Trotter’s before we conclude our ritual here this evening I call upon one of our newest initiates to share his remarks about why he has joined our beloved fraternity and the importance of not resting on your laurels broader EJ skullcrusher Schneider is a 25-year veteran of the United States Army he is
A highly decorated combat veteran of both the 1991 Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom after entering the US Army prouder EJ pan himself in the entertainment industry trying to work as a military technical advisor actor stuntman producer and writer retiring with his family to North Carolina EJ continues to pursue those same interests
But found himself actually a more interesting character to the reality and docu-series world most recently on discovery’s naked and afraid XL EJ continues to work as an independent government contractor training soldiers in the art of surviving behind enemy lines EJ also is a supporter of the wounded warrior project and USO and
Regularly volunteers in those programs and belongs to several other veterans and military organizations and associations EJ works hard supporting two charities year round michelle’s plays for breast cancer and give kids the world village for kids fighting life-threatening illnesses where he will be heading to a charity event first
Thing tomorrow morning EJ lives and succeeds in life and all his endeavors and adventures by his motto to espantes super steez which means survived by your own will broader EJ Snyder please join me at the stage thank you I am honored and humbled to be amongst your ranks now and more
Importantly to be surrounded by greatness my wife is the only one that probably next to you guys able to get me in a suit so normally in my profession where I’m at now I find myself running around in my birthday suit so this is a
Rarity but for you it’s going to be a great night I hope that my words inspire you motivate you and along the way maybe you’ll you’ll you’ll find something out about me and yourself what makes greatness how do you achieve success people ask me this all the time and it’s
A it’s a question I often have to relook at many times as I go through my life I can remember my very first survival lesson i got that was a little five-year-old kid growing up in North Jersey and my dad and uncle as they would would have a few beers and you
Know a lot of times we get a little excited but I used to wear this little belt with a little styrofoam bubble back in the 70s maybe some of you remember it and that’s what you used to float with because I was not a good swimmer and I
Remembered that one time I used to love my dad my uncle throw me to the middle of the pool I’d bob up and I get out they do it again well they did it this time and I went down to the bottom and i bobbed up thinking and everything’s
Going to be okay and I sank right back down to the bottom and I thought to myself that’s odd so I kicked back up again I looked and I realized they were sitting there with the bubble in their hand and I thought to myself Oh what am
I going to do now and back down to the bottom I went so being an instinctual survivalist that I was I just kicked back up got a breath and said hell no help was coming this day and as I went back down again I knew get a breath
Start hopping because I could hop pretty good and I’d hop up get some air till I got to the ladder I did go back in the pool that day but the next day i did and i learned how to swim but i knew in life at that point and at
That moment I was only going to be able to count on myself if I wanted things to be done right and to guide myself that’s pretty hard lesson for a five-year-old but then as my parents would in those days wound up getting divorced and I had
My young mother trying to raise me my kid brother all on her own holding down three jobs and it seemed that kids didn’t like the pants that she would buy me a bunch of tough skins with patches all over them and when you go to school
As a kid in the 70s with tough skins and patches you know you get made fun of and I didn’t like that very much so with grit and determination I figured I had to do something about it I went out and got the largest paper out my town 140
People and it only did it so that me and my kid brothers could at my kid brother could have levi’s jeans and not get made fun of and I learned a lesson about work ethic and dedication my mother three jobs my mom was my hero I mean she was a
Strong woman so work ethic hard work it pays off and I’ve always carried that since then and then my next tribulations were being picked last for sports I wasn’t a very good athlete but I was very fast and I knew I didn’t like getting picked last that really stunk so
I didn’t have my dad in my life I started teaching myself sports and getting good at every one of them for the only fact I didn’t want to be picked last and then I ran into some bullies I know hard to believe a guy nicknamed skull crusher is getting bullied I was
More of a skull stick back in those days more of a twig so I found myself to victim of many many of bullies and it wasn’t just one it was like six like a pack of them because they could smell it that’s when I realized you know animals
Smell fear so I taught myself had a box i started taking on wrestling i started teaching myself karate just because I swore from that day on I would never be a victim again never be a target to somebody else who’s just saw me as an easy meal so through these
Tough things I went through my life as a kid I realized again I’m only gonna be able to count on myself no one’s going to be there for me and I you know as I grew up and got my teen years I had a
Dream and my dream was to be an actor in a stuntman well my mom the 1i looked to for help didn’t think that was such a great idea I had no options I had no way to see where I was going to go to college didn’t really have a dad of my
Life and so I had to make a decision so I decided at 19 I was going to join the army it was my decision because I realized that challenges in my life my childhood would continue to repeat if I didn’t do nothing about it and I realized that the road to greatness and
