This is the third episode in Asher's series of sit-down interviews with jiu-jitsu teammates and friends from the gym. This one features Eric Odem, who grew up in Decatur, Atlanta in the 1980s and 90s (a teenager during the Olympics), skipped a lot of school, and barely graduated through Phoenix High School in Lawrenceville, an alternative program with a strict attendance policy built for kids struggling to finish. That rocky start led him into the U.S. Navy's nuclear program in Charleston, where he found real aptitude for technical work. Over a 12-year Navy career, Eric served on fast attack submarines in the Middle East, spent time with Special Forces including a boat team stint in the Philippines, and lived four years on an aircraft carrier in Japan, which he compares to living at a truck stop with 6,000 people. While stationed in Japan, he and his family lived through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, an experience that reshaped how he thinks about resilience and how people hold together in disaster. Eric met his wife during his Navy years, and this year marks their 25th anniversary. After leaving the Navy, they settled briefly in Dothan, Alabama, before moving to Augusta, GA in 2014, where Eric works at Plant Vogtle — the longest either of them has lived anywhere. In his mid-30s he picked up jiu-jitsu after getting thoroughly dominated by a more experienced training partner, and it turned into a discipline that's shaped his approach to trust, vulnerability, and staying physically capable as he ages. He now teaches, which pushed him to understand the why behind techniques rather than just the movements, and he closes the conversation talking about the value of narrow, focused learning over trying to absorb everything at once. A rough start, redirected. Skipping school, an alternative high school for delinquent teens, barely graduating, then finding real purpose and technical aptitude the moment he hit the Navy's nuclear program.Submarine life as total self-reliance. No margin for error, junior mistakes can be fatal, communication is heavily screened, and the crew becomes the whole world for months at a time.Trust and vulnerability on the mats. His sharpest jiu-jitsu insight: letting a training partner hold you in a position where they could genuinely hurt you, and trusting they won't, builds a bond nothing else in life quite matches.Tohoku, 2011. Living through the earthquake with his family in Japan; what it taught him about Japanese resilience and how people hold together when everything falls apart.Aircraft carrier as a floating city. Four years living on a carrier in Japan, described as like living at a truck stop with 6,000 people.Jiu-jitsu at 35. Started after getting dominated by a more experienced partner; became a vehicle for discipline, trust, vulnerability, and staying capable as he ages.Teaching forces understanding. Coaching others pushed him past just knowing the moves into understanding the why behind the technique.Narrow, focused learning. His closing point: progress comes from going deep on one thing at a time, not trying to absorb everything at once.Power and resilience, up close. He ties his work in the nuclear industry to a hard-won appreciation for electricity — sharpened by going 12-14 days without power at home in Augusta after Hurricane Helene.Key Themes
