CS#70: Navy SEAL & Marine Recon | DEVGRU | Skydiving Mt. Everest | Author | CEO | Mike Sarraille
Today we hear an incredible Combat Story of Mike Sarraille, former Marine Recon and a SEAL Team leader who served 20 years in the special operations community, earning a Silver Star, multiple Bronze Stars with Valor, and more. He was also part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (or DEVGRU). NOTE: We have just launched our Patreon. Join our Combat Story community at https://www.patreon.com/combatstory Mike served in multiple leadership roles to include the Battles of Ramadi and Sadr City, to name just a few. Since retiring from service, Mike founded and is the CEO of Talent War Group, a specialized executive search firm and talent advisory; he’s co-author of ‘The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent’ and is the face of Men’s Journal’s ‘The Everyday Warrior.’ I stumbled across Mike when I saw posts about a recent expedition to the Himalayas where he did six free fall jumps over Mount Everest. Mike is a very, very humble but distinguished warrior leader and I hope you enjoy this insightful deep dive into the life of a Tier 1 and private sector operator and leader as much as I did. Find Mike Online: Mike’s Linktree Mike on Instagram @mr.sarraille ATTA Instagram @live_atta Talent War Group Instagram @talentwargroup Find Ryan Online: Patreon Community Combat Story Merch Ryan’s Linktree Instagram @combatstory Facebook @combatstoryofficial Send us messages Email ryan@combatstory.com Learn more about Ryan Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:31 - Guest Introduction (Mike Sarraille) 2:34 - Interview begins 3:02 – Skydiving at Mt. Everest after retiring from the military 10:51 – Childhood in the Bay Area, joining the Marines, and what drew him to the SEALs 24:26 – How the leadership and examples set by the military motivated him and gave him direction 33:36 – Differences in BUDS and Marine Recon training 38:52 - Story of an experience with Johnny Kim and making a snap judgment while in training 45:10 - First experience in combat isolating and containing the Ramadi hospital where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was 53:50 – Being a Marine liaison (LNO) 55:31 – The importance of preparedness in leadership 1:01:23 – A hard lesson learned after deviating from procedure 1:13:35 – What he is doing today with his different companies, his book, and talent development 1:23:40 Shared Adversity and After Action Reviews (AAR) in the corporate environment 1:34:00 - What did you carry into combat? 1:35:49 - Would you do it all again? 1:37:15 - Listener comments and shout outs