Video summary
The podcast host begins by addressing recent statistics indicating that 76% of American adults aged 17 to 24 are ineligible for U.S. armed forces service due to obesity, medical issues, or criminal histories without waivers. He expresses serious concern over this trend and critiques the modern push for inclusivity when it is pursued merely as a political statement rather than based on operational necessity. Drawing from his own military experience, he argues that standards must be rooted in battlefield reality where failure can result in death. Consequently, he believes the military should remain extremely exclusive to ensure only those who meet rigorous physical, intelligence, and educational benchmarks are selected, warning against opening doors too broadly which would compromise mission effectiveness based on meritocracy rather than ideology. To illustrate his point about the dangers of prioritizing representation over capability, the host references a conversation with Heather McDonald regarding her book *When Race Trumps Merit*. He uses the example of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research to demonstrate how excessive affirmative action that disregards merit can slow down critical scientific progress, directly impacting human healthspan and lifespan. While he acknowledges that industries differ in degree rather than kind from military operations, he insists there is a distinct line where safety becomes paramount; if an individual cannot keep up with their platoon due to fitness limitations or conditions like diabetes, they endanger the entire unit. He posits that most sane people would accept incredibly rigorous entry standards because understanding mortal danger on the other side of failure makes meritocracy essential for survival. The discussion then shifts to a viral video showing Navy SEAL candidates being sprayed with tear gas and forced to sing "Happy Birthday" during selection training, which some critics claim is too harsh. The host initially dismisses these criticisms as uninformed but acknowledges that specific instructors involved in the incident may have exceeded their limits by using five or ten times more CS gas than authorized on an evolution sheet. He explains that while exposure to tear gas and forced breathing exercises are standard procedures designed to simulate real-world conditions where candidates might face chemical agents overseas, the primary issue was not the training itself but the lack of oversight allowing non-instructors to film the event for social media platforms like Instagram. Defending the necessity of such extreme measures, he details how forcing recruits to sing "Happy Birthday" or perform other tasks increases respiration rates in a toxic environment, simulating scenarios where holding one's breath against irritants could be fatal. He notes that while tear gas burns intensely and causes significant mucus production and respiratory distress, it is unlikely to kill someone without underlying medical conditions; however, the psychological impact of feeling like you are dying serves as a crucial cognitive test before facing actual combat. The host concludes that any instructor who deviates even slightly from the established evolution sheet violates safety protocols and should be punished, emphasizing that while public perception might view these events through an Instagram lens, those unfamiliar with the job cannot judge its essential requirements or risks accurately.
Read the full video transcript
I saw I quoted this in my newsletter
this week about these stats of how few
Americans can join 76 of percent of
American adults aged 17 to 24 either two
obese to qualify or have other medical
issues or criminal histories that would
make them ineligible to serve in the U.S
armed forces without a waiver I wish
that number was higher
I'm being dead serious I hear people I'm
all about inclusivity like I don't have
a problem with inclusivity it bothers me
when it's inclusivity for inclusivities
purpose and just for just so we can say
we're inclusive I think that the
military should be very exclusive I
think it should be extremely difficult
to be able to join and proceed down a
pipeline that you want to go down
because at the end of the day you I look
at what is it that you want to do and
what are the standards for that job what
are they based off of and I can only
speak through the lens of my own
previous military experience the
standards that are that our job was
based on and that we were held to came
from a Battlefield
and I don't give a [ __ ] about your woke
ideology because none of that matters
when you're covered with your friends
brains not a single stretch of that [ __ ]
matters whatsoever all of those
ideologies and all of these platforms
and and ideas that people want to put on
to the military just so they can say
that they did I think that they should
be removed I think it should be super
hard to get into the military we should
exclude most people from it because they
don't meet the physical standard the
uh whatever standards are listed with
the intelligence standard the
educational standards all of those
things that's a good thing
um I think we are headed down the wrong
path when we just start opening the
doors up and letting all of those people
in because that is not a military that
is based to operate in the environment
that the standards are based upon I had
a conversation with Heather McDonald who
has written a book called when race
trumps Merit and she's talking about how
affirmative action for different ethnic
groups is causing meritocracy to kind of
be thrown out of the window and it's it
kind of it's really uncomfortable
actually to to kind of go through
because there's a lot of pretty sort of
harsh and and disquieting stats that you
start to learn but the main thing that I
realized was
most people most sane people wouldn't
have a problem with the military having
an incredibly rigorous standard for
entry because they understand that if
you get this wrong mortal danger is on
the other side of it right if you have
somebody that is unable to keep up with
the rest of their platoon because of
their physical fitness or because
they've got diabetes or because they've
got a gluten intolerance or whatever
that person puts themselves into
everybody else at risk but really almost
all Industries are just a difference of
degree not a difference of kind away
from that so she used this example of
underrepresentation within Alzheimer
research or Parkinson's research but the
problem that you have if you start to do
an excessive amount of affirmative
action in that especially if you
completely disregard a mostly disregard
meritocracy is that you slow down
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's research
which is directly impacting people's
quality of life yeah so okay it's not
mortal danger but it's like Health span
and lifespan and it's mortal danger for
some precisely so you go okay and then
so where at which point all the way down
to the checkout operator you know like
at what point do we say that this
doesn't have a operating based on Merit
doesn't have a place to be within this
system it's really hard to find a line
at which you go yeah it's about there
it's about the person that
professionally does croak crochet or
[ __ ] bakes cakes or something like
that you know
I mean I I think that the the
conversation should be had and it's
probably going to be a shifting scale
depending on what you're talking about
um you know should it be as difficult to
join the military as it is to
work at a Dunkin Donuts no right like we
need to be able to have a sliding scale
we're an advanced species we have the
ability to think
let's use that skill a little bit more
did you see that
um criticism around
Navy SEAL selection being too harsh uh
as seals was sprayed with tear gas and
forced to sing Happy Birthday yeah you
see this video is [ __ ] awesome
what's your thoughts on that
um I mean I say that a little bit
tongue-in-cheek first off anybody who's
been through that pipeline has
experienced that and there's a few ways
that you can look at it from my
understanding what I will say is this
from my understanding from what I have
heard from other instructors that were
there
those particular instructors instructors
were a little bit off the reservation
and this can happen because instructors
again you wear this blue and gold
t-shirt in your hat and your shorts and
you roll your socks it's a super dumb
way and
it's just people they might all look the
same to the outside perspective but just
because you're an instructor or even a
seal doesn't mean that you're a good
person by any stretch you get the wrong
person in the wrong role bad [ __ ] is
going to happen so the amount of Cs gas
that they were exposed to from my
understanding exceeded what the
um what do they call it it's a
of course I can't remember right now
it's every it's an evolution cheat so
everything that happens in Seal training
that the room for imagination
is almost non-existent it's basically
like pull the three ring binder here is
what we are trying to accomplish it like
you know the mission statement here's
what we're trying to accomplish here's
our boundaries this is the evolution
this is what it is this is how long
we're going to do it for the students
don't know this so as a student it's
very chaotic I didn't know this until I
went back as an instructor like holy
[ __ ] like basically every day limits to
this the limits are unbelievable and the
safety net should be
incredibly robust but also invisible to
the students there's a portion of that
training I'm like yeah maybe you should
feel like you're gonna die you're not
going to die we're not gonna we're gonna
do our absolute utmost to prevent you
from dying even though it does happen
um but there's a psychological
test there as well it's a physical and
mental Crucible so
I have no issue with people being
exposed to CS gas because I was exposed
to CS gas uh the third phase of training
occurs out on San Clemente Island which
is where that video came from the
problem I have with it is
the training and those Evolution sheets
and again those standards
you can draw a very precise breadcrumb
trail to the why why do we expose people
to CS gas and training well because one
it's very common and the first time that
you're exposed to it probably shouldn't
be for real so what do we need to do we
should expose it to people in a training
environment where we can have a robust
medical staff problem is from my
understanding they involve people in
that that actually weren't necessarily
directly involved in the training
pipeline they exposed them to far too
much gas
and one of the biggest issues I have
with it is that there was some [ __ ]
idiot there filming it with a cell phone
do your job because I tell you right now
filming it for your Instagram page is
not your job and I don't know what you
think is going to come from that and the
reason they make you sing happy birthday
is that requires you inhale and exhale
it's the same they do that it's is that
what you did uh we didn't they didn't
have a sing Happy Birthday they like
there's all these like frog Man songs
that you sing when you're in training
and they'll just have you do something
that increases your respiration because
there's some people out there that can
hold their breath
now that holding your breath in an
environment will like it's still it's on
your clothes it's it sucks
what's it like what's it what's it burns
um have you ever uh well I was
my sister one time had like a little uh
mace spray thing and I had I don't mind
I had it in my pocket I sprayed it on
myself and then wiped my eyes I was
gonna say hey have you ever done that
but most people haven't because they're
not idiots no so
it would be it's uh it burns you it it
really burns your eyes water an
unbelievable amount
um within a few seconds you'll be
questioning how it's possible that your
body creates as much mucus as coming out
of your body
um you cough it can make seem like
people it's hard to breathe for some
people they describe it as they're
inhaling like Flames from this like very
hot
is it is it going to kill you unless you
have an underlying medical condition I
think it's so highly unlikely does it
feel like it's going to kill you
probably to some people and that's the
point we have to expose students to
those things that they may be exposed to
overseas I would rather have a student
have that experience and know
the cognitive decline the physical
decline the emotional Decline and the
impact that it's going to have on their
ability to do their job in training
before it happens in real life
now if the instructor staff went one
percent beyond what is on that Evolution
sheet then they are wrong for doing that
because that evolution is based on that
real world requirement they used 5x the
gas or 10x the gas then they should be
punished for that particular activity
but the the evolution and of itself is
essential
now somebody looking at that on
Instagram could be like oh well that
looks like torches like you don't know
anything about this job you're I'm not
saying your opinion isn't valid I'm just
not going to pay any attention to it
because you don't know what you're
talking about what's happening people if
you enjoyed that then press here for the
full unedited episode and don't forget
to subscribe
peace