359: Defend Us In Battle. The Story of Medal of Honor Recipient, Michael Monsoor. With George Monsoor

Jocko and George Monsoor. George Monsoor is the father of Michael Anthony Monsoor (April 5, 1981 – September 29, 2006), a United States Navy SEAL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_SEAL who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Iraqi_Freedom and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Monsoor#cite_note-1 He enlisted in the United States Navy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy in 2001 and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_SEAL_selection_and_training BUD/S class 250 in 2004. After further training he was assigned to Delta Platoon, SEAL Team 3. Delta Platoon was sent to Iraq in April 2006 and assigned to train Iraqi Army https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Army soldiers in Ramadi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadi. Over the next five months, Monsoor and his platoon frequently engaged in combat with insurgent forces. On September 29, 2006, an insurgent threw a grenade onto a rooftop where Monsoor and several other SEALs and Iraqi soldiers were positioned. Monsoor quickly smothered the grenade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_on_a_grenade with his body, absorbing the resulting explosion and saving his comrades from serious injury or death. Monsoor died about 30 minutes later from wounds caused by the grenade explosion. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jocko Willink?

  This is Jocko Podcast number 359 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willink. Good evening Echo. Good evening.

• 0:09Jocko Willink?

  There was a loud burst of gunfire and Cowie fell to the ground exposed in the street.

• 0:16Jocko Willink?

  He had taken a round to his right femur. The barrage of enemy gunfire continued to cascade toward him from multiple enemy positions, kicking up dust and sending ricochet and secondary frag of rock and concrete right at him. Cowie immediately returned fire but was unable to move quickly to cover because of the grievous injury to his leg.

• 0:36Jocko Willink?

  Within seconds of hitting the ground, Cowie heard a new weapon enter the chaos.

• 0:43Jocko Willink?

  Michael Monsoor, the automatic weapons gunner, broke from his covered position in an adjacent courtyard into the middle of the street.

• 0:54Jocko Willink?

  In that same moment, Michael sent a long burst of 7.62mm rounds from his Mark 48 machine gun into enemy positions. Although carrying a heavy load of equipment, Michael deftly moved to where Cowie lay wounded and bleeding.

• 1:12Jocko Willink?

  He stood in front of him and used his lean frame and armor as a shield to protect Cowie from incoming enemy fire.

• 1:22Jocko Willink?

  This gave the wounded SEAL a reprieve he needed to continue to call for backup on his radio. Michael's technical acumen was apparent as he swiftly engaged and suppressed enemy positions with his Mark 48, affectionately known as "The Pig".

• 1:40Jocko Willink?

  Every second and every round mattered. The other SEAL began to prepare Cowie to move while Michael engaged enemy insurgents. "Let's move", the other SEAL shouted.

• 1:53Jocko Willink?

  Michael grabbed Cowie's drag handle on top of his armor and began to pull him back to the courtyard while still firing his Mark 48.

• 2:02Jocko Willink?

  Cowie looked up at Michael as he dragged him across the road, but the perspective was not what he expected.

• 2:10Jocko Willink?

  Cowie felt as if for just a moment, he had left his body below. He looked down upon the scene.

• 2:20Jocko Willink?

  As Michael dragged him, the snaps and ricochets of the heavy machine gun of enemy fire continued to hit the ground around them. Cowie couldn't believe that not one round had found its intended target.

• 2:34Jocko Willink?

  Instantly, the light seemed to shift. Then, Cowie saw them. Two large feathered wings wrapped from behind Michael around the trio as they moved him out of the street.

• 2:48Jocko Willink?

  Cowie knew in that instant, they were not alone in the fight.

• 2:54Jocko Willink?

  Then, Cowie was looking up at Michael again. He could feel the pain and hear the gunfire. Dust filled the air and the sun beat down upon them as they moved. Once back behind cover, the other SEAL began working on his injured teammate.

• 3:12Jocko Willink?

  The enemy fire picked up again just as Michael finished reloading.

• 3:17Jocko Willink?

  Michael answered with a heavy volley into the enemy position.

• 3:22Jocko Willink?

  JP and the rest of the squad, along with their Iraqi partners, joined the firefight minutes later. Lieutenant Seth Stone, the officer in charge of Delta Platoon, was deep into radio comms, providing situation updates to the chain of command, coordinating with units in other sectors and facilitating the movement of the responding soldiers, Marines, and Iraqi partners into the fight.

• 3:49Jocko Willink?

  And that right there is an excerpt

• 3:53Jocko Willink?

  from a book that has just come out, which is entitled "Defend Us in Battle: The True Story of MA2 Navy SEAL Medal of Honor Recipient Michael A. Monsoor."

• 4:08Jocko Willink?

  And the book was written by Michael's father, George Monsoor, along with Rose Ray, who is an author and is also the wife of a SEAL. And the book was written by interviewing friends and family of Michael. Many of the members of Task Unit Bruiser shared their stories to paint a picture of Michael's bravery, his character, his skill as a SEAL. But of course, Michael Monsoor was much more than just a SEAL. He was a man of compassion, of humor, of love, and of faith. He was the best.

• 4:52Jocko Willink?

  And he set an incredible example for all who knew him and for anyone that hears his story. And it's an honor to have Michael's dad, George Monsoor, here with us tonight to share some of this incredible story with us. George, thanks for joining us tonight.

• 5:16Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me on.

• 5:17Jocko Willink?

  It's an honor to have you down here. I know it's not that far of a drive, but I know it can be a little challenging sometimes. But glad you could make it down. I guess before we get, I guess we have to start at this story, maybe at the beginning with a little bit about you and your background. So you're originally from Wisconsin, is that right?

• 5:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was born in La Crosse and my family came from Lebanon. So there was that transition.

• 5:56Jocko Willink?

  So are you first generation American or are you second generation?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like half, half were born, half. So I was, half of that family, it's like 10 kids were born here and half was born on the other side. So, yeah, so there's a whole kind of a different world, the Middle Eastern world and the American world. So, yeah, there's things that always a little different.

• 6:23Jocko Willink?

  Ed, so you were, how, how long did you stay in Wisconsin for?

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Uh, not very long. Um, I, I think, uh, they asked us to leave like the first year. You know, they told us to get out of Wisconsin.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Went to California.

• 6:40Jocko Willink?

  And then it was California. And so how old were you when you ended up in California?

• 6:43Speaker 01

  I was probably

• 6:44Jocko Willink?

  Pretty young?

• 6:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was probably about one. And, uh, that's kind of, uh, you know, where, uh, the rest of the family was born. I had, uh, two brothers and three sisters. Uh, my dad was, uh, uh, in World War II and, um, he had a lot of problems after the war. And, um, he couldn't hold down a job and, uh, he ended up just being a gambler. So we had kind of a, uh, you know, I mean, we didn't realize, uh, it wasn't the best, but, uh, our, our family was close and, uh, my mom basically was the one that, uh, kept everything together. And, um, we didn't realize we were poor until somebody told me in school.

• 7:32Jocko Willink?

  And, uh, so then as you're growing up, you're growing up in California in like the 50s and 60s then?

• 7:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:39Jocko Willink?

  That had to be pretty, is it like, how, how does that compare with the movies?

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Well, we would watch these, these movies and our TV shows and you'd have, uh, Father Knows Bass and all these fathers are walking around with suits and ties.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  I look over at my dad, he's in his skivvies, reading the racing form. The only thing he ever says to me is, "Beer me."

• 8:07Speaker 01

  So, yeah, I would look at the TV and I'd look at our families, not quite the same.

• 8:14Jocko Willink?

  Uh, so you end up, I mean, you go into school, where'd you, where'd you go to high school?

• 8:18Speaker 01

  Uh, I went to, uh, St. John Bosco and it's a boys' school. Uh, I was fortunate that I was a pretty good football player, so it was a good fit. It was, uh, it was, um, it was pretty tough. Those priests, uh, these guys served in World War II and they didn't put up with a lot of nonsense and it was probably the best thing for me. They made it very clear what I could do and what I couldn't do.

• 8:45Jocko Willink?

  And then, so you played football?

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:47Jocko Willink?

  And what was your plan when you graduate? When you graduated? I mean nowadays, like everyone has to go to college, has to go to college. Did you have that plan or?

• 8:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, the plan was, because it was the college prep school, was to go to college. But it was an all-boys school. So my plan was different when I went to college.

• 9:07Jocko Willink?

  You had to make up for lost time?

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was, anybody that wanted to get on the back of my motorcycle, we're good. So I basically, my grades basically said to me, you're going to get drafted. So I decided to outsmart them and I joined the Marine Corps.

• 9:32Jocko Willink?

  Awesome.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:33Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, you outsmarted about that one, huh? So what year was it that you joined the Marine Corps?

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Uh, sixty-eight. I went sixty-eight to seventy-two.

• 9:41Jocko Willink?

  So, so, I mean, when you, Vietnam is full-blown in nineteen sixty-eight when you joined.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  No.

• 9:47Jocko Willink?

  Like you, you, is it just known that you're going to Vietnam?

• 9:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, especially in my MOS, it wasn't the MOS I wanted. I was that guy that was always trying to stay out of the fray, you know? Stay in the middle, yeah. But anyway, the problem was if your grades weren't, weren't good, then you're, you'd go straight over as a grunt. I didn't want to be a grunt. So I kept my grades up, but the thing was every time you did well in school, you got another school. I did well in the test and I got aviation school. And then aviation school, I did well and I got helicopters. Helicopters is not where you want to be in the Marine Corps.

• 10:32Jocko Willink?

  Even, it's funny, even as you say like, oh, I went to school for aviation. And like, that sounds, that sounds like a, you know, okay, you're going to go learn this trade and you're going to work on aircraft.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 10:41Jocko Willink?

  In Vietnam, that's a little bit different. It's a little bit of a different outcome.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  I got there and I says, hey, you know, this wasn't the deal. You know, when you sign up, they tell you one thing, but you don't always get what you want. And I certainly didn't. It was like, this wasn't the deal. And the guy goes, you'll have more schools, don't worry about it. The last school I went to was machine gun, fifty-cal machine gun school. That was it.

• 11:05Jocko Willink?

  What was, what was the shock of boot camp like?

• 11:09Speaker 01

  Actually, playing Bosco football wasn't, the boot camp wasn't a big deal. We had, we had a coach that carried a baseball bat.

• 11:23Jocko Willink?

  Geez.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  And I remember, since it was a Catholic school, he told us why God gave us heads. And that was to punish the other players.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  And he had this bat, and we had the cages, and he would smack you in the head with the, with the bat. Just so you understood what you're supposed to use your head for. And I remember we had a game, I think it was Venice, and we were just brutal. We weren't brutal on purpose, it's just that's the way we were trained to hit. And the principal wrote a letter to the school after, you know, after the game, just trashy. We didn't cheat or anything, we played a straight game, but we laid people out.

• 12:07Jocko Willink?

  So when he called boot camp, it was perfectly fine with you?

• 12:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was fine, you know, I had a couple of problems.

• 12:15Speaker 01

  Just understanding it, because I really, my family served World War II, Korean War. And as you, as you know, my sons all served in the Marine Corps other than Mike. But I didn't get it. I was like, I thought you go in and, you know, you get paid, I thought at least minimum wage. And, and all the military stuff, it just wasn't used to, because my father was definitely, you don't get a lot of discipline from a professional gambler. So it was another world for me. The most discipline I got was at St. John Bosco. But I remember on payday, you go in, you get a little bit of money to get your soap and, and those type of things.

• 13:00Speaker 01

  And so they gave us instructions. They says, you go in there, you march in there, you make a right turn, then a left turn, then you send yourself in front of the CO's desk. He will push a book in front of you, you look down and look at that pay book, and you will say, the sir is, or the, the pay is correct, sir. And look straight ahead. So I'm thinking, okay, you know. I do it perfect. And I look down and I say, thirty-six dollars?

• 13:40Speaker 01

  Where's your military bearing and die for thirty six dollars? So they it was uh they finally got my attention and got me squared away. I was a private for quite a while.

• 13:57Jocko Willink?

  So the last the last school you went to is fifty cal school, but they sent you to Hilo School. And then what year did you deploy to Vietnam?

• 14:05Speaker 01

  Uh it was uh uh let's see, I think I was nineteen. So it was uh sixty nine and got back in yeah, sixty nine, August sixty nine, I think it was. Yeah, I think it was August sixty nine.

• 14:21Jocko Willink?

  And how was the uh how was the deployment? How'd you get over there? Did you take a charter aircraft over there?

• 14:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, we took a uh I think it was a Pan Am. That was uh that was just a zoo. I mean, the officers were in front and the snuffies were in the back. And you could just see it on those stewardesses faces which one they wanted to be, the front or the back. It was a long it was a long flight and it was sixteen hours. And we landed the only we landed once for fuel in Hawaii and then they literally wouldn't let us get off. They had the guards out there. I'm thinking, are they passing the message to us or what? And then we finally got in and started sorting out where we were going to go. And I was

• 15:11Speaker 01

  really fortunate in the long run because you know how this works. You just you're a number and these guys will go here and these guys will go here. And I just skated through the whole deal. I ended up in only going there for just a little bit. And then I was simply at Okinawa most of the time. And I started feeling guilty because

• 15:36Speaker 01

  You know, my friends were over there and then when they were coming back, some big changes and it really broke my heart and I, God, I feel so guilty. I was just there for a blink. So, you know how you're in this service and you just don't understand how certain things happen. You know, it's like how a close friend, you know, will go and or some of them come back and they're just screwed up. And it reminded me of my dad and that's why I didn't get my dad until I was in the Marine Corps. And I realized I would go to the hospital, a veterans hospital when he was young and have these breakdowns,

• 16:19Speaker 01

  but I still couldn't get it through my head what was going on. Then after I saw the vets coming back in Okinawa where you're getting cleaned up, ready to go, you realize there's some guys that really got hit hard mentally and physically too. But mentally is really something that just doesn't go away.

• 16:38Jocko Willink?

  What did your, what did your dad do in World War II? Was he in the Army, was he in Marine Corps, Navy?

• 16:42Speaker 01

  My dad was, he's actually a super athlete. He was a Golden Love champion. He was the Fleet Naval Champion and back then there was a lot of, that's where all the men were. But he was in the Navy and he was on, I don't know what they call them, like pom pom guns or something. They're, they're on an air battleship and his job was to protect the aircraft or the, the planes from the, on the aircraft carrier. And a friend of his was telling me my dad would take it just bad if they hit those, those ships. He decided was he had to get every one. And he says that if they were taking fire, he, he would stay right on that gun. So.

• 17:27Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, the, the films of the World War II US Navy is, it's crazy to watch those things. It's crazy to watch those. And they have actually both sides, you know, they have the Japanese that are coming in and drop bombs. You can watch those films as well.

• 17:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. And he was in all the big ones, you know, the Midway and all that stuff. And so it just, it just mentally wiped them out. He would have these just, just go off on us.

• 17:58Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, it's um, it's, I don't think we're ever gonna have a naval war like World War II again. Where it's, where, where the, the humans are at such a massive amount of pressure. I mean, of course, something the Navy can always go bad. I mean, you know, if a vessel, I mean, you don't even need a war. You know, things can happen. But, but that, that World War II from a, from a naval war perspective is just, it's horrendous. I was talking with one of my friends the other day, even just being, even just firing those big guns. These guys didn't have hearing protection. You know how many, you know, and right now they're, they're doing all these things with football and CTE and, and

• 18:41Jocko Willink?

  you know, traumatic brain injury, the TBI. They, they tell us now in the SEAL teams, we shoot these rockets, Carl Gustaf rockets and, and they're bit, they, they like rock you. You know, it's like you get, it's like you just got cracked in the head.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:57Jocko Willink?

  And now they're, we used to just sit out as a range safety officer, we'd just sit out there and shoot those things all day long. And now they're saying you can only shoot three a day and all this stuff. But can you imagine being like your dad on a, on a naval vessel with the, you're just getting concussion after concussion after concussion.

• 19:15Jocko Willink?

  Ruthless, ruthless.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  It's, I don't think people understand how they just take it for granted. You know, you're eighteen, nineteen years old and, or even the SEALs, you guys are in a firefight. And then next day you go into another one. You're, you're looking at policemen who were in a firefight for a half hour and they retire. You know, and it's like, these kids are out there and they just get up and do it and do it and do it. My wife used to worry so much when we'd have these ceremonies and she'd meet the SEALs. And she used to just think, how much are they carrying around? How much baggage are they carrying around?

• 19:59Speaker 01

  And it's just, people just don't realize how it can just.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Uh wipe a guy out, have those memories come back and uh they just take it for granted. They like you say pros, they got this for them and that. And you got these young kids that are life in death situations, carrying a hundred pounds on their back, a hundred and some degrees, and that's like they do it again the next day.

• 20:26Jocko Willink?

  And the next day.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  It's crazy.

• 20:28Jocko Willink?

  The, this country doesn't understand what these guys go through.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  They don't appreciate it.

• 20:35Jocko Willink?

  So you get done with Vietnam, your deployment to Vietnam, you come home and you were planning the whole time you're gonna do your four years and punch out?

• 20:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, uh, that was the plan and it was funny, we, we were gone for 13 months and the world really goes fast. I remember uh, uh, my buddy, he's, we're sitting in the car, we're gonna go get some beer. I was, uh, I wasn't even old, I think I was 20. And uh, anyway, I go in to get the beer and uh, so as I, as I go to leave, I stop and I go, hey, wait a minute, I need a church key. And the guy goes, a church key? A church key back then is what you used to open up your cans of beer.

• 21:18Jocko Willink?

  Oh, you see that.

• 21:19Speaker 01

  Okay, so yeah, so and the guy's looking at me and he goes, you don't need a church key. How do you open up the beer then? And he goes like this, pulls the beer out from under the, or soda from under the counter and he goes like this, he goes, you go like this, you know?

• 21:35Jocko Willink?

  Oh, so the new cans had come out.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  I go back to the car and uh, and the guy, I say, well, check this out, guys. The guys go, whoa, where have we been?

• 21:50Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I've had some guys on that were POWs in Vietnam.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:54Jocko Willink?

  And like, you want, you know, these are guys that got shot down in like 1965, 1966, 1967. They come back in 1973. It is a whole new world. I mean, it was a whole new world for them. Uh, and even the year, like, I mean, you must've been gone 69, that the world changed a lot in that year.

• 22:17Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, I mean, uh, when we got back, they really hated us. I was stunned, how many people hated us? And uh, I'm thinking, what did we do?

• 22:28Speaker 01

  People just come out and insult us. You know, I remember, uh, I was at the airport and back then you had to fly in your uniforms and it was not a good idea all the time. You were like targets. And I had a woman up in San Francisco just rush up to me and she's got her children and she just hates me and I don't even know her. And she says, she says, how do you kill babies? And it's like, and I started thinking, why should I take her seriously? It's like, well, we try to give them a little bit more lead, you know, because they're quick.

• 23:06Speaker 01

  I'm sure she appreciated. Oh, she didn't appreciate it. But you know, it's like, how long do we keep taking it? Yeah, yeah. So, uh, yeah, they, uh, it was, it was weird the way they treated us.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  Virginia, I think they had signs, dogs and Marines stay off the grass. And I thought, when are we going to learn this lesson? These guys are called. And now they volunteer to do something that nobody else wants to do. Now they're treating them a lot better, which I totally appreciate. No, they're definitely, it's definitely a different world for us coming home now. Uh, so what'd you do when you got, what'd you do when you got out?

• 23:48Speaker 01

  I was totally drifting.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  I knew I wanted, I wanted to start a business, but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to. Uh, when I was younger, I was, uh, learning the, uh, contracting business. I was like a human wheelbarrow, you know, I just, whatever they wanted loaded up, that's what I would do. So I got into contracting and, uh, then went to school at, at, at night and, um, built a business. We did, I had a partner that I went with ever since, uh, elementary school. So, uh, we built it up to about 60 guys. And then from there, I bought a, uh, A women's store for my sister who went through a divorce and figured she needed

• 24:39Speaker 01

  an income, bought a store for her. They really didn't make enough money, so I ended up with four stores in the malls. And then I decided I would start manufacturing clothes. So it just kind of worked that way. And then I got a 300-seat restaurant, bar, entertainment. And everything was working just great. Living in a nice house, had the kids, wife's happy. So what year did you meet Sally? I met her before I went overseas. Okay.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  She was a car hop. I remember watching her and I just loved the way she looked in those slacks. What's a car hop? A car hop is, back in the day, you would pull up at a restaurant in the parking lot and the girls would come out, have little cowboy hats on and stuff. And they had the menu, so you'd eat right in your car. Oh, okay. And this is where a lot of the young guys would hang out, hang out in their cars and go out and check everybody's cars. And, you know, it was just a real social thing.

