Ep. 87 w/ Darrell Utt - Author of "Grit to Glory: A Green Beret's Journey From West Virginia To The Streets of Baghdad" - Son of a Blitch

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Son of a
Blitch podcast.
I'm your host, george Blitch.
Today I just wrapped up anincredible conversation with my
friend, daryl Ut.
He is the author of Grit toGlory, his first book.
It's called Grit to Glory AGreen Berets Journey from West
Virginia to the streets ofBaghdad.
It focuses a lot about his timein Iraq in 2006,.
But it really takes us on tothe genesis of his story growing

(00:38):
up in West Virginia and whattook him from that spot of
growing up through kind of atough childhood to finding his
way through his football coach,through some inspiration, to
become a Green Beret and hisjourney there forth.
And it's just a phenomenal book.
It talks a lot about resiliency, about teamwork, about
leadership, inspiring futuregenerations, and I think he does

(01:01):
just that in such a phenomenalway.
He talks about the grit code,kind of eight different things
there which you can kind of taketo your own personal life with
civilian life or even if you'rea leader in, you know, in the
military.
There's so much to draw fromthis book.
It comes on sale on December3rd.
You can place your pre-ordersright now.
Go to the show notes below andmake sure you place your order.

(01:22):
This book is a life changer.
It is something that will grabyou, grip you and leave you
wanting to see what's on thatnext page.
I mean you might have a littlebit of lack of sleep because if
you start reading this at nightit's page turner and you're not
going to want to put it down.
A phenomenal book I know it'sgoing to do really well and
there's a lot of human impactstory that I feel that you're

(01:44):
man.
There's just so much heart andsoul.
There's so many things that hebrought out the most vulnerable
times of his life, of his timesof service there, and I really
just feel like it's a compellingbook that it's really going to
grab you and you're not going towant to put it down.
So make sure you go and pickyour orders up today.
Again, check out the show notesbelow and I really think you

(02:05):
guys are going to enjoy thisconversation.
I had a great time chattingwith Daryl and I think you're
going to love it.
So, without further ado, hereis my podcast with Daryl.
Y'all enjoy Daryl.
How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
today, man, I'm doing good.
George, Thanks for having me,man, it's great to be here,
great to be here on the podcast.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
I'm so glad that you joined me.
I know you've got an eventtoday over in San Antonio the
first of the book tour.
Now this book, grit to Glory AGreen Beret's Journey from West
Virginia to the Streets ofBaghdad.
It's coming out on December 3rd.
I cannot wait for people to getit in their hands.
I highly suggest everyone goand check out the pre-order link
on the show notes below.

(02:42):
Look, I want to dive into this,but I think it gives our
listeners a really goodplaceholder to know a little bit
about how you grew up, whereyou grew up and I think you know
one of the sentences thatstarts off in the introduction.
You said growing up, the onlysilver spoons in my family were
the ones used to hit me.
That was a hell of a first lineman.

(03:02):
Can you go ahead and explain alittle bit of that, where you
grew up and what that meant, asfar as the beginning of the
journey in the grit that youwent through in West Virginia?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah for sure, man for sure.
So I was born and raised in alittle small town, huntington,
west Virginia, and it'sinfamously known for the
Marshall University footballplaying crash that happened.
Actually, we just had theanniversary I believe it was
November 14th 1970, is whentheir plane went down and it was

(03:35):
just just a mile or two awayfrom the, from the airport.
So they were almost at theirultimate destination when they
crashed and it was just ahorrendous, horrendous crash.
I wasn't born yet.
I was born about a year later.
Horrendous crash.
I wasn't born yet, I was bornabout a year later.
But it just kind of speaks tothe area where I came from.
Just being that blue collar,tough as nails, patriotic, roll
your sleeves up, have some dirtunder your fingernails and get

(03:57):
it done so but yes, I did growup.
I did grow up.
Uh, family uh was abusive.
Um, my mom and dad uh marriedreally young and they started
having kids, and both my mom anddad never graduated high school
.
And for anybody that's everlistened to me or or heard any

(04:18):
stories about me, I typicallysay that, and I don't say that
to be negative towards my momand dad, because obviously I
mean they're both past, butnegative towards my mom and dad
because obviously I mean they'reboth past, but I love my mom
and dad.
But I say that because I thinkthat kind of started building
that chip on my shoulder, youknow, having that West Virginia
chip on my shoulder, and it mademe want to do more and do

(04:40):
better and exceed and, and Ithink that's what drove me, you
know, in the military to get mybachelor's degree, get my
master's degree.
So so that really drove me.
But my parents married young,didn't graduate high school.
They were both, you know, bluecollar.
My dad worked at a glassfactory, uh, his whole entire

(05:02):
life.
My mom worked at a mentalhealth institution and my poor
mom, man, she had the threestrikes, you're out.
You know she grew up as alittle girl and a very abusive.
Her family was abusive, sothat's the way she grew up.
And then, unfortunately for her, she married my dad and my dad
had some major problems withalcohol, uh, as when he was a

(05:25):
young man.
So that was something that shehad to fight through, literally
fight through, uh, my dad beingvery abusive and being very, uh,
physical and hands-on with mymom.
And I remember those times as alittle, as a little boy and
it's just like it's the hardestthing, because you can't do
anything.
Uh, because you, you know, youdon't have the strength, you

(05:47):
don't have the ability, but yousee your mom getting hit, even
though she was getting hit by mydad, but it's still.
You know, it's tough as alittle boy.
And then, of course, she workedat a mental health institution,
so she got beat up at work, soshe had the three strikes you're
out.
And I'm not trying to makeexcuses for her, but I really
think that was part of Of thereason or the why that she

(06:12):
treated us the way that she did.
I think we were just kind of,you know, victims of the
circumstance Me, my olderbrother and my older sister and
I always try to say this yes, Igrew up very abusive, but my
sister got the brunt of it, man,she literally got the brunt of
it.
And there is a mention in thebook where I was probably in

(06:37):
eighth or ninth grade but I wascutting the grass and I looked
through the window and her andmy mom were always fighting.
And I looked through the windowand I noticed that my mom was
on top of my sister.
She had both of her hands heldout to the side and her shirt
was all the way up or brawl.
You know she's probably ajunior or senior in high school
at this point, but she had herlike in this restraint kind of

(06:59):
thing.
I guess she had learned fromthe mental health hospital.
But you know, my sistercouldn't do anything and she was
just there yelling and cryingand I went in and was able to
get my mom off of her.
But just a very violent, youknow childhood and seeing that
and being exposed to that, so soyeah, that's that was
definitely my roots, you know,growing up.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, and you talked about, too, that there are those
things that you'd learned andthat there were some things you
imparted from your parents thatwere positives, and I want to
talk about that too, because Ithink, while we paint that
picture, I want to make surelike your mom was a tough woman.
She dealt with a lot ofdifferent things and there was
an impact that that made on youabout your mental tenacity.
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, I think I definitelygot my resilience, you know, and
and I would I would use thatlater on.
I've used it my entire life.
When you have a little bit ofadversity, you know, I think the
best thing that you can do ismeet that adversity head on, um,
meet that adversity withresilience, you know, like that

(08:02):
psychological resilience, theability to just kind of quickly
and just quickly react and anddo a positive instead of a
negative.
So so I definitely learned thatfrom from my mother, like that
having that resilience, andprobably got some of my
stubbornness from my Um.

(08:24):
And I say this story about mymom just to kind of indicate how
, um, how stubborn she was.
You know, before she passed, shehad an issue with her heart and
, uh, and the doctor was likehey, you need to get this
procedure done.
And she said I'm not, I'm notdoing that.
And the doctor was like hey, ifyou don't do this, you're going
to die.
And she said, well, I'm notdoing that.

(08:44):
And the doctor was like hey, ifyou don't do this, you're going
to die.
And she said, well, I'm notdoing it.
And he's like all right, I'mgoing to have to put you in
hospice and you're going to bedead very soon.
And she said, okay, that's fine, that's just the kind of woman
like, that's her generation.
That's how tough she was.
But I definitely got that fromher and I credit my dad with
giving me all the boy stuff youknow the hunting, fishing,

(09:06):
trapping, baseball, basketball,football all the time and effort
, blood, sweat and tears that heput into me growing up as a
little guy.
You know I credit my dad forthat, but really my mental
strength that that came from mymom.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, you know you you just mentioned there sports
too and I think that that isit's a great equalizer, because
when you're on the field, you'rethere and you have a coach and
you have that.
You know the patterns of theday, you have routines, you have
things, expectations of whichyou got to rise to and hard work
and that grit and determinationto rise up in sports.
And that was a big thing withyou with football.

