Lone Survivor’ Marcus Luttrell Speaks to NIADA (Part 2)

By Jeffery Bellant July 19, 2024
Former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrel in Las Vegas at the NIADA convention June, 2024.  (@UCN) Former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrel in Las Vegas at the NIADA convention June, 2024. (@UCN)

LAS VEGAS– Former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell talked about his military experience to attendees at the NIADA Convention & Expo here in June in a presentation sponsored by Carfax.

When he talked about his military training and what he learned, he credited the tax payers in the audience. He’s talk was peppered with comments like, “You all taught me that.”

Like reading a room.

“You all taught me this, it’s one of the skill sets you gave me,” he said.

Luttrell said he’s not a violent man by nature, but Navy SEAL training changed all that.

“I’m not a violent man, but I’m a man of violence now,” he said, “I’m very proficient at it. You all taught me that.”

Luttrell would get butterflies in his stomach or nervous when he was younger and got into a fight. But he said it’s not a bad thing.

“Fear is the fuel for your willpower, did you know that? he said. “If something gives you the heebie-jeebies, it means you’re really good at it. You just have to train it.”

He said some people are naturally good at something. 

“But there are people who have to grind every single day until they get where they look amazing at it,” Luttrell said.

Luttrell and his brother got initial training from a Vietnam veteran who lived down the street. He would train young men for the special forces.

“He was our town psychopath,” he said. “You know those? Terrifying man. Drove a van with no windows. Wore sweat pants in the summertime with rubber boots. Didn’t match either. Always mad at somebody.

“A great man”

From the first day, the man’s goal was to break Luttrell and his friends. He made them do pushups and if they weren’t in sync, he’d hit them with a hose or a can. He told them they had to work together. Live together, die together. 

One time, he was so mad at the kids and chased them off his property and sent them home.

“’You’re a disgrace,’” he said. ‘Walk right up to your daddy when you get home and punch him in the face. Tell him to start over because he (messed) up with you.’

“This was my mentor.”

He said this lasted for months. He would humiliate him and send him home, But he would add:

“’You better show up tomorrow or I’ll kill you.’

Luttrell never quit.

Eventually, the Luttrell brothers went into SEAL training. And Marcus went first.

As brothers they were not allowed to ride in the same helicopter together or the same Humvee together, in case they got blown up, which happened regularly. Luttrell said he was grateful to serve with his brother.

Luttrell was asked what made him keep going after a failure or after times he came up short. Why did he not quit?

He said the SEAL program was designed to address this. Each level required you to pass, but they always failed.

“Then they’re like, ‘You want some more?’ And I’m like, ‘Yup.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, I got some more for you.’ It’s nonstop.”

Luttrell said when the SEALs are sent in, it’s because talk is done.

“It’s not a win or lose thing once you send us in,” he said. “You’ve already beaten that out of me. It’s one of those last-man-standing kind of deals, you understand?

“That’s what you all designed and you beat that into us on a daily basis.”

But that’s what people face in the world, he said.

Luttrell said don’t think you’ve known a day of peace since we came on this planet and modern people are no different.

He said just this past 25 years, we’ve had 9/11, two wars and the pandemic.

“If you’re sitting in this room, you’re not weak by any stretch of the imagination,” Luttrell said. “Most of the time, you put that on yourselves.

“We just have to give each other a break. We’re going to get through it.

Luttrell said attitude is important in tough times.

“I was teaching one of my kids, when you get up in the morning, if you don’t go out to attack the day, the day will bring something in to attack you,” he said. “At no point in time do you stand down.”

He warned people not to let someone’s perception of you become your reality, especially if it’s just “a snapshot in time.”

Luttrell urged people to be a blessing to the first person they meet every day, because you don’t know what kind of day they’re having.

For yourself, don’t get discouraged.

“I don’t care if you wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is step in dog crap, that means the end of your day is going to be better,” Luttrell said,

Read Part One 

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Last modified on Friday, 19 July 2024 17:38