On today's special episode of survival Dispatch news we're talking with X Navy SEAL Team Six member Don Mann [Music] Hey guys today's video is brought to you By off-grid Trek this is a huge Faraday Bag it's the biggest one we've ever seen At survival dispatch with 126 liter Capacity to protect all your gear from That EMP Is he here yet what BMP I heard there's Another Chinese spy balloon coming oh Geez And we're back Welcome to the channel Don hey Chris It's nice to be here with you I know You're a really busy guy and we really Appreciate you coming on the channel uh You know can't tell you how much we Appreciate it oh thanks thanks I'm Really happy to be here with you So I I'd like to preface our Conversation Um for our audience in you know survival Dispatch nation that uh We're going to go through your history But uh as I mentioned in the opening uh SEAL Team Six member Um you know the baddest of the bad asses In the world uh true American hero Really appreciate everything that you've Done Don really appreciate your service And I know our audience is very focused On uh appreciating our veterans
Thank you Chris thank you So speaking of which Um let's jump right back you know in With your amazing background Don uh you Know where did you grow up and tell us a Little bit of background Well I grew up in New England mainly uh Basically New Hampshire Maine uh Rhode Island those areas up there and New England and Um I went to school in high school in Connecticut and I went to one year in College one year to College in Connecticut and I didn't have the maturity or and or I Had too much energy probably both to sit There in college for another year I Couldn't take it so I joined the Military and my father was a real Patriot it's a World War II Patriot wow And he believed God country family and He instilled that in his children the Four of us it was God country family and He he was very very proud of his service And the day we were attacked by the Japanese he quit high school and he Joined the Navy and his brothers and his Sisters all joined the military so they Had four stars on their door growing up The parents my grandparents and uh Whenever there was a military service uh Incident or a funeral or anything you'd See tears going down his eyes he was a Real Patriot and then he went to the VFW
And DMV and he was commander of those Posts so uh he he's the one who who put The patriotism in me and when I wanted To leave College I needed I wanted to Join the military I I felt an obligation To our country and I was just going to Do two years with the Marines and then Get out And I wasn't very impressed with the Marine recruiter probably the only Marine recruiter that a young kid Wouldn't be impressed by it I went next Door to the Navy and I was very Impressed by that recruiter and he told Me about the SEAL Teams and that day it Changed my life and set my life on a Path that I was very very fortunate to Be on for the rest up till now all these Years later I'm still Because of that path I was on it guided The rest of my life And that that's a that's amazing Don Um one of our influences on our channel Uh Tyler white he's a recruiter for Special Forces he's in Utah and he he Served in Special Forces uh and special Forces and what's the other one is it Special uh there's Recon Force Recon Special Forces the Rangers Delta Force He's been in two of them I I think it's Like special ops and Special Forces Maybe some special operations yeah yeah He's a Communications expert but he this Guy is got the most enthusiastic energy
And uh he has just done a phenomenal job Recruiting young people in an extremely Uh you know difficult time to recruit Young people you know the focus isn't There like it was when we were kids he's The he's just what we need now to to Motivate young kids to want to be back In the military it's the worst time ever In recruitment in our country's history Mainly I think it started with Kabul and The disaster withdrawal in Kabul but It's been a disaster ever since and the News makes it all the worse as you know Yeah Um he sends me videos periodically of Working with some of these recruits and He's always you know ends the text by Saying these young people are restoring My faith in humanity so it's nice to Hear yeah it is it's really cool stuff So that's interesting that the recruiter Though is the one who kind of Drew you Into the Navy world so explain the Process of getting into the seals so is It something you apply for you get Hand-picked for it It's a little different now and it's a Little easier now once you pass the Qualification selection methods as a Matter of fact to go full circle when I Was uh getting ready to retire from the SEAL Teams we were having a hard time Getting people in the SEAL Teams and um We were having a hard time people to get
Into buds basic underwater demolition Sales school and our Admiral Admiral Smith who was a friend of mine he asked Me said Don come up with some event to Try to increase the recruitment in the Seal team because the Marines have a Marine Corps Marathon the Army's got This Army 10 mile of race a huge huge Running race but the Navy the SEAL Teams Didn't really have an event to attract To the the mainstream public so I came Up with an event called seal Adventure Challenge and that went on for a good 15 Years and it got people civilians into This training I produced for them and They they got a feel for what hell week Would be like and what training would be Like but we had a hard time getting People into the SEAL Teams up until Bin Laden was killed yeah when Bin Laden was Shot boom made the news made big news And then the lines to get into buds but It's long but Chris it's kind kind of Funny because when I was in it was a Long process you have to beg and and Just like plead with the your leaders Let me take the test to go to buds I Want to be a seal I want to be a seal And they said no why didn't you go do This so here why do you do something Different now if you want to be a seal You can pretty much check a box I don't Want to be a seal you still have to do Your PRT the physical Readiness test the
Seal qualifications and everything they Have but you're assisted through that Now And you're assisted with the Administrative process to get through Which is much better than it used to be When I came through but now we are still Having the same issue we recruit from All the colleges everybody knows about CLT now Um the sale training with all the movies And books written about it but we'll Still get a couple hundred people to Start a class Uh at the the far end and then it Whittles down whittles down third phase Second phase for it but you know it Starts getting the people down you know Still graduate with a class of 20 to 24 People and Um what's interesting now Chris this is It's almost hard for me to comprehend You know a seal starter John F Kennedy Started in the 60s and it was small Units groups of four five or seven men Going Behind Enemy Lines and and working In the jungles in Vietnam and blowing up The obstacles even before that the Underwater demolition teams in Normandy And then John F Kennedy one of these People who can do all this stuff in the Water and be really good underwater to Be able to come up on land and do Missions on land so the seals were
Created and there were always small Units small groups But now with this big rusher and China Threat now everything's changing now the Sealed teams the seven person squad or The 14 person platoon or 30-man assault Team they're all getting bigger and Bigger and bigger to Um confront what's coming up with China And Russia so everything is changing and We need more and more people all the Time And uh the coupled disastrous withdrawal Really hurt our military and um the Seals still have a very very good image And there's a lot of great things Happening in the seal community that People find out about but military Overall the numbers are down and in Sales we would try not to lower the Standards we want a lot of people Through there we don't want to lower the Standards but we still get in 20 25 People passing a class Uh some I don't I can't speak to the Veracity of it excuse me but somebody Recently said to me that out of the 1.6 Million active duty military some are Around 75 000 actually have combat Experience so again I don't know if That's a real number or not but if it is That's pretty striking Excuse me I believe that to be true Mainly because we've had two full-scale
Wars for the last 20 years and Um basically everybody in the military Most people in the military have have Done the tour over there now you know Iraq or Afghanistan and in the seal Community we're a sales in over 90 Countries right now Things you don't care about Excuse me yeah I mean you know I'm sure What we hear of is just a small fraction Of what's actually going on Um I was at a conference many many years Ago And the person leading this breakout Session Was discussing working with executive Teams I've been in business development Almost my entire career And he had had this concept which came From the book good to great that when You're working with a team of Executives It should be seven or less people and he Called them a Mars team because if you Were going to go to Mars you'd pick your Your seven best people seven best Astronaut sort of thing and somebody Asked why seven or less and I can't Remember all of the things that he said But essentially it was something along The lines of survival teams are Typically seven or less people and once You get over seven people you end up you Know many times with too many chiefs not Enough Indians uh that sort of stuff I
