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Special Forces Operator: Green Beret Tu Lam Explains Joining the Military, Working with the CIA & More | Ronin Tactics

June 30, 2026 · 1 h 35 min

Show notes

In today's episode, Jordan sits down with Green Beret and Special Forces operator Tu Lam, founder of Ronin Tactics. Tu Lam opens up about escaping genocide in Vietnam as a refugee child, floating on a boat at three years old left for dead, and how that early survival forged the resilience that carried him through 23 years in the military.

From the 82nd Airborne to Ranger School, Special Forces selection, the deployment in Okinawa, and eventually the top tier of army special operations working alongside the CIA, Tu Lam built a career at the tip of the spear. But the war came home with him. In this episode he speaks honestly about a decade of opioid addiction, the hate that made him proficient in combat but a horrible human being, a traumatic brain injury, suicidal thoughts, and the total loss of identity that hit when the uniform came off.

This is also a story about climbing back out. Tu Lam breaks down the practical tools that rebuilt him, from journaling and tracking emotions to their root thoughts, to meditation, gratitude, meditations on death drawn from the Tibetan monks, and ultimately his surrender to faith and his walk with Jesus Christ.

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