What Happens When You're No Longer a Navy SEAL? | Mike Ritland on Life After the Military

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with former Navy SEAL, military working dog trainer, and founder of the Warrior Dog Foundation, Mike Ritland, to discuss life after the military, finding purpose beyond service, and the extraordinary capabilities of elite military working dogs. Mike opens up about the challenges veterans face when transitioning to civilian life, explaining how leaving the military can mean losing far more than a career. He explores the importance of identity, fulfilment, and finding a new sense of purpose, sharing how his passion for training dogs helped him build a meaningful life after the SEAL teams. Drawing on his extensive experience in special operations, Mike reveals the remarkable role military dogs play on the battlefield, including the incredible story of a war dog that was shot in the chest while protecting an elite special operations team. He also discusses the intense training required to prepare these animals for combat, the psychological effects of warfare on working dogs, and the difficult reality many face after retirement. Through his work with the Warrior Dog Foundation, Mike is dedicated to rehabilitating and rehoming retired military working dogs, giving these extraordinary animals the opportunity to experience a peaceful life after service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down to answer one of life's most difficult questions: how do you rebuild your life when everything falls apart? Drawing from his personal experience of hitting rock bottom, Jordan explores why emotional acceptance is essential to recovery, how small daily habits can rebuild self-respect, and why attempting to transform your life too quickly can ultimately lead to further setbacks. Throughout this deeply personal episode, Jordan breaks down the five pillars of spiritual wellbeing, physical health, appearance, diet and professional development. He explains how simple actions, from making your bed each morning to practising meditation, can establish the foundations for lasting personal growth. Jordan also discusses the importance of gratitude, personal accountability, therapy, mentorship and community when overcoming life's most difficult circumstances. Reflecting on his own journey, he reveals why even extraordinary achievements cannot replace the emotional work required to heal. Whether you're struggling with grief, relationship breakdown, depression, failure or simply feeling lost in life, this episode offers practical guidance on taking the first steps towards rebuilding your confidence, finding purpose and moving forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Laird Hamilton, the big wave surfer and tow-in surfing innovator, for a wide-ranging conversation on facing fear, finding flow state and building a life around constant pursuit. Laird explains how he learned to read the ocean, why he sees surfers as wave readers first and riders second, and how a lifetime in giant surf has shaped his relationship with risk and mortality. Laird takes us back to his childhood in Hawaii, where he first learned about the ocean at Pipeline, one of the most dangerous beaches in the world. He describes growing up poor and feeling like an outcast on land, and why the ocean became his sanctuary. He explains how repeated brushes with death recalibrated his mind, why he believes fear of death should be respected but never allowed to control you, and how experience builds a very different kind of courage from denial or ignorance. The conversation then moves to the moment that disrupted the surf world, when Laird rode an unrideable wave at Teahupo'o in Tahiti. He walks Jordan through the morning of the session, the technique of towing into waves too fast to paddle, and the intense moment inside the wave that left him in tears. He also opens up about the crash that follows a huge day, how he learned to recognise it and manage it, and why he believes half the solution is simply knowing the problem. Laird also shares his thoughts on ego and approval, why the ocean keeps humbling him, and what respect really means. He talks about the injuries that come with a life in the surf, why he has never seen himself as having retired, and how hydrofoiling keeps him in the position of a beginner. He discusses raising three daughters while continuing to chase big waves, staying with his wife Gabby for around 30 years, and why he lives by the rule "Never let your memories be bigger than your dreams." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Garrain Asé for a raw conversation about marriage, collapse and rebuilding from the ground up. Garrain opens up about the recent separation from his wife Blair, the four months he spent living alone in the family home, and the ego and old patterns he had to surrender to bring his marriage back. He traces his path from a twelve year prison sentence and a record deal through homelessness, near total despair and the public reckoning that first gave his story purpose. The conversation moves into the work Garrain now teaches around the world, from healing the wounded inner child to his belief that adults are simply deteriorated children still running programs installed in their first seven years. He breaks down his concept of death portals, the major collapses that precede real growth, and shares the exact words from Blair that pulled him back into the marriage. He also unpacks forgiveness as a matter of frequency rather than action, the emptiness that so often sits behind financial success, and why vulnerability rather than strength was the thing that ultimately saved his life. This is a conversation about humility, honesty and what it actually takes to become the man your family needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Mike Ritland, a former US Navy SEAL, working dog expert and founder of the Warrior Dog Foundation, for a conversation that runs from a childhood in Iowa to twelve years in the SEAL teams and a life now dedicated to saving retired military dogs from euthanasia. Mike traces his path from a bullied kid in a small Midwestern town, through to bootcamp at eighteen, BUD/S training and a first deployment responding to the USS Cole bombing in Yemen. He talks candidly about life as a SEAL instructor, the psychological pressure tactics used in Hell Week, and contracting Valley Fever, a fungal lung infection that permanently cost him forty per cent of his lung capacity and nearly ended his Navy career. The conversation turns to the moment that changed everything, hearing how an explosive detection dog saved a group of Marines in Iraq, and how that led Mike to found the Warrior Dog Foundation after being asked to take in two combat dogs that nobody else could home. He discusses the ongoing fight for government funded retirement facilities for military working dogs, fatherhood, emotional self control under pressure, and what he sees as the biggest threats facing young men today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Arthur Brooks, professor at Vanderbilt University and a