Jason Redman:
The Overcome and Conquer Show is presented by The Project. The project is a full immersion, 75 hour experience, designed for men who know in their core they are not living up to their fullest potential. Rather than waking up every morning ready to dominate life, the mediocre man rolls out of bed and slides into the same unfulfilling routine they’ve unhappily been in for way too long.

Ray Care:
The Project is for men that have lost their internal flame, and motivation to conquer. It’s for men living an unfulfilling life that lacks excitement and purpose. Sound familiar? Then listen up.

Ray Care:
The Project is specifically designed to challenge you mentally and physically. We push you to the ledge of self-limiting beliefs, and prove you’ve got much more in the tank. We kill the bitch, and unleash the beast. We uncover the demons that hold you back, and turn extreme pain into super powers to dominate life. In the end, we turn mediocre men into modern day knights.

Jason Redman:
We forge a brotherhood and bond that levels you up as a better husband, father, and friend. But The Project is not for every man. In fact, it’s not for most. For men who are okay with being in a rut and achieving less than their fullest potential, The Project isn’t for you. If you’re not willing to put in the work to fix what isn’t working, The Project isn’t for you.

Jason Redman:
However, if you’re done white-knuckling it through life, living one day at a time with no sense of purpose, and are willing to do what it takes to improve, The Project holds the key to unlocking the next chapter.

Jason Redman:
Graduates of The Project join a brotherhood of modern day knights, and become the authors of their destiny. They have their fire reignited, and reclaim dominance over their family, fitness, finances, and faith. If this resonates with you, and you want to learn more, we encourage you to apply today at www.mdkproject.com/ocshow.

Ray Care:
Everybody wants to be on top of the mountain. The problem nowadays is, people want to get dropped off at the top of the hill and walk down.

Jason Redman:
It’s that I overcome mindset that makes all the difference.

Ray Care:
See the way we’re taught is you’re going to claw, you’re going to scratch, you’re going to bite, you’re going to dig, you’re going to do whatever it takes to get to the top of that mountain.

Jason Redman:
That unequivocally is how I have managed to keep myself moving forward, and find success.

Announcer:
Two SEALs, one mission. The Overcome and Conquer Show.

Jason Redman:
And welcome back to the Overcome and Conquer Show. We are running high. We are running fast. We are pushing. We are picking up heavy things and putting them down. Ray, bail me out here. I need your help, man.

Ray Care:
You came out hot, and you just fucking crashed. I don’t know what happened.

Jason Redman:
I did. It was ugly man. It was ugly. You know what happened, in the pre-show, we were talking about Tiger King, right?

Ray Care:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
Dude, all that was swirling around in my mind as I was trying to do a big intro. It just brought me to a grinding halt. I’m thinking tiger’s blood, yeah.

Ray Care:
Are you thinking it’s harder to get toilet paper, or tiger’s blood right now? Go.

Jason Redman:
Dude, it’s definitely harder to get toilet paper. I mean, it’s amazing.

Ryan:
It’s probably really-

Jason Redman:
We still have not gotten any since this started.

Ray Care:
Dude, I’m so selfish, I buy, I buy for five years when I go. Whenever I’ve done that, I’m waiting it out. I’m going to start selling shit for like $100 a roll. Just an actual, maybe a sheet. Just a sheet.

Jason Redman:
And dude, you should sign it. You should sign, it’s toilet paper signed by Ray “Cash” Care. Think how much people would pay for that.

Ray Care:
Just think if I signed it with your name, so when they wipe their ass they’re wiping it with your name. I could change that. I see what you’re doing. I don’t like it. I don’t like it.

Jason Redman:
Oh my God. So anyways, it has been crazy times, but obviously, hey, we’re going to overcome, that’s what happens. We will conquer this as always.

Ray Care:
Thank you.

Ryan:
Yeah, you’re welcome. I’m here.

Jason Redman:
Producer Ryan is going to squash the buy risk, because that’s what he does. So if you didn’t know that Ryan, I’m just letting you know.

Ryan:
Yep.

Ray Care:
Our producer is the cure. I don’t know if you knew that or not, but our producer-

Ryan:
Hey all you cool cats and kittens.

Ray Care:
If you listen to the Overcome and Conquer Show, you will be cured.

Jason Redman:
Yeah.

Ryan:
Cured.

Jason Redman:
We are the cure. Anyway, dude, we’re out there. We’re still doing stuff. Ray, you’ve been doing quite a bit of coaching, right?

Ray Care:
Yeah, I’m doing my online coaching. People are buying what I’m laying down. Try to help people with the seven points of performance, conquering fear, conquering adversity. My acronym for team, the three l’s of leadership. You name it man, it’s out there, and people are drinking it up. I’m [inaudible 00:04:56] it to them, and they’re sucking it up, man. So it’s good. How about you? What are you doing? I heard you wrote a book or something. I don’t know. That’s going well?

Jason Redman:
I’m doing the same. Well, that’s out there, man. It’s just more of trying to teach people the same as you, man. Just trying to coach. I got the Overcome Army Group Coaching Program. We’ve been getting into the virtual … Dude, you’re a stud. Thank you. Thank you for your shameless plug.

Jason Redman:
But yeah, we’ve been doing the online webinars. I’ve been speaking to a lot of companies. A lot of companies are struggling with their people out there who are working from home, they’re struggling to build that structure, on how to get through the day with all the distractions. How to maintain that positive mindset. So that’s what I’m doing.

Jason Redman:
Speaking of positive mindset. Man, our guest that we have today is the epitome of that. I got to tell you man. I will say right off the bat, if he was Navy, or maybe even a Marine, which would be a department of the Navy, he probably would be held at a higher level. But he is an Army guy. Hang on, I got to stop to-

Ray Care:
I know. I know, go. How did the Army do the last game against the Navy? How’d they do? I know he can’t say anything right now, but I don’t know.

Jason Redman:
Not so good.

Ray Care:
He’s got to be quiet. He’s sitting here. He’s ready to let me have it, but that’s okay.

Jason Redman:
Yeah, guys, no. I want to jump right in. We want to get into the show because this guy, I know that many of you have seen him out there. He’s been featured on Fox News. He’s been featured on so many of the morning news networks.

Jason Redman:
He is an absolutely amazing example of fortitude and resilience. He is hysterical, man. I love his sense of humor. I’ve watched several of his online speeches. But he has been through things that most people could never even comprehend. But he is a retired US Army Sergeant. He was a part of the 82nd Airborne.

Ray Care:
Airborne.

Jason Redman:
And now he is out there. He suffered a severe injury on April 10th, 2012. On that day, it forever changed his life, losing his arms and legs. But he has never let it stop him. I actually met him in the hospital at Walter Reed. Even from that, right at the very beginning, it hadn’t been that long. I think it was a year after his injuries. Even then, he was positive. He was focused. He told me then, “I’m going to get out and be a motivational speaker.” That is exactly what he is doing now. He is getting out there. He is setting the example.

Jason Redman:
He is an actor. He is an author. He is an advocate for veterans and amputees. He has the New York Times Bestselling book. Tough as they come. He also has the Travis Mills Foundation. And he has an amazing documentary about himself, about him and his story, called Travis, A Soldier’s Story. It is my great honor to introduce Mr. Travis Mills, to the Overcome and Conquer Show. Welcome to the show, Travis. We’re glad to have you on, even though you are Army.

