Combat Story (Ep 33): Jon Macaskill | Navy SEAL | Commander | Men Talking Mindfulness

Combat Story (Ep 33): Jon Macaskill | Navy SEAL | Commander | Men Talking Mindfulness | Entrepreneur

Рет қаралды 36,848

Күн бұрын

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 we hear the Combat Story of Jon Macaskill, a retired Navy SEAL Commander turned mindfulness and meditation teacher. He spent a career in the Navy’s Special Warfare and military Joint Special Operations communities and served in Iraq, Afghanistan, off the coast of Somalia, and in Panama.
One story that Jon shares and which shows the burdens and gut wrenching aspects of combat, was his association with Operation Red Wings, which many will recall from the book and movie Lone Survivor.
Jon is a Naval Academy graduate, holds a Master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School, and, since retiring, runs a consulting business that brings mindfulness and meditation to high performing teams to aid in dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression, all while increasing focus, creativity, and productivity.
He shares the benefits and opportunities both on the show and on his own podcast, called Men Talking Mindfulness, which, as Jon described it, is what happens when you combine a Navy SEAL and modern day Hippie!
I hope you enjoy Jon’s honest, humble, and challenging Combat Story as much as I did.
#combatstory #SEAL #NavySEAL #specialoperations #specialwarfare
Find Jon online:
Website: macaskillconsu...
LinkedIN: / jonmacaskill
Instagram: / mindfulfrogman
Instagram Men Talking Mindfulness: / mentalkingmindfulness
Find Ryan online:
Follow on Instagram @combat_stories ( / combat_stories )
Email ryan@combatstory.com
Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
Show Notes
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - Jon Macaskill’s bio and guest introduction
2:00 - Interview begins
17:30 - SEAL competition at the Naval Academy
24:55 - Something most don’t know about BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training)
33:02 - Being an Officer in the SEALs
40:07 - Combat Story #1: Deployment to Afghanistan
51:03 - Combat Story #2: Operation Red Wings and the Lone Survivor connection. LinkedIN article on this event that's well worth the read: thriveglobal.c...
1:00:50 - Managing trauma, guilt, depression and finding meditation and mindfulness
1:15:48 - Common difficulties for people new to meditation
1:18:13 - How to find Jon online
1:20:27 - The coolest thing Jon did as a SEAL (leaving a submarine on an SDV - en.wikipedia.o...)
1:22:14 - What’s one thing you carried with you on missions?
1:23:45 - Would you go back and do it all again?

Пікірлер: 88

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for having me on the show brother!

@slimegreenbeats 2 жыл бұрын

Legendary interview

@davewylie654 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your service sir!!!!

@davewylie654 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the badassery Jon. I had some issues with stress and panic and also scoffed at a few friends who suggested Meditation. Long story short, I gave it a whirl and it essentially has given me my life free of the doom complex. Glad you are helping so many with the best medicine available

@trailbreaker11 2 жыл бұрын

It was an honor and exciting to meet you today after your amazing talk here in Sanibel! Thank you!! 🙂💪🏻

@mentalkingmindfulness 2 жыл бұрын

@@trailbreaker11 thanks man - great meeting you too! appreciate you.

@outlawandoutdoorstv9901 3 жыл бұрын

I love these stories !!! As a former InFANTrYMAN with 4th ID and the 101st .. I served beside some seals and the were always solid !!! But in the 101st I was in a Pathfinder unit and we worked with Green berets quite often and it was a awesome learning experience getting to learn from seals and ODA teams

@davewylie654 2 жыл бұрын

Was the 4th at Carson or Ft Ord???

@garydaly 3 жыл бұрын

I was born in England moved to Johannesburg when I was 5 years old, In high school my conscription papers were processed for me in 1982, to be ready for conscription/service in the S.A. in Army in 1985. This freaked my mother out. So instead of going back to London our family came to Australia when I was 15 in 1983. I eventually joined the Australian Army in 1989 and served in Iraq 1991. I always wanted to serve and was happy to be conscripted back in S.A. or join the English Army but Australia was where I was at so that’s where joined.

@tonyjackson4099 3 жыл бұрын

I jumped off my buddy's boat 50 miles off Key West. My friend laughed and said, "yo, it's 4,800 feet deep here." Without letting anyone know, I was instantly terrified and got back in the boat. To this day it's the most terrifying and disturbing feeling I've ever had.

@BurnedSpace 3 жыл бұрын

your 50 miles into the ocean what did u expect to touch the bottom?

@tylerschramm6849 3 жыл бұрын

@@BurnedSpace that made me laugh so hard and idk why

@marylandflyer5670 Жыл бұрын

A mile deep or 10 feet deep, you can still drown.