(09:45):
And you know your coach, carl TThornburg, played a significant
role in your life andeventually kind of becoming a
Green Beret, and so I'd like foryou to maybe talk a little bit
about that aspect of your lifeand then you know how he ended
up taking you, you know, lateron to Camp Dawson and maybe how
that kind of played a part inyour steps forward.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, I'm always very , very happy to talk about Coach
Thornburg and I'm very muchlooking forward to the chance to
see him and either to go havebreakfast or lunch or dinner.
He's still alive and kicking.
He's just such a tough man.
But I'm going to be back inHuntington West Virginia the
first week of December and Ihaven't seen Coach Thornburg in

(10:28):
decades, oh, wow.
And yeah, I had an old footballbuddy, rick Fry, that reached
out to me and we were talkingabout Coach and I was hesitant
to ask because I didn't want tohear what he was going to say.
But I asked him.
I was like, hey, is coach stillaround?
He's like oh, yeah, of coursehe's still.
He's hard charging, he's ingreat shape, he's doing great

(10:51):
things.
But I am very thankful, I'mvery thankful for coach
Thornburg and I make sure or Itried really hard to make sure
that I gave him his props in mybook because I really meant it
like deep from my heart.
There would be no Green Bereton my head at any time if it
wasn't for Coach Thornburg.
And luckily I was able to meetCoach Thornburg and cross paths.

(11:15):
You know those formative years.
You know because I playedfootball growing up.
You know my whole life.
And then you know, my ninthgrade year to my senior year,
coach thornberg was my footballcoach and he, he put a lot of
time into us, man, he investedso much time.
Uh, I do have a regret fromthat time period because he was

(11:36):
the wrestling coach as well.
He was the wrestling coach andthe football coach and uh, I can
kick myself in the rear for notwrestling with and for Coach
Thornburg because I think thatwould have helped me so much.
Because I got to see my sonlater on he wrestled all through
school or middle school andhigh school and I got to see

(11:57):
what that did for him and havingthat skill is.
I mean, it's a different levelwhen you have that skill and you
know how to do those things.
But that's a regret.
But I met Coach Thornburg.
He was my football coach.
We worked out year round so hewas always in the weight room.
He was out there running withus when we were doing runs.

(12:18):
Just a man, just a greatinfluence and such a great
mentor influence and such agreat mentor and I think that he
he really helped me out becausehe knew that my family I didn't
come from much, I very poorfamily and he knew that I didn't
have a lot of opportunities.
And I think he started plantingthose seeds like, hey, daryl,

(12:39):
this could be a way out.
You know how it is when you'relike 16, 17.
It's like, oh, this place sucks, I want to move and you know
I'm going to get away from hereand go somewhere.
Cool.
But I think he started plantingthose seeds very strategically,
like hey, you would be a greatperson for the military.
Because when I look back on it,man, I feel like you know, at

(13:01):
50 plus years old now, and Ilook back to my upbringing
before I joined the military,it's like, dude, I was built for
the military, I was made forthe military, I was built and
made for special forces.
So I mean, what a great.
You know, I went through allthe hardship, I went through
tough times.

(13:21):
I was hunting, I was fishing, Iwas trapping, I played sports.
You know team dynamics,leadership, all of those things.
Like dude, I did it and a lotof that, you know.
I give that credit to CoachThornburg and so, you know, he
gave, he gave me thatopportunity to start planting
those seeds and then, like youmentioned, george, he took us up

(13:43):
to Camp Dawson me and a fewother of my football teammates.
He took us up to Camp Dawson,west Virginia, way up in the
mountains.
I remember being a little bitdizzy on the bus ride because it
was like this and that andcurved around.
People used to say it was likethey followed a black snake to

(14:03):
make some of those roads ortrails.
But we were out in themountains, man, we were out in
the middle of nowhere and therewas, uh, this group of these
national guard drill sergeantsthat were trying to you know,
practice and and get up to speedbefore they went and did their
summer active duty time orwhatever.
So we just happened to be liketheir test subjects and, uh, you
know, they gave us PT test andyou know two mile run pushup

(14:26):
setups and they woke us up withtrash cans, they made us do five
mile runs, they trained us,they made us walk around and do
drill and ceremony.
And you know we were obviouslycomical because we didn't really
know what to do.
But that was great practice forme, man, that was great
practice for me.

(14:50):
And looking back it's kind offunny, george, because I think
this is a funny story, but whenI went to, this is kind of how I
was mentally when I went tobasic training.
Man, this is kind of howhardcore I was and I didn't even
know it.
I was just, you know, 18 yearold dumb kid from West Virginia,
but you know I joined old dumbkid from West Virginia, but you
know I, I joined the army, gotshipped away, like I graduated

(15:10):
in June, in July, I graduatedJune 1990.
So July 1990, I, I went tobasic training at Fort Benning,
georgia, and I remember you knowwe were there.
So they get all of these brandnew kids and you know we get on
these buses, we show up at FortBenning and we're like in the in
processing station.

(15:31):
So we're not at basic trainingyet with our real drill
sergeants.
We're at like a holdingfacility waiting for the drill
sergeants to come and get us.
But it's a pretty impactfulplace because even though basic
training hasn't started, it'skind of like, hey, we're in the
army Now we're eating on someoneelse's schedule, we're wearing

(15:53):
a camouflage uniform, we got newboots on, Like it's pretty
shocking, dude, it's prettyshocking.
Um, they do a good job withwith the shock factor.
Even before basic starts you'rescared.
But I remember, man, they woulddo lights out and I would hear
all these kids crying and forthe life of me I didn't know why

(16:15):
they were doing that.
I had the slightest idea whythey were crying.
And then after a couple of daysI finally asked someone.
I was like, hey, dude, why isit when the lights go out,
people start crying, like what'sgoing on?
And the guy looked at me like Iwas crazy.
He's like you, you really don'tknow.
And I was like no, I have noidea, because they're homesick,

(16:35):
man.
They, they miss home, they misstheir mom, they miss their dad.
That's just like I was on awhole different level, like I
couldn't even imagine why theywould be doing that.
Uh, I think I just kind ofshows where I came from and
upbringing that I had, cause itdidn't even really hit for me.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Wow.
Well, you know you, when you,when you're in there and you
start that journey I mean cause,at first you had kind of a
different trajectory that youwanted to go into, and there has
been a few road bumps along theway.
You know, there was the timewhere you wanted to get into
kind of air traffic control.
There was things you didn'thave, some scores, then you had
assist, and then there was abroken fibula as you were
training.
There's a lot of littlesetbacks and things that moved

(17:15):
around.
But when did you realize that,like, okay, I want to go after
becoming a Green Beret and thatI want to take these next steps?
What was that inside you?
Did you already have kind of afeeling of where you wanted to
ascend to in this?
Did you have an idea of, like,how you wanted to see your
military life blossom, or wasthis something along the way?

