My idea to become a Navy SEAL was me on my couch at 297 pounds with a box of
mini donuts and a chocolate milkshake.
It wasn't like it was, like, some Eureka moment.
Over a period of time of just living in my own head, I got sick of being
haunted by being nobody.
I was in the Air Force for about four years, and my big thing was I wanted to be
Air Force Pararescuemen,
some of the best medics on the planet earth.
As I got in the program, I started realizing that they had this thing called
water confidence.
Basically, they make you very uncomfortable under water.
So I realized at that point in time that I hated being under water.
I hated holding my breath.
For six weeks, I hung in the program.
I didn't sleep at all for fear of going back to the pool, for fear of drowning
in my head.
About six weeks in, we had this physical, and they realized I have sickle cell trait.
Back in the day,
I used to lie about whatever made me feel insecure.
On my official paperwork out of pararescue training, it has David Goggins left
on a medical, but the truth of the matter is, I left because I quit.
I had to find a different job in the Air Force.
In four years, being in the Air Force, I gained 125 pounds.
I get out of the Air Force, and I'm working for a job spraying for cockroaches.
Forty restaurants I was in charge of.
I go in at nighttime, and I spray.
I would stop at Steak 'n Shake, get a large chocolate milkshake.
I would go across the street to 7-Eleven, get a box of mini donuts.
On my way home, I'd be popping donuts like Tic Tacs.
I would get home, turn the TV on.
This is my routine.
Start taking a shower, and listen to the TV as I'm showering.
This particular day, I started hearing, "Navy SEALs."
"Toughest training."
And I was hearing it cut out between the water hitting my ears.
So I came out of the shower.
At the end of the show, this commanding officer gives a speech.
He says, "We live in a society where mediocrity is often rewarded.
These 22 men detest mediocrity."
I invented this thing called the accountability mirror when I was growing up,
and I got a chance to go into that mirror and look at myself and call myself out.
"I'm afraid of this.
I'm afraid of that."
Being raw and real about who I am and about what I'm hiding from.
And so to overcome all this, my bright idea was to try to become the one thing
I was afraid of, a Navy SEAL.
That day I started calling recruiters up.
And for two weeks, this happened.
This recruiter laughed at me.
That recruiter laughed at me.
This recruiter said, "There is no way."
And every time I heard a no, I said, "You know what?
It's not meant to be."
So I get back in my car and start driving back to work, and after I'd be at
work for a few hours, man I'd say, "Man, you can't give up that easy."
So I finally said, "This is my last call I'm going to make."
He was real busy.
He said, "Just come on in."
People don't walk in the office trying to be a Navy SEAL weighing 297 pounds.
You walk in looking the way I look now.
So, he brought me back to a scale, and I remember looking in front of me was a
height-weight chart.
For me, I'm 6-foot-1.
I could only weigh 191.
I had to lose 106 pounds in less than three months.
So I went on this crazy, crazy, crazy routine and eating hardly nothing,
and in less than three months, I lost 106 pounds.
I'm the only person in Navy SEAL history to be in three Hell Weeks in one year.
Hell Week is 130 hours of continuous training.
I got into Hell Week, got double pneumonia, stress fractures, got rolled back
to day one, week one.
I broke my kneecap, so I reported back to day one of Navy SEAL training broken.
And we had a guy die in my third Hell Week, so Hell Week ended about 30 hours early.
I had severe stress fractures.
My knee is now blown up again.
I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to go back through Hell Week again.
I made a decision to myself, there's no more quitting.
So that's when I went and got duct tape.
For the first 45 minutes, the duct tape hurt like hell, but after 45 minutes,
my legs would go numb.
Once stuff goes numb, you can't feel it.
So that's how I went through the rest of 22 more weeks of Navy SEAL training.
I was already at rock bottom my whole life.
So when you know how rock bottom feels, you don't mind sleeping in the sewer.
So at that point, once I realized that I already experienced the bottom, I no
longer had fear of failure.
But this took a long time.
This wasn't like I woke up, "Oh, Eureka!
I got it."
I started realizing that the mind is the most powerful weapon that we have.
Once I was able to quiet my mind and realize that I was really not cursed but
blessed to have so many tools I never saw as tools while growing up,
so much hardship,
only thing that can happen for me now is just victory.