July 2, 2025 • 23 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our conversation continues about the rescue. If you've read the
book and seen the movie, obviously in a matter of
minutes they can't capture what actually happened. You know, you've
alluded to a number of things, Marcus, I'd like to rewind,
and let's talk about how Gulab discovers you at the water.
(00:20):
You know, there's a scene in the movie where you
threaten to pull the pin. You have no belief that
this guy is going to drag you to his village
and that they're going to care for you, which they
did and save your life. Walk me through that process,
from you interacting with him, to you getting to the
village and then the eventual rescue, and how long all
(00:40):
this takes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So the sun had come up the following day and
I somehow had crawled and Michael, I don't know how
I did this, but I managed to get to the
top of this cliff where there's a waterfall. But I
couldn't I was so thirsty. This was what was driving me.
I didn't want to die thirsty. I know that sounds absurd,
but when you first we'll do something completely different to
(01:06):
a man than pained and hunger. I mean I'd never
been that thirsty. And when I tried to reach into
the waterfall, I started sliding down the side of the mountain.
I took it kind of took off, and I flipped
into the river and I actually knocked myself out again,
and when I came to, I crawled into I remember
(01:30):
I crawled back up a little ways because I had
seen a place that looked pretty pretty inviting to drink
some water. And I got there and I probably had
two stiffs out of that waterfall before someone was screaming
at me. And they were screaming at me on the
ledge that I had just fallen off of, so I
kind of like thought that they were following me. And
(01:51):
then above that there was a couple of guys with
Ak's maneuvering around and I could hear him screaming and
like they were trying to track me down. So they
started hunting me. So I made a move and started
crawling down into the lake into the river and threw
over these rocks and stuff, and I managed to get
into this crevice into this ravine. It's hard to explain,
(02:13):
and I couldn't go anywhere. They bottledneck me and I
turned around to shoot and the guy saw me and
he ducked, and then I swung around on the other
two and they saw me, so they sat down. And
then right after that happened right over the ravine I
was sitting under is when Goolac came over the rocks.
(02:34):
He was kind of just sitting there and he was
screaming at me, and he was screaming American. He's an American. American.
And I thought about this in a minuteent. So they thought
I was the Taliban. They were trying to hunt me
down and kill me because they thought I was the enemy.
But in reality, when they found out, when they got
it close enough, they realized I was an American. So
that's what he was telling him. Don't shoot He's an American.
(02:55):
And I kind of wasn't putting that together. I turned
around to engage to shoot him, and he put his
hands up and he was saying, okay, okay, it's okay.
And I don't know why I didn't kill him. I
don't know why I didn't kill this guy. My got
I mean, I have my faith.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Ye, what weapon did you have left at that point?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I had my rifle, that's the only you still had
your rifle. Okay, I still had him. I couldn't throw
that thing away. I mean it would leave my body
and slide down the mountain or flip off of me,
and I tore my lanyard, but I would always manage
to get God was like, hey, you know you need that.
So when I turned around.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Go ahead, go ahead, I'm sorry, no, no, you go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, he finally walked up on me and I lowered
my weapon and he was he was like okay, okay, okay, okay,
and he's like, shampoo hydrate is what he's saying to me.
Shampoo hydrate. I'll never forget that. I was like, I
mean that sounds really good. But I was like, I
need some water.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So why do you think you didn't kill him? What
did you know about him that he wasn't out to
do you harm?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I don't know a look on his face. He just
had this look on his face like he didn't want
to like he wasn't there to hurt me. You can tell.
And once you're out there long enough and you hunt hunt,
you know, we fight these guys long enough, you can tell.
Even when we capture them and have them with us,
they would still look at you like they want to
kill you. And once you see that, you'll never forget it.
You can anticipate what a man's thinking just by the
(04:29):
look on his face and with in his eyes. His
eyes tell a lot. And then these kids started coming
out from behind him. Two and then some more adults
started walking up, and I lowered my weapon, and I
had a grenade with me, and I pulled that thing
and I pulled the pin. I kind of put it
down by my hip, and then they brought me some water,
(04:50):
so I started drinking that, and they started looking at
my wounds and like patching me up. And then they
picked me up and carried me down into the village.
They sat me down, they gave me more water, and
then they picked me up and carried me into this
room and they stripped me neked and there wasn't much
left in my uniform anyway, and they dockered me up,
(05:13):
cleaned all my wounds, and then dressed me up instead
of Man Jamie's. That was almost the first day.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And what was hurting the worst at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, I had a lot of facial damage, and then
I'd broken my right hand. My thumb had been separated
from the from the where it was supposed to be.
