In Marcus
Luttrell’s #1 bestselling book ‘Lone Survivor’,
the highly decorated NAVY SEAL from SEAL TEAM 10 tells his story of training to
become a SEAL and then his experience as the sole survivor of a tragic incident
in Afghanistan. His journey to just
become a SEAL is sufficient fill a bestselling book and is the source of this life
lesson I want to pass along to my grandchildren.
Prior to
even joining the Navy Marcus wanted to be a SEAL. His life had been one of high achievement in
all that he undertook. Knowing any
chance he had to achieve success in his quest to be a SEAL he trained with a
former SEAL for over a year to prepare him as best he could before even
beginning his formal SEAL training. The
details of all he undertook and the actual training itself are beyond belief,
but I recommend you read the book for a more complete understanding of what
these guys go through to serve our country.
My lesson I
want my grand’s to take from this book at whatever their age is just a small part
of this great book. The lesson comes
from an early session soon after Marcus begins his formal SEAL training. The lesson would seem to apply to sports and
physical training but when considered, it really applies to life and an individual’s
journey in pursuit of a happy and successful life. The lesson is applicable to any point in a
person’s life and is as relevant to me at 67 as it is to my Emma Glenn at
4.
The lesson I
want to convey came at an early group session with the original SEAL training
class, which would be reduced by over 75% before the end of training. The session was led by a petty officer instructor,
Chief Bob Nelson. After his initial
comments on not trying to fool anyone, (since they had seen it all and any
attempt would be addressed with much pain and suffering), he gets into what I
believe is the best advice I have ever seen for anyone at any stage of their
lives.
Chief Nelson
tells them at least 2/3’s of them will not make it. That humans are not very adaptable to hard
work, pain and suffering when they have a chance to avoid it by simply
quitting. To those of them that really
wanted to succeed he gave this advice which I believe to be invaluable.
“He closed by telling
us the real battle is won in the mind.
It’s won by guys who understand their areas of weakness, who sit and
think about it, plotting and planning to improve. Attending to the detail. Work on their weaknesses and overcome
them. Because they can.” He goes on, “Your reputation is built right
here in this first phase. You don’t want
people to think you are a person that does just enough to scrape through. You want people to understand you always try
to excel, to be better, to be completely reliable, always giving it your best
shot.” He closes by telling them, “and
remember this one last thing. There’s
only one person here in this room who knows whether you’re going to make it, or
fail. And that’s you. Go for it, and always give it everything.”
Even now at
my grandchildren’s young ages they have seen and had disappointments. They did not make an All Star team, did not
make a grade point they wanted or failed to achieve something really important
to them. I have experienced such
disappointment throughout my life and know anyone that has dreams, hopes and
ambitions has done the same. I have had great mentors, family and coaches that
have tried to teach me this lesson, but it has never been made a plain as this
lecture by Chief Nelson and set out by this great American hero.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in our military and what they go through to serve and protect our country. Thanks to my friend Steve Armstrong for passing it along to me and encouraging me to read it.
