A Day in the Life of a DEVGRU Operator

About this video

Ritland’s guest, a former Development Group operator, recounts two significant combat deployments—one highly challenging and one highly successful. The guest describes in detail his most difficult deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, which included living in fallen teammates’ quarters, enduring hundreds of rocket attacks, surviving a 5,000-pound vehicle-borne IED blast that caused severe traumatic brain injuries to his entire team, and the lasting physical and psychological effects he and his teammates still experience today.

Key takeaways

• The guest recounts his 2012 Afghanistan deployment as his hardest, marked by living in deceased teammates’ rooms, constant rocket attacks, and a massive VBED explosion that left his entire team with severe concussions and lasting TBI symptoms
• According to the guest, the blast overpressure effects from the 5,000-pound IED and subsequent explosions caused permanent changes including noise sensitivity, anxiety, and hypervigilance that persist to this day for him and his teammates
• The guest describes how some teammates never recovered, with one immediately leaving service, another later dying by suicide, and many suffering ongoing effects that were initially treated only with prescription medications rather than more comprehensive therapies

Episode details: published August 17, 2025 · 253.2K views · 16:53 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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