I couldn't feel my lower extremities. It was weird. I
busted my back up real bad and I've been shot
in the button had fragged hanging out of my legs,
but I couldn't really feel that because I didn't know
it was kind of paralyzed. Was it was a blessing and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
A curse that are you at that moment do you
think you're going to die? You're just fighting on for
some crazy reason, but do you are you certain you're
going to die? Or do you them out of hope?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
No, that would only cross my mind when I was
in a gunfight, and then even then on the first
day for sure. But the second day I just kind
of got it in my head that I was getting
out of there. I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna lay down,
and I was gonna. Like the way our training goes
and everything that kicks in, a lot of people they
(06:24):
can't anticipate that, like what do you do when this happens?
And what do you think when this happens? Doesn't trust
me it kicks in, and I just kept that. I
Ultimately I did change the diplomacy. I mean I kind
of changed my attitude a little bit just because they
were helping me, and I wanted them to know that
I appreciated all that. So I you know, I was
on my manners and I was real polite. I did
(06:47):
everything I could. I started throughout the week I started
doctor and their kids like they would bring their kids
to me. I never told them I was a steal
I told him I was a doctor. Okay, I'm I'm
not a steal on a doctor. And I don't know
if they bought that or not, but you do have it.
I did, and I did, and that helped me because
when I would work on them, Uh, in the beginning,
(07:10):
I didn't know if it was working or not, but
they kept bringing me people, so it worked in my advantage.
And then they were calling me doctor Marcus. That weren't doctors.
Universal talk to me.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
About the original the core for guys, Danny, Axe, Murph
and you. Why was each one of you chosen? What
was your role within the group, What were your skill sets?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Danny was our communicator. He could work the radios real well.
We weren't on the same delivery team, but he was
East coast. I was West coast. But it doesn't matter.
When we throw us together, we worked well together. I'd
known Danny since we were in pre training, so we've
been buddies for a while. Acts as our primary sniper
(07:57):
and our point man, it was his job to get
us in and out of the and then he was
obviously had the overwatch with the sniper rifle. Michael was
our lieutenant. He was our officer in charge, so he
was overall command and control. And then I was also
the medic and rear security. And then I was the
LPO of the platoons, so I was running it and
then that was our team. That's how we were set up.
(08:18):
Recon teams are really small, usually four to six men.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And are there are there particular skill sets that that
brought you all together? I mean, you know, of all
the guys that could have been chosen, how were you
four guys chosen? They had to have a strategy behind that,
I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, absolutely, it was the qualifications that we have through
in the steal teams you get you get to go
to multiple schools, so me being the medic, and then
I was also a sniper, and I was also a
calm guy, and then I was also a j tech
which means I could talk to the planes and drop bombs,
so that that was really useful in that environment. And
then acts being a sniper appoint Man Danny with the
(08:58):
with the comms and the communication, and so we it's
kind of like redundancy. So if one of us gets
hurt or goes down, the other guy can step up
and do his job. And we had just trained up together.
It was our primary mission set, so they utilized us
in that capacity.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
When this was over and you came home, you convert
your diary to what becomes a book. You go back
to Iraq. And the first time I ever talked to
you about this, which is well over ten years ago,
the thing that really just wrenched my gut was that
(09:36):
you committed to go and talk to Patsy, to go
and talk to the families about what had happened. You
wanted them when did that happen and how did that
go down?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I'd gotten back. It happened pretty quick, and I was
sitting I was in the hospital for a while, and
then the rest of my platoon came back from Iraq,
and then they had a little like a week or
two of downtime, and then the command actually facilitated that movement.
They lined out where we were going, when we were going,
(10:10):
and how we were going to get there. So they
flew us back to the States. We were in Hawaii,
they flew us back into the States and we started
and we went from family, each FAMI member and told
them what happened face I told him face to face
that I want they needed to hear it from the
command wanted that to make sure because there was all
kinds of stories going around. There's about what had happened,
how it went down. I mean still to this day,
(10:32):
but they know the real story.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
How hard was that to do?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
That was rough? That was rough. Just yeah, it's just tough.
Like our CaCO officers, the officers that are actually in
charge of go around and tell the families that his
son's been injured or he's dead. I mean, I don't
that's got to be probably the hardest job in the military.
(11:00):
So I really wasn't trained for that. And I you know,
I love I love those guys. So when their family
I understand, Look, if I if I could lose, if
I had to lose everything I had right now, just
to bring all of them back to their family members,
to have them. I would that may sound mean or crazy,
but I because they're great people and their sons are
(11:24):
great men, and I that was that's hard than combat.
But the families have always been great to me. They're
they're they're good to me. They've watched out for me.
They never, you know, never try to tear me down.
So I that was a blessing to me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You know, the book and then the movie and your
story and you as as the front man for all
of this has to have been the greatest boon to recruiting.
