‘Live greatly and jump off that ramp’

Retired Navy SEAL Jason Redman, Medal of Honor Society President Britt Slabinski offer advice, encouragement to Boys Nation 2026.

As he addressed the senators of the 2026 session of American Legion Boys Nation, retired Navy SEAL Jason Redman shared his experience helping wounded veterans to skydive, and how some of those warriors chose not to jump once they got to altitude.

Many of the veterans he spoke to later told him they wished they had gone through with the jump.

“Guys, that’s life. You’re going to stand on the end of the ramp when you go after your goals and hopes and dreams, and you’re going to be afraid. ‘What if I fail? What if people make fun of me? What if they say no? What if I get rejected?’” Redman said.

“Live greatly and jump off that ramp. Because at least before you go — and all of us are going to go someday — you will look back on your life and you’ll go, ‘Man, I did it.’”

The lesson reflected one of Redman’s three calls to action to the rising high school seniors at Boys Nation: choose to live greatly; choose to lead; and choose to overcome.

Redman and Medal of Honor Society President Britt Slabinski were guest speakers on the penultimate night of Boys Nation 2026, the 80^th session of the “week that shapes a lifetime.”

Both men called on the Boys Nation senators to continue on their leadership path.

“You’re the thread that’s going to hold all this together,” Slabinski said.

He also encouraged the senators to not tolerate the extreme sides of the political debate that are dividing the nation. “Communicate,” he urged.

Redman emphasized that, despite what some say, the American dream is not dead.

“The most important person you will ever lead is yourself,” Redman said. “It is your path, it is your goals, it is your discipline that will enable you to be able to accomplish those things and be successful.”

He also encouraged the senators to have a “victor mindset” rather than a “victim mindset.”

“It doesn’t mean you’re going to win, it means you’re going to get up and drive forward despite the bullets and bombs of life,” said Redman, who was severely wounded in Iraq in a 2007 ambush. “This life will go wrong. The difference between people who are successful and people who fail and blame all the external factors, is the ones who are successful got up despite the failures and being knocked down.”

Redman and Slabinski also took a number of questions from the senators, among them how to serve the country outside the military.

“If every American accomplished their American dream … it creates massive dividends to our nation,” Redman said. “You’re serving America by not being one of these people who sit back and say, ‘Oh, you can never accomplish (the American dream).’”