David Goggins: Half Navy SEAL, Half Superman, All Too Human

We’re not children.

We know that Superman isn’t real. He is, after all, just a comic-book character.  

We do have the next best thing, though. His name is David Goggins, and he is very, very real.  

David Goggins has overcome so many debilitating obstacles, any one of which would have sidelined most of us.  

A physically abusive father, a crippling learning disability, and inflammatory racism. He had teachers hold him back, he barely graduated high-school, he was stuck in a dead-end job spraying for cockroaches.

He grew up scared and insecure. He had severe health problems, including asthma and sickle cell trait. He struggled with obesity, reaching weights of over 300 pounds.

After a single life-changing event, David became the closest person to Superman we’ve had the fortune of being inspired by for a long time.

• David is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to ever complete all three of the U.S. Army Ranger School, Navy SEAL training and the Air Force tactical air controller training.
• Goggins graduated from Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL (BUD/S) training with Class 235 in 2001 and was assigned to SEAL Team FIVE.
• In 2004, Goggins graduated from Army Ranger School with the distinction of enlisted "Top Honor Man.”
• Goggins completed with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
• He served as the bodyguard for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
• He has raised over $2 million for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides college scholarship and educational counseling to the surviving children of Special Operations personnel killed in the line of duty.
• David is without a doubt one of the world’s best endurance athletes. He has finished over 50 endurance races, taken home first place several times, and consistently places in the top five.
• In 2016, David completed the Infinitus 88k in first place, easily one of the most challenging and brutal races in the world. He won the race almost twenty minutes ahead of the next finisher.
• David holds the Guinness World Record for pullups. On his third attempt at breaking the record, David completed 4,030 pullups in 17 hours.
• He is consistently one of the top 20 ultramarathoners in the world.
• He was the lead feature in Runner’s World magazine, where he was named “Running Hero”.
• Outside Magazine named him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
• Triathlete called him “The Toughest Athlete on the Planet.”
• Stars & Stripes Magazine said “He epitomizes what a SEAL is.”

He has run the world’s toughest races. He has endured and completed the hardest military programs that have ever been designed to break and shape people.

He did all of this starting from nothing, with nothing. He doesn’t do it for glory or money or fame. He doesn’t count the miles, the records, the medals.  

For him, it is a solitary journey of growth and self-discovery. He does it all now because nothing makes him feel more alive.