Before Donald Trump was president in Central War two, I
would imagine there were a lot of young Marcus Latrell
(12:05):
wannabes who said, I want to do what that guy
has done. Has the Navy ever told you that, yes, sir,
all the time.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's why I carry myself the way I do. I
realized that the opportunity and the position that I was
put in is God. God has a plan for everything.
I had no idea I was going to be doing this.
But it may have been twenty years, but I think
about it every day. For the minute I wake up,
the minute I go down. I'm constantly trying to better myself,
(12:34):
collect wisdom, sharpen my discipline, sharp with my manners and
everything that I do since I am an example. Once
they put that cross on me, that changed my life forever.
Seals are usually kind of in the shadows, but I was.
I was brought out, you know, kind of into the
light in front of everybody, and I had extensive training
(12:54):
from the military. I'm still with them. I mean, they've
been watching out for me forever and they still do.
And I you know, thank you doesn't really do it.
It works on almost everything else in there. I don't
have any words to describe how how much it means
to me and how thankful I am, not only for
the military, but for our people, like the American people
(13:15):
and especially Texas. I mean, you've been around me for
a long time, you see it. One of the reasons
I'm going public. Man, it's it's so overwhelming how nice
people are to me and what they do for me
and I and it only it keeps getting stronger. That
hasn't faded away. So uh. And I'm trying to be
(13:36):
a good father and raise my kids. But then and
turn that around. The one thing I preached them is
how great our people are. Hey, Look, that's why I'm
so hard on them. I was like, when you walk
out in public and you run across one of our people, man,
you better show some respect because of what they They
saved my life. Y'all saved my life. Y'all brought me
back and gave me everything I got. So I never
(13:58):
anticipated that. I didn't grow up to expect that. It
just kind of I got put into it, and man,
I'm so thankful for it. I don't even know what
to stay most of the time.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Marcus Latrell is our guest for those who don't know
what became of you after all of that. Talk about
your personal life, Melanie, the whole story.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Okay, So anybody who still runs around me and knows
anything knows the one thing that I got in the
hook of the greatest hookup I got was my wife
and she's absolutely, hands down the most amazing thing ever.
And then I have three kids. My oldest son, Hunter,
he's twenty seven, he's out of college and got a
great job freaking world traveler. Was it was a blessing
(14:45):
day to get him. And then I have Acts and
then Adelaide. So most of my day is spent when
I get up in the morning I'm really trying to
be a good father. I want to do that. I
want to be good at that so bad. I worked
hard at it, and I actually study it so right.
When I got back, I was on the road so much.
(15:06):
I lived out of a suitcase, wrote three hundred days
out of the year. And then when you bring a
wife and a family into the picture, it kind of
changes everything. So she she does a great job of
watching out for me every single day. She's she's such
a blessing to me. And then and then those kids
make me a better human being. They're definitely phases in
a man's life when he's growing up. The life that
(15:28):
I had before, being a teen guy running and gunning
is not conducive to being a family man out in
civilian world. Those two things kind of butt heads. So
the hardest thing I probably had to go through was
getting rid of that, was letting go of that old
being a steal, that whole ego that goes with that,
(15:48):
the bravado and everything that comes into that package. I mean,
I don't wear the same watches anymore, the same sunglasses, don't.
I try not to talk like that anymore. Matter of fact,
when I get around my tem you want to talk
about dragging me back to the old days. I get
so fired up when I see them that I know
I can't stay around very long because how much I
(16:10):
loved that life was it was my heart and my soul.
When I got done with that, I literally had to
retrain myself to be a civilian again, starting with just
who I was, and then trying to be a good
husband and what that looked like, and then a good father.
I you know, I get on the internet and around
the people that I see who are great fathers. You're
(16:31):
a good father. I mean your boys, look at them
and then Rick Perry all that. Just you know, I
kind of take examples of the men that are around us,
the pillars that are around us, and copy that, try
to mimic what they do and put that into my
routine and live it out, not year by year, but
kind of moment by moment and then transfer to the
(16:52):
next one. And it's it's been great. I truly love
it you.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I've I've been at your father in law's home when
you host a lot of Navy seals, and I've described
to you as the mayor of Silville. It really feels
to me and I'm a complete outsider that this experience
and all the public attention because you know the scenes
where y'all are training as Navy seals. People have a
(17:19):
lot better understanding. As you've told me, people die in
Navy seal training and are brought back to life the
difficulty of this training.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think back to Officer and a Gentleman and that
Apocalypse now and what movies do to to really make
the public focus on these sorts of things, and I
think your case and then Chris Kyle got folks really
aware of the personal toll these things take and the
(17:49):
preparation these things take. It's not a movie, it's real life.
