The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus - American Hero: Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson

Episode Date: May 24, 2019

From mischievous boy to American hero, the incredible story of Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson as told by his sisters Kristie and Joy to the Dale Jr. Download.  Tumlison was a part of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six that lost their lives when their Chinook helicopter was shot down during a mission in Afghanistan in 2011.  Nearly eight years later, his journey endures as an example of perseverance and heroism.  The Iowa native will be honored on the Nationwide #88 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman during the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Join us in paying respect to Tumilson and all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice serving for our great nation on this and every Memorial Day.  Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey, this is Dale Jr. Today we are launching this special bonus episode of the Dale Jr. download. It's not your typical show, but it's something very, very important to us. Memorial Day is about remembering those lost serving for our great nation. This year nationwide is celebrating the life of Navy Seal, John Tomlinson. Tomlinson from Rockford, Iowa, lost his life on August 6th in 2011, along with 30 other U.S. military service members and his service dog. They were on a mission when the Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

17 of them, including John, were members of the well-known Navy SEALs Team 6. On track at Charlotte Murder Speedway for the World 600, Alex Bowman will proudly race the nationwide 88 with a special scheme selected by the family of John Tomlinson. This story, this weekend, and the overall experience has meant a lot to us, Mike. Yeah, I mean, it sure has. John's sisters, Christy and Joy, We were here. You met them in a surprise meeting, greet, actually. It was something they were both very excited about. And then we went upstairs and we had a conversation, Christy, Joy, and myself,

and really went through the whole story. And that was what you've heard over the past several weeks and what we're packaging up for one last time right here on this bonus episode of the download. It's a story of John's life. Listen, it's a just incredible story of somebody that overcame, just persevered, It wasn't easy and just to do what he wanted to do and something he decided he was going to do it at the age of 13. So I hope that everyone that listens to this and enjoys this bonus episode of the Dell General download understands why we're doing it. And that is to tell this story one more time.

And so this weekend when you see that number 88 on the track at the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and when you see John Tomlinson's name, you know him. You know him already and can appreciate the sacrifice that not only he, but the other people on that Chinook helicopter, and then also everybody that has sacrificed and paid that defending our nation. So I hope you enjoy it. It's going to be good. This is Christine. I'm the oldest. Joy is two and a half years younger than me. And then bicentennial year, July 1st. Well, on July 4th, we actually left the festivities of downtown Rockford and went to pick up our baby brother and bring him home.

Growing up family was always important. So my dad was from a family 14, so he had 14 brothers and sisters. My mom was from a farming family, so again, every close-knit, you know, everybody had to work together. We knew as kids, we didn't plan things on Sunday. Those were days we'd go to one of the grandparents and have dinner and that type of thing and just always had each other's backs and family was always the cornerstone of everything we did. We knew when dad had a good contracting year because he'd surprise us with toys.

We'd always know by how good the Christmas was, and so we'd always know how good the Christmas was, And so one year he got Christy and I a snowmobile. We had to share, and then John got a three-wheeler. And so he would tear through town. One of my favorite stories was he and his friend, Justin, they were a little mischievous. And about, I don't know, later that evening after they'd been hanging out, my parents get a knock at the door from the sheriff's department, that there were some windows broken out of a construction site,

and there were three-wheeler tracks, and everybody knew that the two boys that had three-wheelers in town were Justin and John. And so, you know, my dad being in construction, you know, was upset. How could you do that to somebody else's property? And so made him go and apologize. But so, yeah, he was a little mischievous. But both my parents were very hard workers. And so they instilled that work ethic into us. I think that is very much encompasses all of us, but especially John and where he got in his career.

So when he was 12 or 13, he went to school definitely for the social aspect of things. And so my mom was like, how can I get him to be? more studious and so she wanted to encourage him to read. So family friends suggested a book. He was really big into martial arts and so told my mom to get this or told my dad to get this book by Richard Marsenko. And so John read that book and from that moment on he knew that he wanted to be a Navy SEAL. Somehow he found every Navy SEAL workout that he could possibly find and started doing workout. How was it? 12, 13.

