Pints With Aquinas - Navy SEAL Officer, Samuel Blair

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

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Hey, welcome to Pints with Aquinas. Thank you so much for listening. If you like Pints with Aquinas and want to support us, you can do that in one of two ways by supporting us on Locals or Patreon. If you go to pintswithaquinas.com slash give it'll let you know there what you get in return. Thanks. Married before you joined the Navy? I wasn't.

So I, I, I've had a couple of deployments, you know, single single, married, and then married with kids. And I would say they're all different. Definitely the married with kids, I think is a huge paradigm shift. You're like, ah, I don't know if I, not to say single individuals are the only ones that should be fighting wars, but it definitely gave you pause.

You're like, yeah like yeah maybe should look at something else you know for me it came into focus like I have a priority you know as I got kids so you'll have to forgive me because being from Australia where slingshots are illegal I don't know a lot about kind of American military so did you what so and is it you did you join the Navy in order to join the Navy SEALs or do you just aim right for the Navy? SEALs, how does that happen? Well one of them so sad slingshots are illegal, you know, hopefully It's been a bit hyperbolic. They might be depending on the sure how quick they can shoot

So what yeah, so there's four branches of the military and then Each of the branches have you know different subsets? So in the Navy and a part of Navy you've got aviation you have surface warfare one of those components is special operations which the SEALs fall under so yes when I went into I did what's called officer candidate school so when went that path and the Navy's great and saying like, hey, if you wanna be a pilot, let us know and we'll see if there's a slot available and based on your scores and whatnot,

you may or may not get a slot. And I was like, well, I'm gonna go SEALs, my second option will be SEALs and my third option will be SEALs and if I don't get it, I'll go figure out something else out in life. Whereas if you go to the Marine Corps, they're like, yeah, just come figure it out and we'll tell you what, you know, like I want to be an

infantry guy. Like, yeah, we think you would be better as a logistician. Like, oh, you know. So, I love that agency within the Navy. They did allow that. Yeah, if you want to be a SEAL, you know, if you meet these marks, we'll at least give you a shot. At least that's how it was when I went through. How old were you when you joined? So it was after college. So I was... Was that after college here at Franciscan? Yes, I went to Franciscan and then I took a year off. So a couple of my buddies and I, we did a fishing trip up in Alaska. We were deckhands, which was an awesome experience. And then I did some mission work in East Africa with Mother Teresa's Order out in Ethiopia. We're getting an orphanage, and there's like four nuns and there's a hundred kids.

And all of them either have HIV or blind or mutilated missing a limb that's been truncated I was like trying to Understand like whoa what happened to these kids and so the long short of it was these kids were Taken to the orphanage because they were caught up in some scheme where you know these people put them on the street to beg You know take them inside take their money put him out the next day kind of vicious cycle was like slumdog millionaire if you remember that yes I do yeah similar circumstances so I was thinking like I want to there's a sense of justice of like I want to get in front of that came back I was dating my now wife at the time it's like hey

this is what I'm gonna join the military. I'm gonna marry you We're in this is and she said whoa whoa whoa Actually, I'm gonna break up with you. What so that was a shocker, but it freed me up to To pursue the path so I and then I just trained for about a year my folks are kind enough to just let me live at home. And I was a beach lifeguard on San Diego. And and just administration with the government doesn't move fast. So, you know, it took a while, but a year, I'd say a year after graduating, I was at officer Kahn school for months, got commissioned. And then they sent me to base on a war demolition school, which is,

you know, known as Bud's, which is the gateway to be in the SEAL. Feel free to over explain for my sake. Yeah, there's a lot of acronyms in the military. Yeah, there's a lot of acronyms. Yeah, all right. So you may have already kind of touched on this, but maybe you didn't get it.

So do you, does somebody go from nothing to I'm gonna be a Navy SEAL, or do they go from nothing to I'm gonna join the Navy, and maybe while I'm there, I'll then try to become a SEAL? It's kind of morphed over the years. So, back in the day, you'd have to, there's two paths that I guess is worth explaining. So there's an enlisted route and there's an officer route.

And in the Navy, if you're an officer, you can tell by your rank, but then every warfare insignia, so if you're a pilot, for example, there are gold wings. If you're a submarine officer, but then every warfare insignia, so if you're a pilot, for example, there are gold wings. If you're a submarine officer, they're called gold dolphins. And it shows you what your designation is. But if you're enlisted in like air crew,

your insignia is pewter. If you're an enlisted submarine officer, it's pewter dolphins. But in the SEALs, whether you're enlisted or an officer, it's gold because the office, it's the only school in the Navy, I think for the military for that matter, where the enlisted and officers go through the same school. And so, and that's intentional. So some of my closest friends have come from that community, like-minded individuals, hilarious

individuals, and very pragmatic figures. You'd think that they all kinda have their chests out and knife-hand everyone, really chill individuals, really competent individuals, hilarious, easygoing, and until they need to flip a switch, and you're just like, dude, I'm so glad this guy's in my corner. And you get a lot of those guys in your corner, that's a strong tribe.

So how long does training go for? And I really wanna ask about Hell Week and what that sounds, what that looks like. So the training pipeline is different. I guess I didn't answer your other question fully, but you can enlist, now you can enlist, say hey, I wanna come right out of high school and join the SEALs.

So they can give you a contract to go right after boot camp to Buds. Or, and it's kind of a fewer, it's almost harder if you had a rate, let's say you were a, I don't know, a surface warfare guy and said I actually want to get off The ship and I want to go to Bud's really hard to do. They almost take people off the streets more What's the cutoff age?

30. All right, sorry 28. I think you have to get a waiver passed when so Neil could still join Neil still got a shot Yeah, no, you got a shot man For the officers you either go to the Naval Academy or ROTC program or OCS, because you know, Franciscan's small, they didn't have ROTC program, and then you can get in that way. But the training itself is, again, it's probably changed since I've gone through,

but it's close to like a year and a half, two years. And the way they break that up is you've got different phases. So you've got first phase, which is six months, sorry, six weeks, which is just a straight up gut check. There's nothing tactical you're learning, you're just learning how to suffer. And that's when that big exodus happens.

And how we- What does that look like? Yeah, so I showed up with 240 plus individuals and 90% of them physically could have made it through, no doubt. And sure there's guys that get injured or medically dropped, but a lot of it is just individuals self-desc- you know, they deselect themselves. They're used to winning, they're used to being out front, and they bump up against adversity, or they fail at something, and that's one thing the instructors and the curriculum in general is designed,

like you will fail at something, and they just wanna see how you're gonna respond. Interesting. And what else is interesting is people don't quit in the midst of suffering, they quit when they have time to think about it. So what I mean by that is,, I'll get into it more but It's the guys when you're having a meal

It's like, you know what? This is actually hard and like we have to go out. This is only lunch You know, we haven't even like we're not there's only halfway over then we still have night evolutions. They're like, you know what? I'm I think I'm done But it's but but you, I've never, ah, there's like maybe one or two guys I saw quit in the midst of something super painful. It's usually post-event and they psych themselves out, like, oh gosh, we gotta, we're not even close to being done.

Like, we're gonna suffer again. I'm out. It's the mental thing. It's the mental thing, 100%. So what does like a typical day look like in the beginning of this training? When you're saying it's only lunch and we got, what's the mental thing. It's the mental thing, 100%. So what does like a typical day look like in the beginning of this training? When you're saying it's only lunch and we got, what's the?

So phase one, yeah, that's the gut check and I'll kind of go into that, but phase two is the dive phase. So they, you kind of have your core group for the most part. And there's still some hurdles and milestones that once you get through, the biggest one being pool comp,

you're like, all right, I think I might have a shot here and then third phase is demolitions and tactics and then after that You know, they're gonna send you to jump school and you're gonna go through winter warfare training and close quarter combat And like there's all these different disciplines that you're gonna hit and then you show up at a team You're like, hey, look look at me. I at me, I've got a Triton now, I'm a Navy SEAL, they're like, yeah, so everyone does here, like you're a new guy, just go pound sand, like get in line, like you have to earn your Triton now. So it's a lot of humility too, you think there's a lot of,

you know, egotistical guys, I'm sure there is to a degree, but my experience, most of the team guys, a lot of humility, they're not doing it because they're trying to impress anyone, you know, and I tell My last tour I was at the Naval Academy I'm in charge of I was teaching leadership and ethics But I was also in charge of the naval special warfare program for all the people the naval Academy that wanted to to go into the seals I was like, guys, if you want to impress someone, like if you're trying to do this for a woman,

or if you're trying to show your parents, like look at what I've achieved, like you're not gonna make it through. This is something you, you want to have to, want to do this job. Because the training's one thing, but then you join the ranks of the SEALs, and then you have to do the job.

Like this is just the start. This is just a gate in the door. And that starts day one. They really make sure like we're getting the right people through the door. And that first day, I mean you're wrestling a saber-tooth tiger day one, and you wake up early.

I presume that was an analogy. I don't think Sabre 2 Tigers still exist. They've got one in San Diego. Yeah, but there it is. And maybe if we get this time machine going, we might be able to see some. But yeah, so day one, you're up early. And the one thing I do appreciate about the Navy

is they feed you well. It's not like Ranger school, you're not eating, period. The seal's day is like a trade off. I ate great. I had no complaints about the food. There's a lot of it, a lot of carbs, a lot of calories, but you're cold and wet. So that's the, they make sure you're always cold

and always sandy. You're never- What if there's like a guy in charge of that? My name's Frank and my solar solar ability. Yeah, you cold? Yeah, good. Frank, you're doing a great job. Yeah, and so there's, they do make sure

you get three square meals, and then when hell week starts you get four square meals Which is great So lots of food and is that at the end of a year and a half how week is like four when I was third week Oh third week. Yeah, they want to make sure I say let's yeah Cut out for this you need to go. Yeah, let's let's whittle it down real quick So from the you said the first week a ton of people leave I presume after hell week a ton of people are out Yeah, when's the big exodus is that?

Hell week. So like so yet start with 240 plus and I graduated with 36 So I mean it Wow. Yeah, what did you mean about the gut check? You were gonna explain that. Yeah very beginning so the gut check is they it's it's Come somewhat rudimentary in the sense that you train with boats, like inflatable boats, so think zodiacs and then logs. And I'm sure that there's a lot of material out there on this, but my experience with boats and logs, you're like looking at it from the class ahead of you, like, that's

not too bad, it's just, it's an inflatable boat, you've got some teammates, you carry this thing around, and logs, yeah, logs are an inflatable boat. You've got some teammates you carry this thing around and Logs yeah logs are heavy. But again, you've got teammates and then you carry that thing. He's like, yeah And he's like how long are we like are we done is lunchtime yet? And it's ours and you're just lunging with this thing you're putting above your head and you're doing all sorts of medieval workouts with a blog and like wow, I did not Wow, this is brutal. This is absolutely brutal. Um, and then you do it the next day.

And so it's not one particular evolution. It's that six months of just, and this is a freaking grind. And so they want to know, like, do you want to do this? Do you want to do this? Cause this is, and what's powerful about it, Matt is no one's making you sign up for this. They, it's, you can approach this with your free will. Like, making you sign up for this. It's, you can approach this with your free will.

Do you want to do this? We're not making you. There's a hot shower over there, there's some donuts, you know, are you sure you want to do this? And so you, you have to go there with resolved mind or they're going to find some chink. When was the first time you thought maybe I can't do this? I imagine there was one. So I remember my parents good friend was asking me so he's like well Sam what do you what were

you this before I entered he's like what would you do if you quit? Sorry to interrupt I've messed up I think it's streaming to the wrong link here, so we're gonna have to I'll link people to it, but we still going live. Yeah, we're still recording. We're live, but it's live on the patreon only pre-stream educators Okay, baby, it's we're not we haven't the interview still going. Yeah. Okay, so Neil's not fired If you don't I'm gonna make him fight you That's weird I wonder why I went through the patreon only I

See so people was a good shot for whiskey People. This is a good shot for whiskey. Yeah, it's not this until about now. I see. Waiting on the channel. I see. And it's streaming to. OK, so streaming the videos going live on YouTube. Sweet. So it's one zeros.

That's I was joking about firing you, but not about him fighting you. Yeah, you said your parent or somebody said to you, what are you going to do if you quit? I'm not I'm not going to. He's like, yeah, everyone says Yeah, what are you gonna do if you quit? I'm like well, I'm not I'm not going to he's like, yeah Yeah, everyone says what are you gonna do if you class like I? Honest I didn't have a plan B. So I said why well, I'm just not gonna quit Yeah, so he pressed me. I think you know, I feel like if you had a plan B They're gonna make you to fall to that pretty quick. Yeah, and I saw guys like I remember in the middle of hell week like a Wednesday or Tuesday or Wednesday a

really strong performer in my boat crew, it's like excuse me, sir, I I think I'm done. I was like what you're one of the stronger guys. He's like, yeah, I think I'm I think I want to be a cop I'm like you could have saved yourself so much pain, you know, you discern that on the front end And I was like, hey, do you mind just helping us carry the boat to you know this because yeah sure So he's like help this out. Yeah. Well, good luck. You're not gonna convince someone once they know I imagine that's gotta be the case It's funny. I've got so little experiences in life to relate to you on these But I'm like I remember this one one time I was like pushing my car. I don't know. But yeah, no, it's like as soon as you give yourself that mental out,

like maybe maybe this isn't for me. I could I could see it just as soon as you've made that acquiesce. It's done fast. Yeah. And then there was. So that's essentially you never really did that. You were just you were determining like, no, one time I felt like I got really I got in my head was probably the first hour of like the first day it was like four in the morning and I grew up in Coronado where the seals train and where this training was taking place so like a couple blocks down the street you know I knew my mom was waking up having coffee my dad was

gonna join her. Just gonna make some pancakes. And I was sitting there, and the Pacific Ocean's cold, you know, it's like a fall. And it's like four in the morning. And I remember letting my mind go there. I was like, Sam, you gotta like check that right now. So I did, and I just never thought about it again.

I was like, well, I hope they enjoy those pancakes. I'll get some here at the chow hall. Not as good, but we'll get those in the car. Is there any sort of personality test that people could take? I'm sure there's a ton of data now. Yeah. Do you find that it's a certain type of temperament

that is able to end up as a seal, or did you find a full spectrum of folks that you- There was a full spectrum, but I'm sure there are some qualifying, like grit and hardiness Metrics that they're they're probably pulling out now because they were even doing data on us then and they're really doubling down now What was so cool man is we had guys that had been in gangs We had guys that were you know

Ivy League graduates and then everyone in between and no one cared. Like your social economic background, your major was, your GPA, race, ethnicity. They just wanted to know, hey, can I trust you? Are you gonna do a good job? You're gonna be a good teammate. So it was a great equalizer because everyone had a shaved head.

Everyone had the name patches and then you know US Navy. Yep So paychecks pretty similar if not the same. Yeah, so That was a great equalizer Which I love to just like I cool. I don't you're in a gang you went to Harvard. That's awesome We're here now. We're here now. Yeah, you know, so we good Okay, good. Ah, that's awesome Man, I told you before the show I did Exodus 90 for 33 days How you feel about some good I did it for the first time this year, yeah, what was it like harder than yeah

I don't think I'm gonna do it again, but On there and Navy SEAL saying I don't think I can do that that would be good That should be on there, a Navy SEAL saying, I don't think I can do that again. Yeah, that would be good for them. Maybe, I don't know. Definitely fruitful though. I look back, I was like, you know what? There's a lot of fruit for sure.

I just am not down to start lent, do two lents, you know? I'd really just do one. Well, let me just, now that we've brought it up, tell people to go check them out. Exodus90.com slash Matt Fradd. Isn't that right, Neil? Why do I always forget that? Links in the description. Go check them out Exodus 90.com slash Matt Fradd. Isn't that right? Neil what I always forget that links in the description go people check it out. You do it every year, don't you Ryan? I've done it three times

Some people cut out for it. Yes, man Anyway, if you're if you're a bloke if you're a bloke out there You want to take your prayer life to the next level go to Exodus 90.com slash Matt Fradd click the link in the description below To learn more about it slash Matt Matt frag click the link in the description below to learn more about it slash Matt Sorry, click the link in the description so they know we sent you and you can live like a Whatever the badass Equivalent is in Catholic language ass doesn't sound very manly. Does it badass Americans swear? They sound so much cooler than Australians bad ass. You've got more unique words that you throw out there, you know

There's a lot of really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Most of it's rude, so I can't say it, but here's one of my favorite sayings. As useless as an ashtray on a motorbike. There you go. There's a ton of that kind of stuff.

I could write a book. Anyway. Have you ever seen the movie Strictly Ballroom Dancing? Yeah. Yeah. So my mom's good friend, we called her Aunt D, she was from Australia, from Perth. She came and said, oh, you kids are gonna love this movie and we thought it was comedy like we were dying laughing You know like Pam Schilling's big BLHL eggs. I'm like, oh dude, that is hysterical, you know, and then

My I look my auntie. She's like no. No, this is like a dramatic movie. Like it's not funny I'm like, oh well, and the accents awesome like the some of the things that are being said are hilarious. Yeah Yeah, I love the off-short accent man. Yeah my do you think mine's diluted? Are you sad about that? I mean, you gotta hold on to that. I I'm trying to but Here's how I understand the evolution or devolution of an accent in another country you get here People like your accent you like them liking your accent. You play it up. Then it gets annoying that people don't understand you. And at that point, you're just more annoyed that they don't understand you

than they're impressed by your accent, even if they're pretty. And so you start enunciating, saying your words properly. Bad ass. Bad ass. Without the hyphen. Savannah, not Savannah or whatever you say. And then it just starts to dilute. So when I speak to my mom, she's like, sound like a bloody yank because to her all Americans are yeah

So is there like are there different, you know, we've got the southern accent and there's not much of it Everyone else is kind of there's some differences like in South Australia We would say plant dance chance in Sydney plant dance chance Yeah plant, dance, chance in Sydney, plant, dance, chance. But I think it's because like the longer people live in an area, the longer they have time for their accent to sort of some concretize. Yeah, that makes sense. So if you go to Ireland, like five minutes up the road,

everyone keeps sounding different. In America, you're an older country, I think, so you've got different influences. But in Australia, it's pretty similar. I mean, people in Australia would take issue with that because people in Queensland sounds somewhat different, but I don't think it's so similar. I mean, people in Australia would take issue with that because people in Queensland sound somewhat different, but I don't think it's so stark that people would understand it or understand the difference from an American perspective.

It's nothing like the difference between someone from Manhattan and someone from Alabama. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do your kids get, are you taking the family back there cold-time? Yeah. I've heard that if you, you know, my kids all sound American, but I've heard that if you leave your country after about the age of 12, you know, my kids all sound American, but I've heard that if you leave your country after about the age of 12, you'll maintain the accent. I don't know how true that is. You got, you got a fighting shot, man. What's that? You got a fighting shot. Yeah. I left

when I was 22, so I should be good. Yeah. You got a solid. Yeah. It's funny. All right. So yeah, man, that must've been so difficult thinking about pancakes up the road. All right, so you were talking about lunges with logs and stuff. What other stuff do you do before Hell Week starts? They keep it pretty simple. I mean, they just use- Simple and boring, right? Simple and boring is probably part of that.

A lot of get wet. And then instructors are so funny. Just fast forwarding here a bit. So after Hell Week, you have a couple more weeks and you go into second phase. And you get, each phase has a different color helmet. So first phase you have a green helmet. Blue, you have a blue helmet for second phase to signify diving.

And then red is third phase for explosives. But in, once you get that blue helmet, you also, and also after how we get a brown shirt rather than a white shirt, I never wanted to wear a brown shirt so bad. I was like, oh man, that's a good looking color. I wanna wear that shirt. And you feel like, you have a little more swagger,

you know, you're in second phase. And one of my buddies went up to an instructor, he overheard them in this conversation about this concert they're going to. He's, oh, my wife, he's like, go get wet. His instructor's like, don't talk to me, you're a student, go get wet. So the guy comes back, he's wet and sandy.

