Against All Odds
Presenter: Retired Chief Petty Officer Dave Goggins is well-known for his physical and mental toughness and for his practically inhuman level of determination. From barely passing his Navy SEAL physical screening test to becoming one of the world's best ultra-endurance athletes and the only person to complete Navy SEAL training, Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training, David routinely pushes his body to the limits.
In 2005, a chopper carrying eight SEALs and eight Army Special Operations aviators were shot down, many Navy men who David had personally trained with.
Touched by their loss, David was determined to find a way to help, running 135 miles in just under 26 hours, taking first place in the Infra Trust 88K in only 12 hours, and holding the Guinness World World Record for over 4,000 pull-ups in 24 hours, all to raise awareness and support for severely wounded warriors and their families.
Ladies and gentlemen, it brings a great deal of pleasure to present to you the recipients of the, of the VFW's Americanism Award, Retired Chief Petty Officer David Goggins. Yeah. Americanism Award and citation awarded to Chief Petty Officer David Goggins, United States Navy Retired, in heartfelt recognition and sincere appreciation of his fervent love of country and his tireless dedication and commitment to supporting America's veterans and their families.
His determination to bring encouragement and hope to the families of America's fallen service members by pushing his body, mind, and spirit to its limits is a reflection of his resolve, patriotism, and true character, and justly earned him the utmost respect and admiration of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and the official seal of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States this 23rd day of July, 2018. Approved by the National Council Administration, signed by Keith E. Harmon, Commander in Chief, tested Brian Duffy, Adjutant General.
David Goggins: First off, I'm very humbled to be up here talking to you all today. For a living, I'm a motivational speaker, and I speak to, thousands of professional athletes from the biggest names to the smallest names. And when I saw Doc walk in here with the, Congressional Medal of Honor, this is the first time in my life I got nervous to speak in front of a crowd.
That's how much I respect this man up here. I was reading about this man back in the day. So I'd like to thank the VFW very much for giving me this award.
It means more to me than anything I've ever received in my entire life. I'd like to thank my grandfather, Sergeant Jack Gardner, who is now deceased. This would be the happiest day of his entire life.
I'd like to thank my mom up here, who. You got it. You got it. Who never picked me I'll stand with you.
Who never picked me up when I fell. She taught me how to get up when I was knocked down. I'd like to thank my uncle for always being there for me, and I thank all you out here who fought in these wars.
You have no idea how big of a deal this is to me. I was not always this strong guy you see. I went through a lot of hard times in my life to get here today.
And a story I'll tell you with real quick, I tried once to get in the Air Force to be an Air Force pararescueman, and I quit for fear of the water. I was 175 pounds. I left the Air Force four years later at 300 pounds.
I went from 175 to 300 pounds. There's a long story in there on how that came to be. But I sat around and read a book on the Medal of Honor, and those guys, all I wanted to be was an uncommon man.
And my whole life, I was not that, much worse than that. But I read stories about men like you Doc, who had the courage to jump on grenades and stuff like that. So I came home one day from working at a job called Ecolab, where I sprayed for cockroaches.
Made $1,000 a month, weighing 300 pounds. And I got home and I watched a show on Discovery Channel of guys carrying boats and logs, Navy SEAL training. And I decided to make a change in my life.
And I called the recruiter up and he asked me these questions. He had to meet a certain height and weight limit. I was six foot one and 300 pounds.
He laughed at me. Seven other recruiters laughed at me. One recruiter finally said, come on in.
I'm too busy to talk to you on the phone. He didn't know how much I weighed. I walked in the recruiter's office and he looked at me and he said, you're fat and you're black.
Because I said I wanted to be a Navy SEAL. I didn't know there had only been 35 African-American Navy SEALs at that time in over 70 years. He said I basically had to lose 106 pounds in less than three months because of my age.
I was getting too old. I came back three months later, 106 pounds lighter. I Thank you.
And literally, I spent 18 months going through BUDS, which is a six-month program. Went through three hell weeks. That is where I met Marcus Luttrell, Danny Dietz, Michael Murphy, another Medal of Honor winner.
I went through hell week with all these guys, real heroes. I am not a hero. I served with real heroes.
And from there, I went on to raise over $2 million for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. But I'm going to end you with this right here. I have the most respect I can possibly muster up for all of you in this room.
I know what it takes to be a combat soldier. And I used to look for courage. I thought courage was a man who won the Medal of Honor.
It is. But courage is a man who's going to put those boots on every single day of his life to go out there and fight for this country when nobody even knows what the hell they're doing or where the hell they're at. You do it for the man beside you. Thank you.
