Staff Sgt. Shilo Harris On Surviving an IED Explosion & His Incredible Road To Recovery

05/31/23 • 77 min

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This week’s Team Never Quit guest, Shilo Harris, has an amazing story to tell. He speaks with Marcus about the details of his second deployment with the U.S Army’s 10th Mountain Division near Baghdad. Shilo’s armored vehicle was struck by an IED, which killed three of his fellow soldiers, injured the driver, and burned a third of his body, causing the loss of his ears, the tip of his nose and three fingers. The explosion also fractured his left collarbone and C-7 vertebrae. As a result, he spent nearly three years recovering and undergoing intensive physical therapy at the burn unit of Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. While there, he was the first soldier to participate in regenerative stem-cell research to regrow his fingers, and later received prosthetic ears, and he has a hilarious story to share about them.
Today, Shilo is a motivational speaker, raising awareness for PTSD and serving as an inspiration to fellow soldiers.
“Everything in life is a gift. Sometimes it may not be the gift you want, but you realize that your challenges are a new beginning.”
In this episode you will hear:
• I’ve been extremely blessed. (17:53)
• Me being a burn guy, I have a hard time regulating my body temperature, because the scar tissue acts like wearing a jacket all the time. It just doesn’t breathe. (18:50)
• [While shopping for a hat, the girl] like a good salesperson, figured she could just size me up. She set that hat on me and popped it down. When she did, both my ears popped off, and hit the floor, bouncing around. (20:06)
• I was in a van one day, and there were several wounded warriors, and everybody was missing something. One of the guys looked around and said “Damn, all of us together make like one whole man, maybe two.” (24:47)
• My dad, being a veteran, we spent a lot of time at the American Legion. The American Legion out there was kind of like a bar. (25:52)
• I knew what I wanted. I wanted combat arms. (33:01)
• [In Bagdad] every day, there was an IED that went off in our area somewhere. (39:30)
• I could see that my face was charred black, my hair was gone, my ears were gone, my nose was gone, I had blood running out of everything, and I started panicking. (50:29)
• I was thinking: “I better get a day off for this.” (51:02)
• I spent 48 days in a medically induced coma. (52:51)
• [I had given up] and my dad said, “Are you done, soldier?” And it just washed over me, thinking holy crap, I’m a quitter before I even tried to start the fight. Where did my pride go? (55:24)
• When he walked out of the room, he [my dad] literally just looked at me and said “Then get your ass up and start doing the work.” And I did. (59:59)
• I was actually one of the first individuals to attempt regenerative growth. (66:00)
• Faith, regardless of what it is, can get you through your worst days, your darkest moments. (75:17)

Previous Episode

Billy Shelton: Training The Luttrell Brothers & Friends, Untold Stories From High School & The Importance of Having Supportive Friends

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In this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast, Marcus gathers up with the legendary Billy "Soupbone" Shelton, of Willis, Texas, an Army Special Forces veteran who, for over 3 decades, has been providing intense physical and mental training for young men, producing Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and other military Special Forces soldiers. Soupbone’s approach is brutal, physically challenging and very successful. He prepares fighting men for the harsh realities of combat.
One of Soupbone’s gems is this podcasts host, Marcus Luttrell, a Navy SEAL awarded the Navy Cross and author of the bestselling book, "Lone Survivor".
Billy Shelton does it because He wants to see his “sons” come home alive.
(Also joining Marcus and Billy are Morgan Luttrell, Tommy & David Thornberry, who trained with Billy Shelton.)