• 25:59Speaker 01

  And I remember she bends down to take the order and I see her face and it was just weird. It was like she, her front teeth were just kind of turned in a little bit. And it just, I don't know, I just loved her face. And we knew each other for five years, on and off, on and off. When I came back, she was engaged to get married. But it was my fault because I thought that I was gonna go to Vietnam and the life expectancy was not good sitting behind a 50-cal in a helicopter. So I didn't want her to waste her time. So I says, you know, why don't you go ahead and see other people? You know, I am, you

• 26:42Speaker 01

  know. So, you know, good luck. And I come back and I find out she's engaged to get married.

• 26:49Speaker 01

  I was like thinking and then I bumped into her at a party and they just started over again. It was nice and.

• 26:59Jocko Willink?

  So she broke off the engagement?

• 27:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:01Jocko Willink?

  Nicely done, George.

• 27:02Speaker 01

  I've apologized to her for years. I'm so sorry.

• 27:08Jocko Willink?

  Uh, okay. So you had, you're just basically an entrepreneur. You've got restaurants, you've got clothing manufacturing, you've got a contracting, but you've got all kinds of stuff going on.

• 27:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. And we had a couple of racehorses, which was, uh, was a lot of fun. And, uh, it was, it was good. And, uh.

• 27:27Jocko Willink?

  So you had Sarah first.

• 27:29Speaker 01

  Sarah and, uh, then we had Jim and then, uh, Michael and then Joe. Joe, we almost had in the car.

• 27:39Speaker 01

  But that was, that was funny. Uh, I got to the hospital and, uh, the emergency side, it was at, uh, it was at Long Beach Memorial. And at that time you had to park on a slope. And I just pulled the car up and, uh, and I ran into the hospital and I said, my wife's having a baby. Get ready. And I grabbed a wheelchair and I go out there and because they were on the slope, I'm trying to get her out and the door keeps closing. And then, uh, so I kind of moved myself around and then I got my hand on the, on the wheelchair and I finally get her in and she sits back and then the weight pushes the wheelchair

• 28:20Speaker 01

  back, crushes my hand. And my hand is now, uh, right there down onto the asphalt and, uh, I'm trying to, uh, get her back up so I can get my hand out. But it all worked out. We got her in there as soon as we got her up to the, uh, into the elevator. They were right there. They took her and they told me to change my clothes. I ran in and Joe was already born.

• 28:46Jocko Willink?

  I want to read a section here from the book when when Michael was born.

• 28:55Jocko Willink?

  He say this in the book, as they gazed upon their second son in the bright hospital room with his inquisitive brown eyes looking right back at theirs. His matted dark hair contrasting his fresh soft skin. George knew Michael was the right name for him. Sally wholeheartedly agreed. He was named after Saint Michael, the archangel, who in the Old Testament, cast out of heaven, all of the fallen angels led by Lucifer and condemned them to eternity in hell. He was a soldier full of strength and feared nothing. It was a perfect fit. The hospital staff performed their newborn well checks on little Michael. And after some time had passed, the pediatrician walked into their room.

• 29:36Jocko Willink?

  Mrs. Monsoor, Michael has jaundice, which is why his skin has a yellowish tint. It's caused by an excess of pigment, typically because of obstruction of the bile duct. You will be discharged today, but we will need to keep Michael and put him in an incubator until his levels get lower. Sally looked back at the doctor. She'd heard what he was telling her, but before she could help herself, she blurted out, doctor, I'm not leaving my son.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  That was Sally.

• 30:03Jocko Willink?

  The pediatrician thought for a few minutes as he could see the unwavering determination in her eyes. And that she was adamant about not not leaving him. Well, Mrs. Monsoor, we'll let you take him home, but you have to agree to set a protocol of treatment in the home, including sitting with him by the window in the sun for two to three hours a day. If you follow our instructions and he continues to improve, will not he will not need to stay or come back to the hospital. Thank you so much. I will. I will do everything you you need. Sally replied. So there's there's Mikey arrives on the scene and he ends up having asthma too.

• 30:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it just it was like from day one. Mikey Mikey's was like always had a problem. And got through that and his skin got better. And then as he got a little bit older, we realized he was having breathing problems. And then we found out he had asthma, but being Mikey, it wasn't, it's never just a little bit. I mean, it's always full blown and it was rough. For years.

• 31:07Jocko Willink?

  Like the asthma?

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, we would check on him every night.

• 31:13Speaker 01

  Fearful that he would stop breathing. And he, you know, he just, he was just so small and so weak because he really couldn't exert himself. And he's looking at his, uh, his brothers and his sisters, our sister, and they're just excelling. And, uh, he's just trying to keep up. They would race in the pool and, uh, people are thinking they're swimming, but no, Mikey couldn't swim because he would get so exhausted moving all those body parts. So he would race them by hand over hand along the side of the pool. He would always compete. He would just find a different way to compete.

• 31:56Jocko Willink?

  And again, look, this book is defend us in battle. It's, it's just an outstanding book. I'm reading small chunks of it, but the, the stories are just fantastic to read. Um, this one, I must admit, I felt like I had to read, I had to read this one here. It says, "As he grew older, Michael was often the target of bullying at school as well as on the playground and began to hate it. He felt profoundly for himself the effects of someone victimizing someone less able to defend themselves in order for them to gratify their own desires. Even in his youngest years, he was keenly aware of the injustice that took place. One afternoon, when Michael was around nine or 10, his father took him to the racetrack to scout out some future horse prospects as their family raced thoroughbreds at the time.

• 32:41Jocko Willink?

  When they arrived, George began to chat with the trainer and Michael ran off to play on the place at campground. As he played with the other children, George noticed three older boys pushing the other children or children around, including Michael. They made a show of it in an effort to demonstrate to all the children that they were in charge. They took over, they took over the only three swings and refused to get off any of them for the smaller and younger children to use. Not your swing, it's mine now." They taunted the younger chi- kids. George called Michael back to him and looked at his tears, tear-filled eyes. "Come here, Mikey. I know those kids are being bullies, but not every wrong is yours to right." There's not always justice in the world. Sometimes you just have to move on, George told Michael.

• 33:26Jocko Willink?

  Dad, what is justice? Michael asked, his curiosity perked on hearing of the new word. Justice is getting or giving what is deserved, whether it's reward or punishment, Mikey. George responded to his son, whom he always called Mikey when it was just the two of them. George could see his son taking in his words, yet his son's question continued to cut through his thoughts as they headed to their seats to watch the horse race. He could see in Michael's eyes that the issue was not resolved. After the action-packed race, they returned to the area where they met the trainer. George asked Michael to stay nearby him and wait for him. But as soon as George was speaking with the trainer, Michael shot off to the playground with fire in his eyes.

• 34:09Jocko Willink?

  Those same boys were again back on the swings taunting the younger children. Michael ran straight up to them from behind and ripped each boy out of their swing one at a time. He then sprinted up the play structure and began to climb the ladder that led up to the rocket ship that had multiple layers of slides and ladders. He knew if he could get to the top, only one bully could get to him at a time, and sure enough, they chased him right up after, and one by one, he kicked each boy backwards over and over as they tried to attack him. When he could no longer defend himself, he initiated his escape plan. He leaped through the top rocket opening down the slide and ran as fast as he possibly could back to his father. This time with the biggest grin on his face and eyes sparkling with excitement, he knew he was safe with his father by his side and had executed his plan perfectly.

• 34:54Jocko Willink?

  George and Michael got into their car to head back home, and George glanced across at his son, who sat in the passenger seat, victoriously grinning back at him. Dad, I think that's justice.

• 35:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, when I was looking at him smiling, I was thinking, who was smiling the most? Because it was just this special day for me, and I know he felt so good that he outsmarted the bullies and he just, that was just the beginning on him and bullies.

• 35:29Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, that was like a sly move. You know, that was the thing about Mikey is he was quiet, but he, you could tell he was plotting.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  He was.

• 35:38Jocko Willink?

  He was plotting. So that was like the beginning of him plotting moves on people.

• 35:43Speaker 01

  Trying to figure something out, yeah.

• 35:47Jocko Willink?

  So you were doing good. I mean, going back to just family businesses, all this stuff got going on. You're living in Anaheim Hills, which is a nice spot.

• 35:56Speaker 01

  Nice view of the city, yeah.

• 35:58Jocko Willink?

  And then economy hit.

• 36:00Speaker 01

  Economy and the IRS.

• 36:04Jocko Willink?

  Ouch.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  And the IRS, back then, before George Bush Senior, they were, they had carte blanche. They did what they wanted. And they would accuse you of something, and too bad. You had to abide by it. Well, I didn't owe them any money, and so I fought. And it was an eight-year battle, but that battle really wiped me out. And I won. I got a little piece of paper that says, George Monsoor versus the IRS, pay nothing. It's, I might have been better off just to write them a check. But I was young.

• 36:45Speaker 01

  I think I was thirty or something, thirty-one. And so I just, you know, that's wrong, and I'm going to fight for it. And maybe I should have negotiated. But that kind of money, eight hundred, six hundred plus pennies, like eight hundred thousand dollars, back in the seventies, you're talking about buying seven or eight million-dollar houses in today's market. Yeah. So anyway, I fought, and then it really crushed us business-wise. And it was, it was amazing, really, how strong our family was. Because we went from a pretty nice life to me coming home one day after the banks called me

• 37:29Speaker 01

  and said, I have been gutted, and I had twenty-nine dollars in my pocket. And it was, kind of struck me as like, I thought I'd feel bad about it. But it was, it was just, the money was gone. I still had my family. And you just work around it. And I took, I went, my income definitely changed.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  Got a job working as a security guard and I took the job because they paid every Friday and I wanted to make sure my kids had groceries. And so I just did that until I put some deals together and it took a while.

• 38:09Jocko Willink?

  And you moved from Anaheim Hills down to, this is when you moved down to Garden Grove?

• 38:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, and this area wasn't, wasn't the best. But it was a good experience for my kids. And, because they would see, when they, they'd come to the factory with me, factory was down in LA and that was a pretty rough area. And they would see, looking out the window, it's, you know, some of these people had it really tough. And we used to have a bear of a man that would sleep in front of our, in front of the door on the porch, every night. And he would, he wouldn't say anything to me, it was more of a grunt all the time and he had, probably had some mental problems. He was just a huge guy.

• 38:57Speaker 01

  And I asked him, I says, are you sleeping here every night? And it was just a kind of a grunt.

• 39:01Jocko Willink?

  Was this of your house?

• 39:02Speaker 01

  No, this was at the factory and down in LA. And so I thought to myself, a guy that big, I got no problem with him sleeping here at night, because it was a rough area. So I put, I would put blankets out for him. And he, he stayed there for years. Every morning, I would come in, give it, get, bring him a big breakfast burrito. He still hardly say anything, just grunts. And he would roll up his, his blankets and disappear all day. And then in the evening he'd come back. And the kids were fascinated with this guy, they wanted to be his friend, but he wasn't buying it. But anyway, they kind of saw that world. Now, we're in an area where it's just a little bit of everything, sprinkling of all kinds

• 39:46Speaker 01

  of nationalities and it's, it was a lower income area. And

• 39:53Speaker 01

  The kids were like, and then from a nice, you know, high school with all their friends are wealthy. They all go to Europe and all that stuff, which I didn't really like them around those kids all the time because I didn't want them to think this is the way it is. I wanted to see the other side. So it was a good experience and you've met my kids. You know, they're, they're good with whoever.

• 40:17Jocko Willink?

  Hundred percent.

• 40:17Speaker 01

  They just roll with whatever and the whole family's that way. So it was good for them. Sarah wasn't thrilled with it.

• 40:27Jocko Willink?

  Sorry, Sarah.

• 40:28Speaker 01

  But she ended up, you know, being a leader in the, on the basketball team and all of the kids did great in sports and, and it was just, all in all, I think it was one of the best things that happened.

• 40:42Jocko Willink?

  Well, we've got a, I guess it's a, some kind of mythological thing in my family that started with, when I was growing up at Christmas time, apparently my mother's dad, when Christmas would be coming, he would tell everyone it's going to be a lean Christmas. And so that's what my parents would tell us like, hey, it's going to be a lean Christmas. And then, you know, when I was raising my kids and I'm in the Navy and I, you know, we're, I got three kids, then four kids, like we didn't have any money. I've been telling my kids, it's going to be a lean Christmas. And, you know, we'd get like, I remember, you know, we'd get used presents.

• 41:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:20Jocko Willink?

  And I mean, I got my, my kids got used presents all the time. Used surfboards, used toys. Everything was just used because it's going to be a lean Christmas. But you got a story that might, that when you moved down, I think it might've been the first Christmas down to Garden Grove where you guys didn't have any money. You were looking at a lean Christmas. And you've got a story here about Mikey who goes out and I think he cut down, like he didn't even have a Christmas tree. The, the deal was you guys were going to do no presents.

• 41:49Speaker 01

  We were just going to have a nice dinner and. We, we just started to get back on our feet and I had a deal fall apart on me at Christmas. And so my money's tied up and I can't get it out. And I just said, look, uh, we just moved into a house still in Garden Grove, but it was quite a, a step up. And, uh, Michael is one of those guys. He, he just kinda, okay. He's plotting. He's plotting. And, uh, so we wake up and we walk out and, uh, there's this, uh, Italian Cypress sitting in a bucket of, uh, of dirt.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  And he put a little sparkly things on there and there might've even been some lights up. And, uh, and there's a little presents around it and, uh, we're all coming in, you know, he says, sit down, sit down, you know? And he's giving us, um, presents and the presents were hilarious. Um, I still have the rocks he gave me. Uh, Sally kept the scarf that he got with those throwaways at the racetrack. And the kids got like fingernail clippers or little knives and we just roared. It was just so funny and the way he presented them, you know? And, uh, you're looking at your kids and you're thinking, these are strong kids, you

• 43:16Speaker 01

  know, uh, they get it and they just roll with, with the disappointments, but it was a great Christmas. And then I remember when we're leaving the house, I don't know where we're gonna go, but go out and I look at, we get in the car and you look in the front of the house and it's that Cypress. So you get two Cypress on one side, you got a Cypress the half on the other. And neighbors are thinking, well, they're ever gonna fix that, you know? I was, no, it's a memory. I think it wasn't fixed until somebody else bought the house.

• 43:54Jocko Willink?

  And so everyone's playing sports. Mike, he ended up playing hockey. How did he get into hockey? That's not the Southern California sport.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  No, but for him, if it rolls, anything that rolls or slides, it was just him. I don't know. He was like, remember the first time he was on skates? It was like, I'm looking at this guy. He's jumping over stuff. Once he starts moving, it's like in his head, well, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. It's like when we got him a bike. Next thing, he's building ramps, you know? See how high he can go. Ramps break, he crashes and burns, gets right back up and builds another ramp. And hockey, yeah, it surprised me, but he was still smaller than the other kids. And his edge was really how fast he was on wheels.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  And he just really liked the sport. He got his contact, but because he was on wheels, he could really hit these guys too, and he was quick. So if they hit him, he could come back and he felt everything was equal. And he loved the game, yeah.

• 45:05Jocko Willink?

  And then he also played football as well.

• 45:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, he loved football, but he was, you know, he just, he wasn't a big guy. But he had, you know, he was one of those guys that had a lot of heart, always working. And he took it really serious. No one was going to run past him. He was the defensive end. And that was his territory. Even if he had to pull the guy's face mask, he was not going to go anyplace. I remember he did it and he's double teamed and I see his head reach out, grab the guy's face mask. And I was sitting just right off in the bleachers. He could see me and he looks at me like,

• 45:43Jocko Willink?

  You gotta do what you gotta do.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  Not on my side.

• 45:46Jocko Willink?

  You've got a sectioned here. You say, Michael's team was getting pummeled by their counterpart junior varsity team, which included some of the varsity players. One by one, the JV players on his team began to remove their helmets and quit, walking off the field in defeat and shame. They were not willing to be humiliated any longer in front of their family or friends during the Garden Grove football scrimmage. The clock sounded its horn, loud horn for halftime, and each team jogged to their respective locker rooms. As George sat by his old 64 Gold Riviera.

• 46:15Speaker 01

  I love that car. And Michael ended up with it for a while.

• 46:20Jocko Willink?

  And waited for the game to resume. Michael walked past his father with barely a glance in his direction. George watched curiously as Michael moved around the front of the car and opened the passenger door to get in. George confused as to why Michael was not headed back to the field, looked directly at him. What happened, Mikey? Why are you here? Michael looked up at his father, his whole demeanor ripe with disappointment as he fought back tears. Dad, they just quit. The referee canceled the game because too many of our players quit. Dad, why would they quit? We still had a chance. We could have won. Mikey, you guys were down by 50 points. I know, Dad, but the game wasn't over yet. We had a chance. He hung his head, trying to fathom what had just transpired as he quietly repeated to himself. They just quit. Quitting was not something the Montsors did. They were

• 47:04Jocko Willink?

  always taught to follow through.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, we were. I mean, I had, when they wanted to play a sport, before I put him in that sport, we always had the same conversation. You join this team, you're here until the season's over. Whether you like the coach, whether you play or not play, you do not quit. So they were raised that way. You make that decision because I wanted them as children to understand, they make these decisions, then they have to live by them. And it's just a short little test, but it was important that they started understanding. You know, you just on a whim decide you want to play football. So he was raised like you don't quit. And a lot of those kids, it was hard on them because they were just getting wasted.

• 47:53Speaker 01

  I mean, there was no first downs. There was no completed pass. They were just totally outclassed. But Michael always figures, there's always a chance. And if he would have got one touchdown, he would have felt like we have our dignity. So that's, he was just, he did not like, he didn't mind losing as much if he gave everything, but just to lose, that just wasn't Michael. He used to have a thing, he bunk bet, he was on the bottom and Joe was on the top. And even on his inside, when he woke up in the morning, there was a little message, you know, never quit. And he carried that for, you know, his whole

• 48:33Speaker 01

  life. Yeah. He was, he was a believer in, once you said it, then live with it. Yeah.

• 48:41Jocko Willink?

  You go on to say here, "Michael's line-hearted determination grew stronger as he grew older. He played as a defensive end for the Argonaut varsity football team while he was in high school and was known for being one of the hardest workers on the field. Asthma continued to challenge Michael, but he was not going to let it dictate how he lived. Sally remembers how Santa Ana winds coming in from the mountains each fall would affect Michael's breathing. One afternoon, she opened the door to his bedroom to find him wheezing. She asked him why he wasn't using his inhaler. "I'm weaning myself off it, Mom." Although unable to fully rid himself of the ailment, Michael would not let it stop him from accomplishing what he set out to achieve. So, he's just freaking tough.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  He is. He's very determined and I think all the way he was treated, you know, when he was younger, bullies just, they have a sense, there's the weak one. And he just made it his life not to be the weak one. I mean, I remember when he was in the sixth grade, he told me, he says, "It's gonna be over." He says, "This will stop."

• 49:43Jocko Willink?

  Oh, this is the bullying he's talking about?

• 49:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, he says, "This will stop." And he just determined to get stronger. And even verbally, I mean, people didn't realize, if you know him, that his tongue was sharp when he wasn't, you know, as strong, because he would go the other way and he would embarrass them. I mean, he had a very good mind and he would just trash them. And they know that whatever they would do, he would take it. I've seen him take these hits knowing he'd come back and say, "What happened?" And, you know, maybe his brother would say, "Hey, those guys, you know, went after Mike because he went after them verbally." And, you know, he would fight, but he was just outgunned, but he never would back down.

• 50:29Speaker 01

  Even when he was little and he had to pay, you know, all of them had to have discipline. We had rules in the family and if he wasn't buying the rule, he would literally just, "Okay, I'll take the two days in my bedroom or whatever." And our bedroom, those bedrooms didn't have TVs and video games, but I never, never beef about it or anything. He'd just take his medicine.

• 50:54Jocko Willink?

  There you go.

• 50:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:56Jocko Willink?

  So, he's playing football. How were his grades in high school?

• 51:01Speaker 01

  Here's Michael. I don't know. Michael, in the sixth grade, it was determined to have very high IQ.

