Team Never Quit

Understanding war and the never-ending effects it has on veterans coming home from it is what this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast guest, Ben Kesling, lives to convey. After having joined and served in the Marine Corps as an officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ben went back to school to become a journalist and put his war experience to use reporting for the Wall Street Journal as a foreign and combat correspondent. Because of his experiences, Ben has a unique perspective on the effects of war and spends his time focusing on veteran n affairs and domestic security issues. Ben also authored the book, Bravo Company, telling the inside story of the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of the men of one particular unit, whose war didn't end for those soldiers when they came home. Bravo Company follows the men from their initial enlistment and training, through their deployment, and on to what has happened to them in the decade since. An interesting side note: Ben Kesling is a two-day Jeopardy! champion. In this episode you will hear: To know that you’re talking to someone who’s been there and understands what you’re dealing with opens up a whole world. Being in Iraq and Afghanistan helped me immensely because I was able to see those things and understand what soldiers were dealing with. In my book, Bravo Company, I wanted to tell their story. I didn’t want to tell my story. When you go to the VA, you’re treated as an individual, and we almost forget that we were part of a unit. The reunion that Bravo Company did brought them all together to remind them that they are members of a team. Strength to the group brings strength to the individuals. One thing we can do for each other is to have graciousness and empathy. We all carry the same weight, though some are more publicly known. There’s the trauma we go through just by living our lives. [Melanie]: That’s why we started Team Never Quit. It’s persevering through hard times. No man is an island. We’re not doing this on our own. You need people around you who love and care for you and to call you out on your bullshit. A burden is not a curse. It’s what life gives you. It can be a curse and a blessing. Anytime we try to do something by ourselves, we must remember we’re members of a team. [Marcus]: The irony of life: Some people will have a skillset that you won’t possess. Thru my book, I hope that people who have never served can understand what it’s like to be in combat.

ATV riding on the family farm sounds like a lot of fun - until you strike a live, fallen power line. This week's Team Never Quit Podcast guest, Jason Koger, shares his unbelievable account of the near-fatal injuries he suffered as a result of such an accident.Waking up after 3 days in a coma, Jason's life was forever different, as both of his arms had been amputated below the elbow to save his life, and the first thing he wanted to do was to hold his two daughters in his arms again.In short order, Jason taught himself how to drive again, and went on a turkey hunt and deep-sea fishing. Within a year, he was fitted with prosthetic arms and relearned the essentials of life, including how to feed, dress and bathe himself. These days, life is back to “normal” for Jason and his family. He has a new son and has taken on the mission of encouraging other amputees. Jason’s goal in life to use his story to help others.In this episode you will hear: My arms are body-powered. They basically work off of a cable. When you move your opposite shoulder from your amputation, you’re basically pulling a cable to the opposite hand.  My cousin said it looked like the Fourth of July was coming off of me. He thought I was dead. It basically blew my left thumb off. In the helicopter, they cathed me, and my urine looked like Dr. Pepper. By the time I made it to the hospital, they had to immediately amputate to save my life because my kidneys were shutting down. The surgeon said it looked like a shotgun had gone off inside of my arm. The electricity pulled all my tendons off. We’ve always had faith. When I woke up from a three-day coma, I had no idea they had amputated. When my dad says it’s gonna be possible to get through it, it’s gonna be possible. I told the doctor, “I gotta be able to hold my kids. That’s all I care about.” He said he’d make that happen. I’ve always been a strong-willed person. I want to do things myself. I don’t want someone doing things for me. Eventually, my insurance company said yes to two bionic hands. My goal was to be the best prosthetic user in the world. I got a call from CNN, asking if they could run my story. Then amputees all over the world started reaching out to me.  I told my wife I think this is my calling - to help others. I want veterans and non-veterans to know there’s a way to live. 95% of being a successful amputee is mental attitude. The hands have an Apple app. My hands know where they are in space at all times. The hardest day I ever had was the first day I was home, because one of my girls laid on my lap. My brother-in-law bought me a shirt that read: “Look Ma, No Hands.” I wrote my first book: Handed a Greater Purpose. You can live life to the fullest, no matter what you go through. 

