David Goggins Showed Up Right After Our Crew Leader Died in Hell Week

About this video

Ritland’s guest, a former Navy SEAL, recounts experiences from BUD/S training (Class 235, which included David Goggins) and combat deployments to Europe and Iraq. He describes a trainee death during Hell Week, difficult team dynamics, and a 2006–2007 deployment to Habbaniyah where his teammate Mark Rubens survived a catastrophic head wound during a sniper overwatch mission gone wrong.

Key takeaways

• The guest recalls training alongside David Goggins in BUD/S Class 235, describing him as having an intense personality even then, and recounts a classmate’s death during Hell Week that deeply affected the class
• After deployments with SEAL Teams 4 and 5, the guest participated in creating a D-Day memorial for Naval Combat Demolition Units in Normandy, raising funds from Class 235 teammates
• During a 2006–2007 Iraq deployment, the guest’s teammate Mark Rubens was shot through the eye by a PKM round during a sniper overwatch mission but survived, walked to the helicopter, and later returned to work as a detective and breacher

Episode details: published July 2, 2026 · 142.8K views · 20:47 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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