Snapshot · The Shawn Ryan Show
Frohardt and several sniper school classmates contracted Valley Fever from fungal spores in Coalinga dust; Mike Ritland lost part of a lung from it, leading the SEAL Teams to discontinue training there.
Where this was said
At 1:57:40 · chapter starts 1:56:40
Sniper school in Coalinga, Northern California — weeks of living in tents, prone on yard lines — was supposed to follow Frohardt's first deployment. Instead it became another endurance test. The kidney pain returned; after a night in hospital on Vicodin, he was told to take his UKD (Unknown Distance) test or go home. Still pharmacologically relaxed, he had his spotter dial the scope and squeezed the trigger — and earned the top score. Stalking phase followed, but by then he was losing weight rapidly and his eyes were sinking into his skull: Valley Fever, contracted from fungal spores in Coalinga dust. Fellow SEAL Mike Ritland contracted the same disease, lost part of a lung, and was medically retired. The SEAL Teams have never returned to Coalinga for training.
A prehistoric fungal spore living in the Coalinga dust ended multiple SEAL careers via Valley Fever. Mike Ritland lost part of a lung and was medically retired. Frohardt lost significant weight and his eyes sank into his face, but beat it. The SEAL Teams have never gone back to Coalinga.
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
A study found that simply scheduling enjoyable activities was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, leading to its own therapy called behavioral activation.
The 'worry time' technique — deferring all worries to a designated time of day — helps people realize they have more control over worry than they thought and reveals it is less useful than it feels.
A study found that participants told to try to stay awake while in bed fell asleep faster than participants told to try to sleep — illustrating the paradox of direct effort.
Spencer Greenberg reduced his severe social anxiety dramatically in roughly 6 months through a structured exposure therapy hierarchy, culminating in asking strangers for hugs.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.