And I guess there's not a question there, but I
would ask for your reaction to that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Sure, what we let y'all see is one thing, and
the behind the scenes just like watching a regular movie.
I mean, you see the overall finished product, but you
want to know what it took to make that thing,
and that's where we The only way you can actually
see that is to be in the community itself, and
it's it's the greatest fraternity that I was able to
(18:21):
be a part of being in the seal teams that's
why it's so hard to get out. And I was.
I was at the Matt Access Memorial golf tournament a
couple of days ago, and they had a bunch of
young frog seals that were there and just to see them,
and if I can tell them one thing, it is
to live that life with everything you got and then
when you get out, we'll deal with that kind of deal.
But it truly is the greatest experience in my life.
(18:44):
And what goes into the everyday being a Navy seal
mentality the physical part of it, the emotional part of
it is is something that you really can't transfer into
a book or onto a movie. It's one of those
things that has to be lived and seen from the inside,
and it creates a bond and a camaraderie that is unbreakable.
(19:04):
And you're talking about every guy from each walk of
life in one area that actually make it work because
there's a difference between being a friend to somebody and
actually being a teammate. And the one thing we're great
at is being teammates, which means you get rid of
all the stupid stuff that would normally upset you about
a human being that doesn't even come into play. A
matter of fact, you really don't even know a lot
about that. That kind of stuff, It doesn't mean anything
(19:26):
to it. You only focus on what we're supposed to
be doing and the task at hand, and you're so
good at being doing that that you become a great teammate,
which means I don't care where you come from, how
much money you have, what politicals whatever. That doesn't mean
anything does I mean at all. It's what we're doing
and just the love and the compassion you have for
(19:46):
that task, and it creates it. And when we're going
through it, each guy is tested. Seals are always getting
beat down. I mean, it's it's an absolutely, it's it's
a tenuous job. I mean, it's tough just to be one.
Becoming a seal there was one thing. Stay in one
is completely different. And then when you see those people,
those men that are willing to stay in there and
that fight and go through that grind day in day
(20:09):
out upwards of for years, it just changes the way
you look at them. And when you when you see one,
you kind of have this there's a respect that goes
along with it. And that's man. We've been doing this
since the sixties so it's kind of established. It. Truly
was a blessing to be a part of that. I
mean I'm missing I miss it a lot. I mean
(20:29):
I'm still very much involved with them and some capacity,
but the overall living in the life, I kind of
miss that. If you're wondering if I could thought about
doing it, and if I could do it now, I
couldn't do it now. Like physically, emotionally I don't have
I've transitioned back to being a civilian. So just watching
(20:49):
them go through their their daily grind is exhausting. So
it's definitely a mindset.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, yeah, I think that's fair to say, and I
think think you transported yourself into being something that the
average person can never understand him You're talking about a
killing machine and something that doesn't fear death, that those
are not natural human emotions. I would be remiss before
we finish if I didn't give you an opportunity to
(21:16):
do something. Several years ago, you and I were on
the phone and a fella came walking up to you
and said Marcus Atrell and you said, no, I'm his twin, Morgan,
and he goes, oh, never mind and walked off, And
you were infuriated because your point was, my brother's more
(21:37):
of a badass than I am, and you don't even
bother to know that and show him that respect. A
lot of people don't know that your brother, who's now
a congressman, and you and his experiences as a Navy seal,
tell a little bit about that if you would.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
He had the most unbelievable career, my hero. I mean
that guys, he's the first one born. I was kind
of fair parts. I was just what was left. And
when we went into the steal teams, I mean, he
was an honor man out of his bug class. That
sucker's been on multiple deployments. He was an enlisted guy,
and then he was an officer. He was in a
helicopter crash where people died. I mean, he broke his back.
(22:18):
He was in the hospital forever. I remember. We snuck
him out of the hospital and he was in such
bad shape we had to sneaking back in there. But
he just that kind of never quit mentality and everything
that goes along with it. Man, I get that from him.
He's got one speed and it's wide open. He's a
constant reminder that I'm supposed to carry myself a certain way.
He gets on to me about being out of shape,
(22:39):
even even when I'm not out of shape. It was ridiculous, Michael.
I mean some believe it still talks down to me
like I'm a kid. But I love him for it.
And he was absolutely designed for the for the seat
that he's holding right now, which is the craziest thing.
I can't believe in the congressman. But the beautiful thing
about that is he works for me. Now I'm a voter,
(23:00):
it's my opportunity. It's you know what I'm talking about,
So it's my opportunity. I can talk to him anyway
I want.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Now, well, we're very proud of him, and Mama Holly
should be very proud of both of you and what
you have become in your service to this country, the
two of you in so many different ways. I am
honored to call you my friend, Marcus O.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Trell. Thank you you been God bless happy for with
july
Our conversation continues about the rescue. If you've read the
book and seen the movie, obviously in a matter of
minutes they can't capture what actually happened. You know, you've
alluded to a number of things, Marcus, I'd like to rewind,
and let's talk about how Gulab discovers you at the water.