• 51:10Speaker 01

  And it was determined because we had a meeting and the teacher says, he just doesn't do anything. He ignores me and he doesn't do his homework. And he goes and there, as a matter of fact, there's his backpack, he says, you can take it home. And he goes and gets it and he says, you might as well take this home. And the backpack had all these papers in it. So he opens it up, the teacher opens it up and he's looking at all the homework he did and the tests he took. And he goes, he goes, you know, I think your kid's really pretty smart. And that's when they start putting him into the, to the higher classes. And he was fine with it, but then he got towards the end of high school, he's bored

• 51:55Speaker 01

  and I get a letter from the high school, a registered letter. It says, your son is all Fs and he's not going to graduate. And I bring him into the office and I say, you understand how this family works, right? I have my job, you have your job.

• 52:11Jocko Willink?

  Wait, what's the office? This is in your house? You have the office?

• 52:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:15Jocko Willink?

  This is where counseling takes, takes place with the, with the children?

• 52:18Speaker 01

  Well, I spent a lot of time in there praying that I had some money in the bank and I just keep looking at it. Now it's still the same. And I says, how this works, I says, you have a job and the job is to get through school. That's your job. And I says, you got straight Fs. They're telling me that you will not graduate. How do you think that's going to play out with me? And I says, you know, you won't be living here. And you don't do your job, you don't live here. You're gone. And he just smiles. He says, don't worry dad. I got this. And boom, he turns it around, straight ace, all the way up.

• 53:03Speaker 01

  And then he smiles and he goes, I thought I got it. There's something about him that when he's bored, then he made it harder just to, you know, test himself. And the things he did when he was young was always testing himself. He just, it was almost like a... Since I had racehorses, like having a young horse that you didn't allow him to get out of the stall and he just wanted to run and wanted to run. Michael wanted to run, but he couldn't. He just didn't, wasn't strong enough. And once he got stronger, he just wanted to run and he did.

• 53:45Jocko Willink?

  So, so he graduates from high school. What was his plan when he graduated from high school? Cause he graduated in 99.

• 53:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. And a couple of years later.

• 53:53Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. So what was he doing in the meantime?

• 53:55Speaker 01

  His plan was to go into the military, but he wanted to have a good time before he went into the military.

• 54:05Speaker 01

  So he had a good time. And then I remember telling him, you know, the good time's over. It's time for you to make a decision.

• 54:16Jocko Willink?

  Was, was Jim in the Marine Corps at this point?

• 54:22Jocko Willink?

  Or had Jim already gone to the Marine?

• 54:24Speaker 01

  No, I can't remember. I think Jim was in the Marines. Yeah. He was in the Marines. Another one that doesn't say anything to his dad. Hey dad, I'm going, I'm going to join the Marines. What do you mean you're joining the Marines? He goes, well, I'm going in tomorrow. What?

• 54:43Speaker 01

  And I knew Michael was talking about going in. I had no idea that that's, was his plan.

• 54:53Jocko Willink?

  In the book, it says that, it sounds like you're the one that had kind of told him about the SEAL teams where he'd asked you about it.

• 55:00Speaker 01

  Asked me about it and I remember, cause we would drop guys off and we'd do practice things and being in the Marines should do with Navy guys. And then we had, you know, we had our recon guys. So we'd do a lot of the same things. Recon? Everyone forgot about recon.

• 55:21Speaker 01

  Anyway, so he was fascinated with it, you know, like any young kid, he wanted to hear about these guys. I had no idea what was going on in his head. And because he was so sickly, he was, he's the last guy I thought that would be a SEAL. You know, and I always thought to myself, he's got a great mind and he's gonna be one of those eggheads and I'm good with that. Uh, but his mind was not thinking that way. And I was really kind of taken back when I found out after he graduated from Navy boot camp. His instructor told me.

• 56:00Jocko Willink?

  His instructor told you that he was gonna try and be a SEAL?

• 56:03Speaker 01

  He says, you got a great son here. He goes, this guy is great and he's definitely SEAL material. Now, what?

• 56:13Jocko Willink?

  And is that the first time you, you knew that he was gonna try and go to BUDs or he was going to BUDs?

• 56:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, he talked about SEALs, but I never really registered that he was serious about that. And, uh, and, and, you know, we teased him anyway, cause he went into the Navy, uh, cause we were all Marines. Uh, whole family, all the way back to World War II Marines and, uh, and it was like, uh, I was good with it, uh, Navy, but then the SEAL thing just caught me like, you know, and I still remember he had that funny smile like, yeah.

• 56:51Jocko Willink?

  So, uh, he's in the Navy, um, he ends up at BUDs. And BUDs is what it is and what it is is freaking brutal.

• 57:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:05Jocko Willink?

  And, uh, I'm gonna go to the book here. It was now late fall 2001. The days were shorter, the air was cooler. Michael was exhausted and decided to head home for the weekend to get some much needed rest in the midst of Vigor's training. A lot of people don't know this, when you're at Bud's, basic SEAL training, people think you get locked away on some island somewhere. No, you basically work Monday through Friday and then weekends, you recover.

• 57:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:31Jocko Willink?

  But if you want to recover by drinking, you can do it. If you want to recover by laying in bed and icing your knees, you can do that too. It's kind of up to you. And Michael decided he's gonna go home. So George knew something was wrong as soon as Michael returned home. Michael wasn't walking right and George, and as George looked down at his feet, he could see why. Michael's socks were bloody and Michael was miserable. "Michael, what are you doing? You're not gonna make it like that." "Dad, I'm not quitting." "Michael, you can't even walk and your feet are a bloody mess. You're leaving footprints all over the kitchen floor." "I'm not quitting." Michael bandaged up his feet as best he could and headed back to Coronado Prepare for training the following day. The bandages did little to keep the sand out of the lesions on his feet.

• 58:13Jocko Willink?

  And every step he took was like running sandpaper across the open sores, bringing excruciating pain. Both feet were an absolute mess, yet Michael pushed on. The pain continued to build and was not only draining him mentally, but rapidly slowed his pace, affecting his ability to perform the required evolutions. He was disgusted with what had begun to creep into his conscious thought. He hated to see weakness in others, but hated it even more in himself. With every pain-filled step, it became clearer. He was forced to acknowledge what he had tried to ignore, the reality that he would not be able to continue. It was the 24th hour of the first day of Hell Week, the third week of the six-month pipeline,

• 58:54Jocko Willink?

  and regarded as the most challenging week of Bud's training cycle, when students are expected to run upwards of 200 miles and are allowed to, allowed only three to four hours of sleep the entire week. Michael stood up and did what he thought he would never do. He walked over to the notorious bell affixed to a pillar directly in front of the first phase office, and rang it three times, alerting the whole compound that he was finished. Michael made a left face, walked achingly down the sidewalk that was already lined with helmets of those who had not made it to this point. When he reached the end, he made one more left face, took off his helmet, and placed it next to the others. He had quit.

• 59:40Speaker 01

  Dang. He was devastated.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  I remember when he, he told me and his just, I mean, his eyes were just filled with tears. He just could not believe that he quit. He just couldn't believe it.

• 1:00:03Speaker 01

  And it was, it was just so sad and I didn't even have words. You know, I, I kinda didn't want him to be a SEAL. Well, I didn't want him to be a SEAL. But I knew how much it meant to him, especially at that moment.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  I just really didn't, I just, I could remember how I, when they were kids, I would tell him, you know, it's when it's your defeat and how do you come back from the defeat? That's what makes you the, the man or the woman is the way you come back. And I couldn't even remember that. I was struck by, he was just so sad. And so the next morning, uh, he's up making some breakfast. And he says, remember when you say,

• 1:00:54Speaker 01

  and I go, yeah. And he goes, yeah, I'm gonna be a SEAL. And then it began. I mean, it just, he was back on track and he was gonna be a SEAL.

• 1:01:07Jocko Willink?

  So he ends up getting stationed, and again, like the book has so many good details of all this. Eventually he ends up getting stationed in Italy. In Accietresa. And immediately, and he's with a couple of other guys that are want, that are in the same boat he is in. And, um, man, that program's tough.

• 1:01:33Jocko Willink?

  So they began training. They began getting ready. They're swimming, they're running, they're, uh, cliff jumping.

• 1:01:43Jocko Willink?

  Getting into some of this stuff here. For Michael and his friends, they were determined to push themselves. As hard as necessary to train their bodies for the rigors of BUDS. They were getting a second shot and they knew they were not about to blow it. They would do whatever it took to be ready this time around. Michael's most traumatic experience thus far in life was ringing the bell and quitting BUDS. And he would not be satisfied without a second chance to prove to himself that he could do it. He told his younger brother Joe. That this second time around, they would have to drag his dead body off the beach before he would quit.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  And that does not surprise me with Michael. It scares you know, you know, Joe like.

• 1:02:20Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:21Speaker 01

  That could be true dad.

• 1:02:24Jocko Willink?

  Uh, got some good stories in here about Italy. They're in Sicily. They got nightlife. Uh. Michael's buying vehicles. He buys a Russian truck. He buys a, he buys a Lancia. You say this, uh, Michael also purchased a Lancia, an incredibly fast car with all wheel drive and used to cruise it all throughout Italy. The higher the speed, the better. Until one afternoon when he, when Ali, that's one of his buddies got a call from Mike. He had crashed it racing an Audi. They were flying down the Sicily highway when Mike hit a wet spot and lost control. His Lancia spun and slammed directly into the concrete divider wall. Luckily he wasn't hurt and was able to get it towed back to his home, but it was not looking good for the car. Ali drove over to Mike's apartment to see how he could help. First he saw the car, it was totaled.

• 1:03:08Jocko Willink?

  Then he saw Mike beer in hand, steak on the grill and not a care in the world. It was good while it lasted, Mike said with his signature smile.

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  And that is Michael.

• 1:03:17Jocko Willink?

  That is a hundred percent. Uh. There's, I mean, this is just another, Mike got so many accidents in Italy. He opted to pay $200 a day for extra car rental insurance. Just to cover the shenanigans. He liked, he liked freaking vehicles and cars and motorcycles.

• 1:03:36Speaker 01

  That might've been my fault. Uh, I had a motorcycle when I was a kid and, uh, I remember Sal always would get on and then I would. Uh, drive a little crazy and she'd reach up into my shirt and pull my chest out.

• 1:03:51Speaker 01

  But, uh, Mike, when he was little, we had a, a 64 GTO.

• 1:03:54Jocko Willink?

  Oh, man.

• 1:03:56Speaker 01

  And, uh, that thing, uh.

• 1:04:00Speaker 01

  From a dead stop, you know, or just it would just scream, you know, and Mike was just a little guy and he'd hold on to the handle over the glove box and he'd just go, Dad, go. And I'd burn through those gears, you know, and fishtailing and he's just in heaven, you know, and then I would, we had this long on wrap to the freeway where you could kind of see the freeway before you got on and you had this long ramp and so he knew I could do it there and I would, so I'd just burn through the, through the gears and the cars and he can smell the smoke from the tires and he's just a huge smile. Dad, we're going a hundred miles an hour, you know, and it's like about half of that,

• 1:04:43Speaker 01

  give or take 50, you know, and then we got off it, but he just loved the acceleration and I, I didn't realize that it would have such an effect because he loved fast stuff. Yeah, and he just did.

• 1:04:59Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, including Lancia's.

• 1:05:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, so if parents read this, it's a great book for your children, except for, you know, that kid slowed down a little bit, that might have been a mistake on my part.

• 1:05:13Jocko Willink?

  Fast forward a little bit here, it says, as the two years came to an end, as he inched closer to heading back to Coronado for a second shot at Bud's, Michael felt strong, strong and ready, Michael still contented with his severe asthma, which caused him to be rarely without his inhaler, but he would not concede to this ailment in any shape or form. One afternoon, as Chris, that's another one of his buddies talks about, and Mike ran side by side on one of their last hard runs, Mike pushed himself harder and harder to beat his friend Chris. As Chris pulled ahead, it pissed off Mike, he pissed off Mike, grabbed his inhaler, chucked it across the road and sprinted until he beat Chris and finished the run. That was the last time Chris ever saw Mike use his inhaler. He didn't have room for weakness, it was all or nothing this time around.

• 1:05:56Speaker 01

  He was mentally ready for Bud's. It was like, bring it.

• 1:06:02Jocko Willink?

  I mean, and it sounds like his attitude going in, obviously, you know what to expect, you don't want to make that mistake, although, one of my roommates was a, a former Bud's quitter and he was back again and I was like, well, you know, he's probably gonna, he's a little older, you know, kinda. I was thinking, hey, you know, this guy's gonna be good to go. But sure enough, first night of Halloween, he quit. So there's no, there's still no guarantee. It's, it's what you change in your brain.

• 1:06:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, and he was more prepared. I remember, I think the last thing I said to him when he left was, uh, watch the sand. Because, uh, that really destroyed him. He, he wasn't, he just didn't take care of himself, uh, that first time around. So, um, he was definitely determined. He was in good shape and mentally, he was determined.

• 1:06:56Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:59Jocko Willink?

  He had a friend named Gabe Lynch. And, uh, this kid was like an Oregon farm boy. So you had like the California kid.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:06Jocko Willink?

  Um, they had some pretty good experiences that they talk about in the book, that you guys talk about in the book. It says, uh, Gabe and Michael were both part of boat crew three. They were close in height, standing just around six foot one. Gabe recalls how Mike was always one to brighten the mood of the guys during the often exhausting days of being beaten by, by the ocean surf while wet and sandy all day long. Gabe was the slower runner between the two of them. And he remembers Mike hanging out in the back with him as they would push through their four mile timed runs. He would encourage Gabe, then sprint back up to the front and finish easily in the top tier runners every time. That was the kind of guy Mike was, always looking out for his buddies.

• 1:07:45Jocko Willink?

  He could see who needed a word of encouragement or, or action of support and would deliver it at just the right time. Sometimes that's all it took when a guy was delirious, running on a few hours of sleep for a, for days on end, even though Michael had not yet made it and become part of the SEAL Brotherhood. Brotherhood itself was something he already understood in the depths of his core. He was not going to let his friends down.

• 1:08:12Speaker 01

  And he was always that way. Yeah, when he was a little kid, when, when we were living in that, uh, uh, other neighborhood, it was pretty poor. It wasn't uncommon for him to take, uh, Christmas gifts and give them away to his friends. I'd see his friends playing with the gifts. If you were his friend and, and if you speak to his friends, they will say that, uh, he truly was a true friend and he was always on their side. And that's just the way he was. So the Brotherhood was perfect for Michael.

• 1:08:46Jocko Willink?

  Perfect place.

• 1:08:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:50Jocko Willink?

  The quick scene from Hell Week. Uh, just cause this, this, this sounded like Mikey, man. Uh, with paddles in hand, they begin uh, to row in unison. They'd just taken the first few strokes in an evolution aptly named around the world, which entails paddling their small boats from San Diego Bay, north through the channel, around the tip of Coronado Island, back to Bud's Beach, a staggering 13 miles. As they paddled, Gabe couldn't hold back any longer. He started to doze off and without missing a beat, Michael shouted over to him from his side of the boat, "Hey, man, I love you, bro, but you need to wake up." That's all it took for you to jar Gabe back to consciousness and help him focus.

• 1:09:31Jocko Willink?

  They end up securing Hell Week. They lost about 75% of their people. Obviously. Michael made it.

• 1:09:42Jocko Willink?

  Got Ray, it's, uh, it's just Craig Ray Baviera, another guy from, from Tasking the Bruiser was a, there was the LPO of their Bud's class.

• 1:09:52Jocko Willink?

  They're getting ready to go out to San Clemente Island, which is the third phase of training. It's the last phase of training. And before going out there, Michael planned a little boat trip. And again, again, I'm going to fast forward to this part just because it's, it's funny to read about. Michael being an avid adventurer had planned a spearfishing trip and brought Gabe and another buddy of theirs, Chris, Chris Kimbrell, from their Bud's class along for the weekend. Gabe knew how to spearfish like Mike and they were naturals in the water, but for Chris, a Midwest landlocked boy, this escapade was not his forte. He was ready to go for it though, and couldn't wait to see what the picturesque island had to offer. Chris was one of the first all suited up and couldn't wait to get going. Before Gabe

• 1:10:36Jocko Willink?

  had even dropped the anchor, Chris jumped in the water to see what he could find. Moments later, he burst through the surface proudly, holding up his spear. There on the end of his six-foot Hawaiian sling flopped a beautiful orange fish. Chris yelled in triumph. Michael immediately dove to the water tackling Chris as he pulled the spear from his hand. "That's a, that's a Garibaldi, the state fish of California. It's super illegal to hunt, dude." Michael yelled at Chris. There were other fishing boats all around. Anyone who could have seen the fish that Chris had on the end of his sling. Michael quickly snatched the fish from the tip of the spear and dove to the bottom. He found a large rock and wished. So that's just like classic.

• 1:11:15Jocko Willink?

  Poor Chris Crabbell, Chris Crabbell, who's, you know, a landlocked guy. He didn't know. He's like, yeah, this gear ball be everywhere. You see him, you're like, oh, this is easy hunting. Oh, it's classic.

• 1:11:33Jocko Willink?

  Third phase, the last remaining block. Again, fast forward to the last block before graduating. Bud's entailed instruction on SEAL weapons and tactics lasting around eight to 10 weeks. The students covered land navigation, land warfare, ambushes and raids, patrolling, weapons handling, and marksmanship and demolition. Michael and his classmates were on San Clemente Island focusing specifically on raids, ambushes, and demolition.

• 1:11:54Jocko Willink?

  San Clemente Island is a rocky volcanic island off the coast of California with hardly any trees, lots of cactus, no natural fresh water, full of caves and caverns formed by gas bubbles in the lava when the island was molten mass. As the men focused specifically on ambushes and raids, Ray Baviera, who continued as Michael's squad LPO through third phase, recalls how Michael would find a way to make light throughout the arduous and nonstop evolutions, bringing humor to any situation, brightening anyone's move mood.

• 1:12:27Jocko Willink?

  And that's something that everybody, everybody says that about Mike. Like, no matter what's going on, he's just gonna be sitting there, putting everybody back in a good mood.

• 1:12:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, he thought it was actually important, especially if people are getting stressed out, like in Bud's, you can see it on their faces. And he thought, you know, he's seen these guys are going on tilt, you know, and, you know, our family does that, you know, that'll quip this and that, you know, and he's always done that when things get real serious and it kind of brings people down.

• 1:13:08Jocko Willink?

  It says third phase was coming to close just a few weeks later. And as the men prepared to graduate, they were discussing what gift to give the command in their memory. They all wanted to leave something in their name from Bud's class 250 that was immovable and unique. They decided to give basic training command an enormous boulder with their names engraved upon it. Now the class had to figure out how to track down a boulder, engrave it and have it delivered to the command. Ray's wife Maria was back home in San Diego and took care of the logistics. What began as an idea quickly escalated into a four ton boulder that would have to be delivered by a crane. It would end up costing $7,000 and change. Each guy was given the option to back out after the final pricing was determined and not one guy did. They were all in this together.

• 1:13:51Jocko Willink?

  What the final gift became was something none of the Bud students would forget. And their memory forever lives on etched into the boulder. That was engraved with the following words, "The actions of the few dictate the fate of many by Alexander the Great." And it also says, "The secret to Bud's is underneath this rock." So Bud's classes give gifts to Bud's. And depending on the class and what they do, some of the, some of the gifts are pretty awesome. Some of them are pretty lame.

• 1:14:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:22Jocko Willink?

  I think my class gave a pretty lame.

• 1:14:26Jocko Willink?

  We gave a, like a little speaking podium.

• 1:14:30Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 1:14:30Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, the story behind it was one of the instructors was up at the podium talking to us. And as he was talking to us, he got mad and he smashed his hands down on the podium. And the thing like exploded. It like broke apart and all these pieces and he started yelling and we all go hit the surf. And so we like had this special one made. And the funniest part about that story is years later, I, I, I saw that guy, the guy that had smashed his podium and it exploded. Like he was the Incredible Hulk. And I said, he was a master chief by this time and I go, hey, master chief. He's like, and I go, when, cause he was a hard dude. I go. When my class was going through and you were the dive phase chief, I said, you smashed

• 1:15:15Jocko Willink?

  your hands on this podium and it like exploded. I said, was that like a, was that like a set? Was like a trick?

• 1:15:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:23Jocko Willink?

  Thing? And he looks at me and he goes, negative. It was oak reinforced. And I was like, okay.