He goes, hey, Jones, what was it you were saying? He's like, yeah, just wanna let you know, he's like, go get wet. Like, no one cares, man. You're a student, we're instructors. So, I thought those guys were so funny. And I remember- Even when they were doing that to you,

you found that so funny? Oh, so funny. Like, I'll give you one example. That's probably a sign of your humility. No, I think everyone's like, after the fact, my buddies and I were still, remember instructor so andand-so so hysterical so every

every Monday morning you have this room inspection so Technically you get Saturday and Sunday off and training But people show up at noon because they want to clean their rooms they pass the room inspection and they want to figure out What's your you know, what's your decision-making? Are you gonna spend? figure out what's your decision-making? Are you gonna spend all day Sunday cleaning into like 11 at night so you can avoid two hours of pain if you fail? Because if you fail a room inspection,

you're gonna be on the beach with an instructor just doing PT where everyone else in the pass is just hanging out, drinking water, physical training. So I was on the mindset, I'm never gonna pass this thing. You know, I don't clean rooms well to begin with. And my wife, she's tried. It's like, sorry, babe. Like, still no.

Still no. Like, I'll make my bed, you know? Like, but I'm just, like, she carries the team when it comes to cleanliness in the house. So, like, yeah, I'm just going to go get some sleep. So wake up, get ready. I'm like, I'm going to need it. You know, cause I'm going to get beat the next day.

Every Monday failed the room inspection. And we had this one instructor who was so funny. Instructor Manson, he brings us out to the beach. He's, he's got his bullhorn and he literally met, he just had a somersaultault like somersault on the beach And usually we're used to like just like physical exertion and we're just somersaulting. I'm super dizzy like yeah Like an hour of somersaulting he goes Four roll. Oh, you don't like that four roll, you know mixed in

Expletives, you know with which made it even funnier. He's like, oh I got something new for you Four roll and like literally, you know I was dying laughing. I just like this guy is so funny. Well other people laughing. Uh, no No, I was laughing at the money annoying. Yeah, I wasn't laughing in the moment, but afterwards you're like I know that guy's hilarious He's you have a thin little mustache, you know, he's like doing we're doing so results on the beach Like this is this is too funny. But in the moment you're, yeah, it was annoying. You're like, oh gosh. So my only-

I should have cleaned. So I immediately think of like different scenes on movies where you have instructors yelling at the grad, you know, the young guys. Is that kind of what it's like? And is that, did the people, do you sense, did you sense your own pride when you've got someone trying to kind of humiliate you or?

Yeah, they do a really good job of staying calm, cool, collected. You never saw them losing their minds. People aren't screaming in your face. Yeah, which made it even more intimidating actually, because you're like, man, this guy's actually really angry and he's being effective too. We're in a lot of pain. His voice inflection hasn't really gone up at all. You're just like, man, this guy's a freaking robot.

And they want you, I think there's a science behind it. They don't want to see themselves using the restroom or eating or, they're almost like, man, are they human? They want the students questioning that all the time. Wow. And they'll do things where they'll get the fastest guy to lead the runs. So you're like, well well all these instructors are so fast

Maybe they just have one super fast guy that's it can beat the students or So but when they get upset Or if you get isolated from the pack, that's when you know, you're in for like a really bad day And that happened to me one time. How did that happen? We were we were this is this is post-hell week and we're Week and we're doing life-saving skills. So it's in this big pool and you've got, at this point, maybe 40 individuals, 40 students listening to an instructor go over, hey, when we're in the pool we're going to be doing this and this. It's supposed to be a great day, Not physically exertive at all. Everyone,

we just passed Hell Week, we're not quite in second phase yet, but they're kind of letting that pressure off. They've found their crew. And I started getting a little bit more comfortable, throwing out some humor, and some of the instructors found it amusing. I got away with it so I kept pushing well this one instructor you know he was the gatekeeper and you did not mess with this one instructor and I I tried and so he was going over this one evolution where you kick the individual you know within the chest and you break contact if you're and then you come around and save them if they're like grabbing onto you. And this, um, this particular life saving move had a name and, uh, but the kicking of the chest sparked the memory of, you know,

300 with the Spartans and that movie had just come out and he goes, are there any questions? I was like, I got a question. It's like, Mr. Blair. Yeah, it was like a stupid, it was a stupid joke. But I went for it, I was like, so when you kick the person in the chest, do you say this is life-saving? You know, from this, like the, you know, the emissary, like this is Sparta.

Yeah. And he just looked at me and I was looking at my body, he's like, guys, someone laugh, do something. He goes, was that a joke, Mr. Blair? I was like, ugh. It guys someone laughs something he goes was that a was that a joke mr.. Blair I was like It's like which made even worse. I was like Who yeah, he's like drop and so I'm I drop It's like the push-up position all my buddies get in the pool cool off have a nice little whatever you know life-saving

evolution super easy day Meanwhile, i'm bear crawling around this pool For the duration of the day, you know, so at the end of the day so my hands like bloody And i'm like stupid joke and i'm like the negative action scripts like running through my head Why would you isolate yourself? Why would you draw attention to yourself? You just want to be a gray man, you know, but I was not I was very much like front and center good or bad front center and

At the end of you know an hour He's like, all right player your turn So my hands are like, you know slippery and I wasn't even listening so I mess up the drill So now I'm even worse trouble Finish up get out of the pool. I'm like well at least it's dinner time go coke and joke with my buddies. Mm-hmm, you know He goes Blair meet me in the office Which is literally like a mile and a half away. So all my buddies go to chow and he's not giving you a lift Yes, I don't even get to eat dinner, you know, which you know, the army guys listen like, you know, we didn't eat for weeks

you know, but so I miss a dinner, which is a big deal. And my buddy, you always have to have a swim buddy. So he runs with me to the, you know, instructor's lair. And there's all of them, all of the instructors are in there to include this, this guy. And he, he, the first thing he does is he kicks my buddy out. He's like you can you can head home So it's just me. I'm like, this isn't good This isn't good like all the instructors and me and and I proceeded just yet first thing you do get wet sandy So do that come back Do some some workout with the kettlebells in front of them? Yeah the whole time, you know, he's just he's asked me

So what was it was a joke and I explained the joke and he lost He's like I know the effing joke Blair. I was like I just wanted to Close I know the joke so this is the first I like saw him just He was like make it super clear. You don't joke with me. Yeah, like no is there's a bunny and clear It was clear three hours ago like I got it like and I never did yeah so It was clear three hours ago. Like I got it. Like, and I never did. So fast forward, third phase, I'm almost done with this thing. This is like months later. And I, our class got in trouble for something.

I'm standing watch. And I had come off of this training trip where I hadn't, I didn't get a haircut. I look similar like I do now, long hair Which is unacceptable as a student Which they let it slide because we didn't have a barber on the with this training site Come back and I have to stand in my blues was like this the dress form outfit and I'm like putting it together. I can't find my tie So I go for the bowtie like super formal, you know, and I have my white gloves, a bow tie. I'm standing on the desk and my hair is just like a mess and walks this

instructor and he's like, Oh gosh. And not, and I, my heart just sank. It was like, I wanted, I didn't want to ever see this guy again. You know, he goes, Hey, hey pal, let me just tell you something. Why don't you just go sit in the back, save yourself some pain, because someone might walk in and lose their mind. Which I thought was gonna be him, and he was super cool, he was like,

just go sit in the back. So I did, watched, you know, was over and went and got a haircut, you know. Saw that guy years later, super cool dude, but in the moment he had to keep that persona, like you don't joke with me. Like I'm'm the one guy you're not going to joke with. That's fascinating. Did you find people, though, at the beginning of your training becoming like prideful and

hurt about that? Like, are the students? Yeah, like, was that, I would imagine, like you were saying, like, just the mental thing of like, we would have just at lunch, we got more of this. I'd also imagine that someone kind of correcting you in front of your peers, especially if, as you say, you've been used to winning your whole life, would be difficult to take for some people. Well, I think they smoked that out early because if you take offense there, it's probably not gonna be a good fit for you because once you get into the teams, I mean, if you smell,

guys are brutal, man, because within the teams, in a wonderful, beautiful way, it's brutal. Because, let me unpack that, because that might need some clarification. People are super hard on one another in terms of, and they're candid. Like, hey man, you messed this up,

and I'm telling you because we need to get better. And the reason I think the teams have, and hopefully will continue to be exceptional is because of that candidness and the peer dynamic. And because you go through training together, there's, rank is not a factor when it comes to performance. So if you're not performing, you're going to hear it and people are gonna be super candid because they love you. And I think if you look at high performing teams, at the end of the day, the ones that perform the best are the ones that are candid with one another and that have that level of just like,

hey man, I'm telling you this because I'm your friend. If you take offense to that and you get arrogant or kind of defensive, it's like, hey man, probably not for you. Because you need thick skin in this environment because that happens after every training, evolution, mission. That debrief is what saves lives. It really is like, hey, we need to do this and figure it out faster than the enemy. And so if you're going gonna get defensive about that. Yeah, so this is bigger than you. It's bigger than you.

