NFM Lending is pleased to honor retired Navy SEAL, Ray “Cash” Care, as the NFM Salute for September 2020.
Care is no stranger to adversity; it is a force that has shaped him his entire life. When Care was just eleven years old, his father was murdered. As a teenager, Care struggled with substance abuse, anger, and emotional pain. “I did a self-reflection drill at 19 and realized I was turning into the man that was murdered… Right then and there [was] one of the first of what I call ‘gut checks’ in my life. Those pinnacle moments where I said now is the time to change me. And that’s what I did.” His life changed forever when he joined the Navy in 1992 and learned about Navy SEALs. Looking for a challenge, Care became determined to become one.
Care achieved his goal of becoming a SEAL in 1995. Out of the 138 people in his class, only 16 completed the training. Care recalls the hardest moment of BUD training being the 50-meter breath hold. “I can’t lie. I was scared. I was watching people pass out, black out. My turn to go, I went, I failed the first time. They get you out of the water and they literally let you just go do it again…Sometimes you have to step up or step off. [It] was one of those gut checks. And here I am, obviously you know the result. Once you accomplish something like that in your life, the mindset that you have is ‘I can do anything’. That was one of the pinnacle moments in my life when I said, ‘Nothing can stop me.’”
From there, his military career took him on multiple tours of duty and overseas missions as a member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two (SDV-2). He survived a mortar attack during one mission in Iraq, which he describes as being “one of the most traumatic/inspirational” days of his life. The SEALs gave Care an unbreakable community and emboldened him to fight through fear and pain. After 12 years of serving in the Navy, Care left the SEALs in 2004 to work on assignment for the CIA, which he did for 14 years.
Care has not slowed down since re-entering civilian life. He founded CONQUER, a leadership and team-building training program. Using the skills and techniques he learned in the military, Care helps people improve their physical fitness and mental endurance. Other programs he is involved in include LTD Project, which gives businesses the tools to work more efficiently, and The Project, a 75-hour bootcamp intensive. He also cohosts a podcast called The Overcome and Conquer Show, where he interviews inspiring individuals who have overcome challenges in their lives. Care lives in Virginia Beach, VA with his wife Tricia and their daughter Nyla. Their son, Michael, is following his father’s military tradition and currently serves in the U.S. Air Force.
According to Care, being a SEAL is all about attitude, and believes anyone can harness that same mentality to improve their lives. “Family, fitness, finance and faith; my four F-bombs to success. I put family at the top and I put faith at the bottom. Faith is the foundation of everything. Faith is not religion. You wanna be successful, it starts with you. Believe in yourself. Get up every morning like you won the lottery and attack life,” says Care.
NFM Lending is proud to donate $2,500 to Gary Sinise Foundation on behalf of Care. NFM looks forward to the opportunity to continue to honor military and Veterans through the NFM Salute initiative.
Full Transcript of Video Interview is Below:
– They are among the most feared special forces in the world. Of course, I’m talking about the Navy Seals. I am Greg Share with September’s NFM Salute. We welcome in, former Navy Seal, Ray “Cash” Care. He was a Navy Seal for 12 years and then served on special assignment for the CIA for 14. So a total of 26 years serving our country. Thank you for your service, Ray. Thank you for being on NFM TV.
– Thank you sir, for having me it’s an honor.
– What inspired you to be in the military and to be a Navy Seal?
– Well my original inspiration for joining the military is I was a young troubled teen who was getting in trouble and there was two paths to take. Jail or the military. But then once I got into the military, I started doing some research because I was looking for a challenge. I asked the recruiter, “what is a Navy Seal?” And he goes, “it’s the toughest training on the planet. The toughest men in the world. And literally they have more than a 90% attrition rate.” I said, that’s for me.
– There were some 138 people in your class, only 16 originals got through there. You were one of them. How did you manage to make it through?
– It’s as simple as this is, it’s about knowing your why. And then I do a visualization drill where I just really look in the mirror, I take the word quitter and I put it across my face. For the rest of my life, I would have to tell every single person that I quit. That’s what got me through.
– What was the hardest moment of BUD training. I know it’s a six month ordeal. Do you remember a moment there, where you really had to dig as deep as you possibly could to get through it?
– Yeah, it was. Yes, sir. And that was the underwater 50 meter breath hold. I can’t lie. I was scared shitless. I was watching people pass out, black out. My turn to go, I went, I failed the first time. They get you out of the water and they literally let you just go do it again. And it was, sometimes you have to step up or step off. And it was one of those gut checks. And here I am, obviously you know the result to it. But once you accomplish something like that in your life, the mindset that you have is I can do anything. And that was one of the pinnacle moments in my life. When I said, nothing can stop me.
– Being able to maneuver in the water as a Navy Seal, it’s everything. Can you tell us about that and when you first realized you were a gifted swimmer.
– Well, let me start with the last question first. I’m not a gifted swimmer. I work my butt off every day to be the best swimmer I can. But what’s so crucial about being underwater, being stealthy, its our bread and butter. Undetected is how you need to get through life. You need to be successful. And I don’t think that just pertains in battle, but in life. You need to stay under the water off the radar and accomplish greatness. And that’s what I do. I take it from the battlefield to the business field, to the home field. But I’m not a great swimmer.
– You are a one hundred percent disabled veteran. You were blown up in Missoula, Iraq. Take us back to that moment.