When a rare genetic disorder hits home, it takes someone like this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast guest, Stephanie Herzog, to help find strategies to cure it. The Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) diagnosis of her son, Max, was the driving force to connect her with Cure Rare Disease, who is currently developing life-saving therapeutics in collaboration with the world’s leading academics, clinicians, regulatory experts, translational experts, and manufacturing experts. Stephanie serves as a board member. The organization’s ground-breaking research is bringing to fruition the potential for permanent muscular regeneration, which was, at one time, science fiction. In this episode you will hear: When we learned about our son’s condition, we put together a golf tournament to raise funds because it was A: Our only option, and B: Our best option to cure our kid.  80% of boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy have a gene deletion in the dystrophin gene. Max has a duplication of the dystrophin gene. In what should be the best time ever with your child, that’s when we find out he has this horrible disease. We had like a funeral in our house for like a month.  The weight of his future was heavy. Our team, through Crispr technology, hope to edit Max’s gene mutation. 6 years ago, this was science fiction. Boys usually get diagnosed between the ages of 4-6. They lose their ability to walk between the ages of 10 and 12. They usually lose their battle in their early 20s. They’re literally knocking out the gene duplication along a string in his DNA on the cellular level. Using the Crispr technology, the muscle cells are auto-correcting, producing dystrophin on their own. You wonder: “How am I going to live with this? And you do.” Faith is everything. You need somebody to pray to. When the going gets tough they have prayer.

What’s the difference between a professor of Criminal Justice and an undercover CIA, and FBI counterintelligence agent? In the case of this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast guest, Tracy Walder, the answer is Nothing. They‘re the same person. Listen in as Marcus & Melanie Luttrell discuss Tracy’s first-hand accounts as a CIA officer and FBI field operative – fascinating stories. She successfully hunted down terrorists around the world using aliases and had face-to-face discussions with President Bush and General Colin Powell. Yet, she shares her experiences in a genuine, unexaggerated, and engaging manner. Tracy is the author of The Unexpected Spy, and has appeared on numerous national programs, and has written several national security pieces. In this episode you will hear: I was born with a developmental disability called Hypotonia. (Low muscle tone). It has no cure. I didn’t roll over until I was 1. I didn’t walk until I was 3. I attended USC for free since my dad was a professor there. The CIA polygraph process was annoying. All the questions were very frustrating. One session was 8 hours long and another was 3 hours. My job was to try to get as much information as possible on terrorist training camps. I served in 13 countries. I once had a meeting in the trunk of a car. Having Bin Laden in our sights at one time and not being able to do anything about it was really upsetting. My boss at the CIA was the best boss I have ever had in my life. My target was a guy named Zarqawi who founded ISIS. Zarqawi became enemy number one. That meant going overseas. My job was to manipulate people to give me information. It worked well for me. I worked with SEAL Team 6 a lot. I left the CIA because I didn’t want to live overseas anymore. I was totally burned out. As part of the CIA, you are not entitled to the same benefits as veterans, like mental health care.I love the counter-terrorism mission.

"Navy SEAL Down!" Those are words no soldier in battle ever wants to hear. In the case of this week's Team Never Quit guest, Jeff "Spanky" Peterson, the mission he had trained for as an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter pilot finally came into play in the mountains of Afghanistan. His mission: to rescue this podcast's host - Navy SEAL 10's Marcus Luttrell (code name: "Spider-Man") - after a dramatic & horrific ending to Operation Red Wings. Listen in to Jeff's detailed description of the events leading up to that harrowing rescue, and learn firsthand the degree of risk taken by U.S. soldiers on a day-in-day-out basis. The average American has no idea of the degree of "badassery" occurring in the theater of war by the U.S military around the world. In this episode you will hear: People call us heroes, but I don't think of it that way. “Pack a three-day bag. You’re going up north.” A rocket-propelled grenade brought a Chinook chopper down, killing 16 men. Command picks up a clicking sound on a rescue radio frequency. My crew included a 57-year-old flight engineer, a gunner - a nervous University of Arizona student. My co-pilot was “Skinny”, 40-year-old seasoned by thousands of hours flying a Blackhawk. Are we looking for Americans, survivors, or is this a trap by the Taliban to draw in another chopper and blow it out of the sky? An elderly Afghani man arrives at a small Marine camp, with a note written by Luttrell. We have to fly into hostile Taliban territory to get him out. “It was dark and the weather was bad. It was a black abyss.” Except for the green glow of the rooftop position lights, we were flying black. "It was the Fourth of July out there." “We didn’t even know where we were going and which strobe light was the right one. It was just like a flashlight from God.” Within 10 feet from the ground, the rotors kicked up a storm of dust, sending us into a total brownout. I couldn’t see the wall, the ground, or the cliff. Both of ‘em were wearing Afghani man jammies. Before taking him aboard, we had to authenticate Marcus by asking him to say his dog's name and his favorite superhero. For the record, the answers are Emma and Spider-Man. When we got back, the only thing I wanted to do was talk to my wife, but we couldn't talk openly. All I could say was "Everything is good, "Everything is really, really good." "We stick our butts on the line to save people." "That's our combat mission.”