Travis Mills:
Well, all that nice stuff, and then you end it with that. Well let me tell you something.

Jason Redman:
Yeah, you like that?

Travis Mills:
Thanks for having me on. And I’m going to ask you a question about the Army, Navy stuff. I want to ask both of you fine gentlemen. How is that the Army follows standards, and they have everybody in their regulations, and somehow your linemen are 300 pounds? That doesn’t seem right to me. Because there’s weight limits and restrictions in the military, but somehow the Navy guys are just running amok when it comes to standards, and I don’t really care for it. Because that’s why you guys killed us that time.

Jason Redman:
I can’t argue with that. We have been running amok for years.

Ray Care:
I can articulate the reason for that. Just so you know, there are height and requirements, and weight requirements. You agree, right Travis, when you join the military?

Travis Mills:
I know this. Yes.

Ray Care:
So I’m 5’7″ 205 pounds, and yet, I could still crush the PT. And as a Navy SEAL, I was a little lighter, but I was still 25 pounds over. But they let it happen because my PT scores were so much. So I think the problem that you’re having is, is the reason why the linemen are 300 pounds, and the Army’s aren’t, is because even at 300 pounds, our guys are in such great shape, that they can pass the PT test, and I don’t think Army guys can.

Travis Mills:
That’s cute. That’s cute. Okay.

Ray Care:
See how I did that? Okay.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. Wow, highs and lows. Thank you very much. Can you pick me up off the ground? My arms and legs aren’t good at helping with that anymore.

Jason Redman:
Damn Ray, you’re such an asshole.

Travis Mills:
No, I’m just saying. If you can grab my self-esteem. It’s all the way down there. I just can’t really get it. But anyway. No, I’m just kidding. I’m excited to be here, and I thank you so much. I tell you what, what an introduction for the producer. Just a great job over there. You killed it. You killed it today with your kittens, and I’m not sure what you said now, but it was funny.

Ray Care:
That was a Carole quote.

Travis Mills:
Yes, yes it was. She’s the root of all evil. I’m not so sure Jeff Lowe is not, but these other two, [crosstalk 00:09:59]

Jason Redman:
We were talking about that at the beginning. You firmly believe that she is the cause of you losing your limbs.

Travis Mills:
She’s got to be the Taliban. How could she not be?

Jason Redman:
I believe that she also orchestrated that ambush that I was in in Iraq.

Travis Mills:
100%, 100%. She put the call in, and it happened. Let’s not go in the past though. Let’s just keep pushing forward, and have a great time. Like I said, thanks so much for having me on the show today.

Jason Redman:
Hang on. I don’t want to get too far past this, and I don’t want to start a conspiracy theory. But I think she created the coronavirus too.

Ray Care:
Yeah, she gave me the-

Travis Mills:
I put an email today. Yep.

Ray Care:
I have to say, we are totally joking here. Please don’t take us to court. We’re just joking. Because she’s taking people to court over things that have been said about here. So we got to put that disclaimer out there.

Jason Redman:
If she wants to take us to court that we’re saying she’s behind the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and coronavirus, feel free.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, there we go. Whatever.

Ray Care:
Well, got to watch the show.

Jason Redman:
Yeah, yeah. All right, all right.

Ray Care:
All right, Travis is like, “He’s right. You got to watch the show, I mean, she totally would.”

Travis Mills:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
Right, well let’s jump into the show. Tiger King aside, seems to be the basis of so much going on. I got to tell you guys, if you’ve never met Travis, if you’ve never watched his story, you haven’t read his book, you need to get out there and get it. I tell you what, we asked him what defined him. I tell you what, he gave a word, and it encapsulates everything the Overcome and Conquer Show is about, because when you’re hit with adversity, you’ve got to have this trait. So Captain Care.

Ray Care:
Yes sir?

Jason Redman:
Would you like to do the honors with the word of the day?

Ray Care:
Yeah. So how it works, Trav, is we’re going to say the word of the day. Obviously I pulled up the dictionary version. And then, you tell us why you picked the word, and what it means to you. So the word that you picked, sir, was stubborn. And I actually think this is probably the best word we’ve had thus far. So reading it right off the dictionary version, it’s having or showing dogged determination not to change one’s attitude, or position on something. I love it. So what does that mean to you? And how does that relate to you and your story?

Travis Mills:
Well, I mean it relates in a lot of ways. When I was injured, I used to sit there and ask why this happened, and hope, wish, and pray it didn’t. I’d close my eyes, and then I realized it’s never going to change, so why dwell on it?

Travis Mills:
People told me I wasn’t going to be able to leave the hospital as fast as I wanted. I wasn’t going to be able to do the things that I wanted. I’m just so stubborn, I was like, “Nope. We’re going to get after it.” So within five weeks I had an arm again, that I was working with. I had my legs walking on short legs in seven weeks.

Travis Mills:
I think stubbornness, and stubborn pride really, was a big factor of how I was able to progress in my life and my injury, and be where I am today, where I can drive, feed myself. I’m married still. My wife didn’t leave me. I told her she should. She wanted that handicap parking, so she stayed.

Ray Care:
So selfish of her.

Travis Mills:
My following is big enough now where if she wanted to leave I told her I would just put it on Facebook, and all the social media, and it would ruin her. So she stays, obligations.

Jason Redman:
Well played, blackmail, as always.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, thank you.

Jason Redman:
Love it.

Travis Mills:
Well, it’s just a little nudge. So my daughter was six months old when I was injured. My son now is two and a half years old. My daughter is going on nine years old. But I realized that I was going to be her father no matter what position I was in, whether it was with arms and legs, or without. I had to be stubborn about my recovery, because I wasn’t just doing it for myself. It wasn’t about Travis Mills anymore. It was about the quality of life that I could give to my family, my wife, and my daughter at the time. And now my wife and two children.

Ray Care:
You know, I love your definition, and what it means, and what it stands. Because think about it, when society usually hears the word stubborn, I think of no offense, I think of a jackass. I think of someone who’s not willing to change. It’s always in a negative perception.

Ray Care:
But when you say it, that’s when you said that, literally, a light came on. It’s rare that the light comes on in this brain. I literally went, “Holy fuck, that’s amazing.” Because obviously I know your story. I think more people need to be stubborn. When I told you it was one of the best words I’ve heard, it’s because it resonated with me so much. Because I know you’re doing so much for the vets. My message to the vets is guys, be more stubborn. Stay the path. Stay the course. So I love it brother. I love it.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, and I appreciate that. For me, it was more I didn’t want to change who I was. People will tell me when they see me after my injury like, “Oh my gosh. You’re the same person that you were before.” I’m like, “Yeah, I haven’t changed. I mean, I’ve lost my limbs. But I’m the same person.” I think it just took a little bit of stubborn pride, is what I tell people that pushed me through. Because I wasn’t going to let this affect my life negatively.

