People can’t figure out where EJ Snyder gets his energy. The survival expert’s ever-growing roster of projects includes a survival skills teaching platform, a nonprofit to help fellow veterans, and even a brewery and pickle company. “I’m like a shark. I can’t sit still,” he said. “A friend described me as a tall glass of energy drink, and at 58 years old, men half my age can’t keep up with me.”
At the time of this interview, the North Carolina-based Snyder was teaming up with other veterans who swung into action in Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, clearing up impassable roads, delivering supplies, and searching for missing people.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he watched with disbelief the kerfuffle over the hot-item ticket. “I never thought in all my years that in a survival situation, people would be fighting over toilet paper,” Snyder said.
That’s a far cry from the survival essentials that he advocates for: a good knife, a few ways of starting a fire, a water purifier, shelter, and, ideally, some form of defense.
‘Get Uncomfortable’
If anything, Snyder teaches that “the biggest tool that you have is your own mind; and matched with those skills, and having an iron will and some little bit of grit, you can get through anything.”“I teach people to have an attitude of getting uncomfortable. Know that you’ll do whatever it takes to live and that when you give up that will to live, all will flop. You have to become like iron.”
Snyder drives the point home that when a survival situation or emergency occurs, the first thing to do is to remain calm because “fear will cripple your actions, and fear could cost you your life.”
When he was a young boy, Snyder was bullied. “I learned one thing from that: If you put fear out into the air, out into the community, out in the wild, bad people or animals are going to come. … So I learned to get over fear very young.”
Snyder has seen what fear can do to soldiers in battle. He believes there are two types of people when a disastrous situation occurs. Some rise up to the situation and become natural leaders.
“They have this thing inside of them that wants to do good and help their neighbor, even if it’s putting their own life in jeopardy. Others will literally freeze in fright, because they don’t know what to do.”
Quitting Is Not an Option
Snyder’s own fearless attitude served him well as he entered a new world: reality TV. After retiring from the Army, Snyder went on survival shows such as “Dual Survival” and “Naked and Afraid.”On the 27th day of a 60-day challenge on “Naked and Afraid Legends” in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp and wetlands in the United States, tragedy struck. Snyder fell 12 feet from a tree and speared the family jewels, tearing them in two places. His options: go to the hospital—and eliminate himself from the challenge—or carry on and risk infection and possibly worse. Snyder chose to stay, got 12 stitches, and received the following medical instructions:
“They told me, ‘All right, listen. EJ, three rules. One, you gotta keep it clean.’
“I looked around, and I’m covered in mud, and I’m lying in mud, and I said, ‘OK, that sounds good. All right, I can do that. What else?’
“‘You can’t get it wet. You can’t go in the water.’
“I’m like, ‘I’m in a swamp. It’s wet everywhere and it rains twice a day. OK, what else?’
“‘You can’t do any physical activity for two weeks. You have to just sit here and do nothing. If you pop a stitch, you could get infected.’”
He considered his situation. Nightfall was coming, and the winter temperatures could dip down into the 30s. He got up and hobbled off in search of firewood, stitches and all.
Snyder was later asked why he didn’t quit. He said the reason had nothing to do with bravado: “Somebody out there is watching me on these shows. They get inspired. They get motivated on how to handle tough days. And the other thing is, I’m not sitting on the couch eating a bag of potato chips watching life go by. The mission was 60 days, and I wasn’t going to leave until I completed 60 days.”
‘You Saved My Life’
When Snyder started doing reality shows, he didn’t anticipate the torrent of messages from people telling him how much he inspired them.“If they had a drug use problem, they figured out a way, through watching me somehow, to beat addiction. Or if they’re not eating healthy and they’re overweight, then they get off the couch and they start exercising.” He proved to many that age was just a number.
Someone once told him, “You saved my life. I was at such a low point, and I was getting ready to take my own life. I was in a hotel room at two in the morning, your episode came on, and it changed my whole outlook on life.”
For years, Snyder had been asking God to guide him and tell him his purpose. Five years ago, as he sat praying under a 300-year-old oak tree, he had a vision. “God said to me, ‘My son, you’ve been a warrior for a long time. It’s now time to put the spear of the warrior down and pick up the staff of a sage. I want you to start imparting that on others, helping others, and get them ready for the bad days ahead.’”
He realized he’d been living his calling all along and was right where he was supposed to be. “I’m just God’s humble servant and messenger, I don’t take the credit for any of this,” he said.
Snyder said he doesn’t take his responsibility lightly. “I firmly believe the words you speak to someone or the actions you take could change someone’s life or even save it. In all I do, it’s getting the word out about being prepared for bad days, developing the skills and the right mindset to get through life, because hard times don’t last, but hard people will.”
Paying It Forward
Growing up in the Hackensack area of New Jersey, Snyder developed a love for the outdoors while young. “My dad was a misplaced cowboy. He was a big outdoorsman, and anytime he could get to the woods and camp and fish, that was his happy place,” Snyder explained. His father taught him how to trap, hunt, fish, camp, and canoe. “That’s where I felt happiest, in the woods.”In photos, Snyder may look serious. Off-camera, he’s cheerful and ready for a laugh. His gratitude for life shines through.
“I’m a very free spirit. I still have a bit of a militant way about me, but when I get out in the wild, I move very free-flowing through the world these days with a very positive outlook,” he said. “Positivity is everything. If you bring negative energy into a situation, it’s contagious. Any kind of negative drama or stress, I try to free myself of that every day.”
Every day, he sets out his intentions, aspirations, and wishes; he asks for forgiveness and to be a better man than he was the day before.
“I believe in multiplying good deeds. Some people call it paying it forward. I just believe it’s called spreading positivity. If we all go out into this world and do that a little bit more, the world could be a better place. When you throw a little pebble in a pond, it’s the first splash that makes the biggest impression. It’s all the little waves and the rings that go out throughout the entire pond that make the biggest difference.”