@KC-bv9kf 3 жыл бұрын

These are great human beings that are people that truly move the human race forward through service, especially after they are out. It takes strength and conviction to speak one’s truth against popular opinions. He’s still working through survivor’s guilt. Your skill in getting the toughest people to open up and be vulnerable in public is a marvel. This need to be studied and taught to the public (not just for spooks, lol). Another impactful interview.

@adamschackart6859 3 жыл бұрын

These stories make me grip the wheel a little tighter on the way to my 0800-1600 Air Force desk job

@scotthewiseman2471 3 жыл бұрын

Army calls that a job for pregnant females.

@12B20 3 жыл бұрын

Hey dude, just concentrate on being the best at the job you're doing, and the person you are.

@cbquid2513 3 жыл бұрын

This interview was riveting. SEALs are super-human, but they are not automatons... I 'felt' this interview. Thank you for sharing.

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@sheilalarkin1291 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent interview, thanks guys.

@teedepefanio4974 2 жыл бұрын

Respect to the brown water guys.. thx for your service, fellas..

@lancet.346 3 жыл бұрын

I was just talking about Combat Story with my big brother, and BAM! New episode! Good stuff, Ryan!

@richardbowles7690 3 жыл бұрын

Real-world insights, first-hand. Thanks for all you both have done.

@Jediberserker73 3 жыл бұрын

I stumbled across your channel a short while ago and am just getting into watching the episodes. Wvery single episode is amazing. Keep up the good work. Dan, and Ryan...thank you very much for your service to our country.

@russellfulton6935 3 жыл бұрын

Outstanding interview Jon and Ryan. Very interesting that we have two southern Africans who served in the US military. As a former Rhodesian Army special forces officer I found this interview truly interesting for a whole range of reasons.

@mentalkingmindfulness 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Russell!

@sauljahboi5965 3 жыл бұрын

@52:00 damn. Him recalling how he felt like a coward for not wanting to execute Operation Red Wings is rough. But ultimately showed he had good head on his shoulders. A lot of people have taken shots at the quality of SEAL leadership/officers after Red Wings/ Lone Survivor debacle. Army SF had gotten dibs on the op but has passed due to risks. At which point it came to the SEALS. But this dude proves that even back then rationale and mature officers were in the Teams.

@klk1900 Жыл бұрын

It was actually a marine mission and 160th refused to let them use 47s unless socom was involved. Well the seal LCDR krist. He manipulated a angle where if the marines would let them take part of the mission by getting A Shaw or doing the DA raid. They could get the marines helo support. So they basically created a job for themselves that didn’t exist. -- the navy told Marcus he was gonna do the book a admiral did. They chose the writer and everything about the book. -- we in the USA have a bad habit of creating and embellishing war stories for recruiting purposes. So the marines on the mission read the book and they don’t even recognize this mission the book tells of. -- Sorta like extortion 17. It wasn’t a qrf to go save rangers getting shot at. It was literally rangers on a mission and the seals were bored looking for work. So when a officer saw a possible squirter on target. He decided to give the seals some work by sending them to look for the target. The rangers on the ground actually didn’t know they were even coming until they were like 2 min out. - this rangers was saying at the last minute he told them to do the attack run from east to west instead of west to east or paraphrasing. So they could cover them but they were shot down and had to be walked to the crash site. I think it took them 45min or so. But the point is they twisted reality again in it. This is why the families got suspicious because they could see people were lying so they just assume it must’ve been setup. Not knowing it’s just an officer trying to save his job!

@markleavey1 3 жыл бұрын

Words cannot Explain thank-you for your Service

@willbutler6261 3 жыл бұрын

I comment and like your videos everytime! I pray your channel continues to grow because we need everyone to hear these amazing humans stories! Thanks for your service and your content!

@internet_internet 3 жыл бұрын

Glad this guy has found some peace. May God bless you, frogman.

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@internet_internet 3 жыл бұрын

@@mentalkingmindfulness You’re very welcome. I’m close with some frogs here in TX. You guys deserve everything good that life has to offer, and nothing less. My own Navy experience was short & rough. I only wanted to be a frog, which is why I enlisted at 18-19. I rushed into the recruiters for the first time the Monday after Chris Kyle was killed on Saturday Feb 2nd, 2013. The event of his death made me feel like I had to step up to the plate to “assume the overwatch” ASAP. I thought I was ready, but my recruiters had other plans, and I was young & dumb enough to fall for every lie they told me about how to get to BUD/S. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your SEAL contract in bootcamp. Just volunteer for it as soon as you get there, but you have to get there first.” Then I got unexpectedly sent to separations on processing day 4 of bootcamp with a “fraudulent enlistment” narrative-reason discharge from checking “no” on a box that my recruiter had told me to. It probably worked out for the best, because the contract that I had signed to “get there” apparently made me ineligible to even cross-rate into BUD/S in the future. Aviation… All the best, man. You deserve it.

