#097 From USNA to the MLB: Serving America While Chasing Big League Dreams (Part 2)

In this compelling continuation of our conversation with Mitch Harris, we explore the profound impact of faith, resilience, and the Naval Academy experience on overcoming life's toughest challenges.

Mitch shares his raw, honest journey of rediscovering faith after a moment of crisis, offering hope to those facing similar struggles. His story resonates deeply with junior officers and midshipmen grappling with their own spiritual doubts amidst the rigors of service.

Key Insights from Mitch's Journey:

• The power of returning to core beliefs during times of uncertainty
• How seemingly coincidental moments can shape our spiritual path
• Lessons from the Naval Academy that prepare us for life's hardships
• The critical importance of community and vulnerability in overcoming isolation
• Translating military grit into pursuing dreams in civilian life

Mitch's reflections on his time at Annapolis reveal how the daily challenges and adversities faced by midshipmen serve as crucial preparation for life's unexpected turns. His story is a testament to the enduring impact of the Naval Academy experience, far beyond just developing military skills.

From Annapolis to the Major Leagues

We also delve into Mitch's unique journey from naval officer to professional baseball player. His perspective on navigating the minor leagues as an older rookie showcases how military discipline and resilience can fuel the pursuit of lifelong dreams.

This episode offers invaluable insights for:

• Current and future midshipmen seeking perspective on their challenges
• Junior officers navigating faith and personal growth
• Anyone facing setbacks in chasing their aspirations
• Parents and family members supporting loved ones through military service

Join us for an inspiring conversation about faith, perseverance, and the unexpected ways our past experiences prepare us for future success. Mitch's story reminds us that with the right mindset and support, we can overcome any obstacle in our path.

If you want to check out Mitch's book, here is the link: https://a.co/d/4nQZmbE

The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.

Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.

He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community with nationwide consulting and connection.

We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.

Connect with Grant on Linkedin
Academy Insider Website
Academy Insider Facebook Page

If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome back to part two of this
episode with Mitch Harris.
If you have not listened topart one, go back to the
previously released episode thispast Friday.
I'm excited for you to get tolisten to part two.
This is an incredibleconversation and again, his book
is titled my Private War anincredible read and so much to
glean from it, from the NavalAcademy experience to overcoming

(00:22):
adversity and relentlesslychasing dreams.
Go check it out.
Thank you so much.
I hope you enjoy the rest ofthis episode.
Yeah, man, they're gonna have tocheck out the book for sure,
and I just I appreciate yousharing that story.
You know, I think it'ssomething really interesting
because you talk early on in thebook about faith and how

(00:45):
important your faith was in yourupbringing and how important
your faith was in your entirelife and kind of in that moment
for the first time, you reallyfelt it crumble.
And so I guess kind of back toyou is how did you, how did you
call back?
How do you find solitude andkind of reestablish your
relationship with God and findyour faith?

(01:05):
And I think again, this issomething that a lot of junior
officers, a lot of midshipmen dostruggle with is kind of
finding a crumbling of faith dueto a lot of the difficulties of
life as a junior officer, andI'd love to just kind of hear
how you went through thatjourney to re-find your faith.
Yeah, it was not easy, you know.
I think the hardest part wastrying to to re-find your faith.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, um, it was not easy.
Uh, you know, I think thehardest part was trying to.
You know, just look inward andtry to figure out who.
Who am I at my core?
Who am I?
What, what do I believe?
And you know, thankfully havinga great foundation, uh, from my
childhood, from my upbringing, Ijust went back to the core of
what I believed and I justthought, all right, god, I do
believe in you.

(01:43):
I don't understand what's goingon, I don't know why things are
happening, but, man, I'm justgoing to trust that it's going
to work out in your plan.
And really, quite frankly,that's all I felt like I could
do.
And as I just, kind of, to yourpoint, just kind of crawled
back, slowly but surely, I wasjust like, all right, I need
help because, man, I don't knowwhich way to turn, I don't know

(02:04):
what way is up.
Each day is a struggle but, man, I'm just going to rely that
you're going to continue to giveme strength each and every day
to get through this and give mehope and peace for what's to
come.
And, man, that helped andseeing that come to fruition day
in and day out, when there wastough times, and just kind of

