The New Recruit

by Jocko Willink

  As soon as the ref said “Fight!” the kid’s face turned from nervous to angry, and he charged at me and shot for my legs. He was trying the classic double-lbeg takedown, and I did the classic double-leg takedown defense: I sprawled, kicking my legs out behind me and landing with my chest on his back. I thought I had him stuck, but then he did something called a sit-out, which is great wrestling move, and it almost put me on my face. But I knew it was coming, so I scrambled away and got back to my feet. The kid looked like he was going crazy. Every time he grabbed me, he snuck in a little slap and then pinched my skin. Every time he touched me, it hurt—and it definitely seemed like he was doing it on purpose.

  Then, as we approached each other again, both of us looking to score a takedown, he popped his head into my head with some force, head-butting me. That REALLY hurt. And that is when it started to happen. I didn’t notice it at first—but I started getting mad. REALLY MAD. I started losing my temper. I could barely tell, but Uncle Jake could.

  “Detach,” he said from the side of the mat. “Don’t get emotional. Do your job. Do what you know how to do.” As soon as I heard Uncle Jake say that, I knew he was right—I was losing my temper. I was breathing harder and all my muscles were too tense, and it was making me out of breath. So despite my opponent slapping, pinching, and head-butting me every chance he got, I calmed down. I got my temper under control. And I think this frustrated my opponent even more—his face started turning redder and redder and redder and redder! His slaps got harder, and he charged forward like a bull. After another hard head-butt, I saw a look in his eyes of total rage. He shot in toward my legs to take me down again, but he made a classic mistake—he left his head sticking out. It was easy. I barely moved my arms and I had his neck trapped in a choke. I felt him panic and wiggle like crazy, trying to get me off of him. Then, finally, he tapped out. The referee placed his hands on us and said, “That’s it.” I let go of the choke and stood up. The referee pulled us to the middle of the mat and raised my hand. I had won.

  “Next up is the finals, Marc,” Coach Adam said to me.

  “Okay” was all I could say—I was too tired! Even though I had stayed calm, it was still a TOUGH match and I was TIRED.

  Uncle Jake came by and said, “Nice work again, Marc. You ready for the finals?”

  “I am,” I told Uncle Jake. And I felt that I was. Even though I was tired, I had been doing REALLY WELL! I felt like I could win this whole thing!

  I sat for a few minutes and then they called my name again. I walked out onto the mat once more. “This is for the final,” the referee said as I stood there facing my opponent. My opponent looked very calm. He was actually a little bit smaller than me, but I knew that skill level was more important than size and that for him to be in the finals, he must have some really good jiu-jitsu. We shook hands, and the referee pointed to us both, then clapped his hands and said, “Fight!”

  I made my way to the center of the mat and so did my opponent. We circled cautiously, then he grabbed my head and pulled it down toward the ground. I pulled my head back up, hard, to get away from him. He took another step toward me, then grabbed my head again and pulled it down even harder. So I pulled my head up even harder to prevent him from putting my face into the mat. When I did that, he let go of my head and quickly shot for my feet. My head, body, and arms were so high that he got right in and wrapped up my legs, then he hoisted me way into the air and slammed me to the mat with a perfect double-leg takedown. By the time I hit the ground, he was already across my side. As I moved to defend that, he was suddenly in the mount. I stayed calm and got into a defensive position. I felt him digging at the collar of my gi, trying to get a choke on me. But I wasn’t having any of that! I pulled my arms in to defend my neck from his attack.

  Then—BOOM! In a flash, he switched the attack from a choke to an armlock. Before I knew it, he had my arm completely straightened out and I was tapping. That was it. It was over.

  I started to get mad, but I looked over at Uncle Jake. “Win, or learn,” he said. “You learned.” He was right. Seeing that Uncle Jake was perfectly calm calmed me down, too.

  “I guess I learned from that one, Coach Adam,” I said right after I shook my opponent’s hand.