(17:37):
That kind of these steppingstones were laid out in front of
you?
Through these experiences?
I was kind of curious aboutthat trajectory there.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, I think I had the stepping stones that were
laid out because, you know, inthe back of my mind, you know I
grew up with a football coach,coach Thornburg.
That was a Sergeant, majorSpecial Forces guy, green Beret,
like a no kid, green Beret, in19 Special Forces Group, one of
our National Guard groups.
But in my young mind that wasjust something that really I

(18:08):
couldn't even wrap my brainaround because I came in 18
years old, I was an infantry guyand I was never exposed to
active duty Special Forces.
So it was still kind of like aforeign thing to me that Coach
Thornburg was this Green Beret,like I didn't have anything else
to judge it off of.
So the first, I would say myfirst major stepping stone was

(18:33):
when I was in Fort LewisWashington.
Uh, because I started out inFort Ord, california, in
Monterey, they deactivated, uh,the seventh entry division, they
moved us up to Fort LewisWashington and that was my first
exposure, george, to differentArmy units.
You know, I'd always I'd justbeen around infantry and support

(18:55):
.
You know, from Fort Ord, that'sall I'd seen.
I didn't see Rangers, I didn'tsee Green Berets, I didn't see
anybody, obviously didn't seeDelta, you know any of those
type of units.
But when I went to fort lewiswe were right beside second
ranger battalion, so I gotexposed to second ranger
battalion and those dudes are ona whole nother level, uh, than

(19:15):
we were as infantry guys.
I mean, even though theirinfantry light infantry, just
like we were, they were not likeus.
These guys were obviously a cutabove and they were all like
fanatical physical fitness studsand they were out there getting
after it every morning.
So that kind of like clicked inmy brain like oh, there's

(19:37):
different people out here, theseguys are doing different things
and they're on a whole notherlevel than the level that we're
on.
So that kind of like was thefirst baby stepping stone.
And then I was only there for ayear and then I went to fort
campbell, kentucky.
That was my next baby steppingstone because, uh, I lived on
post at that time and I wouldtake the back roads to get to to

(20:01):
my infantry unit and taking theback roads you're always
passing the ranges where peopleare training and shooting and
all that stuff.
So I started seeing these guyswearing soft caps and boonie
caps and they weren't wearinggear like body armor and helmets
and I was like, oh, who arethese guys?
Well, that was fifth specialforces group.

(20:22):
You know, the legion that gotthe horse soldiers, that that
would become the horse soldierslater on.
I started seeing these guys andthen in my mind I was like, man,
these guys are doing it right.
I mean, they're always outthere training.
They're training smart, they'reefficient.
You know, they're not doinglike silly, dumb stuff like I
thought we were at the time.

(20:42):
You know, the grass is alwaysgreener but uh, but that's when
it really kind of hit me.
And then I started thinkingabout coach Thornburg and I was
like, well, he was one of thoseguys.
He was my football coach, youknow, and uh, but in my mind I
was still insecure.
I was still a young man, I thinkby this point, um, and I'd had

(21:06):
a great career to this point too.
I mean, I was a 20 year oldsergeant.
I was, I was a sergeant in theUnited States army and I
couldn't even buy a beer yet.
So I was fast tracking man.
I was a sergeant, I earned myexpert infantry badge, I'd been
to air assault school, you know,I was really doing great things
.
But I was still insecure as ayoung man and I was like, well,

(21:28):
I don't know if I could do whatthose guys do Like.
In my mind those guys were onsuch a higher pedestal and a
level than I was.
You know they were cause I'venever been like the most
physically fit, most articulate,most social.
You know, I've I've never putmyself on that level.
But then a part of my brain waslike, well, maybe I could do it

(21:50):
.
I could if I worked really hard.
And I took advantage, george, ofa deployment in 1995.
It was actually July 1995 toJanuary of 1996.

(22:10):
We went to Sinai Egypt, as partof peacekeeping, a peacekeeping
force, and I was thrown into aleadership position.
I was a team leader and then mysquad leader had a very bad
mental breakdown and so bad thatthey had to pull him out of
there and send him home.
So I got elevated to squadleader.

(22:31):
But all I mean all you could doin Sinai Egypt was get in shape
and I ran and I did push ups andI did setups like a wild man
and that's when it startedclicking and it kept going like
you can do this.
You know, I was rocking, I wasrunning, I got in phenomenal
shape and unfortunately I had asetback Because in January I was

(22:55):
fast roping and I broke my leftfibula so I had planned on
going to selection as soon as Igot back.
Like man, I got in great shapeI'm going to go right now and
then I broke my flipping fibulafast roping so I had to recover
from that.
I had to go back and do all ofmy training to get back to my
level.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
And then I went that fall to Special forces
assessment selection at FortBragg, north Carolina, and and I
was fortunate, george, becausethat's a very, very demanding,
tough course I was fortunate topull it through and be one of
those happy guys at the end,because there's not a lot of
happy guys that that leave thatplace, you know well, you even

(23:38):
kind of talk about it too, and Ican't remember if it was in the
book or another podcast wherethere'd be times where, like it,
you'd be going through that andthen you'd wake up and there'd
be one less person, two lesspeople and kind of in the middle
of the night some of thosefolks would kind of step out.
But you ended up gettingselected to go on to Q course
and then you were in your gray,uh, green beret in 98, was it?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (23:58):
98, the fall of 98.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
So then after that you're going out, you've went to
Kosovo, bosnia, you'retraveling all around and you
know I I know that there's akind of a leapfrog we'll do here
just for sake of time.
But you know, in your book youkind of really focus in a lot on
2006 in Iraq.
Right, and you know I want youto lay the stage for what it is

(24:21):
you're going to be talking aboutin the book.
But I kind of want to have oneother step backwards to where
you know and I know a coupleyears ago you were on a podcast
and you know someone kind ofapproached you with the idea of
hey, have you ever thought aboutwriting a book?
And then that kind of keptechoing throughout the years and
people would say, hey, you know, you got quite an amazing story
.
I was curious, along these youknow lines when did you decide

(24:43):
that you wanted to write a bookand what was it about that year
that made you want to?
You know, kind of dive in.
I mean, I know you kind ofbring up your history, obviously
some of the things we justtalked about, but the main focal
point being a lot of your timethere in Iraq in 06.
What was it that made youdecide that that was something
you wanted to keen in for thisparticular book.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, that's a great question and, like you said, I
was doing these podcasts andit's funny, george, how this
actually started, because I'msure that there's going to be
people in the Green Beretcommunity that are going to
accuse me of like hey, daryl,did you forget you're a Green
Beret?
Do you think you're a Navy SEALand you think you're going to

(25:23):
do a book?
What's next?
You're going to do a movie,because there's room for us all.
Yeah, Green Berets typically areknown for being quite
professionals, not writing booksand telling stories.
So I know I'm going to get alittle grief about this in the
community, but that's okay.
But I do have a very humblestory to how this actually began

(25:43):
and I'm not lying.
This is legit how it startedwhen I was the chief of
operations at the National Medalof Honor Museum Foundation.
My boss is a retired navy sealformer astronaut, mit grad,
naval academy grad.
You know he's, he's had a greatcareer, he's done all kinds of
stuff.
If you stand beside him youyou're like you feel less of a

(26:05):
man because it's like dude,really, you know mit astronaut,
like really.
But uh, I swear, george, thisis the truth.
The only reason I got on combatStory with Ryan Fugit, which was
my first podcast.
I called Ryan to get my boss onthe podcast.
You know I was.
I was calling to get ChrisCassidy, like hey, you know you

(26:28):
should talk to Chris.
And then I knew Chris was goingto tell him Navy SEAL stories
and astronaut stories, but hewas also going to talk about the
Medal of Honor Museum thatwe're building in Texas.
So that was the whole reason,swear to goodness.
And then Ryan said, hey, man,yeah, I'd love to have him as a
guest, but I want to have you asa guest.
I've heard your name and hetalked about how he heard my

(26:51):
name and all that type of stuffand I was like no man, are you
serious?
But that's legitimately how itall started for me.
But Ryan was the first personto echo or whisper in my ear
like, hey, you should write abook.
And then I just kept hearing itover and over and over as I did
more and more podcasts.
And I was doing a lot of thosepodcasts to kind of help

(27:12):
broadcast the message of youknow, the fundraising that we
were doing at the Medal of HonorMuseum and all that stuff,
cause I knew people wanted tohear some cool special forces
stories and that I could get ina couple of minutes about the
Medal of Honor.
But at one point I was doing apodcast with a guy based out of
Dallas and he mentioned it to me.
He said, hey, dude, you got alot of cool stories.

(27:33):
We couldn't even get to themall.
You know you should write abook if you ever considered it.
And I was like, oh funny, youshould ask that yes, I've heard
it, but I don't even know whereto start man, and he had someone
that he connected me with.
Her name was Lauren Gowdy.
She ended up being my co-authorfor the book.