• 1:15:34Jocko Willink?

  So people give these various different gifts and people give some, some stuff's really cool. Probably the most famous one is the, the creature from the Black Lagoon. It's a life-sized statue of the creature, the Black Lagoon, and it says, so you want to be a frogman, a little sign hung on it. But this was an awesome gift. It's this massive freaking rock.

• 1:15:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's gonna be there for a while.

• 1:15:54Jocko Willink?

  Oh, it's not going anywhere. And so that's what they gave.

• 1:15:59Speaker 01

  I didn't see that until Ray showed it to me. We were invited to watch Hell Week with the SEALs. We watched it from on top of a roof on one of the buildings and then, I'm so sorry for those guys. It was like those poor guys. People should just see that. No, and these guys are doing it because they want to do it. It's just amazing what they go through. But after, after that, then he showed me the rock. I knew it was there, but I never really, you know, I just, yeah, there's a rock, you know, and then he went over and showed me and it was nice. And I could see where they, they were rubbing on the names

• 1:16:40Speaker 01

  and obviously they were rubbing a lot on Michael. So it was kinda nice.

• 1:16:45Jocko Willink?

  No, it's awesome. And it's in a really prominent spot. It's like as you, as you leave the compound to go to the beach or come back, you go right by the rock.

• 1:16:56Jocko Willink?

  Michael graduated BUDS on September 2nd, 2004, back on Coronado Island, California. The graduation day was memorable for all the men stood proudly in their clean, crisp dressed uniforms and each waited in anticipation for their name to be called. Across the compound, a giant crane labored with a four-ton boulder, carefully placing the large rock in the much deliberated position where its weight could not, would not crush the buried utilities below it.

• 1:17:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. A little tricky.

• 1:17:22Jocko Willink?

  Michael's parents, George and Sally, as well as three siblings, Jim, Sarah and Joe, were in attendance to celebrate the achievement. George recalls the smile on Michael's face as he walked up to embrace him following the ceremony. He had this look on his eyes that seemed to say to me, "Dad, I hope you didn't doubt me. I told you I was gonna do this and I did it. I told you so." I loved seeing him like that. It gave me so much joy. I never wanted him to join the SEALs, but I was so proud to be proved wrong by my son.

• 1:17:46Speaker 01

  I love it when my kids prove me wrong because it's kind of a challenge. I was like, "I don't, I don't think you can really do that." You know? I don't, I don't, I don't know if you could do that. And I love it when they come to me and say, "I did it." And you don't know nothing. And I, I mean, they, I'm sure they catch on, but to see my kids stick to something, all of them, and then they accomplish it, it's just, you know, you're good. You feel great.

• 1:18:14Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. How did you feel when he got through Hell Week the second time? You must have been like, "Okay. Thank God."

• 1:18:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. It was funny. I, I kind of, though his attitude, I really would have been surprised if he didn't because he had these friends too. And once he makes these friendships, he's gonna be with them and push them through. So I just, I really, I would have been more surprised if he didn't make it.

• 1:18:45Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, that's the wild thing. I mean, you start out with a couple hundred kids in your class. They're quitting so fast that they're just, it, you don't even know what's happening.

• 1:18:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:58Jocko Willink?

  And, and so you gotta be a little bit careful because if you don't, if you get to know someone kind of while you're there and all of a sudden they quit.

• 1:19:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:07Jocko Willink?

  That, all of a sudden you go, "I'm alone." So for him to have some good friends rolling in there is definitely nice and, yeah.

• 1:19:17Jocko Willink?

  Got another guy here. Michael and Z went through all of BUDS together. They graduated BUDS, Basic Airborne SEAL Qualification Training, now assigned to SEAL Team 3, Z to Echo Platoon, and Mike to Delta Platoon. The weeks were busy training, and the weekends were spent riding their bikes, and that's motorcycles by the way, chasing girls, hanging out with the guys. After a day of riding, they'd often come back to connect and unwind at Bar Dynamite, a small bar in Mission Bay where they'd grab drinks with friends, including Gabe and other freshly minted, and another freshly minted SEAL, Tommy D. Mike was, Mike was living life to the fullest. He was renting this house in Mission Bay, while the new guys,

• 1:19:59Jocko Willink?

  like myself, lived in one small bedroom, small one-bedroom apartment, said Z, laughing. A motorcycle and a stellar pal pad were not the only things Michael set his sights on. He was eyeing his next car, and he knew exactly what he wanted. Just received a contract bonus that he used to buy a silver 2004 Corvette Z06.

• 1:20:22Speaker 01

  Yeah. Michael could never be a financial advisor.

• 1:20:27Jocko Willink?

  This is like the classic thing I tell guys not to do when they get their bonus. I used to be like, "Hey, listen, don't go buy a Corvette, don't go buy a Ford 350 Super Duty Harley-Davidson, don't, don't do that." It's hard to talk them out of it.

• 1:20:38Speaker 01

  I know, especially with the junkers at my camp.

• 1:20:41Jocko Willink?

  Oh, so he's got that. Mike was living the dream in Southern California, but he also understood his team was on short fuse to surge into combat areas in the Middle East. He knew the coming months would include a fire hose of information, intense training, his platoon is going to war, and how fast he learned and integrated into platoon, and his role could mean all the difference.

• 1:21:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, he took that real serious. When he was home, he was studying. He definitely, he got to the point where I do not want to make a mistake. I mean, it was like, he really wanted to make sure that he was on it.

• 1:21:21Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, and, and it was so long ago for me. Like when you're a new guy, there is so much It just stuff to know. And you don't want to make a mistake. Everyone's watching you. And you just want to do good and you're going to be counted on. You know, these guys are going to be counting on you. So, uh, and we also had a condensed workup because at the time the war was hot and heavy. This is now 2005 going into 2006. The, it used to be 18 months to train and get ready to go on deployment. Well, for us it was six months, like, or sorry, 12 months. Boom, and you're out the door. So they, it was, everything was compressed and there was a lot of stuff being, being forced down the throats of everybody.

• 1:22:06Jocko Willink?

  And, uh, yeah, you, there's a, there's a story in here about the, the Roger that which, which So I'm, I'm talking to new guys and it was a particular block of training where it's close quarters combat. The instructors are, it's live fire and close quarters, which means you're shooting right next to guys, right? You know, you're two feet from someone, you're shooting a 12 inches off their muzzle. It is tight quarters. It's super dangerous. And so you've got to be heads up and the instructors have to be really hard to make sure that you don't mess anything up. And so I had took the new guys and said, listen, when you're going through this block of training, those instructors tell you something.

• 1:22:48Jocko Willink?

  You, you, your response is Roger that. I don't want to hear like, well, I, I was thinking this or I could have done what I didn't see. No, you don't say any of that. When the instructors talk to you, you say Roger that. And so we're going through this training and as we're going through this training, you know, I'm friends with all the instructors. All the instructors are like, oh, we're all friends, but the new guys don't really know them that well. But finally, one of the instructors, who's a good, he's a master chief, he comes up, he goes, he goes, hey, Jocko. What's up with this Monsoor guy? And I was kind of, I didn't really know. Something's wrong and I go, what do you mean? Mikey's, you know, he's good to go. He's like, well, what's up with his attitude? And I go, what do you mean? What's wrong with his attitude? And he goes, every time I tell him something, or one of the instructors tell him something, all he does, look up at us and say, Roger that.

• 1:23:33Jocko Willink?

  That's all he says. And I go, hey, bro, I told him that's all he's supposed to say. And he's just following that to a T. That's what he's doing.

• 1:23:42Speaker 01

  And when he would say that, the guys that he's with are like, kind of smirking like, no one knew if he was a smart ass or he just following your orders.

• 1:23:53Jocko Willink?

  That's a, I'll tell you, so here's another similar story. We're, you were in the Humvees and we're going through the block of training with Humvees. And the, the gunners call out, you know, like clear right, like you come up to an intersection and the gunners, which is Mikey, call out clear right or clear left.

• 1:24:15Jocko Willink?

  And, you know, Mikey's up there and I'm, I'm the, I'm the vehicle commander. So I'm sitting in the, in the passenger seat and he's up there and like we get to our, first time doing it. And we come up to an intersection and he's like, clear right. I could barely hear him, you know? And I look down at him or I look up and I kind of hit him on the leg. I was like, hey, man, you got to sound off. And he's like, he goes, Roger that. Next intersection, we pull up to it and he's like, clear right. Super overcompensating. And I, and I thought to myself, hold on a second.

• 1:24:51Jocko Willink?

  Is he being a wise ass? Or, and then we pull up the next intersection, clear right. And, and here's the thing, he wasn't being a wise ass. He, I told him to freaking sound off.

• 1:25:00Speaker 01

  If you want it, you will get it.

• 1:25:02Jocko Willink?

  I got it.

• 1:25:05Jocko Willink?

  But that was a, you know, that attitude, that Roger that attitude, man. That's, um, that, that was it, you know? That was, he was gonna, he was gonna get it done.

• 1:25:20Jocko Willink?

  One of the first blocks of training workup was land warfare out at Nyland, California, by the Salt and Sea with 107 degree summer average. It's a scorching place to train, and sure enough, we were out there in the summertime. This combined with the schedule, rocky mounted terrain scarred with washes makes the literal and figurative crucible of the workup. Here's where the platoon will work on the tactics, techniques, and procedures of fighting in open terrain, as well as demolitions, rockets, and mortars, and all the different small arms weapon systems of the SEAL arsenal. A platoon is normally made up of 16 to 20 operators, each having a specific role to include snipers, preachers, communicators, and automatic weapons gunners, to name a few. Although specialized within the platoon, each man is still responsible to be proficient at the other jobs. Michael

• 1:26:03Jocko Willink?

  and the other new guys could not wait to jump right in and get started. Michael caught on very quickly, especially with his automatic weapon, the Mark 48. Each of the new guys were being watched closely by the older men in the platoon. His LPO Doug Wallace remembers how that even though Michael was quickly picking up on the tactics and performing all tasks efficiently and without complaint, it was always with humility and a willingness to learn more. Misery loves company, and Nyland is a block where there's many reasons to complain of our intense conditions. Mike never did once, not one time. It showed great character and understanding on his part, especially for a new guy, Doug said. And then there's another section here. So it's, there's like a little gang mentality

• 1:26:47Jocko Willink?

  going on, and part of it is like you're gonna fight each other sometimes. So they're having some boxing matches, and I'm using that term very loosely. Yeah, they're not professionals. Because they're not professionals. But they'll set up like a tournament, and generally, or oftentimes, it's just the new guys have to fight each other. So this is going down, and it says here, "It came down to Mike, the last standing new guy from Delta, so in tasking to produce the two platoons, Charlie and Delta. It came down to the last standing new guy in Delta, which was Mike versus Kevin Lase." The final remaining new guy in Charlie. Kevin was huge.

• 1:27:28Jocko Willink?

  Two hundred and twenty-five pound tower of muscle loomed over most team guys at a height of six foot three. Mike was much smaller and more slender, but he wouldn't give up. He was a lean, scrappy dude, recalled Kevin. I remember hitting him as hard as I could, but there was no shaking him. We had no boxing form. We were street fighting at that point with boxing gloves on. I looked at him and it seemed as if his eyes were crossed and I continued to hit him over and over again, but he wouldn't stop. He returned blow after blow right back. We got so into it that I'm sure we were both seeing red, but each of us refused to back down. Both platoons cheered and taunted as each man hit the other over and over again. Clad in only their boots and camo pants, the two men continued to brawl.

• 1:28:11Jocko Willink?

  Neither could defeat the other and in the end, the older men called it a tie. Kevin had hugged Mike. Once they stopped and cooled down. You're a tough son of a bitch, Mike, Kevin said, laughing. Yeah, and Kevin Lace is just like a giant dude, thick. And there's Mikey. And Mikey, he got jacked later, but at this point, just coming out of Bud's, he was pretty lean still.

• 1:28:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:28:37Jocko Willink?

  Even though.

• 1:28:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was.

• 1:28:38Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:39Speaker 01

  There wasn't, he wasn't a real big guy. When he just got out, he was definitely lean though.

• 1:28:45Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:45Speaker 01

  And endurance wise, a guy could go for a long time. But mentally, I'm not surprised that he hung in there because he went through those mental things as a kid, people messing with him and stuff. Mentally, he was just really very strong.

• 1:29:00Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:04Jocko Willink?

  So we, that's what we're doing. We're going through this workup. We do land warfare, we do mobility. We do close quarters combat. We do urban warfare at Fort Knox, we're used to doing at Fort Knox. We do diving, we do jumping, we do a bunch of stuff back in San Diego. And, and we're working hard. That's what we're doing. And. We actually at the beginning of our training cycle, we as task unit bruiser didn't know where we were deploying to. Because there was three task units, one of them had already been designated to go to Iraq because they went to the Pacific the last time. So it was between my task unit and another task unit to see who was going to go to Iraq. Of course, everybody wants to go to Iraq.

• 1:29:49Jocko Willink?

  Everybody wants to go fight the other one. The other platoon is going to do a different mission, but it's not fighting.

• 1:29:54Speaker 01

  It was the Philippines, I think.

• 1:29:55Jocko Willink?

  It was.

• 1:29:56Speaker 01

  Cause I said to Mike, I says, well, maybe you get lucky and go to the Philippines. He looked at me like you poor pathetic old man.

• 1:30:03Jocko Willink?

  No.

• 1:30:05Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, exactly. So no one wants to go to, to the Philippines. No one wants to go to the Southeast Asia. Everyone wants to go to Iraq. And it's basically the commanding officer is going to pick and we, we pushed hard and we were supposed to go to Baghdad. Our original deployment was to go to Baghdad and there was a mission in Baghdad that was working directly with this group called the Iraqi Counterterrorism Force, the ICTF, Iraqi Counterterrorism. These are local, I mean Iraqi guys and they had been really well trained. They're probably the best, well, the best trained of all Iraqi troops. They had really nice gear. They had

• 1:30:46Jocko Willink?

  uniforms, like they had everything. And there was a, there was a group of SEALs with them and there was a group of armies, army special forces guys all working with these Iraqis. And I actually went on a pre-deployment site survey, we call it. I went before we went on deployment to go and meet up with those guys, see what the mission was like, get a heads up on everything. Cause that's where we were going, going to Baghdad. So I come back from that, we're prepared, we know what our mission is and where everyone goes on pre-deployment leave. So everyone goes, you know, like, hey, we're okay, we're going on deployment soon. And that's when we got the whole deployment changed around. And my commanding

• 1:31:28Jocko Willink?

  officer is, calls me in, he's like, hey, you're not, you guys aren't going to Baghdad anymore. You guys are going to go to Ramadi and.

• 1:31:38Jocko Willink?

  Well, Ramadi, we knew Ramadi was the worst place in Iraq and everybody wanted to go there. Just like everyone wanted to go to Iraq. Well, everyone wanted to go to Ramadi. I mean, the commanding officer said it to me like I was gonna be sad. Now, the, the, the, the mission in Baghdad was a cool mission too. And it was kind of all set up and running. So it was kind of, it's like ready made. Like you know what you're gonna be doing. Ramadi was kind of the Wild West still. But when he, he said it to me, he was making it seem like he needed to convince me. That, hey, this is what, this is what's gonna happen. You know, are you okay with that? And I was like, I realized the kind of the tone of his voice. I was kind of like, well, you know, sir, I'm gonna need some more people. I'm gonna need some more gear.

• 1:32:23Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, uh, but he was great. And, and then we reshuffled and, um, we reshuffled and got ready to go. And, um, I don't even, I don't think I even, I think, I don't even think we notified the guys because everyone was on leave. And you couldn't tell them like on an, in a, on a non-secure net, net, like, hey, we're going to Ramadi now. Like it's classified. So is the name, everyone came back. We had another week or whatever. Um, it's like, hey, everyone, we're not going to Baghdad anymore. We're going to Ramadi. Um, and the guys were ecstatic. They're ecstatic.

• 1:33:08Jocko Willink?

  And this, some of the stuff you cover in the book, Sarah and Sally come down to help Mikey pack up all this stuff. Uh, he, he takes, he takes his mom for a little ride in the Corvette. Got to read about that one.

• 1:33:20Speaker 01

  Uh, he did it on the motorcycle too. Oh, but she was used to the bike with me on when I used to take her on my bike. So he was kind of disappointed because she's

• 1:33:31Jocko Willink?

  She didn't get scared?

• 1:33:31Speaker 01

  No, she was, that was a nice ride, Mikey. Have a nice day and be careful.

• 1:33:40Jocko Willink?

  He goes up to Garden Grove, um, spent the last couple of days up there and. I'm gonna read this, uh, "The time had come. George and Michael awoke early in the morning and drove back down the I-5 South to San Diego. The trip seemed to pass much faster than either would have liked. Once they arrived in Coronado, George gave his son a big final hug as he said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. George felt a knot deep down in his stomach, but he refused to acknowledge it. The idea that this could be the last time he saw his son was not something he wanted to think about. As George drove home, he recalled an evening with his son from two weeks prior. He lit up a Fuente cigar for Michael and himself on their front porch.

• 1:34:22Jocko Willink?

  They sat together in silence amid the cool air under the dark sky while smoke slowly drifted in the light breeze. George's voice broke the silence to address what they were both thinking. Mikey, what if something happens to you? It's not exactly a walk in the park over in Ramadi right now. Please don't be a hero, just do your job. Dad, no matter what happens, I have no regrets." This reassurance from Michael helped, but George still did not want Mike to go. As a Marine vet, George saw firsthand what war did to all those involved, and he despised it. He knew it was unforgiving and brutal and how it could degrade and break the spirit.

• 1:35:03Jocko Willink?

  He also knew that Mike had been trained well by men who understood what he could be facing. This brought some consolation to George. As they finished their cigars together that night, George and Mike, George looked at Mike and the man he had become. He was so proud of him from a determined little boy who fought against the injustice of bullies and his own physical weakness of asthma. He persevered and overcame failure, adversity, and blocks of training he despised such as free fall parachuting and communication school, all with focused conviction and often a mischievous smile on his face.

• 1:35:47Speaker 01

  He uh

• 1:35:51Speaker 01

  He definitely surprised me at that, at that age, his maturity and he knew who he was. Talked to kids his age in their early twenties and stuff like that and they're still lost. He had his morals, he had his beliefs, he's pretty rock solid. And if there was things that he didn't like, I remember like jumping out of planes. I used to do that too. And he talked to me about it and then he says, "I don't like this. I don't like it at all." And he says when he came back, he planned on just doing that because anything that he was afraid of,

• 1:36:33Speaker 01

  he would just keep doing it and doing it till he owned it. And that's just the way he was.

• 1:36:41Jocko Willink?

  And he didn't like communication school?

• 1:36:43Speaker 01

  No, it was hard and he was studying all the time. He says, "God, I can't screw this up."

• 1:36:54Jocko Willink?

  Going to the book, "Mike loaded up his gear and followed his teammates to the waiting C-17 aircraft. The C-17 multi-purpose aircraft can be configured for transport of troops, cargo, or a combination of both. Though this last configuration is often how special operations units travel due to the small footprint and nature of their mission sets. TU Bruiser was no exception, and as soon as the aircraft was at altitude, Michael and his friends broke out their nylon hammocks and ground pads and settled in for the long flight. Tasking at Bruiser landed at Al-Takhatam Airport in Iraq, where they began to prepare for a short flight west to Ramadi. After the C-17 was unloaded, each operator opened his war box and donned his combat equipment. Michael had done this hundreds of times throughout War Cup and his prior training trips.

• 1:37:37Jocko Willink?

  This time was different. This was not training. His enemy was now hardened warfighters, whose will and resolve would be used to exploit weakness in order to win the war."

• 1:37:57Jocko Willink?

  It says here, "In the spring of 2006, the Battle of Ramadi was just beginning and it was already intense. The city was arguably the epicenter, was inarguably the epicenter of the insurgency in Iraq and known throughout the area as the most dangerous city in the world," wrote Leif Bab and the officer in command of Charlie Battoon, task unit bruiser. The al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, declared during that time that Ramadi would be the capital of his envisioned Islamic caliphate in Iraq. Insurgents controlled over two-thirds of the city itself and certain areas were nearly impenetrable to United States and Iraqi security forces. U.S. Marines and Army soldiers that were currently over

• 1:38:42Jocko Willink?

  there battled continually with large groups of well-armed and well-organized enemy fighters. So far, 93 U.S. service members had been killed in action and hundreds more were wounded in nearly 15 months of fighting."