Travis Mills:
People always say, “Hey, you’re that wounded guy.” I’m like, “I use the term re-calibrated.” Because I think wounded has negative connotations. I was wounded, right, I had been injured. But now I’m healed up. I have scars, so I’m re-calibrated. I have a new normal. The first time that someone will meet me, their pity in their eyes, they can’t not have it. I get it. It’s human of us. They’re like, “Oh, you poor thing.” I’m like, “Look, I’m fine. I do everything I want to do. I had one bad day at work, case of the Mondays, and now I’m pushing forward in life.”

Travis Mills:
I live in a nation that takes care of me, the greatest nation ever, where I actually am an owner and part owner in four different businesses, and I run a very successful non-profit. So it’s going well for us. I have nothing to complain about, because there’s nothing that was in front of me except for time and opportunity. I seized on both, to the best of my ability, and I’m going to keep pushing forward and being stubborn so I can have what I want in life still, after my injury.

Jason Redman:
I love it. So let’s rewind. Let’s go back. So your word is stubborn. What I want to know, and what people want to know is, before all this happened, growing up, who is and what made you this stubborn person that you are? Have you always had that mindset before this happened, as a child? Take us back, and bring us to this point right now if you can.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. I was really big into sports, football, basketball, baseball, other things and track, and stuff like that. No matter what the situation, you always thought you could win. I was always put in a leadership role, captain of all the teams. Very happy about that. But I think that’s just something you’re probably born with, but also put into you. My dad and my mom were very driven. They still are. They’re very driven people. They want the best for you. They want you to succeed, but you have to be willing to put the work in.

Travis Mills:
Look, you guys probably didn’t know this, without me telling you, by looking at me. But 1993 karate state champion in Michigan, right here. The first time I ever went to a karate match, I fought a girl. When I was fighting this girl, sparring with her, I wouldn’t hit her. The girl won. She was hitting me, and I was trying to block it, but then I didn’t hit her, and then I lost.

Travis Mills:
My mom was like, “Well Travis, why didn’t you fight back?” I’m like, “Well she’s a girl. You can’t hit her.” And my mom’s like, “Well, okay, that’s good. But next time, if you’re in a sparring match, you can actually hit a girl.” You should have saw the next girl I got. I mean I clobbered her.

Jason Redman:
Beat the fuck.

Travis Mills:
Oh yeah, yeah. I didn’t feel bad. But no, I think it’s always been ingrained in me. If you want it bad enough, and you work hard enough, you could achieve it.

Travis Mills:
For me in my life after injury, I just wanted normalcy again. I wanted to have the ability to go to work every day, or do something productive. A lot of guys in my situation, they folded in. They take their disability, or their pension, and just, “Okay, cool.” And play video games and sit in my house all day.

Travis Mills:
Whereas, I’m like, this quarantine stuff is just not for me. I’ve been on the phone with three different hours of this day already, with different businesses and whatnot. I’m going insane because I love my family, but I also, I got to be out doing something. I think that’s part of being stubborn. I’m fortunate, and I’m just going to keep pushing forward.

Jason Redman:
Travis, what led you into … You talked about being a big athlete, and obviously growing up, up there in Michigan. What led you into the Army? What brought you down that path?

Travis Mills:
It’s surprising. When I was in high school, and I played football, and baseball, and basketball, and I was captain of the team, and I never sat and understood what it was like to be on the bench. But I also didn’t really try hard at school. I passed. I wasn’t at the top half of the class. I’m the bottom half of the class that made the top half look good, and give them that. But in truth-

Jason Redman:
You’re a giver.

Travis Mills:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
You did that on purpose, right?

Travis Mills:
What a good guy, right? No, I was a b, c student. I’m not going to sit there and say I got a’s, I got a’s in weightlifting. Like you couldn’t tell. So then I went to college, and I realized, I’m $10,000 in debt. I’m playing in college football, which is great. But I don’t like school at all. I don’t like the classes. I don’t focus on it. I’m not going to waste my money on this.

Travis Mills:
I just was like, we got to try something different. So I went back to my hometown, and tried going to college there. I just realized, no, I need some adventure. I went to talk to all the recruiters and narrowed it down between the Army and the Marines. Because the Navy had kind of a negative stigma about them in 2006. I didn’t know about the Navy SEALs, you guys weren’t as famous as you guys are now.

Jason Redman:
It was the bell bottoms, and the dixie hat, wasn’t it? We still got it.

Travis Mills:
I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying it had a negative stigma. I went to the Air Force’s office three times, three days in a row, different times, and nobody was ever there, because you know, they don’t do anything.

Jason Redman:
It’s the Air Force.

Travis Mills:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
He was on the golf course.

Travis Mills:
So I went to the Marines, and I stood in that office, and this 6’4″ just behemoth stands up, bald-headed, barrel-chested. He’s like, “You want to be a Marine?” I’m like, dude’s intense. I’m like, “I don’t know, maybe.” Then he’s like, “I’ll put you in a career field.” I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded cool. I was like, “That’s awesome.” Which really just meant, if you pick a job, you’re probably not going to get that job. You’re going to get put where they put you.

Travis Mills:
Well then I went to the Army, and they offered me $24,000 signing bonus, and I was like, “That don’t sound too bad.” And I said, “Hold that thought though, because I’m no dummy. Obviously you guys can tell by looking at me.” Except for I walk into bombs, but anyway, whatever. Let’s get beyond that point.

Ray Care:
That was later. That was later.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, right. Yeah, if I could read, I would have saw the sign that said, bomb right here. Jeez. But I went back to the Marine’s office and I asked about the signing bonus. He stood up again, and he’s like, “Honor, duty, respect.” Or something. I’m like, “That sounds great. But I’m talking cash money.” And he’s like, “There’s no money here.” And I was just like, “What idiot would join that branch in service?” There was just so many.

Ray Care:
So it came down to the cold hard cash?

Travis Mills:
Yeah, yeah. No, my dad was in the Army. They showed me an Airborne Infantry video. The Marines are cool and all, but I wanted to be Airborne, so I went after it. But the money did help pay my college loans off. So that wasn’t bad.

Jason Redman:
Nice, nice. So obviously you went in, you joined, you became a part of the 82nd Airborne-

Travis Mills:
Greatest division ever known to mankind.

Jason Redman:
Right out of Fayetteville. I used to live in Lumberton, if you know where that is.

Travis Mills:
Oh yeah, 30 miles.

Jason Redman:
Yep, so my dad actually worked on Bragg. My sister worked on Bragg, at Pope Air Force base. So I know that base very well. How many deployment … When did you come into the Army?

Travis Mills:
I went into the Army in 2006, in March. And then I made it to Fort Bragg in August, after base training, Airborne school. And then I deployed by January of ’07, for my first time. We went for 15 months that time.

Jason Redman:
Did you go to Afghanistan then, or Iraq?

Travis Mills:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
Okay.

Travis Mills:
Yep, all three times I went was Afghanistan. So I went to Afghanistan as a private E2. And because I was infantry, I was on a personal security attachment team for a colonel, a PSD team, which is the awesomest job ever. Because I’m a E2, I should be getting treated like shit, but I’m not. And they’re like, “Well you’re infantry, so you get to have your own truck.” I was a truck commander at 19. I’m like, “I don’t know anything more than anybody else. But the rest of the people that were on the team were cooks, and a smorgasbord of different MOS’s, they’re like, “Well you’re infantry.” I’m like, “Well that means four more weeks of training. That’s all that means. But okay.”