  Then I sat down next to Nathan. “That was awesome!” he said.

  “Awesome? What? The armlock he did?”

  “No. This whole day. It was awesome. You’re awesome.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so,” he said. “That was so cool, the way you handled yourself out there. But not just out there. Everywhere. Your bike. Your job. Your attitude with everything. Where does all this come from?”

  I thought about it for a minute. I sure had changed a lot from the kid that lost his temper and threw the papier-mâché pumpkin at Nathan. I had learned even more about being a warrior.

  “It came from my uncle Jake. He taught me a lot. He taught me to be a Warrior Kid.”

  “A Warrior Kid?” Nathan asked. “What is that?”

  “I’ll tell you when we get back to my house.”

  With that, I got on the pedestal to receive my second-place medal and then headed home.

  I had won something more important than second place today. I learned more about jiu-jitsu. I learned more about myself.

  CHAPTER 23: THE CODE

  When we got back to my house, I sat down and told Nathan EVERYTHING. I told him how I had been a really wimpy kid in fifth grade. That I couldn’t swim, I couldn’t do any pull-ups, that I didn’t know my times tables, and that I was getting picked on by Kenny Williamson.

  “I thought you and Kenny were friends?” Nathan asked.

  “We are now,” I told him, “but he used to bully me.”

  “So what happened? How did you go from being that wimpy kid to being who you are now?”

  “My uncle Jake trained me all last summer. We worked out every day. He taught me how to study. He taught me how to swim. He put me into jiu-jitsu classes. He even got me eating good foods!”

  “Was it hard?”

  “Of course it was. It still is. But I still stay on the path.”

  “What path?” Nathan asked.

  “The path of being a Warrior Kid,” I told him. “Following the code.”

  “The code?”

  “Yes. The code. Warriors have codes that they follow. Not like secret codes but more like rules. It is called discipline.”

  “Discipline?”

  “That’s right. Discipline. Discipline means you follow the rules, not because someone else makes you follow them but because following the rules makes you a better person.”

  “So what are the rules?” Nathan asked.

  I pulled out the Warrior Kid Code and showed it to him.

  The Warrior Kid Code

  1.  The Warrior Kid wakes up early in the morning.

  2.  The Warrior Kid studies to learn and gain knowledge and asks questions if he doesn’t understand.

  3.  The Warrior Kid trains hard, exercises, and eats right to be strong and fast and healthy.

  4.  The Warrior Kid trains to know how to fight so he can stand up to bullies to protect the weak.

  5.  The Warrior Kid treats people with respect and helps out other people whenever possible.

  6.  The Warrior Kid keeps things neat and is always prepared and ready for action.

  7.  The Warrior Kid stays humble.

  8.  The Warrior Kid works hard and always does his best.

  9.  I am the Warrior Kid.

  Then I told him I was adding some stuff to it.

  “What are you adding?” he asked.

  “Well,” I said, “I’m glad you asked, because they are things that you helped teach me.”

  “I helped teach you? What did I help teach you?” Nathan asked.

  I took out my pen, went to line number seven, and added to it so it said, The Warrior Kid stays humble and stays calm. Warriors Kids do not lose their tempers.

&
nbsp; “When I threw that pumpkin at you and got in trouble at school—that was because I lost my temper. I didn’t stay calm. When you lose your temper, you do stupid things. Warriors can’t lose their tempers.”

  “What else are you adding to it?”

  I moved my pen to number eight and made it read, The Warrior Kid works hard, saves money, is frugal and doesn’t waste things, and always does his best.

  “What is frugal?” Nathan asked.

  “Frugal means you don’t waste things,” I told him.

  “Why is that important to a warrior?” Nathan asked.

