We chat with Green Beret Jay

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That's going sir. Thank you for having me.

As I mentioned before the show, I wanted to say it again in front of the public too, but thank you very much for your service day.

Yeah, thank you.

So, I guess my first question was, I know a lot of people get sick of it, but I'm curious what got you motivated to become a Green Beret.

So's uh.

I think my story is a little bit unorthodox because most I'm sure most guys you speak with, you know, they they either come from it as far as instantry, or they you know, saw a movie.

For me, it was none of those, right, it was you know.

I was at Fort Riley, Kansas, you know, five years in into my military career, and I had a squad leader. You know, he was just just this you know, hard ass, just badass squad leader like I looked up to him.

And he went to selection.

Before then, I knew nothing about you know, special forces or any of that stuff. So he went to selection and he came back and he was a twenty eight day none select and it just blew my mind. I'm like, here's this guy, just the best at the Army has to offer. And he went and he got turned around and he didn't even get any feedback as to why he didn't get selected, and that motivated me to, you know, be the best that I can be. So I followed in his footstep and I went to selection and.

I got picked up.

Until this day, he still gives me crap about it, you know, the fact that I went and got selected and that he didn't. We still go back and forth about that. So that right there was my motivating factor was, you know, my squad leader.

And by the way, folks, Jay is actually currently still a Green Beret. So this is one of our first times we've actually interviewed somebody. Well maybe Ryan Henderson too, I think we talked about that before. He might have still been active as well, but not that I remember.

Now.

I've interviewed I think over forty or fifty Special Forces and I think this is the first one that I've had that's actually still active. So I guess I guess the reason I asked that Jay is because I was curious about seer training. Everybody I had talked to who's become a Green Beret loved Seer training. I thought it was the best train they've ever had. I know there's the downsides to it, of course, but did you find it to be the same for you?

So it was like I always tell people when they ask me that question, that you know that that training was probably the best training that I've had throughout my military career. Not not free fall, not sniper, not any o the other training that I've been to, but it was definitely Seer training. I've I've learned a lot about myself going into it, Like I I was somewhat you know, cocky because when it comes to hardship, I've experienced it, you know, being from Haiti and growing up in New

For that particular course.

Interesting. Interesting that your story reminds me a little bit of that Navy seal we interviewed the Remy out of Lucky.

Oh, I'm good friends with Remy.

All right. Was he from Haiti?

No, so Remy's from Nigeria, Nigeria, Okay, yeah.

Yeah, because I think it wasn't as I thought. He came from a Caribbean island of his dad or something.

Or No, No, he's out of Africa. Moved to the Bronx. I came from Haiti. I moved to Brooklyn. So we're right up right across the bridge from each.

Other, all right. Very interesting? Yeah, so yeah, because everybody I talked to another Green Berets always found it to be interesting, and they said was the best of things I've ever learned. I guess I haven't asked them. I'll ask you. Do you think a lot of the stuff that you learned? You said, now you've learned more about yourself, which is interesting. I get my hand out of the camera. I'm like blocking myself up. But did you learn a lot of stuff that would apply to civilian life for you?

Yeah, definitely, definitely, just the the never quitting attitude, the you know, not feeling sore for your self attitude. Once I get to the point where I transition, I'm sure that's going to help me out of right, because when I was in that course, my biggest motivating factor was the fact that, you know, I had guys to my left and guys to my right, and regardless of how bad it god, you know, they were pushing through it, you know, and that kind of made me look inside

Right?

So that gave me the extra kit that I needed to, you know, keep going forward, keep pushing myself, and I think a lot could be well, I know.

A lot will be transferred to the civilian sector. Right where.

You know it, the sun shines on everybody, it rains on everybody. When things happen to me, then I need to take it as Okay, this happens like this is I'm not the first person that this has happened to, right, So let me keep pushing, let me keep moving forward and make the best side of it.

That's the interesting thing is every time I've interviewed people in Special Forces, and this is not a criticism of anybody else in the military, but you guys are special in some capacities. I mean the intelligence level, the ability to be cognitive cognitively flexible, as we say in my world of psychology, which is being able to, Hey, this doesn't work. I got to try something else that didn't work.