(00:20):
You know, there's a scene in the movie where you
threaten to pull the pin. You have no belief that
this guy is going to drag you to his village
and that they're going to care for you, which they
did and save your life. Walk me through that process,
from you interacting with him, to you getting to the
village and then the eventual rescue, and how long all
(00:40):
this takes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So the sun had come up the following day and
I somehow had crawled and Michael, I don't know how
I did this, but I managed to get to the
top of this cliff where there's a waterfall. But I
couldn't I was so thirsty. This was what was driving me.
I didn't want to die thirsty. I know that sounds absurd,
but when you first we'll do something completely different to
(01:06):
a man than pained and hunger. I mean I'd never
been that thirsty. And when I tried to reach into
the waterfall, I started sliding down the side of the mountain.
I took it kind of took off, and I flipped
into the river and I actually knocked myself out again,
and when I came to, I crawled into I remember
(01:30):
I crawled back up a little ways because I had
seen a place that looked pretty pretty inviting to drink
some water. And I got there and I probably had
two stiffs out of that waterfall before someone was screaming
at me. And they were screaming at me on the
ledge that I had just fallen off of, so I
kind of like thought that they were following me. And
(01:51):
then above that there was a couple of guys with
Ak's maneuvering around and I could hear him screaming and
like they were trying to track me down. So they
started hunting me. So I made a move and started
crawling down into the lake into the river and threw
over these rocks and stuff, and I managed to get
into this crevice into this ravine. It's hard to explain,
(02:13):
and I couldn't go anywhere. They bottledneck me and I
turned around to shoot and the guy saw me and
he ducked, and then I swung around on the other
two and they saw me, so they sat down. And
then right after that happened right over the ravine I
was sitting under is when Goolac came over the rocks.
(02:34):
He was kind of just sitting there and he was
screaming at me, and he was screaming American. He's an American. American.
And I thought about this in a minuteent. So they thought
I was the Taliban. They were trying to hunt me
down and kill me because they thought I was the enemy.
But in reality, when they found out, when they got
it close enough, they realized I was an American. So
that's what he was telling him. Don't shoot He's an American.
(02:55):
And I kind of wasn't putting that together. I turned
around to engage to shoot him, and he put his
hands up and he was saying, okay, okay, it's okay.
And I don't know why I didn't kill him. I
don't know why I didn't kill this guy. My got
I mean, I have my faith.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Ye, what weapon did you have left at that point?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I had my rifle, that's the only you still had
your rifle. Okay, I still had him. I couldn't throw
that thing away. I mean it would leave my body
and slide down the mountain or flip off of me,
and I tore my lanyard, but I would always manage
to get God was like, hey, you know you need that.
So when I turned around.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Go ahead, go ahead, I'm sorry, no, no, you go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, he finally walked up on me and I lowered
my weapon and he was he was like okay, okay, okay, okay,
and he's like, shampoo hydrate is what he's saying to me.
Shampoo hydrate. I'll never forget that. I was like, I
mean that sounds really good. But I was like, I
need some water.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So why do you think you didn't kill him? What
did you know about him that he wasn't out to
do you harm?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I don't know a look on his face. He just
had this look on his face like he didn't want
to like he wasn't there to hurt me. You can tell.
And once you're out there long enough and you hunt hunt,
you know, we fight these guys long enough, you can tell.
Even when we capture them and have them with us,
they would still look at you like they want to
kill you. And once you see that, you'll never forget it.
You can anticipate what a man's thinking just by the
(04:29):
look on his face and with in his eyes. His
eyes tell a lot. And then these kids started coming
out from behind him. Two and then some more adults
started walking up, and I lowered my weapon, and I
had a grenade with me, and I pulled that thing
and I pulled the pin. I kind of put it
down by my hip, and then they brought me some water,
(04:50):
so I started drinking that, and they started looking at
my wounds and like patching me up. And then they
picked me up and carried me down into the village.
They sat me down, they gave me more water, and
then they picked me up and carried me into this
room and they stripped me neked and there wasn't much
left in my uniform anyway, and they dockered me up,
(05:13):
cleaned all my wounds, and then dressed me up instead
of Man Jamie's. That was almost the first day.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And what was hurting the worst at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, I had a lot of facial damage, and then
I'd broken my right hand. My thumb had been separated
from the from the where it was supposed to be.
