On this episode of the Mag Life Podcast, two warriors formally meet and for a heavy discussion about their war and peacetime experiences. Daniel is joined by Tu Lam, a Vietnamese-American former US Army Special Forces Green Beret, martial artist, trainer, entrepreneur, and TV show host. Known for his tactical gear and training company, Ronin Tactics, he is also known for his on-screen appearance on Forged in Fire: Knife or Death, as well as being featured as a playable character in Call of Duty: Warzone. Tu has carved out a public image of himself as a disciplined modern-day warrior and teacher.
Daniel explores Tu’s unforgiving upbringing as a Vietnam War refugee, his decorated career as a US Army Special Operations soldier, his passion for the martial arts, and his Bushido mindset to find peace during adversity.
https://media.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/content.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/184-Tu_Lam_Finding_Peace_as_a_Warrior.mp3
Host: Daniel Shaw
Guest (usual Co-Host!): Tu Lam
Introduction/Timeline: Eric Huh
02:41 Escaping Death
Daniel asks Tu about his upbringing and what lead him to where he is today. Tu reveals a tragic and violent past, being born literally in the midst of the Vietnam War. Upon the US leaving South Vietnam and Saigon falling, the North Vietnamese forces rounded up the majority of Tu’s family and had them executed. His mother took her children and fled with thousands of others to escape oppression. What awaited the Lam family was more cruelty and suffering as they, along with hundreds of other refugees, were cramped into tiny boats, sailing in the South China Sea.
Upon reaching the coast of Malaysia, they were denied entry into the country. The Malaysian troops cut their motor and left the entire boat of refugees out to die. For 30 days straight, the refugees drifted out with no access to clean water or food. Just as Tu’s mother had given up all hope and contemplated feeding poison to her children to spare them of further misery, a Russian naval supply vessel spotted their boat. Despite being on opposite sides of the war, the Soviet troops showed mercy and saved the refugees by providing food and medical aid. This was nothing short of a miracle made by fortuitous timing. If the war was still ongoing, the Soviets would have been compelled to follow wartime protocol and would have taken the refugees back to Vietnam.
The horrors the Lam family faced, unfortunately, did not end there. The refugees were relocated into a camp in an Indonesian jungle, with no actual facilities or resources. Dead bodies would be regularly found in the jungles near the camp as people attempted to forage and find food. The strength of Tu’s mother was all that held them together.
“[My mother] is my strength… [During that time] there was a slim to no chance that we would have lived. And she goes, ‘I would have rather died than to have lived in fear’”
After a year and a half, Tu’s uncle was finally able to pay for his family to immigrate to the US.
12:55 Living in a Post-War America
One of Tu's earliest memories of living in the states was entering a grocery store in North Carolina with his mother. From living through horrific starvation to suddenly being able to pick any food item of his choice was a culture shock. But post-Vietnam War America was not without its faults. Tu’s entire childhood was riddled with instances of racist encounters and harassment from his white counterparts. The context Tu gives is that the entirety of the Vietnam War was not at all popular in the US, which in turn spawned many racist anti-Asian sentiments.
At eight years of age, Tu experienced bullying from a racist white classmate. One day the situation escalated to where both Tu and his bully were sent to the principal’s office to be reprimanded. The bully’s mother was called in and was informed about the incident. When she turned to speak to Tu, instead of offering any hint of an apology, she called him a racist slur, told him to leave the country, and supported her son for bullying him. Tu tells Daniel, “I was just defeated.”
Even despite all of this, Tu’s mother clung to hope. She told Tu, “No matter what, if you have an education, you can never be oppressed.” It was through these continued struggles that Tu knew he wanted to become something more than just the scared, bullied child.
24:30 Aspiring to Become a Warrior
The pressures of starting a new life resulted in Tu’s mother and father divorcing. Eventually, his mother remarried to a US Army Special Forces Green Beret. For the first time ever, Tu had a warrior role model that showed him something to aspire to.
“He was teaching me discipline. He was a very strict man… [We’d wake up at] 4:30 in the morning, every morning, we didn’t get days off. School now? It’s ‘you’re gonna wear slacks and you’re gonna wear button-up shirts to school [and] your grades better be good’… Physical fitness is on par, so every day is single physical training along with academics.”
