayonets many drowned and many of us were also brought into the fortress as prisoners and sent away to Danzig by sea now it's interesting this guy the way he writes it's it's very matter of fact as to what happens and again this is a relatively I'm gonna take you to through three campaigns this is the first one the last one is the campaign into Russian the famous Napoleon Paulians famous march into Russia to try and take Russia at and everyone knows how that story ends It's not good But this first one is like I said against the Prussians Back to the book one morning the Prussian surprised the Polish camp from the sea with their ships as it happened before Easter

The cannon fire on the poles was so heavy that they could not withdraw fast enough Their cannonballs also traveled more than half again as far toward our camp as our balls did across the water since the surrounding swamps were frozen and the balls could roll along on ice so fast that one ball took off the feet and legs of 10 or 12 men frequently both feet of the same man during this blockade the Prussians frequently made attacks although every time with great losses what a nightmare that is you're standing on frozen swamps and these cannonballs are being fired at a really low angle and just screaming across the ice and taking out 10 to 12 guys legs feet going back to the book when I arrived in this field I hastened to look for my brother who is in the Lillenberg regiment here we met embraced and greed in one another and joy filled our hearts then he took me into his barracks and gave me trousers shirts and several other pieces of clothing which I needed since as I've as I have already said I lost almost everything at Colberg so he's out there and his brother's also out there fighting and they happened to running into each other from time to time back to the book while the enemy had to defend

themselves around and in the crowded part of the city a terrible shelling of light and heavy artillery broken upon us and all of us had to abandon the positions we had taken large mines were exploded in the breastwork and everywhere there flew rockets so-called pitch rings which could be put out only with small boxes as they fell on the ground if anyone would or could be an onlooker at frightful explosions he could get the finest view at a fortress attack which is more remarkable which is a more remarkable site by far than a battlefield the bombs and grenades crisscrossing in the air in such great numbers all floating like balls of fire in the and exploding or bursting in the air or on the ground with a small cannon report the slow ascent of

each shell the fast descent often also a collision of them in the air all this is a sight of moving beauty so you get that you get kind of a sense for how much firepower and again you don't really think of that very often of how these how these battles would take place and how much firepower there is but there's obviously massive amounts of rocket fire grenades cannons rifle horrible and that's the first section that first campaign against prussia's relatively short they achieved victory in that campaign and he goes back like i said he goes back like a reservist to his normal life and when he goes back to his normal life survives that way for a while or lives That way for a while and then he gets recalled again going back to the book while I was working in various ways to at my trade after the Prussian campaign the war with Austria broke out in 1809 and I was called into the garrison at Stuttgart

And what this this one is a little bit more of an insurgency they're they're putting down the Tyrolean insurgents in this battle relatively short But here's where they are up a fort basically back to the book we fired through the loopholes and from the wall with cannon and small guns during the heavy shelling I shot a man in front of the garden house as he came in a little way forward toward the breastwork and aimed into the loophole but after I shot and he suddenly fell several others wanted to carry off this dead man and as was often done however the more openly it was done the more often other men were hit two finally we fired with cannon throwing projectiles into large and beautiful garden houses

setting them all in flames on the third day the enemy could no longer hold out because of the heavy artillery fire and moved back into the mountains so here's a classic lesson a classic lesson of combat if there's a wounded person you can't run out and get them you have to suppress fire And that's exactly what he's saying here. He shot a guy. Somebody came out to try and pull him back. He shot that guy too. Somebody came out to pull them.

You shoot that person too. What you have to do is suppress fire when someone gets wounded. As hard it is to do that, that's what you have to do. And when you say as hard as it is to do that, that's because, you know, oh, your friend is wounded. Yes. You kind of, the automatic thing is to go get them real quick. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

It's an emotional attachment. Yeah, yeah. And it's an emotional decision that people, all people, most people are, are tempted to make. Yeah. Hey, echo shot. I'm going to go save him. So I run over to save you and I get shot too. And again, that campaign, you know, you can hear the insurgents go back up in the mountains.

And he carries on a little bit with that. But the focus that I wanted to get to today was this campaign in Russia. So here we go back to the book in the month of January 1812 I was recalled to the garrison of Shornendorf and They know that they're going to Russia They know that that's where they're heading But they know it's gonna be tough But here we go back to the book here's it here's about their attitude I and all the soldiers were very merry

Always singing and dancing especially since throughout the entire Wurzburg country the quarters and eating and drinking were very good particularly because of the large supply of wine so that everyone had his field flask voluntarily filled with wine in his pockets with cookies at the time of departure moreover the beautiful villages on the main river surrounded by vineyards fruit trees and grain fields put everyone in a happy mood about the middle of march the army continued on its way through sacks coburg where a wooded and mountainous region began, the pine trees were especially plentiful. So I was also thinking about this. You're a working class guy in Germany in the early 1800s. You're working your job day to day. I don't know, I don't know what you're doing.

What are you? Let's say you're a metal worker. Let's say you're a stone layer, a mason of something, whatever your job is. But you're working hard. You're getting your paycheck. Probably not great. And then all of a sudden they say, hey, you want to go on a little adventure? You're gonna get to take what you want

You get to go out You're gonna get good food You can I can kind of sense that attitude And it's the same thing that happens with military guys today Myself included Where you know I'm growing up in a small town And everyone just kind of lives and dies in this small town And all of a sudden there's an opportunity to go out

And just get after it Live adventure and see the world You know that they used to say that in the Navy You know join the Navy and see the world Hey that sounds cool Yeah and that's kind of what this is here Especially this guy's a veteran. He's been through some wars, been through some tough firefights and And obviously he's seen some significant casualties, but at the same time, he's a veteran that he's come back.

So he comes back to his, you know, like I said, I don't know what his civilian job was, but he was laying stones or pounding on an anvil shaping metal or something like that. And all of a sudden, hey, you know what we want you to do? Go out and live in nice manners that you take down or that you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. You get quartered in and they're gonna feed you great and it continues in back to the book in the city of Leipzig anyone could see what was going to happen since many Frenches as could slip through came crowding through the gates Leipzig was packed with soldiers and I was in quarters with a hundred and fifty men Yet the landlord to whom we were assigned put us all in one building the former theater building which was a hundred feet tall a hundred feet long and sixty feet wide Triple rows of tables stood ready in the hall, very beautifully set and loaded with beer, brandy, butter, cheese, and white bread. After all, it sat down, everybody ate and drank while eight servants brought in the warm meal, which consisted of white soup, two kinds of meat, and several kinds of vegetables.

In addition, something cold was served for dessert, and drinks were served in abundance throughout the whole afternoon. We stayed here two days until the line of March formed by columns and the departure was ordered So like I said living the pretty good life Back the book and then we went further and came to first involved a middle side city in Brandenburg district we were still very lively in this town singing and living cheerfully although we could imagine the unusual campaign before us but everyone always believes in and hopes for the best i also looked after my saber and made it very sharp at a turner's and tempered it in fire so that it would not break off the march was continued to poland through the village of repin where the use of german language stopped

and the manners and cultures made a strange impression it was the month of may and the air swarmed with May bugs so that amazingly so amazingly that it was hard to keep your eyes open in the evening The bugs were so very thick that they darkened the atmosphere and everyone was busy shaking them out of their face and hair Here it became necessary for each person to seek and cook his own provisions Although requisitioning was forbidden So you weren't allowed to go out and just take stuff still But you can see things are starting to get leaner However, everyone still had his full strength and courage was still alive in every soldier.

