GRP 54- We have a special guest on for today's podcast. Dave Maynard is a lead instructor at Warfighter Academy, and a retired U.S Navy SEAL who made it into the Teams in 1972 just missing the Vietnam war. Dave left the Navy after a couple of years as the SEALs were downsizing after the war. During this time, he worked repairing Navy ships as a contractor, as well as working in different capacities in the realm of tactical development for Fleet Training Center. Once the Global War on Terror kicked off Dave became a contractor for the U.S Government's Global Response Staff. Below is an excerpt from our conversation.

John: You made it into the SEAL Teams right as the Vietnam war was winding down. Can you talk about what joining the Navy was like for you? You worked as a government contractor during the GWOT. What was that like?

Dave Maynard: SEALs at the time weren't as popular as they are today. After completing basic, I went on to BUDs (SEAL Selection). I had all of these legendary SEALs around me. In the first week of training somehow my name got mixed up with a trainee who got drunk, run the main gate, did a bunch of crazy things. My proctor was a guy named Chief Estok walked up to me. He is the last person in the world you want to cross paths with. He says "Your nothing but a dirt bag, and I'm going to make sure you never pass this training". (Laughs)

I know you've seen the movie 13 hours in Benghazi where the Chief of Base was a goofball. I never saw that. The Chief of Base that I worked with were stellar and backed us 1000 percent. I was working with the best guys in the world. We worked closely with the British SAS we had quite a crew there. Those were some of the best times.