Ken Corigliano has turn out to be the "Beastmaster" of the challenges

If you Lt. See or hear Col. Ken Corigliano, you will learn that he is a 24 year old Air Force veteran, one of the last four competitors in the Netflix series "Ultimate Beastmaster" and that he has won 18 Savage races in all of those second most in the world. Despite everything he has done as a soldier and athlete, Air Force Ken would be the first to say that he comes from a very humble background. His enrollment in the Air Force marked the beginning of his life changing life.

“When my recruiter Calvin Douglas, who is now my best friend 23 years later, found me, I was nothing. I thought I was this big tough guy. But when he showed me the way with his class and his professionalism, it was mind-altering, ”says Corigliano. "When I came to the Air Force, I was just grateful because I was so grateful that I knew the path I was on and could have walked."

Courtesy Ken Corigliano

A commitment to service

Lt. Col. Ken Corigliano has seen his service career around the world including Afghanistan, Baghdad, Iraq and Uzbekistan. He would eventually return to the United States to attend college. The trigger that led him to achieve so much as a soldier and athlete was the fact that he failed the school's ROTC Physical Fitness Test. Instead of giving up and naming his loss, he doubled up and called his shot.

“I vowed not to be unprepared for anything! I left this ROTC session with the fitness record that still stands today, ”he said. This motivation, combined with the commitment to the next level, led him to eventually reach the 2012 Olympic triathlon exams. However, he was hit by a car before he could compete. Shortly afterwards he was also sent to Iraq. Despite the injuries he suffered, he continued on his mission.

"I spent six excruciating months in an abandoned palace in Baghdad that was bombarded daily with rockets, mortars and bombs," he said. The action weighed on him, to say the least. “Years later I had poor memory, my hair was falling out, I was overdosed and my tinnitus was driving me crazy. The only thing that kept me healthy, balanced, focused and gave me hope was when my body was in motion. "

Despite the circumstances Corigliano faced and the results afterwards, he actually found a positive point of view that kept him going: there are many people in situations much worse than him.

"There are millions of people in bed who are terminally ill in bed and who would swap places with me at any point in my life," he admitted humbly. Because of this attitude, Corigliano received numerous honors in his career, including the Air Medal, Commendation Medal of Heroism, Multiple Meritorious Service Medals, Achievement Medals and Commendation Medals.

Courtesy Ken Corigliano

Passion for fitness

This love of athletics led Corigliano to compete and excel in numerous sports including obstacle racing, triathlon, running, swimming, cycling, and television competitions such as "Ninja Warrior" and the aforementioned "Beastmaster". Of these, he had competed in 18 national and world championships, a far cry from the guy who failed a college fitness test. He said that if he was seen as a kid he wouldn't look like he was successful, but his mother would have said "yes" if asked if he could.

"body would have believed her, but she always had an immortal belief in me and love," he declared proudly. Fitness is now something he lives daily, and that has spread to other members of his family and friends as well.

“There's no trying, they just do it,” he says. “Everyone around me benefits or is influenced by my commitment to ensure that people fall in love with their own bodies.” When he steps in now, he is fixated on the goal and nothing scares him off. He said it takes a new level of commitment to excel in the sports he is active in.

“People don't really, really, really understand what it takes to be at the top. They think that people who win or are the best (at what they do) just do more of what others don't want to do, but it's not even that, ”he explained. "It's an obsession, passion, love, devotion, every moment of every waking hour, knowing that you need 0.2% and two millimeters of everything that adds up over time to get the most out of it."

At the end of the day, Corigliano feels that a large part of his life is owed to the people he surrounds himself with. His family and friends in his circle are people who make him do more and work harder.

“Man is not made to be alone,” he said emphatically. “You cannot and will not thrive unless you surround yourself with people who believe in you because that energy is needed. When you bring two similar voices together, they reinforce each other. My mom, friends, and random people like Calvin Douglas, Rob Wilkins (M&F military editor), and others who have no expectations of returning to themselves. Without her I would be nothing. "