Developing Self-Awareness Through an Army Exercise

Jason Van Camp is what Malcolm Gladwell would refer to as an Outlier; an exceptional person who is successful not just because of his personal accomplishments but his will to win and unique ability and willingness to unlock the potential of others. A decorated Green Beret, world traveler, and loyal friend, Jason has mastered the art of storytelling that reflect many of his own life adventures.  Jason is honored to be the Founder and Chairman of Mission 6 Zero.

Jason was born in Washington D.C. and raised across the Potomac River in Springfield, Virginia. In 1995, Jason was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. While at West Point, Jason played Linebacker for the Army Black Knights football team, served a two year LDS-Mormon mission to Russia, and, upon graduation, won the prestigious General Loeffke Award for Excellence in Foreign Languages.

After graduating from West Point, Jason volunteered to attend U.S. Army Ranger School in Fort Benning, GA where he earned his Ranger tab (2002). Jason then began a one year tour to Korea serving a few miles from the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea.  Immediately after serving in Korea, Jason was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in the invasion of Iraq (2003). In 2006, Jason won the coveted Green Beret and began serving as a Detachment Commander with 10th Special Forces Group in Fort Carson, Colorado.  As a Detachment Commander, Jason led his team on close to 300 combat missions to kill/capture high value targets as well as created and commanded one of the largest Foreign Internal Defense Force in U.S. history, training nearly 4000 Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers in hand to hand combat, raid and patrolling techniques, unconventional warfare and personal security detail tactics as well as deploying these forces on the battlefield.  During his 14 years in the U.S. Army, Jason has won numerous awards, notably the Bronze Star with V device for Valor as well as two additional Bronze Stars during numerous combat rotations as a Special Forces Detachment Commander in the Middle East and Africa.

In 2013, Jason earned his MBA from Brigham Young University and it was there that he developed a passion for entrepreneurship. Jason believes in servant leadership, the art of determination, and the power of storytelling. This philosophy has served him well in his life and has made him an experienced speaker and proponent of Mission 6 Zero’s six-domained Total Warrior Intelligence model. Jason is passionate about his experiences and his stories resonate with any audience; students, athletes, businesspersons that wants to be “passionate about passion.”

Episode 186: Jason Van Camp - Green Beret: 300 Kill/Capture Combat Missions - Comfort In The Uncomfortable

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The Learning Leader Show

"Repetition is the mother of learning."

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Common themes to sustain excellence:
  • Understand the importance of simplicity
  • They know who they are
  • High level of self-awareness
• The process for Army Special Forces Selection
• The situational awareness training done in the military -- how that helped Jason
• You must understand why you made the decision you made -- Must be thoughtful
• Graduating from West Point -- Progressing to Special Forces (why did he do this?)
• What life is like as a football player at West Point
• Becoming a Ranger and taking the next step to become a Green Beret
• 3 Deployments to Iraq - actions taken and what was learned
• Leading 300 Kill/Capture combat missions
• Being promoted within the military
• Speaking with Nate Boyer -- "The difference between the success last year and the failure this year is Leadership"
• Securing the very first Consultant deal with his new company with the New York Jets for $60,000
• The strategy to create a meaningful leadership training session with an NFL team
• "After 5 seconds on stage, you better have something to say"
• Keys to earning laughs from the audience
  • Absolute confidence
  • Handling bad situations
  • Gather information from people in the audience before your speech
  • Use names/examples of people in the crowd
  • Ask for hecklers (be careful with this and make sure you've planned well)
• 7 Ways to get comfortable with being uncomfortable
  • Start
  • Don't quit
  • Push yourself past your comfort zone
  • Embrace the suck
  • Be around like minded people
  • Recognize your improvements
  •  Rinse. Repeat
• The Thayer method of learning employed at West Point

Continue Learning:

• Go to Jason's website: mission6zero.com
• Read: How to Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable (According to a Green Beret)
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

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