Yeah, well you got to have that, especially when it comes to the job, right when you all going overseas and you're going total told with an enemy that's doing everything that they can to defeat you, and you are trying to do the same to them, right, Like, you've got to have that how do I overcome how do I out maneuver in order to get to an end state? And it starts in the schoolhouse, right, it starts at selection, it starts at there. It's starts in you know mos

Oh man, like enemies.

On top of the hill, Like, how do I overcome that to get to them? So I could achieve my ind state? Right, But it's all got to start somewhere.

Let me ask you this, and I could be wrong. You let me know. It sounded like when you were talking when you were living in Haiti, you came from a tough upbringing. I don't know if you got into street fights or whatever, if it was a tough area that you lived in, but you sound like you had you had an attitude or a belief in yourself that you can handle anything. Did when you went through see your training or through selection, did you feel like you know what? Hey, I was wrong? But did you come

Of course, I was exposed to poverty, but most of my experience in Haiti was just uncomfort, starvation, you know, lack of sleep. But none of it prepared me for the mental aspect of sir. I was okay with not sleeping, I was okay with not eating, but all the other mental challenges I definitely wasn't ready for that. So I went in thinking that I was, you know, billy badass and I was going to crush it. And uh, unbeknown to me, you know, a couple of days into it,

Uh so, yes, physical.

You know, sleep, food like that wasn't an issue, but the mental aspect of it.

I wasn't ready for that at all. So I learned a lot as regards to that.

Yeah, I could imagine. So, because that's one of the interesting things. I mean, I wish somebody would create a program, and some people have tried. They've created these little mini courses or many programs, because I think a lot of people would benefit going through a form of seer training. Obviously not learning everything you guys learned the need for that, but that mental toughness I think would be a huge in today's society to be able to counter problems and challenges in your own life.

It would be.

It would be because it been, you know, since I started, you know, this adventure of my majority of the questions that I get, you know from folks that are you know, try to become Special Forces operators, is hey, how do I get mentally tough? You know, that's like their number one concern And it's not just something that you can teach somebody. You know, they have to go through certain things to you know, get to the point where you know they.

Could achieve you know, mental toughness.

You know, that's a tough one. That's not going to be the easy gig. So when you went through ser your training, I'm trying to think now how I would phrase this here. Do you remember the first time you got deployed?

Yeah?

And was it what you expected? Was it easier, was it harder? Was it completely different? Where was your mindset?

Now?

So so I have two separate categories of the ploints. Right, So my very first deployment was two months out of basic training in two thousand and three. Wow, and I I wasn't expecting it. And I remember vividly being in basic training anait for Lynnwood, Missouri, and the drill sergeant, you know, they would prank us. They would wake us up in the middle of the night and they would tell us, Hey, pack your bags. We just got the call.

Push into Iraq. Right, so we're all freaking out. We're like, oh my god, what's going on? You know.

You went in in the wild West days then.

Yeah, yeah, I joined in two thousand and three. So here we are, We're a bunch of privates were freaking out, and they were like, I don't worry about it, going.

And go back up stairs, you know, go back to sleep. You know.

So it was their way of, you know, making us mentally tough or starting that process.

Right.

So fast forward two months later, I get to my unit July of two thousand and three, and then I get to my unit and my I meet my squad leader and he looks at me and he tells me, hey, don't unpack your duffel bags.

We're deploying in two months to Iraq. You know.

So I just left basic training and I played those games before. So I looked at him like, yeah, right, Like I'm not going anywhere. So I went to my barracks room, I unpacked all my stuff with in the wall loocker, and then I went on, you know, business as usual.

But he was right.

Two months later, I was in Iraq conducting a rock clarence four convoys that were going through.

Oh wow. Yeah, now, I'm assuming it was different once you became a green Berry and got deployed. Everybody I've talked to says pretty much the same thing, that they felt much more equipped mentally and physically to be able to do things. Is that about right with you too?

