Nick Lavery did not have an easy childhood. His parents are struggling but doing everything possible to ensure that he and his sister are provided for. He spoke well of the way his mother and father did it and felt that the ability to grind was a gift he had received from them. Lavery was athletic and strong due to his time on the gridiron as well as playing lacrosse, wrestling, and running track. He remembered that they moved frequently when he was young, which made it difficult to build and maintain friendships. What he lacked socially he made up for when it came to toughness.
“I was getting positive responses to mental toughness from the age of four until I got to college.”
He may not have known what he would do as an adult, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that. Lavery was 19 years old and focused on college football when the September 11 attacks occurred on American soil. After seeing the destruction and the result of the terrible events that happened that day, he chose to sell his football uniform and get the national one.
“I started looking at the options of enlisting or joining the military and finally decided to go the route of becoming a Green Beret in the Special Forces.
How Resilience Becomes Necessary
Lavery achieved his goal of becoming a Green Beret in 2010. He was on his second tour in Afghanistan as an Army Weapons Sergeant when his life was changed forever. His team became a victim of what is known as “blue-green”. The suspected soldier who is a fellow soldier who is outside the group opened fire on the group. While Lavery was protecting another soldier, he was shot several times in his lower body at a distance. According to reports, a total of six people died and 20 were injured. Lavery almost died twice during his medical transport. When he arrived at Walter Reed National Medical Center, he had to undergo more than 30 surgeries, and ended up losing his right leg above the knee.
Once Lavery was able to begin physical therapy, it became clear that the struggles would not only be physical. He was as open about his mental struggles as he was
recovery, revealing that the idea of quitting crossed his mind more than once. Like all service members who have faced that kind of hardship, Lavery came to a crossroads.
“I saw two options on the table from when I was in the hospital. Option A is to roll over and die. Option B is to find a way to get back to doing what you were put on this planet for. That was it; it was that easy. Of course I had no idea how to do it, but I knew exactly what I was going to do.”
The Road Back to Fighting
Lavery committed himself for the next two years to getting used to life as an amputee and finding a way back into the military. This goal then affected him badly, and he practiced getting in and out of cars as if he were an amputee at normal speed. The training and exercises he underwent to return to the battlefield were beyond normal standards, but he did not shy away from a challenge. Rucks of 12 kilometers, dragging 220 kilograms in full gear, and proving that he can walk on broken ground and climb stairs properly were some of the tasks he had to do to prove himself.
One can imagine the sense of victory and redemption that Lavery might have felt when his boots hit the ground in Afghanistan, but that moment was nowhere to be found in a movie or in the mind of the average American. As Lavery recalled, it was very short.
“I’m talking like seconds. It was like, ‘Okay. I made it.’ And then it’s like, ‘Now we have a job to do.'”
Although that moment was brief for him, it was the most lasting thing in history. Lavery is the first above-the-knee amputee to return to full-spectrum combat duties. He received several honors for his efforts and bravery, including the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and later received the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Excalibur Award.
The Birth of the Machine
While those accolades are important, his nickname, “The Machine” is what he may be most proud of because of how he earned it. On his return trip to Afghanistan, children would run to see him, which was a good sign. When they saw Lavery, they started referring to him as “machine fighter” in their language. What stands out is that it was not an isolated incident.
“Well, that happened a lot during the entire working period. So, this word ‘machine’ became something that refers to me as an individual. Next year in Somalia, a different continent, the same thing happened. Okay, now my colleagues are like ‘oh yes, this is like something.’
The nickname stuck and has become a part of him and his brand. After being cleared to return to the battlefield, he was advised that he would eventually need a hip replacement if he could not find another way to serve. He is still active and is currently the Chief Warrant Officer. He’s also making a difference with his MCHN (pronounced “the machine”), which combines his coaching business, community-driven ecosystem, and strategic philosophy. He also runs a B2B business called Precision Components and is an active public speaker.
The father of two shows his children and many others around him that no matter what hardships or difficulties they face, there can be a way to not only survive but thrive. That belief can be considered a gift he received from his parents during his childhood.
“Those seeds were planted because of their work ethic for sure, and their willingness to sacrifice.”
For more on Lavery, be sure to check out his appearance on the first episode of the Fit to Serve podcast with Tim Wilkins on the M&F YouTube channel.