In this episode you will hear:
• Melanie: In the 13 years that we’ve been together we get asked more about you than anybody else. (5:21)
• Billy: When I’d pull up and go in the front door [of the gym] they’d run out the back door. (13:07)
• Tommy: The new guy’s rite of passage was that they had a harder workout because he [Billy] wanted to put the screws to ‘em to make sure they got it. (25:54)
• Tommy: It’s not that we were born that way, it’s that we were made that way. (29:31)
• Tommy: Billy looked out his window and this kid [after his workout] was hunched over in his car. Billy asked, “Are you ok?” The kid answered: I feel great. I just can’t lift my arms to drive. (31:02)
• Morgan: No matter what shape you were in when you showed up, you’d eventually get us there.
• Marcus: You didn’t wanna bring anybody, but if you did, you knew they were gonna get it. (32:55)
• Morgan: If one of your buddies came down and they were struggling, it always put you in a position that you had to help them. (33:08)
• Morgan: Like in the military, if there’s a weak link, you were forced to get down there and get ‘em. (33:18)
• Marcus: To anyone who’s never seen a human being catapult over a wheelbarrow [full of rocks] while running... (40:58]
• Billy: I don’t look at em like a Marine or Navy SEAL or a hunter, they’re my kids. I love ‘em. (44:50)
• Melanie: No matter what you put Marcus or anyone through, they just wouldn’t quit. (53:09)
• Billy: You CANNOT quit. (53:14)
• Tommy: If there’s something wrong, you know it. There’s help out there for you. (65:27)
• Tommy: I walked in there and there was 8 people. I said “what’s the party for?” They said “sir, we’d like you to have a seat.” I’m like “why? Did you guys find a tumor or something? And they’re like “Oooh” (66:14)
• Tommy: Iron therapy is the way I get through stuff. (67:30)
• Tommy: One of the docs that was part of the surgical team had Covid, with my skull open. (68:55)
• Tommy: We don’t stop – ever. (70:32)
• Tommy: Time to get back in the fight. (72:57)

Next Episode

undefined - Randy Beausoleil: Navy SEAL Officer On His Risky Combat Missions, Becoming a BUD/S Instructor & Putting Marcus Luttrell Through Training

Randy Beausoleil: Navy SEAL Officer On His Risky Combat Missions, Becoming a BUD/S Instructor & Putting Marcus Luttrell Through Training

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What an amazing guest Marcus brings to the table in this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast.
Randy Beausoleil served for 34 years as a Navy SEAL, the world’s most elite fighting force. He earned two Bronze Star medals with the Combat "V", and fought in every major conflict since 1984.
In this episode, Randy speaks in detail about a mission he participated in an attempt to take down Panama’s dictator and drug lord, Manuel Noriega. The successful underwater strategies of the SEALS was beyond risky, and the specifics of how it was executed is compelling, to say the least.
These days, Randy’s relentless pursuit is to teach mental toughness to those who are willing to do what it takes. He has counseled SEAL platoon commanders and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a skilled teacher, leader, tactical advisor, and President of Old 18 Information Services.
Randy’s Book co-written with Brian “lucky” Riley: Unwavered: The Self-Belief of a Navy SEAL and TOPGUN Pilot
In this episode you will hear:
• I liked it. Jumping out of a Hilo - all that stuff - I’m kinda like “Okay, this it kinda it.” (9:08)
• I tell people that BUD/S was the most adult experience of my life. (12:39)
• It just a miserable program being in fleet. (12:47)
• I hated every second of the fleet part of the Navy. (13:00)
• [Manuel] Noriega was the king of drugs and all the other things bad. If you can remove God from society, he did everything that would happen once you do that. (22:34)
• President Bush, Sr. made him [Noriega] a target for – let’s just say “extraction.” (22:51)
• This was a completely soft-oriented mission- to go down and get Noriega. Everybody went down there to get one guy. To get him out of the country and turn that country over to the next democratic leader. He was just pumping drugs into the US. (23:50)
• I loved the whole BUD/S experience. (59:04)
• There is no comparison, in my opinion, for any other training on the planet. (59:47)
• Once you make it through Hell Week, I don’t want to say you’re a Team guy, but you have really done something. 80% of the other people are already gone. (61:0)
• I am full, 100% against body armor. Period. Dot. (75:35)
• I don’t think you take a special warfare SEAL, and put him in body armor to do anything. I’d rather move fast and quick with a group of guys. (75:41)
• We took all the basic stuff we were teaching and put it in that book, Unwavered. If you have unwavering self-belief, then you can accomplish anything. (90:30)
• You’re talking about an all-consuming mindset. That’s the only thing you’re thinking about. And if you allow all external influences (cancers) to weigh you down, you’re never gonna make it. (91:25)
• Your ability to survive is based on your ability to fight on their terms, to be sneaky, to know their tactics. It was super challenging. (98:34)