Mean so I just listened to you say these Small groups of seals you know four five Six seven people it's kind of Interesting that you use the same Numbers because obviously you know a lot More on the subject than I do but is That kind of your experience you know When we're working with teams yes it is It is a seven-man squad gels you're Tight you're really really tight with a Seven-man squad even when it goes up to 30 Divisions can take place where maybe Half of it Sees things a little bit differently Than the other half and you can see a Little Rift develop But what we liked about the SEAL Teams Is when you have the small units you're Pretty much all thinking basically the Same but when you get to the big Mass Big army big you know the big big big Footprints when you come overseas and You have thousands of people there It's just like Society almost everybody Has a different mindset on what what They should be doing and what life is All about and what the mission is There's so many different subcategories Besides just being in a war zone knowing We have a threat here So if you're in there with a seven Person team you're pretty much all of The same mindset you kind of gel to the
Same mindset but it's impossible to do With large large groups of people yeah That makes well that makes a lot of Sense Don and it's I appreciate your Comments on that so let's just go back In time Um did you have to apply to be a seal or Did you get chosen and how crazy was the Qualification process back then Well when I came in and um I I went Right to boot camp and the first thing I Told them you know a teenager who knows Nothing I said I want to be a seal and I Took the test and I somehow passed the Test right on Um the test wasn't crazy hard really it Was swimming running pull-ups you know Sit-ups and push-ups and I I was Training and I was fit enough to pass That test And then boot camps two months boot camp Navy boot camp You learn to foreclose iron clothes Polish issues and learn about Navy Traditions it's not physically demanding In any way at all okay so what I had to Do when I was in the Navy uh when I was In boot camp I knew I had to train over After hours So I I picked the number one thousand And and you'll appreciate this being the Fitness Guru you are Um I never ever got to any place like You are but um well everything you've
Done in your life from this and you you Don't want to because I broke my body so But I would pick uh the number of Thousand and after we're done boot camp Chores and everything and everybody was Ironing their clothes and studying for The test for the next day I would do a Thousand of something one day would be a Thousand jumping jacks one day it'd be a Thousand push-ups one day I'd get under The bunk beds do a thousand uh bunk uh Bunk bed presses you know sets of 20 and Sets of 25 but I would do this to one or Two in the morning one day I'd do a Thousand sit-ups all day long that's Amazing as good as thousands of Something every single day and then one Day I measured all the little tile Blocks in the floor and I measured how I Counted how many there were in our boot Camp uh birthing area where 70 or 80 of Us were in there and I counted them all And I went on my first long run and I Ran 300 laps inside and I did something Like 17 miles my first run because Um but every day I did something to boot Camp I couldn't wait to be a seal only Thing in my life that mattered was to be A sealed so when I got out of boot camp I was fitter than than uh you could Possibly really train to be at that Point I went and I went to our core School as an as a medic so we call it Poor School hospital corpsman and as
Soon as they checked in there I said Well I don't really want to be here I Want to be a seal they said well the Seals don't want anybody until you have A skill or a rate we call it in the Navy So I went to Corman school and I Couldn't wait to be a combat medic as Soon as I graduated I went right down to Coronado and I said I want to be a seal And they said well we need some Medics We're low on medics in Corman uh and I See your scores here I took the PT score The PT test again and I did better the Second time passed it the first time but And they said yeah we need people like You we need motivated people but the Navy at that time said you can't just Get out of Corman school and go to Seal Team they want experience corpsman So I had to go to the hospital for a While and work but I learned a lot of Useful skills you know emergency room Intensive Care Unit and going on the Ambulance runs And I I uh I did my split my time Between the hospital and serving with The Marine Corps because you we had a Choice then served with the Marine Corps As a medic or be on a ship as a medic as Well go with the Marines But when I went with the Marine Corps I Had to go to a five-week medic school Combat medic course And then I went to Okinawa for 13 months
To serve as a marine I said I don't Really want to go to Okinawa I want to Go to Seal training they said no they Sent you to this five-week meta course You have to go to and serve with the Marines but what they did it was one of The best times of my life as an athlete As a triathlete and a runner and a Bicycle racer Um the Marines paid me to go all over The world to compete in races Competitions and triathlons and Marathons it's as a paid athlete one as My time with the Marines which even Better prepared me to go to Seal Training and then I finally said okay I Did my time now I really really really Want to go to buds they said no why do You stay with the Marines be a Recon be Forced recon I said I appreciate you Asking that but I want to be a seal So finally that I had to go through that Long process nowadays you you sign up I Want to be a seal and they send you to Do your free screening that you can see If you can pass the test and all that And if you can they send you right to Buttons so it's a lot easier now in that Aspect And that's that's that's fascinating so You know speaking of all this training And whatnot and and then you mentioned That you put together some training for Other people you know that was in place
For 15 years or so Um I read that you train some of the Seals in Seal Team Six that took out Osama Bin Laden Um How much of was it 15 years total that Your program ran or was it 15 years of You actually training seals yourself I I trained well so what happened every Weekend I was basically Helping people trained who wanted to Become sales and I pushed them hard I Had these weekend sessions set up and When Admiral Smith asked me if I would Help with the recruitment program to Come up with some type of program that Can help be bigger scale than what I was Doing Um I went to Maryland for a meeting and Uh they wanted to be a big TV production I really get it out there in the media To try to recruit seal Um programs so I went to Maryland I had An idea I told him about what I was Doing on weekends Um I said yeah this is what I can do I Can make it bigger they said well yeah We can we can make this happen we need The word we need a name for this So you have to come up with something That has to be like an adventurous name And something very challenging but the Word sale has to be in it I said what About seal Adventure challenge they said
That is brilliant very odd so it was Called a seal Adventure challenge I ran That for about 15 years and Um the best part about that Chris was Got these young young guys coming Through Some of their goals would be to be an Admiral of a Seal Team some of their Goals were to be a combat leader and Then getting letters years later I'm on My second tour in Iraq I'm on my second Tour in Afghanistan Um it's it's nice some of the lessons I Learned from your earlier training you Know I've been able to pass them on and I build upon them but um we've had Sealed commanders and seal Admirals send The sons to my training and and we we Felt really really good about what we're Putting out it was very very difficult For the guys and I mean that's an Amazing feather in your cap Don Um you know a little bit later in the Interview we'll get to discussing your TV show surviving man but Um your background and training other People you kind of just set some light Bulbs off for me after watching the First season and the premiere for the Second season last night So speaking of you know reading on your Background I also saw that you were Captured by the enemy and I didn't get Into all the details of it is that
Something you could describe sure yeah So um I can't go in real detail on it But I can tell you this the generalities Of what happened we were um in the Middle East and we're working with some Egyptian counterparts And they were showing us some of their Skills and we're showing them some of Our skills and they were the Egyptian Equivalent of seals they didn't the Training we had they were much much less Trained but they were the Egyptian Egypt's you know equivalent and Um they were showing us how they eat Snakes and frogs and and they would take These snakes poisonous snakes venomous Snakes and frogs and hit them on their Boot peel the skin back take the Venom Sacks out and eat the snake and we did This with them so we ate a bunch of Snakes we ate a bunch of frogs What they didn't know is we had a Mission to do later on during that visit That deployment and Um but we all got pretty sick right After we ate these snakes and frogs and Um we had food poisoning and that Happened right before our flight down to A country where we had to do a Reconnaissance mission So four of us Deployed out to another country I was Just a quick in and out type thing it Lasted just over a week and uh we're in
A helicopter we dropped the rubber boat Into the water we're all sick as can be They said it's there to the water it's Infested with sharks it's infested with Sharks but that's where the mission Started in the water And what the Arabs would do is they had All these camels and they would uh kill All the camels get the entrails out the Intestines and everything and throw them In the water and that's why there are Sharks all over there so jumped in the Water got our inflatable boat inflated As quickly as we could jumped in the Boat because pitch black we knew there Was sharks all over it and we mowed it Up to shore about a half a mile from Shore and we just keeping low and we're Looking at the shoreline making sure There wasn't any enemy activity there And we came up a couple hundred meters Away from the beach line and my buddy And I jumped off the boat and we swam to The beach Worried about the sharks of course and We had to find a place to lay up for Three days and to get our reconnaissance Surveillance of a shipyard and of the Airport we want to track how many people Were coming in and out by Aaron by ship And just get all the the vessels Everything we could get everything Recorded the enemy activity anything we Could come up with