Warrior culture was ingrained in Tu Lam’s upbringing from a very young age.
Not too long after the divorce, Tu’s biological father sent him a box of VHS tapes on Bruce Lee and Bushido, the way of the samurai. He instantly became fascinated by this code of conduct and later began tying in the warrior mentality with the lifestyle and discipline training from his Special Forces soldier step-father. During this time, Tu’s mother would also regularly take Tu out to feed the homeless in their community, to instill in him the value of always helping those less fortunate in order to build a better world. It was then that Tu knew what he was destined to become.
“I decided to become a Green Beret. I knew my calling… I was putting stuff together. The Green Beret, [who] free the oppressed. The way of the samurai, the Bushido code. A hard way of living. You know, I got tired of being this weak individual and I saw this path to enlightenment and this way as a warrior to be my best self. I knew it as a defeated boy”
35:18 Enlisting in the Army and the Path to Special Forces
Despite his mother’s protest, Tu joined the Army with the sole intent to become a Special Forces Green Beret. At the time, there was no direct track to becoming a Green Beret, Tu simply decided to seek as much training as he possibly could by completing Airborne and Ranger school. Tu would also join a Long Range Reconnaissance Company as part of their amphibious reconnaissance team. This not only gave him more specialized skill sets, but it also fast-tracked him to Special Forces Assessment Selection as a rank E-5 sergeant in only a year and a half.
It was Tu’s lifelong dream to become a US Army Special Forces Green Beret, just like his uncle and step-father.
Upon completion of assessment, Tu was assigned to 1st Special Forces Group as part of their Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) team stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The primary threat at the time was North Korea, as they had developed their Nodong missiles which were capable of reaching the continental US. Tu’s team was specifically trained in recovering downed pilots as well as doing reconnaissance in the region.
40:31 The Journey into Martial Arts
Ever since he was introduced to Bruce Lee films and writings, Tu was a dedicated martial artist and continued this well into his military career. While in Okinawa, Tu came across a US Marine fighting club, called the “Tough Man Contest”. Tu participated in these fights against other active-duty servicemen and did extremely well. Soon after, a fight promoter noticed Tu’s fighting prowess and arranged for him to fight in paid events outside of the base. Tu gladly accepted.
Bruce Lee and Bushido were key elements that instilled the passion of martial arts in Tu, having competed in full contact fights and specialized in bladed weapons.
Tu gladly signed on to be the main event fight for a Japanese promotion to a fight a Pancrase champion. Despite pushback from his superiors (who specifically banned Special Operations soldiers from fighting outside of the base) and a horrible water-borne illness he had contracted, Tu went through with the fight. His sickness was so severe, Tu weighed in only at 180 pounds while his opponent came in at 210 pounds. Even fully knowing he would lose, Tu sought to go out on his shield rather than to submit without a fight.
46:01 Martial Arts and the US Army — Coming Full Circle
From here, Tu continued his fighting career into Thailand, competing in Muay Thai matches. It was here that a Sergeant Major took notice of Tu’s combat sport activities and specifically requested to meet him. Tu initially thought he was to be reprimanded as he was actively going against the strict rules that barred him from participating in full-contact fights. Instead, the Sergeant Major wanted to recruit Tu to be the primary combatives instructor for a Tier 1 unit. The Sergeant Major commissioned Tu to travel around the world with an unlimited budget to study various martial arts styles and to bring this knowledge back to his soldiers.
For Tu, this was a dream come true. He trained with Native Americans in their form of tomahawk fighting, the Filipinos in the art of Kali, Indonesians in Pencak Silat, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Royce Gracie, and many other martial systems. On top of this, Tu was given full access to the training amenities the rest of the Tier 1 unit was provided such as a top-of-the-line fitness coach, workout equipment, and high-quality foods. This was an incredibly rare opportunity as traditionally only rank E-9 Sergeant Majors are allowed in the CAG Tier 1 unit. Daniel reflects on how his time in the Marine Corps was a far cry from the level of resources that Tu had received in the US Army Special Operations. Typically, Marines work with whatever they are given, but the more specialized units within the Army can seemingly obtain anything.
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