The guest
Jason Everman: Former guitarist/bassist for Nirvana and Soundgarden who became a US Army Ranger and Special Forces (Green Beret) soldier; later earned a Columbia philosophy degree and now mostly does yacht delivery.
What this episode covers
Jason Everman tells Joe Rogan how he went from playing in Nirvana and Soundgarden to becoming an Army Ranger and Green Beret. He describes being pushed out of both bands, a heroin flirtation, and a deliberate choice to enlist as a 'punctuated equilibrium' catalyst for growth. He recounts deploying to Iraq for the invasion and four rotations in Afghanistan, reflecting on the primal pull of combat, the tribe, and the corruption and history he witnessed. The conversation widens into philosophy, the emptiness of chasing money and external validation, fatherhood, and human flourishing. He closes by promoting his engineless Race to Alaska sailing project.
Recommended on this episode
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
Sebastian Junger
“great book; that kind of rang true with me”
“have you read like uh that Sebastian younger book tribe yeah great book yeah and like his thesis”— Jason Everman
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Dove
Robin Lee Graham
“you should read it I think you'd really dig it”
“before I left a good friend of mine suggested this book called Dove written by a man named Robin Lee Graham”— Jason Everman
MediaRecommended
Megaforce
“it's so good; horrible yet brilliant action movie”
“Mega Force records which great 80s movie by the way if you've never seen it no it's so good”— Jason Everman
MediaRecommended
Jonny Quest
Hanna-Barbera
“the writing... was so good; each episode is distinct and well written”
“the the writing for Johnny Quest was so good you know and like the show in in retrospect was like kind of progressive”— Jason Everman
MediaRecommended
Black Sabbath Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
“my favorite Sabbath record one of my favorite records”
“I don't know if you're familiar with Black Sabbath volume 4 sure yeah my my favorite Sabbath record one of my favorite records”— Jason Everman
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
BookReferenced
The Sailor Returns from the Sea
Robin Lee Graham
“turns out he wrote like a second book um called um the Sailor returns from the sea or something like that”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Speed Racer
“watching TV shows like cartoons like Johnny Quest was the big one right a Speed Racer Marine boy”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Marine Boy
“Marine boy were were animated but there were like great you know Marine boy was basically Speed Racer but underwater”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Kill 'Em All
Metallica
“that's the label that put out kill them all and the first pressing a Ride the Lightning and they did uh Merciful Fate Melissa”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Ride the Lightning
Metallica
“the label that put out kill them all and the first pressing a Ride the Lightning and they did uh Merciful Fate Melissa”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Melissa
Mercyful Fate
“the first pressing a Ride the Lightning and they did uh Merciful Fate Melissa they did you know some really good records”— Jason Everman
MediaReferenced
Deep Amazon
Barrett Martin
“he's doing a record now like a called Deep Amazon where the concept is he has all these EOS”— Jason Everman
ProductReferenced
Sunrise 34 Sloop (1986)
“so was a 1986 know Sunrise 34 Sloop and like all these people are like yeah it's a good boat it's a good boat”— Jason Everman
ProductReferenced
Tesla
Tesla
“operates on massive batteries so it can literally drive as silent as a Tesla”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- He was pushed out of Nirvana after their first full US tour and later fired from Soundgarden, his favorite Seattle band.
- He deliberately joined the military as a 'punctuated equilibrium' shock to force personal growth.
- He took an Army Ranger contract because the Navy wouldn't guarantee him a SEAL/BUDS tryout.
- He was in Special Forces Thai language school at Fort Bragg the morning of 9/11.
- He deployed to Iraq for the invasion and did four rotations in Afghanistan as a Green Beret.
- After a Columbia philosophy degree, he now works mostly in yacht/sailboat delivery.
- He declined to pursue royalties owed from Nirvana and Soundgarden reissues, choosing peace over money.
Worth remembering
- Both grandfathers were WWII vets; one rose from corporal to company commander on a Sherman tank purely through attrition.
- His step-grandfather was a Navy corpsman attached to a Marine platoon and did seven amphibious assaults in the Pacific.
- As a kid his mother dropped him off alone with a $20 Kmart raft to float miles of the Ho River.
- He frames PTSD through Sebastian Junger's 'Tribe' - the pain is losing the tribe, not the horrors of war.
- Dunbar's number (~120-150) matches the size of an Army infantry company.
- In Afghanistan each family home is a 'miniature fortress' because of a culture of preying on one another.
- He visited Greek ruins (Ai-Khanoum) from ~300 BC in Afghanistan, founded as one of Alexander the Great's Alexandrias.
- Greco-Buddhism briefly flourished in Central Asia; the Greco-Bactrian king Menander converted to Buddhism.
- He's prepping a four-man veteran crew for the engineless Race to Alaska (~750 miles, Port Townsend to Ketchikan).
- At 55 he says he is happier than he has ever been, with each year getting better.
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