So we went up on shore looking for a Place where we could hide out for three Days And the only place we could find was if We dug a hole in in this little Sectional land that had water on three Sides of it so we went in the middle we Call the other two people over they came Up we quickly dug a hole to bury our Boat and the motor and the gas and the Things we didn't need for the mission And we buried that with sand And then we had to do this before Daylight but we were as sick as can be And we had to dig the other hole for us To sit in for the four of us to be in And we dug that hole we had a rucksacks And had our weapons and there's a bad Bad Sandstorm going on we had goggles on And we covered our hole with a uh desert Uh sand colored camouflage blanket so we Were under this hole we had our weapons And now the sun's starting to come up And we're sick as can be And we could see the airport the Airstrip we could see any air traffic Coming and going and over here we could See the ships the ship traffic you know Record the people and we're doing our Work as sick as can be the problem was We started throwing up and we had to Throw up in that little hole and urinate In the hole and defecate and and Everything was we were living in sewage
And then it got worse because at high Tide the hole filled with water Oh so according to our chest necks in Sewage Nobody complained I was so happy to be With these guys I mean We're getting all the photos everything We needed from the two places we're Doing the reconnaissance And um as sick as can be I tried getting IVs in the three guys I got IVs and Those three guys and they tried getting One and me not as the medic as I know How to start on them yeah they had Medical training but they weren't super Experienced in starting IVs they put Like 15 holes in my arm it's just a bad Infection oh we're just so hungry we Weren't drinking we weren't eating we Were throwing up vomiting defecating all Over the place living in our sewage but We're getting our work done And um and we had one more day and then This person started walking across the Desert with all that African clothes he Had on just blown in the wind and it was A terrible Sandstorm we had our goggles On but our ears were filled with sand Our noses were filled with sand and this Guy was walking up to where we were Hidden in the hole in the sand And we were wondering what's he doing we Had our weapons and uh he gets closer And closer and closer to the hole and he
Notices something's wrong and his eyes Got bigger and bigger and bigger and he Looked at us and he sees four people With beards long hair and glasses with Weapons pointed up at him and he looked Down he put his hands up and he ran off Our story is much better than what Happened to Marcus Luttrell when he was Caught by the goat herder on top of the Hill But what happened here is he ran off and The same rules of engagement he wasn't a Threat we couldn't take him out we Couldn't tie him up we couldn't pull him In the hole with us we let him go but we Knew he was going to get reinforcements So at that point we did our very best to Get out of there as quickly as we could He ran off we knew he was going to a Village And we got the shovels a little uh Shovels quickly tried to dig out the Boat try to inflate the boat and this is All early morning before it was light And then 14 or so of his people came Over the hill with AKs scared to death Fingers all in the triggers pointing at Us And one of the guys with us says guys Put your hands up We'd never heard that before and uh we Looked over and these guys were coming Over the hill And we could have grabbed our weapons
And the four of us shot at 14 of them Who already had the weapons trained on Us we would have been slaughtered we Could have jumped in the water and they Would have just sprayed us we would have Been slotted so we did our only thing we Could do we put our arms up and they Circled us around around us with the Weapons planted at our chest and our Heads they were scared to death they Never saw people like us before And we were scared too I'm not going to Say we weren't scared but I would say They were way more scared than we were They were they had the fingers on the Trigger I thought it'd just be an Accidental shooting an accidental Discharge if somebody shot at us because I didn't think they would shoot at us in Person because Iran's would go through Us into them because they had And so we had our hands up in the middle Of the circle And we had these little fake CIA cards Get out of jail free cards we call them With Arabic writing saying hey if you Happen to catch these guys or see these Guys they're only training you know They're fake cards oh man and my friend Went to go reach for his from his Rucksack and they put four AKs right up Against his head and we thought for sure They were going to blast them and they Didn't
So then they were yelling down down down In broken English get on the grounds we Shoot you in the backs for trespassing We said no we're gonna go in this boat We go back home back to the United States America yelling down down we Shoot you in the backs and they got an Interpreter they sent someone back to The Village to get someone who could Speak English Broken English and he said to us he said Now the sun's coming up it's daylight he Said you trespassed on our land uh with The penalty we're gonna shoot you We said no we're going back in that boat We're going back to where we came from We're just here for training you know Our story yeah Um This went back and forth For some reason I can't speak for the Other three guys but I can say how I Thought and how I really think they Thought We all knew we weren't going to get Killed we all knew we were going to get Away we were just our mindset was so Powerful and so positive that combat Mindset we're going to win we didn't Have weapons they had 14 weapons around Us and we kept saying no we're not going To go on the ground we're going to get In our boat we're going to go home And finally they said go they let us go
If we got in that boat we went out at Sea thrown up all that way I've been Eating a drank water for a long time And we were all we were all thinking Okay the mission's over and um but it Wasn't we still had part of the mission To do we had to go do a demolition a Blast after a dive And um you know a lot of people would Have quit at that point thinking okay We're done we are so lucky together we Came back and finished the mission And we won and they lost and um it was It was survival in one sense because You know we we weren't eating or Drinking but you had to know emergency Medicine you had to know you needed Shelter we had a shelter which was a Whole what we didn't have is our food of Water but most importantly in survival You always hear about shelves of food And water well we had that saved Our Lives was a mindset the mindset is we're Going to Prevail we're going to win We're not going to die we're not you Know if we get hurt we'll recover and we Had the right mindset and if we didn't Have the right mindset You know if it could have all gone bad I Mean I mean that's an amazing story Don And you know I grew up in the Construction industry before he went Into the business world and it somebody At some point in time when my younger
Years said you are what you think and Every time that we brought new people on Say a framing crew if they thought they Were going to fall off a wall or fall Off a roof they did every single time And and that stuck with me for many Years and then of course I spent you Know decades in the gym training and Competing and when you're prepping for Something like a power lifting meat it's 12 weeks and it's over the course of the 12 weeks You're basically increasing the range of Motion uh increasing the weight Decreasing the number of reps because at The end of the day it's like a one rep Max Realistically over 12 weeks nobody's Going to gain a tremendous amount of Strength who's already fit you know Maybe somebody who's not fit wood they Get that you know big initial jump but Probably the most powerful part of all That was visualizing for an entire week Okay this week I'm gonna press this much Weight off of three boards and then the Following week it's okay I'm gonna press This much weight off of two boards and Continuing to increase the range of Motion and I can't tell you how many Times by the time you get to a world Championship you're preparing for Something like that you visualized it Thousands of times it's all that you
Think about right I mean you you go to Bed you can't sleep because you're Thinking about it you wake up you know You can't concentrate anything else Because you're thinking it's it's all Consuming absolutely not even close to The experience you just described but I I don't know you became a world Champion What's the most you ever bench pressed While in a competition 638 in the gym Just a hair under 700 pounds at 180 Pounds uh it was 198 198 okay yeah it's All it's all in kilograms so you know 90 Kilograms would be 198.4 pounds but as As we discussed previously I tell you What's a great way to destroy your body Um I've had 32 surgeries under general Anesthesia Um I retired as a masters competitor on The National Power living team because I Blew my abdominal wall out and that Started a whole cascading effect of bad Things so But you look at incredible shape still I'm in terrible shape right now but Thank you I have But I appreciate that so uh again and Nowhere near as interesting as as your Background or and nothing special you Know So I grew up in the 70s and 80s and Um actually started going to the gym Because of Sylvester Stallone and Rambo We went and saw Labor Day weekend 1982
