Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
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Security Halt!
Todd Strader on TBI, Alcohol, and the Fight for Veteran Brain Health
In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero is joined by veteran and brain injury advocate Todd Strader for a raw and revealing conversation on the long-term effects of chronic blast exposure, alcohol use, and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the military.
Todd opens up about his personal battle with impulsivity, memory lapses, and emotional shifts caused by TBI—issues often misunderstood or overlooked by the VA system. Together, they discuss the gaps in treatment for non-SOF veterans, the stigma around asking for help, and the vital role of spouses, friends, and caregivers in recognizing early signs of brain trauma.
This episode is a call to action for greater awareness, better access to care, and legislative change that puts veterans' health first. It’s also a message of hope—empowering veterans to seek answers, find community support, and fight for the recognition they deserve.
🎧 Don’t miss this essential conversation on the future of brain health in the military community.
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Chapters
00:00 Understanding TBI and Alcohol's Impact
02:47 The Importance of Awareness and Advocacy
05:56 Chronic Blast Exposure and Its Effects
09:12 The Scope of the Problem: Beyond Special Operations
12:03 Personal Journey: From Service to Advocacy
14:58 Navigating the VA System and Claims Process
18:13 Building Community and Spreading Awareness
21:02 From Shame to Acceptance: Understanding Brain Injuries
24:06 The Role of Loved Ones in Recovery
25:22 Understanding the Impact of Blast Exposure
29:43 Awareness to Action: A Call for Change
31:54 Grassroots Advocacy for Veterans
35:22 Legislative Solutions and Community Support
39:23 Empowerment Through Knowledge and Resources
Instagram: @securityhalt
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LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Follow Todd on social media and check out his website!
LinkedIn: Todd Strader
Facebook: C3M – Cohort of chronically concussed Mortarmen
Website: overpressure.com
Avalon Action Alliance: https://www.avalonactionalliance.org/
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go the only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent, it's hosted by me, Danny Caballero.
Speaker 2:It's a decent. It's hosted by me, danny Caballero. There's science supporting the uh, the real adverse complexity that alcohol can add to having these TBI uh effects. So it it really makes things worse and, uh, maybe, maybe pointing that out to him, that the injury to his brain and this alcohol is, you know, is a toxic couple really you know, yeah, absolutely man.
Speaker 3:But Todd man, finding you was a was a godsend, dude.
Speaker 2:Right now. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, man. I think we were starting to move the needle in, not only advocacy Advocacy is important but awareness that's the key. A lot of guys still feel that, because they weren't directly blown up, because they weren't jettisoned out of a vehicle after an IED strike, that there's nothing wrong with them, that they're just going through normal things. This memory loss is normal. These headaches are normal. I'm just like everybody else. This memory loss is normal, these headaches are normal. I'm just like everybody else. And the reality is blast exposure is something that has impacted many of our warriors. Many of our veterans are dealing with it, our active service members are dealing with it, and we have to be able to have individuals, such as yourself, that have lived through it and are now advocating for awareness and information and helping design the tools that will keep our brothers and sisters safer when they're out there in training. So today, man, I want to dive into your story.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate that, dude. It really centers around a senior, an NCO that I looked up to, that took me under his wing when I was in service and he always had this philosophy that you know, don't ever bring a problem unless you have a solution to to offer with it.
Speaker 2:you know what I mean may not be the right solution, but at least you you're bringing something to the table. So, like you said, uh, bringing awareness is, I think, is the key. Right now. So many guys are suffering these, what they think are these disjointed symptoms or issues, and they don't realize that it's really could be. You know, everybody's background is different, but there could be an injury-causing mechanism to it all that they don't realize and aren't able to connect the dots. And I think that is crucial in really just getting people to understand that these, these chronic, excessive occupational blasts you know they, like you said, they don't necessarily require a traumatic event to go along with them, or or a single blunt force primary blast event like an IED or IED or something like that, or a concussion from hitting your head inside a vehicle, like you said, or whatever. So guys are confused because when they go to get treatment they're presenting all these symptoms and issues that definitely align with someone who has PTSD and TBI and the complexities that those bring to the table, but they don't check the check boxes within the medical treatment system and the benefit and compensation system that say well, we have no documented history of any kind of TBI event and you weren't ever in any kind of traumatic event in combat. So you know you're the problem really. So it's probably your drinking or some other thing and I think, without understanding the injury caused, the soldier and veteran you know I think I can relate just kind of turns it inward and you know, maybe I am the problem. You know, I'm all messed up from this and I can't seem to correlate things and you know my, my perspective of the world around me is is I don't really understand it and there's a lot of frustration in that and you know, you feel like you're inadequate and, uh, just just want to get out of here. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. And um, I think let me go if I, let me know if I'm going off on some wild tangent, because I'm very passionate about this. Brother, go ahead, man. I.