(27:59):
So I talked to her for thefirst time, george, and I knew
instantly this is the woman thatI'm going to work with to write
this book, because I was blownaway by how smart and articulate
, uh, she was.
Um, she you know specialoperations guys weren't like a
new thing for her.
She had worked with Navy SEAL,she'd worked with Green Berets,
she'd work with guys that hadseen a lot of combat, you know,
as infantry officers.
So she had my respectimmediately and I knew that she

(28:23):
was my author.
Now, as far as, like the timeperiod, like, ok, so you know,
from zero to 18, huntington,west Virginia, and then from 18
to, you know, 26 and a halfyears later for my career, like
what, what should I start with?
Because, yes, I do have a lotof cool stories and I've done a

(28:44):
lot of cool missions.
We were talking about it alittle bit before we went live,
you know to say it now it soundssuper cool.
You know, like, hey, I, Iprovided counter sniper security
for president clinton insarajevo during a big summit on
sniper alley like that used tobe on tv all the time.

(29:04):
It's like, oh my gosh, the, themuslims versus the serbs, and
they were killing each other onsniper alley.
I was a counter sniper onsniper alley when president
Clinton came through.
Pretty big deal, right yeah.
And then President Bush 43.
Kosovo right yeah, kosovo in2001.
So this is a few months before9-11 when our whole world

(29:27):
changed.
But that was another really coolmission for me to do because I
was the lead on that mission andI had all these special forces
teams.
I had lead on that mission andI had, you know, all these
special forces teams.
I had Navy SEAL teams and wewere the outer cordon for the
Secret Service and you knowthat's a pretty cool mission.
But you know we had to kind ofpick and choose.

(29:48):
Like I wanted to mention someof those missions that we did
and I wanted to mention a littlebit about 2003, for the initial
invasion in Iraq.
I wanted to mention 2004, 2005.
That was another big rotationfor us and you know the team
that I was on there was gosh.

(30:10):
I mean they were veryrecognized, you know, as far as
awards and combat awards andvalor and things like that.
So that was a great littlerotation.
But I think the pinnacle for mewas that 2006 rotation.
You know it's.
It's really, george, thepinnacle.
As a special forces teamsergeant.

(30:31):
You're leading the team likeyou're the boss and it took me
15 years to get to that point.
So that's the pinnacle.
But then you take a step backand it's like, well, there's
actually another rung that'shigher on the ladder than
leading a team and that'sleading a team in combat.
So that's what I was gettingready to do in 06.

(30:51):
And I thought this was superimportant to George, because the
way that the 2006 rotationstarted it didn't start so great
.
We started out with on really abad foot there.
It didn't look so hot and Ithink that really speaks to the
grit and the resilience andhaving that adversity to kind of

(31:13):
fight through and, to usesomething from yours and Scott
Mann's podcast, like, hey, man,nobody's coming to save you.
You got to put your big boypants on and you got to go out
there and get it.
And I thought that was such avaluable lesson, because Lauren
and I had all theseconversations like, hey, what do
you want?
What books are you basing thisoff of, or what are your

(31:36):
favorite books?
And we had those conversationsand then she was like hey, daryl
, let's talk about beingauthentic.
You know, because we often hearthe hero stories and it's like
man, you know you're here in thefinal product, like the dude is

(31:56):
at the top of the mountain orthe chick is man, you know
you're hearing the final product.
Like the dude is at the top ofthe mountain or the chick is
flying, you know an A-10 orwhatever it could be.
Like you're hearing the herostories and she's like you know
your 2006 rotation.
I think it's going to inspirepeople because, you know, not
just military people, but it.
This transcends occupations.

(32:17):
This is great in the civilianworld too, for business owners
and and all of those things.
Like, hey, man, it gets hard,sometimes you're going to get
punched in the face, that's just.
It's not an if, it's a matterof when you're going to get
punched in the face and you havea really, really impactful
story because you got punched inthe face really hard right from

(32:38):
the start and you had to putyour big boy pants on and you
had to fight through that andyou did.
And you're going to take thereader on that whole journey
from January to August 2006.
And where did you end up?
You know I don't want to spoilit, but you know it's like,
where did you and your team endup?
And that's very inspirational,it's very powerful.

(32:59):
I think that's what we shouldpackage up and and that's what
we went with.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
No, and I think it's you know to talk about that
moment too, where things didn'tstart off on the right foot, if
you wouldn't mind maybe kind ofgiving a little insight, because
there's a lot of things that Ithink are good determining
factors of how you are and howyou were leading at that point
in time and just acceptingresponsibility and stepping up
to the plate.
So I mean, if you can maybetalk about that and this is

(33:27):
previous to the February 22nd,right, because that was the day
Al Qaeda bombed that Shiitemosque and that started the I
mean, that was the whole civilwar beginning, but leading up to
that there was other you knowcrap that you had to deal with,
and if you can explain thatstory, we'll kind of dive into
some others after that.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
Um, you know it's unfortunate,but my communications guy at the
time, uh, we had a verysensitive piece of equipment.
It's called an ANCYZ 10, crazy10, little black magic box.
People have different names forit tin, crazy, tin, little
black magic box, people havedifferent names for it.
But it basically allows themilitary to talk secure and if
you think of like signal andyour own signal and your texts

(34:04):
and your friends and stuff likethat, you have encrypted
communications that you don'thave to worry about anyone else
reading that.
And that's basically what thislittle black magic box did for
us.
It allowed us, the military, tohave secure communications.
Well, my guy lost that piece ofequipment and typically and
historically in the military,when a device such as that is

(34:25):
lost, someone's going to getfired, and that someone in this
case was probably going to be meand I was dealing with a bunch
of other stuff at the time, as I, as I indicate in the book, but
for this particular device, man, it was such bad news that it
was the worst timing.
It was the start of ourrotation and we just weren't off

(34:49):
to a good start.
So I had to, I had to call thisup and report it, and I knew it
was gonna.
It wasn't going to go over,well you know.
But I knew that bad newsdoesn't get better with time.
We all know that.
So I had to suck it up and I hadto make that call and, man, I
felt so defeated because, like Isaid, you know, talking about
the pinnacle, it took me 15years, george, to get to that

(35:11):
point where I'm leading my ownspecial forces team and I'm
leading a special forces team incombat, like, uh, I know maybe
a lot of civilians can't wraptheir brain around it, but it's
the flipping Superbowl, likethat's how we looked at those
combat deployments.
And I've heard people say like,oh, my God, bless your heart,
you're going back over to Iraq.

(35:31):
And it's like, no, no, like wewant to go over there If you're
going to feel sorry for anybody,feel sorry for our enemies,
cause it's what you're trainingfor this whole time.
Yeah, yeah, the whole, the wholething.
Like you know, it's theSuperbowl dude, it's, it's
literally the Superbowl, so, uh,so yeah, man, and, and we all

(35:52):
want to play in the Superbowl,we all want to have our own role
.
And here I was and I thoughtthat was going to get taken away
from me.
And then I really had to kindof struggle with that as a
leader, because it's easy tokind of say like, oh, I would do
this or I would do that, butwhen it's your butt on the line

(36:12):
and you're the one that's that'sgoing to get fired or you think
you're going to get fired,that's really hard to kind of
work through.
And it really kind of made meself-reflect as a leader.
Like, hey, I know that goodleaders, they stand in front of
their team when something goeswrong and they take
responsibility and they shieldand protect their team and say,

(36:32):
hey, this is on me, I own this,this is my fault.
And protect their team and say,hey, this is on me, I own this,
this is my fault.
And I also know that goodleaders are in the back of their
team when great things happenand their team are getting
attaboys and accolades and patson the back.
You know a good leader will bein the back and push his team
out so they can get all of that.
Like I knew that, man, that'sleadership 101.

