Thank You for My Service - Mat Best Page 0,94

coffee company started to get traction, but because Evan Hafer was in the hotel room in Colorado that night a year or so later, when I pushed all my chips into the middle of the table and cut the crap. He pushed all of his chips in as well. To be fair, he was already all-in, I was just catching up to him, but he understood what I was trying to say and do, and he was right there with me. Jarred too.

In the years after I walked away from the drug called war, I have relentlessly chased new dreams. It’s been a hell of a ride. I mean, shit, here I am writing a book about my life. I even got married to a smart, talented, beautiful woman. On purpose! She has helped me crystallize the fact that making a difference in the lives of my military brothers and sisters has become my purpose in life, a purpose as great and as worthy as the one I tried hard to fulfill as a Ranger in 2/75.

I don’t know how this story ends. I can only say, to all the brothers I’ve lost along the way, you are my motivation in everything I do. I’m thankful for every challenge we’ve faced together, and I look forward to those still to come. Every step (and misstep) we’ve taken has made me who I am today, and I refuse to live a life, to take another single step without you, that doesn’t honor your sacrifice. It is the least I can do, because you have given the most.

My hope is that through my actions as a veteran and an entrepreneur, through the choices we make as a company, that we can inspire our community and show the next generation of veterans to never let anyone or anything stand in the way of their goals. It has been humbling for Evan, Jarred, and me, as veterans and as employers, to see what the remarkable men and women who serve this country can accomplish—not only in combat but also as they transition to the civilian sector and continue to serve this great nation with their effort, their energy, their loyalty, and their commitment to brotherhood.

Hardship paves the path to light. Be strong, be kind, be relentless, and always choose life.

Rangers lead the way.

Mom: “He’s a boy, he’ll grow out of it.”

Me: “This would be cooler if it had a laser on it.”

“Even as a kid, I wanted to serve my country.”—Every military book ever written. (It was laundry day.)

That’s what brothers do, they play absolutely terrible emo/punk

music together!

The only thing that reads less than a Marine is camo against maroon in low light. Thanks, JC Penney portraits.

Shirts are dumb.

Seeing off my brothers (Alan on the left, Davis in the middle) as they head to Kuwait for the Invasion of Iraq. Although I thought only one of them was going.

My amazing mother and my former Ranger cousin shortly after pinning on my Ranger tab.

Captain Morgan got the idea from Sergeant Best. Change my mind.

Best. Tinder. Profile. Pic. EVER. Swipe righteous.

Trying to pull off the Zoolander blue steel in full kit.

Not getting shot always sets you up for a good smile.

Basic training.

Basic bitch.

Basic training is meant to bind you to your brothers.

MREs are meant to bind your bowels into a balloon animal made out of poop.

Just a dude in the middle of somewhere.

Screening of Range 15, the zombie-apocalypse movie I made with my friends and fellow veterans, at Twentynine Palms.

More than mentors—a legacy we should all live. Brothers for life Dale Brehm (left) and Ricardo Barraza (right).

Respect.

Doing my best Stallone from Cliffhanger in the old Afghan.

Hey guys, check out my sweet beard while I contract!

From Ranger Battalion to being in business together, my man Rocco has always had my back.

Derek Weida and me shopping after skipping leg day.

Friends don’t let friends drink and fly. Just kidding, I can’t fly, but I can drink!

My beautiful mom and me at the Range 15 premiere.

Screening our movie in Iraq with a bunch of badasses.

The military version of Lyft.

Signing a whiskey bottle to a newborn baby was the least weird thing that happened at this Leadslingers Whiskey event.

Filming videos with Rocco and Pilot X. God bless America.

Grill sergeant.

Staying in shape after the military is SUPER challenging.

“It’s okay to live a life most people don’t understand.” —Fucking Pinterest quote

Little bird selfie.

Pretending to be an MMA fighter with actual MMA fighter Josh Tyler.

Best friends and broken arms. This is the garage where it all started, with Jarred Taylor and Rocco in El Paso, Texas.

Supporting one of my Black Rifle Coffee events.

I’d do Crossfit, but mini-guns aren’t part of the WOD.

Cool guys don’t look at explosions.

“No, that’s my trailer, Keith David, yours is over there. And by the way, that uniform is stolen valor.”

On the set of Range 15, goofing around.

I really just put this in the book because I think it’s adorable. Yes, I said adorable.

Contractually obligated to put Ross Patterson in the book twice. And oh yeah, that’s Marcus Luttrell and William Shatner too.

This should have been the book cover, but the publisher wanted to use something more “respectable” and “grown up” and “with less guns.”

For my beautiful mother, who has stood by me through success and failure while I chase my dreams, despite wishing for a girl when she was pregnant with me. Don’t worry, Mom, there is hope for me yet. Bruce Jenner didn’t transition until he was in his sixties.