Not to say that wrestling isn't tough. You won't get any argument from Kettel, a sophomore wrestler at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After all, he's one of the oldest wrestlers on the Cornhusker squad, coming up fast on his 28th birthday ... making him nearly a decade older than many of his teammates. Why? After being a high school wrestler, the Lowell, Mich. native didn't go straight to college ... but, instead, became a member of Navy SEAL Team 4, the elite group of fighters who put their lives on the line to protect America ... anywhere in the world. He served for seven years, including two tours of Afghanistan.
Kettel is the subject of a detailed profile in The Daily Nebraskan. Writer Nick Wilkinson takes you inside the grueling training that Kettel and his fellow SEALs undergo. Not just push-ups, chin-ups, swimming and running requirements, but intense tests -- like jumping off a 75-foot pier into a chilly San Diego Bay, over and over. It's beyond being physically or mentally challenging. It's all about weeding out individuals who won't be able to succeed in real-life combat situations.
"Kettel said he probably wouldn't have become a Navy SEAL without his wrestling history. The feeling of being on the mat, man versus man, one winner, gave him an addiction to performing to the highest ability and pushing his body to the limit," Wilkinson wrote in his 3,000-word essay titled "Navy SEAL transitions from soldier to civilian as NU wrestler."
"Almost a decade later, Kettel said he can see what the SEALs and the Huskers have in common: a commitment to working hard and getting the job done. No wrestling practice could ever compare to the intensity and vulnerability that comes with a Navy workout."
That said, Wilkinson continues, "Kettel's involvement with the Nebraska wrestling team has given him an outlet to live his SEAL life in a more mild form. Kettel no longer has to dodge bullets, frags and IEDs, but he still wakes up before sunrise and wears a 'squared away' shave and haircut. Kettel still exercises like his life depends on it because at one point, it did."
Kettel, who was a placer in the Michigan state tournament representing Lakewood High School, had been lured back to wrestling by a fellow SEAL who talked of his on-the-mat career. Once Kettel retired from the Navy in 2013, he returned to wrestling at Tompkins Courtland Community College in upstate New York before heading west to Lincoln to wrestle for Husker mat coach Mark Manning.
"The Daily Nebraskan" profile of Josh Kettel makes for powerful, compelling reading, especially in these times of uncertainty and global insecurity.
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