At a drive-in theater and I was a Freshman 125 pounds silken wet and I Said to all my buddies I'm gonna look Like Sylvester Stallone they were like Yeah sure you are If he got bigger and stronger the Following August I walked into uh you Know a football camp as a sophomore at 210 pounds and I so I had this lifelong Battle in my mind of I want to look Really good but I want to be the Strongest guy pound per pound in the Room and so that's kind of what led to All this Litany of injuries and whatnot But why one of the reasons that I Thrived on competing was Rocky IV you Know and drago versus Sylvester Stallone And in 2014 I beat the seven time Russian national champ by over 200 Pounds he was the Bronze medalist he Wouldn't even come on stage to get his Medal and you know being an immature 45-46 year old at the time all I could Think of was Rocky IV and I had my Hulk Hogan real America pants on that I'd had Since the 1980s it was just a crazy Mindset that you know in the grand Scheme of things means absolutely Nothing and just a little piece of my Legacy I guess but back to you because Your story is way more interesting and Way more important to our country Um so overall how many years were you in The Navy
21 Wow that that's amazing Don I mean and Then I went to work with the government Right after so I've got about 45 46 Years and now military and government Wow that's the same thing I just wanted To stay connected and be part of the big National security threat we're facing And have always been facing and now now You know I I firmly believe today's most Dangerous day this world has ever had Um tomorrow would be more dangerous so I Just I just feel a need to want to to do My little part in helping however I can And to help others prepare for you know The the world keeps getting more and More dangerous as we all know but every Day is a little bit more dangerous and We've never been so close To having so many disasters that can Possibly happen with the nuclear threat Big Time nuclear threat you know China Taking over Taiwan Russia threatening With their weapons nuclear weapons now North Korea and Iran with their weapons And all these nuclear all these Countries now that have nuclear weapons Many of them hate us yeah and they're Crazy leaders you know these Authoritative dictators Um we are facing some serious challenges Ahead and I you know it doesn't keep me Awake at night because Um we can only do what we can do but I
Think it's all our responsibility is to Be prepared and and prepare those who we Love and care for and people we live With and help them not to not to make Them panicky or paranoid thinking oh my God there's going to be some some cyber Threat or nuclear attack on us but just If it happens this is what I'm gonna do And just have a nice relaxed peaceful Mindset about it something goes wrong I'm I'm going to be okay and my family's Going to be okay because I'm prepared And it doesn't it's not that it's not That time consuming or that hard to be Prepared it's really kind of a fun skill Set to develop Because and then I can only imagine it At your skill level that situational Awareness is probably you know front and Center for you all the time and uh you Know we preach that as well Um Jason Sawyer one of our uh top Influencers was a strength and Conditioning coach as I mentioned at USC And then he trained some Navy Seals Strength and conditioning Um he's he's Fond of saying that there are multiple Different levels of shtf so for example If if you're at the gas station let's Say and it gets held up while you're There well that's an shtf event but it's Not the same as a nuclear war you know There's all these different levels and
You know the importance of being aware Of your surroundings especially at gas Stations uh Have an acquaintance of mine who's won Multiple World Championships sits on the Board for the international strength Federation and he has an entire series Of videos and books called gas station Ready because if you're likely to be Assaulted that's probably one of the top Places Um It's so amazing to hear you say that Because in the last three years Three times I've come close to a Confrontation at a gas station and I Live out in the mountains I don't live Near people but when I've gone near the Cities One time I was in line pain and there's This guy behind me just staring down at Me and I knew his Potential Threat I Walked down and he followed me of course I had a weapon and he followed me he Just followed me And I didn't let on that I was aware of Him following me but I knew I had a Weapon in my vehicle and I had a weapon On me and I was thinking okay if this Goes bad then he's gonna try to rob me And I'm not going to reach my wall I'm Going to reach for my weapon and it's Going to be policed to come get the Report the second time
Um the second time is at another gas Station I was waiting and some guy said I hate white people and as the only White person in the gas station and he Looked at me and I was thinking Now I'm in trouble I'm in trouble right Now and when he walked out the security Guard was a black man said I don't know Why people have to be like that I said I Don't either I don't either he said I Don't see color I said I don't either It's just I don't know why people have To be like that but there are people Like that but the last time was the Worst time and US filling up my tank With gas This big guy comes up goes man I want Some money I said I don't have anybody I use credit Cards And he he looked down at me he's about a Foot taller than me and I just Positioned myself so I had my vehicle Block the engine To protect me from shooting and I know To reach my weapon but When you're so trained and you prepare Your mind you knew okay I've got I've Got security I got I got covered and Concealment if I need it I have an Engine block and I have a weapon I'm Going to let him move first and if he Does I take cover and I fire back I wasn't afraid I knew I had the up on
Him because of what I knew up here and I Knew he was going to lose if he was Going to try something so I looked at Him I said I don't have any money I use Credit cards and he came closer so I Walked on my side of the vehicle and I Had the vehicle between us and I was Ready for action and I'm glad it didn't Happen but he would have lost for sure And I would have won for sure and but if I didn't know those things if I was Another person who didn't train my mind Over the years I could have um Given him money and maybe have been Robbed I could have you know back talked To him and maybe been shot a lot of Things could have happened but just by Like you just said being aware of your Surroundings being aware of what can Happen to you and having a plan And Jeff Cooper said it best you know With the color codes if you're white in The white color if you're white it means You're totally unaware of your Surroundings you might be listening to Headphones you might be listening to Music you might not even know who's Around you and that's a deadly place to Be If you're in the yellow If you're in the yellow these are Conditions if you're in the yellow Condition you feel well yeah this is a
Bad part of town maybe I should be a Little bit of aware but you don't have That much awareness going on you're just Slightly aware something could happen And then if you go to the orange it Might be yeah I'm being fallen out of This garage what's going on my my Awareness heightens my sense of um a Threat could be possibly coming up on me It's all heightening now I'm in the Orange I better start thinking of a plan And if you've gone through these Scenarios in your head over and over Enough that plan comes quickly okay I've Got a vehicle here I've got wheel blocks I've got a motor to protect me from Bullets oncoming and I have a weapon and Um and but when you go into red is fight Or flight or freeze and that's when you Have to take action take action and it's Your life or or you know you you're Facing down the threat And black the black condition is you Just freeze and when you're in white or Black they're both deadly conditions You're gonna you're gonna lose but if You can escalate from yellow to Orange To red and you're not in a constant State of paranoia you're just a way of Your surroundings you're looking in your Rear view mirrors you're sitting at a Restaurant you don't have a ton of People behind you you might have your Back to the wall so you can see the
Doors you can see people but you know Worried you're just aware and um and Then have a plan so if you have to enact That plan boom it just goes in a place And you make the plan and it's fight a Flight and an animal let's do it we're We're part of the animal species that's How we survive you have you can't walk Around and wait and not be prepared or Or not be aware of your surroundings or Animals and humans don't survive that Way and if you're totally shocked Because someone comes flying through a Door and you have no idea what can Happen because you didn't anticipate Something like that could happen you go In the black and freeze Animals wouldn't survive that and we Wouldn't survive it so To have what Jeff Cooper coined the the Conditions mindset the mindset Conditions to be able to go from yellow To relaxed alertness to Orange to a Little bit more alertness because it Could be a threat to Red to have your Plan act on your plan fight a flight and You know it's best to de-escalate and Try to get away from that threat if you Can if that's the best thing but if you Can't you have to fight it out and have A plan for it and you don't need a gun To fight it out best defense could be a Cell phone and and a engine block like You know of the motor and just knowing
