Source: How a Marine Recruiter's Question Changed My Life. Imported file Unarmored Talk Podcast by Sergeant Major Mario P. Fields
Introduction
How a Marine Recruiter's Question Changed My Life. In this podcast episode, Eric Thurweger, a Marine veteran, author, and founder of Think Great, shares how a Marine recruiter's question changed his life. He talks about his experiences in the Marine Corps and how they helped him overcome challenges in his personal and professional life, including becoming a caregiver for his wife who battled cancer. Thurweger emphasizes the importance of believing in oneself and controlling one's thoughts and actions to overcome obstacles.
From authoring his first book, to becoming his wife's caregiver during her numerous bouts with cancer and cardiac arrest, Erik constantly draws from his experiences as a U.S. Marine to help him heal and thrive when faced with life-changing circumstances.
Discussion Points
- Introduce the topic of the lesson by telling students that they will be learning about the experiences of a Marine veteran and how he used his skills to overcome obstacles and achieve success.
- Play the recording of the Unarmored Talk podcast episode featuring Eric Thurweger.
- After listening to the podcast episode, have students use computers or other devices to research Eric Thurweger and gather additional information about his experiences and accomplishments.
- In small groups or individually, have students analyze the podcast episode and their research to identify the key themes and lessons from Eric Thurweger's experiences.
- As a class, discuss the themes and lessons identified by the students and reflect on how they can be applied to the students' own lives.
- Have students write a reflection on what they learned from Eric Thurweger's experiences and how they can apply those lessons to their own lives.
Things to think about
- Students will analyze the experiences of Eric Thurweger, a Marine veteran, and how he used his skills to overcome obstacles and achieve success.
- Students will learn about the importance of self-belief and controlling one's thoughts and actions to overcome challenges.
Transcripts
00:22 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Unarmored Talk podcast. Am still your host, Mario P. Fields. Again, two weeks go by pretty fast, but we got another guest who is willing to remove their armor to help people develop an accurate way of thinking.
00:36 We got Eric Thurweger, right? Did I say it right, Thurger? Yes, sergeant major, you said it. You nailed it. Please call me Mario. But before we get to our amazing guest, before we get to our amazing marine veteran and guests, thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
00:52 Thank you, everyone. I can't do it without you. What is a podcast without guests? People who consume the audio and the video. So thank you so much, and please continue to share with friends and family members to help people today and years to come down the road.
01:12 So I'm done with that. Oh, one last thing. All of those views have been generating more funds to still serve incorporated. The next check donation ceremony is going to be the last week of April. So if you watch any videos or you share the content, you are making a difference in pitt county, north Carolina.
01:30 All right, I'm done with the admin. I'm done with that stuff. Eric, my friend, welcome to the show. Mario, it's so good to be here. We were just mentioning how long it's been. It seemed like was forever.
01:40 And here it is today. I'm telling you. And ladies and gentlemen eric. By the way, you guys heard me mention it earlier. He's a marine veteran, he's an author of the leadership connection, and he's also the founder of you guys can see that beautiful screen.
01:54 Back behind them. Think. Great experience, podcast. If you have not subscribed to the Think Great Experience podcast, shame on you. Shame on you. Hit the button. Follow him. Download some amazing episodes.
02:08 Get on air. I love it. Thank you. No, thank you. So, hey, can you please do me a favor? Tell the listeners and viewers just a little bit about yourself, my friend. Absolutely. So as you said, I was in the Marine Corps.
02:22 I went in in 87, served till 91. I got out right after the first Gulf War. Interesting enough, I went in open contract. And so for some of your listeners that might not be familiar with that, that means I didn't pick a job.
02:34 The Corps picked one out for me, and it was about two days before I graduated boot camp, and they said I was going to be a 70 311. I didn't know what that was. And they ended up telling me I'm going to talk to air airplanes.
02:45 They said a few other words that I can't repeat here. Right? I would talk to airplanes. I later found out I was going to be an air traffic controller. So I was in Third Marine Air Wing. I was an air traffic controller at a yuma.
02:56 And then I wrapped up my tour in El Toro and used my GI bill, and I ended up going to film school. So I went to film school at the University of Southern California orange Coast College first, and then USC's film school.
03:09 Worked in the film industry for a long time, ended up running a media company. And during that time period, my wife had been diagnosed with cancer. She ended up being diagnosed and surviving four battles of cancer.