• 1:38:57Speaker 01

  You remember, uh, Michael Fuente, I think his name was?

• 1:39:01Jocko Willink?

  Yep.

• 1:39:02Speaker 01

  Was telling me that, uh, the media would not even cover that. He was the only guy. He says, "They were just blowing those guys away and nobody would go."

• 1:39:13Jocko Willink?

  The media, so my previous deployment was in Baghdad.

• 1:39:16Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:39:16Jocko Willink?

  There was like hotels with CNN and, you know, all the news.

• 1:39:20Speaker 01

  They're all set up, yeah.

• 1:39:21Jocko Willink?

  Ramadi, there wasn't anybody.

• 1:39:23Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:39:23Jocko Willink?

  There wasn't anybody. And, you know, I just, I just had a guy on the podcast named David Belavia. He's a Medal of Honor recipient from Fallujah. Um, he was in the, the second Battle of Fallujah when the Marines pushed through.

• 1:39:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:38Jocko Willink?

  And he, he's one of the few people that did go to Ramadi as a reporter, as a journalist. And we're sitting here, you know, his story, you know about the second Battle of Fallujah.

• 1:39:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:50Jocko Willink?

  It, it was a brutal fighting. And David Belavia sits here and, and says, "Oh, Ramadi was way worse," which I, I, look, I'm not trying to compare the two.

• 1:40:01Speaker 01

  No, but Fallujah, yeah.

• 1:40:03Jocko Willink?

  But they were both.

• 1:40:04Speaker 01

  I remember that story, those stories, yeah. I definitely, I felt so bad for those Marines, you know, and then, uh, Ramadi, like I...

• 1:40:14Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:15Speaker 01

  Michael would tell me that he told the family that he was just teaching the guys how to march.

• 1:40:22Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, but we could see the news every once in a while, you know. Or when, when the pictures came out on the internet, you know, for when he had those pictures out, he was out there taking pictures and we saw him on the internet and it's like,

• 1:40:43Speaker 01

  was that Mikey's?

• 1:40:45Jocko Willink?

  That doesn't look like you're training people how to march.

• 1:40:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't see anybody marching, not other than some guys, then they're not marching.

• 1:40:51Jocko Willink?

  They're running.

• 1:40:56Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I mean, so it was basically on as soon as we got there, you know, the one of the indicators of that was the couple of days after, so I'd, I'd already been there for a little while with a few of the guys, just we were, we got there before the rest of the task unit, but as soon as the whole task unit was there, within a day, I think it was like the night they got there, we had like a little attack on our base and we end up the whole freaking task unit's on the roof of our building, lighting up and engaging, you know, the enemy fighters out there. And it was like, okay, that's what it is. That's how it's going to be.

• 1:41:38Jocko Willink?

  Almost within a couple of days of being there, I was going to meet the brigade commander, a guy named Colonel Gronski. And I was literally walking in to meet him and as I'm walking in to meet him, we had already put out a sniper overwatch position and Tony Affrati, the Charlie Platoon Chief, had shot and killed an IED emplacer in an area where the Marines had just hit a big IED and lost a bunch of guys. And as soon as that happened, Colonel Gronski looked at me, I mean, so that's how I meet him. He says, I think your guys just killed a, an IED emplacer where I just lost Marines. Hey, Roger that, sir. He says, we need you out in Eastern Ramadi.

• 1:42:22Jocko Willink?

  Place called the Malab, out Corregidor.

• 1:42:26Jocko Willink?

  And I said, Roger that, you know, um, and that's what we did as soon as, so as soon as I get back, we plan, all right, they need us in Eastern Ramadi and I took a probably two thirds of the task unit over to Camp Corregidor, where the first of the 506 is. Again, as soon as we get, we've been on the ground for like, a couple of days. Now, maybe it's been like six days and we're over there. We get to Camp Corregidor, the snipers are like, hey, can we get in the towers? Cause there's towers around Camp Corregidor. I'm like, absolutely. Tell the army guys, are you, are you good with us putting snipers? Colonel, Colonel Clark's like, absolutely. They start killing guys almost immediately. Um,

• 1:43:04Jocko Willink?

  enemy rocket teams, mortar teams, IED emplacers. Um, and at the same time where we're out at Camp Corregidor for a couple of days, the living conditions are terrible. Living the life. It was like dirt floors, there's mosquitoes. Uh, you know, they're getting mortared, indirect fire on a regular basis. Just, just, it was just freaking horrible. No showers, just, it was horrible. And so we do this initial mission out there and we come back to the bigger base and the army's like, hey, thank you for coming. Can, can we, can you keep working with us? As a matter of fact,

• 1:43:46Jocko Willink?

  their company commander, these guys went out on patrol and this company commander with a company, with an army company commander, he comes back after his first patrol with my guys and I walk with him to the battalion commander and he tells the battalion commander, I don't want to do another patrol without SEALs with me. You know, I want SEALs on every patrol. So Colonel Clark's looking at me like, hey, well, can you get some guys out here? I said, let me sort it out. So now I'm talking to Seth and you know, Seth's like, hey, I want to pick the guys to, to go back out there. Cause I, however it all shook out, Seth had the, had, was the opportune guy or the, the, he had the, the, Leif had already been assigned a guy, this guy had been, already been assigned Iraqi troops to

• 1:44:30Jocko Willink?

  work with, another guy had been assigned Iraqi troops with, to work with. I think Seth's, the, the Iraqi troops Seth was supposed to work with originally quit, like they didn't show up. And so Seth was the guy that had the, the capacity. So I said, all right, you're going to go out to Camp Corregidor. And he says, I just want to pick the guys I want to take. And I said, hey, man.

• 1:44:51Jocko Willink?

  It sucks out there. I said, how about we do this? Let's put a volunteer list up. And if anybody wants to go back out there, then then you can get volunteers. That way you're not forcing it down their throats. Seth's like, alright, so bring the tasking together. And I'm like, alright guys, you you you all just came back from Camp Corregidor, we're gonna send an element out there for deployment. All I can tell you is it's gonna suck. The living conditions are awful. The the

• 1:45:23Jocko Willink?

  the level of violence is extremely high, as you all saw. And if you want to go back there, then put your name on this list, on the whiteboard. And I walked out of the room and I came back 15 minutes later and everybody's name was on the list, including Michael's. Which meant that Seth got what he wanted, which was, he just got to pick his guys.

• 1:45:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:45:42Jocko Willink?

  And um Mikey was the was was one of the guys. There's no question he was going with Seth.

• 1:45:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, that that would that would have surprised me if he didn't.

• 1:45:54Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, no, so there was a, you know, Seth and Tommy D. And Mikey were real tight. So I knew that those three were gonna three were gonna stick together.

• 1:46:06Speaker 01

  So he didn't care. Seth was a little shocked at uh Michael's decorating. I remember when he got back, he was telling me about his his pad.

• 1:46:15Jocko Willink?

  Oh, yeah. Well, that's the good news is, the good news is, once they got over there and settled in. And we'll get to that part, but they eventually squared away, which Seal's a really good at. Seal's good at, we got some rough living, we'll fix it up.

• 1:46:31Jocko Willink?

  But that but so they end up taking this small element of guys out there to go to Camp Corregidor, move in there, working with the first of the 506. The Band of Brothers, which was awesome. And they get settled into this operational tempo and settled into really what it is that they're gonna be doing there.

• 1:46:53Jocko Willink?

  And I'll just example of this. Um, they get settled into what they're doing there, get settled into the combat operations and real quickly, we go to the book here, the army captain sat peacefully in silence in one of the only places set apart from the chaos and violence that was now Ramadi, Iraq. He was a little old for the rank of captain, but that was not uncommon for a person with his specific duties in the military. He had spent years in formation and training and was now here in the thick of battle in Ramadi. The quiet was broken by a firm knock at the door. The man rose from his seat and moved to receive it. He opened the door to find a tall, brown eyed, dark haired, young man patiently waiting. Are you a Catholic priest? I am, replied Father Halliday.

• 1:47:38Jocko Willink?

  Nice to meet you. I am a Catholic and my name is Michael Monsoor. I'd like to go to confession. Father Halliday grabbed his stole and motioned Michael to follow him. Father Halliday was 40 years old at the time of his deployment to Ramadi and was an army chaplain with the first of the 506. His main mission was to assist the soldiers of Camp Corregidor to worship according to their own religion and preference, but was an ordained Catholic priest and was happy to oblige Michael's request for confession. They sat down in the makeshift chapel. Michael had just arrived in Ramadi and Father Halliday understood well the situation the men were facing on a daily basis. He thought it showed significant religious formation and conviction for Michael to seek him out after only recently arriving in Ramadi.

• 1:48:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, Michael, he took his faith serious and he also, I mean, he knew he was in a place where he could lose his life and he wanted to be prepared everywhere, spiritually, physically, mentally.

• 1:48:46Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, and the, I mean, the fighting was, it was sustained urban combat and, um, I, I mean, guys were getting wounded or killed just about every day. And, and the first of the 506, I mean, Charlie Company, the first of the 506, who Mikey spent a lot of time working with, they had had like a third of their company casualties in four or five months. So they, 50 guys, they were down. Not all of them were killed, but it was, it was.

• 1:49:24Jocko Willink?

  It was war.

• 1:49:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. When we were in Fort Campbell and their commander brought in some of the guys that worked with Michael and their stories, you know, and it's like you start realizing how many people they did lose and just how tough it was. And I remember Sally breaking down, hearing some of those stories and thinking about Michael. So it was, people just don't get it, how tough it was over there.

• 1:50:04Jocko Willink?

  Some of what they were experiencing here, they were in the middle of intense firefights on almost daily basis.

• 1:50:11Jocko Willink?

  The operating tempo, they were facing required hyper-focus and the guys completely undeterred stepped up and went to work. We asked a lot of our guys, especially with the numbers of missions we were conducting while facing extreme heat, dehydration and exhaustion. It didn't faze them. They all stepped up and performed. Mike Sorelli said, "There were Army and Marine units also stationed in Ramadi that the SEALs were providing assistance to and one of the large Army battalions being the first of 506." This was the descendant from the Band of Brothers from World War II. The battalion was huge and led by Lieutenant Colonel Ron Clark. His men were professional, talented and worked incredibly well with the SEALs.

• 1:50:51Jocko Willink?

  Michael's troop commander, Lieutenant Commander Jocka Willink, had instructed his men to use Army, to use the Army's uniform, a tri-color gray digital pattern called Army Combat Uniform or ACUs. It was very different from the tri-color desert naval special warfare uniform. The men wore it and even shaved their heads to match their Army brethren. This was not only, this not only increased the cohesion of the two units, but also had a very practical purpose by blending in with the Army unit. The SEALs did not stand out as special forces. The enemy had begun to target soldiers that looked or dressed differently than the average.

• 1:51:28Jocko Willink?

  So that's why when people see pictures of that element they're wearing, they're wearing army uniforms. Um, that's what it is. They wanted to blend in.

• 1:51:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:51:39Jocko Willink?

  And wanted to not stand out and wanted to form a relationship with the army. You know, there's just, just, you know, sometimes in special operations, you know, you can wear all this Gucci gear and it's like you're trying to set yourself apart and we didn't want to do that.

• 1:51:56Speaker 01

  How often does that happen where, um, I see you guys working with Marines, but working with the army. Is that something that's, uh, unusual or not unusual?

• 1:52:07Jocko Willink?

  I would say it's not, it's not unusual to this, to this amount on this, this much of relationship, working all the time.

• 1:52:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:52:16Jocko Willink?

  Is, is a little less common. Uh, but, I mean, that whole deployment was, we didn't do any missions. Well, we did barely any missions where we weren't with an army or Marine Corps unit, or at least adjacent to them. I mean, we were definitely adjacent to them. Um, but yeah, the ACU thing, that was because that was, because those guys were living with them and we just figured, let's just win in Rome.

• 1:52:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:52:52Jocko Willink?

  It's starting to get into this little, the order of battle for the SEALs would largely consist of word coming from the army 48 hours ahead of time informing them on what area of Vermont they would be patrolling. The SEALs would then plan and provide sniper overwatch during the army patrol. Even amid their overloaded operating schedule, the men of Delta Platoon gathered supplies to build a home away from home in the tattered building where they would be spending the deployment. They nicknamed it Full Metal Jacket. So the building that they lived in called Full Metal Jacket. If you've seen the movie Full Metal Jacket, that's what this building looked like. A bunch of army guys living in there too. A plywood floor was laid, the walls were reinforced with sandbags, foam was sprayed between the inner and outer layers for insulation. They framed and built out rooms for each man and installed a small AC unit to keep cool the air.

• 1:53:38Jocko Willink?

  In certain parts of the building, the men needed to watch their step in order to to avoid exposed rebar. The heat was miserable in May, reaching upwards of 115 degrees. And fixing up and finishing full metal jacket was a welcome reprieve. The men of Delta Platoon had this once barely standing building, a home away from home. By normal standards, nothing to write home about, but nonetheless, a haven in the midst of the heat. Yeah, and that's where Mikey built Mikey's little town.

• 1:54:07Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:54:08Jocko Willink?

  And just to, you know, we were talking about, um, this was probably a month in and I, I had the Marine, or sorry, the Army Special Operations Commander came to visit Task Unit Bruiser. And I was briefing him on what was going on. And I said, my element in Corregidor has been out their last 23 missions. They've been engaged by the enemy 23 straight missions in a row. And as I'm saying that, almost as if on cue, one of the guys from my tactical operations center comes in and, and says, excuse me, sir. And I'm like, yes.

• 1:54:52Jocko Willink?

  And he says, just to let you know, the guys in Corregidor are in contact with the enemy right now. And I looked at the, the Siege of Sotaf Commander and I said, well, sir, make that 24. That's to, so to go out 24 operations in a row and be in enemy contact. It's what you were talking about earlier. And I remember actually the 25th operation, I think it was the 25th operation, they didn't have enemy contact is because they did something like really small. And they broke their streak, but, um, it was, it was on. And you got, and again, you interviewed a bunch of people for this.

• 1:55:36Jocko Willink?

  The deafening noise of machine gun fire suddenly erupted from an enemy insurgent position to the right. Michael dropped into his field of fire identifying the enemy position immediately sent back a long burst with his mark 48. Contact right, multiple seals yelled as they sent round after round toward the enemy. Mike sprinted to the closest position to cover, which was a courtyard wall of a nearby house and picked up fire. The other seals and Iraqi army scouts moved into the courtyard and began returning fire as well. Changing, yelled Mike as he stripped out an empty ammo box and loaded a full one. Just as he closed the feed tray cover, five enemy fighters moved to flank Michael and his team. They are flanking to the west, Mike yelled as he fired at the maneuvering insurgents. He caught them halfway through their movement and had them pinned behind a small vehicle.

• 1:56:20Jocko Willink?

  Hold them there, Mike JP yelled. Mike could overhear the Marine Ang- the Marine Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company Anglico guys on the radio setting up for a strike on the enemy fighters he had pinned down. Cast in 30 seconds, called out the controller, letting the guys know the jets were 30 seconds out from dropping. For Michael, this seemed like an eternity. He had the best vantage point to keep the enemy where they were as the other seals and scouts were still engaging the original enemy position. He conserved his ammo, knowing a reload may give the insurgents just enough time to maneuver away from their current position, which could cause the close air support strike to have to abort and start over. He continued to send five to eight round bursts into the vehicle. One away, 10 seconds

• 1:57:02Jocko Willink?

  to impact, called out the controller. The dust was heavy, but Michael could still see to know that none of the five enemy had left the position. Suddenly a flash, then the car ripped apart and disappeared in a cloud of black and gray smoke. Good hit, stand by for BDA, stated the controller over the radio. The dust cleared. Where the sedan used to be was a crater with indistinguishable metal debris and other scattered and other materials scattered in the area. Michael could make out three of the five enemy now lying in peculiar positions near the blast site. Good hits, five by EKIA, Michael heard the controller say. The original enemy position went quiet immediately after the strike. The seals, Marines, and scouts maneuvered to assess and secure the building. The scouts entered and cleared

• 1:57:46Jocko Willink?

  it only to find that the enemy had left the area. Alright guys, there's nothing left here. Let's Charlie Mike, said Chief Forten, and the seals and scouts moved to reestablish their security position for the main element.

• 1:58:02Jocko Willink?

  So that's what they were doing.

• 1:58:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would get phone messages where Michael would call, we'd message, just kick him back with my bros. Send cigars.

• 1:58:16Jocko Willink?

  Critical information, send cigars.

• 1:58:18Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:58:24Jocko Willink?

  There's really good examples of this throughout the book. Another one, immediately enemy fire began to hit the wall around the rooftop. Michael repositioned toward the contact and fired. The enemy were using the cover of surrounding houses effectively and continued to harass the security position. It was clear this was not like other attacks. It was well coordinated. The enemy was careful not to engage from the same spot for too long and continued to maneuver and flank. The rounds from Mike's 48 began to eat chunks out of the corners and ledges that the enemy were using as cover. The short rooftop wall was beginning to degrade as well, however, and bullets were penetrating the plaster in some areas. The men stayed low and continued to engage. Michael was glad he had prepped his extra ammo ahead of time.

• 1:59:09Jocko Willink?

  It looked as though he would be needing it soon. Michael and the other SEALs on the rooftop were not the only ones taking fire. The Iraqi army scouts were trying to exit the house to maneuver on the insurgents but were pinned inside. Every time one of the scouts tried to exit the house, a hail of bullets hit the area around the exit. On the rooftop, the situation was not improving and it looked like ammunition might soon become a problem. Not for Michael. He continued to engage multiple enemy positions, stopping only to reload and reposition. Mikey, how's your ammo? Yelled JP. I'm good to go. Damn bro, carrying all that extra weight might save all our lives. JP smiled, but he was really dead serious. Michael's 48 continued to eat away at enemy positions. An indistinct yell came from the right.

• 1:59:52Jocko Willink?

  Michael turned to see one of the enemy insurgents trying to cross the street towards the SEAL's positions. He sent a burst and the enemy fighter fell against the hot pavement, motionless. With this, the momentum changed and Michael moved from position to position, engaging the enemy on three sides. He was the only AW gunner on the roof. And although the other SEALs were holding their own as well, the 5.56mm M4 doesn't have quite the same effect as a 7.62mm belt-fed machine gun.

• 2:00:20Jocko Willink?

  The enemy was losing and it began to show. The volume of fire had drastically decreased and was much more sporadic until only one enemy position was still active. The SEALs and Scouts concentrated fire on the spot. The area went quiet and the men waited for another attack, but it never came. In all, Michael had fired more than 600 rounds of ammunition and was likely the reason that the security position was not overrun. Seven enemy lay dead without one SEAL or Scout injured.

• 2:00:51Speaker 01

  A lot of rounds.

• 2:00:52Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I don't know. I think I've told you this story before, but I was over, I went over to Craigador to check in on everybody. And as soon as I get there, everyone's like, hey, go watch Mikey's video. So I'm like, cool. So I go over, I'm like, you know, go to Mikey's palace, um, which is his little room, you know, he's got, I heard he had some kind of like red curtains.

• 2:01:13Speaker 01

  Right, orange stuff.

• 2:01:14Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, but those are orange. I don't know where he probably took them from a house out in town.

• 2:01:18Speaker 01

  His brother sent it to him.

• 2:01:19Jocko Willink?

  Oh, there you go.

• 2:01:20Speaker 01

  He says, he goes, uh, we're saying, so I think this will fit.

• 2:01:25Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, so I go in there and, and, uh, I'm like, Mikey, let me see your video. And you know, he, he gets out and he's just showing it to me on his, he had a camera, a video camera. And, but you know, this is when the video cameras had just started to have their own little screens and their own little speakers. So I'm watching it. And this is the famous video, at least it's famous in our task unit where Mikey's like filming, there's freaking everyone shooting, there's bullets flying everywhere. And then Mikey turns the video camera back at himself and he says, it's the mulab, which was.

• 2:01:53Speaker 01

  I've never seen that.

• 2:01:55Jocko Willink?