Or or being if you're being followed Down the road and you know you look in Right mirror left mirror you say I'm Going to take a right oh this guy's Following me especially for women this Guy's following me go toward a bank or Go someplace with the security cameras So they can get them on camera they Don't like being around cameras but just Think of these things and uh just have a Plan and um I I have done this for a Number of people and you know especially Women and they said you know I'm a Single woman I live alone I've got kids Or my husband's away all the time and I Don't have a gun To tell you the truth if they don't have A gun and they want to go buy a gun I I I tell them I said guns are great if you Know how to use them and if you know how To store them and if you know how to Keep them but you have to be trained if You have a gun and if you if you don't Plan on training yourself and just want To go through this one or two day course And put the gun away and never use it Again you know it's perishable skill you Have to stay trained on it I suggest Getting a can of wasp spray And your front door is over here If an intruder comes in go through it in Your mind a few times you have that wasp Spray or mace or anything like that And you know that door if that's going
To open it's not going to be somebody Who's supposed to be in your house if You know that You have cover from the door frame pick Up the wasp spray spray it in the Person's eyes Now that person can't do anything else You could pick up your cell phone and Leave And just little things like that even if You don't have a weapon you can you can And you can have a safe area in a house Safe area for evacuation safd but a safe Area in your house where you can hide Out but just to have these plans and Having a gold bag a gold bag in your car If something happened to me in my Vehicle I've always have an emergency Medical kit there It's got compensator GPS and a weapon Might go bags in my vehicle all the time I have one in my house that's bigger And um you know this is all good stuff You learn in living in war zones because You have to bail out quickly but with The world moving in the direction it's Moving now why not be prepared in your House in your vehicle now we don't need It right now but It's better to have it not need it than Need it not have it as we say Yeah I mean you tweak me on a number of Things here Um you know we discuss the importance of
Grab-and-go bags all the time and in Most scenarios if there was a you know a Significant event like 911 you know They're probably going to strike us Again at morning Rush Hour afternoon Rush Hour maximum chaos and if there is Any MP you know whether it's an EMP Attack or a nuclear generated EMP and You're not at Ground Zero but you know All electronics are dead Um average American Works 16 miles from Home what's your plan to get home and if You know you describe like a home Invasion scenario we have a free Document on our website if you just Click on store at the top and the very First option is home defense plan So it's a bunch of stuff for people to Put their plan together and we've had This stuff ourselves meeting our family For years that If if something happens we have an Intruder I want to know where everybody Is in my family so that I'm not shooting Through a wall and hitting somebody in Our family so Um Being prepared whether it's like a Theater of war like you've been in Whether it's at a gas station whether It's in your home Heck even if it's going to the gym if You can get to the point where it Becomes second nature I mean a couple
Times you've mentioned things where you Essentially fell back on your training And I've said it for years you know if You're live I play football of course And if I uh a linebacker's seen the same Play a thousand times You don't have to stop and think of Where you should be Because if you need to stop and think You're a half step behind you can't get To the play you're not in the play so The value of repetition Cannot you know emphasize just how Important that is and you're an even Better example than I am so let me give You an example that will probably Resonate with you because it's Particular to the Navy so my Brother-in-law has been a sheriff for Over 30 years and he served in every Capacity from traffic cop to CSI and Everything in between sort of thing He's also been in the Navy for many many Years and he was a Navy intelligence Officer and that's all I know obviously It's not something that he can discuss But here's the the uh I guess Halloween Grain repetitions become so he was on a SWAT team for many years when he was a Sheriff so you know in CQB when they're You know going into a house and there's A threat they're trained to shoot Immediately you don't wait for the other Side to take a shot at you you know
Because you're probably going to lose Your life and so when he was doing his Navy training and it was over in the Sandbox they were doing these simulated You know CQB clearing rooms and all that Sort of stuff and you know whoever he Was reporting into Kept giving him [ __ ] and saying you Can't shoot that guy until they shoot You and Bob's like I'm not I'm not walking into A situation let somebody take a shot at Me I've been trained for years in the SWAT team for to take out the threat and It didn't turn into a bad deal between Him and his you know uh commanding Officer but he never could switch gears If you know like his it was ingrained in Him it was second nature if I go into a Room and there's a threat pointing a gun At me I'm going to shoot them whether They shoot first or not so Um he's told me and I have another Acquaintance who was a marine sniper for 23 years and he was an e-9 Soul sergeant Major Um Both him and my brother-in-law were Extremely discouraged towards the end of Their careers where anytime they'd Engage The Enemy that they immediately Had to sit down with an attorney Essentially and go step by step on Everything that happened in this
Particular encounter and you know God Forbid that you know they stepped out of Line not in our minds you know what I Mean like a threatsal threat but more so Stepping out of the line from a you know Politics standpoint I guess you could Say just so I can't get my head wrapped Around because I've never been in that Situation Um you know but it's so true what you're Saying the Rules of Engagement that are Written up by lawyers For the warriors fighting overseas There's a big disconnect for instance Um you know you can't shoot until you're Shot at that's The most ridiculous rule of Engagement You can even imagine yeah you know when You go into a room close quarters battle CQB and your blasting food door the Enemy will typically pick up the weapons And they blast at the door so you get Away from the door you move down the Walls and if somebody has a weapon up You're trained like your brother-in-law Was trained so well you're trained to Shoot the threat because you have to Shoot the threat or the threat is going To shoot you it's just common sense but If any lawyer or any rule maker tries to Make a rule of Engagement that you can't Shoot till they shoot first they are Dead wrong but unfortunately this Sometimes people like that in the
Military and in civilian law enforcement Try to put those rules in a place I shouldn't get started on my um You know on on liberalism what's in this Woke stuff that's going on in our Country but I can say that of all the Threats we've faced in our country's History I believe that liberal mindset That those lawyers who think like that This wokeness that's going on in our Country I believe that's the biggest Threat our country has ever ever faced And we have to we have to defend Ourselves against those policies if I Had a 17 year old son and he was going Into a war zone and he was told don't Shoot till they shoot you first I want To want him in that warzone Because that's that's a losing mentality Okay I'll let them shoot if they shoot At me and they miss or just wound me Then I'll be able to shoot them So crazy but a lawyer might think like That back in his safe little office Somewhere yeah well my brother-in-law Basically summed it up as saying you Know I'm the first man in and I'm going Through the door and I'm in the Fatal Funnel and somebody has a gun trained on Me I have to take them out there's a Reason it's called the Fatal funnel at That time you're committed you know You're inside the room and it to me it Makes perfect sense and I mean we could
Go down a huge rabbit hole on this woken Stuff I mean Um I mean I just make a couple quick Comments if you look at the Educational Systems in other countries you know China North Korea whatnot their children Are trained at a fairly young age to Disassemble guns clean them reassemble Them and we're teaching kids that There's 300 different genders and you Know baloney like that and we've created A very uh selfish self-centered Um populist now And it's Denny Chapman and I just had a Discussion this morning you know Denny Um and we were exchanging some pictures From back in the 70s and we both said Man we just we didn't know how good we Had it we just didn't have a clue how Good that we had it so So moving on from that because we could Be here you know until bedtime Discussing the liberal mindset and which I actually believe is a is a strategic Move on the part of our foreign Adversaries to divide us divide and Conquer right so but we'll get off that Because we seriously could go down that Rabbit hole for many hours so After the Navy uh what motivated you to Write the book inside SEAL Team Six Well boy that was a Um I was asked I I've written I've written
Other books I've written survival books I've written shooting books and um the First time I ever wrote a book I didn't Want to write a book Because I don't like being inside I Don't like being on a computer and I was Teaching people how to do adventure Racing these big long 10-day non-stop Races and I was racing in these 10-day Races all over the world and I was Teaching people and I was producing These Adventure races all over And there's a politician his name was Quentin Kidd and he came up to me says Don Uh you produce these races you teach People to race and you compete at the Highest level in these races why don't You write a book on adventure racing it Hasn't been done yet as I don't want to Write a book and you gotta write the Book someone's going to write the book I Said I just don't want to write a book So he said how about if you just give me Everything on recordings you speak in Recordings okay and I'll get someone to Write it up for you so we found current Charge Chicago sometimes and so the First book of adventure racing I wrote And um then I was done And then I was working for the Government and I was teaching weapons And tactics And I had collected so much information