03:23 So I became a caregiver, and she passed away of cardiac arrest in 2016. Due to cardiac arrest, all the treatments that she had over the years attacked her heart. And I was I went into that military mode, and I was doing CPR, and the first responders got there, but they couldn't bring her back until the third hit with the defibrillator, and they brought her back.
03:42 She had been dead for 15 minutes. So I've taken all of my life experiences, whether it's being a Marine, being a caregiver, running a media company. And quite a while. About ten years ago, I started think great, and now I get to go all over the country, and I teach people how to think great on leadership or sales or strategic planning.
04:01 And then, as I mentioned to you earlier, we started a foundation, and we award scholarships to military spouses. Wow. I'm sorry again to hear that. The passing of your lovely bride, they. Did bring her back.
04:16 Oh, no, that's what I was going to say. She passed. But then the passing of your lovely bride, and you had to experience that. Then they revived her because of you. So I want to talk about that again, because even though they brought her back, you still experienced that she was gone.
04:37 And we can't take away from that. Eric, if you don't mind, but let's go back. You have done a lot of things film industry. You've been the caregiver, unexpectedly young wife with cancer, I'm assuming.
04:52 Right. And she was 27 when she first had diagnosed. Yeah, right. And ladies and gentlemen, by the way, my definition of young is anything south of 100. Right. If you're 99, that's right. I like that.
05:06 If you're 99 and below, you're young. And Mario P. Fields mine. But what was it about the Marine Corps that made you join? Why not any other branch of service, my friend? So I went to a recruiting station in Pomona, California, because my friend, she had already enlisted in the army, and she knew that I wanted to serve our great nation, was talking to her about it.
05:33 And she goes, you can come speak to my recruiter. So I said, okay. That's great. I didn't know at the time she would have got points for promotion if I had enlisted, but that's a whole separate story.
Dynamic Keynotes - Think Great
05:42 But I went to the Superstition on recruiting, and they had the army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps there. So these guys were all in competition with each other. Was there to see the army recruiter, and he was a great guy.
05:54 He came out, a sergeant came out, met me, started to tell me immediately the things that I could get the GI bill, the VA loan, the health benefits. And he had his Brochures, and they all had tanks on them and camouflage.
06:07 And I thought, hey, this is 1987. I'm like, hey, I could use a tank. I would like that. But he actually went in, and he had to speak speak to my friend on some things on her enlistment. So I kind of wandered around there, and I ended up making my way over to the navy recruiter.
06:23 And another great guy came out and told me all about the Navy, and he had the same Brochures with GI bill, VA loan, health benefits, except they all had ships on it. And I'm like, wow, I could see myself on a ship.
06:36 I could take an aircraft carrier. Just relate. I would like one of those. Yeah, I deserve one. So anyways, I go over to the air force recruiter, another great recruiter comes out, tells me all about the air Force, same three Brochures, except they have airplanes.
06:50 I'm like, all right, now I need a jet. I need a fighter jet. At the end of the hallway was the marine recruiter. So they kind of stuck him all the way in the back. And I walk down the hallway, and I look in, and he's there working at his desk.
07:04 And, yeah, 17 and a half. And I didn't really have a lot of confidence, so I just stood there for a second, and he's working at his desk, and he looks up at me, and then he goes back to work. And I'm like, whoa, okay, this is different.
07:19 Wait a minute. So you walk in. You walk in right in the hatch. I'm standing right there. The guy hasn't even stepped in yet. I'm just standing there. And he noticed me, and he went back to work. I'm like, okay, now I'm really insecure.
07:33 And I'm like, I don't even know what to do right now. So he keeps working for, I don't know, it seemed like forever. And then he looks up, puts his pen down, and says, can I help you? I said yeah. He said, I'm interested in becoming a marine.
07:50 And he says. Get in here. So I step in and I couldn't hide my brochures fast enough. And I saw that he looked at them and he said this. So two things happened in there, Mario, that really impacted me.
08:06 First he said, We've got all that stuff. We have it too. And he said, but becoming a Marine is not about what you get, about who you become. And I've shared this story so many times. At 17 and a half, I didn't know who I wanted to become, but I wanted to become someone.
08:25 And he struck this nerve and he had my attention. And then he stood up and he said, I have one question for you. And I said yes. And he said, do you have what it takes to be one of the best? And I said, I do.
