Grit to Glory

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Son of a Blitch podcast . I'm your host , george Blitch . Today I just wrapped up an incredible conversation with my friend , daryl Ut . He is the author of Grit to Glory , his first book . It's called Grit to Glory A Green Berets Journey from West Virginia to the streets of Baghdad . It focuses a lot about his time in Iraq in 2006, . But it really takes us on to the genesis of his story growing up in West Virginia and what took him from that spot of growing up through kind of a tough childhood to finding his way through his football coach , through some inspiration , to become a Green Beret and his journey there forth . And it's just a phenomenal book . It talks a lot about resiliency , about teamwork , about leadership , inspiring future generations , and I think he does just that in such a phenomenal way . He talks about the grit code , kind of eight different things there which you can kind of take to your own personal life with civilian life or even if you're a leader in , you know , in the military .

Speaker 1 1:13

There's so much to draw from this book . It comes on sale on December 3rd . You can place your pre-orders right now . Go to the show notes below and make sure you place your order . This book is a life changer . It is something that will grab you , grip you and leave you wanting to see what's on that next page . I mean you might have a little bit of lack of sleep because if you start reading this at night it's page turner and you're not going to want to put it down .

Speaker 1 1:35

A phenomenal book I know it's going to do really well and there's a lot of human impact story that I feel that you're man . There's just so much heart and soul . There's so many things that he brought out the most vulnerable times of his life , of his times of service there , and I really just feel like it's a compelling book that it's really going to grab you and you're not going to want to put it down . So make sure you go and pick your orders up today . Again , check out the show notes below and I really think you guys are going to enjoy this conversation . I had a great time chatting with Daryl and I think you're going to love it . So , without further ado , here is my podcast with Daryl . Y'all enjoy Daryl . How are you doing ?

Speaker 2 2:15

today , man , I'm doing good . George , Thanks for having me , man , it's great to be here , great to be here on the podcast .

Speaker 1 2:21

I'm so glad that you joined me . I know you've got an event today over in San Antonio the first of the book tour . Now this book , grit to Glory A Green Beret's Journey from West Virginia to the Streets of Baghdad . It's coming out on December 3rd . I cannot wait for people to get it in their hands . I highly suggest everyone go and check out the pre-order link on the show notes below . Look , I want to dive into this , but I think it gives our listeners a really good placeholder to know a little bit about how you grew up , where you grew up and I think you know one of the sentences that starts off in the introduction . You said growing up , the only silver spoons in my family were the ones used to hit me . That was a hell of a first line man . Can you go ahead and explain a little bit of that , where you grew up and what that meant , as far as the beginning of the journey in the grit that you went through in West Virginia ?

Speaker 2 3:12

Yeah for sure , man for sure . So I was born and raised in a little small town , huntington , west Virginia , and it's infamously known for the Marshall University football playing crash that happened . Actually , we just had the anniversary I believe it was November 14th 1970 , is when their plane went down and it was just just a mile or two away from the , from the airport . So they were almost at their ultimate destination when they crashed and it was just a horrendous , horrendous crash . I wasn't born yet . I was born about a year later . Horrendous crash . I wasn't born yet , I was born about a year later .

Speaker 2 3:48

But it just kind of speaks to the area where I came from . Just being that blue collar , tough as nails , patriotic , roll your sleeves up , have some dirt under your fingernails and get it done so but yes , I did grow up . I did grow up . Uh , family uh was abusive . Um , my mom and dad uh married really young and they started having kids , and both my mom and dad never graduated high school . And for anybody that's ever listened to me or or heard any stories about me , I typically say that , and I don't say that to be negative towards my mom and dad , because obviously I mean they're both past , but negative towards my mom and dad because obviously I mean they're both past , but I love my mom and dad . But I say that because I think that kind of started building that chip on my shoulder , you know , having that West Virginia chip on my shoulder , and it made me want to do more and do better and exceed and , and I think that's what drove me , you know , in the military to get my bachelor's degree , get my master's degree . So so that really drove me .

Speaker 2 4:52

But my parents married young , didn't graduate high school . They were both , you know , blue collar . My dad worked at a glass factory , uh , his whole entire life . My mom worked at a mental health institution and my poor mom , man , she had the three strikes , you're out . You know she grew up as a little girl and a very abusive . Her family was abusive , so that's the way she grew up . And then , unfortunately for her , she married my dad and my dad had some major problems with alcohol , uh , as when he was a young man . So that was something that she had to fight through , literally fight through , uh , my dad being very abusive and being very , uh , physical and hands-on with my mom . And I remember those times as a little , as a little boy and it's just like it's the hardest thing , because you can't do anything . Uh , because you , you know , you don't have the strength , you don't have the ability , but you see your mom getting hit , even though she was getting hit by my dad , but it's still . You know , it's tough as a little boy . And then , of course , she worked at a mental health institution , so she got beat up at work , so she had the three strikes you're out . And I'm not trying to make excuses for her , but I really think that was part of Of the reason or the why that she treated us the way that she did . I think we were just kind of , you know , victims of the circumstance Me , my older brother and my older sister and I always try to say this yes , I grew up very abusive , but my sister got the brunt of it , man , she literally got the brunt of it .

Speaker 2 6:31

And there is a mention in the book where I was probably in eighth or ninth grade but I was cutting the grass and I looked through the window and her and my mom were always fighting . And I looked through the window and I noticed that my mom was on top of my sister . She had both of her hands held out to the side and her shirt was all the way up or brawl . You know she's probably a junior or senior in high school at this point , but she had her like in this restraint kind of thing . I guess she had learned from the mental health hospital . But you know , my sister couldn't do anything and she was just there yelling and crying and I went in and was able to get my mom off of her . But just a very violent , you know childhood and seeing that and being exposed to that , so so yeah , that's that was definitely my roots , you know , growing up .

Speaker 1 7:22

Well , and you talked about , too , that there are those things that you'd learned and that there were some things you imparted from your parents that were positives , and I want to talk about that too , because I think , while we paint that picture , I want to make sure like your mom was a tough woman . She dealt with a lot of different things and there was an impact that that made on you about your mental tenacity . Is that correct ?

Speaker 2 7:42

Yeah , definitely . I mean , I think I definitely got my resilience , you know , and and I would I would use that later on . I've used it my entire life . When you have a little bit of adversity , you know , I think the best thing that you can do is meet that adversity head on , um , meet that adversity with resilience , you know , like that psychological resilience , the ability to just kind of quickly and just quickly react and and do a positive instead of a negative . So so I definitely learned that from from my mother , like that having that resilience , and probably got some of my stubbornness from my Um .

Coach Thornburg and Military Preparation

Speaker 2 8:24

And I say this story about my mom just to kind of indicate how , um , how stubborn she was .

Speaker 2 8:31

You know , before she passed , she had an issue with her heart and , uh , and the doctor was like hey , you need to get this procedure done . And she said I'm not , I'm not doing that . And the doctor was like hey , if you don't do this , you're going to die . And she said , well , I'm not doing that . And the doctor was like hey , if you don't do this , you're going to die . And she said , well , I'm not doing it . And he's like all right , I'm going to have to put you in hospice and you're going to be dead very soon . And she said , okay , that's fine , that's just the kind of woman like , that's her generation . That's how tough she was . But I definitely got that from her and I credit my dad with giving me all the boy stuff you know the hunting , fishing , trapping , baseball , basketball , football all the time and effort , blood , sweat and tears that he put into me growing up as a little guy . You know I credit my dad for that , but really my mental strength that that came from my mom .