Like this is not about you. No one cares about your feelings. We're trying, this is for everyone, like it's a benefit that you learn, adjust, and get better. So what does Hell Week look like and what's the thought as you're entering into it? Because presumably you've heard stories about it. Yeah So yeah, that's that's the other thing man. That gets in your head

buddies that go ahead of you and you're like man, I wish I was in their shoes, but you have to go through it You know you you can't just you don't just show up off the street because you pass a job interview And now your Navy SEAL like every Navy SEAL has gone through Buds and every one of them has gone through Hell Week, which is such a great grounding. So if you show up, you've never met another team guy and you have to work with him, you at least have that shared experience like,

okay, I can trust this guy or he's been, he knows what I've been through, which is huge. So that aspect of knowing, okay, I know what's coming, my buddies have told me what to expect, even the instructor's like, hey, here's what's going to happen, and it's not going to be fun. It's like, okay. And you line up Sunday afternoon, they have some pizza for you, they have a chaplain that comes in and prays. Hopefully they're still doing that. That was cool. And then they put you in these tents

to just wait for what's called breakout. And breakout is they've got all these instructors with guns and belt bed machine guns. And it's just like, and then once that opens up, then all sorts of chaos happens. Like, yeah, like, but one's- And you don't know when that's gonna happen. And they just kind of funnel you into

what's called the grinder, which has been torn down now. And then it's just, it's just game on. So when you're in that tent, you don't know when that's gonna happen? You don't know when it's gonna happen. Yeah, could be what, hours? Yeah, and they never, then they keep it kind of, they keep you on your toes.

So let's say your buddy who had gone through the coach. They always happens at 9 p.m Yeah, you know they might do it at 5 just to keep you on her toes like oh my gosh It's happened early or they might go after 9. They're just Yes, you to your point. Yeah that you don't know And then But that was Was interesting there and I think I had a benefit Matt is as an officer you've you've got a crew like I had a boat crew, so I was in charge of

six guys and That crew was they're looking to you like what are we gonna do sir? And so I think if that was super beneficial, one, because I was thinking about them, rather than like, oh man, I'm in so much pain, it kept my mind almost distracted, like, all right, are we winning this race? What can we do better? Is Tommy, John, are they okay?

Huge, huge benefit in a sense, but also a wonderful responsibility to have. So I brought those guys in, we just kind of did a quick huddle, hey, let's stick together. When we have team evolutions, which almost everything is a team evolution, in Buds, specifically Hell Week,

it's like, hey, let's communicate, let's stay aligned, and let's press and let's win. Because one of the benefits to winning as a team and boat crew, you have these boat races, you've got log races. If you win, you get to rest. And if you rest, you're stronger and you win again and you just keep winning. And so I had an awesome boat crew and we, those guys are absolute lions and just, we got a lot of rest which was wonderful

And I think a lot of it had to do with the height Because they'll line you up based on height so the boat crews are broken down into you know Tallest to a small so the tallest guys are in what's called boat crew one And sometimes you might have a super tall guy and you might have you know The next tallest guy might be a couple inches shorter, which throws off the boat because it's all it's on your head. Whereas boat crew, almost everyone's the same height and they can carry some weight and that's great. And then the smallest crew is the smurf crew.

So they're usually the shorter guys in the, and they're, everyone has like number, you know, Roman numerals and they just have a blue smurf. So they have a blue smurf on the nose of their, or the bow of their vessel. Funny story, and maybe I'm gonna share that, I'm gonna go for it. You can edit it out if it's not appropriate. They have these races, so every time you do a race,

they have the officers come out to the instructors and you have to Get your guidance from the instructor in a push-up position, you know, like they're like, all right You're gonna paddle out to this buoy at 250 yards. Then you're gonna bear, you know South for another 500 yards, then you're gonna come in On to shore then you're gonna go up this, then you're gonna come in onto shore, then you're gonna go up this berm, and you're gonna pick up the boat at a low care, then you're gonna put it on your head, and you're gonna run here.

Super simple stuff, but when you don't have a lot of sleep, you're just like, oh gosh, why is it left? So I'm trying my best to maintain all this information, pass it on, it's almost like a childhood game of telephone. You take that back to your boat crew, they're waiting for you. All right, so what's the race, sir? And I remember the race is gonna start in like two minutes.

And I'm like, all right, guys, here's the deal. We're gonna paddle out to this and this. And all my boat crew's like laughing at me. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, I am an officer in the United States Navy. I have been in the Navy for six weeks. Like you don't laugh at, you know, I'm an ensign. Like the which is the lowest rank of the officer. And I'm in charge of like six guys in an inflatable boat. Like, why are you

laughing at me? And I look down and my buddy is urinating on my leg. Like in the, I was like, you're urinating on my leg. I'm like, what, I don't, I don't, like there's no like page 38 how to like respond to when a sailor is urinating on your leg. So I just start urinating on his leg. But I also like, cognitively the fact that like I've got two minutes,

so everyone's laughing and I'm laughing, but I was like, all right guys, we gotta like paddle out. We were like, it was- Why was he doing that? Because it's, it is man camped. It is There's so it was just so funny and I honestly just have no idea why he decided to urinate in my leg But I he was like, well look I have it's almost like being a yeah, it's like a dominance like We can't have this you know fantastic so we we end up winning and we had a great had somehow you remembered these directions

Have I even know if I remember correctly just like I was like, let's just follow boat crew one And then we'll just sprint to the end, you know, like once we figure out where the where the finish line is But stuff like that was happening all the time where guys are just cracking jokes that man, man A terrific you start sharing this so lucky that men exist. Yeah. No woman has ever shared a story like that That's beautiful. They are welcome women. Yeah here. Let's Slainte yeah, sure Guys were so funny. I remember and looking back because you don't sleep for five days.

Okay, that's what I was going to ask you just real quick so I can get more of an idea of this. So is it seven days? That's how we start on you start on Sunday night and you end Friday midday Friday morning. So how much you eating and how much you sleeping for that entire time. So you're you're eating good. Like they're making sure they're fueling you with calories, which is great. You're drinking a lot of water. As far as sleep, though, I mean, you don't I think there's an hour and a half the

whole time. you're kidding me Yes, is that in one chunk? Sorry it might be three so it's two I Yeah, I think it might be an hour and a half like it's they they give you enough time like on a Tuesday or something Just so you don't become insane. You know like there's some medical they know what that threshold is like Hey, well, they need to at least shut their eyes for like this amount of time man and then they were back on their feet and I remember Tuesday we got our first you know you laid down these cots you almost wish you hadn't taken a nap because coming out of that just like it's the worst it's not long enough it's not yeah your body's like what are you

doing yeah and when you get out of this and you're just kind of groggy. And I remember the instructors, like, guys bring it in. I'm like, okay. So we bring it in, like, we got some bad news for you. We're like, oh no. Like, another evolution, like what? They're like, Brad Pitt and Angelou Jolie got a divorce. Or they died in a car accident,

that's what they said they died in a car accident. So they said they don't are in the car and most of the guys just like well like they were trying to be funny and most of the guys just like state of like a mental service like One if even if they were fully cognizant like don't care. Yeah, and two they're just like What are you saying? Like I'm just having a heart for and I think they're just trying to process like how you know How are these guys functioning and how hard can we like this up like right now? Yeah, because you get out of that you get you get a medical check when you wake up and then it's game on and We had one buddy. They let's continue to sleep. So they left him alone in the tents. Everyone else keeps training

He was he was a great performer So they they were fine doing this they were just picked on him because they liked him. They're like Hey, man He's a where is everybody you want to stay with the pack like yeah, you quit. He's like I didn't quit I did not quit. Yeah, that's why you're here by yourself you Right before you're going to sleep you you quit. He's like I promised you I did not quit I would just mess with you man. He's like Gosh poor guy was just going with like a mental, you know

That is hilarious spin But that whole evolution. I remember you can't you what does that word mean? I mean I with the word I was just saying that what do you is that like maybe I don't even know what I'm saying you know the next lot of things so the evolution just start to beginning of like so if you're doing log PT that's an evolution you're doing a boat PT that's an evolution if you're running from point A to point B that's an evolution it's just chunks of time on the schedule and I

Remember my buddy on Friday when we finished up he's like Sam make sure you remember everything that happens because it's really hard to Categorize it after the fact it just kind of goes away after you fall asleep I was like oh man, this was so eventful and so impactful my life. I'll never gonna forget any of it and then I fell asleep on Friday woke up and like I This was so eventful and so impactful in my life, I'm never going to forget any of it. And then I fell asleep on Friday, woke up and like, um, I think I have an idea what happened there. Like it just, you just kind of, it all just kind of blur. Yeah. So you said they don't really let you sleep, I guess after that one, but are you resting at all? You're not. I mean, they're keeping you in motion. Like, uh, so they'll just prepare you for having're not. I mean, they're keeping you in motion. Like, uh, so they'll just prepare you for having children though. I mean, was that worse?

I don't know. I have a seventh week old right now and uh, and there was like some flashbacks. I can't sleep. Uh, yeah. No, I think this was on a different level for sure. No good. I hope so. Yeah. I was joking. But yeah, they keep you in motion. Holy so how many people went into Hell Week? And and what was it like seeing people drop out of so everyone's gonna drop usually like Sunday night to Tuesday after Tuesday You kind of know you'd be an idiot to quit at that point unless you get medically dropped there You're probably heartbreaking for guys. I'm sure yeah

dropped, you're probably... That's gonna be heartbreaking for the guys, I'm sure. Yeah. So, but what ends up happening is they ramp up all the boats and the logs on the front end, and then by Thursday, you're just kind of a zombie. You're just kind of stumbling along, and you think you're moving fast, but I've seen these students after the fact, they're just like, and I remember, things have gotten soft, but you were that guy, too, just kind of stumbling around. So what they have you do on Thursday, they call it around the world and you literally take your little

zodiac without a motor and a paddle and I guess there's six of them, seven if you're lucky and all of you, you know, you literally paddles, I think it's like, don't quote me on this, Matt, like 10 miles, you paddle around the island of Coronado. And they have little checkpoints along the way, and it's at night, which makes it super hard to, you're tired and you see all these different lights because there's an airfield over here

and then there's a city of San Diego over here. And so people start hallucinating and it gets funny also concerning and and they want to make sure no one's eating anything so like hey if you we don't want you to get sick you know so don't people there's a tradition where guys will know oh my buddies in this buzz class and they're doing around the world and they'll swim out in waterproof bags you know in and out burger or pizza or milkshakes and You're supposed to say hey guys

The searcher said no, but like yeah bring it on so you're crushing in and out burger and But you just have to make sure your boats clean when you pull into these checks So I pull in to one of these checks after crush all like a whole book We just just finished a couple burgers and milkshake and we didn't clean up we pull in and my buddy Who's bringing you these things just friends, you know that is coming out into the one the class ahead Yeah, okay, and they'll swim out and no answer. All right, they know the deal. Yeah, I'm glad they do We pull into this this check and the instructors are looking at the boats making sure everything's good and my buddy I don't think he took anything like his boats immaculate, but they had found a skittle

Oh, and maybe he did so there's a skittle and they're like So he he got crushed. I don't know. I remember like his punishment was terrible And they look at my crew and we did a suboptimal job at best like trying to like hide the evidence I feel like milk stain On my legs, you know, I'll send they're like Do you uh, did you get a milkshake? You know, no, they're like very good and they went to the next person like what? All right check so no punishment I like okay, so

I don't know how it rolls man sometimes like you just I was trying to be funny and you know looking back I guess So sometimes it's just sort of chaotic. They just like you Of course you didn't you know they're just rolling But from that stop we went to you know we went to the next I guess check and we went through this marina so there's all these boats and they've got masks and some of them are lit up some of them aren't and our boat crew just became super we became a bunch of degenerates like one guy decided he needed to steer the boat.

