Mat Best is a former U.S. Army Ranger turned online video satirist. Mat has five OIF/OEF combat tours with the 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment. Mat is the President of Article 15 Clothing. I learned about Mat from a column David Reeder did in Issue 14 of RECOIL Magazine. Reeder describes Mat thusly, “He is an irreverent, irrepressible smartass who will cut off the filthiest of jokes mid-sentence to hold the door open for an old lady. In short, he is almost impossible not to like.”

Mat Best did an op-ed that RECOIL published titled “Grass is Greener Veterans, Regret Veterans & Depressed Veterans – What is PTSD?.” This is perhaps the clearest understanding of PTSD that I have read from a soldier’s soldier. The bottom line: Mat believes that the individual must deal with their experiences and make the most of life by giving back to society and his fellow man.

Mat gives back by doing videos that are hard hitting but funny at the same time. His YouTube channel is MBest11X. For those who do not understand what 11X stands for the U.S. Army Military Occupational Specialty of an Infantryman. Mat was an 11X and has captured the warrior spirit, with a satirical twist, in his video parodies that since have gone viral.

For Mat “sometimes life experience outweighs a scholarly approach.” I must agree. Here are two examples of Mat at his best (pun intended).

Let’s Give Back To Veterans

Epic Rap Battle: Special Forces vs MARSOC (WARNING: Some language may be offensive especially to those who have never been shot at in anger):

Here is my favorite by Mat titled “You Might Be A Veteran If…” (WARNING: Contains language that may offend a Navy SEALS wife, or maybe not?)

In a 1993 Washington Times essay Richard Grenier wrote, “As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” Put another way in the Aaron Sorkin film A Few Good Men, “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it.”

I would not be one to question Matt Best in any manner. Matt is a rough man with a big heart and good soul.