Team Never Quit

What a ride Darren McBurnett (“McB”) is having. After 24 years as a Navy SEAL combat veteran, he then pursued and succeeded as a professional photographer – with no prior experience. His work has appeared in major publications, film, and promotional advertisings. McB was in such superior physical condition, that he developed “Extreme Athletic Heart”, resulting in the need for a pacemaker (He’ll explain it in this episode). This ridiculous turn of events not only didn’t stop Darren from continuing his photography career, but has since authored a book, “Uncommon Grit”, and is a sought-after motivational speaker by major corporations – not to mention - a comic book collector & golfer.   In this episode you will hear:   Do what you can with what you have. Never make an excuse as to why you can’t do something. I would ride my bike 50 miles to go run a 10k, which established my work ethic. I would run to school – 3 miles away; then do indoor track; then run to the swim team; then run home 6 miles, and then put on my McDonald’s uniform and run to work. I didn’t look around for praise – that’s just who I am. The very first lesson I learned was to work smarter. I’m naturally good at free fall. When I get in the air, I’m a natural. We need Alpha males because our society is getter weaker as it goes along. I didn’t know anything about photography, so I decided I wanted to learn. To get photos at BUDS, there were a lot of people in the right place, at the right time to make that happen. Uncommon Grit came through requests from Instagram & Social Media. While on a run at 44 years old on SEAL Team 3, my heart began to fail, and ended up needed a pacemaker due to what was referred to as “Extreme Athletic Heart”, which forced me into retirement. A purple smoke photo taken at BUDS (Navy SEAL Training) is how my photography career was launched.  Never underestimate yourself and never think there’s something out there that you can’t do. You’re limited by how far you want to push it. It’s totally up to you. Special Christmas Deal! Every purchase of a 2-year plan will get you 4 additional months free. Go to ​https://nordvpn.com/TNQ ​and use the coupon TNQ at checkout.

If ever there was a “never quit” story to tell, it’s this guy – JR Vezain. JR delivers the details of his harrowing, life-altering bareback bronco rodeo disaster. He is experiencing “a miracle in the works”, and has an uncanny peace with his injury, because he truly believes that his recovery is on the way. His aspiration is to be an inspiration to young up and comers that would fill his shoes. Although unable to walk, he carries on with life with his wife and young son – riding horses and 4-wheelers, roping cattle, and moving bales of hay. If you could use some encouragement and a positive story for a change, you’ve come to the right place.    In this episode you will hear:   After my first in-chute rodeo accident, I had a “come to Jesus”, and turned my life around. I will receive a miracle and walk again someday. I’ve accepted the challenge and accepted the situation. I have not grown complacent with where I’m at. I haven’t accepted that this is the rest of my life because I don’t believe that. All I need is a slight or slim chance. You gotta visualize and not quit. I don’t think that any of my past life or sins resulted in punishment from God. We’ve been blessed beyond measure. Life hasn’t changed, but my goals have changed. I no longer want to win a world tile – I want to walk again. My biggest struggle is accepting help. There hasn’t been one thing I haven’t been able to accomplish post-injury that I couldn’t get done before. I just had to find other ways to do it. My horses have melted to me because they know something’s up. Be careful what you’re complaining about. There’s somebody out there praying to have what you have. Excuses are like assholes – they all stink. Find ways to overcome. Never give up… dig in, dig deep, and don’t weaken. I’m gonna try to be the best husband I can be, the best father I can be, and make the best version of myself as I continue on this journey. 

