Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 5 minutes ago
The Journey to Midnight: From Navy Rescue Swimmer to Mental Health Advocate – A Conversation with Matt Griffin
This week, Marcus and Melanie are honored to welcome Matt Griffin, a six-year U.S. Navy veteran and fifteen-year law enforcement professional with a career deeply rooted in narcotics investigations and public service.
Matt’s journey began in 1997 with the U.S. Navy, where he would later become a certified Search and Rescue swimmer, conducting counter-drug operations that played a key role in Operation Enduring Freedom, intercepting over a metric ton of cocaine intended for the U.S. market.
After transitioning to law enforcement, Matt joined the Virginia Beach Police Department in 2003, where his drive and initiative earned him multiple awards—including the Class Act Award—and certifications as a narcotics expert witness in state and superior court.
In 2007, Matt moved to the Keene, NH Police Department, where his work with the NH Drug Task Force and later as a School Resource Officer further showcased his dedication. He earned a Life Saving Award and led the department in arrests for two consecutive years.
In 2015, Matt was selected to join the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, working undercover during the height of the opioid and fentanyl crisis. His relentless pursuit of justice and education surrounding these deadly drugs led to a State Police Commendation in 2016.
After retiring in 2017, Matt has focused on shattering the stigma around mental health in the first responder and military communities. Now working full-time with Axon as a Virtual Reality Solutions Specialist, Matt is also a national keynote speaker, mentor, consultant, and the #1 Amazon bestselling author of The Journey to Midnight.In this episode, Matt opens up about:
His military and law enforcement career and the challenges he faced
What it means to serve undercover during a drug epidemic
The mental toll of frontline service—and the road to healing
His passion for changing the culture around mental health in emergency services
How immersive VR is being used to transform training and wellness in policing
Whether you’re in uniform or support someone who is, this is a powerful and inspiring conversation you don’t want to miss.
In This Episode You Will Hear:
• [The field] is the great equalizer. Nobody can bother me there. On the field, it doesn’t matter what you bring, what you showed up in, or what kind of clothes or shoes you have. It’s me against you. (18:49)
•You just never knew when to give all you had, so all you do was constantly give all you had. (31:13)
•Life’s not fair, which makes it fair. (36:45)
•Just like in the Navy, you’re not gonna do well in the beginning, because they’ve gotta see a transition to you being good. (43:22)
•We made marijuana legal, but what that did was the cartels were like “I’m not losing 30% of my profit. I’ll find something else.” (61:46)
•America makes up 80 something percent of the world’s opioid prescriptions. (63:11)
•I take full responsibility for my divorce. I forgot how to be a husband, forgot how to be a dad, and it hit me hard. (66:11)
• [My friend Brian, also the Police Chief] was checking in on me. You know what I didn’t say? “how’re you doing bro?” He checked on me and I didn’t check on him. 2 hours later he went home and shot and killed himself. (72:46)
•If you want to learn how to make ramen the right way, ask a military guy. (76:31)
•I just felt like I was failing my kids every single day. All of a sudden, this light bulb went off. The next step in my transition from the Navy to the police department to the team, is to take myself out of the game. (77:00)
•The off-ramp is – it’s okay to not be okay. (80:05)
•Once you realize that life is short, you don’t want to waste 24 hours being hungover. (86:04)
•Every day I’d wake up and I’d say. “Today’s a good day to die, so is tomorrow.” And I would try to string some good decisions together. (90:29)
•My motto is: Every day, I find an opportunity inside of my 24-hour window that I get to live to do something good for somebody else. (91:08)
•Tomorrow is a good day, and you can make it there. (93:20)
•The scariest day of my life was when I hit “publish” on my book. (100:08)
•Where I sit here today, God is the biggest influence in my life. (107:08)
•As I speak around the country people would line up to buy a book, but I realized they weren’t trying to buy a book. You know what they wanted to do? They just wanted to come and say “Hey, I’m struggling, too.” (116:10)
Socials:
— IG: authormattgriffin
Support TNQ
– IG: team_neverquit , marcusluttrell , melanieluttrell , huntero13
– patreon.com/teamneverquit
The Journey to Midnight: From Navy Rescue Swimmer to Mental Health Advocate – A Conversation with Matt Griffin
This week, Marcus and Melanie are honored to welcome Matt Griffin, a six-year U.S. Navy veteran and fifteen-year law enforcement professional with a career deeply rooted in narcotics investigations and public service.