On weapons you know all types of weapons And um And then Um a friend of my boss actually he said Don you have so much material on weapons You should write a book I said Jimmy no Way am I writing another book I don't Want to write it says come on look at All the material you don't even have to Write it it's all right here yeah the Chapter is I sent it off to a publisher And they said yeah we'll we'll write it But you have way too much If you can make it a third as much That's fine so I got rid of all the Stuff on shotguns all on Long guns and I Just made a combat uh defensive pistol Okay and so a lot of law enforcement use That military over the years So my name was out there as a author and Then Bin Laden was killed and um I was In the news here and there for different Sporting events doing these 10-day races And um and in these reports you know People knew I was still Team Six they Knew as a training officer still Team Six and I knew I was an author so I Started getting offers from publication Companies saying you were the Advanced Training officer at SEAL Team Six we Would like you to write a book and Here's the big lump of money would give You Big lump sum of money we'll give you I
Said I can't I have a top secret Clearance like I can't do that They said well we just want to know how You train people to go in raids like Bin Laden's raid I said when you leave those Doors and you retire you don't give away Those secrets and I have a TS clearance I'm going to keep it They said well you're giving up a lot of Money a lot of other people are talking I said well I'm not going to talk good For you I got three offers six digits More than I've ever been paid and I Turned them all down and then one one Publisher said okay we know what you're Saying to the other people What about if you give us your Background as what you've done in the Military and what you've done as an Athlete And I said I'm not trying to sound Humble or anything but the things I've Done in the military the things you'll Want to hear I can't talk about Um and my career is not extraordinary Compared to so many other people and as An athlete these big races I've done and Climbing mountains and things a lot of People have done that my my story won't Be that big or exciting they said yeah We knew you'd say that too but here's The figure we'll give you if you give us An unclassified version I said only if I Can send it to the P publication review
Board so Seal Team reviews it CIA Reviews it they bless it And so I wrote a book just an Autobiography type book they said now we Need a title for the book Give us some ideas so I wrote down some Ideas they said we don't like any of Those ideas Still Team Six I said no it's not about Inside SEAL Team Six they said well we Could call it inside still Team Six it Took me a while to think do I want my Book called Inside SEAL Team Six Because I don't want people think I'm Giving away secrets But um it took me a while to deal with That title and the title I went with it I went with it and I knew It was reviewed by Seal Team and CIA and It was okay because it wasn't giving Away any secrets tactics techniques or Procedures or names of people so I felt Good and I felt I was going to do people A lot of good and it's not going to do Anybody any harm so that's how I did That book So uh I don't know maybe 10 years ago or So we surpassed a million words in the English language and out of those Million words depending on Whose you Know thoughts you subscribe to there's Some are say around 175 power words so Words that evoke emotion so you know the The perimeter of the human brain the
Neocortex Processes all forms of information but Has nothing to do with your feelings or Decision making that's all done at the Center of the brain the limbic brain So if you can evoke emotion in people Um it's much more interesting for them To carry on so there's a bunch of Studies that show things like a book Title a headline title those sort of Things really needs to be six words or Less and needs to have at least one Power word in it and so they say if a Headline is over or book titles over six Words people will grasp the first three And the last three words and anything in The middle is kind of lost on them and That title in that headline has one Purpose to get people to invest in Reading on reading further sort of Things so inside Insider you know Variations on that word is one of the 175 power words and the fact that your Title is like four words long Um I can understand what the thought Process was on the part of the publisher Um it's got a power word it's short it's Like hey yeah I want to read the rest of This and even though you weren't giving Away Secrets it's still in my opinion And I'm just a I'm a high school Graduate that's a I don't have any Post-secondary education It's a it's an impressive title yeah
From an attention grabbing perspective Sort of thing So Um you've got this huge breadth of Knowledge from you know traveling around The world Um Whether it be from an athletic Perspective or professional perspective You know in the armed forces so you've Got this wealth of geopolitical Knowledge that you know I don't think Anybody could have unless they've Actually been to all of these different Things and gone through some some pretty Crazy experiences so If you have a minute can you share your Thoughts on like the current threats That we face whether it be China Russia Cyber attacks uh terrorist attacks those Sort of things Sure Um Boy I I do feel like they mentioned a Little bit earlier that uh we are facing The biggest threat in our existence not Just our lifetimes but this plan its Existence agreed and we do have Iran and We have North Korea and we have the Middle East which we don't even talk About anymore but they're still a threat To us and now we have China and Russia Forming up an alliance of some sort the Common enemy is us
And Um they have all the resources fuel oil Gas uh Power now now I'm so proud to say It's in the world's largest navy Now I was in the world's second largest Navy I mean China is surpassing us every Day they're surpassing us bigger Army Bigger Navy more Rockets more missiles But with the mindset the president of China is he's he's focused on world Domination and they they call them the Most aggressive leader of all time he Wants domination of Mars and the planets As well I mean this guy has got a plan He's brilliant he's brilliant he's got His problems at home but he is set on Changing the world order and the U.S is In our opinion the center right now and We are we try to keep peace everywhere We go I know we've been in a lot of wars And things and some were just and some Maybe not just but we pretty much Um do our best when there's a disaster Or there's a problem we're there to help And that that is what the US does and um China and Russia are agreed that they Want to change that world order they Want to be the center of this world and Not us and so those two Powers together With Iran and Korea and all these other Countries and Nations and States Sponsored terrorism uh areas They they're our enemy and they they are Telling us that we're their enemy we're
Not declaring them an enemy it's the Other way around so and a lot of these Countries have nuclear weapons So for that reason I know our existence Is at Peril more so than ever in the History of the United States and Um and it's not getting better it just Keeps getting worse China is you know Who knows what happened with covid the Real story with covid I'm also worried About the fentanyl the fence all coming Across the border these seizures that if If they got to every single person in The United States they could kill every Single person in the U.S why doesn't That even make the news why do we have Open borders I mean how can we have an Open border when we know people from Every country in this world all of our Enemies coming across the border Just Trafficking children and women and Selling this fentanyl which is killing More people in any of the wars For some reason we are allowing that to Happen and as we all know you know the Only way a country can be defeated is if It gets defeated from within the people Within allow it to happen I see us our liberal far left side Allowing it to happen we're allowing the Borders to be open we're allowing people To come across we have people making up Rules of engagements like you say uh
Policies what's going on in school what Being what's being taught in school I mean we are we need a major shift and It's like a giant aircraft carrier has To turn radical and giant aircraft Carriers can't turn radically right or Left but we have to do a radical turn we Have a big big ship that's being run By people staring it to the far left That cuts keeps putting us in more and More Jeopardy because for some reason The left side of our brain of our Country's brain doesn't see a threat as A threat they don't see it that way and I and I don't I don't understand why I Know there's all types of people all Types of people think differently but They're putting the existence of our Country at risk more and more every day Yeah so I mean I turned off mainstream Media over 20 years ago it was one of The probably like the first wave of People who cut the cable you know sort Of thing and and the reason I did it is Because a friend of mine who's much Smarter than I am and he's an author too Just you know and he's done some crazy Adventure things like climbing uh Mount Everest and stuff like that but uh his Exact words to me was Chris is the best Case scenario news is infotainment worst Case scenario it's propaganda attainment So if you think back to the 70s and 80s We had somewhere around 400