Like, okay, you're really helping. So it doesn't take much man to steer the boat. One guy, he was trying his best, but his paddle wasn't even touching the water. He was just doing like motions. And then another guy was just like, you know, turning the boat and I'm like, so it was just me and the guy on my right,

no I won't make solid dude and he was the best but he we just kept at least pushing the boat forward and he he looked at me like Blair I don't know what to tell her I was like what do you what what do you what you don't need to tell who who what her she's she keeps trying to sell me these lawn chairs, and I'm like no man I don't want your lawn chairs, and I was like oh gosh And you could tell he wasn't joking yeah He was joking he was like really upset about this problem that he was facing that you know this individual this lady

Kept trying to sell him lawn chairs He's like I'm trying to paddle and she's just telling me I was like you got to tell her no, man You just got to tell her no, he's like, okay, that's good advice. No, he's just like no, you know We're just he's like no, you know And other guys are just just start paddling like start looking up like this is actually Kind of concerning but we we managed to get to the next destination So again, wow, you're in motion, but you're towards the end, you're just kind of and I would imagine to like you put you put under that much stress, you need to play.

You need to. Yeah. Before you're kind of hallucinating, I'm sure there's people who are trying to keep things light just so you can mentally get through it. I guess that's the point where that I appreciate the most is the harder things got, the funnier some of these characters got. So, which is such a gift. If you can be in an adverse environment with humor, I mean you can face anything, man. And faith. So that was, that's a tremendous gift is the gift of humor. And I felt across the board, somewhat of a generalizationization but across the board all those guys had humor man like there

were so yeah all those guys knew how to crack jokes even if you were you know kind of had that stoic pensive personality or if you were more you know gregarious all of them knew how to crack jokes I mean I wonder if that comes from being humbled and choosing to be humble because when you first meet anybody you're usually not hilarious Right because you're trying to kind of endear yourself to them you want them to respect you Yeah, but you fail in front of each other enough. You know who you are. They know who you are. And then you just start Yeah, that's a great point man. I think you're actually not I never thought about that way because there is something to that you see people at their worst you see their true character it's like marriage yeah I mean they fast forward that in those

days yeah hyper fast forward that yeah Wow so what's the final thing is it like a final evolution or something that before you know this is the last bit before Hell Week's over? You not really. We're getting out of it. I know it's like we're walking towards base, you know, again. So yeah, I think you kind of have a sense for us, at least they had like a flag out and you you know kind of brought it in and they gave you this pep talk And people are like yeah Can we just go to sleep now and and then you know, they give you a brown shirt, which is huge

I think we everyone gets their own pizza and a Gatorade which you pay for on the front end You pay for it and then you get a medical check a blanket and then you know you just sleep What's that like and when you go back to your door go back to your barracks? What was that experience like and how long did you sleep for it was I mean it was great It was I mean choose the word it was delicious. I mean it's just just a great sleep and And at that point as you're about to drift off Are you cognizant of the fact that you've done it or you just so out

I mean there's there's definitely some elationers like all right, you know and then or you know, so it's I Think when you wake up though You know, I haven't got a brown shirt. I think it hit it definitely hit me on Friday But I think there was a sense of pride on that Monday like check out this brown shirt Yeah, you guys are wearing white shirts over there Yeah, wow, that's gonna be man. What was it like telling your family that you passed? Um, I mean have you passed at that point or is that the wrong way to think of it? Yeah. Yeah Well, let's see. I mean, that's the other thing they they keep you super grounded like look man

You've been in this program. This is the third week Like you still have a year and a half, you know You might have made it through to the point where now we're gonna train you Welcome. Yeah, just begun. Yes. Welcome. You're a base camp. You know, I forget what comedian it was who Maybe it was Brian Regan or Jim Gaffigan. He was talking about when you watch Olympic athletes You really can't tell how great they are because you're only seeing them in relation to other great athletes. What we really need to do is get some fat ass out of the stand,

put your Coke and popcorn down and get in there and run down with them. And I just thought that'd be just hilarious. That's from me in there with you guys. Right, let's go. I mean, it was just, come on. You see how great. Yeah.

Bad ass. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But that's cool because you're with other people who are excellent, you know, and so there's no room for pride still, even after you've passed. Yeah. And it's funny, too, because at the same time, you don't even know, which is good. You know, you don't even know like, wow, man, this is. I think if you knew how long that journey was, you're some people were like, wow, man, this is... I think if you knew how long that journey was,

some people would be like, oh man. So it's just in the moment. One thing to the next, and break it down, I'm just gonna get to, on a micro scale, lunch, dinner, and then on the direction of the training, hey, I just wanna get that brown shirt, hey, I just wanna finish pool comp, I just wanna get, just keep hitting those wickets.

And one thing Buds has taught me, I think is just managing time. And, and there's, there's, there's some interesting things I want to just pull out too. I remember when I first showed up before Hell Week, they give you your gear, your gear issue. And in the gear gear, you get a gear issue. And in the gear issue, you get a knife, you know, your boots, and this UDT vest,

which is this old vest you kind of blow up with a CO2 actuator. And they're like, hey, keep this knife sharp, keep these boots shiny, and make sure there's no rust in this actuator. And I almost feel like Forrest Gump, you know, when Lieutenant Dan's like, you know, we got two standing orders in this actuator and I almost like Forrest Gump, you know when lieutenant Dan's like You know, we got two standing orders this platoon keep your feet clean. Don't do something stupid like get yourself killed

I remember looking at these three items like oh gosh got a lot of work, you know, and then you fast forward You know, you're deployed overseas managing millions of dollars people's lives. You're alone which is you know, your platoon of dollars, people's lives, you're alone with just, you know, your platoon. There's like, wow, they did a really good job of just ramping this up because you don't just pop into that position. I mean, there's a lot and there's a lot of confidence, too, because along the way, there's those those boosters like, yeah, OK. And the training, you're like, wow, I'm getting dangerous. And, you know, you realize the competencies of your teammates.

Wow, this is a great training iteration of just building on that. You look at, I think, faith the same way. You start with these sacraments like, oh, yeah. But then over time, the Catholic faith is very much the same. It's like, wow, this thing is beautiful. You start building that, you know, on the graces that the Lord is pouring out in the sacrament to life. And that's profound. Like you can look back and each of those steps when, you know, you can't, you know, just sit there and be prideful, I would say you're grateful for those moments. And then you realize, reading the lives of the saints, there's also a

huge mountain to climb. With men and women with brown brown shirts on that's with brown shirts. Yeah, that's right So there's that the other thing that I remember you know to your point on these Olympic athletes and you know, the fact guy from the stands is When I was 22 23 going through the program and like I mentioned earlier You've got guys that are 17 18 or out of high school There's a huge Delta from a 23 year old to a 17 year old in terms of maturity competence Expectations and I remember being so impatient with some of the 17 year olds like dude You are with some of the 17 year olds like dude you are

Causing this pain like the class so much pain like get it together. You are acting Super mature you're incompetent Not to say I had did I felt all the time but that delta between a 23 year old son is massive But then fast forward I'd run into those 17 year olds that grew up in the SEAL teams and they're walking around with, you know, six, seven years later, Bronze Stars with V, a couple of them, absolute studs came into their own. And you realize, okay, just having the ability to be patient with humans in general. I'm like, all right, this person needs grace. Like, we're all growing. And so that's something I've tried to hold onto that principle and that learning, because it's too easy in life to just lose your cool with individuals in the moment, realizing like, you don't have their full backstory. You don't know where they're at in their maturity level or what they're dealing with at home, et cetera.

So that was also something I like to highlight that I, you know, try to hold on to from my time in the military is just that, that willingness to, to be understanding, you know, empathetic to. What was like maintaining your Catholic faith throughout this time where you were presumably a faithful Catholic before entering. Yeah, you know what's cool When I was going through how week? Wednesday of how week was October 1st a feast day of st. Chavez of the zoo and In Cornell, they have this big hotel called the Hotel del Coronado

Mm-hmm, and often there's a lot of weddings there on beach weddings and I'm this is probably what happened, but I Have no idea but on the feast day of st. Teresa lassoe Who I you know, I like to think she's like a big sister to me There were roses on the beach, you know where we were Doing our evolutions, which was so cool. I was like, wow, this is this is great. And probably, you know, petals from the wedding, you know, that kind of floated down. But as far as maintaining the faith, I felt that that was relatively

easy, if not necessary. And they had each of the different deployments I went on there was chaplains Where you go on town to mass? Or the bases had them So that was I Remember it being able to stay close to the sacraments. There was a couple deployments where for a couple months I didn't have it based on location Didn't have this access to the sacraments, but obviously you can pray, you know, devotional, rosary, mercy chapel, etc.