Yes?

Yes, Because so my deployment with big armies, we like to call it the conventional unit, it was more so reactive, right. So I would go out there, conduct rock clarence. We find an ID, we sit on it, eod coms, they blow it. If we get shot at, we shoot back.

Right and U.

So it was completely different from when I had my first deployment with special Forces. We were being very proactive. We were going after the enemy before they can get you know, the ID in place on the road.

Right, we were chasing them and keeping them.

On dead toes as opposed to you know, my previous deployments, like we were being hunted. Right, we were driving down the road, id's going off, and I said, we had no idea where the enemy was and where they were shooting from.

Uh So that's that was the biggest difference for me.

That's a big difference, A big difference. By the way, folks, again, we're talking to Green Beret Jay Dorlias. You can find them a Green Underscore Beret under Berets Underscore Chronicles, Green Beret Chronicles on Instagram. If you're on the gram as they call it sometimes. I know, I'm always curious to see. I'm being hesitant here, folks. I know he can only tell me so much. I'm trying to phrase this properly. Your first gun battle, I guess, yeah, everybody wants to know.

Yes?

Yes, so, because we all grew up watching television, like we all see the action movies, and you know, I'm a big.

Uh eight, I was gonna say, you're much younger the fifty one. Yeah, you grew up in the what era were you in? No after you still?

Yeah? Uh so, I'm thirty eight. So I I grew up watching.

You know, sly Stone, you know Cigal and all those strata like those who are my my three dudes. So growing up and watching those action movies like you see, you know, the the gunfights and going into it like I knew that's not how it was, but.

Seeing it on the battlefield is completely different.

And I remember vividly my my very verse one, right, because everybody remembers the first one. We were you know, doing work in Afghanistan, and we were leaving an objective and as we were leaving, like I heard the gunfire and then I saw the impact righting around my ankles and I just saw like dirt kicking up.

And it took me a while to process it. It's like, did I just get shot at? And I'm the new guy on the team.

So I'm just standing there like, oh man, I'm getting shot at and everyone else is just returning fire. And I got yelled at by my us, by my senior to you know, shoot back. So that was my very first experience, and I just remember thinking to myself like, oh man, it's it's it's nothing like the movies at all.

Now, what role did you have when you first started? I forget the names of all of the his Echo and Charlie and all these.

Yeah, so I went from being a combat Engineer twelve Ravo to a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant eighteen Charlie. So I was a junior Charlie on my first team when I started.

Interesting. Yeah, and yeah, you had how many roles did you say you had? You had about three or four different roles.

Yeah, so I've had three separate roles. So I was a junior Charlie. Then I did senior Charlie. You normally get those after three or four years on a team. The senior Charlie you'll move on to go do something else. You'll replace him, and then you'll get a newer special Forces guy from the qualification course.

He'll work under you.

Once I was done with that, I went to the schoolhouse and I was an instructor over at the eighteen trolley committee for three years. I got promoted. Then I took over as a team sergeant. So I was running my own detachment for approximately two years before I became a first sergeant, which is what I am now, and I'm getting ready to retire here.

Like I said hopefully around April, did you.

Have a favorite or did you like a MA tell you.

What I love the first sergeant correction. I love the team sergeant job because I am literally like the most powerful guy in the team room.

And I'm.

I'm gonna use a quote from Spider Man here that says, you know, with great power comes great responsibility. In that like, I have nine guys under me that I am responsible for coaching, mentoring, and they will literally do anything that I say to do. And that's powerful when you got you know, like the type of guys that you know, Special Forces creates, and you all controlling them, right, It's like I can let them loose at any given time, or I could pull the chains back at any given time.

There. I'm still helping them, you know.

So that's that's definitely one other job that I'm going to miss the most.

Yeah, there's definitely a band of brothers that. Yes, I have seen that with a lot of the almost every single Special Forces group I've seen. Yeah, yeah, it's that's a it's a fascinating thing. Let me ask you this, Christopher a second. You can let me know if it's too personal or not. But are you the oldest.

