The New Recruit

by Jocko Willink

  “But I don’t have any money,” I said sadly.

  “You will.”

  Yes, I thought to myself. Uncle Jake is going to give me money!

  “Thanks so much, Uncle Jake! Thanks for giving me some money to get this bike fixed up! You’re the best uncle ever.”

  Uncle Jake laughed. “Give you money?! Ha! That isn’t happening. If I gave you money, I wouldn’t be the best uncle—not at all.”

  “Ummm, actually, Uncle Jake, I think you would be AWESOME if you gave me the money I need to get this bike all fixed up!”

  Uncle Jake shook his head. “That’s what a lot of people would think. But they would be wrong. It’s like I told you the other day: If I just give you the money, then you wouldn’t have earned it. It wouldn’t mean anything to you. You wouldn’t understand the hard work and time it takes to earn that money. Then you won’t appreciate what you do with the money, and you won’t think you need to take care of the things you buy with your money. That’s why you are going to get a job.”

  “Uncle Jake, it actually does sound pretty cool to earn my own money. But there is one major problem here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, Uncle Jake, it is the same problem I told you about the last time we talked about this: If you haven’t noticed, I’m a KID! I’m only eleven years old! How can I get a job? Jobs are for adults! What business would hire a kid?”

  “Well then, Marc, I guess you are going to have to create your own business.”

  Now this made absolutely no sense to me AT ALL. What was he talking about? Had my uncle Jake gone crazy? “Uncle Jake, let me say this again. I’m only ELEVEN YEARS OLD! How can I start a business?”

  “It is actually pretty simple,” Uncle Jake replied. “Think of something that you can do that other people don’t like doing.”

  “What?” I asked Uncle Jake. I didn’t understand where he was going with this.

  “What can you do that other people don’t want to do? What skills do you have?”

  “Uncle Jake, I know I am a Warrior Kid and I can work out and do jiu-jitsu. But THAT DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THAT I’M ELEVEN YEARS OLD! What skill do I possibly have that I could turn into a business?!?!”

  Uncle Jake stared at me for a few seconds. Then he said, “Come with me.” He walked out of the garage. I followed him as he walked across the yard to the shed that my bike had been leaning against. He opened the door and said, “There you go.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “I don’t get it. What?”

  He pointed to the back corner of the shed, at my dad’s lawn mower. “You are going to mow lawns. That is something that most people really don’t feel like doing—and it is something that you can do. Add those two things together and you have yourself a business.”

  Uncle Jake was right again! No, mowing lawns isn’t fun—which is why most people don’t like doing it (including my mom and dad!). But I can do it, and I already do it for my parents, so why not do it for other people as well and get paid for it?

  “YES! That’s a great idea, Uncle Jake! I can do that. And I’m pretty good at it, too! I am a business owner! ME!”

  “Hold on there, Marc,” Uncle Jake said.

  I got worried that there was something I hadn’t thought of. Some problem. “What is it, Uncle Jake?”

  “Well, if you own a business, then your business needs a name. What is your business going to be called?”

  I thought for a minute. Then the answer jumped into my head. “Marc’s Meticulous Mowing!” I shouted out.

  “I like it!” Uncle Jake said. “Congratulations, business owner.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Jake!” I shouted.

  And that was it. Today I became Marc: Warrior Kid and Business Owner. YES! AWESOME!

  CHAPTER 9: THE LAST RESORT

  I was a warrior today. I kept my cool and controlled my emotions. But I’m not sure it is going to help, because there is still a major problem.

  That problem is Nathan.

  It started when I got to camp today. Of course Nathan was there, and of course Nathan was being his normal self—MEAN. I don’t know what his problem is! We were all hanging around and getting ready to play kickball. I was talking to Jessica. She is one of those people who is really good at every sport there is. Soccer, baseball, kickball, basketball—anything and everything. I was asking her what her favorite sport was since she is so good at all of them.

  “Probably basketball,” she told me. “I like it because it is fast and you get to score a lot! What is your favorite sport?”

  “That’s cool,” I told her. “I like basketball, too.”

  “Is it your favorite?” she asked.

  At this point I realized that Nathan was there and that he was listening to Jessica and I talk. I just knew he was going to say something! But I just ignored him and started to answer her question. “My favor—” Just as I started talking, Nathan cut me off.

  “Yeah … what’s your favorite sport, PLATE FACE?” he said in a weird, high-pitched voice, mocking Jessica.

  I stood there for a second. I tried to ignore him and started again. “My favorite spor—”

  “Hello. My name is Plate Face. What’s my favorite sport?” Nathan interrupted, this time in another strange voice that was supposed to be me.

  That was it. I started to get mad. Really mad. The feeling flooded over me like a tidal wave! I felt my face getting hotter and knew it was starting to turn red. Then my fists started to get tighter. All these things were exactly what Uncle Jake had called red flares. I was losing control of my emotions! I was about to lose my temper. I knew this was not good. So I did what Uncle Jake told me to do. I stepped outside the situation in my head and took a deep breath. I told myself to calm down, because Warrior Kids don’t lose control of their emotions. This was how I got in trouble at school, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I felt better already. Now I needed a way to get out of the situation—to get away from Nathan.