So John started doing Navy SEAL workouts when he was 12 or 13. Uh-huh. He wrote papers. He did art projects about the Navy Seals. He, I mean, it was read books upon books, upon books. It was just kind of everything he did. I don't know that I ever believed otherwise. I would agree. And it was never, I think I want to be a Navy SEAL. It was, I am going to be a Navy SEAL. I think there's a lot of times John thought, I don't know how he put up with this kind of, you know, we're girls. And sometimes I think he probably thought, you know, we're girls. And sometimes I think he probably thought, We thought we were silly, but we went to all his taekwondo meets, and, you know, I think we were always supportive. Let me know, do you love me? We called him, I remember we called him at Little S.A., which people thought was smart ass, but it was stud alert. So he'd always stop calling Little S.A. No one knew what it was.

Oh, my goodness. He was kind of a smart ass, but. He enlisted in the Navy the summer before his senior year. So left pretty much right after high school graduation. So they told him in his papers, you go to basic training. And when you're done with basic training, we'll send you to Buds. The Basic Underwater Demolition Seal Training, or Buds. Wasn't in his paperwork, but he didn't discover that until he got done with basic training and was like, all right, send me to Buds.

And they're like, you're not going to Buds. So then he went to a school for communications, because he was. They told him, they said, okay, you want to be a seal. Go get a communications job. That's a seal-ready job, and that'll give you the training that you need then to go to the seal teams. Busted his butt, did what he had to do, actually graduated top at A school. So he was the number one graduating student. I was frustrated for him because I knew it was his dream.

Yeah, so I was disappointed, yeah, with him because you knew that's why he joined the Navy. You knew that's what he wanted to do, and you wanted that for him. You knew how badly he wanted it. Just had the best attitude, like, okay, you know, wasn't mad, wasn't bad, wasn't bitter, just all right, you're not going to let me go. So what do I got to do? And so then, We are the Navy. We are the Navy. World's greatest Navy. World's greatest Navy. You have to go on one deployment. And so then he was on a ship. And so he went on one deployment. And so then basically, just like I said, roadblock after roadblock. And then about, it was about the time to re-enlist.

So his enlistment was up. And so he said, okay, I'll re-enlist, but you are going to send me to Buds. And so four years later then? After the deployment, now he's eligible. eligible to go to Buds. But even then he had, well, he got... He was eyesight. He had eyesight issues. Like, you have to have a certain eyesight because they don't want you wearing contacts

because they do so much hand-again combat and those types of things. But somehow he got around... I think they ended up then lifting the eye restriction or something. Buds is actually one of the first phases. So it's like a year-long process. And when you graduate from Buds,

we were ignorant to this at first. We didn't know that you graduate Buds. we thought you were a seal. Oh, no, there's like a longer process. That's just the first phase of them weeding people out. And what is it only? Because it's like 10% or 20% aren't make it. Well, he had 152, I think, in his class when they started and only 30 some of it? I think like 20. Graduated. Depeated? Uh-huh. Yeah. Just do buds. Uh-huh. Hell week. So that's the hell week that you hear about that where they're sleep

deprived and well, so we had to buy our plane tickets. We wanted to all grow out for graduation. So we had to buy our plane tickets for the Bud's graduation before we knew if he was going to actually graduate from Buds. The last conversation before he went into Hell Week, because then they did kind of cut off communication. You didn't get to hear from him. And so Christy said to him, I have my plane ticket bought. So help me God, if you do not make it through Buds and I have spent this money on this plane, I'm going to be so mad at you. And so... Whatever you do, you did not ring that bow. So when he graduated, we said to him, did you ever want to quit and he said yeah actually he said there was a moment when he was out in a boat and he'd only had a

couple hours of sleep over a seven day period and he's like there were brick walls he said not just I think I'm seeing a brick wall like there were brick walls I mean he was hallucinating in the middle of an ocean and he said he wanted to quit he wanted to give up and he heard christie's voice saying so help me god if you ring that bell and I bought my plane ticket I'm going to be mad and so he didn't quit. Christy and Joy, you've told us about your brother John Tumelson's childhood, how at 13

he knew he wanted to be a Navy SEAL. And how he chased his dream, it certainly wasn't easy. As fate would have it, about the time John finally became a seal. My fellow citizens. America went to war. American and coalition forces in the early stages of military operations

to disarm your arms. What can you tell? us about his deployments? He said his first four deployments were boring because he didn't see gunfire, he didn't see action. I'm like, boring is good. He's like, no, boring's not good. That's like, you going to college for four years to do

what you want to do, and then never being able to do your job. Like, I want to go there and I want to see action. Do you think he was telling you the truth? Oh, I'm sure he saw action. I mean, he had to have. They don't send seals over there to sit around and eat bonbons. You know, it's like, I mean, they're doing stuff, right?

would think. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were. When did John leave for his fifth and ultimately his final deployment? On his birthday, 35th birthday, July 1st of 2011. And then was killed August 6th, so I was over there just slightly a month. Well, actually, I talked to him this Sunday before he was killed. I was on my way out the door to go to church and saw it was him and answered the phone quick. And he said, I just had a couple minutes. Just wanted to call, tell you, I love you. everything's going well, and then later sent an email out to everybody that said, you guys, this is the best deployment of my life. I'm having the greatest time. These are the best bunch of guys. Everything's going great.