(36:54):
And that's the way I was I grewup, and my mentors coach
Thornburg, sergeant Major Scott,brazil, that's they had taught
me that.
So once I had a little bit oftime to to think about it and
and I kind of used one of theprinciples of the grit code,
which I'm sure we'll get to atsome point.
But one of the principles ofthe grit code is control what

(37:14):
you can control.
Things that are outside yourcontrol.
You got to let that stuff go.
You only focus on the thingsthat you can control.
Control what you can control.
And I had to take a deep breathand remind myself I can't
control if I'm going to getfired or not, like they're going
to make that decision, like Ineed to focus on being a leader,
leading my team, doingeverything that I'm doing, and

(37:37):
then, when it's time to dealwith that, we'll deal with that.
And luckily I was able toregroup and when my boss came
down and we all knew the reasonhe was coming to visit us, it
was going to either be to fireme or to keep me, and I I
accepted that and I owned it.
I owned it and the first thingI said to him, when I looked him

(37:59):
in his eyes, I said, sir, Itake responsibility for the
missing piece of equipment.
It's on me.
I can assure you that this willnever happen again and I can
assure you, if you give me asecond chance, you'll never
regret it.
I am so thankful that he didgive me that second chance and I
think, george, the reason hegave me that second chance is

(38:19):
because I did own it.
I didn't try to throw someoneelse under the bus, and this all
ties into Georgia.
It's kind of interestingno-transcript and things just

(39:00):
started working out from thatpoint.
But I think it's a great lessonin humility and leadership,
team dynamics, all of thosethings to shift blame and all
that, or whine and cry and makeexcuses and have that victim
mentality.
I think every guy on my teamwould have been looking at me

(39:21):
like, what's this guy gonna do?
Like, when things get reallybad, like yeah, yes, this was
bad, this was a lost piece ofequipment, this is terrible, but
what if people are dying orgetting shot?
Like, like, what's this guygoing to do.
So I think that was.
It was such a great lesson andit really helped propel uh
things moving forward for for meand the team.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Well, I think it's.
It's huge that you talk aboutthat idea of leadership and when
you step up to the plate, youaccept all responsibility.
You didn't mention the othername of anybody else who had had
, you know, misplaced this orwhether it got stolen, whatever
at that point in time.
You know, you didn't know, andso you went up there and those
people behind you you've gottheir back and they're going to
have yours and they're going torealize, by you being that
example of that kind of leader,you're going to have the full

(40:06):
faith and you know and you needthat, you need that kind of
thing going behind you, right,and like you said too, that the
leader from the front forwardand from the back you need that
on both sides of things and thepeople in the middle are always
going to be there in full force,behind you and not questioning
your decision, because they knowyou're making good decisions
and that ultimately, you'regoing to fall on that sword.

(40:27):
If there is one right, and theyhave a huge amount of respect,
and I think that that kind ofthing is contagious, right, and
you talk about in the book, too,that there's other types of
contagion, right, whether it'spanic or whether it's being calm
.
And there was a moment whereyou're talking about and you
were talking about the Alive Dayin the book, where there's

(40:49):
bullets whizzing past you, right, and you kind of liken it to a
time when you were younger andmowing a lawn, right, and you
can kind of thread those needlesif you like, but it to a time
when you were younger and mowinga lawn, right, and you can kind
of thread those needles if youlike.
But you talked about too, whereyou were about to take a step
and there's enemy fire right infront of you and you you realize
right then, and there too, thatif you're going to be calm,
other people around you and ifit just looks like a wildfire of

(41:10):
emotions, that's what yourteam's going to be there behind
you too.
So I'd love for you to kind ofthread that needle as well and
maybe talk about that day andthat experience, and then we'll
kind of jump into the grit codeafter that.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Yeah, and I think you know that goes into a couple
other principles of the of thegrit code.
You know we just talked aboutcontrol.
What you can control with thatmissing piece of equipment, will
that really help me?
And then two more principles ofthe grit code come into play
with what you just said, andthat's calm breeds calm.
And then that's also the otherprinciple of the grit code is

(41:41):
courage is contagious.
So, and that's something that Idefinitely saw in all of my
combat experiences, and it's soeasy when you could hear people
talking on the radio and they'reso jacked up and they're so
fired up and excited and they'rejust out of control, versus
you're talking to somebodythat's very calm, cool,

(42:02):
collected, like they're callingin a meat lovers pizza with a
bag of chips and some Cokes, andthat's really how some people
sound on the radio and that justit breeds calmness because it's
like my leader's calm, he's notfreaked out.
This is something that we cancontrol, you know.
So those are all very importantprinciples and I'm glad that

(42:23):
you brought those up.
But yeah, 17 April wasdefinitely a huge day for us,
the Alive Day, and it reallystarted out as just an
administrative day for us.
You know, we were going to dropoff one of our interpreters.
He was going to go back andspend some time with his family.
We were going to get someturret upgrades, we're going to

(42:43):
pick up some supplies.
Like it was a veryadministrative day, almost like
an easy day, like, hey, we'regoing to do a convoy, even
though the streets, you know,baghdad was, you know, really
dangerous and all of thosethings.
But mentally for us, like whatwe knew that we had to do, that
day was very administrative innature.
And you know, we were going todrive to the green zone and then

(43:06):
we were going to leave thegreen zone, go on route Irish
and go to the BaghdadInternational Airport.
Like bam boom, done.
You know it's going to be aneasy day.
And then it it switched on adime is when we got the call
like hey, our brothers from the101st, they need assistance.
They, you know, they were in abad spot at that time.

(43:27):
I think it was five hours intothe firefight.
So so, yeah, we responded tothat and we ended up linking up
with the Iraqi army, we linkedup with the 101st and I really
felt like we changed themomentum of that battle Because
you know they were basically,you know, the Iraqi army, the
friendly Iraqi army and the101st were stationary at the

(43:51):
time that we arrived there andthey were kind of in the
defensive.
And you know, we showed up intwo gun trucks.
We were unilateral, meaning wedidn't have any Iraqi soldiers
with us, we didn't have to worryabout Iraqi soldiers, we didn't
have to worry about the Iraqiarmy, the Iraqi police, we
didn't have to really worryabout the 101st like linking up

(44:12):
with you know, all theseelements.
Before we did what we had to do,like we were unilateral, like I
could make that decision, we'regoing to do this and that's
what I was able to do was was to, uh, to basically decide like,
hey, I had a quick, uh glimpseof of how things were going and
I was like man, like this iswhat I need to do.

(44:35):
And we prided we, we pridedourself on surprise, violence,
speed of action and overwhelmingfirepower, like that's what you
know, that's what we've, we've,that's what, that's how we
dealt with with things in andaround, uh, adamia and Baghdad.
So, uh, surprise, uh, surprise,speed, violence of action,

(44:56):
overwhelming firepower, uh, andI was able to make a quick
decision and say, hey, I thinkwe can do this and it worked.
We were able to catch the enemyoff guard and we made them pay
for it, we punished them andthen that kind of broke, that
stalled out effort that we hadand it kind of motivated that

(45:16):
courage was contagious.
Calm does breed calm and wewere able to link up with the
101st and the Iraqi army and wewere able to fight through the
city.
You know, we fought through thecity for two hours.
At one point our engine blockwas shot out.
And you know, right in themiddle of the biggest firefight

(45:37):
of our lives, uh, daylight, andwe're in an urban 360 degree
environment, uh, which basicallymeans you're getting fire from
areas you really don't know Imean windows, rooftops, alleys,
streets, cars, like it's.
It's a 360 degree environmentat very, very close range.
And we got our engine blockshot out, lost power, and you

(46:04):
know that was one of those timeswhere we had to deal with it.
We had to, we had to rely onour training, george, that we
had done and we were able torelentlessly execute, which is
another principle of the gritcode.
And the way that we were able todo that is because we had
trained for that, we hadprepared for that.

(46:24):
So the thing that you know, forme, what I saw was if you
prepare and you're consistentand you have that relentless
execution, you're going to haveresults, like it's going to be
positive results.
So in that very time, like thatcritical moment, daylight,

(46:47):
firefight in the middle of thisurban environment, our engine
block is done.
We lost power.
You know, it was like a battledrill, it was like a second
nature for our guys to hook upthe tow straps to our vehicle
and get us out of there.
They relentlessly executedbecause the thing is, uh, I
noticed that there was no triple, a roadside assistance, uh,

(47:08):
that we could reach out to tosave us that day.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Uh, it was all, nobody's coming to save you.
Huh, Nobody was coming to saveus.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
No, triple a, but uh, but we were able to get out of
there and we switched outvehicles and we returned to the
fight.
But uh, yeah, just anextraordinary day.
Uh, it's a day that I'm youknow, that I'm really proud of,
and uh, it's where everythingcame together for us, and, and
uh, definitely a proud day.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Well, you know you mentioned how some of those
cover some of those areas of thegrit code, and you know you
have eight different codes thatyou talk about, and so I'll just
list them real quick.
You got to control what you can.
Eradicate arrogance, possess anextreme work ethic, adopt a
no-surrender mindset, embraceinnovation.
Calm breeds calm.
Relentlessly executeencouraging is contagious.