  Oh, you haven't seen that? Oh, man, we gotta get that to you. Yeah. So Mikey's filming this firefight. And as he's filming, you know, it's a pretty good firefight. And then he turns the camera back at himself and he's got a big smile on his face and he goes, it's the mulab, or welcome to the mulab or something like that, which the, the district was called the Malab district, but he says it's the mulab. And so I'm watching it, you know, I'm like Mr. Serious and so I'm, but I'm trying to hold back, but I'm smiling and then he gets done and he's looking at me and I look at him, I go, I go, "Bro, what are you doing filming when there's a freaking gunfight going on?" And he looks at me and he goes, "I was Winchester, sir," which means he was out of ammo. So he had already dumped like,

• 2:02:38Jocko Willink?

  he dumped a thousand rounds or probably 800, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, didn't have any ammo left. And so he's like, "Well, I might as well make some videos." But yeah, I mean, it's, when I got home, I remember I was talking to some of the Vietnam SEALs and I went and talked to this one Vietnam SEAL, it was a machine gunner Vietnam. And, you know, I said, I said, you know, how many, like, how many engagements did you get in? And he said, "Oh, you know, we did whatever it was." He said, "You know, we did 82 operations and we got in seven gunfights."

• 2:03:15Jocko Willink?

  I said, "How many times did you use all your ammunition?" He's, "Never." And here it was, I mean, there was all, machine gunners would run out of ammo on a, not a fairly regular, but definitely ran out of ammo. Cause that's the, that was the scenario, that was the situation on the ground.

• 2:03:30Speaker 01

  And that's why he would take less water. He always took just what he hoped he could, you know, need and he would substitute the water for ammo.

• 2:03:40Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. And he'd be carrying a radio sometimes too.

• 2:03:42Speaker 01

  Yeah. So he's carrying a load.

• 2:03:47Speaker 01

  And he has a sense of humor.

• 2:03:49Jocko Willink?

  It's the moolab. I can't believe you haven't seen that video. Oh, it's freaking classic.

• 2:03:56Jocko Willink?

  Meanwhile, while that's going on, back to the book. Hey Dad, it's Mike. Michael spoke happily into a satellite phone. He'd just returned from an op and after showering and changing in his gear, he dialed home to check in. "Mikey, how you doing?" "I'm doing good, Dad. We're still training Iraqi forces. I'm pretty bored here. What's new at home?" Michael was careful not to detail the true nature of the work they conducted on a daily basis. He didn't want his parents to worry. He preferred to keep the amount of danger they faced to himself. As George and Michael discussed his gear and weapons, Sally walked over to George. She was eager to hear Michael's voice. She had barely spoken to him since he left, because every time he called, she made sure her children and husband had ample time with Michael on the phone first. She was also busy finishing up a master's degree in counseling,

• 2:04:39Jocko Willink?

  marriage and family therapy. So, any amount of time she had to speak with Michael, she treasured. Michael never discussed any of his combat operations with her. She knew he wanted to protect her from worrying. But she also knew better. She had walked past the hallway when her sons were on their computer, looking at photos of Michael patrolling through the streets, and she instantly knew he was facing grave enemy day in and day out. She couldn't be there, but she could pray, and that's what she did. She prayed the rosary, a collection of prayers based on the life of Christ and honoring his blessed mother, whom warfighters have credited assisting them in epic battles throughout history. Sally wasn't seeking

• 2:05:21Jocko Willink?

  anything grand with her prayers. She simply requested protection for her son as she prayed it every single day. It was now Sally's turn to speak to Michael, and she held the phone tightly to her ear, so she could hear her son clearly. "How are you, Mike? I miss you. Did you receive the care packages we sent to you? We really enjoyed making them for you and your teammates. They were great, Mom. Thank you." Even the package full of female toiletries you and your friends threw in there.

• 2:05:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, she had these women volunteers, and they did other charity work, and they sent stuff. And so, nobody knows how that got in there. But Mike says, "You guys had kind of a crazy look when they opened that one up, like, "Are women coming?"

• 2:06:04Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, the, the, so my wife is at home. She got three kids. They're like, how old were they? They were like maybe seven, five and three, or something like this. They're maybe even six, four and two, or something like this. So she doesn't have time to do all this stuff. So finally, I get, you know, everyone's getting a care package, all this nice stuff. I'm not getting anything. Finally, like two months in deployment, I get a package. And I still harass my wife about this. I like honey roasted peanuts, right? And so she sent me a planner's thing of honey roasted peanuts, but it was open and taped shut. It was open, it was half eaten. My freaking kids got into it. It was taped shut. That's what I got. I'm like, thanks darling. But I didn't ever get women's toiletries.

• 2:06:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. No one figured out where those came from, but they got a lot of women's magazines too, from people. Sally would contact anybody that would send things. We sent stuff and people, volunteers sent stuff and I, you know, it was just crazy. Guys would risk their lives, go out and get those packages, you know? Hey, women toiletries, that's what we need.

• 2:07:11Jocko Willink?

  He says, I'm gonna go head to bed now. I want to say hello to you guys. Mike's voice began to drift off. The day's operation had begun to hit him like a wall. His body was now just registering need for sleep. Of course, take care of yourself. We're all okay here, Michael. Stay focused so you can come home safe, Sally said. Those words became her parting words every time she spoke to him. Stay focused so you can come home safe.

• 2:07:35Speaker 01

  We would lie in bed, just kind of looking at the ceiling. Sally would say, we all know that he's just not getting back. It's kind of a charade here, you know, but we were pretty aware of what was, how bad Ramadi was. But we knew he didn't really want to get into it. So we kept the conversations pretty light.

• 2:08:03Jocko Willink?

  Now, when Mark got killed, did you guys, did you guys become aware when Mark got killed?

• 2:08:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, went to the funeral. And that's where Sally met.

• 2:08:13Jocko Willink?

  Met Debbie?

• 2:08:14Speaker 01

  Debbie. But also.

• 2:08:21Speaker 01

  You know, I keep thinking Kay.

• 2:08:24Jocko Willink?

  Oh, oh, from the book?

• 2:08:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:08:25Jocko Willink?

  McCowey.

• 2:08:26Speaker 01

  McCowey.

• 2:08:27Jocko Willink?

  Got it.

• 2:08:27Speaker 01

  Cowie comes up to her in his crutches and says, Michael saved my life. Michael saved my life. And so when Sal was thinking, how could he save your life if he's just marching people around? And then he told her the story. And that's why it was like, yeah, we know a little bit better than that. But, and of course, we had a conversation. I remind him, we don't, we don't really need heroes. Just do a good job. And he says, don't worry.

• 2:09:05Speaker 01

  If, I remember him saying, we talked about his death, about Lee's death and everything, and those guys took it pretty hard. And I said, we feel gonna be careful. And he goes, don't worry. He says, if I go here, I will be the one that decides. I still remember that.

• 2:09:28Speaker 01

  Especially when he, he didn't have to. He could have gotten out of that. He decided. And that just always sticks in my head, that conversation.

• 2:09:40Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I, I know that, I mean, my wife had no idea of what was going on.

• 2:09:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:09:49Jocko Willink?

  At all. And, but then.

• 2:09:51Speaker 01

  No, cuz she didn't even give you a full can.

• 2:09:53Jocko Willink?

  That's true.

• 2:09:54Speaker 01

  I'd say she has no clue.

• 2:09:57Jocko Willink?

  But, you know, even Cowie got, Cowie got wounded, but, you know, she just, I think she just thought it was anomaly. And, and like I said, I mean, she had, she had, you know, she had three kids going on, freaking young kids and everything. But I think everybody, when Mark got killed, it was like.

• 2:10:14Speaker 01

  Oh, wake up.

• 2:10:15Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 2:10:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:10:16Jocko Willink?

  And, and.

• 2:10:18Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I was looking through my emails a while ago, which is crazy to look through emails. And I have like all the emails. I was reading emails that I sent my wife. And, you know, it's like, oh, uh, what is it? July 29th, you know? Um, then July 1st or so July 31st and then August 2nd. That's the day Mark died. And there's, you know, my, you know, I sent an email August 3rd, like, hey, hope everything's okay. You know, something like this, but still nothing. Um, and I think that was everybody, you know, kind of like what Mikey was doing. So you just don't want people to worry. But then that was just, uh, no way to hide that.

• 2:10:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, we saw Cowie again. Uh, we invited some of the SEALs for Thanksgiving. And, uh, we still didn't know the whole story. And then Thanksgiving, he says, Sal, can I, can I talk to you? And they went into another room and he says, let me tell you what I saw. And then he pulls up his shirt and he has that huge tattoo. He goes, this monster, I swear this is what I saw. So it was like, I know.

• 2:11:30Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. Yeah. So Cowie, who is, uh, wasn't tasking a bruiser and was just a freaking awesome guy. That's the, the opening story is Mikey dragging him out of the, out of the street. And he ended up getting a tattoo of, of Mikey with these angels wings. It's, Cowie was telling the story the other day. And one thing I, he, he was saying, it was like he was about to say something like he, or maybe he was like, hey, I need, and as soon as he was saying, I need help, like he felt Mikey's hand like grab his gear and start pulling him. He was like, that's Johnny on the spot right there.

• 2:12:15Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm not that, I'm not real religious, but things like this just hit me sometimes like, I don't know. I don't have explanations for some of these things. Uh, I think the older you get, you start to see more things that are just, uh, can't really explain.

• 2:12:40Jocko Willink?

  It was the 15th of August. The Iraqi Army along with the US Army would be conducting clearance of another portion of the Malab district. The houses were tightly packed and clearance would likely be slow. The SEALs came prepared and were all set with cardboard shade, water, and a ton of extra ammunition. The men didn't know it, but they would soon have no need for the shade. As the call to prayer ended, Michael scanned the surrounding area with his periscope. He glanced over to see his teammates to the right, each with their own as well. He smiled and continued to scan. It had worked out so well for Michael that a bunch of guys had them sent out. This is, Michael ended up getting his like combat periscopes, which ended up being awesome.

• 2:13:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, I remember Sarah was sending that out. She was looking at me like, "Really? Playing games over there?"

• 2:13:28Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. Imagine how nice it is when you don't have to poke your head up over a wall. "Nothing to see here, guys. Just the Iraqi Army and dudes getting unloaded," Michael called. Then the loudspeakers crackled on. "That's weird," thought Michael. It seemed as though the prayers were going to start again. A voice came over the loudspeakers, but it sounded different this time. It was not the usual singing. It was speaking, and the words were different. "What is that? Are they praying again? That doesn't sound like prayer," Chief Forten said. "I know. It's not the same," Michael responded. The interpreter burst through the couple of door and onto the roof. "It's directions. They're being directed," he blurted. "What? Who?" asked Chief Forten. "The speakers. The enemy fighters are being directed on where to go," the interpreter replied.

• 2:14:12Jocko Willink?

  "Oh, well. Shit. Oh, well, shit. JP, Doug, Mike, do you have a shot to take out those speakers?" Chief called Chief Forten. But the snipers had already been trying to work a solution. "No joy, Chief," was the response. "Mikey, I hope you brought a lot of ammo." "Shit's probably gonna get real stupid real quick," Chief Forten said. "Always," Mikey replied.

• 2:14:38Speaker 01

  Was that, uh, was that the 12 hour?

• 2:14:42Jocko Willink?

  Uh, yeah, yeah, that one, what ends up happening, comms chatter, but mostly was not pertinent to Michael. Mostly was information flow from different units, leaders back to, to the joint operations center where the operations being monitored. Michael's concern was keeping the enemy pinned and if one of them was brave enough to try and move out in the open, dropping in him his tracks. The clearance was ongoing, but the insurgents currently attacking the SEAL position were relentless. And I fast forwarded to this, they, they just basically got like an all out assault. This was not ideal, but it also meant that they were not trying to advance towards the overwatch position. It had been hours and neither side could get the upper hand. Michael moved from position to position firing at multiple enemy locations. It looked as though this fight was not going

• 2:15:27Jocko Willink?

  to be over anytime soon. And he wasn't wrong. The entire engagement lasted 12 hours.

• 2:15:31Speaker 01

  I mean, imagine people have never served 12 hours. I mean, it's the way these guys stay together. And then the next day they go up and do it again. It's people, I just don't, it's just un, it's just remarkable what these guys do.

• 2:15:51Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, you know, a, a lot of times, you know, people talk about basic SEAL training and they talk about buds. Oh, buds was hard. And I, look, it is hard. It's hard as hell. And it's a nightmare for guys to try and get through. But what you just talked about and what I usually try and explain to people is, oh, you saw an army guy get killed. You were in a firefight yesterday. You had rounds snapped by your head. You had like all these things happen. I mean, on some of these engagements, uh, they're JP dragged a marine out of the street. I, I forget the number, but the marine got shot. Another marine got shot. An Iraqi got shot.

• 2:16:37Jocko Willink?

  A SEAL got shot through his backpack, through his, uh, water bladder, his camel back on his, so it was like in one little engagement, five people got shot.

• 2:16:49Jocko Willink?

  And what do you do the next day? You go out again.

• 2:16:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:16:53Jocko Willink?

  And then the next day you go out again. So yeah, the look, Buzz is hard. I get it. But this stuff right here and and look, it's not just seals. The Marines are going out every day. The army's going out every day and everyone's taking those risks. And that's why the bond was so tight with the army and the Marine Corps in Ramadi, because everyone was doing everything we could to protect each other. And that's why that bond was and is so strong.

• 2:17:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:17:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I read some of Michael's emails.

• 2:17:29Speaker 01

  And I was his friends in the States crying that girlfriend, their girlfriend doesn't love him anymore, or her boyfriend left and they're having a tough time in college. And I'm and Mike writes back, you know, encourages them and the whole deal. And I'm thinking, really? They're having a tough time?

• 2:17:54Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, yeah, it's

• 2:17:58Jocko Willink?

  it it definitely is. And that's what I love about this book is you start to realize the I mean, this is what the daily life is like. Captured it really, really well.

• 2:18:10Speaker 01

  And that's, I think that's important for people to read these type of books. Uh, and get a taste and these these stories, as you said, they're from the guys that were there. These stories are are real. And I think it would give the rest of the country just kind of a fingernail sketch of what these guys go through. And also, if you have, you know, teenage children, they can see that guys like Michael, they're just like them. They they have problems when they're kids and they deal with bullies. And it's that determination and that strength that you build up in your life that prepares you for the world.

• 2:18:52Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, and you know, the fact that the first time Mikey went to Bud's, he quit.

• 2:18:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:18:58Jocko Willink?

  And you know who else did? Mark Lee. Mark Lee, the first time he went to Bud's, he quit.

• 2:19:04Speaker 01

  I didn't know that.

• 2:19:05Jocko Willink?

  And I always, you know, occasionally I'll talk to someone that's that had been to Bud's and quit. And I usually tell them if they seem like they're a good person, I'll say, if they say they want to go back and I'll say, hey, you're at a Mikey Monsoor, and they say, yeah, and I go, Mikey Monsoor quit the first time he went. And now I'm going to be able to tell them, but when you get defeated, it's what you do. What's the quote I gotta learn?

• 2:19:28Jocko Willink?

  It's how you come back from defeat.

• 2:19:30Speaker 01

  It's how you come back from defeat.

• 2:19:31Jocko Willink?

  So that's what I'm talking about.

• 2:19:32Speaker 01

  That's the man.

• 2:19:33Jocko Willink?

  We're gonna add that in there.

• 2:19:34Speaker 01

  Whatever it is, it's the way you come back. It's always the way you go. Cause we've all had losses. And for me, when I have a bad loss, it just burns, it burns. It's there forever. Sometimes you forget about those easy wins, but you remember those losses. And usually, hopefully, you'll walk away with a lesson. And Michael just, when that happened, I just, it didn't surprise me at all. He was coming back. He will win. Yeah.

• 2:20:04Jocko Willink?

  So pushing a little bit further into deployment, we're getting towards the end of deployment. Michael gripped the phone close to his mouth. Hey Dad, we're just about done here. I volunteered to stay for a few more operations so one of the guys could leave early. His wife is having a baby soon. It won't be long. I expect to be finished up in about a week. I'll also be helping to do turnover with the incoming team. Then I'm heading out. My stuff is packed and ready to go.

• 2:20:30Jocko Willink?

  That's great news, Mikey. Your mom and I can't wait to see you. We're gonna celebrate and have a big party when you get backstage side. George felt a great relief to learn that Mikey was so close to coming home. And almost silly for having thought that he may not see his son again. Take care of yourself. And we'll see you soon.

• 2:20:50Jocko Willink?

  And that's something you told me a little while ago is that Mikey was always telling you about who's married and checking in on who has kids and that was a big concern is.

• 2:21:00Speaker 01

  It was. He knew who had kids, who was married, and he would tell me, I worry about these guys. He goes, I don't want to be the guy that lost one of these guys who has children because he believed fathers, mothers is, you know, a two-person deal. And he's always loved kids and he just would be so bothered knowing that on his watch, somebody lost a father. And he would talk about, I mean, how many people really want to find out who's got kids and married, but he would want to know and he would keep it in the back of his mind. So I know it always concerned him because he just didn't want to lose a father.

• 2:21:50Jocko Willink?

  It was the 28th of September and the first of the 506 had one last request, Operation Kentucky Jumper. The SEALs would be providing overwatch for combat outpost Eagles Nest while the external wall of the combat outpost was being reinforced. In addition, the first of the 506 would be conducting a clearance in the same area which the SEALs would cover as well. The insert would take place at night. The two elements would leave COP Eagles Nest and set up mutually supporting rooftop overwatch positions in two prominent houses, much like they had been doing for the entire deployment. The men had conducted this type of operation many times and at this point, it seemed like this one would be much the same.

• 2:22:35Jocko Willink?

  So they push in, they do this overwatch.

• 2:22:40Jocko Willink?

  Around 11 a.m. The Army moved out of the area having finished operations for the day. The SEAL overwatch positions remained in place and would extract under the cover of darkness later that night. Other than the first of the 506 doing clearance ops and us being in the area providing overwatch, it was kind of a somber day, Doug said, referring to how the day was going in comparison to other similar operations they had completed. Based on most of the previous operations, the likelihood of the firefight was low, of another firefight was low. The temperature was reaching 115 degrees and they would stay there until late into the afternoon and only begin to cool when the sun dipped below the horizon.

• 2:23:20Jocko Willink?

  As the morning turned into day and then early afternoon, Michael, Doug, and Mike S. talked of heading home and what was next for each of them. There was a sense of excitement. We were proud of what we did. We were proud of our relationships we had built with the Army and the Marine Corps, recalls Mike Sorelli. The men talked of their families. Doug would be headed back to Georgia to see his three sons. Mike S. was ready to get back to his two-year-old little girl. Michael listened as the guy spoke of heading home. He was ready as well. Sniper school, heading into his next platoon, snowboarding trips, and driving up the coast to see his family in Garden Grove. Doug recalls how cool and relaxed Michael was.

• 2:24:03Jocko Willink?

  He just had a real calming sense to him. You could tell instantly what a great person and warrior he was. To this point, it was the most one-on-one time Doug had spent with Michael.

• 2:24:18Jocko Willink?

  As the day continued on, the intense heat had begun to wear on the men. The shade material helped, but not... But the heat radiated from surfaces all around them. Not even a light breeze brought reprieve. The air was stifling, dry, and filled with dust. The lack of activity and the heat induced lethargy, degrading the men's awareness. Boom!

• 2:24:41Jocko Willink?

  An explosion rocked the rooftop. Michael ran back over to the position between Mike S. and Doug.

• 2:24:49Jocko Willink?

  What was that? RPG? Asked Doug. Sure seemed like it, Mike S. replied. The anger on Michael's face was apparent as he searched for the insurgent responsible for the attack. Mike S. moved out of his loophole and called the other element. We just took an RPG. Searching for the shooter now. What have you guys got? Doug rolled into the open spot as it had a better field of view than his loophole. Michael sat on the chair between the two with his Mark 48, resting on the wall of the rooftop. Mike S. continued updating the other element while Michael, Doug, and Benny scanned the area. They saw nothing. No enemy movement.

• 2:25:26Jocko Willink?

  Suddenly, an object just barely cleared the lip of the wall and hit Michael in the chest. It bounced off and rolled to the ground directly in front of him. Mike S. looked over at what had just landed next to the group, then up at Michael. Michael stood so quickly and with such force that the chair he was sitting on sailed across the rooftop and impacted the opposite wall. Michael looked at Mike S. and yelled "Grenade!"

• 2:25:54Jocko Willink?

  Mike S. watched in disbelief as Michael, the only one of them who had an out to escape the blast, instead lunged forward, dropping directly onto the grenade.

• 2:26:09Jocko Willink?