Out of your siblings? No? No, so I'm the third oldest out of eight kids.

Okay, And and uh, the reason I ask I'm always curious because I know, most of the Special Forces guys so far, I think almost all of them have been either onlies or oldest, because you know the role of the oldest is usually taking charge. They have responsibilities they're given. Did you have as growing up too, Did you have to take care of the younger ones at all? Or that's fascinating to me.

Yeah, I mean.

My folks had kids in twos, right, so my older brother and my oldest sister, they're like a pair, and then there's.

Me and my younger.

Brother, and then there's you know, two other parents for a total of eight kids, and we we.

Kind of took care of each other, right.

So my older brother he would be responsible for taking care of my sister, and then I was responsible for taking.

Care of my brother.

The four of us were born in Haiti and then the bottom four they were born in the States, So that's how we were split up.

But but I always tell my my siblings that.

In every family or in every you know, like if you look at the vendor bills and you look at you know, like all the most powerful families, like at every given point, there was a guy that said, Hey, I'm gonna, you know, put this family on my shoulders and make it you know, unnamed that's going to be recognized by the world. And I'm definitely that in my family.

That's just it's just a very large family to protectase that's a them, you know.

But but yes, I am that guy for my family and I do everything that I can to make sure that they're taking care of mainly because I know where we come from as far as you know our history and answer.

That's interesting, that's interesting. Thank you for sharing that. And this is not again, folks, not a criticism for if you're the youngest or you're the middle that it doesn't mean you can't make it into special Forces. But it is funny to see the correlation between this sibling order and special Forces people. I don't think I've ever had

Yes?

So, so this concept came about. I was sitting behind the desk. I was newly appointed, you know, first sergeant. So I'm I'm going from tactical to more admin. Right now, I have my own company and I'm managing a bunch of guys in the schoolhouse. So I'm no longer running and gunning. I'm not like I'm not doing any other fun stuff anymore. And I I've been in the regiment long enough to know that when guys get out, if they don't have

Aret you know.

And what I wanted was, you know, to get out and have my next mission lined up, so I didn't skip a beat. And one of the things that I love to do is, you know, I love to coach. I love to teach, I love to mentor. I truly believe that you know, everyone, regardless of who you are, you're entitled to great leadership, right and what better leadership exists than you know, a brotherhood of Special Forces operators that's you know, been the war that's led at the

That's awesome. Yeah, you're absolutely right, because I know a lot of individuals. It's kind of funny because it's not just Special Forces. A lot of encountered and other professions, especially if they get their identity wrapped up a lot into that profession. Do you find that the case a lot of times too, that individuals I'm a Green Bereat, That's who I am, and then when they stop, all of a sudden, whoever, we'll just make up a name, Bob feels like, wait a minute, I'm not a Green

Sometimes it is?

It is, and some guys just don't know how to stop, you know, nothing against them. They you know, that's their identity and they don't know anything else from that, and when that, you know, goes away, then they struggle. I was fortunate enough to, you know, have a lot of things going on while I was in to allowed me to you know, follow this venture. And what I'm trying

You know that I came in on No. Three. All I've done is deployed. You know, I don't want all that to go to waste.

If I can share it with a eighteen and nineteen year old that's trying to join the military or trying to joint usoff, if I can share that experience with him to keep him from making some of the same mistakes that were made before me, then why not? You know, And as not a veteran in the world that doesn't want to you know, coach, teach a mentor.

The next generation.

You know, they just need a platform, you know, and they just need to know that it's okay for them to do that.

Oh that is popular in that circle.

Man.

Huh. That's interesting. So that's one of the things we're going to be working with them, is trying to help them do that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I got a couple of guys lined up, Like I'll start eventually sitting down with guys and just doing like a podcast style eight of you where they just sit down with me and then they just let it all out, you know, just talk about the experiences and you know what they went through because it's therapeutic

And so forth. So I just want to give them that platform.

