In 2008, while Jason was in Special Forces and Emily his wife was in the CIA, they started GORUCK out of her house in war-torn West Africa. 

The goal was pretty simple: build a rucksack with life or death quality standards that would thrive in Baghdad and NYC, not to mention Côte d’Ivoire — and show people of all walks of life how to operate smartly and safely in some of the harshest environments in the world (using said rucksack). 

How to travel, how to train, how to get the most out of a life where adventure calls and tomorrow is never promised.

They didn’t have a business plan and weren’t willing to compromise on basically anything, so this little project called GORUCK cost them almost everything they had.

But sometimes you have to put all your chips on the table and say come what may. What Jason and Emily found (with no time to spare) was a like-minded community of people who proudly proclaim that "the easy life is not for us."

When you’ve survived the things that Jason & Emily have, and your inspiration in life becomes normal people doing extraordinary things, what you realize is that you don’t owe less — you owe more.  

Please enjoy this wide-ranging and personal conversation with Jason and Jon!