As a bomb technician in Afghanistan, Johnny “Joey” Jones experienced the worst possible scenario in an IED-related incident. It resulted in the loss of both of his legs above the knee and severe damage to his right forearm. In this week’s Team Never Quit episode, he describes in detail the sequence of events that led to that horrific event. But that event didn’t stop him from dedicating his life to the service of other veterans and their families as well as serving as a Fox News contributor. After two combat deployments and eight years of active service in the Marine Corps, Johnny “Joey” Jones live his life to the fullest.   In this episode you will hear:   “Get it right, or people die” – that’s a good way to train. When I leaned back [from the wall] I stepped on an IED that was there; it threw me through the air. It was truly an amazing experience. There was no noise. Everything just turned into a giant cloud. My right arm was fileted open and the bones were broken, so when I reached up, my hand stayed in my lap. I remember looking at it. It didn’t hurt for like an hour. My legs were completely gone, from the knee down. You gotta stop the bleeding if you want to live. I learned at that moment, I didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer. I lose my legs; other guys lose their life. TNT won’t cut you open; it’s gonna pick you up and throw you. C4 may not move you two feet, but it’s gonna cut right through you. I deployed this really good-shaped single Marine with no responsibilities, and I came home bandaged up on all four limbs with a son and a girlfriend. I just never accepted that life’s responsibilities were going to be any different for me because I got blown up. Anything worth doing is worth doing right and anything worthwhile is never easy. If I can find a way to be in control of my destiny, it's game on. I might not succeed at everything, but I’ll be there to find out. I’m trying to kill this deer in my yard, so I’ve got an AR at each level of my house, so if he pops up, I’m gonna take him out. Get up, get over it, get going.

Taylor Canfield brings an exciting twist to the story of an average American patriot and retired Navy SEAL. His unique post-military career path was to be the only retired SEAL to become a NASCAR driver.  Taylor’s non-profit organization, The Green Light Society, helps wounded combat soldiers via adrenalin therapy - anything that got their blood pumping before their injury, they will do again after their injury, even when it seems impossible.   In this episode you will hear:   Taylor Canfield is NOT the sailor. I faked a few papers to start working at 14. Even if you can win [NASCAR] - if you don’t have sponsors, you’re not gonna race. Bad things happen, but you gotta go on living, so learn from it. Failure is actually a gateway to success.  If you can learn from your mistakes, you can be unstoppable. If you’re not learning from them, you’re making those mistakes in vain. Get past the mental barriers. If I can do the SEAL training physically, you can do it. You have to convince your mind. The Green Light Society will go to the world’s end to recoup and get you back into what you love to do. It’s my way to give back and help guys that were less fortunate than I was. No ones gonna do the work for you. A lot of people don’t start because they’re afraid of failure, but you gotta get over that and just go for it.

Jeff Tiegs is an amazing difference-maker. He uses his extensive experience in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency to counter sex-trafficking in the United States. With over 25 years is in U.S. Army Special Operations, as well as combat experience and multiple tours in Afghanistan & Iraq, Jeff is applying that expertise in his endeavors. Jeff is The Chief Operating Officer at All Things Possible Ministries, whose mission is to identify, interrupt, and restore those affected by trauma.   In this episode you will hear:   In the U.S., we are unbelievable consumers of prostitution, and what comes with that is minors. You’re on deployment every time you walk out of the house. One in four women is sexually assaulted or sexually abused. The sex trafficking crime is so open. It’s openly advertised. There are people that think we should defund the police. I think more reasonable people think we should reallocate funds and figure out ways to do this better. There are people out there who can augment what law enforcement is lacking. The [funding] money is gonna go where the people demand it. [Our organization], All Things Possible does everything from simple counseling to freeing sex slaves. Find strength in simply being alive.  What comes off of your tongue – what you speak – is what you become. The term “Yahweh” is the sound of breathing. The mere fact that we, as humans, are breathing, we’re saying the name of our Creator every time we breathe. What is God’s name? The thing that gives breath to everything that lives. The first thing a baby says is that breath of life.  One family, who lost their son on the battlefield, found relief in the fact that the last breath their son took was the name of our creator. Find strength, find solace, and find peace, in that simple act of breathing. If you’re alive, you’re saying God’s name, and He’s there to help to you. 

