Eric Frohardt - DEVGRU Operator: "You Don't Buy a Spot at SEAL Team 6, You Rent It" | SRS #313

Eric Frohardt grew up in Sac City, Iowa, the oldest of four children raised by a farmer father and nurse mother. His childhood on a hog farm instilled a deep work ethic that would later carry him through military training. After one year of junior college and a failed attempt at playing football, he enlisted in the Navy on a bet after watching GI Jane with friends in a dorm room, spurred on when a friend said he'd never make it.

Frohardt trained rigorously through the summer before boot camp, swimming two miles daily in fins and running while farming. He made it through BUDS Class 225, graduating with only 19 original members out of roughly 160-190 who started. He describes hell week as especially brutal — he endured what he believes was an undiagnosed kidney stone while simultaneously being given laxatives for a misdiagnosis of IBS, and had both toenails removed immediately after securing.

After SEAL Team 5 deployments, including a post-9/11 deployment to Kuwait doing non-compliant shipboardings, and sniper school (which he passed while on Vicodin and battling Valley Fever), he was diagnosed with a blocked kidney requiring emergency surgery. He signed a waiver to remain in the military while heavily medicated on morphine — not realizing it was a non-deployable waiver — and went on to serve at DEVGRU's Gold Squadron for four more deployments.

His most harrowing combat story comes from Super Bowl Sunday 2008 in Iraq, where his assault team encountered 15 suicide bombers. Two teammates, Mike and Nate, were killed. Two nights later, a building IED killed teammate Louie Ledesma and severely wounded the rest of his assault team. Frohardt survived because he had stopped at a window to engage targets and was blown away from the building by the blast rather than crushed beneath it.

He was eventually medically retired when the Bureau of Navy Medicine discovered during his Purple Heart approval that he had deployed in violation of his own non-deployable waiver. After nearly 12 years of service, he left with no transition plan, no college degree, and three children to support.

His transition was difficult — he describes it as the hardest period of his life, worse than combat injuries or losing teammates. His identity had been entirely wrapped in being a SEAL. Recovery came through faith: around 2012 he began daily Bible reading, prayer, and journaling, a practice he has maintained every morning since. He credits this discipline with giving him energy, clarity, and freedom from the nightmares and mental health struggles many veterans face.

In his civilian career, he co-owned a gun range in Denver, ran operations at kettlebell training company Strong First under Pavel Tsatsouline, led NRA Education and Training, and now serves as Chief Standards Officer at Golden Rod Companies in Omaha. He also serves on the board of nonprofit Global Partners and Hope, and is preparing to climb Kilimanjaro with his son to raise money for water wells and medical facilities in West Africa.