(02:24):
going back and be like I just Ican't in these moments, I just I
just can't God without you, andthat was, that was a big thing
for me.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, no, absolutely, and I think it again.
It's really interesting tooagain, as someone of faith and a
believer too right, just thepower of the Holy Spirit to kind
of just give your mom that pushto like feel something in the
moment, just to give you a call,right, like just to call you in
that moment yeah, there's quitea few things in my story that
you know.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
If you don't believe, um, hey on you.
But uh, you try to tell me.
There's that many coincidences.
One story I don't know, uh, youknow, and that's where it's
like dude, you know, there's somany things that happen and
obviously, obviously, my momcalling literally as I'm
grabbing the door handle was oneof the big ones.

(03:11):
And her knowing, just havingthat mom instinct, knowing
something's not right, askingthe right questions, and then me
just quite frankly losing it onthe phone with her, the phone
with her, um, yeah, I mean it's,it's interesting how, how he
works in in in mysterious ways,man and and puts me with the
right people at the right timeand and have people you know

(03:33):
cross paths at the right time.
So many of that's you knowhappened throughout my story and
, um, you know, it just leads meback to him every time.
I think of these things.
It's just, yeah, it's my story,but hopefully people see him
through my story, yeahabsolutely.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Um, and you know, obviously we have a big Naval
Academy audience on this podcastand so I do want to almost
tailor this back a little bit toyour time in Annapolis.
And you know, do you ever lookback on the struggles, the daily
grind, the difficulties, likethe ups and downs, the adversity
you faced in Annapolis, andlook back almost in gratitude
that it prepared you to handlesome of these like really tough

(04:10):
life moments, not just about theNavy but about life?
Does that ever come back to you?
Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
I mean, you know, some of my darkest moments up
till you know, the ones we justspoke about were at the academy.
I mean it's hard for a reason.
I mean college in general isdifficult, you know.
Being away for the first time,making new friends, having
situations, facing failures,it's tough.

(04:40):
And, yeah, there's many timeswhere, man, I realized that, man
, I need support, I needaccountability, I need close
friends and people that I cantrust to keep me in check, to be
like, hey, dude, don't havethose negative thoughts, make
sure you're staying positive,keep pushing.
These are the things that welearned at the academy, not only

(05:01):
about ourselves but about ourpeople around us.
Who do we surround ourselveswith, who's in our corner, and
so that was a lot of things thatit took time again to get there
, but then I realized, like man,I'm not.
First of all, I'm by myself.
This loneliness is not good,you know.
And so I got to keep the peoplearound me and keep the right

(05:23):
people that are going to kind ofpush me and hold me to the
standards that they know that Ihold myself.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, I love that.
Again, it's something that Italk a lot to midshipmen
families about, right, like Ihave a lot of parents, like
midshipmen parents, reach out tome concerned, worried because
their son or daughter's having areally hard time Like they're.
They're they're reallystruggling, right, and you know
it's always it's great to hearthese stories and it's great

(05:50):
when people have thevulnerability to share the
adversity they go through, thestruggles they go through,
because, again, this is what Italk about, the whole power of
the midshipman experience being,about being in Annapolis, is
becoming someone who handles thehard moments of life better,
right, and it's not just aboutthe direct translation to Navy
skills, it's the ability to towaddle through a bunch of BS, to

(06:14):
handle difficulties, to handlethe downtimes, to handle those
moments where you want to gointo isolation, but you know you
need your tribe.
You know you need to ask forhelp, because that is universal
in life when you're goingthrough struggles, right, and
what's beautiful about the NavalAcademy is sometimes those are
isolated.
You know you need to ask forhelp, because that is universal
in life when you're goingthrough struggles, right, and
what's beautiful about the NavalAcademy is sometimes those are
isolated, like or not isolated,but they're in a bubble right,

(06:35):
like we're going through reallydifficult times but you're in a
safe environment, and to be ableto get practice at that,
fighting through adversity,asking for help.
You know, not allowing it'ssomething you said to me off air
.
Actually is this idea thatisolation breeds temptation and
when you're going through reallydifficult times, instead of
staying in that isolated state,the beauty of the Naval Academy