Speaker 1 9:25

Well , you know you you just mentioned there sports too and I think that that is it's a great equalizer , because when you're on the field , you're there and you have a coach and you have that . You know the patterns of the day , you have routines , you have things , expectations of which you got to rise to and hard work and that grit and determination to rise up in sports . And that was a big thing with you with football . And you know your coach , carl T Thornburg , played a significant role in your life and eventually kind of becoming a Green Beret , and so I'd like for you to maybe talk a little bit about that aspect of your life and then you know how he ended up taking you , you know , later on to Camp Dawson and maybe how that kind of played a part in your steps forward .

Speaker 2 10:06

Yeah , I'm always very , very happy to talk about Coach Thornburg and I'm very much looking forward to the chance to see him and either to go have breakfast or lunch or dinner . He's still alive and kicking . He's just such a tough man . But I'm going to be back in Huntington West Virginia the first week of December and I haven't seen Coach Thornburg in decades , oh , wow . And yeah , I had an old football buddy , rick Fry , that reached out to me and we were talking about Coach and I was hesitant to ask because I didn't want to hear what he was going to say . But I asked him . I was like , hey , is coach still around ? He's like oh , yeah , of course he's still . He's hard charging , he's in great shape , he's doing great things . But I am very thankful , I'm very thankful for coach Thornburg and I make sure or I tried really hard to make sure that I gave him his props in my book because I really meant it like deep from my heart . There would be no Green Beret on my head at any time if it wasn't for Coach Thornburg . And luckily I was able to meet Coach Thornburg and cross paths .

Speaker 2 11:15

You know those formative years . You know because I played football growing up . You know my whole life . And then you know , my ninth grade year to my senior year , coach thornberg was my football coach and he , he put a lot of time into us , man , he invested so much time . Uh , I do have a regret from that time period because he was the wrestling coach as well . He was the wrestling coach and the football coach and uh , I can kick myself in the rear for not wrestling with and for Coach Thornburg because I think that would have helped me so much . Because I got to see my son later on he wrestled all through school or middle school and high school and I got to see what that did for him and having that skill is . I mean , it's a different level when you have that skill and you know how to do those things . But that's a regret . But I met Coach Thornburg . He was my football coach . We worked out year round so he was always in the weight room . He was out there running with us when we were doing runs .

Speaker 2 12:18

Just a man , just a great influence and such a great mentor influence and such a great mentor and I think that he he really helped me out because he knew that my family I didn't come from much , I very poor family and he knew that I didn't have a lot of opportunities . And I think he started planting those seeds like , hey , daryl , this could be a way out . You know how it is when you're like 16 , 17 . It's like , oh , this place sucks , I want to move and you know I'm going to get away from here and go somewhere . Cool .

Speaker 2 12:48

But I think he started planting those seeds very strategically , like hey , you would be a great person for the military . Because when I look back on it , man , I feel like you know , at 50 plus years old now , and I look back to my upbringing before I joined the military , it's like , dude , I was built for the military , I was made for the military , I was built and made for special forces . So I mean , what a great . You know , I went through all the hardship , I went through tough times . I was hunting , I was fishing , I was trapping , I played sports . You know team dynamics , leadership , all of those things . Like dude , I did it and a lot of that , you know .

Speaker 2 13:33

I give that credit to Coach Thornburg and so , you know , he gave , he gave me that opportunity to start planting those seeds and then , like you mentioned , george , he took us up to Camp Dawson me and a few other of my football teammates . He took us up to Camp Dawson , west Virginia , way up in the mountains . I remember being a little bit dizzy on the bus ride because it was like this and that and curved around . People used to say it was like they followed a black snake to make some of those roads or trails . But we were out in the mountains , man , we were out in the middle of nowhere and there was , uh , this group of these national guard drill sergeants that were trying to you know , practice and and get up to speed before they went and did their summer active duty time or whatever . So we just happened to be like their test subjects and , uh , you know , they gave us PT test and you know two mile run pushup setups and they woke us up with trash cans , they made us do five mile runs , they trained us , they made us walk around and do drill and ceremony . And you know we were obviously comical because we didn't really know what to do . But that was great practice for me , man , that was great practice for me .

Speaker 2 14:50

And looking back it's kind of funny , george , because I think this is a funny story , but when I went to , this is kind of how I was mentally when I went to basic training . Man , this is kind of how hardcore I was and I didn't even know it . I was just , you know , 18 year old dumb kid from West Virginia , but you know I joined old dumb kid from West Virginia , but you know I , I joined the army , got shipped away , like I graduated in June , in July , I graduated June 1990 . So July 1990 , I , I went to basic training at Fort Benning , georgia , and I remember you know we were there . So they get all of these brand new kids and you know we get on these buses , we show up at Fort Benning and we're like in the in processing station . So we're not at basic training yet with our real drill sergeants . We're at like a holding facility waiting for the drill sergeants to come and get us . But it's a pretty impactful place because even though basic training hasn't started , it's kind of like , hey , we're in the army Now we're eating on someone else's schedule , we're wearing a camouflage uniform , we got new boots on , Like it's pretty shocking , dude , it's pretty shocking . Um , they do a good job with with the shock factor . Even before basic starts you're scared .

Speaker 2 16:06

But I remember , man , they would do lights out and I would hear all these kids crying and for the life of me I didn't know why they were doing that . I had the slightest idea why they were crying . And then after a couple of days I finally asked someone . I was like , hey , dude , why is it when the lights go out , people start crying , like what's going on ? And the guy looked at me like I was crazy . He's like you , you really don't know . And I was like no , I have no idea , because they're homesick , man . They , they miss home , they miss their mom , they miss their dad . That's just like I was on a whole different level , like I couldn't even imagine why they would be doing that . Uh , I think I just kind of shows where I came from and upbringing that I had , cause it didn't even really hit for me .

Speaker 1 16:54

Wow . Well , you know you , when you , when you're in there and you start that journey I mean cause , at first you had kind of a different trajectory that you wanted to go into , and there has been a few road bumps along the way . You know , there was the time where you wanted to get into kind of air traffic control . There was things you didn't have , some scores , then you had assist , and then there was a broken fibula as you were training . There's a lot of little setbacks and things that moved around . But when did you realize that , like , okay , I want to go after becoming a Green Beret and that I want to take these next steps ? What was that inside you ? Did you already have kind of a feeling of where you wanted to ascend to in this ? Did you have an idea of , like , how you wanted to see your military life blossom , or was this something along the way ? That kind of these stepping stones were laid out in front of you ? Through these experiences ? I was kind of curious about that trajectory there .

Warrior's Journey to Special Forces

Speaker 2 17:45

Yeah , I think I had the stepping stones that were laid out because , you know , in the back of my mind , you know I grew up with a football coach , coach Thornburg . That was a Sergeant , major Special Forces guy , green Beret , like a no kid , green Beret , in 19 Special Forces Group , one of our National Guard groups . But in my young mind that was just something that really I couldn't even wrap my brain around because I came in 18 years old , I was an infantry guy and I was never exposed to active duty Special Forces . So it was still kind of like a foreign thing to me that Coach Thornburg was this Green Beret , like I didn't have anything else to judge it off of . So the first , I would say my first major stepping stone was when I was in Fort Lewis Washington . Uh , because I started out in Fort Ord , california , in Monterey , they deactivated , uh , the seventh entry division , they moved us up to Fort Lewis Washington and that was my first exposure , george , to different Army units . You know , I'd always I'd just been around infantry and support . You know , from Fort Ord , that's all I'd seen . I didn't see Rangers , I didn't see Green Berets , I didn't see anybody , obviously didn't see Delta , you know any of those type of units . But when I went to fort lewis we were right beside second ranger battalion , so I got exposed to second ranger battalion and those dudes are on a whole nother level , uh , than we were as infantry guys . I mean , even though their infantry light infantry , just like we were , they were not like us . These guys were obviously a cut above and they were all like fanatical physical fitness studs and they were out there getting after it every morning . So that kind of like clicked in my brain like oh , there's different people out here , these guys are doing different things and they're on a whole nother level than the level that we're on . So that kind of like was the first baby stepping stone .