08:42 At this point, his whole demeanor shifted. He smiled. And he says, well, let's talk. And even I don't even remember saying goodbye to the other recruiters. I left there and had him come and meet my parents.
08:56 And six months later, I was in boot camp. Wow. Here you are standing there like you don't see me, man. And he's like, look, you're bothering me. He was filtering me out already. Just to go, like you said, it's not about it's.
09:17 What do you want to become? And let's talk about that. And so reflecting back a little bit in your words, what have you become? Right from 17 year old kind of confused kid. Now you're 21. When I got out, I became very clear.
09:39 I went in. I was never going to make a career out of it. I wanted my first experience out of high school to serve our country. I wanted that. Right? And so I was able to do that in the Marine Corps, and it was an incredible experience when I was inside of there, the amount of confidence and built in me, here we are.
09:57 We can repel. We can fire our weapons accurately, 500 yards. You can go on a force march and a run. You can run 10 miles. You can do all of these things. I became an air traffic controller. That's insane.
10:08 I mean, I'm 18 years old in a control tower. The amount of confidence and built in me to become a warrior was priceless. It's undefinable. And so when I got out, I felt like I could do anything. So I always loved the movies.
10:23 I went into the movie industry. I went to film school first, and my first semester, I was out for three weeks. In 1991, I started film school. And fortunately, my first semester, I took all elective classes.
10:35 So I watched 51 movies at Orange Coast College. 51. My first semester, I'm like, how can you fail this, right? Not even a Marine. I'm going to pass. Well, I ended up getting a 4.0 for that semester, and I'm like, okay, but I was watching movies.
10:49 So then the next semester came around, and instead of four classes of movies, I had two film classes and two general ed. So like political science and astronomy or something like that. And inside I said I didn't have the best grades in high school, but inside I said, I want to get that 4.0 again.
11:05 And I did, and I ended up graduating college as the valedictorian, as the guest. I was the speaker. I was the valedictorian. I had a 4.0. Even my family is like, you should check your grades again. I said, no, it really says 4.0.
11:20 Your family is like, Eric, come get some tea here. Yeah, that's a little different than the grade point average had four years earlier before going to the core. We got to check because is this the same Eric?
11:33 Even I was thinking that, Mario. I was like, wow, what did I just do? And so then I applied to USC's film school, and I got in, right? And so the corps established. I can overcome any obstacle and. And then I worked in the film industry, and I was very blessed to work in that industry for a long time.
11:48 And then when my wife got diagnosed with cancer, it helped me to really evaluate my role, and I became a caregiver. And so I knew that when her doctor, they taught me how to be a caregiver. So I had to give her shots in the legs.
Title: How a Marine Recruiter's Question Changed My Life
12:00 I had to clean the tube that stuck out of her chest. And we know how to take care of the person to our left and to our right, so we get that. So I did that. But one of her oncologists says to me right before they did the first chemotherapy, they said, I need you to do something to help her fight back.
12:17 I said, I'll do whatever it takes. And I had been out of the corn now for a number of years. He said, I need you to keep her positive and keep her spirits high. And I'm like, Look, I know how to do some mode of mode of motivation, right?
12:27 I get it. But it was different. When they have cancer, we're not going out on a run. We're not calling Cadence. And so I started to really tap into the power of goal setting, and I realized that when we were in the core, we were accomplishing all these goals, just one goal after the next, to get to the next goal of becoming a Marine, then getting through our MoS school.
12:48 And it was a lot of goal setting, and so I started to really share that concept with Gina when she was sick, like, let's set some goals. All of this experience led to me creating my company in about 2009, 2010 with just two words think great.
13:08 And now I've become a personal and professional development coach, a speaker, an author, and I think I'm just getting started. Eric, I believe you're just getting started. And I love, you know, I love how you you talked about how to think great is a choice, and how you you use your experience, your life experiences.
13:36 To make that choice, to start to think great. But with that, during the time that your wife had experienced some unexpected life challenges, at one point did you feel helpless? I remember there was a lot of nights where I couldn't sleep.
13:56 It seemed like it was heading down a pathway that really want to talk about, but we had to. And there were times where during that time I left the film industry and I started in financial services sales.
14:09 Knew nothing about either financial services or sales, but I just wanted to try and have some time to be a caregiver and make some money. And both were challenging. So there were times where my truck was repossessed.