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

@@internet_internet hooyah man - things worked out for a reason … don’t look back. Look forward and kick ass!

@internet_internet 3 жыл бұрын

@@mentalkingmindfulness Truth. A goal of mine is to help frog guys on a tangible level one day. I’ve got an idea for an eventual place with hopefully a lot of different types of things to offer called “Froggy Farms.” I just don’t have the means to make it happen yet. Fair winds, my friend.

@Jam-vj8ig 3 жыл бұрын

Always great Story's ! Thank you

@scottsherman5262 Жыл бұрын

I've heard from other folks about Redwings, & they also said the op seemed ill-conceived. It's a shame someone didn't slam the table & make themselves heard...tough to do when the op tempo is what it was, but SEALs are paid to think & to push back when needed. It was needed here.

@chrisculley3756 3 жыл бұрын

Bro been watching your channel for a while now. I don't know how your doing it but your getting everyone who is anyone in special operations. RLTW

@summitcam 3 жыл бұрын

Ryan, great questions almost every show. Thank you for putting this all together. I love hearing it and giving time and attention to this country's warriors.

@possumslayerslayer4816 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome interview!! God Bless y’all and God Bless America!

@robsargent8801 3 жыл бұрын

Cool to see fellow South African making the Seals

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Hooyah boet!!

@dalroache Жыл бұрын

I love your channel these interviews are off the hook with some really interesting elite modern day warriors awesome awesome awesome it hearing these stories really makes me feel like my life is unfulfilled I never really did what I really wanted to do...I live in the u.k i always wanted to be a royal marines commando and dreamt of getting into the S.B.S. I went to a naval school in London when I was younger i thought I was going to go into the marines soon as I was old enough be but life happened and I kind of started to forget about my earlier dreams etc..later on in life stil a young man I thought I shoot my shot but just dip my toe so I went into the ROYAL GREEN JACKETS light infantry reserves I was told they march to the same pace as the royal marines as infantry soldiers that's all they do march run and fight up front get it done all people I knew around me were fascinated with what many call the best of the best in the British army THE PARAS the RED BERETS ( paratroopers) there meant to be the fastest in many ways and quickest in the world at section attacks etc..I love airplane and parachutes and stuff iam Worried even though me and heights don't always le each other I still love the thought and thrill of being and doing static line jumps and progressing to specified jumps you guysdo lots of halo and haho jumps I love it all .... However I always wanted to be a royal marine commando and earn the converted green beret and try to later attempt to go into u.k..s.f or United Kingdom special forces the special boat service. The reason being Is every body loves the s.a.s special air service there famous worldwide and strike fear into enemies there highly romanticised and many books and films are made about them example Andy McNabb Bravo Two Zero awesome read and films like THE FEATHERMEN (awesome film go watch it) better than Ur Jack Ryan shite ...yes sir Mr president lol..cut long to short I wanted to go into the S.B.S just so if one day my loved ones or wife asked me an I in an elite fighting unit for her majesty's armed forces I could say S a Load of B.S lol boom boom..jokes aside I wanted to be apart of something that is really secretive and little known about added to the mystique if you KZfaq SBS now theres not much there but when you see what looks like a chinnock helicopter put it's bum in the sea and SBS operators in inflatables with engines on the rear go speedi g on to rear of chinnock in the sea that did it for me brother I was hooked ... but I never got to live out my lifes dream I only did training for royal green jackets light infantry I loved every second of it but a big spanner in my works was I'm seriously left handed so my dreams were crushed early on when I was told I have to teach my self to shoot right handed it's like doing any thing else important but being told you not allowed to use natural hand you got to use poor hand and get good at it it was horrible for me I even asked my sergeant could I use an eye patch to protect my eye from the 5.56 brass shell being ejected across my face but he said no way I got to shoot right handed I sucked the S.A.80 back then was what UK forces were using because we were light infantry we had luxury of telescopic sights this is way before the red dot reticle and sights we had luxury of S.u.s.a.t (sight unit small arms trilux) that used tritium gas and the reticle was one looked like imagine the obolisk at Washington DC pointing 555 Into air well it is that shape going to a point.D man get to the bloody point....ok brother Im envious of l you guys you done awesome things you became part of an awesome brotherhood and done things we can only dream of I wish I had not wasted so much time and put my heart and mind intl my passions saying that I am aware things are very dangerous everywhere where there's conflict danger lurks sometimes Unseen but it exists so who knows if I'd still be alive in this precious life has I of chosen to follow the path of an elite modern warrior....AROHo AROho ..Spartans what do we do? AROHo AROHo!!! Stay blessed people don't waste your life make sensible choices always help the weaker people who need help stick up for people in trouble that need help above all know that I'm from the u.k and it's not called soccer It's caed football you Muppets lol...awesome channel awesome guests stay blessed . Respect from the uk PEACE

@kwlobdell7853 3 жыл бұрын

Terrific! Thank you for sharing.