Speaker 2 19:47

And then I was only there for a year and then I went to fort campbell , kentucky . That was my next baby stepping stone because , uh , I lived on post at that time and I would take the back roads to get to to my infantry unit and taking the back roads you're always passing the ranges where people are training and shooting and all that stuff . So I started seeing these guys wearing soft caps and boonie caps and they weren't wearing gear like body armor and helmets and I was like , oh , who are these guys ? Well , that was fifth special forces group . You know , the legion that got the horse soldiers , that that would become the horse soldiers later on .

Speaker 2 20:27

I started seeing these guys and then in my mind I was like , man , these guys are doing it right . I mean , they're always out there training . They're training smart , they're efficient . You know , they're not doing like silly , dumb stuff like I thought we were at the time . You know , the grass is always greener but uh , but that's when it really kind of hit me . And then I started thinking about coach Thornburg and I was like , well , he was one of those guys . He was my football coach , you know , and uh , but in my mind I was still insecure .

Speaker 2 21:01

I was still a young man , I think by this point , um , and I'd had a great career to this point too . I mean , I was a 20 year old sergeant . I was , I was a sergeant in the United States army and I couldn't even buy a beer yet . So I was fast tracking man . I was a sergeant , I earned my expert infantry badge , I'd been to air assault school , you know , I was really doing great things . But I was still insecure as a young man and I was like , well , I don't know if I could do what those guys do Like . In my mind those guys were on such a higher pedestal and a level than I was . You know they were cause I've never been like the most physically fit , most articulate , most social . You know , I've I've never put myself on that level . But then a part of my brain was like , well , maybe I could do it . I could if I worked really hard .

Speaker 2 21:54

And I took advantage , george , of a deployment in 1995 . It was actually July 1995 to January of 1996 . We went to Sinai Egypt , as part of peacekeeping , a peacekeeping force , and I was thrown into a leadership position . I was a team leader and then my squad leader had a very bad mental breakdown and so bad that they had to pull him out of there and send him home . So I got elevated to squad leader .

Speaker 2 22:31

But all I mean all you could do in Sinai Egypt was get in shape and I ran and I did push ups and I did setups like a wild man and that's when it started clicking and it kept going like you can do this . You know , I was rocking , I was running , I got in phenomenal shape and unfortunately I had a setback Because in January I was fast roping and I broke my left fibula so I had planned on going to selection as soon as I got back . Like man , I got in great shape I'm going to go right now and then I broke my flipping fibula fast roping so I had to recover from that . I had to go back and do all of my training to get back to my level .

Speaker 1 23:15

And then I went that fall to Special forces assessment selection at Fort Bragg , north Carolina , and and I was fortunate , george , because that's a very , very demanding , tough course I was fortunate to pull it through and be one of those happy guys at the end , because there's not a lot of happy guys that that leave that place , you know well , you even kind of talk about it too , and I can't remember if it was in the book or another podcast where there'd be times where , like it , you'd be going through that and then you'd wake up and there'd be one less person , two less people and kind of in the middle of the night some of those folks would kind of step out . But you ended up getting selected to go on to Q course and then you were in your gray , uh , green beret in 98 , was it ? Yeah ?

Speaker 2 23:58

98 , the fall of 98 .

Speaker 1 24:00

So then after that you're going out , you've went to Kosovo , bosnia , you're traveling all around and you know I I know that there's a kind of a leapfrog we'll do here just for sake of time . But you know , in your book you kind of really focus in a lot on 2006 in Iraq . Right , and you know I want you to lay the stage for what it is you're going to be talking about in the book . But I kind of want to have one other step backwards to where you know and I know a couple years ago you were on a podcast and you know someone kind of approached you with the idea of hey , have you ever thought about writing a book ? And then that kind of kept echoing throughout the years and people would say , hey , you know , you got quite an amazing story .

Speaker 1 24:39

I was curious , along these you know lines when did you decide that you wanted to write a book and what was it about that year that made you want to ? You know , kind of dive in . I mean , I know you kind of bring up your history , obviously some of the things we just talked about , but the main focal point being a lot of your time there in Iraq in 06 . What was it that made you decide that that was something you wanted to keen in for this particular book .

Speaker 2 25:03

Yeah , that's a great question and , like you said , I was doing these podcasts and it's funny , george , how this actually started , because I'm sure that there's going to be people in the Green Beret community that are going to accuse me of like hey , daryl , did you forget you're a Green Beret

Journey to Writing a Book

Speaker 2 25:21

? Do you think you're a Navy SEAL and you think you're going to do a book ? What's next ? You're going to do a movie , because there's room for us all .

Speaker 2 25:27

Yeah , Green Berets typically are known for being quite professionals , not writing books and telling stories . So I know I'm going to get a little grief about this in the community , but that's okay . But I do have a very humble story to how this actually began and I'm not lying . This is legit how it started when I was the chief of operations at the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation . My boss is a retired navy seal former astronaut , mit grad , naval academy grad . You know he's , he's had a great career , he's done all kinds of stuff . If you stand beside him you you're like you feel less of a man because it's like dude , really , you know mit astronaut , like really . But uh , I swear , george , this is the truth .

Speaker 2 26:15

The only reason I got on combat Story with Ryan Fugit , which was my first podcast . I called Ryan to get my boss on the podcast . You know I was . I was calling to get Chris Cassidy , like hey , you know you should talk to Chris . And then I knew Chris was going to tell him Navy SEAL stories and astronaut stories , but he was also going to talk about the Medal of Honor Museum that we're building in Texas . So that was the whole reason , swear to goodness . And then Ryan said , hey , man , yeah , I'd love to have him as a guest , but I want to have you as a guest . I've heard your name and he talked about how he heard my name and all that type of stuff and I was like no man , are you serious ? But that's legitimately how it all started for me . But Ryan was the first person to echo or whisper in my ear like , hey , you should write a book . And then I just kept hearing it over and over and over as I did more and more podcasts .

Speaker 2 27:09

And I was doing a lot of those podcasts to kind of help broadcast the message of you know , the fundraising that we were doing at the Medal of Honor Museum and all that stuff , cause I knew people wanted to hear some cool special forces stories and that I could get in a couple of minutes about the Medal of Honor . But at one point I was doing a podcast with a guy based out of Dallas and he mentioned it to me . He said , hey , dude , you got a lot of cool stories . We couldn't even get to them all . You know you should write a book if you ever considered it . And I was like , oh funny , you should ask that yes , I've heard it , but I don't even know where to start man , and he had someone that he connected me with . Her name was Lauren Gowdy . She ended up being my co-author for the book . So I talked to her for the first time , george , and I knew instantly this is the woman that I'm going to work with to write this book , because I was blown away by how smart and articulate , uh , she was . Um , she you know special operations guys weren't like a new thing for her . She had worked with Navy SEAL , she'd worked with Green Berets , she'd work with guys that had seen a lot of combat , you know , as infantry officers . So she had my respect immediately and I knew that she was my author .

