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!
John Davis on Addiction, Mental Health and Veterans Building a Life Abroad | Security Halt! Ep. 462
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What if changing your environment could change the direction of your life?
In Episode 462 of the Security Halt! Podcast, John Davis joins Deny Caballero for a conversation about addiction, mental health, veteran isolation, and the opportunities some veterans are finding by living and seeking care overseas.
John opens up about his own struggles with addiction and explains how his experiences shaped his work helping veterans explore life abroad. From Thailand and the VA Foreign Medical Program to overseas treatment resources and veteran communities, John breaks down options many veterans may not realize exist.
This conversation isn't about running away from your problems. It's about examining how environment, community, authenticity, and connection can influence what comes next.
Listen now. Follow the show. Share this with the veteran or entrepreneur who needs to hear it.
Chapters:
00:00 Meet John Davis
02:13 John's Personal Battle With Addiction
05:14 Why Your Environment Matters in Recovery
08:46 How Veterans Access Healthcare in Thailand
12:25 Mental Health & Addiction Treatment Overseas
16:46 Can Living Abroad Improve Your Quality of Life?
22:48 Why Some Veterans Are Thriving Overseas
29:17 Safety, Culture & Life Outside the United States
36:24 Colombia & Other Opportunities for Veterans Abroad
44:08 Veteran Resources, Upcoming Projects & Final Thoughts
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Veterans, Suicide, And A Pattern
SPEAKER_00And in the United States, I see a lot of veterans that are struggling and surviving. So there's something to this. It's not just like a crazy thing because 20 veterans or more are killing themselves every day in the United States. But of the 20,000 American veterans that live in the Dominican Republic, none of them are killing themselves.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you mentioned that. Uh and I think it it I don't have data points or metrics, but I think we do need to focus and look at that. Why is it that a veteran can be suffering greatly, seek to live abroad and instantly where in the optics and the idea and the narrative is that you're gonna get subpar, you're gonna get subpar care.
SPEAKER_00Like, you know, I know there are a lot of other resources and nonprofits out there, and this place is a for-profit facility, but they send the bill to the VA, not to you. So for veterans, it's nothing out of pocket.
John Returns From Rehab
SPEAKER_01John, welcome back, brother. How have you been? I have been doing very good. I'm fresh out of rehab for pill addiction. So I'm feeling pretty I'm feeling alive, which is nice. Yeah, man. I'm proud of you. Um if if for those of you listening that don't know John, you probably have seen his content. Uh, he is the go-to individual and how to live abroad and understand all your benefits as a veteran. Uh, he's done an incredible job outlining the pathway to living abroad, living a more comfortable life, living and enjoying the fruits of your labor as a veteran. Um, and and the one thing that stuck, uh if you follow him like like me, when he divulged what he was fighting, um, many of us were shocked because we didn't see it. We didn't see it in the content, we didn't understand it. And that's what I want you guys to understand before we get into this interview and this podcast, is a lot of your friends um are probably struggling with this, and they do a really good job of hiding it. Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, substance abuse. It doesn't always look like what we see on the movies. Sometimes it's just that friend that's always having a good time. Sometimes it's a friend that's always really well, well reserved, always kept, but he always backs off and runs away, and you don't see him for a while. Uh and and John, again, I I gotta commend you for your vulnerability and putting this stuff out there because, like I said earlier before we started recording, the way you portrayed it, the way you put it out there is what saves lives. Being willing to say, I'm no different than you, and I'm still plagued by this. This can happen to you, and here's how I'm dealing with it. Uh so today, brother, this is your story and this is your chance to share with all of us, warts and all, uh, what you've been going through in the last few months.