Excellence, Leadership, and Mentorship. Those words exemplify the life of this week's Team Never Quit guest, Aaron Walker. Aaron and Marcus kick around the adventures of entrepreneurship, a spectacular marriage, and how he applies that which he learns from his experiences – good and bad - to propel him to new heights. After learning tough lessons from a horrific life event, and then being guided by the finest financial and spiritual leaders, Aaron now plays it forward by mentoring others. In this episode you will hear: I didn’t have anything at 18, and I was able to retire at 27. I played golf every day, I fished every day, and you can’t do that but so much, because you gotta have a purpose. While driving, I watched an older man walk across two lanes, he got to the median, and stopped. As soon as I got to him, he took off running to catch a bus, and I ran over him. It was literally like my life came to a standstill. One day I made the decision: I’ve been chasing money since I was 8 years old. I’m 40 now and I’m retiring – I’m through. Through a series of events, I spent 21 years sponsoring Dave Ramsey’s show, and we became best of friends. The Mastermind radically changed my life. We can’t quit. People need you. You can’t sit on the sidelines. We have to get up because nobody can live your life but you. I had great success financially, but I had no significance. I want my legacy to be that those I come in contact with are different as a result of having interacted with me. I want to leave a legacy of helping, giving, supporting, encouraging, lifting people up and helping them accomplish their dreams and goals. God is always working in the background. The thing that I thought was taking me out was the catalyst for transforming the lives of other people. We all need trusted advisors. Don’t do what I did and have a pocketful of money only to come home to a house full of strangers. You can go faster alone, but you can go much further together. Failure is in not trying, not in not succeeding. Go out there today. Go for it. Never quit. 

It's hard to imagine how life could possibly go on when someone who has everything to live for commits suicide. How do you respond to such a tragedy? In this week's Team Never Quit Podcast, our guest, Sara Wilkinson, Gold Star wife of Navy SEAL Chad Wilkinson, speaks candidly about her military family life, her love for Chad, and raising their children on her own. Sara is determined to reduce the stigma surrounding the silent epidemic of Veteran suicide and bring awareness to its warning signs and triggers. She brings honor to Chad's legacy, and discusses the importance of fitness, and living large, despite what life brings. In this episode you will hear: My whole life I moved around. I attended 15 schools before I graduated. [For the military guys] it’s really hard to hop off the hamster wheel unless someone tells you to hop off. And no one tells you to hop off. I was a Crossfit trainer and I opened a Crossfit gym in Virginia Beach. Men and women can all suffer from Blast Waves, PTS, PTSD, etc. It’s really important to educate spouses and first responders on the ways that little things may be signs of something way bigger happening. In a partnership, it’s our job to care for one another. If someone is exhibiting symptoms of PTS, PTSD, etc. the only thing you can do is manage the symptoms. It comes down to focusing on sleep. Everybody’s mind is affected by the life they’ve lived. Ask yourself - What are the things you need to function optimally? How do we transition veterans from an operative status to living life independently, regardless of their history? I want my kids to know that this is a chapter in their story, and they have their whole life ahead of them. It’s a backpack they carry that they’ll never put down. But they’ll do some amazing things in their life. Your kids are always watching you. The way they watch you and observe you is the biggest responsibility you have. My motto: Live big. Support Sara: CHAD 1000X website: https://chad1000x.com Sara Wilkinson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarawilkinson7/?hl=en The Step Up Foundation: https://www.instagram.com/thestepupfoundation/?hl=en Follow Us: https://www.instagram.com/marcusluttrell/ https://www.instagram.com/andrewbrockenbush/ https://www.instagram.com/team_neverquit/ DraftKings Disclaimers If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA(select parishes)/MI/NH/NJ/ NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. New customer offer void in NH/OR/ONT-CA. $200 in Free bets: New customers only. 

Can you say “One of the first of two female graduates of the US Army Ranger School and Apache attack helicopter pilot?” Meet this week’s Team Never Quit guest, Shaye Haver. From being a cross country runner and soccer player in high school, to Army brat, to following in her dad’s footsteps as an Apache helicopter pilot, Shaye and Marcus share an engaging conversation about her influences and accomplishments. In 2016, Shaye and Kristen Griest, who also graduated from the US Army Ranger School were ranked 34th on Fortune magazine's list of the World's Greatest Leaders.In this episode you will hear: I grew up as an Army brat which put me in an environment of serving and sacrifice. My dad always said, “Go do something better than me.” ROTC was the beginning of my understanding that the military was about opportunity. You can make it what you want it to be. Good, better, best – Never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better best. I absolutely don’t take no for an answer – especially for myself. I did not go to West Point because of my intellectual prowess. I went on my leadership and physical fitness abilities. Ranger School reminded me that the mission is about the people to the left and right of you. Crisis provides opportunity. The tactic for success I use is to visualize success. The first day one, there was 19 of us; the second day 1, there were 8 of us; the third day one, there were 3 of us. I have had my tab ripped off my shoulder two times. Once by another Ranger. I choose to walk in the responsibility of bearing this thing that I have earned for the duration of my life. You can let it weigh you down, or you can let it inspire you. There’s not a quitting bone in my body. The warrior culture is not just for men. Heroes come in the most unlikely boxes. They’re all around us and everybody has a story.