Matt’s journey began in 1997 with the U.S. Navy, where he would later become a certified Search and Rescue swimmer, conducting counter-drug operations that played a key role in Operation Enduring Freedom, intercepting over a metric ton of cocaine intended for the U.S. market.
After transitioning to law enforcement, Matt joined the Virginia Beach Police Department in 2003, where his drive and initiative earned him multiple awards—including the Class Act Award—and certifications as a narcotics expert witness in state and superior court.
In 2007, Matt moved to the Keene, NH Police Department, where his work with the NH Drug Task Force and later as a School Resource Officer further showcased his dedication. He earned a Life Saving Award and led the department in arrests for two consecutive years.
In 2015, Matt was selected to join the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, working undercover during the height of the opioid and fentanyl crisis. His relentless pursuit of justice and education surrounding these deadly drugs led to a State Police Commendation in 2016.
After retiring in 2017, Matt has focused on shattering the stigma around mental health in the first responder and military communities. Now working full-time with Axon as a Virtual Reality Solutions Specialist, Matt is also a national keynote speaker, mentor, consultant, and the #1 Amazon bestselling author of The Journey to Midnight.In this episode, Matt opens up about:
His military and law enforcement career and the challenges he faced
What it means to serve undercover during a drug epidemic
The mental toll of frontline service—and the road to healing
His passion for changing the culture around mental health in emergency services
How immersive VR is being used to transform training and wellness in policing
Whether you’re in uniform or support someone who is, this is a powerful and inspiring conversation you don’t want to miss.
In This Episode You Will Hear:
• [The field] is the great equalizer. Nobody can bother me there. On the field, it doesn’t matter what you bring, what you showed up in, or what kind of clothes or shoes you have. It’s me against you. (18:49)
•You just never knew when to give all you had, so all you do was constantly give all you had. (31:13)
•Life’s not fair, which makes it fair. (36:45)
•Just like in the Navy, you’re not gonna do well in the beginning, because they’ve gotta see a transition to you being good. (43:22)
•We made marijuana legal, but what that did was the cartels were like “I’m not losing 30% of my profit. I’ll find something else.” (61:46)
•America makes up 80 something percent of the world’s opioid prescriptions. (63:11)
•I take full responsibility for my divorce. I forgot how to be a husband, forgot how to be a dad, and it hit me hard. (66:11)
• [My friend Brian, also the Police Chief] was checking in on me. You know what I didn’t say? “how’re you doing bro?” He checked on me and I didn’t check on him. 2 hours later he went home and shot and killed himself. (72:46)
•If you want to learn how to make ramen the right way, ask a military guy. (76:31)
•I just felt like I was failing my kids every single day. All of a sudden, this light bulb went off. The next step in my transition from the Navy to the police department to the team, is to take myself out of the game. (77:00)
•The off-ramp is – it’s okay to not be okay. (80:05)
•Once you realize that life is short, you don’t want to waste 24 hours being hungover. (86:04)
•Every day I’d wake up and I’d say. “Today’s a good day to die, so is tomorrow.” And I would try to string some good decisions together. (90:29)
•My motto is: Every day, I find an opportunity inside of my 24-hour window that I get to live to do something good for somebody else. (91:08)
•Tomorrow is a good day, and you can make it there. (93:20)
•The scariest day of my life was when I hit “publish” on my book. (100:08)
•Where I sit here today, God is the biggest influence in my life. (107:08)
•As I speak around the country people would line up to buy a book, but I realized they weren’t trying to buy a book. You know what they wanted to do? They just wanted to come and say “Hey, I’m struggling, too.” (116:10)
Socials:
— IG: authormattgriffin
Support TNQ
– IG: team_neverquit , marcusluttrell , melanieluttrell , huntero13
– patreon.com/teamneverquit