Speaker 2:I think it's so important, uh, that people realize that these, the way these blasts, these chronic blasts, affect the brain, is like any it's, it's not like anything else in in nature, so prior to the blast, so the human body and brain couldn't evolve to adapt to it like it could. You know a fall to you know a fall where you hit your head, your, your body is somewhat developed to protect itself from that kind of a head trauma. But these blast and noise impulses they just have a way of quickly compressing and decompressing the brain in an instant and over time that causes this funky damage all over the brain. There's no part of the brain that's not affected by it. And you know Dr Pearl at the Uniformed Services University with his you know brain slides. You know he showed blasts that are leaving these unique signatures on the brain, scarring.
Speaker 2:So it's not, it's different from from anything else, but knowing that it's system-wide, you have to consider that the emotions that you're feeling, the way you perceive the world around you, the relationships that you have, could be affected by the processes that are being good at hiding it. And if they don't understand that there's a connecting kind of parent cause to it all, the exposure from these blasts and a TBI, they think they're disjointed. Their families don't understand what's happening. It's just a big mess. I ran out of steam for that tangent.
Speaker 3:It's like that moment in old school. I know what happened, it just blacked out.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I just started. Boston.
Speaker 3:Great reference oh my God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, it's true. The thing that I want to highlight and reiterate for the audience at home is we, our culture right now, we have put the special operator at the forefront of this fight, at the forefront of these injuries. It's been a Green Beret, a Navy SEAL, a special operations warrior that's out there that definitely has been impacted by this. But the reality is we have to open up the aperture and also focus on our paratroopers, our mortar men, our artillery men. It's not relegated just to the special operations realm.
Speaker 3:The young 11 Charlie the mortar men, the young crew member of that artillery unit that's on the gun line over and over and over again, they're also being impacted and they don't have the resources that I had when I was on a team and it's true, I mean I was blessed, and I truly, truly blessed to be able to go to the Intrepid Spirit, to be able to go to the STAR program spirit, to be able to go to the star program. What about that 19 or 20 year old that's on the gun line and is now starting to experience things like migraines, but they don't know it as a migraine. They just say, oh, it's a really bad headache. Oh, I just, you know, I don't feel good media.
Speaker 2:The media is only reported on it being a problem with special forces and and navy seals. So, yes, we haven't been told that it's a problem here, but you're right, the the reality is that, uh, you know, as deserved as special forces and so calm are of of the. You know the attention uh you guys get uh in this, uh, it's really just the tip of the iceberg. Uh, you guys sit at the head of the table when it comes to these chronic blast exposures, but right next to you are the mortars who eat a tremendous amount of this blast exposure over time. And then other you know shoulder fire instructors, you know guys who work the blast ranges, the breacher houses. They can meet cumulatively they over time, they get a tremendous amount of blast dose.
Speaker 2:2010, 2021. Uh, in dod only roughly 10 000 service members killed themselves, uh, by by by suicide, and you kind of zoom out on that and that's that's a fucking regiment size element. Yeah, bro, you know. So if you, if you imagine you're on a parade field and you're looking at the whole regiment standing in front of you and you realize all these guys have murdered themselves, that's that's staggering DOD health like suicides and killing that many people in 10 years their hair would be on fire trying to figure out ways to solve it.
Speaker 2:But somehow it still remains this enigma. You know again, special Forces gets attention because you guys are an awesome community. You're very tight knit. When there's a problem, you guys don't stick your head in the sand about it. There might have been a little bit of deflection at first from leadership, but as the problem grew especially with the Ryan Larkin story it just became something that SOCOM command is confronting. Now we're going to do it. The boys are talking about it, so we need to address it. That's what I like about SOCOM when there's a problem, you guys come together and we're going to solve it. The big army is a little bit different and slower to react to their conventionality and you know nobody, nobody wants to be told that their favorite toys are bad for the kids.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, and that's oh, I know, yeah, and that's kind of how the big army I think, is looking at it or big.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know. Yeah, we need these weapons to be able to conduct our mission. And now people are coming into our house telling us, you know, we're all messed up for how we've exposed soldiers to it, when you know, maybe they've known all along, maybe they haven't, but it's definitely something the science has caught up to now that they can't kind of put off any longer. But you know, big armies always had this way of, I think, being able to kind of kick it down the road further, saying you know, more studies needed. And in a way I understand their perspective, because a lot of these solutions that are being brought to them by legislators and scientists aren't really realistic in their application in the real world. So I understand there's a little bit of pushback, but I think I'm happy to see ground is gaining a lot through through this awareness that we've been working on for a long time, and you know there's a lot of people like me that have been fighting this for a long time. And you mentioned the intrepid center and I'd like to bring up the intrepid center Again.