(07:01):
is that there are people therewho understand your struggle and
understand your feeling and youhave a tribe there.
Yeah, it's cool.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
It's too often, especially during you know you,
you come back during the winter.
Uh, you know the dark days darkdays baby.
And it is tough because, man,you just come off of a high of
of Christmas and and havingfamily and the closeness of
everybody, and then, like yousaid, that isolation, man of,

(07:27):
like man, I've got to go back toschool and you know the
relationships and all the otherthings and if you don't have the
right group around you orpeople that you can trust in to
just say like, hey, you know, Ineed to talk about this, or hey,
let's go grab a coffee, or hey,let's go grab lunch, or
whatever man, those are, it'stough, you can't do it on your

(07:47):
own and I can't stress thatenough to people Um, man, grab
someone, go to steerage, go goto to dog and go somewhere and
and and share a meal, share acoffee and just and just kind of
man, you don't have to be ultravulnerable, but man, just open
up the slightest bit and justlet them know like, hey, I'm
just having a rough time and Ijust wanted to tell someone

(08:08):
because I just want to change mymindset a little bit and
hopefully having thisconversation will help.
But something that small makes amassive impact and so hopefully
, if someone is listening that'sgoing through that and having
those moments, or you knowsomeone who's having those
moments, call out.
You reach out to them and talkto them and just let them know
that you're thinking about them,because those do go a long way.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Never underestimate the impact you can make with
small action, man.
Exactly that's what it allcomes down to that little bit of
care, that little bit ofattention, that little bit of
effort to show that you'rethinking about them and care man
, can make a huge, hugedifference and, like you're
saying, coming back to the darkages, driving over the Naval
Academy Bridge, knowing you'regoing back to prison.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'll never forget the days coming over the bridge and
just thinking God, not again.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh, man, well, yeah, again.
I think the beautiful thingagain when we come back to your
book and your story is that youdo.
You fight through.
You fight through thisadversity in a relentless chase
of your dream right, which leadsto Major League Baseball, and
so I want to give you theopportunity to turn it over.
Now is like everything thatwe've talked about for the past.

(09:23):
You know, 35 minutes in thisget together.
How did it prepare you then,now out of the Navy to fight
that grind which is Minor LeagueBaseball, and how was that
experience for you?

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Well, just to give you kind of perspective, I was
older than my manager on firstseason, so that was an
interesting dynamic.
Yeah, and so, and our, you know,our number one draft pick that
year was an 18 year old and Iwas 27.
So I mean, that was theclubhouse, I mean it was.
It was a very interestingdynamic, but, man, it was cool

(09:59):
because it gave me theperspective of like man.
You know what like here it is.
I get to grind for what I've,what I've been chasing my whole
life and all this work, all thisanticipation is for these
moments and I either can, youknow, mope and complain and say,
oh, I'm not, you know, it tooktoo long, I can do all that, or

(10:23):
I can just, you know, put mynose in it and just get after it
.
And I had a blast, I had a lotof fun.
It was a lot of hard times, alot of humbling times,
especially when I got back tospring training, my first season
, I was grunting, maybe gettingat 83 to the plate and just
trying to figure out how am Igoing to get this muscle memory
back.
And we did everything, we justtried to put as much work into

(10:45):
it as we could to try to figureout how can I make the
opportunity available to get tothe big leagues.
And all that comes from thegrind, from the academy, from
the, the Navy and the upbringing, all that I kind of took in
culmination and used it when Iwas in the modern leagues,
knowing it was going to be agrind and you're not ever
guaranteed a spot.
But I knew, if I could justkind of put my work ethic into

(11:08):
it, the grit that I knew I hadused and gone through, you know,
through the Navy and the NavalAcademy, that I could achieve
whatever I put my mind to.
And you know I was going tomake them peel that jersey off
of me.
And you know, thankfully,because of all the experience of
, like I said, my upbringing,the Academy, the Navy, it

(11:33):
immensely helped the challenge,which was, you know that that
that model, the grind though,was short lived.
Thankfully it was.
It was, it was a grind for sure.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
the Academy Insider Podcast.
I really hope you liked it,enjoyed it and learn something
during this time.
If you did, please feel free tolike and subscribe or leave a
comment about the episode.
We really appreciate to hearyour feedback about everything
and continue to make AcademyInsider an amazing service that
guides, serves and supportsmidshipmen, future midshipmen

(12:07):
and their families.
Thank you.