  Seth's Element had heard and seen the two blasts from their Overwatch position and were already moving when the call for help came in. The men urgently picked up the pace when they heard the amount of enemy automatic weapons fired that their friends were receiving. They broke out from the main house, the main entrance, and headed west. Initially, it was all quiet at their position, but within 15 seconds of hitting the street, all hell broke loose. Enemy rounds snapped and skipped around them. They moved from cover to cover, returning fire as they closed the distance to the other Overwatch position. They were only two blocks away, but to the wounded SEALs, it seemed like it took forever for the other Element to arrive. "Hold on, Mikey, hold on!" Mike S. said as he and Doug continued to assess and aid Michael.

• 2:26:52Jocko Willink?

  Suddenly, a SEAL from the other Element burst onto the roof and headed over to Doug, Mike S., and Michael.

• 2:26:59Jocko Willink?

  He was followed by Seth and the other SEALs. One of the strongest SEALs grabbed Michael and hoisted him onto his back. Seth grabbed Doug, and the others took Mike S.

• 2:27:10Jocko Willink?

  They could hear the 25mm autocannons of the Bradley Fighting Vehicles begin to fire, effectively suppressing the enemy and providing cover for the SEALs to load their wounded.

• 2:27:26Jocko Willink?

  Mike S directed the group as they moved down the stairs and into the alley to the waiting Bradleys. Doug, Mike S, and Michael were loaded into the back along with one of the SEALs from the other element. He stayed to continue to aid Michael while the Bradleys extracted them and headed back to Camp Corregidor. When the wounded SEALs arrived, they saw the men from the first of the 506 lined up waiting to support whatever they could. Another testament to the bond that the two units shared. Doug, Mike S, and Michael were loaded onto stretchers and brought into the aid station on the camp. Doug and Mike S were given shots of morphine. For the first

• 2:28:07Jocko Willink?

  time since the grenade explosion, they finally had reprieve from the physical piercing pain. The reprieve, however, was short-lived. The atmosphere in the room shifted, the mood had darkened, and the two men could feel it. Then they overheard the nurse say it. Michael was gone. In that sobering moment, they became aware of what Michael had given them. He had freely exchanged his life for theirs. It was September 29th, the feast day of Saint Michael, the Archangel, the protector and

• 2:28:48Jocko Willink?

  guide of warfighters since time immemorial, and whom Michael had been named 25 years earlier.

• 2:28:58Speaker 01

  It was a bad day for the family. Remember Jim called me. You could hear him crying. Dad, it's bad. It's bad. I said, "What's bad?" He says...

• 2:29:22Speaker 01

  Michael, Michael died from Mardi. Police get a hold of Joe. Tried to call Joe and I finally got a hold of him. He was a fan of football in North Dakota. And I couldn't even tell him. Finally got a hold of him. I couldn't even tell him. I couldn't even talk. I said, "Call your brother." And I guess when Sal saw him at the door, the Navy, she just knew. It was a bad day. I just, uh, because we, you had that call that says, "I'm coming home."

• 2:30:05Speaker 01

  So now it's like, all you're planning is what we're gonna do when we get together. Didn't happen.

• 2:30:20Jocko Willink?

  I, uh... Well, so I'd been tracking the operation. I was in the Tactical Operations Center. And, and it was Troops in Contact, which was like, like I said, this was like a, almost daily occurrence that guys would be in there. And then, you know, you got, you hear wounded. And now all of a sudden, that's not common. And, um, the Kazavaks get called and I can hear some of the radio calls. And I, I end up redirecting the Kazavak to their location. And, and finally, it was actually Colonel Clark, God bless him. He, he called me.

• 2:31:01Jocko Willink?

  And, um... Yeah, he told me, uh... He told me, uh, Sorelli and Doug. He said they were, they were wounded, but they're gonna be all right. He said Benny was gonna be okay. He said that Sorelli and, and Doug were gonna be, were, you know, getting flown out. And he, and he said, "Mike, you weren't gonna make it."

• 2:31:47Jocko Willink?

  And um.

• 2:31:51Jocko Willink?

  I mean, we sent guys to escort Mikey home and. But we still had to finish deployment. We still had to turn over with the next guys.

• 2:32:01Jocko Willink?

  And thankfully, Andrew Paul. He's the guy that that had come home early.

• 2:32:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, Mike relieved him so he could have the best. His wife could have the baby.

• 2:32:15Jocko Willink?

  And so he knew, I mean, obviously he was Mikey's, you know, assistant platoon commander with Seth and and and thankfully he was home. So that he could be there. But I mean, as soon I talked to Seth Seth and Seth had to go back out into town. By the way, they got back and Seth had to go back.

• 2:32:38Jocko Willink?

  Into the city because they left their Iraqis there. They left a bunch of gear there. And so Seth had to go back out. Gather up their Iraqis, gather up all their gear, come back and then he called me and he. Immediately, he he knew. He said, hey, Mikey jumped on that. Mikey jumped on a grenade.

• 2:32:57Jocko Willink?

  And a few hours later, I talked to. Mike and Doug and they're in Germany. And they're like. Hey, he saved us. That's the only reason we're here. And.

• 2:33:17Jocko Willink?

  Talked Seth and Seth was like. Drafting up the Medal of Honor and I was like, do it.

• 2:33:28Speaker 01

  And I remember I did. When Seth came to visit the house, I didn't want to see him. It was like, I've had it with you guys. I don't even want to see you.

• 2:33:38Speaker 01

  Seth is hard to say no to because you can see the sincerity on his face.

• 2:33:46Speaker 01

  And the family. We just worked it out, but.

• 2:33:52Speaker 01

  We can cry at any moment when we think of Mike.

• 2:33:54Jocko Willink?

  That's um, that's the way it is. I, I know, uh, and man, Sarah, your daughter, what a, what a just awesome woman.

• 2:34:05Speaker 01

  Very strong.

• 2:34:06Jocko Willink?

  Very strong. And I remember her, and I don't, she said it to me, but I think I remember her seeing it later. People were, you know, you guys were getting interviewed. She was getting interviewed and she was basically, someone said, you know, you, were you surprised that this happened? And she said, no. Anybody that knew Mike, he's not surprised by this.

• 2:34:40Jocko Willink?

  When, at what point did you hear about the Medal of Honor?

• 2:34:44Speaker 01

  Uh, what happened was, uh,

• 2:34:49Speaker 01

  some guy from the newspapers called us about it and I didn't know what he was talking about. And we hadn't gotten so many calls, all kinds of things. We had hate calls, we had, uh, newspapers, uh, interviews, most of the stuff we said, no. And, uh, we just want to be left alone. In fact, we were so used to getting bad calls. Uh, I remember the president, uh, was trying to call us because this is when, uh, they decided to award him, uh,

• 2:35:25Speaker 01

  the medal and, uh, Sarah kept trying to tell me, uh, would, would you pick up the phone? And I was thinking, this is, I go, what's, this guy keeps bothering me. It's just the same number. I don't know what this asshole wants. And then she goes, Dad, would you just pick up the phone? You know? So that's when we knew it was real because you hear people, everyone is talking, well, you know, to do this and that. But, I mean, it's nice, but it's not your son.

• 2:35:55Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 2:35:58Speaker 01

  And, uh, it's, uh, it, our, our family appreciated it, but.

• 2:36:05Speaker 01

  That hole is still there. I think anyone who's lost a child, I don't care if it's in the hospital, an accident, there's a hole. And we're in a real sad family. And me and Debbie Lee were talking about it. It's just, it's just there. And it just hits you every once in a while. Hearing kids playing in the playground, or something like that, it just hits you. You just don't get over it. But we were treated very, very nicely. Surprising. Because I was in the marines, and the SEAL family is totally different. And I was kind of shocked. I was like, almost too shocked. Okay, well, leave us alone.

• 2:36:49Speaker 01

  But I was really taken back by, you know, these guys coming over and checking on the family. And it was a good thing.

• 2:37:02Speaker 01

  At what point did you hear about the ship?

• 2:37:06Speaker 01

  I was about, I remember Dr. Winter talked about a ship. And see, we don't know anything about the Navy. We're not into the ceremony stuff. And it was like, yeah, okay, whatever. Didn't, you know, really think about it. It was just in passing, we thought. And then a while later, maybe six months later, we get this thing where they're going to name a ship after Michael. We had no, no idea it was going to be like 10 years. I mean, it was just incredible. And it was like, fly here, fly there. And that's why

• 2:37:50Speaker 01

  my kids, we're not going anyplace. We didn't realize it was going to turn into a job. And it was, everything was nice. And, but it's not something we really wanted. We were real happy to just go back to simple, nobody knows us. And so it was, it was busy for the first couple of years. And then finally, you know, it disappeared. And it was okay. But I'm going to say, we think, leave it to Mikey.

• 2:38:24Speaker 01

  He's still got something going on and even this book, people will talk to me, uh, we'd have writers sitting on our porch wanting to write a book and must have had a dozen of them and we passed on all of them. And then just, uh, when one of the sailors did a book on Michael and gave it to a cemetery, so at the cemetery. And that's when I started thinking, my grandchildren should have a book. Cause they should see what it's like, um, you know, they gotta understand that Michael, Uncle Michael, went through some of the same things they went through, you know, it just doesn't happen. You've got to have, you know, you've got to be able to figure things out. You have to be strong enough

• 2:39:08Speaker 01

  because when you're a kid, you're bullied or you're, you know, you're not sure of yourself. The world is, is really scary for them. And I thought it would be good that they could see their uncle had the same kind of problems and he got through it and they can get through it too. So, and I would hope anybody who would read this, the same thing, you know, a young man or, uh, reading this, uh, realizes he's, he's got a long ways to go in his life and, um, he can pull himself together. Some guys, uh, I hired a lot of young people in my time and some of them, they just never got that message. Now they're in their thirties and forties and they're still children.

• 2:39:51Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 2:39:52Speaker 01

  So, um,

• 2:39:53Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, it's weird too. I, I gotta admit from my perspective, when you talk about Mikey, like as a boy, by the time he was in the teams, which is when I met him,

• 2:40:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:40:05Jocko Willink?

  He was no boy.

• 2:40:06Speaker 01

  No.

• 2:40:07Jocko Willink?

  And, and, and then I was telling you this before we started recording, like, he was getting big.

• 2:40:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:40:13Jocko Willink?

  So he cut the sleeves off all the shirts. Everyone started calling him sleeves because he was just like getting jacked. But I mean, he was, you know, even, even when we said Kevin Lase, Kevin Lase is a really big guy, but Mikey was also big. So it's interesting when you put it all together. And like you say, the arc of the book. The Mikey I knew was just a badass, right? And he might have been a new guy and he might have been, you know, like, young for the SEAL teams. But he was a badass. So to connect that to this guy who, you know, had asthma and got bullied. And like, like, while I knew Mike, Mike was not getting bullied by anybody. You know what I'm saying? So he had, uh, overcome all that.

• 2:40:58Jocko Willink?

  And, and, and like you said, um, it risen up and at the same time that he had that quality, like, there's literally no one else that you would rather have to watch your back.

• 2:41:11Speaker 01

  Yeah. No, he was, if, if he said, I've got it, he meant it. You know, if, if he says you're my friend, you could, you could take it to the bank. He will do everything, uh, that he can if you, if you have a problem. And I remember Gabe talking about how close they were. Gabe was, uh, was Greek and Michael being, uh, Lebanese. He would, he would call him his Lebanese brother. No, he called him his Mediterranean brother.

• 2:41:41Speaker 01

  Go out and choke on some olives or something. I don't know.

• 2:41:47Jocko Willink?

  You know, this, the, the stuff with the ship, um, I mean, it was, it was, I, see, I got to look at it from afar, right? I wasn't all mixed up in it like you guys were.

• 2:41:59Speaker 01

  Fly in all the time.

• 2:42:00Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. Uh, you guys, the keel, this is from the book, the keel laying is the first of three ceremonies in the life of a ship, symbolizing the ship's transition from a mere concept to a product that will one day become a US warship. Navy tradition has celebrated a special keel laying ceremony for hundreds of years. And so it talks about the fact that you guys went to Baff Iron Works up in Maine and, and welded your initials onto this like piece that goes in there. That's sort of the, that's sort of the initial.

• 2:42:29Speaker 01

  There's just so much tradition that the Navy has. And it was, yeah, we would do those things and then Sal well did something in uh on the bridge someplace, you know, and it's like

• 2:42:43Jocko Willink?

  And they somehow got wood. This guy Captain Smith is a great guy, Captain Scott Smith, who like took this with the utmost seriousness, of course, because he's the first commanding officer of this ship. And they got big old wood from the USS Constitution.

• 2:42:58Speaker 01

  It was like crazy.

• 2:42:59Jocko Willink?

  How do you do that?

• 2:43:02Jocko Willink?

  You have this here, each naval warship has its own crest and motto and Captain Smith, who's the first commanding officer, took meticulous efforts to honor the ship's namesake with each one for the crest. He was given parameters of simply using a shield. The rest was up to him. He knew exactly what to do in order to make sure the ship honored its names, it's the ship and namesake perfectly. There were a handful of people, family, teammates and friends he would need to talk to, who's introduced to Steve Gilmore. Retired surface naval surface warfare captain. He's the best. Uh, he, he is.

• 2:43:36Speaker 01

  He's just on your side.

• 2:43:37Jocko Willink?

  Oh, he's, he's, he's a hundred percent. Uh, he helped me. I'm very good friends with him and he helped me with everything I ever need help with. And look, I caused all kinds of trouble for that poor guy. I was constantly, constantly caused it. He would bail me out of all kinds of things. So thank you, Mr. Steve Gilmore.

• 2:43:55Jocko Willink?

  But he was able to connect Captain Smith with a bunch of different people. Captain Smith sat down for hours with each group, learned as much as he could in order to create something remarkable that would inspire his future crew members. They would collectively come up with the, the connected with a, with a uh, something that connected the family with the Navy as well as the ship's unique components. And so this is for the motto of the ship became, I will defend. Which carries a threefold meaning. Every military member takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Another prominent military ethos says, I will defend the defenseless. And the Saint Michael prayer calls upon the mighty angelic soldier to defend us in battle.

• 2:44:38Speaker 01

  Have you been in, have you been in the ship?

• 2:44:40Jocko Willink?

  I have.

• 2:44:41Speaker 01

  When I talked to Scott, I was like, uh, we wanted something for the SEALs.

• 2:44:50Speaker 01

  Not to be forgotten. And that's why if you walk in, you'll see the pictures of those other SEALs. And it was important to us that those SEALs aren't forgotten because sometimes Congressional Medal of Honor, people forget about these people. Well, pain is the same. And we wanted to remember them on that ship. So, um, he, he did a good job for us.

• 2:45:14Jocko Willink?

  No, they did a beautiful job. The ship was, the ship was awesome. And they ended up with the, the, the, there's a flintlock pistol which came from the Trident on the thing, which is awesome. There's a, there's a Roman numeral three, which is like legit for team three.

• 2:45:28Speaker 01

  Scott did his homework.

• 2:45:29Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, no, he definitely, um, definitely did an awesome job with all that. And eventually, uh, the ship gets christened. And, and

• 2:45:43Jocko Willink?

  that was just awesome. Um,

• 2:45:48Jocko Willink?

  christening took place. That was up in Bath as well, up in Maine.

• 2:45:55Jocko Willink?

  That was when, uh, Sally broke the.

• 2:45:59Speaker 01

  That was fun for her. She was so, I just want to make sure I hit it hard enough. I go, well, put my face right there.

• 2:46:10Speaker 01

  I'm sure you'll be able to muster it in that thing.

• 2:46:14Jocko Willink?

  Uh, and then finally you get the actual ship's commissioning. And this is when the ship becomes a US Navy ship. But it says here, Major Halliday was announced and approached the podium to give the invocation. He had flown in all the way from Korea for the special event. Upon finishing his opening prayer, the other speakers approached the podium, one after the other. They rendered their special remarks and honored the family of the ship's namesake as well as the impressive ship itself. Then, Major General Ron Clark, who was formerly a Lieutenant Colonel, who is now a Major General, this is how long it's been. Who led the first of the 506 Red Kerr he Battalion during the Battle of Ramadi, walked commandingly over to the podium.

• 2:46:58Jocko Willink?

  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that shares, that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. The bravery and sacrifice of these warriors is the highest form of service to our nation. At a time when less than 1% of American citizens will ever don the cloth of our nation in her defense, these men and women endured hardship, danger, and personal sacrifice every day to protect our country and our way of life. Let me be very clear. Our band of brothers was brought together through our fight against a tough and violent enemy. In fact, we refer to SEAL Team 3 as Army SEALs.

• 2:47:40Jocko Willink?

  It was the fight that brought us together, but really what defined our task force was one word: Love. A brotherly love that warriors in arms share in battle, defined by selfless commitment to a mission and selfless commitment unfailing to one another. There is no greater human emotion than the feeling to belong to a team, to a unit, to a brotherhood, to a family. My association with these warriors has been the most meaningful professional relationships of my life.

• 2:48:21Speaker 01

  Anybody who served understands that. I mean, there are guys that I met in the service that I loved them as much as my own brothers. And the kind of situation in Ramadi, that's even deeper.

• 2:48:37Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, Debbie Lee will explain that, you know, Mark would tell her, "These guys are my brothers." And she'd say, "Well, what do you mean? Like, you have a brother."

• 2:48:47Speaker 01

  It's not the same.

• 2:48:49Jocko Willink?

  And then when Mark died and she met all of us, she realized, "Oh, you are brothers."

• 2:48:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and put the SEALs squeeze on her too.

• 2:49:02Jocko Willink?

  Finally, the ship's sponsor and sole woman onstage.

• 2:49:08Jocko Willink?

  Walked to the podium. She smiled, her humble demeanor evident to all in attendance. She began by sharing her heartfelt gratitude to all who were with them to honor her son. She continued thanking the men and women of the military, whom she regarded as the best in the world. Finally, without further ado, she gave an order that the crew had been eagerly awaiting to hear. Officers and crew of the USS Michael Monsoor, man our ship and bring her to life.

• 2:49:34Speaker 01

  That was a good day.

• 2:49:35Jocko Willink?

  That was awesome. And we weren't the ship's crew, but they had, Task Unit Bruiser, was the guys that ran up and manned the ship. Luckily, we didn't have to drive anywhere with it or anything. None of us know how to do any of that. But man, it was just awesome to see that and, and.

• 2:49:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, you hustled pretty good. I saw you guys out there and then go, when was the last time those guys ran?

• 2:50:04Jocko Willink?

  Well, so, you know, the guys before,

• 2:50:09Jocko Willink?

  they're like, hey, Jocko, like, don't run too fast. Cause like, some guys ain't doing too much, right? So of course, I'm all fired up with adrenaline and all, all hyped. And I guess I went a little quicker than I should have. You know, wore some of the guys out. And just to close this out, Father Halliday stepped up to the podium. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, bless and approve this newly commissioned vessel, the USS Michael Monsoor and its crew. Send your holy angels as custodians and guides. May Michael and the archangel ever defend it in battle. Be its protector against all enemies and ravages of foul weather. May this vessel and crew always know the friendship of the creatures of the deep,

• 2:50:51Jocko Willink?

  the camaraderie of the winds and the enmity of the tides. And may the USS Michael Monsoor ever know the unified patronage of the citizens of heaven, the creatures of earth, and every mission it undertakes to restore peace, ensure freedom, and enact justice for all.

• 2:51:11Speaker 01

  I've met so many really wonderful people uh over this and Father Holliday was uh was one. Uh he also did a mass and baptized Joseph's son on that ship. Oh my. Yeah. So there's just a lot of really, really great people and um as far as that Sal and I were just some good times.

• 2:51:37Jocko Willink?

  Well now is that, is that Joseph's son Mikey?

• 2:51:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. Little Mikey's, yeah.

• 2:51:42Jocko Willink?

  It is the weirdest thing, right? So as you know, I, I wrote this book, Mikey and the Dragons, right? And it's obviously it's the Mikey's named after Mikey. And my friend, John Bozak's the artist. And uh, I'm like, hey, you know, here's the story. And so he sends me the first pictures and they're black and white, so I don't really think much of it. And then the first colored one comes. And in the book, he's got Mikey with blonde hair. And I'm like, hey, man, you know, like, Mikey's freaking Lebanese, bro. He's black hair. And but then when you look at the book and he's like talking me through it, you look at the book, like even the cover, like it's all black and it got this blonde headed kid. Makes the kid stand out. I'm like, eh, alright, well, hey, I'm gonna bleach out Mikey a little bit.

