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 From September 11, 1969 to September 10, 1975 he served in the United States Navy as a Navy UDT and was on active duty January 5, 1970 through December 10, 1973 during the Vietnam era. Ventura served with Underwater Demolition Team 12 during his time on active duty. He later served reserve service as a member of SEAL Team ONE. According to the United States Naval Special Warfare Command policy, Ventura is entitled to use the title "SEAL", due to both his service in the UDT and SEAL teams, and his successful graduation from UDT-R (now BUD/S) training. He was awarded the National Defense Ribbon and the Vietnam Service Ribbon but was not in combat to qualify for the Combat Action Ribbon. In his autobiography, Ventura described SEAL training as the toughest experience of his life. "It's worse than anything you can imagine," he wrote, "You have to want it bad, very bad." Ventura always mentioned how much he respected his SEAL instructor Master Chief Petty Officer Terry "Mother" Moy. He asked Moy to stand by his side when he was sworn in as governor. He ended his inaugural address with the SEAL war cry "HOOYAH!"
He returned to Minnesota and attended North Hennepin Community College in the mid-1970s at the same time he began weightlifting and wrestling. It was around this time that he briefly served as a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones. In 1975, Ventura married his wife Terry. The couple have two grown children: a son, Tyrel (b.1980), and a daughter, Jade (b. 1984)
Ventura ran for Governor of Minnesota in 1998 as the nominee for the Reform Party of Minnesota (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when it broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky adman Bill Hillsman, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $600,000), and is widely regarded as one of the first candidates to effectively use the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.
He won the election in November 1998, narrowly (and unexpectedly) defeating the major-party candidates: St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III (Democratic-Farmer-Labor).
After his victory, bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the slogan "My governor can beat up your governor" appeared in Minnesota and became ubiquitous virtually overnight. Ventura circulated material stating his wish to be known in office as "Jesse 'The Mind'". The nickname stuck, but as a sarcastic and facetious way for opponents to highlight his frequent controversial remarks. Far more frequently, people continued to use "Jesse 'The Body'" or adapt his former stage name as "Jesse 'The Governing Body'."
Ventura went on to gain the highest approval rating of any governor in Minnesota history, with some polls ranking his public approval as high as 73 percent in 1999, despite controversial public comments. Later in his term, however, a decline in the economy and a growing unwillingness by the public to accept some of his more controversial behaviors and statements led to a sharp decline in his popularity. Citing undue media scrutiny into the lives of his family he chose not to run for reelection in 2002.
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