FFN 029： Honored： A Veterans Day Tribute
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
215.90562
Summary
In this episode of Field Notes, Ryan Michler talks about his military service and how he learned to be a better man. He also shares some of the lessons he learned along the way, and why he believes it s important to live as the man you know yourself to be.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
You're a man. You're committed to the work required to forge your own destiny.
00:00:07.720
You will not be defeated. You cannot be deterred.
00:00:11.480
Nothing stands between you and the victory you seek.
00:00:14.640
You're a rock. Steadfast, resolute, and unwavering.
00:00:18.420
And, at the end of the day, the job will be done.
00:00:25.000
Men, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and founder of Order of Man.
00:00:29.600
Now, Order of Man is the podcast. It's the movement that every man on this planet should know about.
00:00:34.820
I want you, as a man, to level up in your life, your relationships with your wife and your kids and your friends, your business.
00:00:41.100
Whether that's an entrepreneur or an employee, I want you to level up with your health and your fitness,
00:00:45.740
your opportunity to build wealth in your life, and your ability, frankly, to live as the man that you know yourself to be.
00:00:51.500
And that's why we're here. Hopefully, that's why you're listening to this podcast.
00:00:55.280
Now, I don't know how you stumbled upon us, but I am glad that you're here, and I'm glad that you did.
00:00:58.680
But before I get too much into the show, into this unique conversation that we're going to have today,
00:01:03.280
I do ask that you share this show with your boys. Share it with your dad, your son, your brother, your friends, your coworkers,
00:01:09.080
any other man, basically, that you think would benefit from all the lessons and the insights that we share here.
00:01:14.340
And I've seen too many men live this idle life.
00:01:17.480
They're living in a constant state of default, and they're allowing life to happen to them
00:01:21.780
rather than exerting their will and their authority over their own lives.
00:01:25.740
We've literally seen now thousands of men pick up what I call the mantle of masculinity.
00:01:31.540
They're taking control of their own lives, their families, their businesses, their communities,
00:01:35.240
and this idea of what it means to be a real man, a masculine man, a man of honor and integrity
00:01:42.880
This is something that the world needs more than ever.
00:01:45.140
Now, with that said, I want to jump right into the show.
00:01:47.780
If you're listening to this one as one of my American brothers, this is a big day for us.
00:01:53.160
This is a day that we have the chance to honor the men and women who sacrifice everything,
00:02:01.520
And how fortunate we are that there will always, always be the select few who are willing to step up
00:02:08.200
to the plate and defend our way of life and our freedoms and our liberties that we enjoy.
00:02:14.460
Now, I've had a lot of people ask me about my military service.
00:02:17.160
And frankly, some of our most popular episodes to date within the podcast are my interviews
00:02:22.320
with other military members, Navy SEALs like Jocko Willink and Leif Babin and Mark Devine.
00:02:29.880
I thought I'd share some of my military experience with you and give some background into who I am
00:02:34.600
and how I was fortunate enough and had the honor to serve you and this incredible nation.
00:02:39.460
Now, I joined the Army National Guard in high school with a couple of buddies.
00:02:43.060
Anyways, right out of high school, we all ended up shipping out to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for basic
00:02:52.100
Me and the couple of buddies I went with, we had the opportunity to do our weekend drills.
00:02:56.200
That's what we did in the National Guard while we were still in high school.
00:02:58.900
So we had the chance to wrap our heads around what the military life would actually be like.
00:03:05.560
But guys, when we were at basic training, I mean, we got chewed out every single day.
00:03:08.860
We were constantly being smoked, which is a basically a term for doing brutal exercise
00:03:13.940
after getting in trouble for doing something or doing nothing at all.
00:03:17.360
Just looking at a drill instructor the wrong way.
00:03:19.380
But the bottom line is that they are looking for reasons and excuses to jump you.
00:03:24.680
But after we finished up basic training, we started our advanced individual training as
00:03:32.000
We were training to fire the paladin, which is a howitzer.
00:03:34.160
It fires 155 millimeter rounds of death and destruction.
00:03:38.540
If you ever get the chance to see one of these machines at work, I promise you will not be
00:03:44.540
In fact, I graduated as a top graduate from our class.
00:03:47.160
But after that, it was back to our one weekend a month, our two weeks per year.
00:03:53.200
I actually spent 45 days in Salt Lake City manning the Olympics.
00:03:56.440
I did another summer tour in Fort Lewis in Washington.
00:04:01.620
But my real service came in 2004 when our National Guard unit was called Iraq.
00:04:06.660
I remember that phone call, guys, like it was yesterday.
00:04:09.220
My wife and I at the time had only been married for five months and we had just moved to Southern
00:04:14.080
California to open up a clothing store, which I worked for at the time.
00:04:17.460
But she had already left for home in Southern Utah for Thanksgiving.
00:04:20.660
And I was going to be following her up the next day after I closed the store down.
00:04:24.200
But that night, my section chief called me, delivered the news that in January we would
00:04:32.980
And the remaining year of that would be spent in Iraq, one of the most, at the time, horrible
00:04:39.780
But the long story short, we completed our training.
00:04:41.860
We were allowed a quick leave of absence before we would be shipping to Iraq.
00:04:45.360
I remember what it was like, guys, to see my wife for the last time in a year.
00:04:49.520
I remember how nervous I was that there was a real possibility that I or my brothers would
00:04:57.140
I remember how quiet that bus ride was as we drove off and left our wives and our parents
00:05:03.900
Fortunately, I didn't have children at the time.
