Courage Can Save US: Service, Trust, and the Common Good
With Rye Barcott - Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor and Author of Courage Can Save US
Rye Barcott joins Kit Conklin for a conversation about courage as a discipline of service. Drawing from his experience as a Marine, nonprofit founder, and leader of With Honor, a bipartisan non-profit that supports principled veteran leadership in Congress, Rye explains why trust is the through line across combat, humanitarian work, and public life. The episode asks what courage looks like when the cost is reputational, political, or personal rather than physical.
How Rye Barcott Defines Courage
Rye’s definition of courage begins with choice and risk
In his view, courage requires a conscious choice to serve the common good, even when that choice carries a cost. That cost can be physical, as in military service, or moral, as in public life, where leaders may risk reputation, friendships, political support, or personal comfort.
That definition shapes Rye’s bestselling book, Courage Can Save US. The book is not framed as a philosophy text, but Rye uses ideas from Stoicism — including self-discipline, duty, and servant leadership — to explain the standard he is applying. He points to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, which he first read after General Jim Mattis recommended it, and to Socrates as an early example of physical and moral courage joined together.
Courage, as Rye describes it, is not reserved for battlefield decisions or historic moments. It is also present when someone chooses to work across a divide, defend an institution, acknowledge a personal struggle, or stay focused on a mission when the easier incentive is conflict.
“That’s what I present as the definition of courage: taking risks in the service of something larger than yourself, particularly the common good, in a conscious way and with something that’s at risk and at cost.”
Book Spotlight: Courage Can Save US
Rye’s book, Courage Can Save US, profiles five Republicans and five Democrats who carried a service mentality into public office.
A New York Times and USA Today bestseller and #1 Publishers Weekly nonfiction bestseller, the book examines courage through the lives of ten leaders who have taken public stands at personal cost.
All author proceeds from Courage Can Save US go to With Honor.
These are the ten veterans-turned-elected-officials who share their stories:
Governor
Mikie Sherrill
Senator
Todd Young
Senator
Mark Kelly
Congressman
Brian Fitzpatrick
Governor
Wes Moore
Congressman
Dan Crenshaw
Congressman
Seth Moulton
Congressman
John James
Congressman
Jared Golden
Congressman
Don Bacon
A Conversation on Civic Duty and the Work Behind the Cameras
At its core, the conversation is about how trust is built and maintained when institutions are under pressure. Rye draws on his experience across military service, humanitarian work, and politics to argue that the setting may change, but the requirement remains the same: people have to be willing to rely on one another across lines of difference.
That perspective carries into his view of Congress, where he focuses less on public conflict and more on the quieter work that makes cooperation possible. Rye describes the veterans he works with through With Honor and the For Country Caucus, where members from both parties try to preserve relationships that allow legislation to move. Much of that work happens away from cameras, headlines, and social media incentives.
Kit and Rye also discuss why bipartisan discipline matters on issues that require continuity. Rye points to the National Defense Authorization Act as one example of a bill with a long bipartisan tradition, while warning that even durable institutions need to be defended. His broader point is that the country’s hardest problems require trust, patience, and leaders willing to take criticism from their own side.
The episode closes with America’s 250th anniversary as the backdrop. Kit asks what citizens can do when they love the country but feel frustrated by the politics. Rye’s answer is deliberately small-scale: start by recognizing courage in someone who has shaped your own life.
Kit Conklin
Chief Strategy & Global Affairs Officer, Exiger
Kit Conklin is a seasoned expert in technology, policy, and national security. He served as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. House Select Committee on China and is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council.
Rye Barcott
Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor and Author of Courage Can Save US
Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor, a bipartisan non-profit focused on principled veteran leadership in public office, and the author of Courage Can Save US. A former Marine Corps officer, Rye has also spent decades involved in humanitarian work in Nairobi through an organization he helped build in Kenya’s informal settlements. His current work focuses on strengthening trust, civility, and bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
Where Courage Powers Public Service
Rye makes the case that the United States cannot separate national strength from civic trust. The country can have the right resources and institutions, but leaders still need the ability to work together long enough to solve problems that outlast a single vote or election cycle.
Rye highlights the necessity for bipartisan legislation by arguing that durable policy usually requires more than one side forcing through a short-term win. When legislation is built only for the political moment, it can be reversed or weakened just as quickly.
Rye’s examples touch public service, defense policy, mental health, and civic obligation, but the larger argument is about governance. Hard problems require leaders who can accept criticism, build trust, and keep working with people they do not always agree with.
Five Ideas From Rye Barcott on Courage in Public Life
01
Courage Carries a Cost
Rye describes courage as risk taken consciously in service of the common good. In public life, that risk may involve reputation, friendships, political support, or personal conscience. The cost is what separates courage from agreement or good intentions.
02
Trust Has to Be Built Before Pressure Arrives
Across combat, nonprofit leadership, and politics, Rye returns to trust as the condition that makes hard work possible. People are more likely to act together under pressure when they have already learned how to work across differences.
03
Bipartisanship Can Require Moral Courage
Rye argues that even meeting with someone from the other side can now be used against public officials. That makes cooperation harder, especially for leaders who know they may be criticized by their own supporters. In Rye’s view, this is one of the reasons civic courage matters now.
04
Durable Policy Depends on Discipline
Kit and Rye discuss why some policy areas still require bipartisan habits. Rye uses the National Defense Authorization Act as an example of an institution that has held for decades but has become harder to protect. The lesson is that durability is not automatic; it has to be maintained.
05
Service Builds Better Citizens and Leaders
Rye calls for more opportunities for Americans, especially younger Americans, to serve in military or civilian roles. He argues that service teaches people how to work with others on difficult missions, including people who do not share their background or politics.
Where Bipartisan Discipline Still Matters
Defense & Competitiveness
Rye’s examples are most concrete when he talks about the work that happens below the level of daily political conflict. He describes veterans in Congress who have helped pass provisions through the National Defense Authorization Act and points to bipartisan work on emerging technology and national competitiveness as an example of members focusing on shared national needs.
Mental Health Leadership
Rye discusses Rep. Seth Moulton’s openness about post-traumatic stress and the work that helped expand what became the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In Rye’s telling, that example matters because it began with a public official acknowledging a hard personal truth, then turned into a resource that others could use.
Patient Work, Real Results
Rye points to the quieter legislative work that rarely gets attention: veterans in Congress building enough trust to move provisions into the National Defense Authorization Act year after year.
Service Still Has a Role in American Civic Life
Celebrate Without Ignoring Division
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Rye’s message is grounded in gratitude without ignoring division. He argues that Americans should celebrate what the country offers while taking seriously the work required to preserve it.
Shared Responsibility
That work includes national service, which Rye sees as one practical answer to civic fragmentation. Military service is one path, but he also points to civilian service and professions such as nursing, teaching, policing, and emergency response.
Honor the Courage of Others
Rye also ends with a personal challenge: identify someone whose courage changed your life and recognize it. The request is modest, but it fits the episode. Civic courage becomes easier to practice when people can see it clearly in others.
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