Jocko Willink Reveals Why He Chose the SEAL Teams Over Delta Force

About this video

Mike Ritland recounts his path to joining the Navy SEALs, inspired by a secondhand story about Delta Force and SEALs. He describes his experience through BUD/S training in 1990, including pool comp challenges and physical evolutions, and his early career at SEAL Team One where he became a primary radioman as a new guy after attending specialized communications school.

Key takeaways

• Ritland explains his decision to join the SEALs was sparked by a friend’s story comparing Delta Force and SEAL Team, combined with ego and naivety about the difficulty ahead
• He describes passing BUD/S in 1990 after failing individual evolutions (one run, one swim, one O-course, and pool comp initially) but never getting rolled, attributing success to running full-out and perseverance
• Ritland recounts volunteering to become a radioman at SEAL Team One, which unusually led to him serving as primary radio operator in his first platoon and participating in high-level planning meetings as a new team member

Episode details: published August 13, 2026 · 64.3K views · 22:31 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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