00:05:05.840
You know, I saw how hard that was on the fathers who were in my unit.
00:05:09.560
And it was a real surreal feeling flying the helicopter that we flew up the Urefrades River
00:05:15.780
We landed, we got off the helicopter, and we were welcomed to the base by our sergeant who
00:05:19.540
was on an advance party to what we would call home for the next 12 months.
00:05:23.220
It was an old Iraqi detention facility, and it was situated right smack in the middle of the
00:05:29.200
You know, we were surrounded by unknown territory on three or four sides, and it also bumped
00:05:34.360
up against an old abandoned glass factory that looked like something that belonged on
00:05:41.680
You know, our unit was tasked with three missions.
00:05:43.760
Number one, we were to patrol the streets of Ramadi.
00:05:46.520
Number two, we had a base defense mission for the soldiers and Marines stationed there on
00:05:50.780
And then we had an extremely small counterfire artillery mission.
00:05:54.220
That was what we actually were formally trained to do, but we didn't do much of that.
00:05:57.960
We called ourselves the infantillery because we were artillery trained, but we were acting
00:06:03.580
But personally, I was assigned to a base defense mission, which meant that as we face threats,
00:06:08.040
it was my job to act as the liaison between our guard post around the base and the front
00:06:14.960
We had to determine how best to respond to those threats, whether that was a situation at
00:06:18.360
the front gate or an incoming mortar or a rocket lobbed at our base, and then we had
00:06:23.200
And we got hit with rockets and mortars just about every day.
00:06:27.040
I remember that first day that I walked into what I would be calling my office for the next
00:06:33.240
And as I walked in, I saw that there was 14 pictures on the wall representing each of the
00:06:37.540
soldiers that had lost their lives from the unit that we would be replacing.
00:06:42.180
And that's when the severity of the situation that I had found myself in hit me.
00:06:46.840
Now, I'm not going to get into all the details of what went on in Iraq.
00:06:50.340
I can tell you that I had the privilege of serving with some of the finest men and women
00:06:57.100
I can tell you that not a single soldier from our unit lost his life, which is a testament
00:07:02.060
in my mind to the divine protection that we were afforded in our time overseas.
00:07:06.540
And I can tell you that as difficult as that experience was, it is some of the most memorable
00:07:15.820
You know, I know one thing for certain that we have, again, the finest military men and
00:07:20.620
women protecting our way of life that this planet has to offer.
00:07:23.980
I had to step away from everything that I knew and leave my family for 18 months of my
00:07:29.360
I had to go to a foreign land where people hated us and they wanted us dead.
00:07:34.020
I saw an oppressed people that were fighting for their lives in the face of fear and tyranny
00:07:43.260
One of the most vivid memories I have is walking past a convoy that had just returned from a
00:07:49.620
And I saw grown men weeping because they had just lost one of their brothers.
00:07:53.780
I saw men literally giving up every single thing that they had, the ultimate sacrifice
00:08:00.360
And I've had people, believe it or not, question my honor for serving this nation.
00:08:04.960
I've cried with soldiers who lost their families while they were away.
00:08:08.040
And I can tell you that if I had that chance to do it all over again, I would not change
00:08:15.040
I'm proud to say that I've served this nation along men and women who are greater heroes
00:08:22.260
As hard as we think things are, we live in an incredible time.
00:08:25.900
For those of us who are blessed to live in this great nation, I pray that every single
00:08:29.920
day you and me live worthy of the sacrifices of so many great heroes.
00:08:40.020
We certainly are not perfect, but with all that said, we're free.
00:08:44.660
We're free to do the things that we want to do.
00:08:50.660
We're free to live the life that we want to live.
00:08:52.240
But most importantly, we are free, each and every one of us, to become, to become who we
00:08:59.380
You know, I used to feel really awkward when people would thank me for my service.
00:09:06.060
I didn't know how to express how I truly feel about my time in the military.
00:09:13.120
But I can tell you one thing for certain, and from the bottom of my heart, it was my honor.
00:09:19.080
Guys, I just want to give you a quick reminder that if you know a veteran, I ask that you
00:09:23.300
please reach out to him or her with a text or a phone call or drop by.
00:09:27.580
These men and women have sacrificed so much to protect our way of life and allow you and
00:09:32.940
me to do what it is that we do every single day.
00:09:35.700
If you see a veteran in line today or at any time, pay for their coffee, pay for their lunch.
00:09:41.340
This is just a small way, a small token to say thank you.
00:09:45.140
And I can tell you from experience that it is welcomed and it goes a long way in saying
00:09:52.120
And one other thing, you guys, if you do run into a veteran today, I want you to post a
00:09:56.760
And I want you to post it in our Facebook group.
00:09:58.680
We are reserving the group today only for Veterans Day posts.
00:10:04.120
Just go to facebook.com slash groups slash order of man.
00:10:07.320
All you're going to see today is Veterans Day posts.
00:10:09.680
And remember also that the best way to honor our veterans is to live a life every single
00:10:21.380
It's to be a great citizen of this nation and to be a great man.
00:10:25.940
So today I want to say, as I wrap things up, thank you from the bottom of my heart to
00:10:30.800
our veterans who have served us, who have served this nation, who have given the ultimate
00:10:35.620
sacrifice, who have done everything they can to protect our way of life.
00:10:39.760
And as always, take action and live worthy of their sacrifice.
00:10:45.920
Now it's time to crush your excuses, own your choices, accept responsibility, and live manfully.
00:10:52.200
Learn how at orderofman.com forward slash field notes.