Travis Mills:
We went on patrols, and we had a great time. Coming back every night. I worked out three hours a night, and had hot food most of the time for dinner. But it was a good experience.

Travis Mills:
And then while I was over there, I had a medic named Josh Buck. He’s from Texas, but we knew everything about each other, great guy. He went home to watch his daughter be born in September of ’07. When he was at home, he was showing his family pictures of the team he was on. My picture was one of them. I was on supplements I found in Germany, Western Union style. I was 6’3″ 275, 22″ biceps, like, “What’s up? I got a small penis.” Can I say that?

Jason Redman:
Yeah, absolutely.

Ray Care:
Yeah, absolutely. You can say anything you want.

Jason Redman:
Absolutely you can say that.

Ray Care:
Say anything you want.

Jason Redman:
I’m 5’8″ 170, I got a small penis, so it’s all good, man.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, there we go. There we go. So anyways, he went home and he showing everybody these pictures, and while he was showing them off, his little sister, who was 18 and in college thought I looked good. I never knew he had a sister. He didn’t tell me about her. She sent a MySpace friend request. This is MySpace days.

Ray Care:
Wow. Holy smokes. We’re talking old school.

Travis Mills:
Oh yeah. So I hit accept, right, because that’s what you do to antagonize people. We started chit chatting, turns out we really enjoyed each other’s company, and decided we should hang out some time. So here she is, 18 in college in Dallas. I’m 20 in Afghanistan. Never met her before.

Travis Mills:
I’m coming home for my 18 days R&R in December. I’m like, “You know what we should do, we should go on a vacation.” So we went to Cozumel, Mexico. I flew in and picked her up. Her parents were not pleased. I never met her before. We flew to Cozumel, Mexico for a week, back to Michigan for a week. I went back overseas. And I came back, and we got married shortly after.

Travis Mills:
My medic was pissed. He’s like, “If you get hit, I’m not going to save you.” I’m like, “Well that’s not nice, but I understand it.” Yeah, so I met my wife through my medic on my first deployment. And the first time, our first date was a week long vacation to Cozumel, Mexico, believe it or not.

Jason Redman:
That’s what most people do, right?

Travis Mills:
I think so. Yeah, when I check it, yeah. That’s usually what happens.

Ray Care:
Mine didn’t go like that. I was just staring at my wife for 30 minutes until she finally talked to Dave Broderick. I like yours better.

Jason Redman:
That was at Hot Tuna, right?

Ray Care:
Yes it was.

Jason Redman:
Yes, yes. The old stomping grounds. Hot Tuna was a bar here. It was a bar in Virginia Beach. Anyways, I’m going to stay away from that. I’m just going to leave that alone.

Ray Care:
I actually worked there.

Travis Mills:
Did you really?

Ray Care:
I sold more jello … The women waitresses would always sell jello shooters, and I was like, “Let me sell some.” And I ended up getting in it, and I outsold them every single night.

Jason Redman:
Dude.

Ray Care:
Yeah, I was 19.

Jason Redman:
Did you wear the same outfit they did?

Ray Care:
No, but I carried the bus pan with one hand above. Man, women would be grabbing me. It was crazy.

Jason Redman:
Nice.

Travis Mills:
Wait a second, was this by a Navy base?

Ray Care:
Yes.

Jason Redman:
Yes.

Ryan:
It’s kind of close, yeah.

Travis Mills:
Not surprised you sold more.

Ray Care:
Yeah, it’s in between … Oh, I get what he’s doing. Took a minute.

Jason Redman:
Well played. Well played. So Travis, let’s jump forward. You’re in the military. You’ve met this amazing woman, shit’s going great. Tell us about April 10th, 2012, and then-

Travis Mills:
Yeah, yeah.

Jason Redman:
Tell us how that went down.

Travis Mills:
If I could, I did another year on deployment, came back, bought a house, had a kid. And I had orders to send me to Portland, Texas. My unit was going back to Afghanistan. This was in 2011, 2012. I was like, “It’s not fair to my guys that I don’t go overseas with them.” So my wife understood the calling.

Travis Mills:
To be honest, tax-free money didn’t sound so bad with a newborn for nine months. I was a Weapons Squad Leader, so it was a great position to do overseas. My whole goal was to go overseas for one more deployment, come back, become a recruitment, go into the recruiting sector, and then finish my degree and become and officer.

Travis Mills:
My wife okayed the deployment. My Sergeant Major canceled my orders. I left for Afghanistan February 2012. The first day in-country was a huge fire fight. The second day was huge, very hot zone. We got a phone call from the village [inaudible 00:26:50] he would call us up, and he would ask us to do things, or say, “Hey, we need help here.”

Ray Care:
Netflix and chill.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, 100%, yeah. We went out April 10th, like normal. We flipped the ground. Every time we went on patrol, we had a guy that had a minesweeper that would sweep the ground and see if the ground was disturbed, had GPR, or ground penetrate, yeah, radiation or something. He swept the ground not once, but twice. So marked it all safe and clear.

Travis Mills:
We came to a short halt, and I took my backpack off. This really simple, 120 pound backpack, I took it off my back and sat it on the ground. When it hit the ground, it landed on top of a bomb. The bomb took my right arm, right leg off automatically. It threw me on the left side of my face. When I rolled over, my left eye started to swell shut, but I could still see out of it. My right eye, obviously I could see out of.

Travis Mills:
When the dust, and the smoke, and everything cleared, my left leg was dangling. I was snapped through the bone, but muscle and tendon holding it. So if you could imagine your left ankle bone touching your left thigh, that was going on for me. I had my wrist blown out really bad, on my left arm, but I still had use of my thumb, index, and middle finger at the time.

Travis Mills:
So I hit the ground, roll over, see everything that happens. My medic, Dan, runs up to work on me. I tell him, “Hey man, you’re not going to save me. Don’t worry about it.” Because in my head, I’ve seen guys die for a lot less injury, right. I thought, no way I’m going to make it, don’t waste your time. I got guys injured. He ignores me, puts tourniquets on my right side. My platoon sergeant puts tourniquets on my left side, and within 20 seconds, they had tourniquets on all four limbs. Really fast-acting.

Travis Mills:
While they’re working on me, in my head, I keep seeing the movie Saving Private Ryan, and I keep thinking about when the medic gets shot in the stomach. He cries out for his mom. He begs not to die, and ulitmately he dies. And I thought, “I’m never going to let my guys see that out of me.” Not that I was crazy, or careless with my life. But I was always first in a fire fight, I never showed fear, I always exude confidence. That’s what you do as a leader, right. I mean, you guys obviously know that.

Travis Mills:
So I wasn’t going to let them see any fear in me now. Because if this is their last memory of me, it was going to be calm, cool, and collected. I told my medics, “Hey guys, whatever happens, it’s fine.” But while Dan’s working on me, I radio my LT, I still have my left hand, so I reached my trucker mic, and I called my LT. I said, “Hey six, this is four. I got guys injured over here. Can you come, or bring your medic over, and let him work on Ryan and Brandon?” And he did. [inaudible 00:29:11] came over, worked on him, then worked on me.