Independently owned news organizations In America we now have four or five Conglomerates that own 99 of the Mainstream media so they control the Narrative and I read a very interesting Article this morning on Zero Hedge Called uh let me look at my notes Here Crisis of the now So essentially the author was saying That we live in this Perpetual news Cycle that's focused on The crisis du jour you know the crisis Of the day sort of thing and I actually I noticed that years ago because I made Comments to people how we just Lurch From one thing to another to another in The news cycle and you know a couple Weeks later it's like man you don't hear Anything about you know this thing that Got everybody riled up a couple weeks Back Point being is the gist of that article Of the crisis of the now being pushed by This handful of conglomerates What that does is it keeps people's Attention focused on what they want People's you know attention focused on And they have zero awareness we're back To situational awareness you know people Don't know what they don't know so you Know Steve Jobs had a hundred plus Black turtlenecks 100 plus matching Pairs of jeans socks underwear the whole Nine yards and the reason he did that is
Because the human brain has a finite Amount of decision-making ability each Day and so if you expend some of your Bandwidth on looking in the closet and Deciding what you're going to wear today That's less bandwidth to make other Decisions so he wanted to reserve all of His attention to things that he felt Really important so he got up every day Put the same black turtleneck on the Same jeans and same socks and underwear And the way he went so I think that you know Without getting too much into the Conspiracy uh Theory world that the People who control these media Conglomerates you know they're extremely Powerful and they feed us well they feed The mainstream media and its audience uh You know a diet of these constant crisis And by doing that If you dig deeper there's always Something else going on right so you Know last week was Donald Trump's going To be charged by the southern district New York attorney general Um Elven Bragg and meanwhile There was all kinds of reports being Released that somewhere around 30 Million dollars has been paid to the Biden family from Chinese companies Which got zero coverage just like the FBI after having Hunter Biden's laptop
For a year and a half saying this is Russian disinformation Um people don't get to see the things You're discussing the important stuff Because they have this finite attention Span finite ability to digest Information and this machine keeps them Focused on whatever it is to keep their Attention away from something that's Going on over here so Um this is another super deep well I Mean we could go down this one all day As well Um sort of thing but Let's kind of fast forward to right now At this particular point in time and you Know the the screen behind me Um how did you end up uh with a TV show On American stories uh called surviving Man uh I've watched the first season Twice uh it's really engaging it's it's It Reality TV is all scripted and I'm not Saying that you guys had scripting or Not but it doesn't appear to be a lot of Scripting it appears to be like you know This person stepped up to the plate and Competed in this and here's what Happened sort of thing Um so give maybe give us the background To American stories TV and surviving man Okay and so to begin with that all I can Say there's zero scripting in it it's Zero scripting and ultimately the
Producer and the director Bob C Phil who Was the mind he he created Survivor Man And um I've known Bob for many many Years and um and he said to me a few Years ago he said I'd like to do a TV Show you've trained people to climb Mountains you've trained people to be Seals you've changed people to do all These races where you train people with Shooting why don't you do a show with me And you can train people I said yeah Barb I'll do that but that went on for a Couple years we've really never got it Going up until three years ago he said Remember that show I wanted you to do Let's do it and I want to call it Surviving man then I think oh I don't Know about that title again But anyways um I did come up with the Scenario for the training and Bob said You you do the training we'll do the Director we'll do the production and you Set on the train and he gave me carte Blanche to do what I wanted to do okay He's a good friend of mine and I respect Him a lot and the staff and the big team He has put together is just incredible And um so so initially Bob wanted me to Train all these highly skilled people And very very fit people and then for me To compete against the top person I said Bob that'll be a short show because I Cannot compete at that level anymore and Um it would be too short of a show
Because I'd get beat so quickly you know I will do my best but um I can still Shoot and move and run and do all that Stuff but not as quickly as I used to be Able to do not like the people we're Gonna get So the first year we had 500 to 600 People apply for surviving man And it was out in Vegas gun site and I'm Sorry front sight and um and and I Changed this scenario so we weren't Gonna be a competition with me against These people But they came in they had all these Skills they had to ensure that they can Do it they were chosen and then we had 32 people selected and then I flew in And I met these 32 and I told them all I Said You're here not to be on a reality TV Show called survivor man it's nothing Like that that was to get you here in This country we needed some hardcore Americans who were fit and who can shoot And who have the right mindset because The storyline is we have a hostage Situation the US doesn't want anything To do with uh this hostage because he Turned bad and the US government or the Military didn't want anything to do with Him we needed some hardcore Americans Who I can put through a quick selection Course with PT shooting survival skills And then we will form up a team and
We're going to go rescue this guy before He gets executed at the end of the week And that was the Survivor Man concept And it worked out really really well we Had these weapon sponsors and just like At Seal Team we get these top weapon People come in say Hey try my weapon try My weapon you might want to use it in Training and missions so that's how we Did the show we had all these great Weapon sponsors coming in and we had Them give us a demonstration of the Weapons we had our contestants try out The weapons so we it was it was like it Was real it was real we really did try Out the weapons but you really did use Weapons on the mission and it really was A a mission you would see in in training And um it worked out really really well I I'm very very proud to be part of this Show and I'm looking forward to season Three already I have some really good Ideas now for season three so I mean It's probably worth mentioning that Those 32 into visuals there were some Very elite people in there that came out Of a pool of close to 600 people correct Yes there were I think the poll was Somewhere between 500 and 600 people and And some of them were incredibly Incredibly talented and skilled I got Off the charts people I would have liked To have seen and Seal Team at one point Yep and some were weren't but most of
Them were they all had something very Very unique or some skill or strength That they were selected for So this is a special episode of survival Dispatch news normally it airs at 4 pm Eastern time every Thursday But we're recording this on a Thursday And it's gonna air tomorrow on Friday Which is why we're calling a special Edition and today the episode that's Airing is a really interesting interview With Dr Jennifer stancus who was on your Show and uh 114 pounds you know two Branches of the military law enforcement MD attorney expert witness the list goes On and on when Denny and I interviewed Her we got to the end we were like man We're glad we don't have to compete Against you and this is this diminutive 114 pound woman Um you know when you're talking about The skills that people had on the show Thoroughly impressed with Dr Jennifer Amongst the other ones as well but she Stands out because of again her Diminutive size Yeah she is as fit as can be as Competitive as can be she's she's a very Good shot she's so smart a doctor and a Lawyer yeah she's everything that um and And she's she's very motivation Motivational too when she's around other People she motivates people and she's Just an all-around great person and a
Great competitor and we're happy to have Her on the show I just the thought just occurred to me It's probably why her and Bob get along So well because he's got this contagious Enthusiasm and of course I don't know Him near as well as you do but he I love Talking to him that guy's just on fire All the time I agree yeah I've known Bob I think 10 years now wow I've never seen Him down he is always very very up and Motivated and doing some big project So just to kind of wrap up uh with a few Things here quickly as quickly as Possible but there's no you know hard Timeline is the purpose of survival Dispatch is to disseminate information So that our fellow Americans not only Survive in these uncertain times but Could actually Thrive so I mean for all Intents and purposes you're you know Like a subject matter expert on steroids When it comes to survival and Preparedness so keeping in mind you know We have some Um active duty military active duty law Enforcement retired military retired law Enforcement in our audience but the vast Majority of people you know in the Survival dispatch Nation don't have the Benefit of professional training through Those organizations is there a handful Of things that you could impart to them As far as survival what skills they