I couldn't feel my lower extremities. It was weird. I
busted my back up real bad and I've been shot
in the button had fragged hanging out of my legs,
but I couldn't really feel that because I didn't know
it was kind of paralyzed. Was it was a blessing and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
A curse that are you at that moment do you
think you're going to die? You're just fighting on for
some crazy reason, but do you are you certain you're
going to die? Or do you them out of hope?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
No, that would only cross my mind when I was
in a gunfight, and then even then on the first
day for sure. But the second day I just kind
of got it in my head that I was getting
out of there. I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna lay down,
and I was gonna. Like the way our training goes
and everything that kicks in, a lot of people they
(06:24):
can't anticipate that, like what do you do when this happens?
And what do you think when this happens? Doesn't trust
me it kicks in, and I just kept that. I
Ultimately I did change the diplomacy. I mean I kind
of changed my attitude a little bit just because they
were helping me, and I wanted them to know that
I appreciated all that. So I you know, I was
on my manners and I was real polite. I did
(06:47):
everything I could. I started throughout the week I started
doctor and their kids like they would bring their kids
to me. I never told them I was a steal
I told him I was a doctor. Okay, I'm I'm
not a steal on a doctor. And I don't know
if they bought that or not, but you do have it.
I did, and I did, and that helped me because
when I would work on them, Uh, in the beginning,
(07:10):
I didn't know if it was working or not, but
they kept bringing me people, so it worked in my advantage.
And then they were calling me doctor Marcus. That weren't doctors.
Universal talk to me.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
About the original the core for guys, Danny, Axe, Murph
and you. Why was each one of you chosen? What
was your role within the group, What were your skill sets?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Danny was our communicator. He could work the radios real well.
We weren't on the same delivery team, but he was
East coast. I was West coast. But it doesn't matter.
When we throw us together, we worked well together. I'd
known Danny since we were in pre training, so we've
been buddies for a while. Acts as our primary sniper
(07:57):
and our point man, it was his job to get
us in and out of the and then he was
obviously had the overwatch with the sniper rifle. Michael was
our lieutenant. He was our officer in charge, so he
was overall command and control. And then I was also
the medic and rear security. And then I was the
LPO of the platoons, so I was running it and
then that was our team. That's how we were set up.
(08:18):
Recon teams are really small, usually four to six men.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And are there are there particular skill sets that that
brought you all together? I mean, you know, of all
the guys that could have been chosen, how were you
four guys chosen? They had to have a strategy behind that,
I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, absolutely, it was the qualifications that we have through
in the steal teams you get you get to go
to multiple schools, so me being the medic, and then
I was also a sniper, and I was also a
calm guy, and then I was also a j tech
which means I could talk to the planes and drop bombs,
so that that was really useful in that environment. And
then acts being a sniper appoint Man Danny with the
(08:58):
with the comms and the communication, and so we it's
kind of like redundancy. So if one of us gets
hurt or goes down, the other guy can step up
and do his job. And we had just trained up together.
It was our primary mission set, so they utilized us
in that capacity.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
When this was over and you came home, you convert
your diary to what becomes a book. You go back
to Iraq. And the first time I ever talked to
you about this, which is well over ten years ago,
the thing that really just wrenched my gut was that
(09:36):
you committed to go and talk to Patsy, to go
and talk to the families about what had happened. You
wanted them when did that happen and how did that
go down?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I'd gotten back. It happened pretty quick, and I was
sitting I was in the hospital for a while, and
then the rest of my platoon came back from Iraq,
and then they had a little like a week or
two of downtime, and then the command actually facilitated that movement.
They lined out where we were going, when we were going,
(10:10):
and how we were going to get there. So they
flew us back to the States. We were in Hawaii,
they flew us back into the States and we started
and we went from family, each FAMI member and told
them what happened face I told him face to face
that I want they needed to hear it from the
command wanted that to make sure because there was all
kinds of stories going around. There's about what had happened,
how it went down. I mean still to this day,
(10:32):
but they know the real story.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
How hard was that to do?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
That was rough? That was rough. Just yeah, it's just tough.
Like our CaCO officers, the officers that are actually in
charge of go around and tell the families that his
son's been injured or he's dead. I mean, I don't
that's got to be probably the hardest job in the military.
(11:00):
So I really wasn't trained for that. And I you know,
I love I love those guys. So when their family
I understand, Look, if I if I could lose, if
I had to lose everything I had right now, just
to bring all of them back to their family members,
to have them. I would that may sound mean or crazy,
but I because they're great people and their sons are
(11:24):
great men, and I that was that's hard than combat.
But the families have always been great to me. They're
they're they're good to me. They've watched out for me.
They never, you know, never try to tear me down.
So I that was a blessing to me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You know, the book and then the movie and your
story and you as as the front man for all
of this has to have been the greatest boon to recruiting.