That's really cool. That's a great thing to do. Yeah, the only thing a lot of them. I think some of the ones I've seen who struggled have had that, and I think too Lamb talked about it too, So that's a great platform. Again, folks, it's Green Underscore for Rey Underscore chronicles. Let me ask you this when you I know here you were in operations. I'm trying to think what I can do. I guess I won't be able to ask you. Well, I guess I'll try, and you can always tell me you can't say it. But

I prefer land land. Yeah, I guess mountains. Yeah.

I was on a mountain team when I had my team, so I'm trained in mountain warfare, so I'm definitely I definitely love fighting in the mountains. I'm not a a seal, so I don't like doing stuff on the water. And it's gonna sound crazy, but something about just being on land and you know, looking for your enemy and they're shooting at you, and you're shooting at them and you're you know, playing chess and trying to figure out how to take them out. Something about that just excites me.

Mountains really? Okay, Yes, I think that's great. That's interesting to me that I'm always curious to which kind of terrains are going to deal with. Yeah, and what else does Green Beret Chronicles offer for the individuals out there? They haven't heard about it, We're either that. Does it also offer preparation for people try to get into the Green Berets or a soft community?

Yes? So right now I have a YouTube channel.

That that anybody can go to. Right on the channel, what I'm doing is I'm offering a variety of prep courses, just basic stuff that a lot of guys don't know, and I feel like that everybody should know, right, So, how to you know, how to take care of your feet, you know how to break in your boots, you know the type of boots that you need for selection, how to land navigate, how to tie not So I'm helping individuals get through selection, and then once they get through selection,

This is what I experience.

Make sure you you know Rockie using this type of boots or hey, make sure you spent a lot of time on land av stay away from the roads. I'm starting to build a community to where I can you know, help influence you know, guys actually get into the regiment by sharing my.

Experience with them. And it's so far, it's it's working out.

That sounds like a great resource.

Yeah, it is, Yeah, because when I went through in two thousand and five, none of that exists, you know, like you go to a YouTube and or Google and you you know, looked up you know, selection and nothing exists. You know, And I'm a firm believer. And hey, like we're slowly, you know, moving towards the era of you know, technology just running everything. You know, like the new generation they want information and if they can't find the information, they're.

Just not going to go to selection.

You know.

It's it's not that or if they want it bad enough, they'll figure it out. That's not the case anymore, you know. Really they want the information. They want to know what they're getting themselves into, you know, and the question that they're asking it's nothing that they shouldn't know. You know, it's not like top secret stuff. It's basic questions. And I'm like, yeah, man, like this is what it is.

You know, what do you think jack that pops up? By the way, folks, you can find that YouTube channel called Green Great Chronicles. Green Gray Chronicles got some really cool titles here you can look at. I have shades of want to be Special Forces leading Special Forces men. He's got one I want to look at and know if I should ask him, because then you want to look at the channel. It's five books every man must read.

I think no one. A little bit can make a difference, right, because it helps you prepare, right, it helps you prepare for what you're about to face. If you go to selection not knowing that you got to do a forty you know mile rock at the end of it, and how are you supposed to prepare for it? You know, you're just going to up and do a forty row and do a forty miler right then and there you're.

Actually you're actually helping the Green Berets themselves in regards to people who could have been great candidates or great Green Berets, maybe would have bombed on that forty my hown rock, like you said, because they weren't prepared for it. But if they were, they would have passed everything else. Rightah.

So when I was a.

When I was a first sergeant in the schoolhouse, every couple of months we would get you know, a bunch of let me phrase that, every couple of months, I would see a bunch of you know kids, all students that's felled out of selection. And I made it my my purpose to speak to some of them and just hear what their thoughts all right. I would ask him, hey, what did you think about selection?

Or what you fail? And will you ever go back?

And some of the kids that I met there were you know, solid kids, and they were just not prepared for what they were going to face, you know. And I truly believe, having been in the regiment for the past fifteen years, that some of those guys could have been great Special Forces operators had they known.

How to properly prepared, you know.

So that also factored into my decision to start a prep course to help those guys out.

You know.