(47:54):
Is there any story that youhave that you'd like to maybe
share out of some of those thatmaybe you haven't shared before?
Sure.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, we talked about a fewof the principles, and when I
say the grit code and we talkabout these principles, you know
, in its simplest form, the gritcode is like a blueprint for
navigating through thechallenges of life.
It's for navigating throughwhen things just come crashing
down at your feet.
The grit code is that blueprintthat's going to help you when

(48:25):
life punches you in the face notif, but when and it's just
something that you can fall backon to help you get that brain
turned back on, switch back on,and can help you propel you to
move forward.
There's definitely some goodstories with each one of the
principles, the eight principlesthat you read.

(48:45):
I think this is a reallyinteresting one and I think you
might enjoy this one, george.
But talking about eradicatearrogance as one of the
principles of the grit code, Ithink that's super important.
You know, for myself, as aleader, I didn't want arrogant
people on my team and this isn'tthe arrogance isn't to be

(49:06):
confused with confident like man.
I think we all agree that we,you know, we want to be around
confident people.
But I definitely think there'sa fine line between arrogant and
confident people.
You know, I don't want thearrogant type, but I think this
is kind of a cool story becauseit lets you in and this was

(49:27):
something that I really I was, Iwas really trying to accomplish
with my book and maybe you cananswer this question when I get
done with this story butsomething that Lauren and I,
when we were talking about aboutthe book, and she said well,
daryl, can you tell me, can youtell me a couple of books that
you really liked, that reallyresonated with you or very

(49:48):
powerful for you?
And I said, sure, red Platoonby Clint Romashay is probably
one of my favorite militarybooks.
I love it.
And then she said okay, why?
And I said well, when I openedRed Platoon and I've read that
book probably 20 times plus,like no lie, I read it 20 plus
times I said when I open RedPlatoon, it takes me on a roller

(50:12):
coaster.
I feel like I'm there inAfghanistan because I never
served in Afghanistan.
But when I read Red Platoon, Ifeel like I'm there and I'm on a
roller coaster, I'm in thevehicle with these guys and I'm
fighting right alongside theseguys because it's so descriptive
and it has that dark militaryhumor.
And another book is Black HawkDown.
I mean, that's such a powerful,powerful book for me to read

(50:35):
still to this day and I thinkthere's tons of lessons learned
in that book.
So I really wanted my book tobe that way.
So hopefully we can talk aboutthat in a second, george, and
you can, you can help me.
You know, like, hey, you readthis book, you know let's talk
about it a little bit so peoplecan hear what your thoughts were
and hopefully, what they canget out of the book or expect to

(50:57):
get out of the book when theyread it.
But I think this is a good one.
To go back to eradicatearrogance.
You know, confident peoplegreat, arrogant not so much.
Confident people great,arrogant, not so much.
I think it's kind of cool toshare with people what it's like
for a brand new dude, a brandnew Green Beret, fresh out of

(51:17):
the qualification course, whatthat's like for him when he
shows up to his first SpecialForces team.
And keep in mind, this is ayoung, healthy, fit, just a
beast of a guy, probably a youngguy that's just full of himself
when he shows up with his GreenBeret.
He's a new Green Beret, so heprobably thinks he's on top of

(51:39):
the world to know the dynamicthat, what happens when he shows
up to his first Special Forcesteam, because he's joining a
Special Forces team of otherGreen Berets that are more
mature, more experienced, havebeen to combat.

(51:59):
So it's a whole differentballgame, you know, from being
just a brand new Special Forcesguy.
And this is typically whathappened with the brand new
special forces guys that showedup on my team.
Uh, when they got there and alot of them were probably
expecting, you know, hey, we'regonna do uh close quarter battle

(52:20):
, you know cqb or we're gonna beshooting on the range.
You know like, yeah, there istime for all that stuff.
But the things that they wereinitially doing right off the
get go was taking out the trashand cleaning the bathroom and
cleaning the showers andsweeping and mopping the
hallways and making sure theteam room was clean, and that's

(52:41):
those early things that theseyoung green berets were doing.
And then, probably after acouple of days, george, I would
be able to detect a little likedemotivation or a little
disappointment in these guys andI would pull them off to the
side and say, hey, hey, what'sgoing on?
It's like, oh, sergeant, youknow I was expecting to be on

(53:01):
the Special Forces team andwe're going to do all these
great missions and we were goingto be training and rocking and
shooting and all that.
And it just seems like, you know, I'm doing these like little,
small, trivial things thatreally aren't that important and
at that point that would be alearning point for me as a
leader to this.
To this young green beret it'slike hey, all of these things

(53:24):
that you're doing are veryimportant and if you weren't
here to do them, one of us wouldbe doing them.
So you know, we don't have amaid service, we don't have a
janitorial team that justfollows us around and cleans the
bathroom and sweeps the floor,like those are things that we
have to do and check this out.
Young guy, young guy, thesethings are very important

(53:49):
because if I can give you thesetasks and trust you to do these
tasks to the best of yourability, then that's super
important.
Because if you don't and Ican't trust you and you don't
get it done, how am I supposedto trust you when it really
matters?
And when bullets are flying andguys are getting shot, maybe
guys are dying, how am I goingto count on you and trust you if
I can't count on you and trustyou, if I can't count on you and
trust you to do these smallthings, and that's usually when

(54:11):
the light bulb goes off and it'slike, oh okay, I see what
you're saying now and and thatkind of goes into the book.
I think it's a one of thefunnier stories when you're
talking about the red hat andthe business suit.
If you remember that story,george, getting on the plane and
all that, that was one of myyoungest, youngest guys.

(54:32):
That was his kind of initiationto the team.
But to me that I think kind oflike really describes eradicate
arrogance and kind of how you doit as a leader and ensure.
It's going to be different,different organizations,
different businesses.
It's going to be differentorganizations, different
businesses.
It's going to be a little bitdifferent, but I do think it's
important.

(54:52):
But, george, I would like tokind of switch this back to you.
If you could give maybe thelisteners a little bit of taste,
you know, or maybe answer thisquestion.
Lauren and I really wanted totry to get you in the driver's
seat or try to get you with aspecial forces team in Baghdad
in 2006.

(55:13):
You're right there with us.
Do you think that weaccomplished that, as as writers
to, to get you in the action.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
I feel like you did in an extraordinarily amazing
way.
I mean, you know, being acivilian, I have family who has
has been active duty andmultiple you know facets and
multiple generations, and so Ihave these pieces that you can
pick up on and you can kind oftry to put yourself there.
But I felt like there was timeswithin your book that I'm in in

(55:43):
the passenger seat while youare going through the streets,
while you're taking fire, um,and I think the humility as well
as the heroics of things andalso just kind of connecting
with different cultures.
There's a time where you talkedabout, you know you're going to
a morgue to go and pick out thebody, to bring it back to a
family member of the forces ofyour way.

(56:03):
That wouldn't it, wouldn't youknow one of your own soldiers
there, but the care anddedication that you went in and
later on, these guys are thesame folks that you went and
helped out.
They're there supporting youwhen you guys had another
mission and you know there'slike this, this nod you talk
about too, where you you kind ofboth saw each other and it's
like he sees you.
There's a brother ship thatexpands past cultures and that,

(56:26):
that those moments, um, in themidst of all the chaos of war
and the stories of what you sawin the morgue or you know, when
two soldiers were taken and theywere missing and what
ultimately happened to them, um,it painted this picture where
there's times like I kind of hadto put the book down because I
was like that's intense and likeI'm trying to imagine what it's

(56:50):
like to be going through that,and I think you kind of you
bring people up to that edge ofunderstanding, um, and for those
who haven't been in battle,it's hard for us to really kind
of maybe take that next stepthrough that doorway to
understand what it's like.
But I think the way that like,but I think the way that you
described it, I think the waythat you, you know and you talk
about this too, like how inother podcasts I've listened to,

(57:12):
where you would write somethingand then Lauren would say I
need more of that, I need you todescribe that, I need you to
describe the emotions and I felt, like you did great
justification of those layers,of bringing that in to where I
felt what you were going through.
I could see through your eyeswhat you were seeing and the

(57:33):
absolute devastation of war, butalso the beauty and the
camaraderie of brothership andsisterhood that comes with war
and those connections and thatalways leads me to always
thinking about to what it mustbe like for you and others
who've gone through this to dealwith the transition out and to

