Thank you SO MUCH for the recommendation. I have ordered the book and will consume it as soon as it gets here.

I sincerely thank you for your post.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look up Shawn Ryan show and maybe give it a listen since Im into podcasts.

I really, really appreciate your contribution. Thank you.

BadMoonRisin said:

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Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look up Shawn Ryan show and maybe give it a listen since Im into podcasts.

I really, really appreciate your contribution. Thank you.

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You're quite welcome. He's a former Navy SEAL and his guests are primarily special ops guys whether they're also SEALs, Delta Force, MARSOC, etc but he has others as well. I prefer the military interviews but he has others too.

Some episodes/guests I'd recommend:
Marcus Capone: SEAL Team 6 vet, has used psychadelics to heal himself and get his family back together (you should probably listen to this one first)
DJ Shipley: SEAL Team 6 vet
Trevor Millar: the man who helped Shawn using psychadelics
Kyle Morgan: Delta Force Operator
Eddie Penney: SEAL Team 6 vet
Dallas Alexander: JTF2 Operator (Canadian special forces) with the world record distance sniper kill
Chris VanSant: Delta Force operator
Nick Kefalides: MARSOC Raider
Tyler Vargas-Andrews: Marine that was in Afghanistan during the withdrawal
Mark "Oz" Geist: Benghazi attacks
Tom Satterly: Delta force operator/the battle of Mogadishu

I assume these episodes aren't overly BRO VET! status?

Sure thing!

Aggie Therapist said:

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I assume these episodes aren't overly BRO VET! status?

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Not at all in my experience. These guys open up about some really dark experiences. I haven't liked all his guests but he's got a pretty solid hit rate. He's a really patient interviewer as well, they go as long as they need to, several hours long. Some are so long they have to be broken up into multiple episodes. I'm not military but I really enjoy getting to listen to these guys talk about their experiences and past missions. Some of these guys have no business even being alive. I think it was the DJ Shipley episode where he talks about one of the things he does for therapy is burning art into skateboards with electricity, something happened one day and he was electrocuted to such a degree that the doctors had no idea how he survived. The conversations are definitely more focused on how they're messed up psychologically after going to war than how awesome they are and nothing can hurt them. If it was just guys sitting around shooting the bull trading stories about how badass they are I wouldn't listen. The one with Tyler Vargas-Andrews will get pretty much anyone pissed off when you hear what the military is like under this current administration, they even played his congressional testimony during the interview. I haven't had a chance to listen yet but there's a recent one with a SAS operator (British special forces) that I want to listen to.

Thats pretty cool. I will check a few out. I am always uneasy when I see Navy Seals doing books and movies....its an on going joke we have in the military. "Does a Navy Seal contract come with a book and movie deal?" haha

I'm an Infantry Officer in the Army. Active Duty for 10 years then got out to become a therapist with a focus on Veteran's mental health needs. I am currently in the Army Reserve.

I was tired of my friends and Soldiers killing themselves and thought the Army was not doing its job when it comes to mental health care. I am in the process of transitioning from Infantry to Social Worker in the Army.

I appreciate you sharing those podcasts and trying to help out the OP. Good stuff.

Aggie Therapist said:

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Thats pretty cool. I will check a few out. I am always uneasy when I see Navy Seals doing books and movies....its an on going joke we have in the military. "Does a Navy Seal contract come with a book and movie deal?" haha

I'm an Infantry Officer in the Army. Active Duty for 10 years then got out to become a therapist with a focus on Veteran's mental health needs. I am currently in the Army Reserve.

I was tired of my friends and Soldiers killing themselves and thought the Army was not doing its job when it comes to mental health care. I am in the process of transitioning from Infantry to Social Worker in the Army.

I appreciate you sharing those podcasts and trying to help out the OP. Good stuff.

---

Thank you for your service to this country, and your fellow soldiers.

A lot of the guests on the podcast have significant mental health struggles. They make it a point to talk about it all, the good and the bad. They definitely discuss the issues with the VA being the primary health care provider for these guys and the challenges therein. Survivors guilt is very persistent amongst them. I can't remember which guest it was said something to the effect of "it's always the best guy that doesn't make it, the one who never goes astray, never cheats on his wife, is a great parent, the model soldier" that was heartbreaking to hear. One I listened to the other day had a story about a SEAL on his team who went into a building, had 27 different wounds from bullets, the enemies all thought he was dead, but was just unconscious, when he came to he killed everyone but died later from suicide.