But from day to day, privation and hunger increased. And it became necessary for the regiment to requisition and slaughter livestock so that men could have some meat in addition to the potatoes and grits which they found here and there. Bread was rare, and there was nothing at hand to buy. So, again, you can see as they move to the east. towards Russia from Germany through Poland there's food is becoming less and and they had left in January if you remember and so now it's May so the weather is actually even though there's a lot of bugs but the weather's it's hot Which the Russian campaign there's there's one of the best defenses that Russia has maybe if maybe the best defense that Russian has and that's the Russian winter But right now it's spring that's springtime in Poland so still not that bad yet and Back to the book now the orders now the orders let us from thorn

To Merriam pole the march went through Seaburg the roads were sandy and dust covered and dust covered our clothing and You're gonna see how very quickly things turn for these soldiers back to the book daily the hardships increased and there was no hope of bread my colonel spoke to us once and said that we could hope for no more bread until we cross the enemy border the most anyone might still get was a little lean beef and hunger made it necessary to dig up the fields for the potatoes already sprouting which were however very sweet and almost ineditable Inedible one also heard everywhere that several men had already shot themselves because of hardship in particular an officer had cut his own throat on that very same day so again it's very interesting the way he writes he's sort of matter of fact but we've already have people that are starving and they're starving they're marching and it's it's bad it's bad enough that people are killing themselves yeah kind of seem that that that like that came out of nowhere right there yeah

and I I I skipped some pages but I didn't skip that many pages I didn't skip that many pages it it went pretty quick from from pretty decent living It's it's two pages. It's through sorry, it's three pages in the book from pretty decent living Singing and living cheerfully to we got officers that are cutting their own throats. Yeah, and this whole campaign takes place in less than a year from January. They're back by December So and they haven't by the way. What's what's interesting? They haven't met the enemy yet Right that that's what that's what's one of the you know as I'm reading this and as you listen to it

You think they haven't even met the enemy yet. They're just already already people are dying already people are dying already people are killing themselves yeah and I don't know how much this he talks about this but the he says because of hardship like what just just marching marching marching starving being cold being uncomfortable privation yeah suffering straight up got too much yeah and and and your your light at the end of the tunnel is combat with the Russians and and a Russian winner yeah going back to the book we believe that the Russians would wait oh oh sorry Back to the book

Finally we came to the Mammel river where the Russian border was we believe that the Russians would wait on the other side of the bank and attack But nothing happened Bonaparte fired upon the high points held by Russians with a few cannon and sent his cavalry across the water The Russians however withdrew after a fort after a short encounter and this is this is is so cool to hear this Because this is the Russian defensive tactic You hold the line you hold the line of a little bit And then you and then you retreat And you takes you you know you you you inflict some damage on the enemy on the invaders you inflict some damage on them

And then you retreat and then they that when the enemy attack when the invaders attack again You inflict some damage and then you retreat and you're just drawing them in and drawing them deeper and deeper and deeper into Russia and what they didn't expect what they didn't expect was that what the Russians did was very smart when they retreated before they retreated they destroyed everything they burned the houses they they killed the livestock if they couldn't take it with them they dug the feels up so there was no food because that was the standard the standard does as an army as a soldier in this time you you lived off the land there wasn't you didn't need a supply chain you just lived off the land okay

We got we'll find some we'll hunt some meat and that's will be our dinner or we'll dig up some Some crops that are that we find and that's what we'll eat. Oh and for shelter we need to carry a shelter with us We'll just stay in the houses so the Russians very smart. They destroyed all that And the French were not expecting this tactic and it was very very effective Back to the book on June 25th the army went over the bridges we now believed that once in Russia We need do nothing but forage Which however proved to be an illusion The town of Ponymon was already stripped before we could enter and so were all the villages

So they they thought they might be living high on the hog But didn't happen back to the book here and there a hog ran around and then was beaten to death with clubs Chopped with sabers and stabbed with bayonets and often and often still living it would be cut and torn to pieces Several times I succeeded in cutting off something, but I had to chew it and eat it uncooked since my hunger could not wait for a chance to boil the meat The worst torture was the march because the closed ranks forced all to go in columns the heat and dust flared up into our eyes as if from smoking coal heaps The hardship was doubled by the continual halting of troops whenever we came to a swamp or a narrow road often one had to stand for how much half an hour then another such period was spent catching up and drudging away without food or water So this is this is something that anybody that's done any kind of forced road march in the military can appreciate

You come to some kind of a choke point like let's say you got people walking down a road and They're let's say 10 or 15 guys abreast and just marching and walking and you get to something where it's a choke point So now all of a sudden only three it's like a traffic jam only three people can go across this walking bridge at a time so that means everybody that gets there has to stop Well the people that got there first when they get to the other side they keep that pace going So by the time you at the end of the tail an hour later or a half an hour later when you get across you've got to now run to catch back up And so it's just it's it's it's painful and of course on top of that you have the fact that these guys have no water or food Back to the book during the third night a halt

was made in a field which was trampled into a swamp here we were ordered to camp and to make fires since then since neither village nor forest could be seen and the rain continued without end you can imagine in what a half numbed condition everyone stood there what could we do there was nothing that we could do but stack rifles in pyramids and keep moving in order not to freeze so it just went in a day went from hot and this happens out in the desert too it it's hot it's hot And then all of a sudden at nighttime you're freezing. Yeah, and these guys are they get told to build fires well guess what? There's no wood everything had been burned there they're all they could do is stack their rifles back to the book we had to march further Toward disna where we arrived in the middle of July The men were growing weaker and weaker every day and the company's smaller and smaller The march was kept up day and night one man after another stretched himself half dead upon the ground Most of them died a few hours later several however suddenly fell to the ground dead The chief cause of this was thirst for in the most districts there was no drinking water There's no water fit for drinking so that men had to drink out of ditches in which were lying dead horses and dead men

Another thing we take for granted these days. We got little pumps little little filtration pumps you can go to a water with a dead horse in it and you can filter that water out or you can put an iodine tablet and you're gonna kill the bacteria and it's safe to drink these guys don't have that choice They're gonna drink this disease written water or they're gonna die of dehydration now they get to another Village and here we go back to the book in another well plundered village nothing could be found in the houses and so Urged on by our hunger we dug in the ground here I with several others removed a large pile of wood which had probably just been put there We removed this dug into the ground and found a covered roof of planks There was an opening under this from 10 to 12 feet deep inside there were honey jars and wheat covered with straw

When we had all this we opened the jars and saw solid white substance with the appearance of hard wax It was so hard that one had trouble breaking off a piece with his saber but as soon as it was put on the fire it all melted away to very clear honey now I had honey to eat for a week although without bread so they are occasionally finding food that is deeply hidden there's a couple other instances where they find food that's been hidden by the locals but it's not enough to go around and you can imagine how you're feeling when your entire diet is just jars of honey back to the book on the morning of August 17th every regiment was set in and all advanced in columns against the Russians here every regiment without

exception was under fire again and again the troops attempted assaults but because of the greater number of the Russians we were forced back every time on this day since their heavy artillery stood on heights and could hit everything finally by night we had made good our position on the heights overlooking the city and the battle was discontinued so They attack again and again and again but the enemy has the high ground so they make no progress They take they take a little pause for the night time back to the book the night time lasted three hours at most with the glow of the sun continuing So as soon as the day broke we marched against the city the river was caught crossed below the city the suburbs on the northern side were stormed set on fire and burned up

My company's doctor named Stubble had his arm shot away in crossing the stream and he died afterward no longer could I pay attention to my comrades then therefore knew not in what way they perished or were lost everyone fired and struck at the enemy in wild madness and no one could tell whether he was in front in the middle or behind the center of the army finally while cannonballs kept on raining out of the city we stormed it with the help of heavy cannon most of the supporting peers on the high old city wall on which the Russians were defending themselves from the inside were partially destroyed we broke through the gates pressed

from all sides against the city and put the enemy to flight when I entered the city we went toward the cloisters and churches they had many holy images and altars as ours do the only difference was that there was no holy water So he there's so much fighting going on it's so bad he can't even keep track of who's dying and how they're dying They don't know where the enemy is eventually they pound the Russian positions hard enough with artillery That they're able to break through and when they get in there then they go to visit the churches And they're hoping that they can find some water but they the Russians even took the holy water so there's nothing to drink Back to the book resorted in the evening to the former camping ground