How Addiction Starts In Silence
SPEAKER_00So when I when I set out to talk about living abroad, I wanted to show veterans that the American dream doesn't necessarily stop at our border. And there's more to one way to live a happy and successful life. And for me, I've always struggled with addiction. You know, a lot of us in the military don't necessarily come from perfect families. Um, you know, addiction runs in my family. My father, bad addict, you know, um, my grandfather, bad alcoholic after World War II. Addiction is one thing that runs in the military, and it's something we don't really do a good job of talking about or addressing as a community. And some of that's because when veterans go to get treatment, we we feel guilt. Like veterans carry the shame and guilt for having addictions. But for me and my addictions, it wasn't ever trying to get high. It was about trying to feel normal. It's a pain pill because my fucking back hurts. It's a pill to sleep at night because I want a, you know, I want to be able to get through the through the night. And I lost when I got in the military, I lost my entire community. I lost everyone that I know. You know, when I medically retired, I lost my tribe, I lost my purpose, I lost a lot of my identity. And figuring out who I was without the uniform was kind of a struggle. And then the VA did what the VA did, and they started giving me pills. And then I started combining some of those pills with alcohol, then I started buying my own pills, and before you know it, you know, I'm in this cycle of addiction. And I think a lot of veterans carry, you know, like I did, the something that goes beyond the addiction, and that's the guilt for being addicted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it's difficult, man. Um, especially when we're putting our lives on social media, we want to we want to be able to create and craft this narrative that we're happy, we're exciting, we're living our life out here in this great foreign land. And I gotta imagine that there's a lot of self-struggle with wanting to divulge this or even wanting to help yourself. Like you're seeing the metrics rise. Like to create an account with your following, to create an account with your content takes a lot of work. And there's a lot of pride wrapped around what you're creating. And it's like, well, if I divulge this idea that I'm not perfect, is everybody gonna fucking back out? Is every it is everything that I'm creating, the books, the guides, is everything gonna fall and crumble? So I can only imagine the stress that was added on top of that.
SPEAKER_00I think veterans respond well to authenticity. I think that's one thing that we kind of pride ourselves on in a community is trying to be authentic in who we are. And anyone who's ever been around a formation knows that it's just a collection of imperfect people trying to do the best that they can with the resources they have. And half the people in the military are mentally challenged to begin with. So when we come out of the military, it's no. I feel targeted, brother. Yeah, yeah. Well, like a lot of people have this idea, oh my gosh, we're all big heroes, you know. But most of us were not green berets. Most of us did our jobs to the best of our abilities, and we tried to look our best while we did it. And then you come out of the military and you discover there's a whole nother life waiting for you. The military is but one chapter in our lives. And no matter how long you do in the military, if you don't die in service, eventually you get out and there's another life waiting for you. And that life waiting for you is sometimes more dangerous than what we face in the military. Isolation is far more dangerous to veterans than combat can ever be, especially in the modern world. And one of the things that I wanted to show, why I want to be open about it, is because this place in Asia that treats veterans called Miracles Asia can be at nothing out of pocket to veterans. So I want other veterans to understand that there are resources
Isolation, Identity, And Leaving Service
SPEAKER_00for you outside of the traditional path. And that's through the foreign medical program, which is something I kind of lean into with my content as well because health care is an important aspect of living overseas, and you want to know that you're you get good care. And when I saw this place just saving veterans' lives, I was like, okay, well, one, I want to go, and two, I want to let other veterans know about it. Because when I was there, there were 10 other veterans there struggling with, some were struggling with behavior addictions, like, you know, gambling or porn or um what's another behavior addiction, some of the stuff like that. And then some of the veterans were there for drug use, alcohol use, things like that. So seeing veterans go there and get help in a five-star resort kind of treatment thing was really cool for me because that's something that veterans cannot get in the United States. Mainly because it's just cost prohibitive. I mean, it's one of those things where if you go there as a civilian or whatever, it's like 20 grand a month, but veterans can go there through the foreign medical program with nothing out of pocket. So if you can get to Thailand, if you can contact a facility, if you're a veteran struggling, I recommend looking into it because there's nothing else like that in the entire world where you can go and stay up to 90 days with nothing out of pocket.
SPEAKER_01Damn. Dude, take us through that. Let's pause on that and ref let's iron out that process for us. Because even getting health care for an addiction here in the United States right now is a hard fight. And I will tell you right now, don't come at me, motherfuckers. I've got the receipts because I help guys on the daily and point them to the nonprofits that can help. And now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of nonprofits are in this fight and they're doing great work. And in this episode description, there'll be links to some of the best ones out there. But by and large, for a veteran right now who who, if he comes to clarity and says, I need help, I want to beat this addiction, it's not clearly outlined. There isn't a one-way portal. He still has to search or have somebody that's willing to advocate and be there for him to help him fight he or she. Um so yeah, it's important to understand this process. How did you, you know, we we know that you're the guy for building out the countries and where to live and the VA resorts, but not resorts, VA treatment centers, sorry. How did you go about this process and how quick was it?