• 2:52:25Speaker 01

  Close enough.

• 2:52:26Jocko Willink?

  But then I meet little Mikey.

• 2:52:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:52:29Jocko Willink?

  And sure enough, he's a towhead.

• 2:52:32Speaker 01

  Yeah. Uh, I think I told you, I was complaining to Joe. I says, Joe, you got three little girls and you got Mikey and they're all towheads. I says, you couldn't have given me one brown kid with a big nose? Seriously?

• 2:52:49Jocko Willink?

  Oh, man. Um, but I mean, it is awesome seeing that ship and, and with this book that you just wrote with Rose. And Rose did a fantastic job. You know, she's married to a seal, so she captured a lot of stuff.

• 2:53:03Speaker 01

  She put up with a lot of stuff.

• 2:53:05Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. I'm sure it was a challenge.

• 2:53:07Speaker 01

  She's a pretty tough lady, yeah.

• 2:53:08Jocko Willink?

  Just trying to get stories out of guys. Everyone's on all different schedules. No, she did a great job. And like, and because she's married to a seal, I think she captured it in a way that um, a normal author wouldn't have been able to.

• 2:53:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. When we talked, um, I'm, she pestered me for two years. And Steve would go, I don't know, I think she's pretty good. Anyway, uh, we, we talked, it was like, um,

• 2:53:37Speaker 01

  I said, we don't, we want like real stories because she gave CNN samples of, of other, of authors and they wrote about the glory of war and all that. And I said, I want to vomit. I said, that is not what we're looking for. We want real stuff. And so, uh, what was good about the SEALs is she couldn't call them. They wouldn't give her the time of day. I would call them and tell them what I'd like to do. And we had a lot of stories, but a lot of the guys, they didn't want to share those stories. It was personal and so I respect that. But some of the guys, uh, after a couple of calls, uh, they would

• 2:54:17Speaker 01

  open up, uh, to, uh, to Rose. And, uh, I felt like as they opened up, they actually felt good about it. And it kind of like lets them, let out a little bit of, uh, some of that pressure, what happened over there. And I was surprised how many said it was okay if they used, uh, you know, their name. So that's when I started thinking, well then they probably feel pretty good about it. And it's, these are all true stories. So, uh, I, I think it's a, it's a book that, um, is worth reading.

• 2:54:51Jocko Willink?

  No, it's a, it's a hundred percent worth reading and that's a way for Mikey's legacy to, you know, to carry on. They carry on the ship and it's great. When you meet the ship and the ship's crew, they're, they all know the story. They're all fired up. I mean, they do an awesome thing and, and it's written about in the book as well as, you know, when you pull into San Diego Harbor, off to your left-hand side is Rosecrans where Mikey's buried and, you know, actually Mark's buried there and Seth Stone's buried there. But when you pull in, they, they man the rails and they give the, the ship salute, you know, to Mikey, which is just awesome. So you get the legacy carrying on with the crew with the ship in this book, um,

• 2:55:34Jocko Willink?

  And the young, you know, the young SEALs today, they're, this is what they're raised on. They're raised on, this is what, this is, this is the ideal SEAL. This is a guy that works hard, that's never going to give up and that's going to take care of his brothers. And that's, that's Mikey.

• 2:55:49Speaker 01

  Well, you have those, I think you have marks in there and, and Mikey's is, when the SEALs come in there, they see those displays.

• 2:55:57Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 2:55:58Speaker 01

  And I, I actually think it's important so people don't forget, no matter who it is. There are guys that really, they believed in what they did and these young SEALs should know that it's passed on to them.

• 2:56:14Jocko Willink?

  Well, thank you so much for writing this book. Thanks to Rose as well. Thanks for coming down here. Echo, you got any questions? No, sir. No, sir.

• 2:56:26Speaker 01

  You just woke him up.

• 2:56:31Jocko Willink?

  Anybody that's listening, the book's available, we'll have it on our website, but you can get it on Amazon. You can get it wherever books are sold. Just get it. I mean, give it to, give it to everybody that you know. Give it to, like you mentioned teenagers, for sure.

• 2:56:46Speaker 01

  Cause I think they can understand, even, you know, it's not like, it's not like this pro thing where they're gonna, kids or parents are scared their kid's gonna run out and join the military. It's the journey that he took and what he overcame. And these kids who are feeling, you know, insecure, they gotta know that there's other guys out there just like them. And they did it and they can, these kids can also get through it and it's important. And that's why I did it for my grandkids and I think I told you my, my granddaughter, she first weekend in boot camp. And she, I gave her one of these books for the trip and she read it and she said,

• 2:57:31Speaker 01

  when I read the story, she goes, I hate boot camp so much. And she goes, But I realized, you know, life is tough and it's a journey and we have to go through these things. And Mike was my inspiration. She goes, we had to run a mile and a half and I've never run faster. And she goes, I just, she says, thanks, grandpa, for writing the book. It's important. So eventually, all the kids will get one. And a couple of words I want to take out, but I don't know. It's a true story. So whatever it is.

• 2:58:07Jocko Willink?

  It's surprisingly clean, considering it gets about a bunch of seals.

• 2:58:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:58:12Jocko Willink?

  But, but no, it's awesome. And any, any other closing thoughts? I think that gets us up to present date.

• 2:58:19Speaker 01

  No, I do want to thank you for, for the respect for our family and especially how much you helped out Sally. She, she really appreciated in the time where she couldn't get to the, into the cemetery. And she says to me, she goes, I hope I didn't, I didn't disturb him or anything. I thought he was on base. And I go, what was he wearing? I think he was just wearing t-shirts and shorts. And I said, I don't think that's the, the uniform of the day.

• 2:58:53Jocko Willink?

  No, that wasn't the uniform of the day.

• 2:58:58Speaker 01

  I think you're on vacation or something. I don't know.

• 2:59:01Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I wasn't at work. Yeah. Got a call and hey, if Sally wants to go and visit her son at Rosecrans, she's going to get in there.

• 2:59:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. She was thrilled. She was just so happy because it's like hour and a half, two hours drive. And she didn't know that they closed up, you know, at that time. But I really want to thank you because she was treated very well with the seals and with you. And I also want to thank you for attending her funeral.

• 2:59:28Jocko Willink?

  It was an honor to be there. It was an honor to be there. And it's an honor to help share this story of Mikey. And thanks for joining us. Thanks for, you know, the sacrifice of you, your whole family. I mean, that.

• 2:59:58Jocko Willink?

  Thanks for

• 3:00:08Jocko Willink?

  for raising a son like Mikey.

• 3:00:12Jocko Willink?

  And for sharing him with us. We won't forget him.

• 3:00:16Speaker 01

  We really appreciate the SEAL community and like I said, we appreciated

• 3:00:23Speaker 01

  the way we were treated, the respect from you and this family was important. I just wanted to close that out because who knows when I'm going to see you again and I really appreciate this moment. So, thanks Jocko.

• 3:00:36Jocko Willink?

  Thank you.

• 3:00:39Jocko Willink?

  And with that, George Monsoor has left the building.

• 3:00:48Jocko Willink?

  And

• 3:00:51Jocko Willink?

  once again,

• 3:00:54Jocko Willink?

  life is a gift.

• 3:01:05Jocko Willink?

  And thanks for listening.

• 3:01:09Jocko Willink?

  We appreciate it.

• 3:01:13Jocko Willink?

  And if you want to support the podcast,

• 3:01:16Jocko Willink?

  first of all, get the book. Like I said, I read like little pieces of the book. The book has a bunch more in it. They did a great job writing it. So, order the book.

• 3:01:30Jocko Willink?

  What is it? Is it Christmas season yet or?

• 3:01:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, technically I think it's kind of the beginning.

• 3:01:35Jocko Willink?

  Even if you're having a lean Christmas.

• 3:01:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:01:38Jocko Willink?

  Even if you're having a lean Christmas, just order the book today and you can give it to everybody that you know. So, we'll just start with that.

• 3:01:48Jocko Willink?

  Support this book, please. If you want to further support the podcast while you're supporting yourself, go and get some Jocko Fuel from jacofuel.com. You can get drinks. Energy drinks, you can get protein, you can get joint warfare, bunch of stuff that's going to help you, jockofuel.com. Also, you can get the drinks at Wawa. You can get everything at Vitamin Shop, the Military Commissaries, Hanaford's, Dash Stores in Maryland, Wake Fern and Shop Right, Circle K in Florida, HEB in Tejas, Murphy's in the Southeast,

• 3:02:31Jocko Willink?

  and Meyer in the Midwest. So if you need Jocko Fuel, go there and get it, or jockofuel.com.

• 3:02:40Speaker 03

  True. Yeah, George offline was asking about like, hey, do you have anything for joints and aches because I'm getting older?

• 3:02:46Jocko Willink?

  We do.

• 3:02:47Speaker 03

  We do.

• 3:02:48Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, if you go read the reviews of Joint Warfare, it's legit.

• 3:02:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:02:54Jocko Willink?

  So.

• 3:02:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, so it's one of those things where, I mean, you know, when you're young, you know, you don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. But if you maintain like solid health, joint, bro, you'll flow right into old adulthood and be fine. Trust me.

• 3:03:09Jocko Willink?

  Is that where you're at?

• 3:03:10Speaker 03

  That's where I'm at, old adulthood.

• 3:03:12Jocko Willink?

  It is super cruel too.

• 3:03:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:03:14Jocko Willink?

  Honestly, it's kind of a double, it's kind of a double attack.

• 3:03:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, that's, they pair together well, as we say.

• 3:03:20Jocko Willink?

  So there you go, jockofuel.com, get it.

• 3:03:22Speaker 03

  Also, OriginUSA, Hunt coming out.

• 3:03:26Jocko Willink?

  Yeah. Yeah, I, could you feel that once George started talking about factory and production, I was like, almost going to go down the path of all of a sudden, we could be talking about made in America and what it's like running production and what it's like to, you know, build or make clothing, because that's what he was doing, running a factory.

• 3:03:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:03:46Jocko Willink?

  So, uh, but we luckily, I refrained from going down the path and talking about that. Uh, but we are making stuff in America, originusa.com, go get some stuff there. Get Hunt gear, by the way. We're making it as fast as we can. Hey, Will, we know you bought it.

• 3:04:03Speaker 03

  Is it, for what is it, still preorder right now?

• 3:04:06Jocko Willink?

  No, no, no, we're shipping it out as fast as we can.

• 3:04:08Speaker 03

  Oh, it's just like high demand.

• 3:04:10Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, I have it, but we've, we're shipping it out as fast as we can. We're making it as fast as we can. We appreciate the patience. Uh, we're working it. That's what we're doing.

• 3:04:20Jocko Willink?

  But hey, jeans, get those Delta jeans, the Delta sixty eights. Delta sixty eights are just the, the deal.

• 3:04:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:04:27Jocko Willink?

  Kind of a hundred percent. Now, look, if you live in Michigan, you live in Minnesota, you might get the factory jeans, which are a little heavier. Cause it's the winter time, you might be feeling it. If you're in the Southern America, or in a warm place in the world, you're gonna want those Delta sixty eights.

• 3:04:44Speaker 03

  All day.

• 3:04:44Jocko Willink?

  All day. And you're probably training jujitsu. That's how it all started, by the way. The jujitsu, geez, you don't need to get one that's made in a communist country. You get one that's made by free people, not slaves. That's originusa.com, go get it.

• 3:05:01Speaker 03

  Yep, it's true. Also, Jocko's store, Jocko's store, where you can get your shirts and hoodies and hats and stuff. Rash guard's on there as well, but yeah, discipline equals freedom, it's good, you wanna represent. It's a good place to get your stuff.

• 3:05:14Jocko Willink?

  That, that thing that you're wearing right now? Is that a?

• 3:05:16Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:05:16Jocko Willink?

  Is that a Jocko's store?

• 3:05:17Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 3:05:17Jocko Willink?

  Deluxe?

• 3:05:18Speaker 03

  It's called team discipline.

• 3:05:20Jocko Willink?

  Team discipline.

• 3:05:21Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 3:05:21Jocko Willink?

  You named it.

• 3:05:23Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 3:05:24Jocko Willink?

  You know, they're naming shirts now.

• 3:05:26Speaker 03

  Well, they all have names.

• 3:05:27Jocko Willink?

  Okay.

• 3:05:28Speaker 03

  Actually, you know, okay, so you know the shirt you're wearing right now? Your uniform, what, what is that tier? I forget how the tiers work in uniforms, three?

• 3:05:37Jocko Willink?

  I don't know if there's such a thing as a tier.

• 3:05:39Speaker 03

  Or, or what do you call, there's like a, the, the dress.

• 3:05:43Jocko Willink?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 3:05:43Speaker 03

  And then there's.

• 3:05:44Jocko Willink?

  Blues and whatever, classes or something like this.

• 3:05:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, either way.

• 3:05:48Jocko Willink?

  My general uniform.

• 3:05:49Speaker 03

  That's your uniform, right? That shirt, that shirt is called black ops.

• 3:05:52Jocko Willink?

  I actually knew that, so I guess I knew this.

• 3:05:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:05:54Jocko Willink?

  I knew this shirt was called.

• 3:05:55Speaker 03

  But there's a white one.

• 3:05:56Jocko Willink?

  White one called?

• 3:05:56Speaker 03

  Declassified.

• 3:05:57Jocko Willink?

  Oh.

• 3:05:58Speaker 03

  And then now there's a new one.

• 3:06:00Jocko Willink?

  Cleverness.

• 3:06:00Speaker 03

  There's a new one. It's just like that, but instead of the dark gray, it's red. It's called red team.

• 3:06:06Jocko Willink?

  Dang, look at you. Can I get a, a gray one?

• 3:06:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't know. You know, what would that be called? Uh, yeah, I don't know. We don't make currently make the gray one, but hey, look, I'll look into it. I know a guy and you know, maybe we'll uh, we'll make that happen. A gray one, huh?

• 3:06:23Jocko Willink?

  Could be cool. I like gray shirts because they don't get dirty, but they're cool in the sun.

• 3:06:27Speaker 03

  Call it um, gray area or gray operations. Isn't that a thing? When it's not right or wrong, you know, it's like in the gray.

• 3:06:35Jocko Willink?

  We could call it gray area.

• 3:06:36Speaker 03

  Gray area, one of those things. Alright. Either way, yes, Jocko Store. We also have a short locker. These designs are, are, are, are interesting. The last one was, is called, or this month is called The Heavies.

• 3:06:49Jocko Willink?

  That's a badass t-shirt, by the way.

• 3:06:51Speaker 03

  That's a good one, you know. The Heavies. Yeah, it was good.

• 3:06:54Jocko Willink?

  K-Dog.

• 3:06:55Speaker 03

  K-Dog, yeah.

• 3:06:56Jocko Willink?

  The Heavies is good.

• 3:06:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:06:57Jocko Willink?

  That little section of that podcast.

• 3:06:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:07:00Jocko Willink?

  Freaking good section. The Heavies are rolling in.

• 3:07:03Speaker 03

  Yep, but yeah, that's a subscription scenario. You get a new shirt every month. People seem to like it, so check that out also. There, it's called the Shirt Locker. It's on Jocko Store.

• 3:07:11Jocko Willink?

  Yep, and subscribe to the podcast and subscribe to jockounderground.com. This is why we're doing it because right now you see some social media activities that are going on right now. There's mayhem out there, right? Isn't there mayhem out there?

• 3:07:21Speaker 03

  It's uh, it's mayhem out there.

• 3:07:23Jocko Willink?

  There's mayhem out there, so we gotta watch out for that. And, well, you just gotta watch out for that. So, well, that's where we have Jocko Underground. We got a YouTube. You can subscribe to that. Origin USA has some stuff on YouTube too. Check that one out. Psychological Warfare, Flipside Canvas Dakota Meyer. Something, make some cool stuff to hang on your wall. Books, Artie, obviously, Defend Us in Battle. Just order that book. Just get it. Only Cry for the Living by Holly McKay. Get that book. And then I've written a bunch of books too, but whatever. Kids books. You know, Mikey and the Dragons? Let's, let's give that one some props. Mikey and the Dragons, Overcoming Fear. Obviously, Mikey, the character is named after

• 3:08:07Jocko Willink?

  Mike Monsoor about overcoming fear. Uh, Ashlawn Front.

• 3:08:12Jocko Willink?

  We have a leadership consultancy. We solve problems through leadership. Go to Echelonfront.com for details. Next event, Orlando, April 3rd through the 5th. That's the next muster. April 3rd through the 5th, 2023. It's gonna come quick. That's the weird thing. And it's gonna sell out quick. Everything sells out. We oversold. The last muster, we oversold. We had to like, move the instructor seating to the behind the curtain type scenario. So, we won't make that mistake again. But we will sell out. So, there you go. Orlando, April 3rd through the 5th, 2023. And then Dallas is also in 2023. We got the battlefield. We got FTX.

• 3:08:57Jocko Willink?

  We've got all kinds of good stuff going on. Echelonfront.com. We also have online training at Extreme Ownership Academy. Go to ExtremeOwnership.com. We covering the stuff. I was there. I was on there, live today, answering questions. Leif was on there, live today, answering questions. We have courses to take. So, go to ExtremeOwnership.com if you wanna learn how to live your life better, especially your interactions with other humans. And if you wanna help service members, active and retired, you wanna help their families, Gold Star families, check out Mark Lee's mom, Mama Lee. She's got a charity organization. And she will be coming on the podcast very soon. And if you wanna donate or get involved

• 3:09:40Jocko Willink?

  with her organization, go to AmericasMightyWarriors.org. And also, don't forget about Micah Fink up there in the, the North Country with HeroesAndHorses.org, helping veterans find themselves while they get a little bit lost out there in the wilderness. And, speaking of, uh, social media, we're on social media. On the Gram, on Twitter. It's a new Twitter these days. Nothing's changed, really. Have you noticed any change yet? Besides the fact that you lost your Twitter account?

• 3:10:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, that was before.

• 3:10:14Jocko Willink?

  You got hacked.

• 3:10:15Speaker 03

  I got hacked and then they abused it. They took it over.

• 3:10:18Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 3:10:18Speaker 03

  They took it. The hackers took over my account to do a bunch of spam stuff.

• 3:10:22Jocko Willink?

  That sucks.

• 3:10:23Speaker 03

  And then Twitter shut it down, cuz it was a bot now. But then, luckily, you said... Try get it, get it back. Your old handle. So I registered again on my old handle. And I got it back.

• 3:10:35Jocko Willink?

  So you're still at Echo Charles?

• 3:10:37Speaker 03

  Still at Echo Charles.

• 3:10:38Jocko Willink?

  I wonder if that's us gonna change, cuz Elon's coming in, eight dollars and this, all this stuff is going on. So, we'll see. People are freaking out about all kinds of things. The thing is, all the social media, Facebook, the Gram, Twitter, you just gotta watch out cuz the algorithm will grab you. That's what's gonna happen. And, uh, once again, thanks to, thanks to George Monsoor for coming on board and, and really, um, the entire Monsoor family who I've been blessed to have gotten to know over the past fifteen years.

• 3:11:12Jocko Willink?

  Just been amazing, an honor to know them, and it's an honor to be here and, and share the story of Mikey.

• 3:11:23Jocko Willink?

  Absolute hero and example for all of us. So, thank you to the entire Monsoor family.

• 3:11:33Jocko Willink?

  And thanks to all the people from the military in general, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. As you could probably tell, we had an incredible relationship with all them. And we thank you for supporting us on the battlefield. And in the past, and now, those that are still active duty out there protecting us today, thank you. And we also wanna thank our police, law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, Border Patrol, Secret Service, all first responders out there. You protect us here at home, and we thank you for it. And everyone else out there on Mikey's gravestone

• 3:12:16Jocko Willink?

  at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

• 3:12:21Jocko Willink?

  He gives some advice on there. It's the same thing that he told his dad all those years before deployment. That no matter what happens,

• 3:12:32Jocko Willink?

  I have no regrets.

• 3:12:35Jocko Willink?

  So let's go try to live like Mikey did.

• 3:12:39Jocko Willink?

  Work hard.

• 3:12:42Jocko Willink?

  If you get knocked down, get back up again and overcome.

• 3:12:47Jocko Willink?

  And of course, put others first.

• 3:12:53Jocko Willink?

  Live your life and leave no regrets.

• 3:12:58Jocko Willink?

  And until next time, this is Echo and Jocko. Out.