Here one saw the wounded men being brought together to be operated on in a brick kiln which lay on the heights above the city Many arms and legs were amputated and bandaged It all looked just like a slaughterhouse on August 19th The entire army moved forward and pursued the Russians with all speed Four or five hours farther up the river another battle started but the enemy did not hold out long and the march now led towards Mashasek called the so-called holy valley from Smolensk to Moshecic the war displayed its horrible work of destruction all the roads fields and woods lay as though sewn with people horses wagons burned villages and cities

everything looked like the complete ruin of all that lived in particular We saw 10 dead Russians to one of our men although every day our numbers fell off Considerably that line hit me pretty hard everything looked like the complete ruin of all that lived and he's saying that for every one soldier that they had lost they're finding 10 dead Russians and again that's another thing another tactic of the Russians they're just gonna draw you in and they've got people got massive numbers of people And they're willing to fight nutrition warfare and give up their people as they surrender to do as much damage to the enemy as they can and what they're doing is they're spreading out the logistics train They've destroyed the support mechanism that you would use by going eating what food was in the village they destroyed that they burned it all And so now your logistics train gets completely spread out over these horrible roads and That's how they know that's what that's the Russian tactic and then and then when they once they've done that

They wait for winter back to the book in such numbers were the Russians lying around that it seemed as if they were all dead God how I remembered the bread and beer which I had enjoyed at home with such an indifferent pleasure Now however I must struggle half wild with the dead and living How gladly I would I renounced for my whole life the warm food so common at home and if I only did not lack good bread and beer now. I would not wish it for more all my life. But these were empty, helpless thoughts. Yes, the thought of my brothers and sisters so far away added to my pain.

Wherever I looked, I saw the soldiers with dead, half-desperate faces. many cried out in despair if only my mother had not born me some demoralized men even cursed their parents and their birth napoleon back to the book on september seventh every core was assigned its place and the signal to attack was given like thunderbolts the firing began both against and from the enemy the earth was trembling because the cannon fire and the rain of cannonballs crossed confusedly several entrenchments were storm and taken with terrible sacrifices but the enemy did not move from their place now the two armies moved more vigorously against one another and the death cries and shattering gunfire seemed a hell nine entrenchments were stormed the French threatened to surround the enemy from the front and finally the the enemy gave way within a space of an hour and a half long and wide the ground was covered with people and animals

There were groans and wines on all sides and that battle right there that he's talking about on September 7th That is the bloodiest single day of all the Napoleonic Wars There's about 250,000 men that attacked and there was seven 70,000 casualties in the first day and so I always refer to the battle of the psalm Where there were 60,000 casualties in the first 24 hours and so here we go that's that's 70,000 in one day Back to the book we move forward and camped by a forest on a height facing Moscow It was a wood of green trees here we not only had nothing to eat but also no water to drink because of the high campsite

And the road through the fields was still covered with dead Russians and this this is another interesting point that happened in this in this battle is you know I talked about how they destroyed everything destroy the fields kill all the livestock or drive them away and and make the people leave so there's there's just they're just barren wastelands also the governor of Moscow He opened up the prisons and let all these prisoners out I let all these people out of prisons Just to just to add to the mayhem now going back to the book Napoleon refused that peace treaty proposed to him and that's actually that's what he says in the book and that's actually Not what happened there was Alexander he didn't accept the peace offering so they're gonna Got you know hey Napoleon said we know we made it to Moscow do you want to have peace the guy says negative You know Napoleon was probably gonna try and bargain for something but he gets told no back the book and the army which had advanced some 30 hours

Further had that further on had to retreat because the Russian army stationed in Moldavia was approaching now it was October 17th and Napoleon held an army review and announced the departure for October 18th early in the morning at three o'clock with the warning that whoever should delay one hour would fall into the hands of the enemies So now they're getting told all right you fought hard to get here now we're gonna retreat leaving at three o'clock in the morning From Moscow the road led south through me lo and toward Kaluga Here the humanity of the commanders began to mount sorry here the inhumanity of the commanders began to mount the remaining troops weapons were inspected and many who did not have their weapons

fairly rust-free got 12 to 20 strokes with the club until they were near desperation Needless to say this is not good leadership Hey, you want your people to you want your people to Keep their weapons squared away, but if you're actually gonna beat them and make them less combat effective You better find a better solution for your situation here we go back to the book the enemy attacked us the enemy army behind us shattered all the army corps leaving each of us then without his commanding officer those who were too weak to carry their weapons or or knapsacks threw them away and all looked like a crowd of gypsies everything was in

confusion and during almost the whole night the throng had to retreat to moshchasek everyone running so as to not fall into the hands of the enemy because of these considerable losses cannon munition wagons coaches and baggage wagons by the hundreds had to be thrown into the water and where that was impossible all wagons were burned not one wheel being permitted to remain whole so now as they're retreating they've got to they don't want to leave this stuff behind so they're thrown it into the rivers and setting the wagons on fire as they're retreating in total total

repair and disorganization the fighting the shrieking the firing of large and small guns hunger and thirst and all conceivable torments increased the never-ending confusion indeed even the lice seemed to seek supremacy for their number on both officers and privates was in the thousands in these days it snowed for the first time and the snow remained the cold arrived at the same time to and the freezing of people multiplied the number of dead no one could walk 50 paces without seeing men stretched out half or completely dead similar situation that militaries seem to get into is lack of good winter clothing it happens all the time and That's what happens here these guys are not prepared for this type of situation. They're not prepared for this cold

The distress mounted higher and higher and horses were shot and eaten Because I could not even get a piece of meat and my hunger came too violent I took along the pot I carried Stationed myself beside a horse that was being shot and caught up the blood from its breast I set this blood on the fire let it coagulate and ate lumps without salt the Russians advanced and waited us at Minsk everyone hastily fled cannon were thrown into the water the hospitals were nearly all left to the enemy and as was commonly rumored the hospitals were set of fire and burned with their inmates all

the time the greatest misery fell upon the poor sick who usually had to be thrown from the wagons just to keep us from losing the horses and wagons entirely and who were left to freeze left to freeze among the enemies for whomever remained lying behind could not hope to be rescued the march had to go on and the striking clubbing and skirmishing commenced so frightfully that the cry of murder echoed all about the Cossacks advanced upon the army from all sides again and people died and sometimes froze to death these were people who pressed toward the fire but were seldom permitted to get there so they died away from the fire and very often

they were even converted into cushions in order that the living would not have to sit in the snow this this you've got situations where you're not only fighting against the enemy but they're also the troops are robbing and fighting each other and in some cases murdering each other other and he talks about this and I'll talk about a little bit more I kind of jumped into them and the fires and what happened was there's so little fuel for the fires that they would form teams of six to eight guys and gather up wood and then that team would sit around the fire and it's so cold that if you're not next to the fire you're going to freeze to death but if you didn't participate

in helping to build the fire then you don't get to sit next to the fire so if you were too If you were too hungry if you were too thirsty and you couldn't do your carrier load and get firewood You weren't gonna be permitted to sit next to the fire which meant you're gonna sit out there 20 feet from the fire and you're gonna freeze to death back to the book in every Bivowak Soldiers who look like specters crept around at night The color of their faces their husky breathing and their dull more muttering were horribly evident for wherever they went they remained hopeful And no one allowed these shades of death to drag themselves to the fire. Usually six, eight or ten of us had to combine to build a fire since no other wood was to be had except rafterpieces from burned houses or trees lying around, shattered wagons, etc.

And without the cooperation of the men, nothing could be accomplished. Neither did we dare to fall asleep at the fire at the same time because no one was safe from stealing and robbing. Robbery officers were beaten away from the fire just as privates were whenever they tried to press forward without merited claim Only mutual support still procured true friendship So they didn't care anymore you're an officer doesn't matter if you didn't put out and build this fire You're not going to get close to it and I mentioned very quickly lice and He at one point he hooks up with a major and and they kind of become swim buddies trying to work together and here we go to the book we came to a lumber yard and built a fire there when the major had become somewhat warm his subjects and by subjects he's he's referring to lice plagued him with unusual wickedness and for this reason he asked me to kill the tormentors in his shirt collar I did it but when I had opened his collar his rock

flesh showed forth where the greedy beasts had gnawed in I had to turn my eyes away with abhorrence and reassure the master that I saw nothing telling him that my eyes hurt so much from the smoke that I could not see anything these pests however were no less to be found on me thousands of them however because of my constant restlessness they could not get to the point of forcing me to Treat them with flesh. So the lice is actually eating His friend the major and lice are no joke. It's like body lice. Yeah body lice. Yeah Body lice like what kids get you like what your kids get from school. I don't know if your daughter's had it yet, but she will

Well, I remember back when we were in school. It'd be like in your hair. Yeah, for sure for sure. That's where it starts I don't think I've ever seen or I mean I heard of it. Yeah and actually and actually I read that section to my wife because my wife like all moms absolutely despise Yeah, because when they come home from school, it's a total nightmare. You got to Everything's got to get squashed and my daughter's all had crazy long thick hair and so it would be hours of Picking through that hair trying to get the lice out when when that would break out Yeah, but you know that's the thing is you have the tree Yeah, the shampoo and you have the shampoo and you have you clean your clothing and so it's gone

But what happens if you don't do that? What happens if you don't do that? What happens if they don't have any shampoo? What happens if you have to wear the same clothes over and over and over and over again? And by the way, you can't take the clothes even off because it frees to death So what happens you got a nice little home for the lice and they start to eat? Eat you yes And also and so this whole time obviously they're retreating they'd been defeated and they've been defeated and they were retreating this whole time and they're still being attacked they're still being attacked by the Russians back to the book the Russians pressed near and nearer near from every side and the murdering and tormenting seemed about to annihilate everyone that day we expected that everyone must be captured killed or thrown into the water everyone thought that his last hour had come and everyone was

expecting it and so they they're they're kind of trapped and he's like that's What he's saying he's expecting that everyone's dead. We're all gonna die or get thrown in the water and they get to a bridge and There's actually two bridges one of them gets destroyed and now there's all these guys trying to get across one bridge to get to safety They're being attacked back to the book everyone crowded together into a solid mass and nowhere could one see a way out or a means of rescue From morning till night. We stood unprotected from cannonballs and grenades which the rushes hurled at us from two sides at each blow from three to five men were struck to the ground and yet no one was able to move a step to get out of the path of the cannonballs only by filling up of the space where a cannonball made room could one make a little progress forward I think that has to be one of the most insane situations that I've ever heard of you're standing in a mass of people

Hundreds and hundreds of people trying to get across a bridge. It's very slow movement. You have nowhere to hide and there's cannonballs from two sides that are ripping through the people and the only progress you make is by stepping on and filling the holes of where these men have gone to the ground and died. And by the way, you're starving, thirsty, covered in lice, freezing. And this is always encouraging. Back to the book. Moreover, here in this region, Napoleon had left us and fled with the fresh reserve troops hurrying home ahead of the army. The general cry was, save himself who can. So again, myself included, we do a lot to glorify Napoleon. But here he is, his men are trapped. and a fresh group of reserves show up and he He tails it out of there with the fresh reserves

He eventually gets across that bridge and Now they're just they're just every man for himself, but it's not really every man for himself because they got to link up with a couple other people to support each other To protect each other because it is it's just chaos Back to the book and it had been the fate of many hundreds when they sat down because of of weakness or necessity that their clothing had been brutally torn from them and where they could not defend themselves they froze to death naked so now you got the choice you know oh i see you you got to stop either you're tired or you're weak or maybe you just got to stop and go to the bathroom well i see you with your in a compromise state and i come over and just take your clothes from you rip

them off you why because i want to be warm and it's you or me And that's their his own team. That's his own team. His own team right there. And it just, again, obviously like I always have to do with these books, I mean, it goes on and on and on. Back to the book. By the end of December, we reached the Polish border along the Memo River. Now I was free and left to myself again.

As soon as I noticed a trail, I rode as fast as I could. And so now he's got a horse. One day along the road, I came. to a nobleman nobleman's manor house at which I asked for bread and obtain not only bread but also butter and brandy for there was a servant there who could speak German and and so That's it I mean almost as quickly as it all started once he gets back to Poland he gets a horse and he rides until he finds a nice manor house and also It's not really a concentration of troops anymore that are showing up in these towns now it's small groups. It's not like thousands of soldiers of soldiers. It's not like thousands of soldiers are coming in that need to be fed it's dozens at a time and so there's actually the food and And necessary means to support small numbers of soldiers that are coming in and so it's I want to say it's anti-climactic

But it is a little bit because once he gets back to Poland and gets a horse it's like it's over and he gets so escapes from all that Pain and misery eventually gets to a town I came to Ortelsberg and for the first time was given regular quarters it was just Christmas Eve a date I would not have known if I had not learned it from the landlord here I also washed myself for the first time but I could not rid myself of the lice we met a column of Bavarians who were on route from Konigsburg to the gathering place at Plok They told us the news that the Wertonburgers, too, were gathering in Thorn and that the Germans all had permission to go home.

Hence, I was one of the last to come to Thorn. The same night, I lodged in a house and bought some bread and wine for free quarters were not to be thought of. One could scarcely creep along the streets on account of the throngs of people. Early in the morning I traveled across the bridge and saw with astonishment that the city during this year of war had been developed into an important fortress However, they had used only wooden walls and sand around the high walls I now grew weaker and weaker and only with great exertion did I reach the city Here I reached the third convoy of our people and presented myself immediately to the commander who asked where Are you from from the army was my answer so you are also one of those Moscow bums he retorted

And that was my welcome return one of those Moscow bums So just to Explain what those Moscow bums were they started with six hundred and eighty five thousand men and had over four hundred and four hundred hundred and thousand killed so that's almost 60% killed and I think what's what what this book gives me is such a classic examples really of not only how to act but also how not to act so for one from a leadership perspective keep your people informed of what is happening and that's one thing that struck me about this book oftentimes these guys had no idea what was happening what was going on what was the next move they did not know what was happening

another thing and this is clearly a lesson that we talk about all the time is is you got to be humble because from Napoleon's perspective he thought he could pull this off right but he underestimated Russia's strength he underestimated the time it would take he underestimated the readiness of his own troops he underestimated their strategy so again lesson learned for the millionth time be humble and then getting to this this this this just that that closing statement about moscow bums i think that is a great reminder to treat people with respect and we talked about this I think it was the last podcast or maybe the podcast before that doesn't mean you have to respect people because if you

don't know them you can't just give away respect but you treat people with respect because you don't know what they've been through you don't know what struggles they've seen how would you know that and so when you throw out things like Moscow bum and you don't know that this is a guy that's been actually through hell the last thing you know again to take away from this book for me is to remember you know not just the you in a business world of course remember your frontline people remember what grind they're going through remember what it feels like to them to be out on the job site or in the factory or on the front line doing sales remember what that is

but also for everyone Remember the actual frontline troops The suffering the fear the discomfort the cold and the wet and the hunger Remember that reality of war and remember that it impacts those young soldiers and those young marines Remember them because it's really really Easy to forget. So I think that's all I've got from the diary of a Napoleonic foot soldier. Pretty epic read to hear that side of it.

Yeah. Totally different from sitting here and reading Napoleon's maxims. Yeah. Thinking about his wonderful brilliance. Yeah, yeah. Bailing on his guys. Bailing on his guys. Oh, fresh reserves are here.

Cool. I'm going to use them to get out of here. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I get it. I was just reading another book I can't I can't think of it off the top of my head, but it was it was talking about You know as a leader you're supposed to stay alive right like you can't take unnecessary risks as a leader You're you you you can't be at the front of the assault you shouldn't be Sometimes you have to be but you need to stay alive

Yeah, and so maybe you could give Napoleon a little credit there for that but maybe not maybe not too much yeah so this one time on Seinfeld where George do you really want to go there right now in a way because it sounds but this that just what you said right there though this because this seemed what like this seems like what Napoleon was like Seinfeld so George this real real kind of this guy a fire breaks out and he pushes over an old lady,

some kids, you know, to escape. Oh, to escape the fire, right? So everyone, after the fire,

there was no fire. It was just some burnt, like, burgers or something, so they're questioning them. And he's like, and that's what he says. Kind of what you just said there.

He was like, I had to lead these people to safety. And if, you know, all is lost if the leader dies kind of thing. That's what he was saying. Everyone's looking at them. They're shaking their heads.

Yeah, like, bro, we saw what you did. You know, you stepped. on the old lady going out kind of thing so it kind of it's kind of that deal I think that's what Napoleon did yeah I would tend to agree with you and it's you know and then in the navy the the captain of the ship goes down with the ship right that's like the old at least at least he's the

last guy off yeah at least at a bare minimum he's the last guy off but oftentimes he goes down with the ship because he's trying to fight it and save it the whole time yeah yeah that's kind of the old thing carry that out but he came back from this and got exiled and everything was, you know, his life was ruined. Sure. But it sounds like he ruined a hell a lot more lives than just his own with this experience.

Yeah. Interesting how they kept mentioning the lice, you know? Yeah. That's good when they do that because it really does give you a feel of like, you know, you know. It's a little thing. Yeah, it seems like no big deal.

Yeah. Until it's constantly there. Boom, boom. Or the hunger or the cold when it's just constantly there Because you don't really think of that, you know? You think of the firefight and the bombs and the, you know, those big things. But all those little things adding up, it's like, yeah, because the lice are constant, just constantly eating you.

Is that what lice does eat, eat, you eat your skin? I don't know too much about lice. I just know that my wife freaks out when they come in the house. Yeah. Which when you got four kids, there was times where we just had, you know, a lice epidemic in the house. I'd come home and it looked like Ghostbusters showed up. And we're securing the property. Quarantine.

Yeah, quarantine. But you didn't have that opportunity for these guys. Yeah. Yeah. You pick up some of that stuff in all these books, what those soldiers are suffering through. Yeah. You know, whether it's, you know, jungle foot, foot rot, trench foot. Yeah.

You just, your feet are getting destroyed by the weather. Or you get the sores on your back. Just all these things, all these things. You're like Travis Mills Remember he was talking about How the salt stuff on Oh yeah On your back or whatever

The salt crystals forming Yeah No one told me about that And I heard you know A lot of my friends have been to come No one talked about that good stuff You know They were hot and sweaty for a long period of time

With no showers Yeah so it's just And humans don't humans aren't you You're not used to that You're not used to people aren't used to shower every day Yeah You know Fresh bar of soap

Two times a day sometimes Yeah If you're training it but you you can't get used it's like your feet Right you know some people are barefoot all the time like my son yeah barefoot all the time He can sprint on Jagged rocks with no effect Yeah did he doesn't even notice it like Tarzan so it is on Koi Yeah with me I'm all sensitive you know the feet because I got to wear shoes

And I try and try and harden them up when I can but what I've been on the road too much my feet are weak Dang bro weak Makes me angry when I see my son sprinting across jagged rocks as if it's nothing Yeah, tougher than you, bro. Yeah, that makes me mad. I can't even fake it either. No. You know what I mean?

You try and act all tough when you're walking. Yeah. Try and act like it's not hurting. Yeah. Yeah. I had that too. When I moved here from Kauai, I had that where. Really?

Really? You were all tough because, yeah, you go barefoot. You wear slippers all the time. You go barefoot. But slippers are different, bro. For those of you that don't know Hawaiian, slippers are flip flops. But flip flops, I wear flip flops all the time too.

Yeah. But it's totally different. Right, but you don't take them off all the time. No. So here's to give you an idea of how common being barefoot is. In elementary school, I went to school with no shoes on before. And no one said anything. And if you go to school with shoes on, you take them off immediately.

Because you go run around and recess and stuff like that. You don't. You just don't. Did I ever tell you that story about my son? So my son was homeschooled for a while Sure And when he was homeschooled he was he would surf a lot Even by even by his standards

Or my standards But one time he cut his foot on the reef And he came up to the house And My wife says you know Hey go clean that out put a band-aid on it put on some socks and shoes And he says No

My way I said what? He says no. She says, hey, go clean that out, put a band-aid on it, and put on some socks and shoes. Now, otherwise it's going to get dirty. He's like, no. She says, hey, go and put a band-aid on that,

clean it off, put a band-aid on it, put on socks and shoes. And he says, I can't. And she says, why not? And he says, I don't have any shoes. So it had been, since he was homeschooled, It had been a really long time since he had to wear shoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he had outgrown his shoes.

So it had been months since he had had shoes. Yeah, no need to buy. Yeah, don't need those things. Why are you doing those things? So, yeah, after that, it was, we, I did, when I got home, I had to, she says, hey, go take him to get shoes. I said, why? He says, he needs shoes because he cut his foot on the reef. Okay, well, wanted to get him shoes.

You got to get some shoes. But yeah. So, same thing. as you barefoot just he was just barefoot all the time and he still for a lot of time yeah tough his feet are tough yeah so and then now you know you come to the mainland where you wear shoes all the time and we don't wear shoes in the house and you know why that's a thing and so still you know but if you have like a carpet or something like that feet get soft yeah bummer well remember those little things

People out on the front lines are putting up with and suffering through on a daily basis. Yeah. Kind of seems like that book escalated quickly with it, hardship. It did. And I think it caught everyone off guard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, I like to try and think about the guy, the guys backed in, and they're thinking, oh, cool, you know, I've been working at my whatever crappy job I have.

And then all of a sudden, adventure time. Yeah, yeah. And good food time. Way and get treated like a hero time. Yeah. And then they roll into the Russian campaign. It's no not so much It's actually the exact opposite

Yeah one second You're eating bread and butter and wine What was it brandy? Brandy wine cheese And then the next minute you're Killing your friend for his clothes Yeah Because you gotta live

Yeah I didn't cover some of those sections Where he's getting robbed They're gonna kill him I mean he's own guys You know or different There's another little You know because it's French soldiers and there's some German soldiers that are on the same side,

but what do you think happens when things go crazy? All of a sudden, they start forming their own, the gangs, right? They're going to stick together. Horrible. Horrible. Well, speaking of crappy jobs, yeah. Maybe you could do a crappy job of telling us how we could support this podcast.

Actually, I'd prefer if you did a good job. I want to try to do my best. Oh, back to that way you were just saying the, you know, how you form into, little gangs. Yeah. In times of... Did that happen to Hawaii too?

No. On Seinfeld? No. I'm going to say it anyway. No, there's this movie. It's called The Divide. I think it's called The Divide. I'm pretty sure.

It's like this weird movie. And some apocalyptic thing happens in the beginning. And everyone in this apartment building retreats to the basement where the superintendent or somebody lives. And this guy is a... He's like one of these doomsday prepper type dudes, you know? Yeah. And I think he even has a manual or some he wrote a man.

I don't know. So they all go down. But it's everybody. It's like, you know, a girl with her daughter, you know, some dudes, some, you know. They got the broad cross section of society. Exactly right. I haven't seen the movie, but I know the plot line. Yeah.

Cool. Check. But that's what they, that's essentially what the movie is about right there. Where everyone's just, we're all just people, right? We all live in this building. We're all kind of, and then they start to just divide into teams and groups and they fight. And the harder stuff gets, the more violent it gets. So they end up like killing each other and all these ways.

Like certain people have certain assets so they can offer like value to this group, you know, kind of thing. And it's all within like this. Who becomes the dominant group? The dominant evil group is, is these just two friend guys. the person who lives is just the one girl only one girl lives yeah everyone else dies

in one way or another yeah it's a weird spoiler alert but yeah it's weird because you don't know like who caused the bomb you know and all that well there's a great book by Cormac McCarthy called The Road

this is a book it's not a movie well there actually there is a movie yeah but you don't know what happened there either just everything is different now and it's different and gray and dark and everything's dead. There's like nothing living.

No plants are living. Nothing's living. And there's humans kind of wandering and trying to survive. It's a great book. But yeah, the movie essentially, they just kind of omit all these details. Like, that doesn't make sense.

