About David

I spent eight years in the Navy SEAL Teams. In 1983 I was in Beirut during the Marine barracks bombing — 241 Americans killed in a single morning — and I dug for survivors by hand, all day long, under enemy fire. I buried that day for eighteen years, and told no one. When it finally caught up with me, I came apart. A lifetime of medication and fog wasn’t an option. One night at 3 a.m., my head on my desk, a voice in me said: I know there’s a better way; I just don’t know it yet.

My journey began without a map — the first nine years through Eckart Tolle, yoga, Satsang, and Zen; the last sixteen logging more than 20,000 hours of mind-training under Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, the teacher of Pema Chödrön. In October 2022, after several retreats totaling five weeks, the last of the confusion lifted — but I still practice every day.

I served as a Navy SEAL from 1981 to 1989 — UDT-21, SEAL Team Four, the Regional Survey Team, and the Navy Experimental Diving Unit. My decorations include the Combat Action Ribbon and the Joint Service Commendation Medal, among others. Since then I founded the UDT-SEAL Memorial, served as president of the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, mentored at-risk youth, built a career in real estate, and raised a family. I now live in Palm Bay, Florida, with my wife, Viviana.