(57:57):
try to then find your tribe andyour brotherhood and your
sisterhood and the thing thathaving that team that you've
built, the leadership that youhad, the times where you fell on
that sword, like those momentsI've felt really told me a lot
about the character of who youare and why it's important that

(58:17):
I'm reading this and how I canapply it to my own life and take
those lessons of the thatyou've learned in the grit code
and like how I could use thoseand maybe not in a, you know, in
a in a situation where it's door die, but it's in a situation
of leadership and resilience.
And that brotherhood and thosethings that you forged through

(58:37):
your combat experience helped menot only to appreciate what you
went through individually andwhat other people have the
service of veterans but howthose things I can take to my
own life and how I can applythose and realize these levels
of special forces and themindset that it takes for all

(58:59):
that and how I can then maybetake that in an application of
my own life.
So I felt like I was there.
There's moments where I wasshaking while reading certain of
these stories and going, man,how the hell did you get through
that day?
And then hearing you guys jokeabout just dark humor things and
I'm like that's how you gotthrough, okay, because you even

(59:19):
talk about that too.
You're calling your son on his11th birthday and you're in the
middle of the war and how youhave to then compartmentalize
yourself.
And I think it also gives me apicture of those and how much
you and others have sacrificedto not be there on those moments
, to miss those birthdays, thoseanniversaries, the birth, I
mean you know you even talkabout where you were in Egypt

(59:41):
too, right after you had a kid,and like these quintessential
moments and like what yousacrificed, it gave me an
insight into the type of warriorthat you are and others that
have served and why it'simportant that you and other
Navy SEALs and other specialforces people write down these

(01:00:01):
stories for us to take with it,to understand what you went
through and to apply thosethings in our lives, and so it.
I mean I'm kind of shaken now,man.
It's, it's, it's powerful stuffand I'm just so glad that you
had that drive and that focusand that dedication to write
this down and to share it witheveryone and to.

(01:00:22):
I just can't wait for it to hitthe stands, man and people to
read it.
Everyone, go down to the shownotes below and order your copy
now, because it's alife-changing thing when you
read something like this andit's affected me in that way,
man, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
I deeply appreciate that.
And just to give a really kindof shameless plug here, but you
can pre-order it now from theballast, which ballast books is
my publisher.
You can, you can pre-order itnow and you will get it
delivered before anybody elsegets it.
Uh, but it will go publicDecember 3rd, so you can get it

(01:00:59):
everywhere on December 3rd.
But there's still time to go tothe ballast website, which I'm
sure will be in the show notes,and you can get it.
But, george, I wanted to justkind of hit on something that
you said about you know writingit and and all of those type of
things.
And and I really appreciate allthe great feedback because I
I've been dying to get feedbackfrom other people like, uh, you

(01:01:21):
know, I've heard some reallygood comments like, hey, I'm not
really an avid reader and I'mon page 117 already and I'm at
work now and I can't wait to getback home so I can keep.
I want to find out what's goingon after page 117, or you know,
I'm on this page and really,man, I've just gotten some good
feedback because I've had thisbook for so long.

(01:01:42):
Me and Lauren have been goingback and forth.
Me, lauren, my wife and wedidn't want to be like a
self-licking ice cream cone.
We really wanted to get somefeedback from other people.
Like, hey, is this a good book?
Is there a business applicationwith this book that's outside
the military?
Like, hopefully it'll inspiresome younger people and maybe

(01:02:02):
they'll want to be a green beretor join the military or you
know whatever.
But I really wanted it to havean application outside the
military as well.
Like, hey, I'm a I'm a businessowner man, I just opened up my
own plumbing shop and this ishard, dude, this is hard.
Like life is punching me in theface, I don't have enough money

(01:02:24):
to cover the bills and and I'mgoing to get some of these,
these lessons, these principlesfrom the grit code and it's
going to help me work throughsome of these things because,
you know, a lot of things arejust hard.
You got to keep plugging away,don't quit.
Adopt that no surrender mindset.
Uh, but I wanted to touch onsomething about the book.
I really found, george, thatthis was therapeutic to me.

(01:02:47):
And you know you, you mentionedthe morgue and that was a day
that you know one of our localIraqis got murdered and and they
had him at the morgue.
It was a Sunni morgue, it wasran by Sunnis and and our guy
was a Shia and they didn't wantto release the body.
So we had to go to the morgueand we got our guy out.
Well, we didn't have to, but wedecided to do it, uh.

(01:03:09):
But you know, I went there, uh,and I saw the, the morgue and
all of the, the bodies there andthe worst of humanity, and, uh,
I buried it, man, I walked outof there and I buried it.
I buried it so deep into my bodyand I didn't talk about it.

(01:03:30):
I didn't talk about it toanybody until recently.
But the first time that youknow, I was talking to Lauren
about it and she was veryprofessional and delicate with
you know.
It was like, hey, lauren, youknow we had to go to more.
We got this body and she's like, ok, I understand the story,
daryl, but I really need to knowwhat you saw, what you felt,

(01:03:51):
what you smelled, what you heard, all of those things.
So we worked through that andshe was very delicate and
professional, but at the end,george, it was very therapeutic
for me because that is somethingI just didn't address it.
I didn't deal with it, I justburied it.
That was how I got through it.

(01:04:12):
I just I didn't deal with it, Ijust buried it and
compartmentalized it.
So at least now it's out there.
I talked about it.
Uh, I feel better about it now.
Um, you know, I did everythingthat I could.
My team did everything that wecould do to try to provide some
security and safety to Iraq andI feel a lot better.

(01:04:37):
So I would encourage folks outthere especially.
You know we have a lot ofveterans, george.
As you know, we have a lot ofveterans that are hurting right
now from Iraq and really fromAfghanistan, probably even more
so because of the way you knowthat Afghanistan, the withdrawal
and all that and others thatare telling their story and

(01:04:59):
talking about what they've, whatthey've done and just sharing
that with people.
Because I think that if morepeople do that, they can turn a
negative into a positive.
You know they can meet thatdifficulty.

(01:05:21):
You know, with some resilienceand and and and get through it.
Because the way that I look atmy book, like there's so many I
in my opinion, there's so manygreat lessons that folks can
pull from that, like, hey, man,uh, I remember reading books
from from the Vietnam generationand about the Vietnam war and

(01:05:42):
you know that inspired me.
Well, I'm hoping that someoneelse, the next generation,
they'll read my book and maybethey'll get inspired, maybe
they'll learn some lessons fromfrom.
You know my failures and I thinkthat's sometimes the best way
we learn as as humans is issometimes through failure.
Uh, so hopefully someone canread, read through my story and

(01:06:04):
be like, oh man, I I'm going togo go this way or I'm going to
avoid this, or hey, he wastalking about April 17th as a
live day and he said you're notgoing to be help, you're not
going to help anyone if youdon't arrive alive, like.
So maybe we shouldn't go 80miles an hour to try to go help
a few, a few people in afirefight and we flip our

(01:06:24):
vehicle and kill five people,like we're not helping anybody
if we do that.
So let's be let's, let's becalculated about this and let's
be smart.
And I think that would be agreat lesson for first
responders, law enforcement.
You know pretty much there's alot of lessons like that that I
think that that are in the bookthat will really resonate with

(01:06:45):
people and hopefully it'll helpthem.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
Well, I agree, and like you talk about it too, and
you're like saying that successis never a solitary path right,
you mentioned that and likethat's something that when
you're telling these stories andpeople come in and they're
listening to it and they telltheir own stories, there is, you
know that, camaraderie too.
I believe that that can helpsome of those people who are
struggling with those things andrealizing that they're not

(01:07:08):
alone and realizing what is atstake with our freedoms and why
people are fighting for it.
There's so much that I thinkyou can unpack when you hear an
individual's story, andespecially when you've gone so
in-depth and there was thingsthat, like you said you buried
but then you uncover those totalk about, and you were very

(01:07:28):
raw, uh, and very vulnerablewith some of these things, and I
think that authenticity of whatyou went through and it it
takes your lessons and and addsanother layer of value to it, to
me, like that.
I'm like, oh, okay, like I,this guy's been there, he's seen
that, and these are things thatI'm going to go ahead and click
on and really understand andtry to apply, and they can