Unapologetically American, and an all-around badass - That’s who and what Tim Kennedy is – a true patriot. In this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast, Marcus and Tim have a fascinating conversation about Tim’s military service as an active Special Forces master sergeant and sniper and his role in the most elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit within the U.S. Army Green Berets. Tim holds a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu and is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter and two-time title challenger. He authored the book, Scars and Stripes, an inspirational memoir offering lessons on how to embrace failure and weather storms to unlock the strongest version of yourself. These days, he lives a remarkable life as a serial entrepreneur owning multiple companies. However, Tim’s most personal accomplishments are that of a husband, father, and lover of this country.In this episode you will hear: When I grew up, all I did was fix the barbed wire and throw Bahia bales. You have to be an involved parent and mentor to your child. Now, every high school graduate has had every decision made for them. And when they arrive at college, they have been force-fed everything to this point, and now they get fed something much more dangerous – ideas. They’re given the freedom to make their own decisions with those dangerous ideas, and what you have is a petri dish for disaster. I want little kids to make all their decisions and learn the consequence of bad decisions, so when they hear someone say something stupid, they’re like, “that doesn’t work.”In Afghanistan they’d “beach ball” babies to the gate with the hopes that some marine would pick them up. It’s not rocket science that you don’t move tactical elements before you get your people out. You don’t give up strategic and tactical positions until you’re ready for a proper withdrawal. There’s nothing more dangerous than a broken man. Jesus didn’t go into the holiest of places. He went to where the prostitutes and tax collectors were. I stepped away from God for almost two decades. I became a narcissist. It wasn’t until my marriage was on the rocks that I was convinced to talk to God about all the horrific things I saw & experienced. They were throwing money at me to get people out of Afghanistan. That was so wrong in my heart to go back there for the money. In ten days we evacuated 12,000 people with our own planes. Follow Us:https://www.instagram.com/marcusluttrell/https://www.instagram.com/andrewbrockenbush/https://www.instagram.com/team_neverquit/

“Life is a gift, that is why they call it the present. Cherish it always.” That’s the mantra of this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast, Kevin Hines. Kevin attempted to take his life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Miraculously, a sea lion kept him afloat until the Coast Guard arrived. He is one of only thirty-six (less than 1%) to survive that fall. He shares his compelling story of hope, healing, and his will to live with Marcus. His story was featured in the 2006 film The Bridge by film director and producer, Eric Steel. Kevin has inspired millions worldwide in the art of wellness and the ability to survive pain with true resilience. “Be here tomorrow...” In this episode you will hear: My biological parents had me on a diet of Kool-Aid, Coca-Cola, and sour milk. My parents would leave me and my brother unattended to go score and sell drugs. Then Child Protective Services picked us up and put us in foster care. The only time I ever lost faith was when I stood atop the Golden Gate Bridge looking down. I found it on my way down. There’s a high number of suicidal teens who went through foster care. Many were abused and neglected by the ones in place to protect them. [Marcus] “I think the kids that go through it, are the ones who can fix it.” I finally ended up with foster parents who saved my life. They gave me a beautiful childhood. At 17 my brain broke. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and then things got completely out of control. I had auditory hallucinations telling me I had to die. If somebody would have just asked me, I would’ve just told them the truth of my situation. I left a suicide note in my backpack because I wanted my family knows I loved them. When I was still underwater, I thought, “I’m gonna die here and no one's gonna know I don’t want to. No one's gonna know I made a mistake.” On that [Coast Guard] boat, I made a cognitive decision: I would never again attempt to take my life as long as I should live, no matter the pain I’m in. When you encounter a suicidal person, it’s about being with them in the moment. “What do you need from me to say here? How can I help keep you on this planet?” My new motto is: I’m gonna be here tomorrow, and every day after that, no matter the pain I’m in. Every moment of every day is a good moment. It’s a privilege to exist. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is now: 988 Support Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/kevinhinesstory/ https://www.kevinhinesstory.com/ Follow Us: https://www.instagram.com/marcusluttrell/ https://www.instagram.com/andrewbrockenbush/ https://www.instagram.com/team_neverquit/