Speaker 2:I went down to Fort Bragg a couple months ago for an open house and I was lucky enough to be able to give a guided tour by one of the doctors there, I guess, and I was so impressed with their system. There wasn't any questioning of how or why you got here. It was, you know. Okay, you have a TBI, now we're going to deal with it. They come up with a whole total body, total person approach and, you know, almost like a it's almost like a school, really going to a DOD school, and I'd love to see that program expanded and offered and offered. I'd like to see guys in occupational blast, moss, you know be introduced to that program and if they bring it up to their provider, they're interested in going. Their provider should be very open to it, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:It's something that I wish we had across the board. It's absolutely necessary. Too often I hear stories of the lack of resources, but, more importantly, we have to remember that these places are staffed by providers and we're still in the shortage. We're still in the critical shortage of individuals that can help treat, so we have a shortage of places they can go to and providers, which is horrible, which is why we say on the VA side as well.
Speaker 2:I recently had a neurology appointment at my VA and I had to teach I'm having to explain to the doctors what blast overpressure exposure is. So they're miles behind and it's frustrating because this issue has been on the table a long time.
Speaker 3:Well, todd, take us back through your journey, help us understand this issue from your lived experience, because you know, like I said earlier, you're not just an advocate, you're somebody that lived this and it's important to understand your story because it goes back to the 1980s, it goes back to the days where we weren't in direct conflict, because this issue is still very much in the heads of a lot of leaders, a lot of old, disgruntled sergeant majors that believe that this only happens to the combat, to the personnel in combat and direct action Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's I wish you know. I wish I could say that was the case, but unfortunately it's actually the opposite. 70% of these exposures happen in the training environment I enlisted in 1988, just as the Cold War came to an end. I was in during the Gulf War. There was a lot of training leading up to all of those things and so we fired a lot of rounds in doing that, but at the time there was no. I think I mentioned it Frank Larkin, I think, says it best is that back then we didn't know what we didn't know. He's a soldier of kind of the same era and so it really wasn't a concern. I mean, I think you know I can recall standing next to the mortars and feeling my head and the sound and the ringing and all that. You know all that like relive it. But I never really made the connection back then that, hey, this might be bad for my brain. You know what I mean. Back then the real focus was pretty much only on your hearing. Make sure you got your earplugs in that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:So during my service I developed these headaches. They weren't, I wouldn't say, as bad as they are today, but I did develop headaches enough to the point where I went to go to get treatment for them while I was in and I didn't really associate it to any one thing. I hit my head really hard on the last jump at airborne school but you know, because it was the last jump and you're on to graduation, I didn't, you know, even want to consider any kind of head injury. I was just stoked from being done. But I had. I actually had a bruise from my headband going around my from my helmet, cause I hit the ground so hard. Uh, so I probably should have got seen for that, but I never kind of made any connection, so anyway, left the service.
Speaker 2:As I got out as a veteran, the headache started getting progressively worse over time and became like chronic migraines which I still got treatment for, had diagnosis for, and I never really even considered or knew that it was available to me that I could go to the VA and make a claim for benefits or compensation. So I was speaking to my uncles, who happened to be Vietnam veterans, and they suggested that I try making a claim for VA compensation and benefits for my headaches. So I thought about it and I met all the criteria. So I went ahead and filed a claim. Uh, not surprisingly, the came, the claim came back denied, which, uh, you know I was.
Speaker 2:I wasn't too shocked to find out, but what really astounded me was the reason they denied me was that they could not locate my medical treatment records from my time at service, um, and I didn't take, I didn't think to take a copy with me when I left the service.
Speaker 2:You know, I was only focused on getting my hands on my DT 214 and I'm out. So it really kind of infuriated me that they were denying my benefits and compensation for not being able to find records that was their responsibility to keep and maintain. So, from that point on, I just kind of went on a quest to look for some kind of causing factor that came from my time in service that could connect the service connection, because I didn't have the benefit of my treatment records to show that I had treated for it in the service. So, coincidentally, right at that time or providentially, I like to say about 2018, this report came out, which really was the culmination of about a dozen other studies which pointed to and suggested that these blasts from firing heavy weapons and training was hazardous for the brain, and I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal and it says weapons training likely causes brain injury in troops. Study says, and it happens to have mortar men on the cover. And it went on to talk about.
