Largest Naval Special Warfare Combat Operation | Mike Drop | Navy SEAL - Mike Ritland

About This Episode
Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!
Today's Combat Story: Training Dogs for SEAL Teams and Founding the Warrior Dog Foundation
Today we have a cross over Combat Story with former Navy SEAL, NY Times Best-Selling Author, and Trikos Founder Mike Ritland who many will also know as the host of the Mike Drop podcast. I traveled out to Texas to interview Mike and then he returned the favor.
For those who don’t know Mike, he earned his Trident pre-9/11 and found himself on the largest operation in the history of Naval Special Warfare when SEAL Team 3 simultaneously took control of two oil terminals and a control facility on sea and land as the Iraq war kicked off.
Mike would contract an illness that would take him out of the door-kicking side of the teams but also allowed him to follow a passion training dogs for west coast SEAL teams. He followed this path to build a successful business in Trikos training working dogs for clients and founding the Warrior Dog Foundation, among other ventures.
Mike has done so much to find purpose and continue serving after hanging up the uniform in a way that will, undoubtedly, be motivating to people seeking their own purpose and next chapter. With that, please enjoy this episode with Mike Ritland.
Show Notes:
Navy SEAL - Mike Ritland
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction
- 01:04Guest Profile: Mike Ritland
- 02:05Start of Interview
- 03:05Settling in Texas
- 07:45Leaving the SEALs
- 11:20Transition to Dog Training
- 12:57Confidence and Success
- 23:25Siblings and Military Path
- 25:49Fighting During Youth
- 36:11Martial Arts Training
- 43:53Path to joining the Teams
- 47:00Ultra Competitive Nature
- 54:13Almost Quitting
- 59:26Largest Naval Special Warfare Op.
- 01:11:19Kicking off the Iraq War
- 01:19:37Listener Feedback