But as far as the guys, one thing I loved about the crew, I would say, you know, this is probably a broad stroke here, but most of the guys, in my opinion, were absolute diamonds in the rough. And almost the fishermen Christ encountered before the crucifixion, you know, before they kind of turned the corner with the grace of the Holy Spirit. They had just that solid bearing, wanted to do the right thing, gravitated towards virtue. And then you also have a bunch of the degenerates, you know, that, you know, it's not perfect just like any organization, but by and large solid, solid individuals. So during Hell Week and things like that, was it helping to sort of maybe pray the rosary or remember a psalm or things like that, just to stay sane? I prayed the rosary every day going through, which was great. And you just pray on your hands. And I

hopefully it helped with sanity, you know. My wife can, you know, check me on that. But yeah, I think that's a great thing about the faith is, yeah, you have the sacraments, but you know, if you are out in the middle of nowhere, I never felt like, oh well, I guess God's abandoned me. Yeah, you just, you can read scripture, you can pray silently, all those things that the Baptists or or any of the Protestants, not to call it the Baptists, but the Protestants generally say, well, I don't, why do I need the sacraments? I can just, you know, pick up a Bible and go for it. It's like, yeah. I can just, you know, pick up a Bible and go for it. So again, I can't do, um, the sacraments are if there,

if we have access to them, what a gift. What a gift. What a beautiful thing. The rosary is too. It's just like, even if you don't have the Bible on you, you've got a Bible on road. That's right. That's right. Yeah. It's like a Bible on string. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. So you said your, I had a question before I asked you that you said after this time on hell week when you got isolated and you were doing bear crawls around the hall, you said your hands were bloody. What happens when you physically cannot continue to do the punishment that's been allotted

to you? What happens all the time? So what about they would, they would just switch it up. Like, oh, we're gonna do another. Yeah. Oftentimes though, you know, when they say drop, the instructors would say drop. And you know, I think first phase it was,

it meant 20 pushups. Second phase it meant 40 pushups. And then we switched to pull ups and pushups in third phase. So like before you eat, you'd have to do, you know, 50 pull-ups, and you got really good at pull-ups. And then you would have to do it one time, but it's like, oh, you want to have lunch? Like, here's the pull-up bar, and then you can go eat lunch.

You want to do breakfast? Here's the pull-up bar. I'd say that'd be a great way to get jacked if you took that seriously. Yeah. If every time you ate, just did 30, 50 push-ups, then some pull-ups were. Yeah. But yeah, with the push-ups though,

they're like continuous, like you do 20 and then like, oh, drop again. And so at some point, he was like, well, we're exceeding a very high number of push-ups now and you're just. Oh my gosh. You know, and so you just wanna see you, you know It's a I get that I want to see you do something You know 30 I get that way like I did like 30 push-ups the other day

I like had to do him from my knees. Yeah So I think they just want to see effort. Yeah. Yeah, and see how you take failure Yeah, that's awesome. So how did you get back with your wife? You said that you broke up prior to going. Yeah. It's funny. So like I kept calling her. I was like, Hey, just well, you know, I'm doing this now. And she's like, you know, just touch base.

I remember one of the things you say she was at Franciscan. Sorry. She yes. So she transferred her senior year, which was also my senior year from Auburn. That's where we met Dated and then yeah broke up that summer But I knew I was like I want to marry this girl. Hmm, and I call her she's like stop calling me I'm dating other people like it was a what's that movie Wayne's world. We broke up since six months ago. It's like Yeah, it was it was

bad. He bought her a gun rack. Yeah I don't even own a gun let alone several. That would necessitate the use of a gun rack. That is great. Yeah so fast forward though I I got deployed or I got assigned to a team on the East Coast she was up in DC and I reached out on social media, she's like, it had been five years, she's like, yeah, well, let's grab some dinner. And then it was fast. Like, we started dating and we got engaged,

yeah, the rest is history. So when did you leave active service? December, 2020. Yeah, yeah. What sort of stuff are you involved in now? So I started the Forsati company. What's that? So it's a leadership and coaching consulting firm. Which was, you know, it was interesting Matt. So when I was at Team 5, this is before I went to the Naval Academy, which my, the Naval Academy was my last

tour. I was there 2017 to 20 teaching leadership and ethics. When I was at SEAL Team Five, they shared a building with SEAL Team Seven. They've torn it down since, they've built a new campus. And each of these teams are on a different cycle. So you've got professional development for one team, while the other team's going through unit level training, the other team's on deployment, and while the other team's going through unit level training, the other team's on deployment,

and then the other team is doing squadron integration training. So it's all four of the teams are on a rotation, and we've mirrored team seven. So you've got team five, team seven, and both these teams, to include 1 and 3, have the same number of individuals at the team, same gear, same equipment, same budget,

same mission, same everything. The only thing that's different that'll set the tone of the culture is the leadership. So the commanding officer, the executive officer, and the master chief, they call them the triad. And our triad was absolutely phenomenal and SEAL team seven for that two-year cycle because the commanding officer was in charge for two years they just had a maybe a less than stellar commanding

officer compared again you got the guy from the stands in the Olympian our commanding officer was an absolute stud. He was awarded after our deployment with what's called the Stockdale Award, meaning the best commanding officer in the entire Navy. So submarine, aviation, service warfare, what have you, the best. Huge. I mean, there's a lot of people in the Navy. That's a huge award, and he was my commanding officer. And he's just an absolute phenomenal leader

that really opened up the aperture of letting guys thrive and the culture was great, everyone loved coming to work. And I just remember thinking about that before I left to go to the academy, I was like, wow, this stuff is, this leadership stuff's real. You know, you've got, I've always, you know, you practice leadership and I had to lead at the tactical level and operational level,

but you realize the impact you can have on such a large amount of people by taking that seriously. And at the same time, if you don't, what happens, I mean, SEAL Team 7 during that cycle just had a really rough time. And so, becoming a, you know, being a practitioner of leadership and then later a student of leadership so I could teach it, I realized like I want to take this to companies and corporations because if individuals are thriving, if companies are thriving, communities are going to thrive, families are going to thrive, like it really is so important to take that seriously. And at the root of true leadership, as a practicing Catholic, I mean, it's Christ.

I mean, Christ is the essence of true leadership. And I think every leader, you have to, I mean, you're following somebody, you know? Either the world or the enemy of, you know, or Satan, or you're following Christ. And I guess to unpack that, even a parent, a parent, mother or father is mirroring Christ in that servant leadership. It's not being a butler to your kids, like, oh, it's saying, hey, I'm following Christ, and I'm saying the tone, and follow with me.

Because otherwise, it's kind of this abdication. Even Christ, when he was washing the feet of the disciples, when he was on the ground kneeling in that kind of that servant, menial task, but he was still directing. You know, he wasn't saying like, oh, you guys want to wash your feet? I'd love to wash your feet. He was saying, hey, I'm going to wash your feet. And Peter's like, hey, that's uncomfortable. No, thanks. He's like, no, Peter, like the father wants this. Like, get on board. He's like, yeah, right. And I think if you can ground yourself, like just like it's talked about in John's and Philippians, like, you can do nothing without Christ. Like, nothing.

Having the ability to bear fruit in your companies, your corporations, family life, having the ability to take that leadership seriously is so important. I think it's a miss, because leadership is kind of squishy, it's undefined in society, whereas what we're trying to do at the first side of the committee is really just make it practical. Like, hey, anyone can take this and run with it. I love it. Yeah.

Because I think cynically, people might look at leadership as merely a power grab. Yeah. And it may in fact be that for many leaders who just want a higher salary. Right. But I like what you said there, like you gotta take this seriously,

because first of all, look what happens when you have bad leadership leadership like look at a family where the dad abdicates his responsibility He leaves his family look what happens to those kids Yeah, I mean and on a grander scale you look at the health of a nation Just look at the leaders that nation's producing you know and you can tell right you get a pretty good pulse check if that's a healthy Yeah, thriving culture or not Yeah, and I think it think it is so necessary to really understand on practical level like, yeah, anyone can be a leader and I don't mean that just like, oh of course there's a water. But if you look at to your point, you know, titles, positions, that's the lowest

form of leadership. It's the ability to say, okay, can I relate to this person? And at the same time, can I be effective in achieving? And if you look at how Christ moved the church forward, he took 12 apostles, and he just, for three years, just like, hey, this is what it means to serve, this is what it means to be a man of virtue, this is what it means to give, this is what it means to be a shepherd. And then, you know, everyone thought, you know, it's lost, he died on the cross, he rises. The church is still thriving, you know, 2,000 plus years later, because of the ability to,

you know, grow leaders. What's the website URL? For SaadiCompany.com. Could you put that in the description, the for SaadiCompany.com, and when you say it's like a part of it's a mentor thing, so how does that work? Someone just contacts you all and then what?

Yeah, so we're actually, yes, we'll respond. You can look at our, we offer executive coaching, consulting, or adventures for companies and corporations. And then we're also helping with the virtual Catholic conference this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Okay. We're putting out, you know, Men of Virtue,

so it's a men's conference. Well, we're gonna put that in there as well. What's that? I had to spell that too, Frisbee. Frisbee, F-R-A-S-S-A-T-I? You got it, yeah. F R A S, to have to do with my American accent, F R, when I spell my name people, F R A D D.

Right, right. They got no idea what's going on, so. Yeah. The Frasadi company. And then this virtual Catholic conference, what's this? Yeah, so they have a bunch of different conferences for different Catholic functions. You know, I think there's a women's healing conference,

a women's conference, they've got the men's conference this month. All right. What's it called? Men's conference? Yeah, just men's conference. Sweet. So that's cool, so it's virtual,

so people can just sign up. Yep. Okay, how much is it? So registration's free. Cool. Could you, Ryan, could you make sure he puts that link or could you tell him what the URL is so he can throw that in?