So after doing a ton of research, I came across Sean Rodgers and I saw what he was doing, and I was like, man, I wish I had that when I was, you know, getting ready for selection, because I lucked out because my squad leader had just went so I had the ability to pick his brain, right, But some of these guys they don't have anything, you know, They're just out there just figuring it out, you know.

That's a great point. I really do think that's a great point. Sean. I remember Sean, he was great. Yeah, I think we interviewed him last year. No, it's I never thought about it that way. But if I can see your point, it makes it. You should definitely catch a lot of more people they're going to be qualified, because I was assuming some of those guys. If they

Yeah, because you still got to keep in mind that they're being assessed for more than just their physical capabilities. They're looking for the entire package. So it just because one guy knows that, hey, I got forty more up. Just because one guy knows that, hey, I have a forty mileter coming up, and he trained his butt off to crush it, he still has to.

Perform in all the other areas.

Right, I can give you the answers to the tests, you still got to show up and perform, right, I can't give you heart, you know, I can't give that to you. You can know, you know what the schedule looks like. You know, day by day, you still got to show up every day in those conditions without the sleep and perform, you know. And there was a documentary that came out two weeks in hell where you know, they followed that entire selection class, you know, and it's

It's so fascinating. I think one of the greatest quotes is going to be at least in this arena of martial arts, sports, special forces, they seem to have some kind of commonality. But I think Mike Tyson's quote will live forever. Everybody's got a plan till they get punched in the face. And yes, I can see it apply here in selection as well.

Yes, that is very accurate.

Very I don't know if it's his or not. I have to find out that it actually originated from him, but it lives an infamy now, I guess. Now our last couple of minutes together, you're getting ready to sign off, I guess you could say, and are you looking forward to going into the civilian life to some degree or I am?

I am, I'm I think this chapter of my life is comeing to an end, and I've never been more excited in my life.

To see what the future.

Holds, mainly because, like I'm ready to take my leadership, you know, on the international stage. I guess you can say, you know, by dedicating everything I've got to the YouTube channel, to coaching these young kids that are reaching out on a daily basis, and just helping them experience what you know the regiment has to offer, you know, and hope that the regiment could do for them what it did for me as far as you know, raising me to become the man that I.

Am to I guess my last few questions before we wrap up. First, I'll ask I know you have five books that you're recommended there, but is there any book you would recommend for anybody looking at you in the Special Forces? You thought, tell me one of the five you want to mention as I must read for anybody.

Yes, So, I truly believe that to Get Selected is a preparation book that I read myself when I was getting ready for selection and then chosen So by Dick Couch is a really good one, and if anybody out there is looking. And then my buddy Ryan Hendrickston has a really good book called Tip of the Spear. And then Nick Lavery, an old third Group guy, He's got a really good book about, you know, resiliency and what he had to go through to get back to active

I think that'll give them a head start.

I guess this is this is too broad of a question to ask, so I'll try to pinpoint a little bit any words of advice for either somebody going into the military for the first time. They're eighteen or nineteen, they're going to go into the army, but they have the intention of becoming special Forces. What should they be doing when they go into the army to get ready for that, or should they be doing anything?

Yeah, So if they're looking at going into the military again, if you're not already there, just start training right physical fitness. If you're once you get in, just do what you're told. Like the Army's always been easy to me, and I excel at it because I always tell people that don't buff the system. Like someone would literally tell you where to be, what uniform to be in, what time to be there, and what you need to do. All you got to do is just show up and do those

Do what you're told. Yes, I like it. I like it. Told again folks, Jay Dourley is. You can find them on Instagram. Green Beret Chronicles is Green Underscore Beret Underscore Chronicles. Thank you so much, Jay again for taking the time to be with us.

No problem, sir, I appreciate you having me.

Thank you everyone for listening. Hey, you know what to do, share, subscribe, hit that like buddy, go check out those books. If you're interested in becoming a soft member a soft operator if you already are, a thank you for your service as well if you're in the military and you're not deciding to do that, but either way, thank you for your service. Thank you everyone.