Travis Mills:
I kept reassuring them like, “Hey guys, whatever happens, happens. You’re not going to change this.” And then they load me on a helicopter. They got me into the hospital. As they’re pushing me through the hallway, I kept trying to sit up. And I kept telling nurses, “Quit touching me. I’m fine. Leave me alone. I got to get back to my guys.” And finally, the one nurse was like, “Look Sergeant Mills, I don’t know how you’re still awake right now, but you need to go to sleep.” And they knocked me out. I looked at that nurse, and the last thing I asked her was like, “My little girl, am I ever going to see her again?” Because my daughter was six months old.

Travis Mills:
I figured out, nine doctors, and seven nurses went to work on me, and two nurses for nine hours pumped air in and out of my lungs. But the first thing they did was they took my pants off. When they did all that, my left leg basically came off with it. So I was a triple amputee, 14 hours of surgery, 400 units of blood, which is the most blood ever given in Afghanistan, at that point. I don’t know if it’s still the case. I hope it is. Not because I want to hold the record, but that means no one got injured to the extent of that. And I’m a winner, so I want to hold the record.

Jason Redman:
I was going to say, bragging rights. There’s nothing wrong with bragging rights, bro. So we’re just going to declare on the Overcome and Conquer Show, that you are the winner of the most units of blood ever given in Afghanistan.

Ray Care:
Yeah.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. I mean until someone tells me different, that is true. My blood type actually changed. I went from A+ to universal. They had to do a mass call, call out to have people in Russia donate blood. So I had a bunch of test after the fact-

Ray Care:
Do you speak Russian now?

Travis Mills:
No, no. I don’t, but I’m close, close. Obviously I know servas, and por favor. You know what I’m saying?

Ray Care:
Dude, that’s great Russian.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, and then un de hablos banos, for sure.

Ray Care:
Yeah, tequila, tequila.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. But no, that’s how April 10th went for me.

Jason Redman:
So right off the bat. What’s your first memory after the injury? When you came to, and you were aware of where you were at. One, that you were still alive, and two, how quickly before you realized that you were a triple amputee? And then what was that process before they had to take your other leg?

Jason Redman:
Hold that thought.

Ryan:
Yeah, sorry.

Travis Mills:
Don’t worry about it. You’re good.

Jason Redman:
Producer Ryan, what, dude?

Ryan:
No one heard it. No one heard it.

Jason Redman:
So do you want me to ask that again?

Ryan:
Yeah, if you would like.

Jason Redman:
So Travis, what were your first thoughts when you came to, and you actually were aware of your surroundings? And a, you realized you were still alive, so you were going to be able to go see your daughter? But b, when you realized, man, I’m a triple amputee. And then, when did they have to take your other leg?

Travis Mills:
Well, okay so at that point they had to take my other arm two days later. But when I was injured … I’m not trying to correct you. I’m sorry.

Jason Redman:
No please, sorry.

Travis Mills:
But when I was injured, they medically sedated me on the operating table, or whatever to put me to sleep before they worked on me. They kept me sedated for four days. So when you guys go overseas, do you guys, as the Navy SEALs, do you guys call it a blue book? In the Army, that’s what we call it, where you basically plan your funeral?

Jason Redman:
Yes.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, so you got to plan your funeral, music, buried with, type of funeral, whatever. The last thing they ask you in ours is who escorts your body home? So my brother-in-law Josh, who I’m great friends with, was that person. So they flew him into Kandahar, and then they kept me medically sedated, and then they flew me to Bagram April 12th, and he flew with me because they still weren’t sure if I was going to make it or not. My skin had died on my hand. So they cut it off before I even knew I still had it, after the first initial surgeries.

Travis Mills:
Two days after that they flew me to Landstuhl Germany. Josh was with me as well. I got to Germany on April 14th. They woke me up for the very first time. When I finally came to, the only person in my room was actually my brother-in-law. When I saw him, I said, “My soldiers. How are my soldiers?” First thing I asked him. And he told me, “Ryan’s here. Brandon’s here. You took most of the blast. They’re going to heal up. They got some dings, but they’ll be okay.” And then I finally after that said, “Okay, am I paralyzed?” And he said, “No.” And I looked at him and said, “Josh, you don’t got to lie to me, man. You can tell me the truth. I can’t feel my fingers and toes.” And he goes, “Look, you’re not paralyzed, Travis. You don’t have them anymore.” And I was like, “Oh, okay.” And I didn’t talk to anybody for three hours.

Travis Mills:
So the doctors would come in, nurses come in. Josh would ask questions. I’d look in the other direction, because I wasn’t ready to have that conversation. In my head, I had my own questions. Am I a bad person? What did I do wrong in life? How could I be a husband and a father? Does God hate me? Is this a punishment for something? The last thing I was asking was, why didn’t I just die? How is this better for anybody? I mean, let alone me and having no arms and legs now. So I’m a 25 year old baby that has to ask for people to put food in my mouth, to change me, to dress me. How is this going to be better?

Travis Mills:
That was a hard, hard thing to come to grips with. He finally shined, my brother-in-law, for three hours, he was like, “Look man, you got to call your wife and your parents.” I agreed. My wife, when I called her for the first time, I just said, “Hey, what’s up? I’m fine. Love you, bye.” That’s it. I didn’t want to have a conversation with her.

Travis Mills:
My parents, about the same thing. But my mom yelled, “Hey, happy birthday.” Because it was actually my 25th birthday that day, that I woke up for the very first time. And then three days after that, they flew me home to Walter Reed, and my wife saw me for the very first time, and they made her sign a clipboard. My right leg had ripped open. So my sutures split open. They had to cut two inches off my right leg, or I was going to bleed out and die. So she signed a clipboard, they did that.

Travis Mills:
The next day, on the 18th, she came in. I told her she should leave. I have nothing left to offer. She can have the house, the cars, any money saved up. She’s like, “That’s not how this works. We’ll get through this together.” So she stayed, and we decided to get through this together. It was 19 months at Walter Reed, of recovery. But it was the worst time of my life, but at the best place possible to be at.

Jason Redman:
Wow, man, that’s … For anybody out there that’s ever gone through some level of adversity, I mean, I can’t imagine that process. I mean, I know just my process, and I didn’t have injuries even close to what you had. Going through that thought process of the permanence of our injuries. For me, it was facial disfigurement, which really, in the grand scope of things is nothing compared to obviously losing multiple limbs.

Jason Redman:
But I can’t imagine, one of the big things you’ve talked about, and all the way through, how your wife, and your family have been such an instrumental part. I know mine has been also. Talk to me just a little bit about that. Obviously, your wife is a rock star. I mean, she didn’t stay with you, I guarantee, when you told her to get lost, she didn’t say, “Look, remember, Cozumel, that’s why I’m still here.” There’s a lot more to that. She’s been by your side. Because you and I both know, there’s so many individuals that have been severely injured, that it breaks relationships. I see it all the time.

Travis Mills:
Oh yeah.

Jason Redman:
How did you guys stay strong all the way through?