SPEAKER_00So this place actually came to be in the veteran community. It's one of the few places in Thailand that treats veterans because at the beginning of COVID, the VFW, there are like four VFW posts in Thailand, and one of them in Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand had a veteran who was struggling during a Vietnam veteran who was living in Thailand, was struggling with alcohol withdrawal uh during COVID. Because obviously that was a very stressful time. And they reached out to all these treatment centers and they found this place called Miracles Asia, and they contacted them and they told them about the foreign medical program of the Veterans Administration. So this place looks into it. Can we treat this veteran? And they find out that they can, and they basically fly the veteran to the facility, treat him, they send the bill to the VA, and then about 90 days later, the VA pays them. So then they kind of see it as a business opportunity and a way to help veterans as well, because there's a lot of Americans that work there, and the guy that runs it, his father was in the uh British military and struggled with alcoholism. So he's kind of a connection to the military community. And then so then they contacted the VFW in Bangkok, which has a lot of veterans, and veterans who are struggling with addiction started going to this place. And that's kind of how I found about it because I was, I have, I was at a VFW
Miracles Asia And VA Coverage
SPEAKER_00meeting in Bangkok. You know, I coordinate with the American Legion and the VFW overseas to provide resources for veterans in different countries. So the Thailand VFW network started using this facility to help veterans. But of course, some of the BFW and the older Vietnam guys, they don't know how to do social media. So I went there and I wrote an article for my blog about the place and sent it out. And then, you know, through my blog and my writing and stuff like that, a lot of other veterans started going there to get these resources. The only issue is it's in Thailand. So you have to get your own flight over there. You have to pay for your own flight. But once you get there, the food, the lodging, the treatment is covered. And it's some of the best psychology, some of the best um adventure in the world because a lot of veterans, in order to heal, sometimes it takes breaking your environment. That's why retreats are so beneficial because you're able to separate yourself from your addiction, from your triggers, and you go in there. Like when I got there, I mean, they search my bags, you know, to see if I was carrying any drugs or alcohol or anything like that. You know, they drug test you when you get there, they drug test you periodically through it. But you're in an inpatient facility, but it's like a five-star place. You have your own plunge pool, you get to go see elephants on the weekend, you're hiking in the jungle in Thailand, because they understand that addiction is more of a, to me, like addiction to PTSD, are kind of spiritual fights. It's not just a mental health one. If you're a veteran and you're out there struggling with addiction, first off, you're not alone and you're never going to beat your addiction just going to a once-a-week therapy appointment. Because that's not how addiction works. And sometimes if you go to a place like this and you break yourself of that of that addiction in a place with like I was with other veterans. So we did like veteran therapy. There's 10 veterans who all go around. We talk about stuff, they have a structure to it, you tell your story. It's really kind of a beautiful thing. And you can stay for a maximum there of up to 90 days. So when I went there, it was cool to see veterans kind of go through that process. Um, I did 30 days there. Some of the veterans who are coming out for 90 days were entirely different people than when they went in. I mean, because you're just working on your whole health persona while you're there. They also have access to world-class fitness facilities, they have yoga classes in the mornings, and because it's in Thailand, they have a Buddhist teacher there too. So for me, sitting in the classes and kind of connecting Buddhism and spirituality to addiction was meaningful to me. And the instructors there were all kind of like top-notch people because it's the private sector. So it's not, you're not going to like a BA doctor in a fluorescent office. You know, he's sitting down doing yoga poses with you, talking about, you know, the universal truths of like sacrifice and pain and things like that. So for me, it was a really cool experience to go there. And, you know, the place is called Miracles Asia. I have an article about it on my blog, but it's something that if you're a veteran struggling, it's certainly worth looking into. Like, you know, I know there are a lot of other resources and nonprofits out there. And this place is a for-profit facility, but they send the bill to the VA, not to you. So for veterans, it's nothing out of pocket. And for me, it's like, yeah, sure, build a VA, you know, that's fine. That's fine with me. They got they got the money. Um so one thing I I do try and do with my writing and social media content is show veterans resources outside of the United States. And Thailand is one place that has a tremendous amount of resources there, partly because of leftovers from the Vietnam War. There's such a big military, um uh a big military community there. And they even have stuff like in Thailand, they have like PO boxes for veterans, they have ID cards, they have deer facilities, they have, you know, all the BFWs and American Legions because there's a big uh there's a lot of like active duty military personnel there too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I had no idea the size of the expat community there military-wise. A lot of people uh leave the states and either they live there temporarily or they make it to full-time. They're their place of business where they live. Um it seems to be like one of the biggest communities for guys that are just for some for some reason or another, they're just tired of the United States. And that's you know, that's that's a it's uh we have to be willing to at least have the conversation of seeking care wherever, wherever. Um it's a hard sell sometimes to get a guy to seek seek treatment. And yeah, sometimes you gotta sweeten like it you can't force somebody into do this. You can't. Um you can't make a whore, you you you can't force the idea of getting sober in anybody's mind. It's the the inception idea just doesn't work. Yeah, they gotta want it. But you could incentivize it by saying, like, hey, it's gonna be in Thailand, it's gonna be in a beautiful place, and it you're gonna receive quality care. But there's a there's also the stigma that if it's outside the United States, it can't be great. It can't be on par. And from your experience, like it seems like you had um equal, if not better, care.
