Courage and Resilience: The Story of A Navy SEAL Corpman | Carlos Mendez | JP Dinnell Podcast 042

JP Dinnell sits down with Retired Navy SEAL Officer and Echelon Front instructor Carlos Mendez. 

More from JP Dinnell: https://www.jpdinnell.com/

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Carlos Mendez: https://www.instagram.com/carlos_mendez_246

JP Dinnell: http://instagram.com/jpdinnell/

Lucas Pinckard: https://www.instagram.com/lucaspinckard

Bruiser Arms: https://www.instagram.com/bruiserarms

Echelon Front: https://echelonfront.com/

Little Cattle Co: http://littlecattle.co

On The Path Printing: https://www.instagram.com/onthepathprinting

JP Dinnell is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and now a Leadership Instructor, Speaker and Strategic Advisor with Echelon Front, where he serves as Director of Experiential Leadership Training Programs.

J.P. is also a pro team athlete and spokesperson for Origin Maine and Jocko Fuel, an American clothing and supplement company.

J.P. has a signature Energy Drink flavor “Sour Apple Sniper” with Jocko Fuel. Jeremiah spent nearly a decade in the SEAL Teams with three combat deployments. Sent to the violent terrorist stronghold of Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 with SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, J.P. served as point man, machine gunner, and lead sniper for Delta Platoon opposite the American Sniper, Chris Kyle, who was in Charlie Platoon.

For his leadership and courage under fire, JP was awarded a Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars with Valor and the Army Commendation Medal with Valor helping Task Unit Bruiser to become the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War.

He worked closely with SEAL Officers Jocko Willink, his Task Unit Commander, and Leif Babin, and was the driving force on many of the daring combat operations Jocko and Leif wrote about in Extreme Ownership.

Upon his return, J.P. again worked directly for Jocko as a training instructor at Naval Special Warfare Group One Training Detachment, where he orchestrated realistic and challenging training scenarios for Special Operations Urban Combat training and Close Quarters Combat training to better prepare SEAL units for the real-world battlefield. He also served as a Combatives Instructor, Marksmanship Instructor and earned his Master Trainer Specialist qualification while helping Jocko rebuild and enhance these training programs into the highly effective platforms they are today.

J.P. brings exceptional experience and frontline leadership perspective from the winning mindset and culture of Task Unit Bruiser.

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:38 Carlos Mendez 00:04:00 Guatemala to USA 00:09:29 Defecting from Communism 00:13:42 Moving to Sacramento 00:15:25 Raising Rabbits 00:25:02 Rebellion 00:30:38 Getting Adopted 00:33:22 Enlisting 00:37:00 Navy SEALS 00:42:00 Working With the Marines 00:48:09 BUD/S Class 246 00:55:11 SEAL Team One 01:03:55 TRADET With Jocko 01:07:00 Seaman to Admiral  01:15:28 SEAL Officer Mendez 01:26:20 Getting Blown Up 01:35:31 Retiring From the SEAL Teams 01:42:26 Becoming An Investment Banker 01:47:30 Working for Echelon Front 01:57:31 Learning to be a Better Husband 02:03:24 Favorite Part of Working for EF 02:06:34 Book Recommendations 02:08:17 Bible Passage 02:09:34 What Are You Doing To Push Yourself 02:15:13 Making Family Your Purpose 02:17:44 Questions From Lucas 02:27:58 Closing Thoughts