Speaker 2 28:24

Now , as far as , like the time period , like , ok , so you know , from zero to 18 , huntington , west Virginia , and then from 18 to , you know , 26 and a half years later for my career , like what , what should I start with ? Because , yes , I do have a lot of cool stories and I've done a lot of cool missions . We were talking about it a little bit before we went live , you know to say it now it sounds super cool . You know , like , hey , I , I provided counter sniper security for president clinton in sarajevo during a big summit on sniper alley like that used to be on tv all the time . It's like , oh my gosh , the , the muslims versus the serbs , and they were killing each other on sniper alley . I was a counter sniper on sniper alley when president Clinton came through . Pretty big deal , right yeah . And then President Bush 43 . Kosovo right yeah , kosovo in 2001 . So this is a few months before 9-11 when our whole world changed .

Speaker 2 29:28

But that was another really cool mission for me to do because I was the lead on that mission and I had all these special forces teams . I had lead on that mission and I had , you know , all these special forces teams . I had Navy SEAL teams and we were the outer cordon for the Secret Service and you know that's a pretty cool mission . But you know we had to kind of pick and choose . Like I wanted to mention some of those missions that we did and I wanted to mention a little bit about 2003 , for the initial invasion in Iraq . I wanted to mention 2004 , 2005 . That was another big rotation for us and you know the team that I was on there was gosh . I mean they were very recognized , you know , as far as awards and combat awards and valor and things like that . So that was a great little rotation .

Speaker 2 30:19

But I think the pinnacle for me was that 2006 rotation . You know it's . It's really , george , the pinnacle . As a special forces team sergeant . You're leading the team like you're the boss and it took me 15 years to get to that point . So that's the pinnacle . But then you take a step back and it's like , well , there's actually another rung that's higher on the ladder than leading a team and that's leading a team in combat . So that's what I was getting ready to do in 06 .

Speaker 2 30:51

And I thought this was super important to George , because the way that the 2006 rotation started it didn't start so great . We started out with on really a bad foot there . It didn't look so hot and I think that really speaks to the grit and the resilience and having that adversity to kind of fight through and , to use something from yours and Scott Mann's podcast , like , hey , man , nobody's coming to save you . You got to put your big boy pants on and you got to go out there and get it . And I thought that was such a valuable lesson , because Lauren and I had all these conversations like , hey , what do you want ? What books are you basing this off of , or what are your favorite books ? And we had those conversations and then she was like hey , daryl , let's talk about being authentic . You know , because we often hear the hero stories and it's like man , you know you're here in the final product , like the dude is at the top of the mountain or the chick is man , you know you're hearing the final product . Like the dude is at the top of the mountain or the chick is flying , you know an A-10 or whatever it could be . Like you're hearing the hero stories and she's like you know your 2006 rotation .

Lessons in Leadership and Accountability

Speaker 2 32:10

I think it's going to inspire people because , you know , not just military people , but it . This transcends occupations . This is great in the civilian world too , for business owners and and all of those things . Like , hey , man , it gets hard , sometimes you're going to get punched in the face , that's just . It's not an if , it's a matter of when you're going to get punched in the face and you have a really , really impactful story because you got punched in the face really hard right from the start and you had to put your big boy pants on and you had to fight through that and you did . And you're going to take the reader on that whole journey from January to August 2006 . And where did you end up ? You know I don't want to spoil it , but you know it's like , where did you and your team end up ? And that's very inspirational , it's very powerful . I think that's what we should package up and and that's what we went with .

Speaker 1 33:05

No , and I think it's you know to talk about that moment too , where things didn't start off on the right foot , if you wouldn't mind maybe kind of giving a little insight , because there's a lot of things that I think are good determining factors of how you are and how you were leading at that point in time and just accepting responsibility and stepping up to the plate . So I mean , if you can maybe talk about that and this is previous to the February 22nd , right , because that was the day Al Qaeda bombed that Shiite mosque and that started the I mean , that was the whole civil war beginning , but leading up to that there was other you know crap that you had to deal with , and if you can explain that story , we'll kind of dive into some others after that .

Speaker 2 33:41

Yeah , yeah for sure . Um , you know it's unfortunate , but my communications guy at the time , uh , we had a very sensitive piece of equipment . It's called an ANCYZ 10 , crazy 10 , little black magic box . People have different names for it tin , crazy , tin , little black magic box , people have different names for it . But it basically allows the military to talk secure and if you think of like signal and your own signal and your texts and your friends and stuff like that , you have encrypted communications that you don't have to worry about anyone else reading that . And that's basically what this little black magic box did for us . It allowed us , the military , to have secure communications .

Speaker 2 34:17

Well , my guy lost that piece of equipment and typically and historically in the military , when a device such as that is lost , someone's going to get fired , and that someone in this case was probably going to be me and I was dealing with a bunch of other stuff at the time , as I , as I indicate in the book , but for this particular device , man , it was such bad news that it was the worst timing . It was the start of our rotation and we just weren't off to a good start . So I had to , I had to call this up and report it , and I knew it was gonna . It wasn't going to go over , well you know . But I knew that bad news doesn't get better with time . We all know that .

Speaker 2 35:00

So I had to suck it up and I had to make that call and , man , I felt so defeated because , like I said , you know , talking about the pinnacle , it took me 15 years , george , to get to that point where I'm leading my own special forces team and I'm leading a special forces team in combat , like , uh , I know maybe a lot of civilians can't wrap their brain around it , but it's the flipping Superbowl , like that's how we looked at those combat deployments . And I've heard people say like , oh , my God , bless your heart , you're going back over to Iraq . And it's like , no , no , like we want to go over there If you're going to feel sorry for anybody , feel sorry for our enemies , cause it's what you're training for this whole time .

Speaker 2 35:41

Yeah , yeah , the whole , the whole thing . Like you know , it's the Superbowl dude , it's , it's literally the Superbowl , so , uh , so yeah , man , and , and we all want to play in the Superbowl , we all want to have our own role . And here I was and I thought that was going to get taken away from me . And then I really had to kind of struggle with that as a leader , because it's easy to kind of say like , oh , I would do this or I would do that , but when it's your butt on the line and you're the one that's that's going to get fired or you think you're going to get fired , that's really hard to kind of work through . And it really kind of made me self-reflect as a leader . Like , hey , I know that good leaders , they stand in front of their team when something goes wrong and they take responsibility and they shield and protect their team and say , hey , this is on me , I own this , this is my fault . And protect their team and say , hey , this is on me , I own this , this is my fault . And I also know that good leaders are in the back of their team when great things happen and their team are getting attaboys and accolades and pats on the back . You know a good leader will be in the back and push his team out so they can get all of that . Like I knew that , man , that's leadership 101 . And that's the way I was I grew up , and my mentors coach Thornburg , sergeant Major Scott , brazil , that's they had taught me that .

Speaker 2 37:02

So once I had a little bit of time to to think about it and and I kind of used one of the principles of the grit code , which I'm sure we'll get to at some point . But one of the principles of the grit code is control what you can control . Things that are outside your control . You got to let that stuff go . You only focus on the things that you can control . Control what you can control . And I had to take a deep breath and remind myself I can't control if I'm going to get fired or not , like they're going to make that decision , like I need to focus on being a leader , leading my team , doing everything that I'm doing , and then , when it's time to deal with that , we'll deal with that .