This week, we spend some time with Meyers Leonard, an American professional basketball player of the NBA’s Miami Heat, and Co-Founder of Level Foods with his wife, Elle. Meyers’ outlook on life, hard work, and the relentless pursuit of excellence will motivate you. His never quit attitude has brought him through many personal and professional difficulties. Listen as Meyers shares his inspiring stories.    In this episode you will hear:   I’m just a normal, blue-collar dude, who’s been thru the struggle, on and off the basketball floor. 2 things that help get me by - no matter what: My character and my work ethic. How can I help my team?  Selflessness. There’s no chance I’m giving up. I want shit to get tough, because that when the mental edge takes over. Patriotism runs deep in my family. I can support the military because of my connections to it, but I still understand that there are issues in America, and I can support my teammates and what they have felt in their lives. I could’ve quit – I gave it 7 years – Then I went from getting booed to crowds chanting my name. People think that because I’m 7 feet; I’ve got millions of dollars; I drive nice cars – everything is great, but I’m still a normal human being. Sometimes things are hard. You are gonna get your opportunity and you better be ready. I wanna be known as a man who did something for someone else.

Chris Osman has a myriad of incredible personal experiences to share in this week’s TNQ Podcast. He is a former Marine and a former Navy SEAL who participated in numerous classified operations, a husband and parent. He has experienced everything from incarceration in a Haitian jail to dealing with a rare, life-threatening disease affecting his wife. Chris currently owns and operates Rhuged, a direct-to-consumer ammunitions distributor. Listen as Chris shares some of his “Never Quit” stories.   In this episode you will hear: I learned as I failed. I couldn’t shake the desire to be specialized. I wanted to be tested to see if I could even do it. The most isolated and depressed I’ve ever felt was being in a Haitian jail. I had zero control – there’s nothing we could do. Bare-footed with a shirt & pants, and that’s it. My headspace was in survival mode. I had never been so terrified. When I finally got on that plane with my passport on a commercial airline to Miami, tears were streaming down my eyes. One day my wife started slurring her speech, and we learned she had contracted Myasthenia Gravis, an auto-immune disease that affects the immune system from the shoulders up. One night while in the hospital, she was looking at me, and her eyes rolled back into her head. I quickly assembled the bag mask and called for help. I’ve never been through anything like that. It was a never quit moment. You push forward by being the positive light in someone else’s miserable experience. You gotta be a rock for your people. You can’t bail on people when it gets to be the hardest part of their life. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, you can’t be a Navy SEAL. You gotta put the work in. No matter how much someone would pay me, I’d never put myself back in a position to work for someone else. My goal in life is to never work for somebody else.

If you’re looking for the definition of perseverance, endurance, and a ridiculous “Never Quit” mentality, you will find it in today’s episode with Mike Rouse. Here’s a guy who went from having it all into falling into a cocaine habit that sent him to prison. But the prison life caused him to seek life again outside the prison walls, which, in turn, caused him to start running. Since his freedom from incarceration, Mike has devoted his life to helping others and has become one of the country’s elite runners. He has run hundreds of marathons, dozens of 50-kilometer races, 31-mile races, and 50-mile races. Twenty-four-hour runs and 100-mile races are like home to him, as are Ironmans and Ultramarathons. Mike has won 2 world championships. One of his closest friends, a Navy SEAL was one of 31 soldiers killed on a mission, and every year since then, he’s been running 3.1 miles, 31 times in a row, wearing a shirt with the names and faces of those 31 men. He changes shirts upon completion of every 3.1 miles. He never met most of those men, but Mike feels like he knows them because of the research he’s done on them, the families he’s met, and his own bond with his friend, JT. In this episode you will hear:   Use your failures as your advancement The first mile of my entire life was when I was 33 years old. When I was incarcerated, I thought “I’ve gotta do something to get my life together.” And running was a big part of that. The majority of ultra-runners I know have some degree of addictive behavior. It drives them to go above and beyond. We’re driven to the next level of competition. When I was doing [cocaine], it wasn’t enough to do a gram or two a day, it was a quarter ounce. I thrive on pain. If you think you are gonna run 26, 50, or 100 miles and have no pain, you have no idea what you’re doing. You’ve got to be ready for it and just embrace it. I choose to do this [running] and I accept that pain. [Marcus Luttrell] Pain is a matter of perspective of the person going through it. 31 men gave everything they had for this country – for this freedom. I know I can’t give up. If you’ve ever quit, the next time, it’s easier to quit. I had all the positives a person could have in life, and yet I had a criminal record. I run 31 miles a day for 31 days, for 31 heroes. [Your son] is gonna be riding on my shoulder tomorrow and I’m gonna be listening to every word he says. When I think I’m hurting a little bit, and he says let’s go, we’ve just got 5 miles left, or 20 miles left. It’s 2020 and those families are still hurting 9 years later. 