The Taliban is taking responsibility for shooting down a U.S. helicopter. More than 30 people were killed, and there are reports to... It's still, yeah, to this day, the biggest loss of... Single, biggest loss. Largest loss of life. In one day, or one mission. Yeah, at one time. 31 total, so 30 guys and then one more.

working dog, but it took out his entire team. They said it would take them over 20 years to replace those caliber of men to get that team built back up. How does one receive that type of news? It's not something you can ever prepare yourself for. You know, we, he used to always tell us, I mean, when he went on his first deployment, don't watch the news. By the time you see it on the news, you guys would have already been notified. So if you hear something on the news and they say, somebody was killed, it's not me because somebody would have been at your door. Well, little did he didn't think about. They lost 31. They had 31 families. They had to, or 30 families, they had to notify. Officials say 31 U.S. Special Operation Troops and seven Afghan commandos.

Eight o'clock that morning, my husband called me. He was at work. And he's like, hey, he's like, I know this is probably no big deal, but he's like, can you turn on the news and see what they're saying? There was a chopper that went down and was carrying special forces. He's like, I just have a bad feeling. And I instantly, in that moment, I can't describe it. AP sources say the majority of those killed were from Navy SEAL Team 6. I knew he was gone. I mean, I'd heard of crashes a million times other on his deployments, but that time I just knew.

Called my dad and told him, you know, I said, do you have the news on? No, what's going on? And I said, well, it may not be nothing to add, but... It is the single deadliest incident for U.S. forces during the decade-long war. you know here's thinking he instantly too he's like i don't know i don't have a good feeling um there's three officers that came to his door and they said when he opened the door he had a picture of my brother sitting by his chair and he said i've been expecting you and then my mom she uh she shops and my dad calls her and says where are you and she's like i'm in cedar falls

i'm doing some shopping and she said she's thinking why does he care you know why does he care that I'm shopping. Like, I'll be home. And so got home, and by that time, you know, a lot of my dad's family was there, so there was cars at her house while their anniversary was coming up the next month. She thought we were throwing her a surprise anniversary party. And so my dad walks out the door and my mom says, what's going on? And he says, we lost our son today. Confirmed through a senior military official, they were Navy SEALs. As you know, beyond a very, very small community of these highly trained elite U.S. forces. funeral. There was a really moving photo that went viral. It was of John's dog, Hawkeye, laying at the foot of his

casket. Tell me about that. He actually had it in his will. His will was pretty much laid out what songs he wanted in his funeral, and the one requirement was Hawkeye had to be at the funeral. Scott did give him a command to lay down, but he did go over to the casket and laid down in front of the casket, and that's the picture that you saw. If I'm telling a story, people don't really remember and I say, well, remember the picture that went viral at the chocolate lab? And they're like, that was your brother? So it still connects people. And I think it represents, for me anyways, the loyalty that my brother had as a son, as an uncle, as a brother, as a friend, as a teammate, you know, that loyalty that the dog had to the very end. So John's been gone

almost eight years. How have y'all been able to heal? To be honest, I don't know if the healing is over. Christy and Joy, it's been a privilege to hear John's story. What motivates you today to continue sharing? I think being able to share his story, having opportunities like this, when you lose someone you love, your biggest fears, people are going to forget them. You don't want people to forget. I heard you say opportunities like this, which I take to mean seeing John honored with the patriotic paint scheme on the number 88 this weekend. How exactly did that happen? Our cousin, Greg, has worked for Nationwide. Our cousin for, I think over 20 years as a CPA.

And so he called me and he's like, hey, it was an opportunity through work with Nationwide. Can you give me a call? It's about John. So I called him and he's like, you know, they have this idea. They told me about what they do every Memorial Day, and he's like, they selected John to be the one that they'll do the car. Then I called Christier and said, hey, you know, are you on board with this? And she, without hesitation, said yes, too.