Speaker 2 37:40

And luckily I was able to regroup and when my boss came down and we all knew the reason he was coming to visit us , it was going to either be to fire me or to keep me , and I I accepted that and I owned it . I owned it and the first thing I said to him , when I looked him in his eyes , I said , sir , I take responsibility for the missing piece of equipment . It's on me . I can assure you that this will never happen again and I can assure you , if you give me a second chance , you'll never regret it . I am so thankful that he did give me that second chance and I think , george , the reason he gave me that second chance is because I did own it .

Speaker 2 38:21

I didn't try to throw someone else under the bus , and this all ties into Georgia . It's kind of interesting no-transcript and things just started working out from that point . But I think it's a great lesson in humility and leadership , team dynamics , all of those things to shift blame and all that , or whine and cry and make excuses and have that victim mentality . I think every guy on my team would have been looking at me like , what's this guy gonna do ? Like , when things get really bad , like yeah , yes , this was bad , this was a lost piece of equipment , this is terrible , but what if people are dying or getting shot ? Like , like , what's this guy going to do . So I think that was . It was such a great lesson and it really helped propel uh things moving forward for for me and the team .

Speaker 1 39:43

Well , I think it's . It's huge that you talk about that idea of leadership and when you step up to the plate , you accept all responsibility . You didn't mention the other name of anybody else who had had , you know , misplaced this or whether it got stolen , whatever at that point in time . You know , you didn't know , and so you went up there and those people behind you you've got their back and they're going to have yours and they're going to realize , by you being that example of that kind of leader , you're going to have the full faith and you know and you need that , you need that kind of thing going behind you , right , and like you said too , that the leader from the front forward and from the back you need that on both sides of things and the people in the middle are always going to be there in full force , behind you and not questioning your decision , because they know you're making good decisions and that ultimately , you're going to fall on that sword . If there is one right , and they have a huge amount of respect , and I think that that kind of thing is contagious , right , and you talk about in the book , too , that there's other types of contagion , right , whether it's panic or whether it's being calm .

Speaker 1 40:40

And there was a moment where you're talking about and you were talking about the Alive Day in the book , where there's bullets whizzing past you , right , and you kind of liken it to a time when you were younger and mowing a lawn , right , and you can kind of thread those needles if you like , but it to a time when you were younger and mowing a lawn , right , and you can kind of thread those needles if you like . But you talked about too , where you were about to take a step and there's enemy fire right in front of you and you you realize right then , and there too , that if you're going to be calm , other people around you and if it just looks like a wildfire of emotions , that's what your team's going to be there behind you too . So I'd love for you to kind of thread that needle as well and maybe talk about that day and that experience , and then we'll kind of jump into the grit code after that .

Speaker 2 41:21

Yeah , and I think you know that goes into a couple other principles of the of the grit code . You know we just talked about control . What you can control with that missing piece of equipment , will that really help me ? And then two more principles of the grit code come into play with what you just said , and that's calm breeds calm . And then that's also the other principle of the grit code is courage is contagious . So , and that's something that I definitely saw in all of my combat experiences , and it's so easy when you could hear people talking on the radio and they're so jacked up and they're so fired up and excited and they're just out of control , versus you're talking to somebody that's very calm , cool , collected , like they're calling in a meat lovers pizza with a bag of chips and some Cokes , and that's really how some people sound on the radio and that just it breeds calmness because it's like my leader's calm , he's not freaked out . This is something that we can control , you know . So those are all very important principles and I'm glad that you brought those

Code of Grit

Speaker 2 42:24

up .

Speaker 2 42:24

But yeah , 17 April was definitely a huge day for us , the Alive Day , and it really started out as just an administrative day for us . You know , we were going to drop off one of our interpreters . He was going to go back and spend some time with his family . We were going to get some turret upgrades , we're going to pick up some supplies . Like it was a very administrative day , almost like an easy day , like , hey , we're going to do a convoy , even though the streets , you know , baghdad was , you know , really dangerous and all of those things . But mentally for us , like what we knew that we had to do , that day was very administrative in nature . And you know , we were going to drive to the green zone and then we were going to leave the green zone , go on route Irish and go to the Baghdad International Airport . Like bam boom , done . You know it's going to be an easy day .

Speaker 2 43:14

And then it it switched on a dime is when we got the call like hey , our brothers from the 101st , they need assistance . They , you know , they were in a bad spot at that time . I think it was five hours into the firefight . So so , yeah , we responded to that and we ended up linking up with the Iraqi army , we linked up with the 101st and I really felt like we changed the momentum of that battle Because you know they were basically , you know , the Iraqi army , the friendly Iraqi army and the 101st were stationary at the time that we arrived there and they were kind of in the defensive . And you know , we showed up in two gun trucks . We were unilateral , meaning we didn't have any Iraqi soldiers with us , we didn't have to worry about Iraqi soldiers , we didn't have to worry about the Iraqi army , the Iraqi police , we didn't have to really worry about the 101st like linking up with you know , all these elements .

Speaker 2 44:13

Before we did what we had to do , like we were unilateral , like I could make that decision , we're going to do this and that's what I was able to do was was to , uh , to basically decide like , hey , I had a quick , uh glimpse of of how things were going and I was like man , like this is what I need to do . And we prided we , we prided ourself on surprise , violence , speed of action and overwhelming firepower , like that's what you know , that's what we've , we've , that's what , that's how we dealt with with things in and around , uh , adamia and Baghdad . So , uh , surprise , uh , surprise , speed , violence of action , overwhelming firepower , uh , and I was able to make a quick decision and say , hey , I think we can do this and it worked . We were able to catch the enemy off guard and we made them pay for it , we punished them and then that kind of broke , that stalled out effort that we had and it kind of motivated that courage was contagious . Calm does breed calm and we were able to link up with the 101st and the Iraqi army and we were able to fight through the city . You know , we fought through the city for two hours .

Speaker 2 45:30

At one point our engine block was shot out . And you know , right in the middle of the biggest firefight of our lives , uh , daylight , and we're in an urban 360 degree environment , uh , which basically means you're getting fire from areas you really don't know I mean windows , rooftops , alleys , streets , cars , like it's . It's a 360 degree environment at very , very close range . And we got our engine block shot out , lost power , and you know that was one of those times where we had to deal with it . We had to , we had to rely on our training , george , that we had done and we were able to relentlessly execute , which is another principle of the grit code .

Speaker 2 46:19

And the way that we were able to do that is because we had trained for that , we had prepared for that . So the thing that you know , for me , what I saw was if you prepare and you're consistent and you have that relentless execution , you're going to have results , like it's going to be positive results . So in that very time , like that critical moment , daylight , firefight in the middle of this urban environment , our engine block is done . We lost power . You know , it was like a battle drill , it was like a second nature for our guys to hook up the tow straps to our vehicle and get us out of there . They relentlessly executed because the thing is , uh , I noticed that there was no triple , a roadside assistance , uh , that we could reach out to to save us that day .

Speaker 1 47:10

Uh , it was all , nobody's coming to save you . Huh , Nobody was coming to save us .

Speaker 2 47:15

No , triple a , but uh , but we were able to get out of there and we switched out vehicles and we returned to the fight . But uh , yeah , just an extraordinary day . Uh , it's a day that I'm you know , that I'm really proud of , and uh , it's where everything came together for us , and , and uh , definitely a proud day .

Speaker 1 47:34

Well , you know you mentioned how some of those cover some of those areas of the grit code , and you know you have eight different codes that you talk about , and so I'll just list them real quick . You got to control what you can . Eradicate arrogance , possess an extreme work ethic , adopt a no-surrender mindset , embrace innovation . Calm breeds calm . Relentlessly execute encouraging is contagious . Is there any story that you have that you'd like to maybe share out of some of those that maybe you haven't shared before ? Sure .