  So instead of responding to Nathan, I looked at Jessica and said, “Do you want to go to the water fountain before the game?”

  “Okay,” she said, looking very relieved that we would be able to get away from Nathan. We walked away, toward the water fountain. As we walked, I could hear Nathan continuing to talk loudly about something, but I just ignored him.

  Jessica and I went and got a drink.

  “That kid Nathan is mean,” Jessica told me after she got a drink.

  “Yeah, he is,” I answered. “But I think the best thing to do is just ignore him.”

  “That’s true. But it can be kind of hard to ignore him since he is so LOUD!” she said, raising her voice LOUDLY at the end of her sentence and making a funny face. We laughed and then walked back over toward the group by the kickball field. As we got closer, the first thing I heard was Nathan. He was talking to this other kid, Bobby.

  “How do you even fit a brain inside your tiny skull? Your head is so little. Mosquito head … that’s what you are. Mosquito Head!”

  Bobby didn’t look happy at all. He was a shy kid, and now Nathan was making him the center of attention—and not for a good reason!

  “Please don’t suck out my blood, Mosquito Head!”

  Bobby mumbled, “I’m not going to do that. I’m not a Mosqu—”

  “LOOK! Mosquito Head can actually talk! Not very loudly, because of his tiny little mouth on his tiny little head, but he can talk!!!”

  I could see the look on Bobby’s face. He didn’t know what to do or say. He looked like he was about to cry. It made me MAD—even madder than when Nathan was making fun of me. I started to feel my anger come up again—and once again, I got control of my emotions. I took another deep breath to calm down.

  But I wasn’t the only one who thought Bobby was about to cry. “Oh, look! Mosquito Head is about to cry some mosquito tears!” Nathan shouted.

  Even though I had my emotions under control, I still remembered my Warrior Kid C
ode. It said that a Warrior Kid stands up to bullies and helps out other people whenever possible. Well, Bobby needed my help. I needed to shut Nathan up RIGHT NOW. It was time for my jiu-jitsu to get used. I pushed through the crowd and walked right up to Nathan.

  “That’s enough, Nathan. Be quiet. No one wants to hear you,” I told him in a calm but serious voice.

  “Who asked you?” Nathan shouted back. “And what are you going to do about it?”

  “Well,” I said, “if you keep talking, you will find out.”

  Nathan started to say something back when he got cut off. “All right, kids! Let’s line up to pick teams.” It was one of the camp counselors who had just come out to the field. He had no idea what had just happened—or what was about to happen—when he walked up.

  We all lined up, and a couple of kids got picked to be team captains and pick the rest of the teams. But I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was thinking about fighting Nathan. As a Warrior Kid, I am supposed to help other people. Kids like Bobby needed my help. I needed to stand up for them.

  * * *

  When I got home at the end of the day, I told Uncle Jake the whole story. I explained how I detached and controlled my emotions and walked away from Nathan. Then I told him about what Nathan had said to Bobby and that he actually did this to all kinds of kids. I explained to him that Nathan is just a mean person and won’t ever change. Finally I said, “I am going to fight Nathan.”

  Uncle Jake sat there for a little while, quietly. Then he said, “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes,” I told him, “I’m sure. He has a horrible attitude. No matter what anyone says to him, he never stops. I need to stop him.”

  Uncle Jake was quiet again and finally said, “Okay, Marc. If that is what needs to happen, then that is what needs to happen. But fighting should always be a last resort. You should not fight unless you absolutely have to—unless there are no other options at all. And even then, before you fight, you have to make sure you’re doing the right thing and you have to find out more about the person you are going to fight. In the SEAL Teams, we call it gathering intelligence.”

  “‘Gathering intelligence’? What’s that?” I asked.

  “Finding out about the person you are going to fight. What are they capable of? What sort of weapons do they have? What is driving them? Do they have any people who might come to help them—people you would have to watch out for? And figure out why they are acting the way they are acting. There is always a chance that if we know why someone is acting a certain way, maybe we can attack that reason instead of attacking them.”

  “Okay. But what intelligence should I gather about Nathan? I already know what I need to know! He is a loudmouth and a bully!”

  “There is a lot more you need to know. You need to try and find out what makes him like this. Find out everything you can. What kind of shoes he has. What kind of backpack he carries. What he brings to camp for snacks. Who he hangs around with. Everything. That way you know exactly who you are dealing with if it gets to the point that you have to fight.”

  “So is it kind of like spying on him?”

  “No. Just observing him. Watching. Listening. Learning about him. Take notes so you can explain everything to me. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes, Uncle Jake. I got it.”

  “Okay. Great. Now make it happen.”

  And that was it. When I thought about it more, I realized that Uncle Jake had just given me my first mission! “Gather intelligence.” It even sounded cool! And I also realized that Uncle Jake had just given me permission to fight Nathan when my mission was completed. Finally, I would be able to use my jiu-jitsu for real and become a true Warrior Kid.

