David Goggins military career: Exploring the entire career of legendary marathon runner

David Goggins might be better known for being an incredible marathon runner. He routinely competed in marathons and even the harder version of the long-distance race, the ultra-marathon.

He ran 101 miles in 19 hours and six minutes, which is an absurd 11 minutes and 21-second pace. Many people struggle to run miles under that pace and Goggins did it for 101 miles. His running talent was mind-boggling.

However, he is also known for something else, something that just might have helped him become such an incredible runner. For a long time, Goggins was an esteemed member of the United States military.

---

David Goggins in the military: What did he do?

The runner first attempted to join the United States Air Force Pararescue. He was eventually accepted and began training, but not before failing the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) twice.

Unfortunately, while he was in that training, he was diagnosed with sickle cell trait. This meant that he had one normal gene and one sickle cell gene. That meant that he wouldn't necessarily get sickle cell disease, but he was at high risk of passing it down genetically.

Upon that diagnosis, the young man was removed from training. He was later allowed to restart the training if he wanted to, but he elected not to.

After that, he went on to complete United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party training. He then worked as a TACP from 1994 to 1999, leaving the Air Force at that point.

David Goggins later graduated from BUD/S, which stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, training in 2001. However, it did take him three attempts to graduate.

His legendary military career didn't end there, though. He received SEAL Qualification Training (SQT). After a six-month probationary period, the runner was given the NEC 5326 as a Combatant Swimmer.

David Goggins in the military (Image via Maxim)

David Goggins did military work for SEAL Team 5 after that. It was there that he did most of his service. He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

He graduated from Army Ranger School in 2004. They gave him the Enlisted Honor Man award. In total, Goggins had a 20-year military career.

The accolades he has earned did not solely come from the military, though. In 2008, magazine Runner's World named him a Hero of Running. He also set several records with impressive running performances.

In 2006, the marathon runner ran the Infinitus 88k in 12 hours, which was a time of about 20 minutes faster than the next closest challenger.

In that same year, which turned out to be quite the year, he won the Music City Ultra 50k and the Strolling Jim 40 Miler.

He clearly has a ton of incredible life experiences, having served in the military at one of the highest levels and having set unprecedented running records. Most people would be grateful with one or the other.

As a result, he published a self-help book in 2018 titled Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds.