2018 VFW Americanism Award - David Goggins

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 tests 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 a hundred and thirty-five miles of just under 26 hours taking first place in the infra trust 88k in only 12 hours and holding the Guinness World Book 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 brings a great deal of pleasure to present to you the recipients of the VFW's Americanism warden retired chief petty officer david Goggins [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Americanism award and citation awarded to chief petty officer David Goggins the United

States Navy retired in heartfelt recognition and sincere appreciation of his fervent love of country and his tireless dedication a commitment to supporting America's veterans and their families his determination to bring encouragement and hope to the families of America's fallen servicemembers by pushing his body mind and spirit to its limits as 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 here on to set our hands and the official seal the Veterans of Foreign

Wars of the United States this 23rd day of July 2018 approved by the National Council of administration signed by Keith E Harman commander-in-chief tested brian duffy adjutant general [Applause] first off um 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 even I saw a doc walk in here with the Congressional Medal of Honor this the first time my life I got nervous to speak in front of a crowd that's unless

I respect this man up here I was reading about this man back in the day so I like to thank the VFW very much for giving me this this award it means more than meeting anything I've ever received in my entire life I like to thank my grandfather starring Jack Gardner who is now deceased this would be the happiest day of his entire life like I think my mom up here who [Applause] [Music] we never picked me up who never picked me up when I fell she taught me how to get up and I was

knocked down I think my uncle for always being there for me but I think all you are here who fought in these wars you have no idea how big of a deal assist 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 Air Force pararescueman and I quit for the 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 by sat around and read a book on the Medal of Honor in those guys all I wanted to be was an uncommon man in my whole life I was not that much worse than that 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 spray for cockroaches

made $1,000 a month Wayne thriller pounds and I got home and I watched a show on Discovery Channel of guys carrying boats and logs maybe still training and inside to make a change in my life and I called the recruiter up and he asked me these questions he had to Rehana meet a certain a like a certain height in 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 recruiters office and he looked at me and he said you're fat and you're black got someone to be a Navy SEAL I didn't know they'd only been 35 african-american Navy SEALs at that time in over 70 years he said I basically had to lose 160 pounds in less than three months because of my age I was getting too old I came back three months later 160 pounds lighter I thank you [Music] and literally I spent 18 months going through buds which is a six-month program went

through three whole weeks that is where I went 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 two million dollars for Special Operations Warrior Foundation but I'm gonna end you with this right here I had 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 willing to put those boots on every single day of his life to go out there and fight for this country where nobody even knows what the hell they're doing or what the hell they're at do you do for the man beside you thank you [Applause] you