Speaker 2 48:02

Yeah , for sure . I mean , we talked about a few of the principles , and when I say the grit code and we talk about these principles , you know , in its simplest form , the grit code is like a blueprint for navigating through the challenges of life . It's for navigating through when things just come crashing down at your feet . The grit code is that blueprint that's going to help you when life punches you in the face not if , but when and it's just something that you can fall back on to help you get that brain turned back on , switch back on , and can help you propel you to move forward . There's definitely some good stories with each one of the principles , the eight principles that you read . I think this is a really interesting one and I think you might enjoy this one , george .

Leadership and Arrogance in Special Forces

Speaker 2 48:51

But talking about eradicate arrogance as one of the principles of the grit code , I think that's super important . You know , for myself , as a leader , I didn't want arrogant people on my team and this isn't the arrogance isn't to be confused with confident like man . I think we all agree that we , you know , we want to be around confident people . But I definitely think there's a fine line between arrogant and confident people . You know , I don't want the arrogant type , but I think this is kind of a cool story because it lets you in and this was something that I really I was , I was really trying to accomplish with my book and maybe you can answer this question when I get done with this story but something that Lauren and I , when we were talking about about the book , and she said well , daryl , can you tell me , can you tell me a couple of books that you really liked , that really resonated with you or very powerful for you ? And I said , sure , red Platoon by Clint Romashay is probably one of my favorite military books . I love it . And then she said okay , why ? And I said well , when I opened Red Platoon and I've read that book probably 20 times plus , like no lie , I read it 20 plus times I said when I open Red Platoon , it takes me on a roller coaster . I feel like I'm there in Afghanistan because I never served in Afghanistan . But when I read Red Platoon , I feel like I'm there and I'm on a roller coaster , I'm in the vehicle with these guys and I'm fighting right alongside these guys because it's so descriptive and it has that dark military humor . And another book is Black Hawk Down . I mean , that's such a powerful , powerful book for me to read still to this day and I think there's tons of lessons learned in that book . So I really wanted my book to be that way . So hopefully we can talk about that in a second , george , and you can , you can help me . You know , like , hey , you read this book , you know let's talk about it a little bit so people can hear what your thoughts were and hopefully , what they can get out of the book or expect to get out of the book when they read it . But I think this is a good one .

Speaker 2 50:59

To go back to eradicate arrogance . You know , confident people great , arrogant not so much . Confident people great , arrogant , not so much . I think it's kind of cool to share with people what it's like for a brand new dude , a brand new Green Beret , fresh out of the qualification course , what that's like for him when he shows up to his first Special Forces team . And keep in mind , this is a young , healthy , fit , just a beast of a guy , probably a young guy that's just full of himself when he shows up with his Green Beret . He's a new Green Beret , so he probably thinks he's on top of the world to know the dynamic that , what happens when he shows up to his first Special Forces team , because he's joining a Special Forces team of other Green Berets that are more mature , more experienced , have been to combat . So it's a whole different ballgame , you know , from being just a brand new Special Forces guy . And this is typically what happened with the brand new special forces guys that showed up on my team

Importance of Humility and Trust

Speaker 2 52:12

.

Speaker 2 52:12

Uh , when they got there and a lot of them were probably expecting , you know , hey , we're gonna do uh close quarter battle , you know cqb or we're gonna be shooting on the range . You know like , yeah , there is time for all that stuff . But the things that they were initially doing right off the get go was taking out the trash and cleaning the bathroom and cleaning the showers and sweeping and mopping the hallways and making sure the team room was clean , and that's those early things that these young green berets were doing . And then , probably after a couple of days , george , I would be able to detect a little like demotivation or a little disappointment in these guys and I would pull them off to the side and say , hey , hey , what's going on ? It's like , oh , sergeant , you know I was expecting to be on the Special Forces team and we're going to do all these great missions and we were going to be training and rocking and shooting and all that .

Speaker 2 53:09

And it just seems like , you know , I'm doing these like little , small , trivial things that really aren't that important and at that point that would be a learning point for me as a leader to this . To this young green beret it's like hey , all of these things that you're doing are very important and if you weren't here to do them , one of us would be doing them . So you know , we don't have a maid service , we don't have a janitorial team that just follows us around and cleans the bathroom and sweeps the floor , like those are things that we have to do and check this out . Young guy , young guy , these things are very important because if I can give you these tasks and trust you to do these tasks to the best of your ability , then that's super important . Because if you don't and I can't trust you and you don't get it done , how am I supposed to trust you when it really matters ? And when bullets are flying and guys are getting shot , maybe guys are dying , how am I going to count on you and trust you if I can't count on you and trust you , if I can't count on you and trust you to do these small things , and that's usually when the light bulb goes off and it's like , oh okay , I see what you're saying now and and that kind of goes into the book .

Speaker 2 54:19

I think it's a one of the funnier stories when you're talking about the red hat and the business suit . If you remember that story , george , getting on the plane and all that , that was one of my youngest , youngest guys . That was his kind of initiation to the team . But to me that I think kind of like really describes eradicate arrogance and kind of how you do it as a leader and ensure . It's going to be different , different organizations , different businesses . It's going to be different organizations , different businesses . It's going to be a little bit different , but I do think it's important . But , george , I would like to kind of switch this back to you . If you could give maybe the listeners a little bit of taste , you know , or maybe answer this question . Lauren and I really wanted to try to get you in the driver's seat or try to get you with a special forces team in Baghdad in 2006 . You're right there with us . Do you think that we accomplished that , as as writers to , to get you in the action .

Speaker 1 55:20

I feel like you did in an extraordinarily amazing way . I mean , you know , being a civilian , I have family who has has been active duty and multiple you know facets and multiple generations , and so I have these pieces that you can pick up on and you can kind of try to put

Brotherhood and Resilience in Combat

Speaker 1 55:39

yourself there . But I felt like there was times within your book that I'm in in the passenger seat while you are going through the streets , while you're taking fire , um , and I think the humility as well as the heroics of things and also just kind of connecting with different cultures . There's a time where you talked about , you know you're going to a morgue to go and pick out the body , to bring it back to a family member of the forces of your way . That wouldn't it , wouldn't you know one of your own soldiers there , but the care and dedication that you went in and later on , these guys are the same folks that you went and helped out . They're there supporting you when you guys had another mission and you know there's like this , this nod you talk about too , where you you kind of both saw each other and it's like he sees you . There's a brother ship that expands past cultures and that , that those moments , um , in the midst of all the chaos of war and the stories of what you saw in the morgue or you know , when two soldiers were taken and they were missing and what ultimately happened to them , um , it painted this picture where there's times like I kind of had to put the book down because I was like that's intense and like I'm trying to imagine what it's like to be going through that , and I think you kind of you bring people up to that edge of understanding , um , and for those who haven't been in battle , it's hard for us to really kind of maybe take that next step through that doorway to understand what it's like .