Before Donald Trump was president in Central War two, I
would imagine there were a lot of young Marcus Latrell
(12:05):
wannabes who said, I want to do what that guy
has done. Has the Navy ever told you that, yes, sir,
all the time.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's why I carry myself the way I do. I
realized that the opportunity and the position that I was
put in is God. God has a plan for everything.
I had no idea I was going to be doing this.
But it may have been twenty years, but I think
about it every day. For the minute I wake up,
the minute I go down. I'm constantly trying to better myself,
(12:34):
collect wisdom, sharpen my discipline, sharp with my manners and
everything that I do since I am an example. Once
they put that cross on me, that changed my life forever.
Seals are usually kind of in the shadows, but I was.
I was brought out, you know, kind of into the
light in front of everybody, and I had extensive training
(12:54):
from the military. I'm still with them. I mean, they've
been watching out for me forever and they still do.
And I you know, thank you doesn't really do it.
It works on almost everything else in there. I don't
have any words to describe how how much it means
to me and how thankful I am, not only for
the military, but for our people, like the American people
(13:15):
and especially Texas. I mean, you've been around me for
a long time, you see it. One of the reasons
I'm going public. Man, it's it's so overwhelming how nice
people are to me and what they do for me
and I and it only it keeps getting stronger. That
hasn't faded away. So uh. And I'm trying to be
(13:36):
a good father and raise my kids. But then and
turn that around. The one thing I preached them is
how great our people are. Hey, Look, that's why I'm
so hard on them. I was like, when you walk
out in public and you run across one of our people, man,
you better show some respect because of what they They
saved my life. Y'all saved my life. Y'all brought me
back and gave me everything I got. So I never
(13:58):
anticipated that. I didn't grow up to expect that. It
just kind of I got put into it, and man,
I'm so thankful for it. I don't even know what
to stay most of the time.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Marcus Latrell is our guest for those who don't know
what became of you after all of that. Talk about
your personal life, Melanie, the whole story.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Okay, So anybody who still runs around me and knows
anything knows the one thing that I got in the
hook of the greatest hookup I got was my wife
and she's absolutely, hands down the most amazing thing ever.
And then I have three kids. My oldest son, Hunter,
he's twenty seven, he's out of college and got a
great job freaking world traveler. Was it was a blessing
(14:45):
day to get him. And then I have Acts and
then Adelaide. So most of my day is spent when
I get up in the morning I'm really trying to
be a good father. I want to do that. I
want to be good at that so bad. I worked
hard at it, and I actually study it so right.
When I got back, I was on the road so much.
(15:06):
I lived out of a suitcase, wrote three hundred days
out of the year. And then when you bring a
wife and a family into the picture, it kind of
changes everything. So she she does a great job of
watching out for me every single day. She's she's such
a blessing to me. And then and then those kids
make me a better human being. They're definitely phases in
a man's life when he's growing up. The life that
(15:28):
I had before, being a teen guy running and gunning
is not conducive to being a family man out in
civilian world. Those two things kind of butt heads. So
the hardest thing I probably had to go through was
getting rid of that, was letting go of that old
being a steal, that whole ego that goes with that,
(15:48):
the bravado and everything that comes into that package. I mean,
I don't wear the same watches anymore, the same sunglasses, don't.
I try not to talk like that anymore. Matter of fact,
when I get around my tem you want to talk
about dragging me back to the old days. I get
so fired up when I see them that I know
I can't stay around very long because how much I
(16:10):
loved that life was it was my heart and my soul.
When I got done with that, I literally had to
retrain myself to be a civilian again, starting with just
who I was, and then trying to be a good
husband and what that looked like, and then a good father.
I you know, I get on the internet and around
the people that I see who are great fathers. You're
(16:31):
a good father. I mean your boys, look at them
and then Rick Perry all that. Just you know, I
kind of take examples of the men that are around us,
the pillars that are around us, and copy that, try
to mimic what they do and put that into my
routine and live it out, not year by year, but
kind of moment by moment and then transfer to the
(16:52):
next one. And it's it's been great. I truly love
it you.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I've I've been at your father in law's home when
you host a lot of Navy seals, and I've described
to you as the mayor of Silville. It really feels
to me and I'm a complete outsider that this experience
and all the public attention because you know the scenes
where y'all are training as Navy seals. People have a
(17:19):
lot better understanding. As you've told me, people die in
Navy seal training and are brought back to life the
difficulty of this training.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think back to Officer and a Gentleman and that
Apocalypse now and what movies do to to really make
the public focus on these sorts of things, and I
think your case and then Chris Kyle got folks really
aware of the personal toll these things take and the
(17:49):
preparation these things take. It's not a movie, it's real life.
