Mental Health & Life After Service Episodes

Juan Perez was a Marine infantryman and Scout Sniper who deployed to Helmand Province in 2010. After the Corps, he spent ten years as a police officer in Chicago. In this conversation with Jon, he explains why so many veterans leave one battlefield and quietly build another at home. Juan talks openly about carrying survivor’s guilt for about 15 years, a transition he describes as “a playbook of mistakes, and I followed all of them,” and why chaos can feel like home when calm feels uncomfortab...

JJ Hardy gave the Army 18 years of his life, including 35 months in combat. He came home with a 100% disability rating, a PTSD diagnosis, and a transition he describes as "very, very messy." No clear mission. No sense of identity. Just the quiet, disorienting weight of trying to figure out who he was without the uniform. In this episode, JJ opens up about what it actually took to climb out of that place, and how he learned to flip post-traumatic stress into what he calls post-traumatic growth...

David McCleery gave 14 years to the Navy. When his contract expired due to medical reasons, the military handed him his paperwork and pointed him toward the door. No real transition support. No guidance. Just a pill for his PTSD and a civilian world he had no idea how to navigate. What followed was seven years of silence. Panic attacks alone behind the wheel of a semi-truck. Isolation in the middle of farm country with no base, no community, and no one to call. In 2023, it all came to a head in a moment so dark he called his wife and begged her to help him. That phone call saved his life. Today, David serves as Executive Director of Buddy Check 22 and works alongside Project Headspace and Timing, devoting his life to making sure no veteran has to white-knuckle their way through the darkness alone. His message is simple: it is okay to not be okay, and that phone call could save a life. If you have ever felt like the door closed behind you and no one was on the other side, this conversa…

Sara Moore spent 21 years in the Army as a Black Hawk pilot. She was tough, high-performing, and completely committed to the mission. Then her nervous system snapped during a routine training exercise, and no amount of mental toughness could stop the shaking. That moment cracked everything open. In this episode, Sara joins Jon to talk about what really happens when a military career ends and the uniform comes off. She breaks down the neuroscience behind trauma and nervous system collapse, why identity loss hits veterans so hard, and why healing isn’t something you fix once. It’s a lifestyle you build every day. Sara is now the founder of Blueside Adventures, a program for veterans and first responders built around community, adventure, and doing the hard inner work to find out who you are outside of your service. If you’ve ever felt like you lost yourself somewhere between the person you were before service and the person you are now, this conversation is for you. Be the light in some…

In this compelling interview, Andrew Stokes shares his journey from military service to law enforcement, highlighting the challenges of trauma, resilience, and personal growth. Discover insights into the realities of policing, mental health, and the importance of vulnerability and support. Andrew Stokes shares his profound journey through trauma, mental health struggles, and finding peace through faith, therapy, and education. His story highlights the importance of seeking help, resilience, and ...

Ira Hearen spent 20 years in the Air Force doing what needed to be done, loading cargo, running air drops, surviving deployments, and keeping the mission moving no matter what. He was good at all of it. But when retirement came in 2018, the mission stopped. And for the next eight years, so did he. In this episode, Ira gets real about what happened when the uniform came off, the loss of identity, the drinking problem that had quietly grown throughout his career, the dark patches where he questioned why he was even getting out of bed. He talks about bouncing between jobs that never fit, feeling like a stranger in a civilian world that didn’t speak his language, and the moment everything finally changed: the day he got fired and decided to burn the boats for good. Today Ira is 14 months sober, co-hosting Bravo Mission Radio, and living by a philosophy that carries this entire conversation: every day is day one. Not a setback. Not a reset. Just another shot to get it right. Jon and Ira al…

Episode 1 (Marine Grunt to Passionate Poet) Host: Jon Talk About The Episode: Brandon Dillon Marine Corps 8 years 2004 to 2012 Military: 0311 Current: Night Shift Manager at Buc-ees Talk With The Guest: What helped him get where he is today? Leadership, the Marine Corps taught me how to lead people and manage not only them but myself What helped you get through the days? Poetry and poetry have saved my life, along with my kids and my future wife Yanet. Personal Story: The things I saw a...