"Don't give up! Make your story something intelligible. And I swear to you that you will have a life that you never dreamed possible. I went from trying to kill myself twice, thinking that I was all alone to literally living a dream. Sometimes I think this can't be real, but it is and everyone can have it. Don't give up. " Daniel Egbert - Director of Project 22 | Served in Iraq& Afghanistan with the Marine Corps Infantry. "We've gone to war and experienced things that nobody else in the country will, unless they've gone too, but everybody else in the country is going to vote on the next time we do it. They only place they're going to hear an accurate version of what's going on is from a veteran in the right mental state. I think we owe it to our community to get sharp mentally, physically...to come back and think about war and what we went thru and share it in a way that people can understand." Doc King - Creative Director of Project 22 | Served in Iraq as an Army Scout Medic. Veterans Daniel Egbert and Doc King are the founders of Medicinal Missions. Their first project is a documentary called Project 22, which follows them on a cross country motorcycle ride to find out if they were alone in their struggles with post traumatic stress. This conversation covers these topics: - How and when to reach out to veterans - Mistrust that accompanies many veterans after war - The necessity of opening up to loved ones - Why making your story understandable is so important - Helping is Healing - Why their next project is focused on ancient rituals for returning warriors and a focus on spirit and soul - The importance of finding a practice to center yourself - The ongoing journey of self awareness to catch yourself taking steps backward and correct it - Why the community needs healthy veterans who can bear witness to the truth of war and the lessons and wisdom that only they have - Remember your warrior spirit to overcome "You can't smoke a rock drill sergeant!" Links to things discussed in this episode Medicinal Missions website https://medicinalmissions.com/ Project 22 Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Project22vets/ Helmets to Hardhats organization that helped Daniel get work in New York https://www.helmetstohardhats.org/ Bio for Dr Roger Brooke at Duquesne University that taught them about how ancient cultures deal with the soul of returning warriors as a community http://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/roger-brooke Example of a Sweat Lodge that Doc spoke of in Oregon being utilized by the VA there. http://www.vasweatlodge.org/ Send feedback and nominations for show guests/interviewees to podcast@resiliencemn.org Call 612-88-VRP-38 or 612-888-7738 to leave a voice message to be considered for future broadcast on the show. Please help us reach the widest possible audience by sharing the show with your loved ones. Also, rate and review the show on iTunes to help it get greater visibility on the iTunes store. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for helping us to fulfill our promise to those we send to fight wars on our behalf. This community gets stronger and more resilient with every veteran that we reach. Each one find one. We do that and we will succeed. Paul Riedner ResilienceMN Host/Producer podcast@resilienceMN.org www.resilienceMN.org