I ignored my own mental health issues for a very long time and only really started dealing with it about a decade ago. I've made it a point not to hide that fact, because had I figured out I had a problem a long time ago I could have dealt with it sooner and not been as sad and miserable as I have been. I lost a large portion of my life to depression and wasn't even aware I had it. I'm in a better place now because I've made it a habit to deal with issues when presented with them when historically I've just buried them as far as I could. When I started having anxiety I knew I couldn't ignore it because I didn't want it to go back to square one. I started listening to the podcast because I just think it's interesting to hear stories from special ops guys but it turned out to be a much bigger conversation than previous missions.

Hearing about these guys who are as alpha as they come battling their own demons helps me as well. There's something about when you're battling mental health and hearing others in the same situation that helps you keep pushing forward to me. It sounds silly but sometimes I'll throw on Ted Lasso because it's the most therapeutic tv show I've ever seen, that show has pulled me out of a bad mood multiple times. No other tv shows or movies has the effect that one does on me.

I try to chime in on these mental health threads when I have anything I think I can add. Sometimes the worst part is when you feel like no one around you understands. But that's a good thing I've told my wife, I don't want her to know what it feels like. I've learned a lot over the last decade, if anything I've learned along the way helps someone else then that's as good as I can do.

Thank you!

I appreciate you opening up man. Sometimes we have to take off our armor, take a knee and drink water.

I too put off help for a while but therapy worked wonders. I struggled while in grad school because I didn't feel relevant after leaving active duty. Then survives guilt after a couple buddies dying on a Blackhawk crash on a resupply mission. That rocked my world for a bit. A little bit of me died that day. I shut out the world and was made at the world for a couple years.

I found a new meaning and felt relevance again when I began practicing as a therapist. People need help, we all need help at some point, and I'm glad we're all here still to share our stories and provide peer support.

Max Power said:

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Aggie Therapist said:

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Thats pretty cool. I will check a few out. I am always uneasy when I see Navy Seals doing books and movies....its an on going joke we have in the military. "Does a Navy Seal contract come with a book and movie deal?" haha

I'm an Infantry Officer in the Army. Active Duty for 10 years then got out to become a therapist with a focus on Veteran's mental health needs. I am currently in the Army Reserve.

I was tired of my friends and Soldiers killing themselves and thought the Army was not doing its job when it comes to mental health care. I am in the process of transitioning from Infantry to Social Worker in the Army.

I appreciate you sharing those podcasts and trying to help out the OP. Good stuff.

---

Thank you for your service to this country, and your fellow soldiers.

A lot of the guests on the podcast have significant mental health struggles. They make it a point to talk about it all, the good and the bad. They definitely discuss the issues with the VA being the primary health care provider for these guys and the challenges therein. Survivors guilt is very persistent amongst them. I can't remember which guest it was said something to the effect of "it's always the best guy that doesn't make it, the one who never goes astray, never cheats on his wife, is a great parent, the model soldier" that was heartbreaking to hear. One I listened to the other day had a story about a SEAL on his team who went into a building, had 27 different wounds from bullets, the enemies all thought he was dead, but was just unconscious, when he came to he killed everyone but died later from suicide.

I ignored my own mental health issues for a very long time and only really started dealing with it about a decade ago. I've made it a point not to hide that fact, because had I figured out I had a problem a long time ago I could have dealt with it sooner and not been as sad and miserable as I have been. I lost a large portion of my life to depression and wasn't even aware I had it. I'm in a better place now because I've made it a habit to deal with issues when presented with them when historically I've just buried them as far as I could. When I started having anxiety I knew I couldn't ignore it because I didn't want it to go back to square one. I started listening to the podcast because I just think it's interesting to hear stories from special ops guys but it turned out to be a much bigger conversation than previous missions.

Hearing about these guys who are as alpha as they come battling their own demons helps me as well. There's something about when you're battling mental health and hearing others in the same situation that helps you keep pushing forward to me. It sounds silly but sometimes I'll throw on Ted Lasso because it's the most therapeutic tv show I've ever seen, that show has pulled me out of a bad mood multiple times. No other tv shows or movies has the effect that one does on me.

I try to chime in on these mental health threads when I have anything I think I can add. Sometimes the worst part is when you feel like no one around you understands. But that's a good thing I've told my wife, I don't want her to know what it feels like. I've learned a lot over the last decade, if anything I've learned along the way helps someone else then that's as good as I can do.

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The bolded sentence here really hit me right in the face. That's me.

Thanks for sharing, Ill check out the podcast. Good vibes your way, friend.