Travis Mills:
Well you know, we were very fortunate with great support from our family as well. Walter Reed is a phenomenal facility. They had everything I was going to need to live there, be able to walk again, and feed myself, and drive again. But the Fisher House is a big part of the success of that place. They put you up in a room for free, so your family can come in. My parents were there. My in-laws were there. They swapped out to help Kelsey and I out, because we did have a six month old.

Travis Mills:
Eventually, after I got out of the hospital and got on my way a little bit, life had to return to normal. So my mom and dad went back home, and my father-in-law, who I … Look, I mean, we got along. But we talked like twice a year in person. For the four years that Kelsey and I were married, before I was injured. And then he offered to retire from his job early, move into the hospital with Kelsey and I, and help take care of Chloe and me. We became the closest friends. We work together. He was just here setting my phone up. He’s my neighbor in Maine here, and we’re like best friends.

Travis Mills:
But, a lot of this is attributed to him, and all he’s done as well to help, and put his life on hold to come help his daughter out, and then ulitmately, it helped me out too, but he did it for Kelsey. And then me and him became very close. So, this whole family thing. But my wife, I told her she should leave me, she just was like, “That’s not how this works.”

Travis Mills:
And I’ve never been stern with my mom. I want everybody to know, I never swore at my mom. I’ve never yelled at my mom out of anger. You don’t do that where I’m from. I think where anybody’s from, but especially where I’m from. But I was stern one time with my mom. I woke up one day, about probably three, four weeks into my recovery. I said, “Hey, where’s Chloe at? And what time is she coming?” My mom said, “Well she’s already come, but you were sleeping, so we just let you sleep.” I looked at my mom, and I said, “Don’t ever do that again. She is the only reason this is worth getting better.”

Travis Mills:
And my daughter was my driving force. Not to put any weight on my daughter’s shoulders. She was six months old. But having her roll a ball back and forth to me was just the whole reason I was like, “All right, I got to keep going.” And not a lot of dads out there can say this, but I actually learned how to walk when my daughter was learning how to walk. So we learned how to walk together. I have great footage of her holding my hand. Because they make short legs and tall legs. And the short legs don’t have knees that bend, you’re very stable. When you walk around the gym, the ones I work out in now with. But I was able to hold her hand and walk around the military advanced training center, the MATC, the gym. Everything has an acronym in the military, but it’s really just a gym. But she was holding my hand, and learning how to walk while I was walking her around, and learning how to walk as well.

Travis Mills:
There’s been great memories that come from this. And if you look hard enough, you’ll find the good in anything. I’ve been very fortunate to be blessed with supportive family. Not just mine, my parents, my sister, and brother, and stuff like that. But my wife, and her family as well.

Jason Redman:
Dude, that’s awesome man. And that’s such a powerful statement. If you look hard enough, you can find the good in anything. People need to understand that. You’re such a shining example of that.

Jason Redman:
All right. Hang on one second. We got to pay the bills the Overcome and Conquer Show, we got to take care of our producer, and everybody out there. So we’re going to take a quick break. We want to give a shout out to the mid-roll sponsor, Icon Meals, and we also want to recognize our presenting sponsor of course, The Project. So we’re going to take that break real quick. Standby.

Ray Care:
Hey guys, this is Ray from the Overcome and Conquer Show, and we are proud to announce that Icon Meals is our mid-roll sponsor. Icon is an industry leader in cryo vac meal technology. What does that mean, guys? You are going to get the freshest meals delivered to you next day service.

Ray Care:
Another key factor of why I love Icon Meals is they have two menus, guys. They have the signature menu, and the custom meal. So if you’re like me, and you need more protein, or less carbs, and you’re on the go, and fitness is your life, you can make a customizable meal. And or, if you’re just looking for the standard healthy meal choice, you can. So everything is organized for you.

Ray Care:
So ladies and gentlemen, Icon Meals has taken all the work out of it. All you have to do is put in what you want and they will provide what you need. It doesn’t end there. They also offer popcorn, seasonings, coffee, cookies, crisp bread, and gift cards. So guys, check them out at www.iconmeals.com

Jason Redman:
All right, and welcome back to the show. Big shout out once again to all our sponsors who help make this happen, allow us to have amazing guests like Travis, on the show. So brother, I know Ray is speechless, and Ray sometimes feels like, and dude, I’m going to speak on behalf of you for a minute. I think Ray sometimes feels like, and Ray feels like, and Ray has seen his share of combat. But Ray sometimes feels like, “Well I’ve haven’t suffered these injuries. So sometimes I can’t speak to this.” But hey man, everybody in life has been through crisis man. Ray, you have too, man. You grew up in a hard environment.

Jason Redman:
So all of us have been through adversity. Levels of adversity vary from person to person. But at the end of the day, we all live in our own personal hell. Obviously, Travis, you have walked in the pits of hell. But you tell that story man, in your book that’s out there. Tell us about that journey, writing that book. And went on to become a New York Times Bestselling book. It has done a lot of great things for you. Tell us about that journey, and what that book meant to you. Maybe was there healing in writing that book?

Travis Mills:
There’s definitely healing in writing a book, and getting it all out there on paper. But for me, when you say Ray hasn’t suffered those kind of injuries, I think it’s important, every time I talk, to let everybody know, look, I grew up with a lot of problems, [inaudible 00:42:05] any pedestal. I don’t think I have it worse than anybody else. We all have something we’ve been through, whether it’s a family member with cancer, a horrible car accident that ruined someone’s life, or maybe took them from you early. We all have stuff we deal with. I just, my injuries that I had sustained are visible. So that’s the only difference, right.

Travis Mills:
But the book’s helped out. I think that it’s therapeutic for me to be able to go on stage, and give my presentation because I like to tell jokes. It helps me be able to tell my story. I understood early on in my recovery that people are going to stare at me, right. I’m sure you get looks sometimes. People are going to stare, I’m not going to take offense to that. I have learned, look, you can’t take offense to them staring, because think about before I was injured, I probably would have done the same thing. I didn’t mean to stare, but I’d look and then I’d look away quick to not be caught staring because it was rude, I figured.

Travis Mills:
This helps breaks down the barriers of what happened to us isn’t something that you need to shy away from talking to us about. Because I have people after I talk like, “Hey, if I see someone like you, what do I say to them?” I’m like, “Usually hi, or hello.” But they don’t know how to bridge that gap. It’s not always been like that for me.

Travis Mills:
My first couple of days being injured out of the hospital when I was in my wheelchair going to meetings. I had this little girl staring at me, drinking a Subway cup of pop. I saw the soda coming through the straw, it was brown, or maybe it was clear, whatever. Her mom looked at me, because she saw people like me all the time, and looked at the little girl, she went, “Hmm, whatever.” I didn’t like that, so I leaned in and said, “Do you know who did this to me?” I said, “The boogeyman in the closet, the monster under your bed. And they’re coming for you next.” And she cried. I hate telling that story. I feel like a dick.

Jason Redman:
You should.

Travis Mills:
At the time, well, but at least I got the story. This girl’s like seven, she started crying. I just wheeled off like, “Yeah, that’ll teach you for staring at me.” And then shortly after that I realized-

Jason Redman:
That’s horrible.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, I know. I feel real bad about it. I mean, I smile when I say it, but I don’t do that no more. When kids look at me and they’re like, “What happened to that man’s arm?” And their mom’s like, “Don’t look.” And I’m like, “No, no. Hey, how’s it going? I had a bad day at work. Your mom and dad can explain it. But it’s okay.”