That's why the movie's weird. But when you think about it, that's what the movie's about. We should book Carmack McCarthy, The Road on the website for people to get, along with the diary of Napoleon. Foot Soldier so people can get this this would be a hard one to get I don't know it's a rare book I don't even know where I got it from yeah yeah either somebody mailed it to me

which I appreciate if it was you let me know or I just had it I don't know I don't know where it came from my books are out of control right now yeah yeah it's good man you have a dope little collection yeah it's not too little anymore cool well support try my best here to not do a crappy job to not do a crappy job so origin talk about origin origin dot com that's where you can go for all the cool origin stuff supplier of yes jaco has supplements jaco supplements krill oil joint warfare too very good essential i would say essential yeah like if you're working out and stuff actually somebody asked me yesterday which someone said hey on a budget got sore joints

Crill oil or joint warfare. That's a hard question. That might be the hardest question I've gotten on the podcast. Yeah. Because I honestly, I take them both all the time. So I don't know which one is the better one. Yeah. You know what I recommended, though?

I said joint warfare. Because I know the joint warfare. I have noticed specifically my shoulder was jacked up and the joint warfare. It was like healing. So with that I said, hey, go with the joint warfare Yeah, at least to start with if you can't get both Yeah, for sure and I would say I couldn't I couldn't do muscle ups for like six months Oh, because your shoulder yeah yeah that's jacked up man yeah and you know me I don't even say anything

I just I work around it like for a while I couldn't do any kipping pull-ups I could only do dead hang pull-ups Why that was the same as my shoulder It was my shoulder like I couldn't whatever I don't know why and and you know I I would go see sometimes I go see physical therapists and I try and explain to him what's going on and they they try and overlay their Their they try to overlay their vision of my problem onto me Yeah Based on like for instance it makes no sense that Kipping pull-ups would hurt but dead hang pull-ups wouldn't right? Why does that make sense? Yeah, that's what happened

That's what's going on regardless I could do ring dips, but I couldn't do ring muscle ups. I couldn't do them because it was injured So, you know, and all I do is I modify the workout as the best I can, you know, and for a while I was only doing dead hang pull-ups. And so I would do weird things. I'd do dead hang all different grip pull-ups. I'd do dead-hank weighted pull-ups. I did all kinds of different things to get through it. But I still like to do kipping pull-ups. And eventually now I can do muscle ups again. And I can, it's, it was hurt for, I'd say it's hurt for, it was hurt for about six months. But I've been back in the game now for, I don't know. How'd you do it? How did I do what? The shoulder? No idea. Just like general use. General usage. Greg was, Greg heard his back. Messed it up.

Yeah, I know. I saw him yesterday. You know how he did it? Yeah, opening the window in his bed from his bed and his wife locked the window. I know, man. His wife locked the window.

He's telling me and I was laughing and I think he thought, he might have thought I was like laughing at him. Like, oh, you're getting old kind of thing. But I was laughing at that. I was laughing at just the idea of injuring your back really bad. by laying in bed

Yeah Opening a window That's that's like people telling you get after it If you weren't in bed and you know he was trying to let cool air in right? He's too hot So he's trying to get more comfort Yeah More comfort than laying in bed That's irony right? That's what that is

I don't even want to I'm gonna knock on wood because like I don't I don't even say anything when someone gets injured man. I hate it Because I hate being injured that's a weird thing too is When you get injured you think that injury, it seems like the injury is going to last forever. I always have that feeling. Like, this is just never going to go away. Because you don't notice these incremental little things.

But when you get injured, if you remember the fact that there's tiny, tiny incremental progress being made and you keep working and keep doing it, eventually it's going to heal and you'll be joyous again. Yeah, yeah. You'll be joyous again. You appreciate that too.

You know, like when you're out and you're like, freaking, I remember that day when, I was fully not injured and I just chose to not go train or not but then when you're injured you're like oh my gosh Yeah You do what you can people ask me that all the time What are you doing you get injured? Do what you can do? Do what you can't do? That's what I did like I couldn't do muscle ups. Okay, cool I would do ring dips I would do other I would do every other exercise around muscle ups

Except for muscle ups themselves because I couldn't do them at that time Yeah, now I'm back in the game Kipping pull-ups are back Got that joint warfare Yeah, got the, yeah, joint warfare. Boom. Get it. Yep.

And, and telling you, I think you should do both. That's what my opinion is. And that started for me years ago when I went on krill oil and glucose mean chondroitin. And now, of course, we have it in the glorious super krill. Of course. Yeah. Joint warfare. Yeah.

And you're supporting the podcast, which is cool. Yeah. So that's a good one. Get that for your joints. Also. Gis and rash guards a lot of times people when they start Jiu-Jitsu and this actually this this this was going on since the beginning Be would be like what geese should I get yeah and Let's be at the time. I was like okay and actually origin was one of them, but I didn't know as much about origin

I was like, yeah, they're cool and then The one I saw was like kind of expensive So I was like yeah origin's cool if you want the high-end one and stuff like that and it was cool But origin has all levels no actually not true They don't have all levels. What do you mean? If you want to get a $28 ghee, no, okay.

You can't get a low level glee. You can get medium or awesome. Yeah, so, okay, it's a good point. So the medium is... Because the first ghee I ever bought was $40. Yeah, see, I have never missed it. It lasted three weeks. I bought one for $99, and it was...

Yeah, it was really, really bad. And I don't even know the brand. I don't even know if it had a brand. But, yeah, it shrunk to the point where it, like, it fit. normal and it shrunk all almost up to my elbow by the way yeah and so to me if the next one i want to say was like 120 it was like a ranger or one of these brands i don't know i forget and it was fine oh i know the brand i'm not going to say it to hate on it but it to me it shrunk and

it was that cool nonetheless now that i have a origin ye have two of them by the way they are way better and i'm not i know just you're looking at me like it just sounds like oh i got this and it's way better the thing is it is No, they are. It is straight up way better. Yeah. And they have different kinds of weaves or whatever. But they have the, and really the point there is when people ask me, and if you're

wondering what Ghee to get, go on the website and you can see whichever, you know, like if you're like, hey, I want the Cadillac one, which I recommend, by the way, because it's extra dope. Or, or, you know, you just want the regular one. They're all good. Quality. All Made in America, too, by the way. And rash cards.

Rash cards. Yeah. Pete just sent me three rash. Did he send you the... That thing is dope. One of the ones. American made, American hands. Yeah, that one's cool.

But wait, did he send you the other one? He didn't send it to you. Which one? Does it has... I'll give you a hint. It says it's got the chemical formulation for sodium on it. Do you have that one? No, no, no, no, yeah.

You'll see it. Yeah, I saw some samples. But yeah, some good rash cards. And they fit good, too. So, and again, I'm not going to say the... their brand name, but this is a very good, kind of high-end combat sports brand. Rashguards, geese. I'm not going to see the name because it doesn't matter because it's a matter of opinion anyway.

So I want to influence that way. But I got some rash guards. And I was like, cool, they looked dope. And I'm like, cool. But you put it on and it's, it just didn't work out, you know? Like, I can't wear this because just how it fits and stuff like that. Was it baggy? It was baggy.

You know, in weird areas. I was actually trying to make a joke. Because like if you have a baggy rash card, dude, you need to start jacking some steel. Yeah. And you start damnlifted and squatting if your rash guard's baggy. I agree with that. But it was weird because it was baggy in certain areas, you know? That is weird.

I don't know. Either way. Orginmain.com. It's some cool stuff. Also. It's made in America. No big deal. Yeah.

From beginning to end, too. Yeah. It's just funny. You just said the whole thing. But the actual, one of the best things about origin is made in America. Yeah, that's awesome in my opinion Yeah with American hands Well then again, I don't know think about this

What if it was all made in America? It was you know then Legit from from the cotton grown all the way till the end product But when you get it the rash guard fits all bad in certain areas. I don't know kind of defeats the purpose really Well yeah look what happened with cars in America in the 80s, right? People started buying Japanese cars because the American quality They wanted to buy America with the American quality wasn't there back now Yeah, but at that time period Yeah, you're you're you're you're you're rearview mirror was going to fall off.

Bumper. Yeah. It's kind of like, you know, how I don't know if you ever had a friend or something, or maybe yourself, you start like a clothing brand, right? I remember back when I first started Jiu-Jitsu, like everyone, that was kind of like the thing, start a clothing brand. Start a clothing brand. Start a clothing brand.

