American Veteran

(men yelling) It is dangerous. I can't believe the things that we did. The things that we were commanded to do. The times that we marched around in the rain and the mud and heavy equipment firing live rounds. I mean, they push you to the edge. (guns banging) Growing up, my swimming abilities were not very strong. But the coast guard during bootcamp, and then rest of summer school, you're constantly in the water doing things you're not used to doing, like treading water with a brick over your head or controlling your breathing or learning how to stay calm when people are freaking out and pulling you under water. Yeah, there were moments I decided this may be not be for me. (engine wailing) We did something called the D five Dunker. If your aircraft should happen to hit the water and you're strapped in, you gotta be able to get out. My first time I was blindfolded strapped into the farthest end of it. I was really nervous, but I sat there for a second pictured where I was, I was able to egress out. I was under water for about two minutes. I popped to the surface and everybody's already out of the pool. And the instructor was yelling at me, What was I doing? I said, I got lost so I started over again. I didn't have any fear of the water at that point in time anymore. (people yelling) During training, you're rocking, you're doing pushups, you're going through obstacle courses, all different kinds of stuff. And then one day we had an air salt down this big, huge tower. Before basic training, I had a fear of heights. Well, you had to get over that. So there was no going back. I mean, they're telling you go get over that thing. So everybody else is doing it. They didn't die. So I guess you just go. Let the rope run to your top hand. That is definitely empowering. Just to feel that you can conquer those fears. And if you can do that, you can keep ongoing. (calm music) I wasn't as physically strong as the others. We would do a run and they never tell you how long the run is. And I would never make the end of the run. (men chanting) I would stop thinking I was going to die, I couldn't take another step, and then the platoon would halt maybe 50 yards after that. So I was close, but I never made it. I knew I was failing out, and about halfway through, I decided that I needed to make a stronger commitment. Those around me were getting notes under their pillows, "Haven't you quit yet?" "Don't you know that you don't have the makings of being an officer", "Why are you still here?", and then people would just be gone. So I decided that on the next run, I am going to run until I die. (men chanting) And when I'm finished that run, I knew it wasn't the physical part, It was the mental toughness. (men chanting)