@tonykeast9966 3 жыл бұрын

Great episode. Made me think.

@ericmalmstrom4840 3 жыл бұрын

Another great guest. John had a very interesting story. Keep up the great work.

@TheWoodensong 3 жыл бұрын

Ryan, great episode…I always love what you do and I think you do it so much better than most of your contemporaries,,,Charlie Mike, Brother! "Ol; Scooter"…former NSW Dirty Boat Guy...

@manoupardo2977 2 жыл бұрын

This is SO awesome - thank you for inspiring young people and aspiring officers and fighter pilots like me!

@jesseb4827 3 жыл бұрын

That might be my favorite episode so far. Awesome.

@mentalkingmindfulness 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for listening.

@subbaraogandikota5916 3 жыл бұрын

This time there may have not been much combat involved there surely are some life lessons to take away

@Mrgunsngear 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@ryanbejot5322 3 жыл бұрын

Nice work

@RobertSantos-rw8dy 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for these important stories. Greeting-Sawasdee from Thailand

@MichelleKavarnos 2 жыл бұрын

Love from SA!! In Cape Town.

@BadActor- 3 жыл бұрын

All Good....Thanks Semper Fi...GB

@timjohnson8725 3 жыл бұрын

Devin Larrett from JT2 Canadian SF would be cool.... #kingofthetable #Mr-arm-stromg

@klk1900 Жыл бұрын

Btw Jon says it felt “cowardly “ to turn down that op. But it’s far better than being the officer on a 2 yr rotation. And they push operations the enlisted guys don’t believe in doing simply so they can get a check mark on officer evaluation sheet, and say they did X operation. It happened a lot back in the early days. Where some officers were hell bent on doing operations that were uncalled for or just not worth the squeeze. So i would give him alot of credit for standing up and saying no.

@SantiagoAriasEskapa 2 жыл бұрын

wow....now I know what FNG means....thanks Jon

@stevenrhodes9639 3 жыл бұрын

Yess more content while im out here on a mower

@klk1900 Жыл бұрын

Nobody ever talks about it but when Michael Murphy was a ensign and asst jr officer. He actually had a serious accidental shooting (It wasn’t really a AD/NG) in training leading up. Where they were doing a peel and he shot a team mate that was 6’ in front of him. He Stood up as he pulled the trigger. Luckily he had a good reputation because a safety violation of that nature is usually career suicide. Especially being an officer. In peace time it probably would’ve went differently. -- But that may give people context why he was willing to sacrifice himself in that manner being he would’ve felt the pressure of his past AD everyone would be thinking “Ohh hell I’m definitely gonna get fired this time if somebody dies under my command!” - that’s what most logical people would be thinking anyways.

@StoicismWorks 3 жыл бұрын

Ohhhhh ok… So, mentally I’m one of you guys, but, in reality… not so much. 🤨Superheroes 😍 Thank you for all you do.

@CptJET-he8nc 3 жыл бұрын

TY GJ

@boatalle 2 жыл бұрын

Hand salute.

@natehall2741 3 жыл бұрын

YOOOO MR. FUGIT SIR! Can you do a CCT next?

@stephaniejooste3879 2 жыл бұрын

Go Southern Africa, if you need some backup on local Sport, I'll help you out. Remember what the leaders said about the Boer Fighters in WWII! "Give me 20 divisions American soldiers and I will breach Europe. Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen, and I will advance to the borders of Berlin. Give me two divisions of those marvellous fighting Boers (Meaning Farmer, originating from the Boer War) and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth.” Field Marshall Bernard L. Montgomery, Commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Love all of you!

@TriggerSD2001 3 жыл бұрын

Wooooooo!!!!!

@wizzardofpaws2420 2 жыл бұрын

So yeah, these tier 1 guys aren't afraid of anything. The thought of just jumping out of a plane would terrify me. Jumping into the ocean? HECK NO.

@fastr144 3 жыл бұрын

if the instructor is who i think it is, i can totally see that happening. lololol such a funny dude

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Bill Lyman! Lol.

@BurnedSpace 3 жыл бұрын

so this guy was SDV that attatched to Seal Team 10 that deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 so this guy must know Marcus Luttrell and the Operation Redwings guys.

@BurnedSpace 3 жыл бұрын

oh didnt listen far enough lol

@mentalkingmindfulness 3 жыл бұрын

Was coming here to say, “yes, I do…” but then saw your second comment ;)