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Tell me if you’ve heard this one before.
A Navy SEAL, a doctor, and an astronaut walk into a bar.
They’re all the same guy.
Last week, NASA announced that 40 year-old U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Jonathan “Jonny” Yong Kim will deploy to the International Space Station in March onboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky for eight months.
It’s the latest extraordinary chapter in the life of Dr. Kim, who previously served as an enlisted Navy SEAL early in the Global War on Terrorism before completing undergrad, whilst earning an officer commission, and subsequently graduating from Harvard Medical School.
While finishing an internship in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Kim applied to the NASA Astronaut Corps after meeting physician-astronaut Dr. Scott Parazynski and was selected as part of Astronaut Group 22 in 2017.
Okay, so, obviously, this is an all-timer professional trajectory, so profoundly accomplished that it’s hard to imagine it inspiring any degree of career jealousy in the hearts of his peers because, honestly, any reasonable adult has to ask: what caliber of human being could even do all this?
If the LinkedIn summary of this man’s life was all you had to go on, maybe certain assumptions would be front-of-mind. Maybe you’d think he had an especially nurturing childhood. Maybe he had particular advantages, even with hard work, that made the above possible.
That’s where his story, at least for me, gets even more mind-boggling.
Dr. Kim was born to Korean American immigrants a few years after they arrived in the United States. They were a working class family. His father struggled with alcoholism and was abusive. His mother attempted to make the very best of a volatile home life. Neither had a college education.
Growing up, Dr. Kim took on the role of a protector for his mother and younger brother, constantly shielding them from the violent outbursts of his father. In high school, this came to a head when his father, armed with a handgun, threatened to kill his mother.
Rushing to his mother’s aid, Dr. Kim was pepper-sprayed and bashed in the skull with a dumbbell by his father.
The police were called to their home. After learning he was barricaded in the attic and likely still armed, authorities cordoned off the house. There was a standoff, shots were exchanged, and his father was killed.
Despite the overwhelming trauma of this early horrific experience, Dr. Kim kept focused on his childhood dream of serving as a Navy SEAL. He enlisted in 2002 after high school graduation, eventually completed training with BUD/S Class 247, and got assigned to SEAL Team Three.
He was primarily trained as a combat medic but soon completed the highly competitive SEAL Sniper Course and then deployed twice to Iraq, undertaking over a hundred combat missions and earning the Silver Star and Bronze Star (w/ valor) along the way for life-saving actions.
So, you got this guy who went through an especially rough childhood but overcame it to flesh out a sterling career any of us would admire. The odds were long, yet the success has been off-the-charts. So, as a person, it wouldn’t really be surprising to find out he’s a bit cocky, right?
I’ve watched several interviews with Dr. Kim and dozens of video snippets of his fellow Navy SEALs discussing the man’s character and professional competence. I highly recommend the five-hour podcast chat he did with retired SEAL officer Jocko Willink.
(By the way, Mr. Willink is an exceptional interviewer and does a fantastic job of guiding the conversation throughout.)
There’s also a standout, hilarious clip in which two of his fellow SEALs talk about a presentation Dr. Kim made during Sniper School that was so deeply impressive that all they could do was laugh when remembering it. Definitely watch it.
Here’s what’s abundantly clear: there may not exist a greater chasm between the professional achievements of one human being and the unyielding humility and selflessness they inhabit.
Dr. Kim’s fellow SEALs have nothing but high praise for him in a community that is not known for its penchant to publicly acclaim any of its living brothers given all who have made the ultimate sacrifice. So many clips I’ve watched were SEALs bringing up Mr. Kim unprompted and in glowing terms.
In watching his interview with Mr. Willink, I was quite taken with the numerous times Dr. Kim answered questions about his service in the framing of his SEAL brethren and other fellow service members, always reverting back to those lost and their sacrifices.
I don’t know how else to put it, but there’s such a pure humility in this man that comes across as steadfastly authentic, almost appearing to be embarrassed that his accomplishments would be discussed at all.
As I’ve done research on Dr. Kim, I’ve come across too many predictions to count that he may one day—and should be—president, which struck me as not only true but somehow—ironically—unlikely.
It’s not for his lack of ability. If Dr. Kim could understandably be described as a political novice given that his entire career has been spent outside of formal politics, it’s difficult to think of any political novice more likely to be equal to the task.
You get the sense that if he were thrown into the Oval Office tomorrow and without warning, Dr. Kim would find a way to make it work. Hell, you get the sense that if you told the man he needs to learn how to juggle flaming swords, he’d come back an hour later with a routine set to music.
No, it’s the relentless selflessness so clearly at the core of his being that might be the only factor of skepticism, particularly in a political system disinclined to reward selflessness as a prevailing characteristic.
In Dr. Kim’s own analysis, he’s not perfect. He’s made growth-ready mistakes throughout his storied career, listened to advice, made adjustments as necessary, and always focused on self-improvement and most importantly: the team, the team, and the team.
While speaking with Mr. Willink, he said this: “I'm not gifted. I'm not smarter than everybody else. I'm not stronger. I just have the ability to stick to a plan and not quit."
And that’s a great value statement, but in honor of Labor Day, here’s one that resonated even more with me:
“You should never think you're too good to do a job. And I think you should be like that in everything you do. 'Be a forever new guy' is what I try to emulate… never think that you are above taking out the trash.”
Well said, Sir.
Jonny Kim is the kind of American who makes me hopeful about the future of our country and the kind of leader who best expresses, by example, the greatness we should all aspire to.
I can’t wait to see what he does next.
A Navy SEAL, a Doctor, and an Astronaut Walk into a Bar