Travis Mills:
And I would tell them I’m a robot, I work with Ironman. Then I go from that scary factor, like look at that guy with his crazy arms and legs to, “He works with Ironman.” I tell them my right arm, because I don’t wear a prosthetic on it, that I work with Ironman, and this one’s full of missiles, so I can’t wear it in public. I also tell them I’m more like Big Hero 6, because he’s kind of a fat superhero.

Ryan:
What?

Ray Care:
Not fat, fluffy.

Travis Mills:
Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Jason Redman:
Tyler Southern was in the hospital the same time as you. Tyler’s a good friend of mine. He used to always tell my kids, “This is what happens when you don’t eat your vegetables. My arms fell off.”

Travis Mills:
Well yeah. Yeah, absolutely. He’s doing well. I know Joe [inaudible 00:44:53] at my foundation, we bring up veterans that have been through a physical injury, a paralyzation, amputation, spinal cord injury, something that’s limited them physically. It’s been going so well for us, we’ve grown to be one of the top, in the nation, which is great.

Travis Mills:
But Tyler finally, this year, if this covid stuff gets lifted and everything, him and his wife are coming up finally, because their kids are old enough where he feels comfortable traveling with them. I’m just so excited to see that man. He taught me a lot of stuff. Let me tell you something about Tyler Southern. I’m not sure if he’s been on your show. To be honest, I feel like [crosstalk 00:45:25] should know that-

Jason Redman:
He hasn’t. We’d love to have him on. We just haven’t done it yet. I love him and Ashley, I mean they’re amazing.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. So I had a bone growing in my right arm. It’s HO, have you ever heard of HO? There’s a huge name for it.

Jason Redman:
I had it, terrible. I literally had a piece of bone grow out … They told me that this could not happen. That you couldn’t have bone grow out of the skin. I literally had a horn of bone growing out of the side of my elbow.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. See, so can you explain what HO is? I don’t know the full name of it. They always called it HO.

Jason Redman:
It’s called heterotopic ossification. So it’s the full term.

Travis Mills:
That’s word of the day next time, yes. So word of the day next time.

Travis Mills:
On my right bicep area, I had that going on so bad that every time I pushed down on my socket, my prosthetic, it would be painful, and I would be bruised up and bleeding. They wanted to cut it open, and they wanted to give me surgery, and I’m like, “No, that puts me back on my results of getting better. Not going to happen.”

Travis Mills:
Tyler told me, “Hey man. Hit that on a counter. I bet it chips the bone. It’ll round out.” I said, “Are you serious?” He goes, “Yeah, probably.” So for an hour, 45 minutes to an hour straight, I went to my apartment and I beat my arm on a counter until the pain was so numb and it went away. Look, doesn’t even hurt anymore, all because Tyler Southern.

Travis Mills:
I had neuroma down my right leg, same thing. He goes, “Oh, hit that on the counter too. I bet it’ll kill the neuroma.” Because the bundle of nerves, they want to take basically a hot needle and burn them all. But that’ll put me out of my legs for two weeks. I was like, “I’m not doing that.” So I went to my same counter, and I hit it on the counter repeatedly, harder and harder every time until it got so numb the pain went away. It makes me sound crazy. I know. But Tyler Southern is a great guy, what a motivator. [crosstalk 00:47:03]

Jason Redman:
Oh my God. He’s so awesome, yeah. And that’s so Tyler. Let me just beat on this and see if it works.

Travis Mills:
Yeah. He’s a Marine. That’s what they do, right?

Jason Redman:
I know, I know. I love him, man. I tell you what, that guy motivates the hell out of me.

Ray Care:
So Travis, let’s talk about this foundation. The Travis Mills Foundation. What led you to start it up? And tell us, and tell everybody what it does, and how people can contribute.

Travis Mills:
Absolutely, I appreciate the platform here, of course. So how it started was my wife said if we have a boy we’re not going to name the boy after me. So I’m like, “Well that don’t sound right.” So I started a foundation to name something after me.

Ray Care:
Wow.

Jason Redman:
I swear. First, she wants the handicap placard, then she won’t let you name your kids, I mean, come on.

Travis Mills:
I know. I know. My speaking company, and everything’s named after me. So she’s like, “You’re conceited enough.” But anyways. So we have the Travis Mills Foundation. We started it to give care packages, then I realized, I could go on these cool trips to Walter Reed, learn how to downhill mountain bike. I learned how to snowboard, how to mono-ski, how to kayak and canoe. It was all based around things I can still do actively with my family.

Travis Mills:
We decided let’s bring some families to Maine, we’ll rent a campground, see how it goes. It went so well that we bought a facility. We did two years of renovations, we put two and a half million dollars of renovations. We opened in ’17 officially. We bring up eight families per week. Last year was 22 weeks out of the year, that we ran. We show them how to do things adaptively. We keep growing and expanding, which is awesome.

Travis Mills:
We have a new program for post-traumatic growth, which is out of Boulder Crest, in Virginia there. It’s called Warrior Pathh, with two h’s P-A-T-H-H. They had a big grant coming in, they could open 10 more facilities, or partner with. We’re becoming a partner of theirs, so not only do we help with the physical injuries, but now we help with the non-physical injuries. It’s an 18 month course that I really am excited about because I didn’t go to any counseling.

Travis Mills:
I’ll be honest with you guys, in the military, it’s unspoken, you don’t talk to mental health. So every time mental health came in, the first time I was sleeping. My wife told me they came in, I told her tell them not to come back. The second time they came in I pretended like I was sleeping. The third time I was eating a bowl of cereal with a makeshift arm in my hospital bed. They walked in the door. I looked over. I knew who it was. I said, “Ah, shit.” And I threw myself back like I was sleeping again, and started fake snoring. And then she’s like, “What are you doing?” I have her my name, rank and social. She’s like, “What?” And I gave it to her again, and she was like, “I don’t understand.” I said, “That’s what you tell the enemy, so take it or leave. Just leave, I’m not talking to you.”

Travis Mills:
Now, good, bad, or indifferent, that’s how I handled it. I didn’t talk to anybody, still haven’t except for my crowds and everything like that. But, I know people do need that help out there. So we’re becoming a place that people can get that help, and I’m very excited.

Travis Mills:
But, to get back to it, we’ve helped, we had 89 families the first year. 130 families the second year. And over 200 families last year. It’s no cost to the family. It’s all donation based, and travismillsfoundation.org is where you can find all that information out. I do appreciate letting me have the platform and tell people about it because our whole big goal is to let them know to never give up. Never quit. Which is a slogan that I live by. And to never live life on the sidelines. Always be active in society, and your family.

Travis Mills:
The lives that we’re able to change, we have spouses that say they haven’t seen their loved one, their military member, service member act like this since before their deployment. Or kids are leaving, crying and saying it’s better than Disney World. It’s a really, really cool thing that we’ve been able to do. It’s a pretty niche market, if you will. I know we’re doing it the right way. As the president, I don’t take a dime. None of my board gets paid. It’s all about giving back and doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

Jason Redman:
That is amazing. That’s amazing, Travis. Man, I know I can speak for myself, and the vets I know, we appreciate what you’re doing. Listen sir, we’re getting ready to wrap it up. I always like to end it with a question. So here’s a question I have, and I think people are really going to be listening. But if you had three pieces of advice that you would give, in everything that you’ve learned to date, what would it be?

