everyone I'm Monica and welcome back to another Navy webcast today we are very
honored to have one of the elite Navy SEALs in our studio chief petty officer
Chris Sajnog thank you so much for joining us today it's great to be
here please call me Chris okay Chris now I think that most people have some idea
of how hard it is to become one of the elite Navy SEALs what kind of person
joins the seals well Monica you know people join the seals from really every
walk of life there's a few things that they do have in common
generally there they're in some type of sports they're athletic you know maybe
it's in their own way but you have to be athletic to go you have to be mentally
tough to go you know you have to really be intelligent there's a lot more that
goes into it than just the physical aspect of training and people looking
for a challenge and you know they really want to do something special with their
life so you really have to be well-rounded altogether right okay now
what means you decide to join the Navy and how did you get into joining the
seals well I joined the Navy after high school
I had met a Navy recruiter and he talked to me about the Navy and he actually
talked to me about becoming a diver and doing diving medicine so that's how I
what I started doing when I was in the Navy and as a diver
I supported Naval Special Warfare as a diver for five years and it was after
that again I just wanted another challenge so I decided to go ahead and
go through buds or basic underwater demolition school and become seal it's
impressive tell us a little about about the seal
lifestyle I guess it's your a pretty tight-knit group right right we are a
tight-knit group you know it's it's like a brotherhood and once you get your
Trident you know you you really can't take it away from somebody it's
something you know they've earned for for the life you know for their life and
it's a great group it's it's all about teamwork and you know everyone having
the same goal great now I read once that you turn down an opportunity to become
an officer to stay with the SEAL team what is it about you or the seals that
really inspire such commitment again it's just how tight-knit the group
is both officers and enlisted go through the same training side-by-side I won't
find that anywhere else in any of the Armed Forces so it's like
a brotherhood you know and and working together that close closely you know in
in life-or-death situations sometimes and you know everyone going for the same
goal it's it's a great feeling where have you been stationed during your time
during the Navy during my time in the Navy that's there's a long list of it
I've been in Panama City Florida Puerto Rico Wow Virginia Beach and San
Diego and there's been a lot of other you know deployments I've gone on in
other schools I've been to but those are the main places I've been stationed so
you've gotten to travel all around the world safe to say right how cool the on
deployment has Navy giving you the opportunity to travel what would you say
is your favorite place if so well um my favorite place is probably the United
States just because that's where my family is and I hate and I do love our
country but as far as other countries probably Norway I got to spend a lot of
time up there up in the Arctic Circle and stuff like that doing some training
and stuff and some skiing what was that like oh it's great it's a you know
winter wonderland just just like what you'd expect from seeing a postcard or
something from there it's beautiful and as if being a seal wasn't exciting
enough you've got one heck of a hobby Chris why don't you tell us about being
a professional adventure racer well I'm on a professional adventure racing team
gerber gear and were sponsored by Gerber legendary blades and a lot of people
don't know what adventure racing is and basically if I tell them about the Eco
challenge a lot of people have heard about that but now I do races such as
primal quest which are you know these up to ten day long races where you kayak
mountain bike navigate horseback ride you know all these things
and basically you know whoever crossed the finish line first wins Wow so is
every race all of the above you hike you do all of that right you basically you
have a starting point and an end point and they give you maps and whoever you
get there already get there you get there that's amazing yeah it's a lot of
fun so it sounds very exciting and does the Navy how do they feel about it do
they approve of your hobby they do approve of it and you know it's it's a
good parallel adventure racing to being a Navy SEAL a lot of the same things
such as the navigating being out at night lack of sleep being cold being wet
being miserable you know just being a Navy SEAL it's it's it's really a
lifestyle and you know I could probably take any Navy SEAL I wanted on an
adventure race with me and you know I know at least he'd finish you know it
wouldn't quit and it's it's a lot of fun that's awesome now are there any other
more routine hobbies that you do um probably not that just reading out of
airplanes a big hobby cooking I do cook I like to cook and people say I'm pretty
good at that um so when I'm not adventure racing I do need a good meal
to recharge my batteries very good now did the Navy help you with your
education the Navy really did more than help I got my bachelor's degree and all
I had to pay for it was it ended up being about a hundred and twelve dollars
that's it total total that was it for you know
four years of education but and that was just for some you know study supplies
and stuff that I needed everything else covered everything else what are your
plans after the Navy well right now I'm thinking about being a paramedic
firefighter I've been a paramedic since I've been in the Navy and it's kind of
looking for a job that would you know somehow parallel in some ways what I do
as a Navy SEAL such as working out and you know I know some firefighters and
you know if you're not out fighting a fire you get to work out in the
firehouse and it's what I get to do at work now you know we get time to work
out and we're required to work out every day at work so very
nice look at you well Chris they're telling me that we
are running out of time I guess this is a big question but what effect has the
Navy had on your life the Navy has had a great positive impact on my life it's
really you know giving me direction and given me challenges and that's just the
type of person that wants to become a Navy SEAL is somebody looking for a
challenge and