  “Because warriors have to make things last and make things work. If a warrior is in the field, he might not have extra stuff. Not extra food, not extra gear, not extra time. So warriors try not to waste anything. I learned that by fixing my bike this summer. It seemed like junk, but it wasn’t junk at all. It just needed to be taken care of. Warriors take care of their gear. They don’t waste it. And saving money gives you freedom. It might not feel like it at first, because you want to buy a treat at the candy store or some little toy from the shop. But those are just a waste of money, and if you spend your money on those things, then you won’t be able to buy anything that will really help you. But if you save your money, you’ll have the freedom buy things that you REALLY want.”

  “That does make sense. The more you save, the more you are free.”

  “Yep. It is the same with everything. Discipline Equals Freedom. My uncle Jake taught that to me. The harder you work and the more you follow the rules you make for yourself, the more freedom you have. And that includes having the discipline to NOT throw pumpkins at kids in school!”

  Nathan laughed.

  “Now, speaking of bikes, we have got some work to do.” And with that, we went down to the garage and got busy. We had cleaned and oiled and painted the parts, and now all that was left was to put them together. I had told Uncle Jake what we were doing, and he told me to come get him if we needed any help. But guess what? We didn’t need any help at all! We put the whole bike back together by ourselves. By the time Uncle Jake came up from the house, it was ready.

  “Dang!” Uncle Jake said. “That looks great!”

  “Thanks, Uncle Jake,” I said.

  “What are you going to name it?” Uncle Jake asked Nathan.

  “Name it?” Nathan asked.

  “Yeah. You get to name it. Just like Marc got to name his bike The Bruiser, you get to name this bike. Here,” Uncle Jake said as he reached into a drawer and pulled out the letter stickers .

  Nathan took the stickers and said, “Okay. But I’m not sure what to name it.”

  “Well, it’s up to you, so you better think of something,” Uncle Jake said.

  Nathan sat there for a minute. Then he said, “How about ‘The Discipline’?”

  “I like it,” Uncle Jake said, “but why?”

  “Well, because without discipline, this bike wouldn’t be here. Marc wouldn’t have had the money to buy it. Without discipline, we wouldn’t have taken the time to fix it up. It would still be in the junkyard. But now it is free to ride again. It is free because of discipline. So we will call it The Discipline.”

  “Right on!” I declared, thinking how cool that sounded.

  “Sounds like you are on the right path, Nathan.”

  “He is, Uncle Jake.”

  “I am, Uncle Jake,” Nathan said. “I’m on the path to be a Warrior Kid.”

  “Yes, you are, Nathan. Yes, you are.”

  With that, Uncle Jake handed Nathan the bag of stickers and we spelled out THE DISCIPLINE on the side of his bike. It looked COOL. Then Uncle Jake opened the garage door, and we took the bikes for a spin around the block, down the road, and through the park.

  We were free.

  CHAPTER 24: THE LEADER

  The next day, Nathan came over and actually copied down the Warrior Kid Code word for word. He asked questions about working out and how to study. We even made some flash cards for some vocabulary words that we were supposed to learn over the summer.

  The last week of camp was great. We did all kinds of cool projects and sports, and the camp counselors even let me show some basics of jiu-jitsu to the class. It was AWESOME.

  Then, suddenly, on Sunday morning, it was time for Uncle Jake to head back to college.

  We did one more workout together early in the morning—this time we did two hundred pull-ups! It was crazy. It was even crazier that in the beginning of last summer, I couldn’t even do ONE!

  Once we were done working out, Uncle Jake sat in my room while I was cleaning up.

  “So what did you learn this summer?” he asked.

  “A ton!” I said.

  “Like what?” he asked again.

  “Well. I learned to control my temper!” I said with a smile.

  “Yes. You learned about that. What else?”

  “I learned about taking care of my gear. And that includes how to completely break down and refurbish a bike … or two bikes, to be exact.”

  “Ah yes. That is a good lesson, too. What else?” Uncle Jake asked.

  “I learned about hard work and business and how to be frugal and save my money.”

  “Yes. That’s true. And very important. But what else did you learn?”