I guess it's just ironic because my ex-boyfriend got me into NASCAR, and Dale was our driver. And I remember John saying to him, I can't believe anybody in this world would get my sister. this hooked to NASCAR, you know? So I think how ironic is that he said that, and now he's going to be on the number 88 car. There's millions of names they could have put on the car.

It's humbling. I noticed the paint scheme doesn't just honor John. There are 30 stars each representing a service member lost. And even a paw for the service dog who was the 31st on that helicopter. Tell me about that. The one thing that I think both of us agreed, we said that, I mean, John would not want this attention. He'd roll his eyes if people called him a hero. You know, he just, he was doing his job.

So we said, don't make it just about him. Like, we want the other 31 that were with him on Earth, too. Todd Kubli, you are with Nationwide, and you brought Christy and Joy here today. Being so close to this program, I imagine it gets pretty emotional for you as well. Every time I tell the story about what we're doing, I beam of pride. And every time I talk about John, I call him a superhero. Because to me, the Navy SEALs and anyone in the military is as close to being a superhero as I think we'll find. The sacrifice they make on the family side, obviously John paid the ultimate sacrifice,

but the sacrifice that they make for us to allow us to do, have this conversation here today and get to go to the race on Sunday, they're just superheroes, in my opinion. And they said the same thing that every family said is, you know, when his name is not said anymore, That's when we feel like we really lost him. So for us to be able to continue to say his name and say it over and over again is what we take the most pride in. I have to confess, I am not a big NASCAR fan. Not that I'm not a fan, I just, I watch it when it's on, but I don't like. So I have to confess that.

But what I learned from coming here today that I think is so interesting in ties into John is, you know, as we toured and looked at the cars, I think there's such a correlation because NASCAR is all about pushing the cars to the extreme limit. It's about teamwork, everybody working together. You know, it's not just about Alex driving the car and being a great driver. It's everything that goes on behind the scenes. And I think that so encompasses John and his thought. He knew that he wasn't good just because of the training that he had. He knew it took the whole team to get him where he was and that he could count on the people that had his back.

And so I think knowing that and how John trained and then learning all this about NASCAR and how NASCAR works, I think it's pretty cool to see the correlation. Since we lost John, how special has Memorial Day become for you? The Memorial Day for me definitely has more of a meaning because I think as an average American citizen, no matter how much American pride you have, you go about your day, you don't realize or you forget that there's people on the other side of the world that are put in their life on the line for you every single day. So I think sometimes it's easy to take for granted our freedoms and what that, you know, how those freedoms really have come to be. And so for me, I think losing John put those things in perspective of just the sacrifice. You know, not even the sacrifice of John giving his life, but the sacrifice that all military families do, you know, that our family had to put up with a lot of birthdays and holidays that he wasn't there even when he was alive and kids that, you know, grow up. and their dads aren't there for their birthdays or to experience those things.

I think it probably just, not that the day is harder, I think it just put things in perspective for me. When we see that 88 car this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, what is it you want us to know most about the name that's on it, Navy Seal John Tomlinson? He was a brother and a son and an uncle and a friend, and he would have given his shirt off his back for a stranger. I mean, he just was that type of guy and that he loved what he did,

and he gladly laid down his life for every single person that's watching that race that day. And I think if he would have known when those doors were closed, what the end result would be, I'm 100% confident he would have gone anyway. Mm-hmm. Would have gone anyway, if that doesn't encapsulate the Navy SEALs and all of the service people of our military, the United States military, badasses of the world, then I don't know what does. Dale Jr., John Tummelson on the 88 car this weekend.

You ready? Yeah, I just want to thank his family for sharing his story so that we can all learn a lot about him. And, you know, he's a great representation of what the, you know, what the military is all about. what they mean to us. It just takes a lot of strength to do what they did. Obviously, it takes amazing strength and fortitude to do what he did.

But for them to share his story to handle and deal with the loss and then want to share it with the world, it's incredible. So we've got to thank those girls for that. Just awesome to be able to learn about him. Absolutely. And that's a bonus episode of the Dale Jr. Down with guys, I mean, maybe we'll have future bonus episodes, weekend episodes.

I want to thank Nationwide for our kids. all that they do, not for only this program, but also what they do for military and for NASCAR. They are huge supporters and they're awesome partners as well. So that's a bonus episode. We'll be back Monday or actually we'll be back Tuesday

with an episode with Stone Cold Steve Austin. You're not going to want to miss that. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dirty Mo.