Speaker 1 57:04

But I think the way that like , but I think the way that you described it , I think the way that you , you know and you talk about this too , like how in other podcasts I've listened to , where you would write something and then Lauren would say I need more of that , I need you to describe that , I need you to describe the emotions and I felt , like you did great justification of those layers , of bringing that in to where I felt what you were going through . I could see through your eyes what you were seeing and the absolute devastation of war , but also the beauty and the camaraderie of brothership and sisterhood that comes with war and those connections and that always leads me to always thinking about to what it must be like for you and others who've gone through this to deal with the transition out and to try to then find your tribe and your brotherhood and your sisterhood and the thing that having that team that you've built , the leadership that you had , the times where you fell on that sword , like those moments I've felt really told me a lot about the character of who you are and why it's important that I'm reading this and how I can apply it to my own life and take those lessons of the that you've learned in the grit code and like how I could use those and maybe not in a , you know , in a in a situation where it's do or die , but it's in a situation of leadership and resilience . And that brotherhood and those things that you forged through your combat experience helped me not only to appreciate what you went through individually and what other people have the service of veterans but how those things I can take to my own life and how I can apply those and realize these levels of special forces and the mindset that it takes for all that and how I can then maybe take that in an application of my own life . So I felt like I was there .

Speaker 1 59:05

There's moments where I was shaking while reading certain of these stories and going , man , how the hell did you get through that day ?

Sacrifices, Insights, and Lessons Learned

Speaker 1 59:12

And then hearing you guys joke about just dark humor things and I'm like that's how you got through , okay , because you even talk about that too . You're calling your son on his 11th birthday and you're in the middle of the war and how you have to then compartmentalize yourself . And I think it also gives me a picture of those and how much you and others have sacrificed to not be there on those moments , to miss those birthdays , those anniversaries , the birth , I mean you know you even talk about where you were in Egypt too , right after you had a kid , and like these quintessential moments and like what you sacrificed , it gave me an insight into the type of warrior that you are and others that have served and why it's important that you and other Navy SEALs and other special forces people write down these stories for us to take with it , to understand what you went through and to apply those things in our lives , and so it .

Speaker 1 1:00:09

I mean I'm kind of shaken now , man . It's , it's , it's powerful stuff and I'm just so glad that you had that drive and that focus and that dedication to write this down and to share it with everyone and to . I just can't wait for it to hit the stands , man and people to read it . Everyone , go down to the show notes below and order your copy now , because it's a life-changing thing when you read something like this and it's affected me in that way , man , I really appreciate it .

Speaker 2 1:00:38

I deeply appreciate that . And just to give a really kind of shameless plug here , but you can pre-order it now from the ballast , which ballast books is my publisher . You can , you can pre-order it now and you will get it delivered before anybody else gets it . Uh , but it will go public December 3rd , so you can get it everywhere on December 3rd . But there's still time to go to the ballast website , which I'm sure will be in the show notes , and you can get it .

Speaker 2 1:01:06

But , george , I wanted to just kind of hit on something that you said about you know writing it and and all of those type of things . And and I really appreciate all the great feedback because I I've been dying to get feedback from other people like , uh , you know , I've heard some really good comments like , hey , I'm not really an avid reader and I'm on page 117 already and I'm at work now and I can't wait to get back home so I can keep . I want to find out what's going on after page 117 , or you know , I'm on this page and really , man , I've just gotten some good feedback because I've had this book for so long . Me and Lauren have been going back and forth . Me , lauren , my wife and we didn't want to be like a self-licking ice cream cone . We really wanted to get some feedback from other people . Like , hey , is this a good book ? Is there a business application with this book that's outside the military ? Like , hopefully it'll inspire some younger people and maybe they'll want to be a green beret or join the military or you know whatever . But I really wanted it to have an application outside the military as well . Like , hey , I'm a I'm a business owner man , I just opened up my own plumbing shop and this is hard , dude , this is hard . Like life is punching me in the face , I don't have enough money to cover the bills and and I'm going to get some of these , these lessons , these principles from the grit code and it's going to help me work through some of these things because , you know , a lot of things are just hard . You got to keep plugging away , don't quit . Adopt that no surrender mindset . Uh , but I wanted to touch on something about the book . I really found , george , that this was therapeutic to me .

Speaker 2 1:02:47

And you know you , you mentioned the morgue and that was a day that you know one of our local Iraqis got murdered and and they had him at the morgue . It was a Sunni morgue , it was ran by Sunnis and and our guy was a Shia and they didn't want to release the body . So we had to go to the morgue and we got our guy out . Well , we didn't have to , but we decided to do it , uh . But you know , I went there , uh , and I saw the , the morgue and all of the , the bodies there and the worst of humanity , and , uh , I buried it , man , I walked out of there and I buried it .

Speaker 2 1:03:26

I buried it so deep into my body and I didn't talk about it . I didn't talk about it to anybody until recently . But the first time that you know , I was talking to Lauren about it and she was very professional and delicate with you know . It was like , hey , lauren , you know we had to go to more . We got this body and she's like , ok , I understand the story , daryl , but I really need to know what you saw , what you felt , what you smelled , what you heard , all of those things . So we worked through that and she was very delicate and professional , but at the end , george , it was very therapeutic for me because that is something I just didn't address it . I didn't deal with it , I just buried it . That was how I got through it . I just I didn't deal with it , I just buried it and compartmentalized it .

Speaker 2 1:04:16

So at least now it's out there . I talked about it . Uh , I feel better about it now . Um , you know , I did everything that I could . My team did everything that we could do to try to provide some security and safety to Iraq and I feel a lot better . So I would encourage folks out there especially .

Speaker 2 1:04:40

You know we have a lot of veterans , george . As you know , we have a lot of veterans that are hurting right now from Iraq and really from Afghanistan , probably even more so because of the way you know that Afghanistan , the withdrawal and all that and others that are telling their story and talking about what they've , what they've done and just sharing that with people . Because I think that if more people do that , they can turn a negative into a positive . You know they can meet that difficulty . You know , with some resilience and and and and get through it . Because the way that I look at my book , like there's so many I in my opinion , there's so many great lessons that folks can pull from that , like , hey , man , uh , I remember reading books from from the Vietnam generation and about the Vietnam war and you know that inspired me . Well , I'm hoping that someone else , the next generation , they'll read my book and maybe they'll get inspired , maybe they'll learn some lessons from from .

Speaker 2 1:05:52

You know my failures and I think that's sometimes the best way we learn as as humans is is sometimes through failure . Uh , so hopefully someone can read , read through my story and be like , oh man , I I'm going to go go this way or I'm going to avoid this , or hey , he was talking about April 17th as a live day and he said you're not going to be help , you're not going to help anyone if you don't arrive alive , like . So maybe we shouldn't go 80 miles an hour to try to go help a few , a few people in a firefight and we flip our vehicle and kill five people , like we're not helping anybody if we do that . So let's be let's , let's be calculated about this and let's be smart . And I think that would be a great lesson for first responders , law enforcement . You know pretty much there's a lot of lessons like that that I think that that are in the book that will really resonate with people and hopefully it'll help them .

Speaker 1 1:06:47

Well , I agree , and like you talk about it too , and you're like saying that success is never a solitary path right , you mentioned that and like that's something that when you're telling these stories and people come in and they're listening to it and they tell their own stories , there is , you know that , camaraderie too . I believe that that can help some of those people who are struggling with those things and realizing that they're not alone and realizing what is at stake with our freedoms and why people are fighting for it . There's so much that I think you can unpack when you hear an individual's story , and especially when you've gone so in-depth and there was things that , like you said you buried but then you uncover those to talk about , and you were very raw , uh , and very vulnerable with some of these things , and I think that authenticity of what you went through and it it takes your lessons and and adds another layer of value to it , to me , like that . I'm like , oh , okay , like I , this guy's been there , he's seen that , and these are things that I'm going to go ahead and click on and really understand and try to apply , and they can definitely be taken to civilian life as well .