Speaker 2:One of the key symptoms are chronic headaches. So right then I was, you know, light bulb went off and I was like, of course, you know, that's, that's obvious. And it wasn't the only thing. There were other symptoms or things. I was feeling that totally aligned with these, these chronic concussive type symptoms that they were explaining. So from that point on, I went to to use that scientific evidence in support of my own service connection claim, trying to establish that these chronic blasts caused my migraines and other claims. I was hearing problems and things like that.
Speaker 2:So, as I was starting to learn the science and uncover it all, I felt like this needed to be shared, because nobody else really really knew this stuff and at the time I was a member of, you know, uh, uh, 11 Charlie or or mortar centric Facebook groups on, uh, on social media, uh. So I started, just, you know, sharing what I knew from these studies, little excerpts, whatever and that drew, drew, grew to the point where I felt I needed to uh add a little video or photos of these dramatic booms going off, saying, okay, now this is the, this is the media of it, this is what the science says about it. Just trying to make it easier to tell. And that led to me creating my own uh Facebook group called uh C3M the cohort of chronically concussed mortar men. And then so that grew among 11 Charlies and it was really a big success and guys really embraced it and I got a lot of powerful anecdotal messages from people telling me how much they appreciated understanding that there was an, an underlying cause or or connecting something that connected all the things rather than they're just kind of, you know, separate these disjointed symptoms or whatever, and that that just kind of grew. And then, until it got to the point, got a reporter named David Phillips from the New York Times came across my Facebook group and he contacted me and did a story about mortars and he sourced our group and me and some other members for that story.
Speaker 2:And from that point on, you know, momentum started gathering for me and what I was trying to do. And uh, so it just became a mission of, of sharing what I was learning and how, how I thought it would affect other guys, to to understand, to, to, to getting a full understanding of the effects it's having, to, to, to spreading that awareness, teaching other guys. You know there's a, there's a reason for the way they might be feeling, if they're anything like me, and and, and that eventually evolved to okay. Now we need to start solving problems. So a buddy of mine named Timothy Grossman, he joined my cause back in, I think, 2019, 2020.
Speaker 2:And we decided to present what's called the Resolution for Change in Law, and what we wanted the VA to do was grant presumptive service connection to veterans who presented these chronic concussion issues. If they made a VA claim or for benefits and compensation, they were granted presumptive service connection and not having to go through this, you know, this obtuse evidentiary process of having to prove that their injuries were caused by something that their occupation required, which seems silly to me, that they had to prove that. But we never got anywhere and it's still something we're fighting for. So that's kind of where I got started and how I got into this and where I am now, and so, uh, it's, it's been enlightening. It's been great to see there's a lot of other people that are passionate about this, that are deeply affected. Uh, and it's it's been very, uh inspiring for me when I, when I see this revelation come over the people as you explain to them that you know, once you explain to them that how they're feeling might be the result of an injury or there might be an injury-causing contribution to it all. You see this just weight lift, get lifted off their shoulders and uh, frank larkin, I like to quote him, he, he said it best it's this it's from shame to uh, acceptance.
Speaker 2:You know, going from this, you know there's something wrong with me. The world, I'm just not coping with the world. You know I'm the issue to understanding that, hey, I'm just not coping with the world. You know I'm the issue to understanding that. Hey, maybe what I'm feeling is, you know. You know, when you have a bad knee, you limp or you can't do everything right, when you have a bad brain, it's going to play out some ways that you may not, you know, fully understand or be able to connect the dots. Without understanding that, hey, maybe my brain is like a watch that's been dropped a few, too many times. You know what I mean Still looks good, still functions right, keeps about the same time, but you know, every now and then it doesn't tick just right. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. I think that when you're in that space of not understanding what's going on and you live that for not just a few weeks or a few months, but for years after service, that weighs on people. If you are injured and you're missing a limb, people can see all right, he's been affected. When it's something that's cognitively that has impacted your life like we're talking about mood issues, we're talking about constantly dealing with factors like anxiety, depression, that aren't rooted in just you know, normal psychological issues Like this is deeply connected to the effects of blast exposure. Like it affects you but people can't see.