Should be focusing on and preparedness And those sort of things Well thanks for saying that but Chris What you're doing is helping the public I mean and they can see what you're Doing go to your site that's a really Really good start because that's a lot Of information all at one location where People can get and they can come right To your site and see this but mindset as We discussed is the number one thing you Have to have the mindset it can't be Something you put off and then of course When we're going out in the jungle and The desert Urban Um Wilderness it doesn't matter you do Need the mindset you need a shelter you Know you have to have food and water And then that gets broken down a little Bit more the shelter could be a lean to It could be a little cave but you have To have a shelter you should be off the Grounds bugs and insects and things like That And you have to be able to procure food If you're you know that might be in an Urban environment might be easier if You're hiding out how to get food but if You're out in the jungle in a desert or Somewhere else you have to have an idea Of where you are know the area you're in And what foods available what plants and Animals what foods available and then You have to know what's toxic and what's
Not toxic For instance you know there's a lot of Plants that look like you can eat them And then if you eat them you could you Become poisonous you know so there's Little ways to taste test them and put It on your lip first if there's no Burning sensation or anything then touch It on your tongue if you're still okay After 15 20 minutes you could eat a Little bit of it and then that's how you Do it but these little little tips Um are important to know and it's not Like at some point you're going to be Yanked off and you're going to be in the Middle East but if you know you're going To the Middle East understand what's in That AO that air of operation what type Of food and water sources are available Water you need water of course And you might have to know how to filter Water maybe from charcoal from a fire or Maybe from rocks or maybe just have a Little chlorine tablets if you have the Ability to boil it all the better but You do need water but you need shelter You need food you need water You have to know how to get to where You're going you have to know how to Navigate and my little grandson was Doing map and Compass training with him Last week he's eight years old that's Awesome everywhere Northeast South and West is he could tell you where the sun
Sets where it rises where the Moon Rises Where the moon sets he could tell you All that we'll walk down a trail and I'll say see the shadow of that tree Where is West and he's eight and that Was one hour lesson and he can do it and It was fun for him And um but you do have to know how to Navigate then there's a big question Okay if I'm in a car crash or if I'm Stranded out in a cabin or if I was out Hunting and I got lost or I was hiking With my boyfriend and girlfriend and I Got lost what do I do do I stay in a Shelter do I stay there or do you go Look for help And these things Um there's not an easy answer for any of Them you know a plane crash is a big big Example if you happen to be in a crash And you survive a plane crash or a Boating accident and you're stranded do You stay there or you go look for help So there's a lot that goes into this And you also have to be prepared to Defend yourself you may or may not have A weapon Um you could make a weapon I mean if I Was out living in the woods and I was Stuck out there And I know there's there are bears out There these mountain lions up there and I didn't have a weapon and I was wounded I couldn't move I know I would have a
Rock that I can hold in my hand that I Can hold as a weapon I would come up With something so shelter food water the Ability to navigate and Um know what's there for food and water Sources know what's toxic what's not Toxic and to have a weapon and also you Should really know emergency medicine You know if you're with somebody and Somebody's hurt you know Tactical combat casually care has taken Over and the scene has to be safe that Means before I can help this person if He fell through some frozen ice I can't Go on that frozen ice because that scene Is not safe if there's a terrible car Crash and I'm going down the road and I See this crash I'm not going to pull the People out on the road and treat them on The road because the scene is not safe If my position is being shot that I'm Not going to stay in place I'm going to Go behind the wheel well or an engine Block or a building and make the scene Safe before I can help somebody so Tactical combat casualty care or Red Cross or American Horror a b c d e it's Really the same things just in different Order where the scene has to be safe Then you have to make sure the person's Hurt has an airway they're breathing Circulation that they're not bleeding Out you have to stop that bleeding And TCC is just a little different
They'll put a tourniquet on right away But stop the bleeding stop the bleeding Look for head injury and then um you Have to get help And even it sounded like I said a lot That that's really just fun training and It helps and and um and I teach this for The government I teach it all the time Actually I've never stopped teaching it Since I've learned it and so many times In sports and in military and in Government people have needed this Information but people need it in their Homes too and with the ever increasing Threat why not learn it it's fun it's a Fun skill set you know and um and There's all types of uh training camps You can go to and everything but learn To build shelters actually we'll be uh Doing that I'll be going out in the Desert with a government group and we're Going to build shelters we're going to Be trapping food we're going to be Fishing food they're going to eat what They catch we're going to do the land Navigation and we're gonna do a lot of Survival skills and um we do that every Year and it's it's just they love it and It's out of their their comfort zone That's not what they're used to doing And if they get ready to deploy Someplace in the world I'll know that Area and I study up on that area and Work plants and food and animals are in
That area what the threat is There is a threat and our country There's a lot of threats in the cities You know in other places too but so to Me the city is filled with threats Nowadays that couldn't agree more we we Pulled our audience recently actually on What they wanted to see more of and Urban survival was top of the list 83 of Americans live in cities Um there's no bugging out they don't Have anywhere to bug out to sort of Thing they're bugging in you know they Got to get home after catastrophe so I I Agree but I had that perspective Beforehand but just because I think Something doesn't mean that it's you Know in agreement with what our audience Wants and so I guess that was really Telling them believe it or not Primitive survival was like 14 And uh the the second one was uh Survival in a remote location with Modern amenities you know like all the Modern tools that we have and that was Number two but over well over 50 percent Of people said urban survival they'd Want to know [ __ ] I can see that for Sure I can see why people would vote That way yeah it's a really interesting Subject so uh this special episode of Survival Dispatch news is going to air On Friday March 31st and people can go To the American stories TV website we'll
Put links down below and sign up for Free for The Insider group and they can Get a advanced screening of uh the first Episode of surviving me in season two Which we watched last night at the watch Party it was fantastic and if people Don't have a chance to do that uh General availability will be tomorrow Which will be Saturday April 1st they Can go check it out live streaming Um One last question what's next for Don Man Boy what's next uh so Um I'm looking forward to doing more Survival Um training with the government uh Survival training I really really enjoy That I look forward to more uh surviving Man shows and the All-Star shows and Going to different locations and working With different people Um there are 54 of 14 000 Footers in Colorado fourteen thousand uh 14 Actually I have the picture right here There's 54 of them Is 54 mountains in Colorado over 14 000 Feet unreal and I plan on climbing them All I've done 20 of them so I have 34 to Go And I like doing those I like to go up Fast and run down I I did get hurt on Everest a couple years ago I was Climbing Everest Mount Everest
And my brain cavity filled with fluid And my lungs filled with fluids I got High altitude pulmonary demon high Altitude cerebral edema holy cow lost a Lot of my memory and I a lot of lung Function and that was about five years Ago but it's coming back it's all coming Back so now doing these Mounds these you Know fourteen thousand Footers it they Seem a lot harder than they used to so It's a challenge and um One day I made a resolution of workout Every day of the year and the next year I did it again I went over 20 years Working out every day of the year and Coming back on track for doing that Again I don't take days off and I love It that way you know everyone says I eat Muscles need time to rebuild but some Like yesterday I went for a run in the Mountains and uh some days I'll just go In my gym and some days I go for a Gravel bike ride or a mountain bike ride Or a road bike ride or a paddle but I Just do something physical every day and And I I know you know this better than Anybody but I find the people who Who Start thinking I'm getting too old or Getting too lazy I don't feel like doing That So many people are slowing down too Early in life when there's so much more Life to go And um I have no no plans on slowing
Down at all ever and actually when it's My last day on this Earth I want Everything totally worn out I plan on Having it all body parts totally worn Out yeah it starts not working anymore I'll do things where I don't need that Part of my body uh so I I have zero Plans on slowing down I love the life I Lead and I mean it's just awesome Don And uh you know I hate to sound like a Broken record but really appreciating You coming coming on Survival Dispatch News uh and really appreciate your Service to our country uh hopefully we Get another chance to do this again at Some point in the future but thank you Don I hope so too and I really Appreciate what you're doing and I I Hope all the viewers uh really take what You're doing seriously because what You're doing is so important and thank You for doing what you're doing [Music] Foreign [Music]