You could just go to a virtual Catholic conference.com, virtual Catholic conference.com and you'll see it. That's awesome. Yeah. And how many speakers do you have and what's, why should people sign up for it? So we've got, we've got some heavy hitters from the first Saudi company that are participating. A lot of these guys are, we got the band together from the Naval Academy. So we've got Lieutenant General, a Rear Admiral, Lieutenant General Whistler, Rear Admiral Baker. They're

phenomenal. My buddy Ali Ghaffar who's president of the first Saudi company was he taught with me at the Naval Academy F-18 pilot. Phenomenal Catholic, solid dude. We've got a couple, we've got Kevin Mullaney, who's a captain, who's a nuclear summary officer, PhD, organizational psychology. So just some big heavy hitters for sure. And that live and breathe leadership and virtue. And I, I mean, I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna get something out of it too. So. That sounds great. Yeah. All right. Well check it out It's free people. So click the link in the description sign up. That sounds amazing. Yeah Yeah, actually when you said there was a men's conference, I figured it was like something in person that you apply to everybody. That's really cool I got some questions. I want to ask you unless you want to touch on anything else first. No, let's do it Alright, we're gonna take some questions from our locals and patrons And apologize apologies in advance

We will not get to all of these questions, but I'll do my best to get the questions that kind of run the gamut Okay Daghastini Daghastini says although it is too late for me I'm retired from the Navy, but my oldest is looking to join after graduation My question would be how did you manage to keep your Catholic faith strong through your career? It is tough enough being a regular old sailor or Marine soldier airman, but the added stresses and pressures of a very non-Catholic environment

and culture that is so much more so with the SEALs or any other high speed, high pressure unit in other branches combined with the extreme scarcity of Catholic priests in the Navy, therefore like a mass eucharist. What kept and kind of answer this already, but feel free to circle it again or take another jab at it. He said, I found it less of an issue on base with mass on base or in town, but multiple long deployments with zip left a long dark road. Yeah, it's not. Those are all great points.

And at the same time, you know, I would push back a little and just in an encouraging way to say. You know, just like being a lawyer or an accountant or a corporate role world, you could also ask the same exact question. Well, how do you keep your Catholic faith? I guess, high pressure, high stakes, a lot of travel, international travel, et cetera, et cetera.

So, I think it comes down to one, not beating yourself up if you don't have access to the sacraments. You can't control that. You just got to let that go and trust the mercy of God. And then two, when you do have access to it like Reset go to confession Get get involved as soon as possible and then stay close to you know your prayer life because like you we had we just riffed on rosary Scripture and then having close friends that you can you can bounce stuff off of

So to that point about praying we got a question here from Cosman. He says, what do you have any opinion on the wartime prayer book by Fulton Sheen? You familiar with that? I wish I was familiar with it. No. OK. His other question is, does the discipline, lifestyle or mentality have an effect on your prayer life? That's a great question. I would say I'm sure to a degree, I think one thing I wrestle with personally is just

being a checklist guy, like, okay, pray the rosary today, pray the mercy of God. And I think the Lord's slow, like, you know what? It's not about how many checks you get in that box, it's about do you love, is there a relationship here? So I'm still working through that. So yeah, I would say there's an element. Savannah asks, let's see here. I'm trying to find a question

that we haven't kind of already addressed. What kind of prayer routines do you have now? If you don't mind sharing. Yeah, I do stay close to the rosary. I think that's, um, yeah. I laugh because she says something hilarious on the bottom. She says, what's the best advice for kind, kind of sorta lazy-ish people? What makes you get up in the morning? Why do you keep doing those things?

I love it. Love the humility. So she wants, she wants advice for her lazy self. One thing I love, uh, St. Jos Jose Maria Scriva talks about that heroic minute is Yeah, tell us tell us tell people what that is. Yeah, so the heroic minute is When that alarm goes off like within that 60 second time span putting your feet on the deck Hmm or the the floor. Yeah. Yeah, and just say all right, here we go. We're ready to roll Yeah, so I think that's that's also helpful in terms of just building traction You know and engaging the will and strengthening the will Absolutely when you say hey, I'm gonna do this you know to do it

That's that just builds. I think on virtue. Did you ever read Jordan Peterson's 12 rules for life? I'm familiar with it. So there's a there's one of his rules that I just keep repeating. It's essentially a version of don't let the great be the enemy of the good, where he says, what's something you could do that you actually would do that would make your life better? Not just what's something you could do to make your life better, because bloody hell, there's all sorts of things I could do.

I'm just not doing it. But I think one thing we can all do that we would actually do is choose an action in the morning, a physical action that will lift your mind to God. And that might be buying a crucifix, putting it by your bed. And when you wake up and you're in that half groggy, very un-pious feeling state, kiss the feet of it and say, Jesus, I give you this day. Like,

something so simple like that is going to give you a first thoughts to the Lord. But if you kind of like ritualize it like that, it becomes habitual. Yeah. Yeah Cecilia says are there any spiritual readings or authors that you love to go back to? I'm a big fan of Michael D. O'Brien. I really am. Yeah, he's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, he just put out a new book good lighthouse I think yeah, I read that. Yeah. Yeah. Big fan of him. I tried to get him down here, but he's in he's in Canada. So I'm not sure if they're letting people out. But also, I think he's kind of getting older.

Yeah, I think he's a great author. I really would encourage you to check him out. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I need glasses because I'm getting old. How do you work out now? Do you do you continue to work out? I do. Nothing to brag about, though. I'm getting old. How do you work out now? Do you continue to work out?

I do, nothing to brag about though. Like at this stage, I'm just trying to get functional, you know, just make sure I'm hanging with my kids. Why do I feel like you're nothing to brag about workout is like, would crush me. What is it, what do you do? Yeah, try and just do some sort of aerobic. I go to a gym, yeah.

Aerobic, some limited strength stuff, gym. Yeah. Yeah Robics some some limited strength stuff. Yeah. Yeah Do you when you what's it like when you meet another seal and you mean you know that they are one? What's the kind of they're your buddies? It's it's it's the best they're like, what's up? You know? Yeah, if you don't know them It's almost like you're yeah It's probably awkward really, you know a degree, cause you're still, you're playing the who's who game. So you know this person, you know that one. Okay.

And then probably within a minute, they're your closest friend. This person's cool, they're in my tribe. Tim Hill says, what are your thoughts on some of the TBI and PTSD treatments that use, oh man, Ibogaine and other psychedelic drugs. The vast majority claim the results are promising, but as a Catholic, this would be viewed as sinful, right? That's such a great question. I, so TBI, traumatic brain injury, it's a real thing. And I think

we're just on the cusp of just starting to dig into it. I don't think we even know the full ramifications of it. I've been to a couple funerals in my 20s and 30s. Sadly a couple of them were suicide and you know in the teams and then on the broader veteran scale I think the numbers are like 22 veterans a day are committing suicide and I think a lot of that has to do with just the overpressure of different blasts charges for Coralist rifles sustained knocks of the brain and And yeah, I mean I I don't know enough to weigh in on the psychedelic stuff I would still probably hold the line with the information I have in front of me, which is again limited, so I don't want to...

But I would say my experience with that's reading in the material and the Catholic faith, I do think it's probably an empty well and points away from Christ. At the same time, you know, you're seeing a lot of people say hey marijuana CBD there's some there's some great stuff here I'm I'm gonna hold and reserve judgment there just cuz I don't know enough to weigh in and you're the only person on YouTube who's ever reserved judgment I don't know if you know that oh everybody else is an expert on everything okay so it's actually really refreshing we've

like I don't know yeah I don't terrific It's such a great answer to give. Yeah. So I appreciate that. David, let's see here. Chris says, I've always been this is Chris Buston. Thanks for being a supporter. I've always been fascinated by the adage, there are no atheists in foxholes. Did your experience as a seal offer any insight into whether or not that statement is true? Hmm. I mean, I definitely know work with and respect, you know, offer any insight into whether or not that statement is true?

I mean, I definitely know, work with and respect, you know, people have, I wouldn't call them atheists, but maybe agnostic. Um, cause you also have to, I mean, the flip side of that is if you don't have faith and you're doing this work, um, you're, you're grappling with a lot. I mean, there's a lot of heavy stuff that you're grappling with, and if you're not rooted in Christ, you can almost become a cynic of kind of the things that are seen, etc. I honestly think it could maybe push someone, I would argue, maybe that could kind of push someone down that path. But I would say most people have some semblance of faith, whether upbringing in the home or exposed to it in some fashion.

A lot of guys though aren't super overt with their faith, which is also beautiful, I mean, but their actions speak volumes. One guy that I just love to highlight here is Michael Monsoor. If you aren't familiar with him, I think the guy is a saint. He died on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, September 29, 2006. Never met the guy, because I joined in 2008. But the chaplain, one of the chaplains that I knew, or I don't know him personally, but went to Mass. After mass he, you know,

de-robed and he's took his vestments off. He's got this war stack. It's a chaplain. He's got a Purple Heart and some other like significant medals. Like, where, where have you been? He's like, oh I was in Ramadi, 2006. And I had read about Michael Monsoor. I was like, oh do you know, you know, Michael Monsoor? He's like, oh yeah, I knew Michael Mansour. He was a daily communicant I was like, oh, that's not that makes sense So Michael Mansour's story was he was doing sniper overwatch in Ramadi and they were on a rooftop There's four seals. He was one of them. He was near the stairs An insurgent lobbed a grenade onto the rooftop and the only one that could

get out in time was Michael Monsoor, but he realized his three buddies couldn't and he jumped on a grenade and died a painful death likely, like, sparred from his wounds. It wasn't instantaneous from what I understand and You look at that and and those are those heroic minutes like I don't know what Michael Monsoor's regiment was he was pretty quiet In terms of his faith because I remember asking a priest that knew I was like why why are we not pushing for his candidization? Like well, it actually started apparently I don't know if I'm throwing out a rumor here, but apparently it started, but they said he wasn't vocal enough about his faith. I pushed back because he was also a new guy in that platoon, and you don't talk as a new guy, you just keep your ears open and learn,

but talk about volume. So he was a daily communicant and then literally gave his life for the brothers. I'm like well there how many other guys that I know yeah that are just have this deep spiritual life that I was probably unaware of even during my time in the military. Again guys aren't super overt with it and you could say that's right or wrong. Guys just but their actions are powerful. I was just in Auschwitz a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure how popular Maximilian Kolbe would be in Auschwitz. So I did the tour and I didn't know if, well, there's

a lot of different people who may have done heroic things and I know about him because he's a Catholic. But I was really surprised how prominent he was in the tour. There's this big kind of shrine in the death bunker that he died in, there's a big plaque There's a another big board explaining how he gave his life a Frenchie check guy of Nietzsche And certainly he spoke about his faith and was encouraging the men he was dying with but more than that was just Stepping up and giving his life for somebody. It's just remarkable. Yeah Yeah, I mean and I think that has to come from a sac remarkable. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I think

that has to come from a sacramental life. You don't just wake up and say, you know what? Today I'm going to go jump on a grenade. Like that's years of just forming habits of virtue. You know, that's not a, oh yeah, that's, that's what I'm going to do today. Yeah. It reminds me of our Lord's words. Like if you're faithful to in small things, I'll put you in charge of big things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think about that? Or how do you make sense? I mean, sense, don't it? Yeah, I agree with it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's true of anything. It's true of any great vocation. Like, if I'm not faithful to getting up when the baby's crying, if I'm not faithful to tidy up the

kitchen without demanding that my family tell me I'm a wonderful human being, if I'm not faithful to all these little things and offering them up, what's the point of saying, I'd lay it down my life for my wife. It's like, okay, but will you clean the kitchen? Will you anticipate her needs? Will you let her sleep in? Will you not bitch and moan about what you have to do?