Speaker 3:It's not something that you have the ability to convey to people. You're still moving along, your memory is compromised, you're dealing with a lot. Finally, somebody comes up to you and provides you with some sort of information that gives you an enemy. It gives you an enemy to be informed on how to fight it. That gives people hope. That gives people the ability to look at something as not being hopeless. Like, okay, now I can go about treating this, I can go about figuring out how to get past this and I can have some acceptance. I can look at life and say, okay, like I'm still going to be the guy that doesn't know where the hell he's going. If I don't have directions, I'm still going to be the person that misplaces his keys. But I can build new ways, new habits to make my life as pain-free as possible.
Speaker 2:And that's what people need, I agree. And equally important is that the loved ones around you understand as well.
Speaker 2:Instead of them just standing there going. We don't know what's going on with him. He's going crazy and there's kind of this counter reaction to it which is human nature. But you know, I've spoken with wives of service members and you get the same, you know to. You see tears coming up in their eyes when they understand that. You know, when he yells at the dog and snaps at the kids and takes off in the truck or whatever, you know, maybe there's a. It's not just something, uh, some personality quirk or something that you did. There's, there's something functionally not happening right, and you know we need to, we need to get attention drawn to it and I think this, this awareness, is especially powerful because this community of blast exposed uh occupations has a just a ridiculously highly high increase of of suicide, uh risk, uh, there's just something the brain is doing, uh. I like, I like to think of it as like do you remember the movie inception?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, so they had top five movies, right, I had to watch about half a dozen times till it clicked. But they had to go. They had to go so many levels deep into consciousness to, to, to plant an idea. Okay, so my hypothesis is that these blasts, we know they're affecting the brain down at a cellular gen, even genetic level.
Speaker 2:So my hypothesis is that these blast waves are somehow affecting that bottom layer of consciousness where ideas are seated, and somehow, when, when the beast inside, or, or you know, I call her the, the temptress whispering in your ear, and that you know, just the darkness just starts coming in, like, uh, you know, a lot of times you see those movies where the Hulk is transforming into the, you know, and you, just, that rage, you can almost, you can almost feel it sometimes and you're, you're just desperation for a way out, and that you know that that when that temptation comes to to just end it, you know it's very impulsive. I think, and that's that's part of the reason, that's part of the symptoms of this brain injury is this impulsivity. Uh, you know, that's why guys seem fine on Monday and they're gone on Wednesday, you know and they're.
Speaker 2:And, uh, I think, if we can get people to win to the point where you know when that beast inside, or the demons or whatever they start fucking boiling up, if we can just get people to step back just half a second and say hey, wait a minute, maybe this is my brain fucking with me because of these blasts. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's absolutely true that there's a region within the brain that's impacted, uh, that that's directly, uh, related to impulse control. Um, you, you see it in guys that have suffered horrific, um, brain brain injuries their impulse control is gone, they they seem impulsive, erratic. You see erratic behavior. But the same areas can be impacted by blast exposure and and then you see that person change, you see their demeanor change. You see that, and that's why drinking goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2:You see that direct impulse like to drink buddy earlier, that that impulsivity goes through the roof when you, when you add in alcohol or sometimes even some of the the drugs they prescribe us to to yes, you know, and then you combine it all and it just like it's a, it's a torment, and I think, I think this, this enlightenment, that seeing the weight lifted off of people, I think that is is is the way awareness, you know, awareness will lead to action. Action is people accepting it, putting this dogma or stigma that you can't explain you know you can't talk about it aside and just turning and facing it. I think we talked to Bruce when I said it's, you know, it doesn't need to be this seven-headed hydra that we're all running from, that we just can't seem to to to get a grip of or even understand. You know, it's something we can turn and face and then bring into the light and, you know, chop its heads off, one at a time, until we get a, you know, control of this. You know, yeah, I think it's just simple things.
Speaker 2:Once, once we make that transition from you, you meet this event horizon, once you go from awareness to action, you know, once, once you get to that tipping point where awareness becomes action, then everything will just kind of. I think it'll just kind of take care of itself. I think a good model for that was kind of the nfl, you know. For the longest time they deflected and denied there's any kind of relation to head injuries or CTE. Then they had these very public problems with their players. They had to acknowledge that there was something going on. Once they did, they started making tougher penalties, better equipment, things like that, and now some could say they have a better, safer game for it. I think the DOD could follow a same kind of evolution pretty much If they just get their head out of the sand about it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, man. We've had leaders write white paper studies on this issue. We've had leaders that have gone on to their big schools to do that big officer college time and while they're there they write up these amazing white paper studies on this exact issue. They go back to the force. They don't enact any change, they don't enact any policy or they don't try to champion any policy or anything, even at their division or the group level. Nothing gets changed. I mean, if you're smart enough and you're willing to write these amazing papers to get published, go back and do something for your guys, Do something for the people within your organization and I understand it's a complex issue, but you yourself you created something that can help the exposure. So if we have people such as you on the outside championing this, creating, actually creating things that can help, why can't we have this sort of action and this sort of dedication from our own senior leaders? That's the thing that I'm missing. That's what I'm waiting to see.