What an encouraging and powerful testimony Marc Little brings to the table in this week’s Team Never Quit episode. Having been shot in the right leg as part of a gang initiation, and dealing with resulting complications and infections, Marc’s leg had to be amputated. Since defeat is not part of Marc’s mentality, he said “yes” to life and lives life to the fullest. Now through his work as a lawyer, author, entrepreneur and community builder, he teaches others how to say “yes” to life as well.   In this episode you will hear:   Don’t give up, because the next try may be the try that leads to success. This is a life worth living. God gives us a story for a reason. He gives us a story so that we can help a neighbor. We’re all going thru a tough season, but God is in it. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich has to be done right. You have to have white Wonder Bread, and you gotta have creamy Jiff or Skippy peanut butter, with grape jelly. From the time I was shot and the time that the ambulance came, life was literally leaving me. It was clear that I had a choice, and I decided to stay. The difficulty of being a dad with a 6-year-old child, and not being able to run with him, has become part of who I am. I claim victory because I now know that tomorrow is not promised. Everybody has to lean on God because this journey is not easy. Life is not about us – it’s about what we can do for the kingdom. Many of us are struggling, because we’re not understanding who we are – whose we are. [God] connects our calling to who and what He is. So many people today are just sitting and watching. We have a role to play today. A role to shine the light of Christ. We are not lost – have faith. God has not left us. He will never forsake us. The church is anemic because they don’t understand their calling. All of our experiences are intended to bring us closer to the creator. After 4 years of never giving up – never quitting I decided I’m picking up the pieces of my life, and you’re not gonna tell me I can’t do it. It may not be right now, but the victory is coming. When the righteous are in power the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people moan. We are called to pray over our leaders and elect Godly leaders over us. When u are pushing back against darkness you are taking the background of the enemy. When we are being mocked for praying, that is evidence that we are taking background that was lost.  The Lord has a special way of giving you what He wants you to have. God sees you – and He has something for you. Start your family and let the Lord bless you – Don’t wait. Never quit trying to start a family.

Kevin is a former Special Forces Engineer (Green Beret) and holds dual master's degrees from MIT Sloan School of Management as well as Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  On his second deployment in Afghanistan, Kevin was shot in the abdomen and lost 20% of his colon as a result. He also fractured his hip & his left leg was paralyzed due to nerve damage.   Having overcome his life’s adversities with the relentless help of his wife, Kim,  Kevin’s life purpose is to encourage other wounded veterans and anyone else who needs physical, mental, or emotional help by showing them what hope and perseverance look like. In this episode you will hear:   There’s nothing in life that you can’t have if you’re willing to work hard for it. A lot of these things I went through I didn’t really understand at the time, but they were training me for the rest of my life. There is nothing in life that I need to be doing other than this right now. We’ve got to put differences aside. We gotta charge forward. We’ve got a mission to accomplish. I didn’t want to have regret in my life. I didn’t want to look back and say I didn’t try. I realized if I didn’t start to put my health as a priority again, I was gonna be nothing to nobody. Reach out to people for help. Start taking people’s advice. There is a point in your life where you have enough courage to put everything on the line and accomplish something. A lot of people don’t believe it when I tell them that getting shot was the best thing that ever happened in my life. It forced me to pass through a valley of humility. Depression, anxiety, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress – if I hadn’t gone through that I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Because I went through those experiences, I have the ability to empathize with people. I understand a lot more about the trouble people have in their lives. This made me a better husband, father, citizen, and employee of this country. It gave me an incredible perspective on life, and a ton of lessons learned to be able to go out and share with people; to make them into the best version of themselves. I would really encourage people to never quit. When you’re going thru these hard times, you have to understand that hard times are not a bad thing. They’re a gift - to scrape off the rough edges, to learn a lot of lessons, to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, to refine your character. Lift your head up, see what’s happening, then you can push through that hard time. And when you get to the other side, you’re gonna be thankful you went through that.