I love that. And very often it's like, no, I do bitch and moan and I need to stop right now. Yeah. And the best guy, and the best guy I know to like slap you in the face is Escriva. Yeah.

Yes, Escriva. If you, if you're kicking the pants to Exodus 90 and read Escriva. Yeah. Or at least do it as a 90 for like 19 days. At least 19. Yeah. 19 and then start to Peter out and make sure you get that

sentence every day. Exactly. Until day 33, at which case you rationalize why the Lord really wouldn't want this of you. Yeah. And then you stop. Yeah, I'm going to drink and you have a hot water. It's a hot shower. I mean, yeah. Good. For those who just joined the live stream, that won't make sense unless you watch the rest of it. Okay. Sergio Phelan, thanks for being a supporter, says seals are considered the elite of the elite. But here's a good question.

Why? I think it's a good question. Why shouldn't someone pursue becoming a seal? What are the downsides? Interesting question, huh? Yeah, I mean. Look, I'm a fan, I did it, I love it. You're asking the wrong guy. You're like, well, thanks for your service.

I used to tell people, I heard this from a friend, I thought it was hilarious, because it gets awkward. Thanks for your service. Thanks for paying your taxes, because we get good gear, because you're a contributor to society. And I loved it. So to Sergio's point, I guess the downside is it's dangerous. You know there's there's some risk You might die and stuff. Yeah, there's some yeah

You're away from your family Yeah, it's a lot of training a lot of time away from from home And like I said in the beginning of the podcast I think once I started having kids, then I'm like, you know what, this is a ton of fun, but my kids are also really fun. Like I wanna try to figure out how I can be with them more. And it's kinda cool.

And my wife's super fun too. I wanna spend a lot of time with her too. Yeah, that's kinda cool too that the officers will let you know if you shouldn't be doing this. So you don't need to worry too much about whether this is something you shouldn't do. I'm sure it'll be made clear to you. Yeah, that's right.

And then start to let you know real quick. You have any thoughts on the woke, woke-ization of the, of the military? I don't know if you saw that video that came out on YouTube recently that compared like Korean, or was it Korea and Russia? They're kind of like advertisements. And then it showed like America's military advertisement

about like the two moms and things like that. I didn't know if that was real. Was that a real? It's apparently real. It's a real commercial, that's sad. This is why we need a video player up here, Neil. Yeah. Next time.

We're gonna TV so we can play it and cry together. Yeah. Was that something you began to see while you were there? Or is it something you doubt because of what you? No, no, it's definitely creeping in and it's sad. Like even like when we were at the Naval Academy, they had these like, the office next door, it was an upside down rainbow triangle

that said safe space. I'm like, you know, I don't know how that's helping any of these midshipmen who are going to commission and they're gonna go into the combat zone. Whether you're, you you know pulling the trigger Planning doing the Intel or like launching a you know Tomahawk missile from a submarine or a destroyer Like you're part of violence, you know, and I think we as a country don't really understand violence per se You know you can look at violence

violence per se, you can look at violence, you can look at this statue as a tool, like I could use it as a weapon, I could look as a piece of art, it's an inanimate object. It comes down to how are you wielding that tool and how are you formed as a leader in the execution of violence? Are you protecting it or are you using it

for a nefarious act to kill? Yeah. So there's that whole aspect. And then when you throw in a upside down rainbow safe space, like yo, there's no point where you're ever in a dynamic situation, you're like, oh everyone stop, we're running low on ammo, we need a safe space,

you know, like we're running low on, like no one cares, the enemy doesn't care. Like you have to figure that out. So if you're training people to just like, do one of these and like, where's the safe space? You're not doing anyone any favors. And that's like, I'm being kind. I'm not even touching on where I think

this whole woke thing's going, because it's ultimately pulling at the whole fabric of the readiness of our military. And at the same time, I think culturally, that bastion of the military is one that the American people can trust. And I think it's, I'm biased, some of the best that our country has to offer.

And if you're just gonna start throwing a lot of that sociology into the mix, I think it's also going to have ramifications. We're already seeing in society play out. Yeah. That goes back to your point about what happens when leaders don't lead everything starts to unravel. Man, man, man. As a SF team guy, what's an SF team? So that's the green beret. So special forces. Thank you. As an SF team guy in preparation, you train to control and dictate situations.

How do you cope with accepting God's permissive will? So is this, this patron is sorry, this patron's SF or he's, it sounds like it. Okay. So, and what he's asking, like, how, I, I don't think he's saying you are. I assume from the context that he's saying he is okay Yeah, but maybe maybe I'm wrong. Well, why don't we just ask this? Like you're obviously put in situations where you got to control stuff. Okay How do you deal with not being in control of God's passive will when crap happens to you? I don't know. Maybe you were kind of maybe you're in a much better place since you went through all this training all that kind of

Chaos. Yeah, I think there's certain things that, like if you can control a situation, kind of like you were talking about Jordan Peterson, like, hey, if this is something that I can actually have agency over and impact, guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna impact it. And if I can't, I'm gonna let it go as quick as I can. You know, it's like, well,

okay, I'm not gonna worry about that. Yeah. It's just a waste of bandwidth and cognitive mental space. If you're trying to, you know, ruminate about that. This fellow, Kyle Whittington, says every person who has ever served in the U.S. military has known at least five people who are, quote, totally going into special forces, unquote. How do you handle people like that with charity?

I oh, OK. So I think what he's saying is like you might see that in like high school or college, like I'm going to go, you know, be a whatever in the military. I guess you just say, oh, good luck. Yeah, good luck. I don't know. That's good. Yeah. Tending snowdrops says my husband would like to know favorite EDC. What's that? Not sure. Okay. Well then this is going to be a moot question,

but, and how did you maintain a strong woe? We did that already. Okay. Sorry. EDC. No idea. Too many, uh, too many acronyms across the X and things. I feel like I'm pretty fluent in acronyms, but I don't know. This fella says army special ops veteran myself, so I think you should really scrutinise him. That's you on the ethic of serving in a military, which has waged such unjust wars over the last 70 years. Navy SEALs.

I didn't see this ahead of time. I hope this is okay. Navy SEALs have died by the dozens because our government lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and then lied about the success of institution building in Afghanistan. Would he in good conscience recommend other, another Catholic serve this same institution? Fair. Um, I don't know if it's fair actually, you know, at the end of the day, um, we've got a pretty large government, you know, and you start breaking down where

you are on the food chain. You know, I think the Naval Special Forces is like 2% of the Navy's budget, and the Navy is however many percentage of like the DOD budget. So there's a lot of moving pieces there. I think at the core of the question, the individual saying, hey, would you recommend someone join the military? Time now, 2022.

You know, it's a fair question. I had a cousin who was looking to go into the SEALs after graduating from ROTC, and I had a pretty candid conversation with him. He's a good guy, and I gave him all the pros and cons and he ended up choosing not to go. And knowing his personality and who he is and knowing him well, I think I was able to have that conversation because I felt like I had some rapport with him. Someone off the street,

if their macro ambition is to serve, I think that's a beautiful one that needs to be encouraged. If I know that person well and I can provide some nuances, absolutely I will, because there's a lot there, but I think if you're gonna pinpoint that on a community or DOD at large, I think that's a little bit,

I think that's mis little bit I think that's misled to a degree because There are a lot of solid individuals serving the military that wake up wanting to do the right thing I don't think they're waking up Trying to get intelligence wrong and pull military into a like a sustained duration of combat over course of decades getting people killed Like yeah, I'm pretty sure there's weapons of mass destruction That's that's unfortunate that that happened and I could sit there an armchair quarterback at the end of the day I'm not an intelligence officer

I wasn't in one of the three level agencies that figure that stuff out or claimed that that was there and maybe manipulate the situation or not I manipulate the situation or not, I would just finish that statement by saying if I know the person well and that person's coming to me and saying hey I'm I have an inclination to serve in the military, I think there's something beautiful about that. You're serving something bigger than yourself trying to be part of a team, give back. I think that's beautiful. Are there nuances there?

Sure. And if I know a person well, we could flesh those out. Yeah, fair enough. Any other thing that I touch upon before we start to wrap up? No, I think that's. This has been really cool. Thank you for doing this. Yeah, thanks for having me.

And just want to reiterate to people that we have this men's conference starts this Friday. It's Friday. Free to sign up. Links in the description. It's a men's conference. You'll be speaking at it or just attending it. So I think there's a backstage pass and I'll be on that. But yeah, the some great content.

I got to preview some of the stuff, it's solid. So the teammates from the Forsyte company that are on it, top notch, first class. Cool, well thanks again, that was terrific. Cheers. Cheers.