Speaker 2:I can tell you what I've found, denny, is there's a distinct, a palatable difference between the passion of those who are personally affected and those who it's just the way they pay the bills. You know what?
Speaker 2:I mean, uh again, frank Frank Larkin great example, you know, deeply affected, deeply passionate person is is driving change. You know what I mean? Uh, myself and my community on on Facebook. My approach, my approach was, uh, I felt that we needed a bottom up approach. You know, going from the top down wasn't working. We need to do a full, inform and bring in the affected community and, just like a, you know, a real grassroots, start from the bottom and and and grow it up. And that's and that's kind of been my philosophy.
Speaker 2:And I think what I bring to this blast over pressure universe is my affected community. And I think when people have something that's, you know, either they know somebody that's been affected or they've seen the effects of it, or they've been on the range and stood next to these guns and, you know, can appreciate, uh, the, the blast that goes off. That's the key difference, I think. Really. I think if we could put, I would like to hand select a dozen scientists and maybe a dozen politicians and just have put them on a bus and take them down to a mortar range for maybe a, you know, a one day, 800 round live fire event, you know, and you know, stand back and say 800 round live fire event. You know, and you know, stand back and say, okay, now you guys tell me that there's no connection between any kind of brain injury. You know, tell me, with a straight face, after after experiencing what we lived through, that there's no kind of connection.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, todd. I'll take it one step further. Take them on a, not only you'll take them straight to the 82nd. Do that, and then take them to the 18 Bravo course and the 18 Charlie course and have them do the expenditures that we had to do after all the training.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's stupid then man, you're not going home to?
Speaker 3:that entire pallet of 18. Great point just have them stand in a breacher house all day, you know home to that entire pallet of 18.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was just a shot. Great point. Just have them stand in a breacher house all day, you know, with the instructor, stand there next to the Gustav instructor all day, and then look at me and tell me that there's nothing to see here. You know, I mean they wouldn't be able to do it, I don't think. But we're getting there. We're getting there. Yeah, we need a lot. We. We're getting there. Yeah, we need a lot. Uh, we just needed to move a lot faster.
Speaker 2:Is is what my frustration is, and you know, I drew up this bill. Uh, I I thought it's a great solution for, for, for, for this blast over pressure kind of quagmire that we're looking at it's, it's, you know, the more you look at it, it's, it's, I call it a giant box of knots, the more you look at it, the worse it gets. Just trying to offer some kind of legislative solution to kind of tackle this thing, I've been surprised that not a single person has picked up the phone. No one, any legislative official or staff member, has picked up the phone or emailed to even inquire, to even say, hey, tell me more about it, or what is this here you're talking about. You know, even though I'm claiming that in 20 years it would cut suicides in this affected community by half. You know, I've run models to prove it. Not a single nobody's called to say, hey, tell me more about it.
Speaker 2:So we got to, you know, like I said, I had an appointment with my neurologist. He had no idea what I was talking about blast over pressure, exposure and brain injury. So we we have miles and miles to go, uh, still Uh. But I think I think we're trending in the right direction and, as I do like to always add this to everything, as as frustrating as it can seem, with with our DOD and our military, we are actually leading the world by miles on this. You know, I found it surprising kind of counterintuitively, I guess, that you know Europe, asia, australia, they're miles behind on our DOD, on addressing blast over pressure and actually doing things about it. So I'll give them full credit for that, even though it might be a little tardy, but we'll still let them in the party, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's important to focus on the good as well. We have a lot of organizations and individuals, such as yourself and Bruce Parkman, that are going actively going to our government bringing, trying to bring policy change, because that's that's really, unfortunately, what we need. We we can't get to the point where our soldiers are going to be treated and have accessibility to, you know, things like the interpret center or other treatment centers like it, without advocating on Capitol Hill. That's the truth. That's, whether you want to accept it or not, that's what we need. We need individuals that are willing to dive into that fight and bring change at that location.
Speaker 3:It's not fun, it's not sexy, but that's where real change comes. So if you're out there and you want to get involved, that's where you have to go. So, if you're willing, if you're able or you have the ear of somebody in in government, like, talk about this, bring awareness to this. You know, let him know about todd, let him know what he's doing, talk to him about bruce parkman and broken brains, uh, and what he's doing on his end. It seems like every other week bruce is flying up and doing something advocating for this, because it's not just someone who's had great success based on their passion and being affected.