Travis Mills:
Absolutely. It’s a great question. I thank you for the question. I think the first thing that I would tell people is, one of my life lessons I like to tell everybody is don’t dwell in the past, just reminisce it. People get lost on that, I think, because really, I used to sit in my hospital bed, and like I said, I used to hope, wish, and pray that this never happened, and asked how to go back in time. But no matter how many times I closed my eyes, and go back in time, I always opened them up and there I was in the same situation I found myself in before I closed my eyes.

Travis Mills:
So what I’m saying is, instead of saying like, “Oh, I got blown up. It’s too bad.” I say, “I had 25 great years with arms and legs. And I have had eight years, just about, that have been phenomenal without. Just one bad day at work.”

Travis Mills:
The next thing I like to tell people is, “You know what … I didn’t really pause. Sorry. I had my nose itching. Let me tell you something, my-

Jason Redman:
I was like-

Ray Care:
[crosstalk 00:52:06] I’m writing this down.

Travis Mills:
My covid-19 beard I’m growing, is longer than it normally is, and it itches like hell. So I’m sorry about that.

Ray Care:
That’s awesome.

Travis Mills:
But the other life lesson I tell people when I talk is you can’t always control your situation, but you can always control your attitude.

Jason Redman:
I like that. I like that.

Travis Mills:
What I mean by that is, you know what, my situation, every day I wake up I have no arms and legs. But I jump in my wheelchair. I grab my arm off the charger. I go down and have my coffee. My wife, my daughter, and my son come downstairs eventually, and we have breakfast, and then we go about our day.

Travis Mills:
So just don’t let your situation dictate your attitude. I’m a very upbeat and positive person. It’s not a façade. I’ve just found a way to deal with everything and say, “Hey look. I’m still around. Let’s keep pushing forward.”

Travis Mills:
Really, the last thing is something I’m passionate about is I don’t want to be put on any pedestal. I didn’t serve any more than anybody else. I didn’t fight any harder. It doesn’t mean I’m more brave or heroic. So if you did serve, thank you for your service. If you’re a Vietnam, Arab veteran, welcome home, and thank you. You never got that, but you deserved it. You made sure my generation did get it. We’re doing more at my foundation to honor your sacrifice, and what you went through. Because two things, one, Jane Fonda sucks, and two, Carole Baskin, it’s her fault every time.

Jason Redman:
Every time.

Ray Care:
And we’re sued.

Jason Redman:
And we come full circle.

Ray Care:
I love it. I love it.

Jason Redman:
Dude, awesome advice, man. Thank you for coming on the show, and being a guest, brother, we loved having you man. I love your sense of humor. I love seeing … I’ve watched several of your online speeches. As a matter of fact, that is something you’re doing.

Jason Redman:
So real quickly, let’s talk about where people can find you.

Ray Care:
Yeah, yeah.

Jason Redman:
If [crosstalk 00:53:46] wanted to hire Travis Mills to come in and motivate their company, where do they go?

Travis Mills:
Travismills.org is where I would go if I was you, for all your Travis Mills needs.

Ray Care:
I love it.

Jason Redman:
Well played. And if they wanted to follow you on social media, where would they go?

Travis Mills:
@ssgtravismills for both Instagram and Facebook. And if you do Twitter, so do I.

Ray Care:
Occasionally. There he is.

Jason Redman:
Well played, boom. And then, of course, guys, I’m going to hammer it one more time. As a veteran, as a re-calibrated, I love that even better, a re-calibrated warrior myself man, there’s so many amazing individuals out there that can use help that are struggling in the veteran space, and the Travis Mills Foundation is doing absolutely amazing things. So brother, thank you for setting the example and leading the way. Travismillsfoudnation.org, is that correct?

Travis Mills:
That’s my foundation, yep. You can find it at Travismills.org as well. It’s all tied together. So I do appreciate it. You guys are awesome.

Jason Redman:
Yeah, I love it man.

Ray Care:
Yeah.

Jason Redman:
So you too, we’re going to wrap up, and Travis, the way we wrap up this show is we do what has become the four minutes of motivation. It grew from the two minutes, because we never stayed under two minutes. But basically we take the word of the day and each one of us gets 30 seconds or so, to just shotgun our thoughts on it at the end of the show. We always allow our guest of honor to go first. So go ahead and tell us. Wrap things up with stubborn. How had stubborn defined you? And why do people need to live their life this way?

Travis Mills:
Well absolutely. I think that if you change what you’re doing because of what people think about you, that can be good and bad. For me, I had to be stubborn because people were doubting I was going to be successful, doubting I was going to have a quality of life that I have now. And I just wasn’t going to let my situation that I found myself in with no arms and legs, dictate anything I was going to do.

Travis Mills:
So I just grit my teeth and beared it. I went ahead and went forward with everything. When they told me I couldn’t do something, I made sure that I proved them wrong, and I was just as stubborn as I could be about it, because I had to live my life. We all are all about living our best life. So that’s basically my 30 second wrap up on stubborn. You big bunch of good-looking winners.

Jason Redman:
Yeah baby. All right.

Ray Care:
All right, I’ll finish up. Listen, I love what Travis just did. He re engineered, reverse engineered the word of stubborn, and he used it from a negative to a positive. He didn’t change who he was because of the situation that was literally thrown at him. Nor should you. And you know what, the take home that I got from this is I’m going to reverse engineer it too. I’m going to become more stubborn, not change who I am. Not let people, places, things, or anything in this world dictate who I am, or how I’m going [inaudible 00:56:35]

Jason Redman:
Yeah baby, all right. I love it. And I’m going to keep this super short, which I know that you guys are like, “Is that possible, from Jason Redman?”

Ray Care:
Wondering that too, yeah.

Jason Redman:
No. Here’s the deal man, you have to be stubborn with everything in life. When people tell you you can’t do something, you need to be stubborn. If you are stubborn, you will overcome and conquer any adversity you come up against. That has been another episode of the Overcome and Conquer Show. I am Jason “Overcome” Redman.

Ray Care:
And I am Ray “Cash” Care.

Jason Redman:
And we are out. Boom.

Announcer:
Thanks for listening to the Overcome and Conquer Show. Tune in next time. And please remember to subscribe on iTunes. Please visit overcomeandconquer.com

Ray Care:
The Overcome and Conquer Show is presented by The Project. The Project is a full immersion, 75 hour experience, designed for men who know in their core they are not living up to their fullest potential. Rather than waking up every morning ready to dominate life, the mediocre man rolls out of bed and slides into the same unfulfilling routine they’ve unhappily been in for way too long.

Ray Care:
The Project is for men that have lost their eternal flame, and motivation to conquer. It is for men living an unfulfilling life that lacks the excitement and purpose. If this resonates with you, and you want to learn more, we encourage you to apply today at www.mdkproject.com/ocshow, boom.