Aug 02 2022 72 mins
In the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, with a degree from Harvard, and a highly coveted job, Adam Ross did something unthinkable. He quit his job, left behind everyone he knew and loved, and moved to Israel to enlist in the IDF.
His friends and family thought he was crazy, but Adam was disillusioned with the life he thought he wanted, and realized he wanted to become something bigger. For Adam, it wasn't about chasing the bad guys, and the good vs. evil narrative to which many lone soldiers are drawn. It was about helping people, and in that capacity, one unit stood out: 669 - the IDF's elite search and rescue commando unit.
While nearly ten thousand Israelis begin the selection process, only a few dozen finish training in each cycle for 669, and to add to the stress of an already stressful 18 month training regimen, the tryout never ends: people are cut from training at every point until the finish.
669 commandos are trained in combat rescue diving, emergency medicine, high angle rescue (rappelling/ropes), infiltration, counter-terrorism, close quarters combat, solo navigation, and more. The intensity, as Adam put it, is indescribable. While we are all familiar with "being pushed to the breaking point," 669 takes it a step further. Once you reach your breaking point, that is where the training begins. To Adam, despite having seen combat in an active war-zone, he felt the training was the hardest part of his military service.
We discussed the idea that hardship reveals character - who you really are, and what your true priorities really are become revealed. But it also builds character - since his service, Adam has had a new perspective on what "hard" really means. People who leave the unit do so with the quiet confidence of knowing what they are capable of, but also with the humility of knowing that they can be broken, and that the world can break anyone.
Adam was active during the 2014 Gaza war, and we discussed the challenges and professionalism displayed by 669, and the moment Adam believed that his death was imminent.
When Adam left Israel, it was hard to leave a place where people knew and appreciated what he had done to come back to the U.S. where nobody really understood or cared, which is a problem many combat veterans (myself included) face on their return back to the civilian world. But a paradigm shift happened for Adam after some time - in the IDF he had prided himself on being different, and having tested his character and put his life on the line - you can't help but feel a little "better than" syndrome. When he came back to the civilian world, he realized that those who had stayed on "the path" were actually ahead of him in this new world. He came to the conclusion that you shouldn't try to put yourself on par with anyone else - people choose different paths, and you need to play into your strengths, and exploit them, rather than lament your weaknesses.
For Adam, that meant not working in an office for someone who couldn't possibly understand what he was capable of - he wanted to keep leading teams, and decided to begin buying companies. The companies are small enough that Adam is heavily involved, and continues to exercise the leadership principles he learned as a small team commander in 669 to incentivize and reward people for their hard work.
The army taught Adam that people do not alway making rational decisions - we discussed that to sift through hundreds of opportunities, one has to look at the seller and understand his/her real motivations and trustworthiness, so that he is only doing diligence on companies that have the right ingredients. You can find Adam on Linkedin (linked above) or twitter.