Two Weeks Before Deadly Deployment, I Became a Single Dad of 3

About this video

A Navy SEAL recounts receiving full custody of his three children two weeks before a deployment, missing the deployment where his friend Adam Brown died, then returning for a subsequent deployment that ended with the Extortion 17 helicopter crash. He describes accompanying his best friend Jason Workman’s body back to the U.S. and staying with it for two and a half weeks, and explains how faith helped him process grief after years of suppressing emotions with alcohol and other means.

Key takeaways

• The guest received full custody of three children (ages 8 months, 4 years, and 9 years) two weeks before a deployment, causing him to miss the operation where Adam Brown died
• The guest volunteered for the next deployment and witnessed the Extortion 17 crash on video, losing his best friend Jason Workman and many teammates in what he describes as the biggest loss in Naval Special Warfare history
• The guest explains he found emotional composure through Christian faith after years of suppressing grief with alcohol and other means, recounting a specific spiritual experience at a Wild at Heart ministry retreat

Episode details: published January 5, 2026 · 24.8K views · 20:36 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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