Combat Story (Ep 16): Thom Shea Navy SEAL | SEAL Sniper | Silver Star | Author | Entrepreneur

Chapters

• 0:00Intro
• 2:16Starting out. Unbreakable.
• 3:40Growing up hunting, trapping, and outside in one of the ‘best times to be a kid in America’ making $6K at 9 years old.
• 9:09Training SEAL Snipers. Half arrived never having touched a gun, which is good for shooting.
• 11:41Thom comes from a “horrifically military” family drawing a veteran lineage through to the beginnings of America.
• 14:33How to deal with failing out of West Point and following a dream to become a SEAL rather than following someone else’s path.
• 18:15Perseverance in fighting to become a SEAL and failing BUDS four times.
• 23:45“Oh, you failed again,” from family after failing out of BUDS.
• 28:42If you ever failed in what you believe is your dream or been told no and need some inspiration to keep going, listen to this. After having failed out four times from BUDS, Thom would sit in the Admiral’s office for his lunch break for TWO years to request authorization to return. He eventually completed Class 207.
• 32:20What is the “Internal Dialogue” and why is it important? When you do difficult things, it’s not about how hard the thing is, but how you beat yourself down in the process.
• 38:32First experience in combat is the beginning of the air war in Kosovo doing a rescue as an E-5 SEAL Team 2 Sniper to rescue Chris Hill, the U.S. Ambassador in Macedonia. Described as a ‘comical series of the dumbest things that could possibly happen.’
• 42:18First time seeing the ‘atrocities of war.’
• 45:07What does it mean to be a “breacher” on a SEAL team?
• 47:08First trigger pull and kill in combat was described rather ‘insignificant’ and felt like training.
• 51:07Thom’s most difficult deployment was in 2009 when he was an E-7 Chief.
• 51:50Extremely interesting decision when offered to lead either a perfect group of operators or a group that hated each other and couldn’t work together.
• 53:51How, as a leader, to grow and give a chance to someone who didn’t fit in before.
• 1:02:27Six MH-47s dropped 200 Special Operations and Special Forces into a single battle in Afghanistan.
• 1:09:57In the last moments that you live, you realize needing and being needed by others when you have nothing left.
• 1:12:36The A-10 is ‘the greatest combat machine in the history of combat machines.’
• 1:14:20How leadership can help operators after having lived through hell and killing 200+ Taliban.
• 1:16:02The fundamentals and keys to lead small teams in combat. The human connection. “You don’t know what’s going to happen to the mind.”
• 1:20:00The importance of a can of Copenhagen and the little things that get you through hard times.
• 1:22:53If you’re a small unit leader, particularly an officer, this is one segment you should listen to. What makes a great Lieutenant (LT) coming from an old crusty SEAL?
• 1:31:50Sniper-on-Sniper engagement. A battle within a battle.
• 1:39:35Description of Three Simple Things, Thom’s new book about how to improve your life.
• 1:41:36The original title for Unbreakable was Spartan Wife and as Thom describes, “women make men.”
• 1:44:01Was there something you carried into combat that meant something to you?
• 1:44:41Would you do it all again?