SPEAKER_00I have always received better care um through the foreign medical program of the VA than care in the United States. And I kind of tell this story quite a bit where the reason I started taking like what I do seriously and actually putting effort into it because I had a guy that I deployed with um and he saw me posting some pictures in the Dominican Republic. And of course, when I first started, it was just like me, like with some chicks on a boat, like popping champagne, like I remember those days.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, those, you know, the good days.
SPEAKER_00And uh my buddy hits me up and he said, I'm struggling. I am going through a divorce, I just lost my job, I'm not doing so well, and I see you down there at Dominican Republic. You know, what's
How The Foreign Medical Program Works
SPEAKER_00going on? And I explained it to him, and he was like, So you can just you can live down there? And I said, Yeah. He goes, Well, can I come visit? And two days later, he got on a plane, I rented him an apartment next to mine for 30 days for like 600 bucks or something. And we go to the beach, we're sitting there just looking out of the ocean, and he said, Three days ago, I had a gun in my mouth. And that day we went and got him hooked up with the psychologist, and he told me that when he called the VA, they couldn't see him for like 26 days. So to get mental health. And they told him, if you want to get seen, you have to go check yourself in to the VA inpatient, like mental health clinic. He goes, I'm not gonna go check into a psych ward. That's not, you know, who I am, it's not what I'm gonna do. Can I get a mental health appointment? They couldn't see me for 26 days. He flew down to the Dominican Republic through the foreign medical program. We got him in to see psych to see the psychologist that afternoon. And he got prescribed meds. And the next day, I took him and we got him certified scuba diving. You know, we went out there because scuba diving has always been uh an avenue of uh of therapy for me. So I went, we went into the ocean, taught him how to scuba dive, then he's getting therapy, then he's also in a beautiful environment, you know, surrounded by fresher foods. We're drinking fresh coconut water, we're going on walks in the morning, you know. So for like a week, I just stayed with the guy. Um he's living next to me. We kind of went through, you know, uh a healthy routine. And I realized that the living abroad stuff isn't only for like, hey, cheaper rent and things like that. It's actually a life-saving thing because a lot of veterans are in desperate need of changing their environment and a fresh start. We don't look at geography as healing, but where you are, it's gonna have a huge impact on who you are and what you are. And if you improve your environment, your life is naturally going to improve. So when we took him out of his chronic stress environment in Minneapolis where it's freezing and everyone's mad at each other and he's going through a bad divorce and he's getting fired from his job, and you take him and you put him on a beach in the Dominican Republic where his nervous system can just like finally reset and he can breathe again and stuff like that. I mean, his like, for example, his blood pressure level when we went to the doctor like the first afternoon, of course, was sky high sky high. And then within like a week, he's down within normal, healthy levels. And you start seeing that, okay, there's an actual science to this. It's not only the aspect of like, hey, we can go eat a meal for three bucks and we can rent an apartment for 500 bucks. No, it's it's saving veterans' lives, it's a real deal, and a lot of veterans are in need of just something else. And a lot of veterans don't know what it is, and that's why I started taking the content seriously because, you know, I mean, it's fun, it's it's it's entertaining, but beyond that, I kind of see deeper levels and that I am helping to open veterans' eyes up to the different versions of what a successful life looks like. Because for a lot of us, we're not as into the materialism, we're kind of tired of all the political division. And a lot of us want just the opportunity to have a peaceful life after the military, especially, you know, if you if you deployed multiple times like most of us have, then you want the opportunity to live a peaceful life, and you shouldn't feel guilty about pursuing that even outside of the United States. I don't look at it like escaping, I look at it like starting over. And why wouldn't you give yourself the opportunity for a fresh start in a beautiful place and to wipe the slate clean and kind of be the person that you want to be? Because a lot of our mental health, a lot of our emotional health is environmental. You're going to be heavily impacted by the environment you're in. And whether you're a person or a plant or a veteran, you cannot heal or grow or thrive in toxicity.