Motrin & Ice with Leo Jenkins | Mike Drop: Episode 66

About this video

Mike Ritland interviews Leo Jenkins, a former Army Ranger who served four years with three deployments (two to Afghanistan, one to Iraq). Jenkins recounts specific combat experiences including Operation Simpson and Operation Red Wings recovery, for which he received valor awards. The conversation covers Jenkins’s transition from firefighter to Ranger medic, his current life as an author living in rural Mexico, his family background including his father (a firefighter-paramedic) and mother (who struggled with addiction), and his writing career including books like Lucky Joe.

Key takeaways

• Jenkins attributes his combat medic training as teaching him to remain calm under pressure, a skill more valuable than what he learned in Ranger school
• Jenkins describes September 11, 2001 (his 19th birthday) as the catalyst for leaving his firefighting career to join the military, feeling he needed to earn his American dream
• Jenkins recounts a powerful reconciliation with his mother after reading her confrontational poetry about her past struggles with methamphetamine addiction and neglect, finding healing through forgiveness

Episode details: published December 15, 2020 · 133.3K views · 2:48:43 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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