Success it’s about mindset mindset is key for everything you’re going to do in life to get you to where you want to go it works in the survival world it works in the real life so with none of these options off to the army I went and I
Decided that if any challenges came on my way if I couldn’t if I saw a wall if I couldn’t go around it I couldn’t go over it or under it my god I’ve gone straight through it and that’s the way I was going to approach my new challenges
In my life so when you’re thinking about success in getting to greatness you need to set yourself goals clear concise ones get hungry and always leave your mark if that’s an impression on someone or you do something great that’s tangible that leaves a legacy behind that’s what I
Want it and that’s what I decide to do that I was going to go full tilt and chase after this thing so the army was the first place that I found my Brotherhood I remember being a paratrooper in the 82nd airborne my first duty station fort bragg north
Carolina and as these young pouches brought me into their ranks and I met him with a full keg of beer and all kinds of crazy rituals but as they hung me out a window in a sleeping bag about three stories up they hand me down an
Old jump boot and that was a passage of rights to drink some beer out of some old guys field boot this is where I want to be I knew if I did this and they pulled me back in I belong and they did pull me back on and pulled me right back
In the window and I starting to realize that I could have people to count on this newfound Brotherhood I didn’t have to do it alone anymore and this was very important than the army but I knew I want to be really good in the army so I
Knew I want to do a couple things I wanted to earn medals that’s what warriors do I needed to make rank really fast so I could get to the top and influence other people and be a really good soldier I volunteered a lot I’ve realized that I didn’t care what they
Need a volunteer for my hand went up I didn’t care if it was cleaning the toilet picking up cigarette butts you know washing some trucks but if i did it i was going to be the very best at it that i could be because i want to leave
A mark an impression that people would know that when my name and i said i was going to do some and it meant something and it was going to be done right I volunteered for all the tough jobs the assignments that nobody wanted I built a reputation that when i came into
Something it was broken it was a ragtag unit by God EJ Snyder would be the one to turn it around and I wanted to be the best of the best that way and so I built this reputation of being guy who would come in and fix it and I learned at that
Point and I adapted to my real life every day that if I found something I was going to leave it better than when I found it that way the next person that came in behind me they wouldn’t say hey EJ started what the heck did you do here
And I found a lot of good leaders that meant toward me along the way but I found out the first thing about leadership is not about being a leader but you have to be a good follower first and when I accomplish that then I knew I’d lead by example if
I need to be in good shape my uniform had to be crisp I would do that I would lead from the front and sometimes I get in your face real tough leader but I was fair I was hard but just soldiers knew they could come to me with a problem and
They knew I would be there for them and take care of them I love them like they were my own kids earn yourself a rep maybe you’re on a nickname but whatever you do when you get a problem don’t make excuses about it don’t blame it on
Somebody else you are responsible for it at that point you fix it and I that’s what I did I survived two wars 291 Gulf War and thankfully while I was at that call for little did I know till just before I came here lieutenant Christopher Oswalt is a teak brother and
So right from there I didn’t even know it then I was destined to come here and join your ranks I went off to Operation Iraqi Freedom I spent 15 months away from my family in northern Iraq doing the business of the nation it was tough
Of my family it’s tough on me but I had a job to do I was dedicated because I said with my mouth with my oath that I would be there just like I did tonight and I will be here for all of you in the
Future as I know you will be for me in 25 years a successful career I earned a lot of medals I made the top rank of sergeant major Tunis nine grade highest rank in the enlisted core in the army and I made it fascinating buddy I was
One of the youngest sergeant majors in the army got that rank in about 17 years and I had found that within the army i was with a band of brothers and as i stepped forth tonight i found a new band of brothers because when i got out of
The army it was like what now everything I knew my most of my adult life growing up was was gone I felt a little lost felt like I had nowhere to turn nowhere to go but I had a friend from the Army some of my brothers from the Army are closer than
My blood relatives to me and he had a job for me and now for the last six years I’ve been training at the army survival school teaching future Green Berets and other soldiers had to survive behind enemy lines I was around like-minded thinkers there was around
Soldiers again I did that for six years so I didn’t fret for anything i just found someone to give me a hand but i still had a dream i still wanted to be that actor that was unfinished business for me so I I went for it and I kind of
Found out that I’m more of a character than I can play one I found my niche in the survival community and you know I knew there was a reason i was i was there and why God wanted me there but I wasn’t quite exactly sure what it was
But I knew when life knocks you down all you need to do is calmly get up dust yourself off and say you hit like a is that all you got bring it on because I’m coming head-on at you and you’re not going to keep me down
I didn’t curl up in a little ball and say well he’s me start crying no I got up I knew there was one more thing I can do and then when situations get tough when I was in the Army I was a little kid getting bullied there’s always one
More thing you can do when all hope looks lost all is dark there’s always one more thing you just got to believe in yourself when opportunity knocks folks it only comes around like a thief in the night once in a while you’ve got to be ready you don’t want to say well