Speaker 1 1:07:52

And you know , just a phenomenal book , man . I can't wait for everyone to get it in their hands . You know there is something at the very end too . You talked about . You know some , some of the proceeds from this book . You're going to help some other organizations and I'd love for you to just maybe you know , before we , you know , step aside and , you know , move forward with our days . If you can talk about what foundations , what groups that you wanted to help support , and maybe why those were some that you chose to help . You know to help out with some of these proceeds .

Speaker 2 1:08:20

Yeah for sure . That's a great question . I'm glad you brought it up because I don't think I've talked about this really . And actually someone yesterday sent me a text and encouraged me like , hey , man , you might want to . You know , they've been following my LinkedIn and my social media and they said , hey , you haven't mentioned at all that some of the proceeds are going to be going to these great causes . That might be a way for people to really get behind you even more than they already are anyway , if you talk about this . So I'm super appreciative , george , that you brought that up .

Speaker 2 1:09:06

But I picked three nonprofits that meant a lot to me , and the first one is the Green Beret Foundation and they're one of the Woody Williams Foundation . And the third one is we Fight Monsters and that's Ben Owen's group . And those were the three that really resonated with me and I thought they were . They're just doing a great job . They're doing awesome things for the community and just doing a lot of really important work . And if there was a way for me to be able to give back I still need to figure out how it's all going to work out financially and all that stuff but if there's a way that I can give back , then I really want to give to an organization that that speaks to my heart and and I know they're going to do some good things with it . And you know , the Green Beret Foundation is obviously important for me because I'm a Green Beret and they're doing a lot of things , a lot of great things for Green Berets and family

Supporting Veteran Organizations and Giving Back

Speaker 2 1:09:53

members of Green Berets . So you know , it's not like you know we have guys that serve and then they retire and that's pretty much it , like there's still a lot of care . You know that we need to do for our active duty Green Berets and our retire duty green berets and our , our retiree green berets , our veterans .

Speaker 2 1:10:10

I heard a story the other day uh , there was a guy , a former green beret , up in uh , colorado . He's basically an RV with his wife and four kids . He's got this very , um , just very uh debilitating disease that he's not very mobile and he needs some help , like he needs to be in a wheelchair accessible house . So there's a lot of issues like that that we could help guys in the Green Beret Foundation and others . They do a great , they do great work with that . The Woody Williams Foundation kind of touches with , uh , my work that I used to do at the national medal of honor museum foundation . Uh , woody williams uh was a flamethrower , uh , from world war ii , iwo jima he passed away a couple years ago , but he's a . He's a west virginia boy , uh , just like I am . He's got a foundation and they do a lot of things for Gold Star families . They do Gold Star memorials . So me , you know , just being that West Virginia connection , and the VA hospital in Huntington , west Virginia , which is my hometown , is named after Woody Williams , so that felt like a no brainer to me was to try to try to get back to that organization .

Speaker 2 1:11:28

And then the last one we fight monsters . That's Ben Owens group , and if you're not following Ben Owens on social media , you should probably think about doing that . He's an easy guy to find . He's an easy guy to connect with . He's a great human being . He's got a great story . George , hopefully you can get him on your show soon . He'll definitely be one of my recommendations , because this man has been through the ringer and he openly talks about it .

Speaker 2 1:11:58

He openly talks about his vulnerabilities and his addictions and his demons and his fights .

Speaker 2 1:12:10

So he's someone that I had a chance to meet . It was actually through Scott Mann . The first time I met Scott Mann I traveled all the way from Texas to Chicago to see Last Out , his play that he did , and at that play I was able to meet Ben Owen and we've been friends ever since and Ben Owen really did a nice testimonial . Actually Ben Owen , scott Mann , did testimonials for my book , grit to Glory . So I'm hoping that we can kind of form an alliance going forward .

Speaker 2 1:12:37

But we fight monsters . They're doing a lot of great work in the streets of Memphis and these just like heavily you know , drug violence , you name it they're dealing with it there in Memphis and Ben is on the ground going to these drug houses and turning them into regular houses and helping people that are battling demons and addiction and getting them off that stuff and trying to get them in a healthy place . And I just I was like man , how could I not try to support ? You know we fight monsters . So I'm so glad that you asked that question , george , and and hopefully we can get some proceeds going their way to help them in their causes .

Speaker 1 1:13:18

Well , all three great organizations , and I love that you're you're giving back again with another layer of what you're doing and I just want to say thank you again so much for joining me today For folks who want to go ahead and follow your journey and maybe you know some dates you're going to be having some book tours or what's coming next . You know maybe the part two of this what is the best place for people to follow you , what channels and what are your socials there ?

Speaker 2 1:13:42

Yeah , you can . You can hit me up on Instagram . I'm still trying to on Instagram goes over to my Facebook . Uh , on on LinkedIn is my primary bread and butter social media . That's what I typically hit . I'm very responsive , or I try to be very responsive . Things have been busy lately , uh , but I'm at Daryl uh dash , uh , uh , very easy to find on LinkedIn , and I'm always happy to connect with other people and expand my network and hopefully we can get some good things going .

Speaker 2 1:14:32

I'm doing a lot of posts about events , book events . I have one tonight in San Antonio , I have another one that it's going to be on the 25th and I don't know when this is going to air George . But I have another one in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on November 25th in the afternoon at Marty B's , one of my favorite restaurants . And then I'm going to have some events the first week of December in Huntington , west Virginia , in my hometown . So I'm really looking forward to that . But yeah , super easy guy to follow and you know , once I can get through the book and all that , you know , I typically have an outline . I do , you know , I do normal posts and all those things trying to inspire and trying to offer leadership , guidance and advice . So and I'm also , george , trying to hit the speaking circuit I guess I'm going to try to follow in Scott Mann's footsteps , you know , with hopefully book , you know , launching the book , and I've done a lot of public speaking .

Speaker 2 1:15:30

I have some more public speaking events coming up . I'm doing a keynote on December 7th in Pinehurst , north Carolina , trying to raise some money for some special operators , but I'm hoping to go down that road . So if any of the listeners are looking for someone to give a good keynote or to do a fireside chat or just to come out and talk to some folks for a couple hours , I'm available , ready to go . Reach out to me . Actually , I have my email address , or one of my email addresses , at the back of the book . It's my rowdy 7 and Outlook , so feel free to reach out to me . If you get the book and you get the email , I'd love to hear from you . And as far as part two for the book , nothing is in the works yet , but if I get some good feedback from folks and they're like man , grit to Glory was awesome , if you can do another book about your 2007 rotation , I'm already ready to buy it . Then if we get that kind of feedback , then man we'll probably start working on that one too .

Speaker 1 1:16:31

Well , I'll be your first pre-order man . I'm ready to go . So it

Book Release Appreciation and Invitation

Speaker 1 1:16:35

uh . I really appreciate everything that you've done , your services country , uh , your service to the readers by by sharing your story and your book in such an authentic way . Uh , you know , daryl , I I just I appreciate you coming here today to chat with me . I cannot wait for this uh , to be out there and hear all the feedback from from your book , and I encourage everyone to check out the show notes , place your pre-order . Uh , if you're listening to this , after December 3rd , go place your order , get this book in your hands , read it and see why it's one of the best books that you're ever going to put in your hands . Daryl , thank you so much for joining me today . I look forward to meeting you up in person sometime soon .

Speaker 2 1:17:11

Thanks .

Speaker 1 1:17:11

George , appreciate you . Cheers , take care buddy .