And I guess there's not a question there, but I
would ask for your reaction to that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Sure, what we let y'all see is one thing, and
the behind the scenes just like watching a regular movie.
I mean, you see the overall finished product, but you
want to know what it took to make that thing,
and that's where we The only way you can actually
see that is to be in the community itself, and
it's it's the greatest fraternity that I was able to
(18:21):
be a part of being in the seal teams that's
why it's so hard to get out. And I was.
I was at the Matt Access Memorial golf tournament a
couple of days ago, and they had a bunch of
young frog seals that were there and just to see them,
and if I can tell them one thing, it is
to live that life with everything you got and then
when you get out, we'll deal with that kind of deal.
But it truly is the greatest experience in my life.
(18:44):
And what goes into the everyday being a Navy seal
mentality the physical part of it, the emotional part of
it is is something that you really can't transfer into
a book or onto a movie. It's one of those
things that has to be lived and seen from the inside,
and it creates a bond and a camaraderie that is unbreakable.
(19:04):
And you're talking about every guy from each walk of
life in one area that actually make it work because
there's a difference between being a friend to somebody and
actually being a teammate. And the one thing we're great
at is being teammates, which means you get rid of
all the stupid stuff that would normally upset you about
a human being that doesn't even come into play. A
matter of fact, you really don't even know a lot
about that. That kind of stuff, It doesn't mean anything
(19:26):
to it. You only focus on what we're supposed to
be doing and the task at hand, and you're so
good at being doing that that you become a great teammate,
which means I don't care where you come from, how
much money you have, what politicals whatever. That doesn't mean
anything does I mean at all. It's what we're doing
and just the love and the compassion you have for
(19:46):
that task, and it creates it. And when we're going
through it, each guy is tested. Seals are always getting
beat down. I mean, it's it's an absolutely, it's it's
a tenuous job. I mean, it's tough just to be one.
Becoming a seal there was one thing. Stay in one
is completely different. And then when you see those people,
those men that are willing to stay in there and
that fight and go through that grind day in day
(20:09):
out upwards of for years, it just changes the way
you look at them. And when you when you see one,
you kind of have this there's a respect that goes
along with it. And that's man. We've been doing this
since the sixties so it's kind of established. It. Truly
was a blessing to be a part of that. I
mean I'm missing I miss it a lot. I mean
(20:29):
I'm still very much involved with them and some capacity,
but the overall living in the life, I kind of
miss that. If you're wondering if I could thought about
doing it, and if I could do it now, I
couldn't do it now. Like physically, emotionally I don't have
I've transitioned back to being a civilian. So just watching
(20:49):
them go through their their daily grind is exhausting. So
it's definitely a mindset.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, yeah, I think that's fair to say, and I
think think you transported yourself into being something that the
average person can never understand him You're talking about a
killing machine and something that doesn't fear death, that those
are not natural human emotions. I would be remiss before
we finish if I didn't give you an opportunity to
(21:16):
do something. Several years ago, you and I were on
the phone and a fella came walking up to you
and said Marcus Atrell and you said, no, I'm his twin, Morgan,
and he goes, oh, never mind and walked off, And
you were infuriated because your point was, my brother's more
(21:37):
of a badass than I am, and you don't even
bother to know that and show him that respect. A
lot of people don't know that your brother, who's now
a congressman, and you and his experiences as a Navy seal,
tell a little bit about that if you would.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
He had the most unbelievable career, my hero. I mean
that guys, he's the first one born. I was kind
of fair parts. I was just what was left. And
when we went into the steal teams, I mean, he
was an honor man out of his bug class. That
sucker's been on multiple deployments. He was an enlisted guy,
and then he was an officer. He was in a
helicopter crash where people died. I mean, he broke his back.
(22:18):
He was in the hospital forever. I remember. We snuck
him out of the hospital and he was in such
bad shape we had to sneaking back in there. But
he just that kind of never quit mentality and everything
that goes along with it. Man, I get that from him.
He's got one speed and it's wide open. He's a
constant reminder that I'm supposed to carry myself a certain way.
He gets on to me about being out of shape,
(22:39):
even even when I'm not out of shape. It was ridiculous, Michael.
I mean some believe it still talks down to me
like I'm a kid. But I love him for it.
And he was absolutely designed for the for the seat
that he's holding right now, which is the craziest thing.
I can't believe in the congressman. But the beautiful thing
about that is he works for me. Now I'm a voter,
(23:00):
it's my opportunity. It's you know what I'm talking about,
So it's my opportunity. I can talk to him anyway
I want.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Now, well, we're very proud of him, and Mama Holly
should be very proud of both of you and what
you have become in your service to this country, the
two of you in so many different ways. I am
honored to call you my friend, Marcus O.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Trell. Thank you you been God bless happy for with
july
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