(01:07:50):
definitely be taken to civilianlife as well.
And you know, just a phenomenalbook, man.
I can't wait for everyone toget it in their hands.
You know there is something atthe very end too.
You talked about.
You know some, some of theproceeds from this book.
You're going to help some otherorganizations and I'd love for
you to just maybe you know,before we, you know, step aside
and, you know, move forward withour days.
If you can talk about whatfoundations, what groups that

(01:08:13):
you wanted to help support, andmaybe why those were some that
you chose to help.
You know to help out with someof these proceeds.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Yeah for sure.
That's a great question.
I'm glad you brought it upbecause I don't think I've
talked about this really.
And actually someone yesterdaysent me a text and encouraged me
like, hey, man, you might wantto.
You know, they've beenfollowing my LinkedIn and my
social media and they said, hey,you haven't mentioned at all
that some of the proceeds aregoing to be going to these great

(01:08:41):
causes.
That might be a way for peopleto really get behind you even

(01:09:03):
more than they already areanyway, if you talk about this.
So I'm super appreciative,george, that you brought that up
.
But I picked three nonprofitsthat meant a lot to me, and the
first one is the Green BeretFoundation and they're one of
the Woody Williams Foundation.
And the third one is we FightMonsters and that's Ben Owen's
group.
And those were the three thatreally resonated with me and I
thought they were.
They're just doing a great job.
They're doing awesome thingsfor the community and just doing
a lot of really important work.
And if there was a way for meto be able to give back I still

(01:09:25):
need to figure out how it's allgoing to work out financially
and all that stuff but ifthere's a way that I can give
back, then I really want to giveto an organization that that
speaks to my heart and and Iknow they're going to do some
good things with it.
And you know, the Green BeretFoundation is obviously

(01:09:49):
important for me because I'm aGreen Beret and they're doing a
lot of things, a lot of greatthings for Green Berets and
family members of Green Berets.
So you know, it's not like youknow we have guys that serve and
then they retire and that'spretty much it, like there's
still a lot of care.
You know that we need to do forour active duty Green Berets
and our retire duty green beretsand our, our retiree green
berets, our veterans.

(01:10:10):
I heard a story the other day uh, there was a guy, a former
green beret, up in uh, colorado.
He's basically an RV with hiswife and four kids.
He's got this very, um, justvery uh debilitating disease
that he's not very mobile and heneeds some help, like he needs
to be in a wheelchair accessiblehouse.

(01:10:34):
So there's a lot of issues likethat that we could help guys in
the Green Beret Foundation andothers.
They do a great, they do greatwork with that.
The Woody Williams Foundationkind of touches with, uh, my
work that I used to do at thenational medal of honor museum
foundation.
Uh, woody williams uh was aflamethrower, uh, from world war

(01:10:56):
ii, iwo jima he passed away acouple years ago, but he's a.
He's a west virginia boy, uh,just like I am.
He's got a foundation and theydo a lot of things for Gold Star
families.
They do Gold Star memorials.
So me, you know, just beingthat West Virginia connection,
and the VA hospital inHuntington, west Virginia, which

(01:11:19):
is my hometown, is named afterWoody Williams, so that felt
like a no brainer to me was totry to try to get back to that
organization.
And then the last one we fightmonsters.
That's Ben Owens group, and ifyou're not following Ben Owens
on social media, you shouldprobably think about doing that.

(01:11:40):
He's an easy guy to find.
He's an easy guy to connectwith.
He's a great human being.
He's got a great story.
George, hopefully you can gethim on your show soon.
He'll definitely be one of myrecommendations, because this
man has been through the ringerand he openly talks about it.
He openly talks about hisvulnerabilities and his

(01:12:02):
addictions and his demons andhis fights.
So he's someone that I had achance to meet.
It was actually through ScottMann.
The first time I met Scott MannI traveled all the way from
Texas to Chicago to see Last Out, his play that he did, and at
that play I was able to meet BenOwen and we've been friends

(01:12:23):
ever since and Ben Owen reallydid a nice testimonial.
Actually Ben Owen, scott Mann,did testimonials for my book,
grit to Glory.
So I'm hoping that we can kindof form an alliance going
forward.
But we fight monsters.
They're doing a lot of greatwork in the streets of Memphis
and these just like heavily youknow, drug violence, you name it

(01:12:48):
they're dealing with it therein Memphis and Ben is on the
ground going to these drughouses and turning them into
regular houses and helpingpeople that are battling demons
and addiction and getting themoff that stuff and trying to get
them in a healthy place.
And I just I was like man, howcould I not try to support?

(01:13:09):
You know we fight monsters.
So I'm so glad that you askedthat question, george, and and
hopefully we can get someproceeds going their way to help
them in their causes.

Speaker 1 (01:13:18):
Well, all three great organizations, and I love that
you're you're giving back againwith another layer of what
you're doing and I just want tosay thank you again so much for
joining me today For folks whowant to go ahead and follow your
journey and maybe you know somedates you're going to be having
some book tours or what'scoming next.
You know maybe the part two ofthis what is the best place for

(01:13:39):
people to follow you, whatchannels and what are your
socials there?

Speaker 2 (01:13:42):
Yeah, you can.
You can hit me up on Instagram.
I'm still trying to onInstagram goes over to my
Facebook.
Uh, on on LinkedIn is myprimary bread and butter social

(01:14:12):
media.
That's what I typically hit.
I'm very responsive, or I tryto be very responsive.
Things have been busy lately,uh, but I'm at Daryl uh dash, uh
, uh, very easy to find onLinkedIn, and I'm always happy
to connect with other people andexpand my network and hopefully
we can get some good thingsgoing.

(01:14:32):
I'm doing a lot of posts aboutevents, book events.
I have one tonight in SanAntonio, I have another one that
it's going to be on the 25thand I don't know when this is
going to air George.
But I have another one in theDallas-Fort Worth area on
November 25th in the afternoonat Marty B's, one of my favorite
restaurants.

(01:14:53):
And then I'm going to have someevents the first week of
December in Huntington, westVirginia, in my hometown.
So I'm really looking forwardto that.
But yeah, super easy guy tofollow and you know, once I can
get through the book and allthat, you know, I typically have
an outline.
I do, you know, I do normalposts and all those things

(01:15:13):
trying to inspire and trying tooffer leadership, guidance and
advice.
So and I'm also, george, tryingto hit the speaking circuit I
guess I'm going to try to followin Scott Mann's footsteps, you
know, with hopefully book, youknow, launching the book, and
I've done a lot of publicspeaking.
I have some more public speakingevents coming up.
I'm doing a keynote on December7th in Pinehurst, north

(01:15:36):
Carolina, trying to raise somemoney for some special operators
, but I'm hoping to go down thatroad.
So if any of the listeners arelooking for someone to give a
good keynote or to do a firesidechat or just to come out and
talk to some folks for a couplehours, I'm available, ready to
go.
Reach out to me.

(01:15:56):
Actually, I have my emailaddress, or one of my email
addresses, at the back of thebook.
It's my rowdy 7 and Outlook, sofeel free to reach out to me.
If you get the book and you getthe email, I'd love to hear
from you.
And as far as part two for thebook, nothing is in the works
yet, but if I get some goodfeedback from folks and they're

(01:16:19):
like man, grit to Glory wasawesome, if you can do another
book about your 2007 rotation,I'm already ready to buy it.
Then if we get that kind offeedback, then man we'll
probably start working on thatone too.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Well, I'll be your first pre-order man.
I'm ready to go.
So it uh.
I really appreciate everythingthat you've done, your services
country, uh, your service to thereaders by by sharing your
story and your book in such anauthentic way.
Uh, you know, daryl, I I just Iappreciate you coming here
today to chat with me.
I cannot wait for this uh, tobe out there and hear all the

(01:16:52):
feedback from from your book,and I encourage everyone to
check out the show notes, placeyour pre-order.
Uh, if you're listening to this, after December 3rd, go place
your order, get this book inyour hands, read it and see why
it's one of the best books thatyou're ever going to put in your
hands.
Daryl, thank you so much forjoining me today.
I look forward to meeting youup in person sometime soon.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
George, appreciate you.
Cheers, take care buddy.

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Ep. 87 w/ Darrell Utt - Author of "Grit to Glory: A Green Beret's Journey From West Virginia To The Streets of Baghdad"

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 87 w/ Darrell Utt - Author of "Grit to Glory: A Green Beret's Journey From West Virginia To The Streets of Baghdad"