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's absolutely true, man. Um there's so much to unpack in that. And and sorry, we ranted for a little bit. No, you did not rant. You did not rant. You're informed. You're informing us, and it's having to pause and reflect on a lot of that right now, man, because we tend to think that the last thing that's gonna have an impact on us is the place that we love the most. I'm deeply patriotic, I love my country, but you couldn't pay me enough to live in a major urban area. You couldn't pay me enough to live in some states and some cities because of how much happens, how much negativity is around these areas. And it's not like every person there is bad, but it's just the environment. Sometimes the greatest problem is your environment. But we're so wrapped up in this uh romantic idea that I have to stay here, I have to l I have to be here, I have to, you know, I watched a documentary the other day of um a family that was in in a really bad part of California, that really bad part, a really historically bad city. And they the I hate to say and I hate to frame it in this light, before it even went in, I already knew what was gonna happen. I already knew that this woman's idea of having to live in this place that she valued more because she wanted the optics and metrics of being in the community, being part of this, like, yeah, it's a great place. It's always getting a bad rap for a crime. But that's I knew I knew that's where I wanted to live, and I knew that's where I wanted to have our home. And I instantly knew either your husband's gonna be shot and murdered violently or something's gonna happen to your children because of your glamorization of being in the environment, thinking that you're gonna change it. And sure enough, within 30 minutes you realize somebody was uh a person with a horrible mental health issue fixated on her husband and for months was calculating and eventually murders him in cold blood. And it's like, why are we married to this idea that we have to stay in the environment just because you were of it, just because you grew up there, just because somebody said that you you
Inside The Thailand Treatment Experience
SPEAKER_01had to fight back people that were moving in to change it? No. If it's a bad environment, if there's always cops and and sirens blaring, leave. You have a choice. You always have a choice, and it will impact your health.
SPEAKER_00And I think that American cities are the least healthy places for American veterans, especially if you're struggling with PTSD or something like that, because you cannot ride a subway in New York City and be relaxed. You can you're gonna need to I was just about to say New York. You're gonna need you're gonna need to be vigilant, you're gonna need to keep your head on a swivel, and you're disconnected from things like nature. You're not connected with the community around you because Americans aren't super great with forming community and in today's day and age. And a lot of veterans are struggling in environments like that. And like you mentioned, just because you're from there doesn't mean you need to stay there. The veterans that I see that do incredibly well overseas, especially, is the first and second generation um, you know, immigrants to come to America and serve and serve in the military. Like a lot of the guys, you know, like where I'm kind of staying now in Colombia, are Colombian-born and they go to the United States to serve in the military, then they come back to Colombia and they live kind of like, you know, kings and queens and stuff like that, because they know the environment, they know the culture, but they're getting American dollars. So for me, like one of the things that always sticks out to me is when I'm abroad, I meet a lot of veterans that are just thriving. And in the United States, I see a lot of veterans that are struggling and surviving. So there's something to this. It's not just like a crazy thing because 20 veterans or more are killing themselves every day in the United States. But of the 20,000 American veterans that live in the Dominican Republic, none of them are killing themselves. So there's something to this kind of this kind of story, this kind of like idea of a fresh start overseas.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you mentioned that. Uh, and I think it it well, I don't have data points or metrics, but I think we do need to focus and look at that. Why is it that a veteran can be suffering greatly to seek to live abroad and instantly where in the optics and and the idea and the narrative is that you're gonna get subpar you're gonna get subpar care, you're not gonna have the the f community that you have in the United States, you're gonna be isolated, and you're not gonna have access to the greatest health care. Yet I don't hear stories of our veterans struggling abroad. I I I hear the exact opposite. I hear people that were fed up with something, whether it was a political issue, whether it was just a livelihood issue, or they found opportunities. A good friend of mine is moving his family to Japan. It's it's not like, hey man, like no, we're gonna know. With excitement, with the whole