Wait a minute I kind of get in shape I wait a minute my resume is not ready no no you need to always be ready like in a survival situation you never know what it’s going to happen or who you’re going to be with you just have to be ready so
In my life I make sure I’m always ready I take life by the horns I skin it and I make a cool jacket out of it that’s how i roll now you need to be bold Discovery Channel found me for this show called dual survival maybe some of you have
Heard of it the hippie guy with some bare feet why I don’t know I met this guy his feet looked like a couple of hobbits feet fur on top wide tough the guy walked across Bobb wire right in front of me and I got boots on I heard I
Felt the pain for him but no I went and tried out with this guy because I felt that’s where I was supposed to be but it wasn’t to be I finished second that doesn’t sit well with me I don’t like being second I want it this bad and
Discovery thank God they saw something to me and said hey we’ll give you a call and I said all right i’ll be here and i kept pushing forward looking for that next thing i did not know that what it was going to be was off to the wild so I
Find myself in the middle of Tanzania Africa in the middle of the dry season naked with a woman I didn’t even know and only a knife and I thought oh boy what’d I get myself into as I remove my pants and put everything that I own my shirt my shoes all in the
Little land rover and it took off in a cloud of dust I went there with all my worldly possessions what are you doing here I thought am I going to be a goat or am I going to be looked as the trailblazer out here this is nuts I was
Way outside my comfort zone I’m used to having gear when they go into these situations a rifle a pact to get other stuff out of cordage but I don’t have it but one thing i did have for my days is a ranger in the army surrender is not
Arrange your word and it’s not mine I was going to move forward with my motto to a sponte super status survived by my own will and this was going to be the biggest challenge in my life I didn’t realize it’s going to what’s going to test me physically mentally spiritually
Even emotionally God and I had a fight out there but he was going to show me my purpose success not in just the wild but in life takes guts determination and grit that’s what I knew and that’s what I apply that was going to find a way because there’s always one more thing
You can do the first time I did naked afraid intensity was amazing but to be called back a second time to go to the Amazon where people were quitting because they believed in me and they said hey you got six days to get down
Here can you do it hell yes send me when no others want to go I’ll go and it was epic and now to get a third time forty days when I saw the smoke rising in the drums of another survival challenge coming I said heck yes and me and it’s
Been legendary and it’s still unfolding before your eyes I grew closer to God out there and all these things you got a lot of time to think when you look it up at the stars about the mistakes you made in life and where you’re going but i did
Get closer to him i evolved as a survivalist as a man and i left forever change each time i’ve gone out and those are the lessons because people ask you hey how do learn mental toughness there’s nowhere to train for it the only way you get mental toughness is it’s earned do blood
Sweat and tears too tough challenges in your life test trials tribulations and it’s the hardships but when you bid through something really tough yes down is it yeah I did that and you can proudly smile because you know you’re going to be better because of it so always set yourself high goals standards
And surround yourself with greatness like here why because iron sharpens iron together we can get better together and I tell you these tough situations are always a lot better to go through when someone else next to you suffering you have a good memory and a bond that
You’ll never forget but you can’t do it alone folks you need support you need family everyone says how the heck can you go out there and run around with all these naked women in the wild EJ you like the Dos Equis guy I thankfully have a great understanding wife who knows i’m
Hungry i have a goal and she supports me and it wasn’t easy in the beginning i’ll tell you social media first time out naked afraid it’s like what are they doing making a porno no it’s the baddest survival challenge that’s out there on the planet right now and I got to be
Part of it I’m proud of that because they have five seasons now going to season six we have a spin-off series in Excel and we’re up for an Emmy and that would have had never happened if I would have said that first time in Tanzania
Put me back on the truck I don’t want anything to do with this you have your friends your brothers to rely on teamwork networking this is where it starts guys right here greatness starts here fraternity forever and always say thank you to those you see going up the
Ladder those behind this curtain here those that make things happen behind the scenes so I charge you tonight move forward this night into brotherhood move towards your goals and your dreams and don’t let nobody squash them out move with purpose determination and grit swing not for the
Fences but the moon keep good company always again cuz iron sharpens iron I tell you go for it and remember you always have one more thing you can do in any situation leave a mark on life be memorable greatness starts now yours in the bond Thank You broader thank you next time
Put a little emotion into it I will try my best I’m an emotional guy and I wear my sleeve my motions on my sleeve oh wow you can wear this with the t-con it awesome I think that’s so we’re very nicely maybe with no pants Thank You fronter thank you
Get in there how about that you ready you’re not ready after that pratas you are sleepwalking and I don’t think teak sleepwalk thank you very much fodder EJ it is an honor to welcome you as a Prada and the bond we will learn from you and
We will be there for you as we know you will be here for us
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