14:24 We lived in a little apartment in Chino Hills, California. And one night I was coming home from an appointment, trying to earn some money, and she called me, and she's bald at this point, she's going through chemo, and she says, hey, they just turned off our electricity.
14:39 And it was nighttime. And there was times like that I remember what the oncologist said, keep her positive, keep her spirits high. So I tried to put a positive spin, and I said, well, it'd be nice to eat dinner by candlelight tonight.
Title: How a Marine Recruiter's Question Changed My Life
14:54 But after I got off the phone with her, sometimes things like that would hit. But as the caregiver, you can't show them that they're going through their challenges. So anything else, you kind of absorb that.
15:05 And I credit the Marine Corps to putting us in that fog of war and boot camp, to putting us in these situations where it seemed like insurmountable odds were against us, and yet we could come out victorious.
15:19 And so I tapped in. I mentally checked back in. I reenlisted mentally, if you will. I put the boots back on. I put the camis on, and mentally, I was back into Marine mode for the way that I think and the way that I act and.
15:35 That that helped me and I feel also helped Gina to get through this because, you know, losing control wasn't an option. Even though everything was out of control, I had to stay in control. And and I credit that as much as I I credit the marine corps for me getting a 4.0.
15:53 I credit the marine corps for me getting into film school, for starting my own business, for authoring books and for being a better caregiver to my wife. I learned so much in there about the people side of things, not just the war side of things, which I think is a common perception people have.
16:09 But when you ask, I became a better person, not perfect by any means, and there'll be a lot of people to say, he's not perfect. I just feel that I created a different perspective having been in there, and it allowed me to stay focused on the important things and that I'm eternally grateful for.
16:32 No, thank you. To think great. And again, I can say I'm happy that Jane is still here with us. Thank you. And I love how, like you said, you mentally went back into that portfolio of human skills that you learned in the marines and started to think out of the box.
16:55 And I love the candlelight. I'm going to have to use that one if I forget to pay our electric bill. It works. Let's choose to take a positive approach. You have to. Let's have a candlelight dinner. Now, looking back on all of the things that you were challenged with, the things that you accomplished, you're a busy man.
17:19 No, I won't say busy. You're having fun. Because the definition of busy is you're doing things you have to do. And, Eric, I've watched you over the last few months. You're having fun, my friend. I am reflecting back.
17:33 On this journey from the time you stood in that door, right hatch for you folks on active duty and veterans there but door and they looked at you like, what the heck do you want to today? What one piece of advice could you give the listeners and viewers today?
17:51 I would say that never stop believing in yourself. No matter what comes your way, no matter who comes your way, there's that belief in yourself and the knowledge that you can control two things, your thoughts and your actions.
18:06 And we've had a lot of challenges, whether it's health related or financial or even just starting your own business, you know how that is or starting your own foundation. And so no matter who the challenge was or what the challenge was, at the end of the day I could make the decision to control my thoughts and control my actions.
18:26 I could make that decision to think great. Nobody could take that away from me. If I surrendered it, I did it at my own peril. So if I didn't surrender and I just held on to that, no matter what happened, I could make it through it.
18:38 I could overcome. I could come out victorious on the other side. And so I think that really when I created the company think great it was because of the thoughts and the processes and the perceptions of belief in myself, I learned in the marine corps.
18:56 I made it through some challenging times there as a caregiver in business, you name it. And it really came down to lacing those bootstraps up and saying, hey, I got this and I'm going to stay the course.
19:08 I'm going to go back to that leadership trait, endurance with JJ dib type buckle, right? Endurance. That's one that I had to really tap into during the caregiver days. Endurance, I got to make it through.
19:19 So that was a big one. Have the endurance to make it through it's better on the other side. Eric, thank you so much. You've inspired and motivated me, my friend and everyone. You guys heard it from Eric.
19:31 I mean, he's doing great things. And before I let him go, continue to have fun inspiring thousands of people around the world on his podcast and various platforms. How can people find you, my friend?
19:59 90. Com. Love to hear from you, my man. Also, guys, he's popular. You can put his name in the search engine, click that video tab, and some wonderful speeches that come up in a YouTube world. But thank you, Eric.
20:11 Thank you so much. Tell Gina hello from Unarmored Talk podcast team, which is me and my wife and all the listeners and viewers. We love you guys. And Simplify, my friend. Simplify. Thanks so much. Mario, take care.
20:24 Well, ladies and gentlemen, till next time. We'll see you guys soon. God bless. Be safe.