Yeah, that was kind of like the joke, you know. And so a lot of people, they, not a lot, I don't want to say a lot of people, but some people, they'd hear, you know, then you, that, That's kind of the textbook process. You start your brand. You give away your stuff to key people. And, you know, hopefully it kind of takes hold and takes off. So sometimes I'd get the shirt and the designs are cool for the time.

They were cool. But then when you put on the shirt, it doesn't like fit correct or, you know, because when they got the blanks. Yeah. They just were like, hey, I got to cut costs. Hey, it's a blank black shirt. You know, what's the difference kind of thing? But the thing is there is a difference. the end when you put it on,

bruh, the design can be outstanding, but if no one's going to wear it, then who cares? So, who knows? Check. But it is a big deal made in America from the cotton all the way to the end product.

That is a big deal. And that's on top of the fact that the product is perfection. Conquer. Also, speaking of fitness, being fit,

were we talking about being fit? Not really, but you go with it, bro. Yeah. Yes. Oh, yes, we were muscle ups in joint warfare. That's what I was thinking about. True, true. So, kettlebells, I'm into.

I think that this is just me because I'm spoiled, but the kettlebells from on it. And, you know, there's like copycat brands. You know, they do that. I'm not saying with kettlebells specifically. Are there copycat artistic kettle bells? Here's the thing. I don't, I don't know if there's specifically copycats. cat because there's other ones yeah for sure there's like a skull one and like this this other

ones but if my head was a kettlebell how much would it weigh I don't know but probably yeah 88 pounds I don't want to do the heavy one yeah I saw one that's like dumb heavy like it's dumb over 103 yeah it's like 200 something pounds oh that's big yeah yeah skull one someone sent it to me on Twitter oh I thought they sent it to you in real life Come to take it from your house. You know them, man. I buy it like when, you know, okay, so how I did it was, I got the chimp, right? It's like 35 pounds or something like that.

So I get two of them. And that's when I started kettlebells. So they're like, start lighter. They didn't mean 35, dude. Yeah. But whatever. Wait, is that too light? It's not light enough.

Not too light. Well, when I started, I was like, this is appropriate. I got to be careful even with this because I had never really done it. I picked it up and, you know, so I was staying safe. And I was like, cool, formulated a good workout. Now it's time to get the bigger ones, right? So I went up to, they're out of the one I wanted. So I went all the way up to the werewolf, which is like 62 pounds.

That's good. So I'll start doing that with that. Got good at that. Boom, boom. So. But keep in mind, I'm getting them from on it. Like I don't, I have the luxury of getting like the, the, good ones you know I'm all spoiled so I'm over here like I'm about to say

everyone who should have the design one because it's like cooler and I don't know you get kind of you know how like when you get like a new cool rash guard right something with a cool design on it you want to wear it and use it you know you know I'm saying it's kind of that you get that no I don't get a motion about that kind of stuff yeah whatever yes you do yes you do anyway yeah primobiles zombie bells and legend bells those are the ones Cool jump ropes on there too by the way and other fitness stuff interesting fitness stuff and Again the kettle bells I recommend the kettle bells but like me start light

Don't swing in and hit your shin stuff like that Yeah, you can you can check yourself up yeah there's some technique involved yeah and you don't recognize the momentum of Swinging a kettlebell is a real thing yeah and then it's only weighs 35 pounds in your case when you swing it to the top of and then you have to stop that thing it's not weighing 25 pounds anymore it's got momentum yeah and then when you stop centrifugal force yes so you know the one where it's like a regular snout i guess it's not a snatch but the clean you know you go up and it's yeah yeah they call the rack position right so even that i've seen it done so i'm like oh i can do that i'll just use it light but i'm doing it wrong i'm like flipping it

flipping it up where it lands on the back of my wrist and then it like pulls my shoulder back so I'm like how do they do this I was like I just got to ease but then I looked it up on YouTube the actual technique and then I'm like oh okay you know I must chip my tooth the other day with the two front squats with the kettlebell okay yeah I don't know I just I just like lifted it up really hard because I was going from the picking it from the floor it's like up to the to the position to start squatting and I like did it so hard that I hit my front tooth yeah you you Straight up cattle fat.

Yeah. Rather think. Yeah, they can mean, Dan. Just be careful. That's the point. Anyway, on it.com slash jaco. Check them out.

Those are cool ones. They have the regular ones too, but I don't know, man. Once you have the design one, you can't go back, my opinion. Not that I have any basis for comparison because I've never had the normal ones, but I've seen them in other gyms,

used them before, and it's not to say, my opinion. Also, if you want to get this book, the diary of Napoleon foot soldier. There you go. Or any books that Chaco talks about.

Or writes, author, by the way. We have direct links to all these books per episode on our website, joccooppodcast.com. The book section, it's books from episodes, I think.

That's what it's called. Anyway, go on there, click through there. Not only is it organized you can find the correct book that you're looking for. It supports the podcast. Or if you're doing any other shopping that day or that moment

or whatever, boom. carry on. Good way to support. Also, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, all these podcasting providing

platforms. And YouTube, by the way. YouTube on top of the video version of this podcast, as we all know, we have little excerpts that you can share so you don't have to share the whole thing, or it's just more of a chance someone's going to listen to what you're sharing.

What else should we put on YouTube? I think I should put stuff on YouTube Because I think I could do it more frequently than you No actually maybe not because I do it Three times a week if you count the podcast Really? Yeah Really? I've gotten into a good routine

Monday Wednesday Friday Okay I'll look into that For the most part Okay I still think maybe I should do something I want to do something like can you do live on YouTube Yes I didn't do that Yeah I don't know how I've never done it before

But Joe Rogan does it all the time Live, yeah, YouTube live stuff Nonetheless, subscribe to the YouTube There's some, I also deleted scenes That's what we put on there Maybe not as often, but if you want to see some Behind the Curtain, right? That's the expression behind the scenes

If you want to hear me swear Because apparently I just unleashed a bunch of swearing ads On the skinny knees Yeah, podcast. Sure. I was swearing earlier today, pre-recording today as well.

I forget what we were talking about, but it was something that made me feel the urge to swear. Something emotional. What was it? We're talking about a few things. We'll have to check deleted seeds. Yeah, we'll go to the videotape. X or R-rated.

Sure. Not X-rated. No, no, no. Thankfully. That's like nudity and whatnot. And whatnot, sure. That won't be on there. Yeah, no.

No, no, free to not. Also, so yeah, that's YouTube. Subscribe if you haven't already. If you're into YouTube, saying that's a good way to support. Also, Jock has a store. It's called Jocko Store. Go to jocco store.com. Makes sense, right?

That's where you can get. Shirts, our shirts, you know, the podcast shirts, discipline, just freedom, all this stuff. Some cool ones on there. Look at those, and if you want something, get something. We also have women's stuff on there for the lady troopers out there. Or the guys, you know, your wife, daughter, sister, mom, boom.

Dave Burke hit me up. He was like, my wife wants some shirts. I said, you got it. Check. No worries. She's in the game. Yep. Some patches on there.

Hoodies, the heavier hoodies. I got them. They're live? They're not live right now. Why are you teasing everyone, man? They'll be live this week, 100%. Okay. How about that?

Okay. Good. Heavy. Heavy. New England. For New England people, yes. Minnesota. For everybody.

They're for everybody. Minnesota. Chicago. Yep. Michigan, all them. Michigan. Canada. Because when you're up there,

sometimes you just wear that. Just, that's what you wear. Yeah. That's all I used to wear when I was a kid. Yeah. From like November until March. Just heavy hoodie. That's it.

Get some. Can't really. Not the hoodie that you made last year. The Kauai version. That's not even the Kauai version. It's like the Big Island. It's not even SoCal version. That thing was too light for SoCal.

No, it was me. How summer? I guess maybe. Yeah, it was like medium. Maybe, yeah. Looking forward to heavy. Yeah, heavy's good. Yeah, so yeah, hoodies on there.

Other stuff, check it out. Jocco store.com. That's a good way to support. Hats too, right? Hats on there, yes. You're supposed to get me hats. Yeah, but the hat's not for you. The hats are for the people.

