Eric’s Story
Born in Missouri and educated in public schools, Eric earned scholarships to attend Duke University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. He attended the University of Oxford and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. He studied how international humanitarian organizations can best help children in war zones and worked as a humanitarian volunteer and documentary photographer in Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, and Bolivia.
Eric left Oxford to serve as a United States Navy SEAL officer and deployed four times during the Global War on Terrorism. The Association of the United States Navy named him the Navy Reserve Junior Line Officer of the Year, and his 18 military awards include the Combat Action Ribbon, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.
As an athlete, he won two Oxford Boxing Blues and the Gold Medal at the BUSA National Boxing Championships. A 2nd Dan Black Belt, he won the US National Taekwondo Federation National Championship in Sparring. A sub-3 hour marathon runner, he won the Shamrock Marathon in Fallujah, Iraq. He is also a 3x Gold Medalist and 2x Silver Medalist at the USA Track and Field National Masters Championships and was selected to represent TEAM USA at the World Championships in the 4x100m Sprint.
His first book, Strength & Compassion, was the Grand Prize Winner of the New York Book Festival and his photographs were exhibited in the International Photography Hall of Fame. The Heart and the Fist was a New York Times Bestseller, The Warrior’s Heart was recognized as one of the Best Teen Books by Barnes & Noble and Kirkus Reviews, and Resilience, was also a New York Times Bestseller.
After returning from Iraq, Eric donated his combat pay to found The Mission Continues. He was named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Fortune magazine recognized him as one of the 50 greatest leaders in the world.
An outsider, Greitens was elected Governor of Missouri in his first run for office. Greitens backed the police and shut down riots. He stopped all lobbyist gifts, ended over one hundred million dollars in theft by political insiders, cut taxes, and fully funded K-12 education for the first time in a generation.
A champion of the people, he was attacked by political insiders in a case of lawfare, and emerged triumphant. An innocent man, The Missouri Ethics Commission concluded that they found “no evidence of any wrongdoing” by Greitens. The Soros-funded district attorney and corrupt former FBI investigator who attacked Greitens were charged with eight felonies for perjury, evidence tampering, and misuse of public funds for manufacturing a fraudulent case. Both plead guilty. For his leadership as Governor, Greitens was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement.
Greitens lives in Innsbrook, Missouri and Austin, Texas with his sons, Joshua and Jacob.
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