– Young kid working for one of the government agencies, putting some ammo in the door of a car. I was being instructed on what to do by one of the leaders of the team who was a Seal Team 6 operator. Next thing we know, incoming mortar fire. I got blown up. Teeth were knocked out. I’m laying in a pool of blood. Can’t hear anything, gather my teeth. I can’t get up. Obviously you leave no man behind. He came and got me, as we were getting off the X, as we were getting out of that impact zone, we got hit again. It was one of the most traumatic slash inspirational days of my life because, I tell people you can’t kill me mentally. That’s why I stay in the game.
– You were a Navy Seal from 1995 to 2004. Obviously, that was a historic period of time for this country. The biggest bloodshed, as it relates to 9/11 on US soil. But what do you recall about that day, and the days after that? I had to head up to the Pentagon to provide outer security. Definitely as a Navy seal, I was angry. But I felt helpless for the brave men and women who lost their lives, sacrificing, the firemen who charged into the buildings. The real heroes. And it’s a day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
– After that, you would go to the Middle East, to help protect our freedom. I know that you’re, you’ve got some good friends on Seal Team 6. That is the unit that was able to dispatch off Osama Bin Laden. What can you tell us about that?
– So, obviously our job was, we were hunting for him. Later in life, my very good friend, Rob Neil was the one who took the shot. I called him and was like, what was that like? And he did that for all the great Americans who sacrificed.
– I wanna talk to you about Zero Dark Thirty, and the games that are played, from the air down to the ground. Describe what does that mean to you and how do you use geotracking to target the enemy?
– So, what they do is the plane, when it’s above, you need certain applications to be able to track human beings. ‘Cause that’s what a geolocator does. That’s how we got Osama Bin Laden. He created an electronic footprint due to his phone. So what we do, is when we go in the air, we create a fake cell phone tower. And that POL, that pattern of life where we think that individual is gonna be, right? That tango, that bad guy. And what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna track them. And what happens is we’ll have someone in the air and then someone in the car with a group of individuals and our job is when they send a signal stamp, it tracks it. So think of it like, a magnetic detector, right? It’s gonna track that impulse, that phone’s putting off. And once we get close, we do what’s called VDO. We vehicle dismount. We go get the bad guy. We use their phone against them.
– You’ve said that everyone has the ability to be a Navy Seal. What do you mean by that?
– I mean, everybody if they want it bad enough, if they have their why, they can do it. Every day, you’re gonna wanna quit. You’re gonna wanna give up, you’re gonna be in more pain, mental, physical, emotional, social, spiritual pain than you’ve ever realized. To be a Navy Seal, it starts from the internal. You have to have that faith, that mentality, that mindset, that nothing and no one can hurt me. You are an unstoppable force.
– Ray I know that you, endured the most tragic of challenges when you were a young man. 11 years old, your father was murdered. How did that shape the man you came to be?
– I don’t get into religion, but I think somewhere, someone was testing me to see what I would do. And there were two, there’s two options. You can do the right thing or the wrong thing. The wrong thing is what I initially started doing, getting into drugs, getting into trouble until I did a self-reflection drill at 19 and realized I was turning into the man that was murdered, a womanizer, a brawler, a drinker. People that… A guy that was using drugs. And right then and there, that’s one of the first, what I call gut checks in my life. Those pinnacle moments where I said now is the time to change me. And that’s what I did. So my father being murdered and the abusive relationship that I had as a child is what made me into the man that I am. I have no regrets. None.
– Ray, I wanna transition into your transition into civilian life. How difficult was that? And, taking on the role that you have as mentor and coach.
– There was a six month transitional period where it was very difficult because 54% of Americans have a positive attitude with their job, 46 don’t. I’ve never had a negative attitude about my job. So there was that transitional period where for a time I was thinking about changing who I was, but then I said, no. I’m gonna use this to even shine more. And that’s what’s helped me launch the successful coaching. Instead of changing with the times as I remained the same savage warrior that I was. But all I did, was I polished it to whoever my audience is, to make my mission, which the mission is success become a reality.
– So, how do you become the best? How do you recommend people that can’t get to the next level, embrace the hurdles and somehow get over them?
– Well, I believe and I have this tattooed on my hand if you can see it. I have a hand of time and I have four F bombs. And it breaks down to this family, fitness, finance and faith. My four F bombs to success. And I put family at the top and I put faith at the bottom. And this is what I’m gonna tell you. Faith is the foundation of everything. Faith is not religion. You wanna be successful. It starts with you. You have to believe in yourself. Every day, it’s about programming yourself. I’ll prove this to you. What do you do before you cross the street? Tell me.
– I look both ways.
– You look both ways. Were you hit by a car as a child?
– I was not.
– No, sir, you weren’t. You were programmed by people that you looked up to. Well, this what I do. I reprogram people. I go in and reverse engineer everything that you were taught to teach you things were better. People always talk about stacking the Ws, wins. And then what do the most people think this is? If there’s a win, what’s the L?
– It’s a loss.
– It’s not a loss, its a lesson learned. I don’t lose because I don’t quit. And I won’t quit because I’m not a quitter. Will I fail? Yes. But I refuse to quit. I’ve never quit at anything in my life nor will I ever. And that’s why I’m so successful. And that’s what people need to do. They need to start with the faith. Believe in yourself. Get up every morning like you won the lottery and attack life.
– Ray “Cash” Care, former Navy Seal. We cannot thank you enough for agreeing to be our September NFM Salute. Thank you so much for your service, for all the sacrifice you made and the impact you’re having on the business community as a whole. We really appreciate your time on NFM TV.
– Thank you for having me, sir. The honor was mine.
– All right, that’s Ray “Cash” Care,
– former Navy Seal. I’m Greg Share from NFM TV. You’ve been watching our September, NFM salute. Hope you enjoyed it. We’ll see you next time.