No, but I need hats too. There's some hats on there. Oh, you need hats? Go to jocco store.com. Okay, cool. I'll check that out. There you go. There you go, bro.

Also, psychological. psychological warfare good way to support yourself good way to help yourself good way to spot yourself on your journey I'm going back to journey same journey now on your journey slash campaign against weakness like you know you're on the program now you're waking up early now you're working I got a workout program five days I don't know three days you know it's interesting you use the word program this is interesting uh laif and The Delta platoon commander Seth Stone back in the day They like asked me for like what I did for workouts. Yeah, and I wrote out my workouts and it's actually

Loosely they're in they're in the discipline equals freedom field manual, but when I gave it to him It just said at the top of the thing. It said the program Yeah, yeah, actually I really like that expression and I've been using it from it's like one of those things you know how you always say discipline will not allow that. Yeah, I'll say I'm on the program. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I I don't even know what program. The program. Yeah. Exactly right. Exactly right.

So if you're on the program, which really life is you should be on the program. Really? If you're not, you're just like what? You're like short term. You're not on the program. We know that. Yeah, yeah. It's bad.

And sometimes you don't even realize that you're not on the program. I think that's the problem. You don't even realize you're not on the program. Yeah. Well, if you've never been on the program, then you don't know that you're not on it. Yeah. What does JP call it? Like in unconsciously incompetent or something like that?

You know, he has all the things, all the psychological states in learning. I don't know. Either way. If you don't know, you're not on the program, you don't even know what you don't know, kind of thing. Got it. That kind of thing. Anyway. Got it.

Back to the program. If you're on the program, but you experience those days, those moments of weakness, and you want Jocko to get you through them, help you through them, like a little spot. You're not going to take over, but as a spot. You listen to psychological warfare for your moment of weakness and it goes by Situation right waking up there's like waking up one there's a missing workout one there's procrastination one there are all these what it is in it's an album with tracks Each track is for each weakness that you may or may not come across That's good. Yeah, so as we got into and and that a lot of people like that album. Yeah, and so when discipline equals freedom

Field Manual was being created sure the the normal option is you publish books on audible dot com and then they put together the book with chapters that you can listen to through the audible app it's very confined to that so for the field manual I the way the field manual is written it's not written like a book it's more like an album yeah that you'd need to use with tracks so anyways to make a long story short we are going to make another psychological warfare album but in the meantime we put out discipline field manual which is the book that just came out and if you're looking for an audible version of that you have to go to iTunes Amazon music Google play everywhere

everywhere that they sell MP3 tracks albums with tracks And that's where you can get discipline equals freedom field manual audio version and that that one makes a lot more sense though with with it this way. Oh for sure because it is like a manual. You know like yeah, but yeah and the thought was I didn't want to put it on an audible book the audible format because then people can't put it on their alarm clock. They can't they can't just jump through it and listen to that track. They can't put it into their playlist while they're working out. Yeah. So therefore not use not not good. Not as useful. Yeah. So I know we're not going to sell. as many because when it's linked right there on the website on Amazon people can click right to it so we're not going to sell as many but it's better anyway it doesn't matter I'd rather I'd rather put out good product yeah that's my concern and especially when you're referring to it because that's really what a manual does your money audible no because think of the link would be right there you know because how many people okay on Amazon it says formats for the book you know hardcover and then Kindle Kindle and then audible

Gotcha. Mine doesn't have that. Nope. So people can't click on it. And they ask me, they've been asking me on Twitter, when's the audible? Are you going to do an audible one? And I just have to respond to everyone. It's on, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Gotcha. So, again, we're just, I'm more concerned that people that have it can utilize it properly. Yeah. And I use audible for sure. I do, but not as much. I use Kindle. That's where I read books, the actual, like, reading part of it. It's a long story.

But this with the tracks. it is better because when you want to refer to, you know how like, it's like, okay, I want to go to the martial arts part or the, you know, all this, these other parts. When you want to refer to it, it's going to be,

I'm thinking back with the audible format, it's going to be like, okay, let me go and find it. You're not going to enjoy doing that effectively. Yeah, but it is good to, you know, listen to one whole chapter.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hit it up. Yeah. But it does make more sense when you think about the whole scope. Yeah of the discipline equals freedom field manual so if yeah if you get the opportunity to tell people that and tell them because I can't tell everyone I tried Yeah, but it's where you can find it here's it here's the thing though ultimately it's not hard to get I mean it's no it's not hard to get it's just not on the same as it's

It's not where you'd expect it and people expect to find things where they expect to find things yeah, yeah, so we've thrown them a curveball You know, but it's it's it's like I said to produce something that would be Less usable by people in the manner that they want to use it or make it a little bit harder to find like I said Maybe not as many people can buy it because they won't find it. I don't care I'd rather have the people that really want it get to use it the way they want to use it That's how I roll the slowest curveball in the history of curveballs Yeah here get it on ice yeah here you have to do an extra click You'd be surprised how many people have asked on social media when it where when it's coming out

Oh right in audio format Yeah, that does make sense, though. Especially if you're used to listening to audio books. And you're like, okay, I want to do the book, right? Where's the audio? It totally makes sense. Audible. Curveball.

Yeah, that is a curveball. That's true. I dig it. Hey, while you're on Amazon, also, you can get jocco white tea, which tastes good, and will guarantee you a deadlift of 8,000 pounds. Some other books you can get on there are Way the Warrior Kid. That's for kids that want to get after it. Or even if you want your kid to get after it,

you want to be smarter, stronger, better. You want to be healthier. Get them that book. Awesome feedback on that book, which is some of my favorite feedback is pictures of kids reading Way of the Warrior Kid. Doing pull-ups. And doing pull-ups and doing jiu-jitsu.

And doing flashcards. And their little book reports. I like seeing little book reports. Remember it's like when you do a book report when you're seven years old? It's kind of a big deal. It's like you're getting published for the first.

time as an author you're like you know way yeah like hey well I wrote this this is my assessment of the book way the warrior kid probably the most important thing I've ever been written check it out and I also drew a picture you know what I mean that's uncle Jake right there you can't hardly tell because it doesn't look anything like him but it's supposed to be uncle Jake ar's not my thing over here but yeah I like seeing those little things uh we got the book extreme ownership written by myself and my brother Laif Babin and it is about combat leadership Discipline equals freedom field manual. Yes, the book that just came out and Thanks everyone for getting it for spreading the word

For I like a bunch of people have put on stacks They're getting it not just for them because they're on the path. They're on the program They want to get their friends on the program They want to get their work person. They want to get their kid on the program Father son saw that one yesterday on social media father son Boom, boom, two copies. Getting on the program. So that's awesome and appreciate it.

There's some funny reviews. I'll have to read some of the reviews. Some of the Amazon reviews. Some of them are awesome. Some of them are awesome. There's one I should pull it out. But there's some awesome reviews. So if you want to write a review, you can do that too.

It's a work of art, really. I mean, to look at it. I think it looks pretty cool. It's pretty cool. There's no other books that really look like that. Not that I know of. No. So that's that.

And like I said, the audio version is on MP3, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon, music, and all that. If you need leadership support for your team or your business, then you can hire Eschalon Front, which is our leadership and management consulting company. It's me, Laif Babin, JPM, JPM, Dave Burke, email info at Echelon,

Front.com and if you kind of liked hanging out with us on this podcast and you want to maybe cruise with us some more you can find us on the interwebs Twitter, Instagram, and Vichy boa echo is at echo Charles and I am at Jocko Willink and again Thanks to all of you out there in uniform on the front lines like Jacob Walter in the dirt and the filth and the discomfort and the danger out there holding the line. Thank you all for what you do to the police and law enforcement and firefighters and medical emergency technicians. And the rest of the first responders, thank you for keeping us safe here at home. to the teachers out there that are teaching our kids teaching those young troublemakers like I was putting them on the right path teaching them that

discipline equals freedom thank you for doing what you do and the rest of you that are out there doing your job and doing it to the best of your ability making life better for yourself your family Your community our country and the world. Thanks for grinding and grappling and striving and scratching and continuing day after day after day to get out there and get after it. So until next time, this is Echo and Jocko. Out.