Becoming The Savage - Driving the IED Highway with Green Beret Jay Dorleus | Mike Drop #191

About this video

Green Beret Jay Dorleus recounts his first deployment to Iraq at age 19, where his squad was tasked with clearing roads ahead of supply convoys. He describes a traumatic IED incident where the third vehicle in his convoy was destroyed, killing six squad members, and Dorleus had to collect their remains. The deployment involved 11 total casualties from IEDs, and Dorleus explains how these experiences transformed him into what he describes as a ‘monster’ and later influenced his transition to Special Operations.

Key takeaways

• Dorleus describes losing six squad members in a single IED attack during his first deployment, where the vehicle was completely destroyed leaving only an engine block and body parts
• Dorleus recounts that his unit felt like ‘sitting ducks’ performing reactive convoy route clearance missions with inadequate equipment, losing 11 soldiers total to IEDs during the deployment
• Dorleus states the traumatic experiences transformed him psychologically at age 19, making him ’extra vigilant’ and what he calls a ‘savage’ or ‘monster,’ and he brought that mentality back to the States after the 12-month deployment

Episode details: published June 9, 2024 · 4.5K views · 8:24 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.

← Previous: Finding Forgotten Soldiers - Digging Up The Past with Vietnam Green Beret Rich Wall | Mike Drop #190 · Next: Green Beret Chronicles Founder Jay Dorleus →

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