490: Accept All Challenges Involved. With Travis Barnes

Jocko Podcast

Jocko DEFCOR Network

Management, History, Business

4.8 • 31.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 139 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

>Join Jocko Underground<

After 9/11, Travis Barnes enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, driven by duty and purpose. He endured grueling training, served three combat tours in Iraq, and rose to Sergeant in a Recon unit, surviving IEDs and earning multiple commendations. After suffering traumatic brain injury and PTSD, he returned home, went to law school, and found healing through discipline — this time in crafting whiskey. In 2014, alongside his wife Hilary, he founded Hotel Tango, named in honor of their bond and his military roots. For Travis, distilling became a new mission: to create with precision, serve with honor, and lead with purpose.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Jocko podcast number 490 with Echo Charles and me, Jocker Willink. Good evening, Echo.
0:04.6	Good evening. Realizing it is my choice and my choice alone to be a reconnaissance Marine, I accept all challenges involved with this profession.
0:14.8	I forever shall I strive to maintain the tremendous reputation of those who went before me.
0:20.4	Exceeding beyond the
0:21.2	limitations set down by others shall be my goal sacrificing personal comfort and dedicating myself
0:28.2	to the completion of the reconnaissance mission shall be my life physical fitness mental attitude
0:34.5	and high ethics the title of recon marine is my honor
0:38.5	Conquering all obstacles both large and small I shall never quit to quit to surrender to give up is to fail
0:46.9	To be a recon Marine is to surpass failure to overcome to adapt and to do whatever it takes to complete the mission on the
0:56.1	battlefield as in all areas of life I shall stand tall above the competition through
1:02.2	professional pride integrity and teamwork I shall be the example for all Marines to emulate
1:08.6	never shall I forget the principles I accept I accepted to become a recon marine, honor, perseverance, spirit, and heart.
1:19.1	A recon marine can speak without saying a word and achieve what others can only imagine.
1:27.8	Boom, there you go.
1:29.3	That is the recon creed, the creed of the Marine Corps' first reconnaissance battalion,
1:35.6	which is unique in that it's a standalone battalion with no parent regiment.
1:41.7	It was activated in 1937, earned combat honors in World
1:47.2	War II, Korea, Vietnam. And in recent history in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is a hallowed
1:54.9	unit. And of course, when recon Marines move on, while they still are and will always be Marines, they
2:04.2	carry on and find a new mission and new goals.
2:07.9	And it's an honor to have one of those recon Marines with us here tonight, Travis Barnes,
2:12.4	who did three back-to-back tours in Iraq and then carried on with a new mission.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jocko DEFCOR Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jocko DEFCOR Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.