Ben Seekell is an active-duty Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force and recipient of the Purple Heart, which is the oldest Military Decoration and given to those who are wounded or killed while fighting the nation’s wars. The Purple Heart is a solemn distinction and means a service member has greatly sacrificed themselves, or paid the ultimate price, while in the line of duty.
Full Audio Episode with Chapter Markers AND Topics:
https://passingthetorch.buzzsprout.com/1946508/12511782-ep-28-your-capacity-is-limitless-with-ben-seekell
FULL VIDEO Episode with Chapter Markers AND Topics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVzZGz6PtRA
More info about the guest:
Per the book Courage Under Fire: True Stories of Bravery from the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines - On May 8, 2011, Chief Seekell and his military working dog, Charlie, joined a security mission. As they returned to Bagram Airfield, they stepped on a landmine. The ground exploded, sending Chief Seekell and Charlie sailing through the air. Not aware that his leg was almost completely torn off, Chief Seekell tried calling out to members of his team. He was especially worried about his canine partner. Charlie suffered several shrapnel wounds and cowered in terror from the noise.
Chief Seekell faced a long, painful recovery. He had five surgeries, which included the amputation of his foot. He also struggled through about five hours of intense physical therapy every day. But Chief Seekell was determined to work with Charlie again. Only eight months after losing his foot, he passed the Air Force fitness test. Chief Seekell once again returned to active duty with Charlie at his side.
My Links
Podcast: https://www.passingthetorchpod.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04suOPTX3ny_M0aDxmBAXQ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pttorch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torchmartin/
TRANSCRIPT:
I tell myself, this most likely would be one of the hardest things that I accomplished this week. I did not want to go this morning. And that's how I knew I had to. And it gave me an appreciation for the things that people do. Even if I couldn't give it back to the specific people, give it to people that were going through similar things because I valued it. So yeah, just kind of changed the way I thought about people in a lot of respects. But I think telling them like we talked about earlier that they've already accomplished something. Give them a straw. What we need to give them is something to grab onto, something tangible, something easy. And then that process then starts to build and snowball. It's going to get done. I adopted that mentality into the last decade. And it was that kind of bullheadedness that periodically has paid dividends in my life.