leading researcher into the science of happiness, to unpack why success so often fails to deliver the fulfilment it promises. Arthur explains the arrival fallacy, the hedonic treadmill and why the brain can treat achievement much like it treats drugs, alcohol or gambling. He introduces Thomas Aquinas' four idols of money, power, pleasure and honour, and walks Jordan through identifying which one quietly drives his own decisions. The conversation moves into the dark triad personality, the real difference between kindness and niceness, and why boredom and an undistracted mind matter far more than we think in an age of constant notifications. Jordan opens up about his pilgrimage across the Scottish Highlands, and the two discuss suffering, faith and what it actually means to live a meaningful life. Arthur closes with a message for every striver watching, that no amount of success can ever substitute for being loved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Shaolin Master Shi Heng Yi for one of the most honest and revealing conversations they have had, exploring loss, ownership and the true meaning of contentment. Shi Heng Yi opens up about the most difficult period of his life, the past year and a half, which saw disciples leave, his reputation challenged and long held foundations shaken. He speaks candidly about the gap between public image and private reality, why he chose to remove the uniform for recent interviews and what it means to finally step outside the identity the world built for him. The conversation moves through Buddhist teachings on impermanence and attachment, the Western obsession with getting versus the liberating practice of letting go, and how fatherhood has become his greatest teacher. Shi Heng Yi reflects on watching his young son live entirely in the present moment and what that timelessness reveals about the complexity adults choose to carry. Jordan and Shi Heng Yi also revisit the now famous stone carry challenge, unpacking the unexpected peace that followed and why the weight was never really about the stone. This is a deeply philosophical and personal episode about surrendering the need to become someone, learning to own nothing and finding freedom in simplicity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavours with any purchase at ⁠http://drinklmnt.com/MULLIGAN In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Phil Campion, known to many as Big Phil Campion, a former UK Special Forces operator who passed selection into D Squadron. Phil opens up about a turbulent childhood spent in and out of children's homes, including abuse and relentless bullying, and explains how learning to control his own suffering as a boy shaped the calm he would later rely on under fire. He details the winding path that took him from a scholarship at a public school to the Royal Hampshire Regiment, and the blunt ultimatum from his commanding officer that finally pushed him towards Special Forces selection. The conversation moves through the realities of selection itself, the humbling first months inside the regiment, and the ethos of self-discipline that Phil credits as the single lesson that has shaped his life the most. He recalls being wounded by shrapnel on an operation in Africa, a harrowing capture and imprisonment in a shipping container in Togo, and a tense standoff during a kidnapping incident in Afghanistan. Phil is candid about the difficult transition into civilian life after his time on the private military circuit, including a period of heavy drinking and financial recklessness following operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also talks about rediscovering purpose through boxing, including organising charity fights between teams of SAS veterans and Navy SEALs, and reflects on the humility he believes defines genuine Special Forces operators. The episode closes with Phil's advice for young people who feel they have no clear path forward, drawn directly from his own journey through the care system and into one of the toughest selection courses in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavours with any purchase at ⁠http://drinklmnt.com/MULLIGAN In today's episode, Jordan spends a day with DJ Shipley, the former Navy SEAL Team 6 operator, to break down the daily routines, discipline and mindset that separate the great from the good. Shipley opens up the machinery behind his mornings and evenings, from laying out his clothes the night before to the three minute get-ready sequence he calls closing out the chapter, and explains why one hit of the snooze button can throw an entire day off course. The conversation moves from the granular to the philosophical. Shipley shares what he learned standing in the same rooms as elite performers, and why he is convinced that greatness is not genetics but unbroken repetition over decades. He talks about proximity to excellence, keeping yourself in student status, and the idea that discipline is simply magic that nobody wants to explain to you. There is a deeply personal thread running through it all. Shipley speaks candidly about the regret he carries for the version of himself he used to bring home, the small reset he now performs in the driveway before walking through the door, and the thirty minute blocks with his children that he refuses to trade away. He reflects on returning from injury, rebuilding confidence, and being present enough that your absence is actually felt. This is a masterclass in structure, consistency and control of the controllables, delivered by a man who has lived it at the highest level and now teaches it through his Be A Pro talks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shi Heng Yi explaining the meaning of the year of the Fire Horse is one of the most replayed moments from his full conversation on the podcast, a segment listeners keep returning to. In this popular clip from the full interview, Shi Heng Yi explains why the year of the snake became a year of release for him, and why moving on from an old version of himself felt less like loss and more like possibility. He speaks candidly about leaving surroundings he had known for years, relocating from Germany where the temple is based, and reshaping his daily life around his wife and his son. Shi Heng Yi reflects on how the identity he once held was shattered across many different layers, from the temple he built up to the masters he trained alongside, and how he chose acceptance over resistance. Drawing on the idea that something old must go in order for something new to arrive, he describes the difference between forcing change and allowing it to happen effortlessly, right in front of your eyes. Looking ahead to the year of the fire horse, Shi Heng Yi shares a striking perspective on energy and authenticity. Fire can fuel you or it can burn you, and the deciding factor is whether you move through the year as your authentic self. He talks openly about no longer needing validation, no longer feeling the urge to prove anything to anyone, and what it truly means to know who you are and stand fully behind it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices