Goggins's father Trunnis forces the family to work nights at his skating rink while beating them at home.

Jackie secretly plots an escape with a neighbor and flees Buffalo with her sons to rural Brazil, Indiana.

Wilmoth Irving, Jackie's fiancé and Goggins's first positive male role model, is murdered the day after Christmas.

Goggins creates the Accountability Mirror, studies obsessively for six months, and rises from a fourth- to twelfth-grade reading level.

Goggins watches a TV documentary about Navy SEAL Hell Week and decides to abandon his life as a pest controller.

Goggins meets recruiter Steven Schaljo, who takes his dream seriously and helps him commit to losing over 100 pounds in three months.

Goggins passes the Navy SEAL written qualifying exam, calling it the happiest moment of his life up to that point.

Goggins develops the concept of taking souls during Hell Week as a mental weapon against his instructor's relentless torment.

Goggins contracts pneumonia during his first Hell Week and is medically removed, forced to restart BUD/S with a new class.

Goggins graduates BUD/S Class 235 with fractured shins as his mother watches the ceremony and weeps with pride.

With zero race preparation, Goggins runs 101 miles at the San Diego One Day to raise money for fallen friends' families.

Goggins finishes the brutal Badwater 135 in fifth place and tells himself there is no finish line in life.

A Navy admiral orders Goggins into a military recruitment division, formally launching his career as a national public speaker.

Goggins learns he was born with a hole in his heart and undergoes two surgeries, the first of which is botched.

Goggins sets the Guinness World Record for pull-ups in 24 hours, completing 4,030 repetitions on his third attempt.

David Goggins grows up under the brutal abuse of his father Trunnis in Buffalo before his mother engineers an escape to rural Indiana. After a fractured adolescence, Goggins uses the Accountability Mirror to force himself to study obsessively and finally graduate high school. A TV documentary about Navy SEALs ignites his greatest ambition, and he commits to losing over 100 pounds to pursue BUD/S training. Despite contracting pneumonia and being medically removed, Goggins eventually earns his SEAL designation and enters the world of ultramarathons and elite military service. He raises money for fallen comrades by running 101 miles with zero preparation, completes the brutal Badwater 135, and becomes a nationally deployed public speaker. A hole in his heart and two surgeries slow him but cannot stop him, and he caps his journey by setting the world pull-up record.

The essential story of David Goggins's transformation from abused child to elite warrior.

Young Goggins attacks his father during a violent assault on his mother, but police arrive and believe Trunnis's lies.

After moving to Brazil, Indiana, Goggins develops a stutter, falls behind academically, and must repeat second grade with Sister Katherine.

An armed man stops Goggins and his cousin walking home from a party and demands to know what they are doing in town.

Goggins is inspired by the story of a pararescue officer who survived a dangerous crash and defied doctors to return to duty.

Goggins scores far below the minimum requirements on the Air Force aptitude test, threatening his last remaining dream.

Goggins's wife tells him she and her daughter will not move to San Diego, and the couple separates.

Goggins convinces a fellow BUD/S recruit to steal the instructor training schedule, giving Boat Crew 2 a vital mental advantage.

A doctor confirms Goggins has a fractured kneecap during his second BUD/S attempt, forcing him to return home to Indiana.

Goggins's girlfriend tells him she is pregnant while he has no job, no car, no savings, and no permanent home.

Goggins runs a spontaneous full marathon in Las Vegas and finishes fast enough to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon.

Goggins runs the Hurt 100 ultramarathon in Hawaii with a broken Camelbak, eventually walking the entire fifth circuit for eight hours.

Goggins finishes second in the Ultraman triathlon despite crashing to the ground after a flat tire during the cycling stage.

Goggins speaks to hundreds of thousands of young people at schools and universities during a two-year nationwide recruitment tour.

Goggins graduates Ranger School after losing 56 pounds in just over two months, celebrated with a sip of curdled milk.

Goggins is diagnosed with Addison's disease and is forced to rest in bed for weeks, unable to exercise at all.

This pool captures the significant moments that shaped Goggins's character without making the main headlines of his story. From the night police sided with his abusive father to the armed man who confronted him in Indiana, Goggins's early life was defined by violence and overt racism. Key personal struggles follow — a failed Air Force aptitude test, a crumbling marriage, and a surprise pregnancy during his lowest moment — alongside the tactical decisions inside BUD/S that helped his crew survive Hell Week. His athletic journey broadens through the grueling Hurt 100 and Ultraman triathlon, while his recruitment career sees him speak to hundreds of thousands of students across the country. He completes Ranger School dramatically after two months of brutal attrition, only to be stopped years later not by a race but by disease, lying bedridden for the first time in his adult life.

The supporting battles, setbacks, and milestones behind Goggins's rise.

At age eight, Goggins's older brother points a loaded gun at him, and Goggins recalls feeling no concern about whether he lived or died.

Goggins watches news footage of Wilmoth's murder scene and realizes no one will ever come to rescue him.

Goggins cheats off another student on an entrance exam to gain admission to a college preparatory high school in Indianapolis.

Goggins discovers a racist drawing of himself hanging by a noose posted on the wall of his Spanish classroom.

During Air Force water confidence training, Goggins is diagnosed with sickle cell trait and admits to himself he is secretly relieved to be removed.

Goggins runs outside after watching the SEAL documentary, nearly quits after a few hundred yards, but pushes through and completes a full mile.

Boat Crew 2 spontaneously chants YOU CAN'T HURT BOAT CREW 2 and surges with unprecedented energy during the hardest day of Hell Week.

A BUD/S recruit named John Skop dies near the end of Hell Week, bringing the entire training week to an abrupt halt.

Goggins learns that several friends were killed in an Afghanistan operation and must deliver devastating news to a fellow SEAL about his twin brother.

Marcus Luttrell is revealed as the sole survivor of the Taliban battle, alive despite being presumed dead by his twin brother.

At mile 70 of the San Diego race, Goggins's body fails completely — urinating blood and losing all bowel control.

Trapped in pain and doubt during the San Diego race, Goggins reaches into his mental cookie jar of past victories to keep moving.

During a DEVGRU selection interview, Goggins confronts the panel directly about racism and later never receives orders to join the unit.

Goggins attempts the pull-up world record on the Today Show, hits total muscle failure for the first time in his life, and falls far short.

After weeks bedridden with illness, Goggins takes up intensive daily stretching, recovers his health, and retires from military service.

This pool focuses on the specific moments of internal and external shock that redirected Goggins's life at its most crucial junctures. Early crises — a brother pointing a loaded gun at him, watching a murder scene on the news, and enduring targeted racism in school — reveal a young man whose sense of hopelessness ran very deep. A hidden moment of relief during Air Force water training exposes the self-deception he eventually had to conquer, while his first painful run after the SEAL documentary marks the birth of a new identity. Key moments inside Hell Week — a spontaneous crew chant and a recruit's death — reveal both the power and the fragility of the warrior mindset. Later chapters show Goggins confronting racism in elite military circles, suffering catastrophic failure on live national television, and ultimately discovering peace through illness and recovery before walking away from two decades of service.

The defining discoveries and internal shifts that forged Goggins's warrior mindset.