  CHAPTER 10: UNCOMFORTABLE

  Today was a pretty good day. UNTIL I GOT HOME FROM JIU-JITSU.

  My morning workout was good. I actually set a new personal record in pull-ups! I did twenty-two in one set. That’s a heck of a lot better than what I could do last year: ZERO! Even Uncle Jake was pretty impressed with twenty-two. So that was a great way to start off the day.

  From there, I had breakfast and then walked to camp. Okay, walking was not good—I should have a bike! But I got there, and when I did, everything was good at camp, too. We split into groups for activities, and Nathan wasn’t in my group, so it was actually pretty fun. We did a cool art project and then we played games with eggs, trying not to break them as we played catch and carried them in spoons and passed them down a big line using only our elbows.

  The last thing we did with the eggs was build contraptions with straws and tape and cardboard that protected the eggs when we dropped them off a twelve-foot ladder. My team’s egg survived the drop in the contraption we built!

  When I got home, I worked on the bike for a while and then went to jiu-jitsu class. Jiu-jitsu class was fun. We learned two awesome moves and then we rolled a bunch. Rolling jiu-jitsu is REALLY fun—it is basically when you fight against the other person, only you don’t actually fight. You don’t punch or kick each other. And of course you don’t scratch or bite each other, either! But it feels like a fight. What you are doing is grappling against each other, trying to grip and pull and move your opponent into a position where you can control them. Once you have control over them, you try to use a submission hold on them to make them tap out, which means they give up. The submission hold might be on their elbow or their shoulder, or it might be a choke—but once you have it, they know you have it and they tap out to give up.

  Of course, it isn’t always me that gets the submission hold. Sometimes I get beat, too, and that is okay. Because every time you tap out, you actually learn from it. You learn what mistake you made to end up there. And you learn what you can do to avoid it happening again. So tapping out—even though you are losing—isn’t that big of a deal in practice.

  At the end of class, I noticed that Uncle Jake was there and that he was watching me. He had a big smile on his face, and I could tell that he was happy to see me train and actually know what I was doing. He also saw me tap out a few kids, which was cool.

  When class was over, Uncle Jake and I went out to the car. As soon as we got inside the car, he said, “How do you like jiu-jitsu?” with a big smile on his face. I think he already knew the answer.

  “It’s awesome,” I told him. “It is super fun.”

  “What do you like about it?”

  “I don’t know exactly. Pretty much everything. I guess the main thing is that I like how all the moves fit together and one move leads to another move, which leads to another move, which leads to another move. And when you put the moves together, it’s like a special power!”

  “I know! It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Uncle Jake asked me enthusiastically.

  “Yeah!” I told him.

  Then his whole face and attitude changed in a millisecond.

  “Then why aren’t you going to compete?”

  His change in attitude confused me for a second.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Why don’t you compete? You told me your instructor wants you to compete but you’re not doing it. Why not? You are good. You need to test yourself.”

  I should have known this was coming! Just when my day was going perfect! I didn’t know what to say. So I just sat there.

  After a minute or so, Uncle Jake said, “Well?”

  “‘Well’ what?” I responded, hoping somehow that he had forgotten what we were talking about. Then he said it slowly and clearly.

  “Why … don’t … you … compete?”

  I sat and thought about the answer. But I didn’t want to tell him. So I started to make something up. “Because … I’m … it’s just not my style.”

  “Not your style? You are good at it! It is definitely your style! That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Well … I mean … competing … competing isn’t really my style. I just like to train.”

  “But your coach wants you to compete.”

  “But I just want to
train.”

  Uncle Jake was quiet for a minute. Then he said, “Why do you want to train?”

  “What?”

  “Training? Why do you like to train?”

  “Because it’s fun. And I want to get better.”

  “Okay. That makes sense. Then why don’t you want to compete? It’s still jiu-jitsu. And competition makes you better.”

  “I know … but … I just—”

  “Wait,” Uncle Jake cut me off. “Are you scared?”

  I knew I just had to come clean. So I told him, “Yeah. Yeah, I am. I’m scared.”

  “Scared of what? Sheesh! You are really good. You do jiu-jitsu all the time! How can you possibly be scared of something that you do every day?”

  “It’s not jiu-jitsu that I’m scared of!” I told him, and I kind of even raised my voice—getting a little emotional. Uncle Jake seemed to sense that and stayed quiet for a little bit, which calmed me down.

  “Okay, then. What are you scared of?” he asked me calmly.

  I thought about how to tell him for a minute, and finally, I just said it: “Losing. I don’t want to lose.”

  Uncle Jake nodded his head. “Good,” he said.

  “Good?” I asked. “How is that good?”

  “I want you to be scared of losing. I want you to be really scared of losing. Why? Because fear will make you train harder. Fear will make you work harder. Fear will make you prepare more. And when you do all those things, your chances of success go up.”

  “But I can still lose,” I told him.

  “Not really. You only really lose if you don’t try, if you let your fear keep you from even getting in the game or on the mat. That is how you lose. But if you get out there and do your best, you will either win, or you will learn. Either way, it is good for you.”