Speaker 2:He's a perfect example of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and, and it's, he's from our community. You know he, he wasn't some, you know, magical officer, he's a SAR major. He got out and has, you know, experienced this firsthand and understands that we have to fight this. We have to come together as a community and if you're able, if firsthand, and understands that we have to fight this, we have to come together as a community and if you're able, if you're in that environment, reach out, hit us up. Todd, how can people get ahold of you.
Speaker 2:Oh, you can go to my website at overpressurecom and there's a link to to con to join our Facebook cohort of affected community. Um, you know, it's not some child, it's, it's. It's a serious group we have. We have a lot of. We have researchers in there, we got veterans, service members, journalists. We have, you know, legislative staffers who are members of our community. So it's a good place to come and learn about the science behind blast, overpressure, exposure, what it can be doing to your brain, how it plays out. Sharing anecdotal stories with the other in the affected community, you know, getting guidance on how to navigate VA claims or deal with your issues. We'd love to have you and I think you'd find a good home there. Again, denny said it best write your congressman, there's a lot of. Again, denny said it best write your congressman, there's a lot of. We provide a lot of science and based tools you can use to present to your legislator, you know, explaining what's going on and that's how we're going to do it, just from the bottom up, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, that's something that we can always, uh, take comfort in. That, um, it's up to us, like we can. I say it all the time and I'll say it again the the idea that someone's going to swoop in last minute and save us from this and change everything for us. It's not realistic. We are the qrf, we will be scrubbing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is it like we. We have to be able to go back, look at a speedball, find ammo where we can patch everybody else up, getting back on the line and start fighting this. And this is how we're going to win by being able to do it together, because nobody's going to come in. There's not going to be an advocacy group that's made up of celebrities that want to take care of us, like we're just not that important to them, so it's going to come from us.
Speaker 3:So, if you're out there and you're dealing with this and you're being impacted by this, take comfort in knowing that you can do something. You can do something as simple as joining Todd's Facebook group and learning more about this and then being informed, being aware, and then going to get your rating improved, being able to advocate for yourself, first and foremost. And then, when you get that rating improved, when you see some change, when you're starting to figure out, like, what you can do to improve your quality of life don't just sit there, reach back into the void and help somebody else and bring them along and when you can write, when you can advocate, when you can get in the fight yourself, bring other people with you. That's what we need. We need grassroots movement from the bottom all the way up, and that's how we're going to see change. Because, again, fucking nobody's going to be doing a special telethon for veterans and concussive blast trauma. We're just not that sexy folks. We have to understand that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that, understand that. Yeah, I, I, I like that. Um, I'd like to add on to that there's there's been research done that shows that the risk of suicide and bad behavioral health diminishes when a soldier has been acknowledged of their injury or a veteran has been acknowledged. So people with a diagnosis and a TBI, who are at least acknowledged that there's an issue, it really is it, can be a powerful thing. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:In how you view things and hopefully, like I said, it can buy you that half second. You need to step back when you're on the brink and just kind of reevaluate that maybe you aren't the cause of this and maybe there's an underlying injury cause to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and let your loved ones know too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your loved ones know too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Families and yourself you deserve. If you're, if you're sitting at home and you're dealing with stuff that we talked about migraines, uh, impulsivity and feeling like you're constantly riding cycles of highs and lows, depression, anxiety these are all things that can be completely related to TBI and blast exposure. Like it's not. They always talk about PTSD. They always try to push you and sell you on PTSD and, yes, maybe, maybe you have that as well, but I'm willing to bet that if you were an artilleryman, if you were a paratrooper, if you were an infantryman and you served during the GY and you have a few documented TBIs, concussions, maybe you're dealing with something more. Be willing to do the research, Print out the white papers, Read them. I took operator syndrome with me to my QA, QC appointments or QTC appointments because the doctors didn't know they weren't talking about it and knowledge empowers you. When you have those white paper studies, when you can sit down and, yeah, it's, it's heavily highlighted. I went through this when I couldn't focus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I couldn't read, I would go to my doctor's appointments with the same thing and rub their nose in it. You know, look at this. Yeah, and a lot of times, you know, the doctors are like, wow, I didn't know this. And they're they're very open and receptive to it. You know what I mean. If you just, if you just bring it up to them and you're, you know, they work. I think service members and veterans, our providers, work for us. So, yeah, you can make them look at this. This is, this is evidence you're bringing to them that is relevant to your health background. So if you take this scientific research and you show them that, look, I am the living person that they're talking about in these studies, they need to take you seriously and if not, then you need to make a fuss about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the beauty of the plain language in research papers and scientific studies. List out your deployments. Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2:What you did is brilliant. That's actually very similar to what I provide on the website is a pdf. That's just, uh, the excerpts and extracts of like maybe two dozen studies, and I just provide it to the guys. Download this, take it to your cmp exam, take it to your medical providers. Learn it, you know. Read it, learn it, share the science, share it with your buddies, tell your wife that kind of thing, and I think doing that, that that is going to change everything. When, when guys walk up to the gun line or go into the breacher house now, they're going to know that there's a health hazard. Now, yes, considering my thinking about my brain is going to be something that future guys are going to be calculating into their math. And when they go into a blast and they're like, fuck, that hurt they're going to, they're going to think I need to remember that my might've just hurt my head right there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and I will tell you guys I've put it before him, I'll do it again for this episode. The thing I want you to be informed about is when you get out, when you retire, when you ETS, when you medically retire, you're going to go through these evaluations and they are 100% going to sell you on PTSD. I'm going to put the Venn diagram up again right here. You'll see it. It's a beautiful Venn diagram. It'll say it'll show you, they'll do it and they'll put it out. And they'll show you as well. It'll show you, they'll do it and they'll put it out. And they'll show you as well. They'll put PTSD and TBI, you know, and they'll have all the things that they, they co. You know that they exist within both and I'll say, well, it's probably PTSD. I'll tell you right now yes, I believe in PTSD.
Speaker 3:But for our service members that are in that population that we just talked about, I will tell you that you need to go down and look at the fine tooth and look at the information that you have in your service record. Understand the difference. Understand that your migraines, your impulsivity, your desire to drink, your desire to maybe you have suicidal ideations, they're not just associated with PTSD. It could be that you have been severely impacted by blast exposure and traumatic brain injury from your training, from your combat deployments. Be willing to sit down, look at all the things you've done and you write it out. One of the best piece of advice I ever got was write out all the things that you went through on your deployment and training. Look at how much you can remember All the times you were concussed, all the times you were injured, all the times you did training in the shoot house, all the times you did demo training, all the times that you wrote a charge too close. Put all that stuff down and look at it and I'm sure that if you're just like me, you'll have pages, pages of stuff to look back and reflect on. And then print out the white paper study on operator syndrome or blast exposure and go down and look at all the signs and symptoms, look at all the things that could have affected you in your career. And if you're like me, you can't focus on reading. Highlight it, just highlight it, and write out notes of how you felt, of things that impacted you throughout your career.
Speaker 3:It's not just for the special forces guys, it's for you, too, mortar men. It's for you, too, paratroopers, it's for you, too, artillery men, anybody that had exposure to these weapon systems over and over and over again. It can impact you, and what I want you to do is take charge, take accountability, take ownership of this and understand that, like the first thing you want to do is make sure that you get out of the military with the right rating, but on the backside of that, I also want you to get better, because these things you can improve. You can improve your quality of life once you know the enemy that you're fighting. And there are tons of resources out there that are not going to charge you. They're not going to cost you a dime to get help.
Speaker 3:Go to episode description right now. You'll see that there's a link to the Avalon network. These are treatment facilities for TBI concussive blast injuries that are free of charge. You're not going to pay a dime to go to these treatment centers and you don't need to walk in there with anything but your discharge papers, your retirement orders, your list of exposures, that's it. They're not going to gatekeep you and say, well, you weren't a special forces operator, you can't come in here. No, you just walk in and say, hey, I had a long history of blowing shit up with borders and AT4s and Carl Gustavs. I need help and they will gladly take you, so please know that there are resources out there that people don't want to help you and they want to see you improve and get better.
Speaker 3:Todd, I can't thank you enough for being here today and for being an advocate and a leader in this space. Again, please, everybody, take care of your brains, take care of yourselves and know that there is a way to get better. You're not alone in this fight. Please reach out to Todd, hit us up at setcappodcastgmailcom if you need resources or pointed to the right place to go, and I will do my best to answer your emails as soon as possible. And please take care of each other and yourselves Until next time. Take care, please take care of each other and yourselves Until next time take care.
Speaker 3:Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like, follow, share, subscribe and review us on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to support us, head on over to buymeacoffeecom forward slash SecHawk podcast and buy us a coffee. Connect with us on Instagram, x or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhallcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening the episode's over, yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week. Thank you.