  “That jiu-jitsu tournaments are nothing to be afraid of? And that I’m actually pretty good at them?”

  “Yes, Marc, you learned that, too. But what else?”

  I wasn’t quite sure what Uncle Jake was getting at. “I learned not to let things like name-calling bother me. And how to take the power away from an insult by simply laughing at it?”

  “Yes, Marc, you learned that, too. But you’re missing the most important lesson from the summer.”

  I racked my brain but couldn’t think of anything, so I told Uncle Jake, “I’m not sure. Can you tell me?”

  “Okay,” he said, “let me give you a hint. What do you think about Nathan?”

  “What about Nathan? I think he’s a great kid. I like him a lot.”

  “Did you like him before?”

  “No. I didn’t.”

  “Why not?” Uncle Jake asked.

  “Well, because he was kind of a jerk.”

  “What changed him?”

  I wasn’t sure what Uncle Jake meant by this. “What changed him?” I asked him back.

  “Yes,” he said again, “what changed him? What made him start acting nice? What put him on the path to being a Warrior Kid?”

  I thought about it for a while and then I thought I realized what Uncle Jake was getting at.

  “Was … it … me?” I asked nervously.

  Uncle Jake nodded his head. “Yes, yes it was you. That is the biggest lesson of the summer. You learned to lead—and you learned the power of being a leader. Your positive influence on Nathan will impact his whole life. Everything. And that is what a leader does. A leader helps people without expecting anything in return. And that’s what you did, Marc. You led Nathan down the right path—the warrior path—and you did it for him—not for you. I’m proud of you Marc. Because that’s what warriors do. Warriors lead.”

  I walked back over to my Warrior Kid Code, which I had sitting on my desk. I read through it again. Line nine, which said I am the Warrior Kid, seemed to be missing something. I picked a pen up off the desk and added and I am a leader to that line.

  I held it up and showed it to Uncle Jake.

  He nodded his head. “Perfect,” he said. “You are a leader.”

  “Yes, I am,” I said.

  Uncle Jake packed up the last of his gear, and we headed to the airport. We didn’t say much on the way there. My mom asked some questions about classes he would be taking, and he talked through some of them.

  I was sad once again that Uncle Jake was leaving. But at the same time, I felt good, though I wasn’t quite sure why.

  When we got to the airport, we got out of the car and I went to say good-bye to him. He looked me square in the eye. “It feels goo
d, doesn’t it?” he asked.

  “What?” I said, wondering how he could tell what I was feeling.

  “It feels good to lead people down the path. I led you down the path last year. Now you led Nathan. And you will lead others, Marc. That is your new mission: You will lead others.”

  “I will, Uncle Jake. I will.”

  And with that, he shook my hand and headed toward the terminal to catch his plane.

  My leader was gone.

  But it didn’t matter as much this time.

  Because I was the leader now.

  The Warrior Kid Code

  1.  The Warrior Kid wakes up early in the morning.

  2.  The Warrior Kid studies to learn and gain knowledge and asks questions if he doesn’t understand.

  3.  The Warrior Kid trains hard, exercises, and eats right to be strong and fast and healthy.

  4.  The Warrior Kid trains to know how to fight so he can stand up to bullies to protect the weak.

  5.  The Warrior Kid treats people with respect and helps out other people whenever possible.

  6.  The Warrior Kid keeps things neat and is always prepared and ready for action.

  7.  The Warrior Kid stays humble.

  8.  The Warrior Kid works hard and always does his best.

  9.  I am the Warrior Kid and I am a leader.

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  Read on for a look at the first book in the Way of the Warrior Kid series!

  CHAPTER 1: THE WORST YEAR

  Tomorrow is the last day of school, and I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE OVER!! This has been the worst year EVER! The bad part is that I don’t see how next year is going to be any better at all. Fifth grade was horrible—I’m afraid sixth grade will be EVEN WORSE. Why was it so bad? Where do I begin?