thrill of a life, the energy that came from my discussion, like I I literally felt like I was congratulating my friend for winning the lottery. Right. For being able to take his family to another country. And that's something that we need to think about a lot more. I think as a society, as a nation, as veterans, like like it's gone to the point where our friends are some of our family members are are seeing more opportunities in far-off lands. And and they're excited and they're like and maybe it's not for forever, but may I mean there's something to be said when somebody's I mean, I was just a few few weeks ago, I was in France. And I will tell you, dude, I will tell you I will move I would move there in a heartbeat. I would move to the countryside. The countryside. Exactly to the point. Yeah. The the point that you were talking about, the stress. Like, yeah, Paris was actually surprisingly great. Uh, but it was, I think it's it coincided with the time that I was there visiting, uh, because I talked to a lot of people on the way back, and like, yeah, no, you were there at the perfect time. But the French countryside, completely different. And I noticed the stress. I mean, I still had the same workload. I still had to manage everything stateside and do everything that I was doing there for work, but my stress was considerably lower. Like, my I I was not sleeping as much. So it's like it goes to show you, man, like when you're looking at beautiful things, beautiful scenery, the pace of life there, like, it's way slower. Something to be said about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and in the United States, we have certainly screwed up our idea of a work-life balance. And that's one of the things that's easier to create overseas because you have more time. When you have more time to yourself, because in the United States, it feels like every single day is just a nonstop day of errands, to-do lists, chores, obligations, duties, responsibilities. But overseas, you wake up and you get to be kind of the architect of your own day. It doesn't get hijacked from you. And then you get to create your environment, you get to create your priorities, your values. Like when I moved abroad, I wanted to work on myself. Like that was one of the things that was important to me. And I got to be kind of a better version of myself because I was starting over in a place where nobody knew me. So I could be kinder, I could be, you know, I could give back, I could kind of like work on my physical and mental health and things like that, because I wasn't kind of like trapped by anyone's expectations, whether that be society or my family or friends or anything like that. So moving abroad for me gave me the opportunity and the space to heal myself. I don't think moving abroad in and itself is healing, but I think it gives you the space to heal. And sometimes for a lot of veterans, that's, you know, that's what you need. And then to your point with the uh, you know, just kind of extended trip abroad, that's something that the rest of the world, you know, Europeans, especially, South Americans, they take extended vacations. Like that's one thing that's very common in the United States. We do our four-day weekends or a seven-day trip somewhere or something like that. Where especially for veterans, like if you can get to yourself to a point where you can take like 90 days off and go to like Southeast Asia or backpack backpack South America or do something like that, your entire life is going to change. And it's that's something that I think moving abroad isn't going to be for everybody, especially people with married kids or whatever. But I think more veterans should look into like extended retreats, extended travels, and things like that. Because it gives you a lot of perspective too. I become more patriotic when I leave America, when I'm living outside the United States, because it lets me see my country with a fresh eyes. And you can look at it and kind of see some of the issues we have compared to other places. And small things like public transportation in the United States sucks in other places, especially Japan and stuff like that. It's incredibly good. You know, in some Asian cultures, like I just did a big Asia tour when I where I went to Vietnam and Korea and Thailand and Hong Kong. And when you go there, it gives you the idea and the belief that humans can be orderly. Like people can like wait in lines and like get on trains in a way that makes sense. And people can like stand there and be respectful, and people
Dominican Republic And Environment As Medicine
SPEAKER_00can be quiet and public and not scream at each other. And it just gives you kind of like, oh, like people can wait at a red light without screaming and honking at each other, and people can be polite to strangers. And when I go over like, you know, big cities it in Asia, it gives you the idea, like, oh, maybe human humanity doesn't have to be so chaotic.
SPEAKER_01Dude, uh South Korea blew my mind. Um it is like it is a gem. Uh people don't understand it. Um, they only hear stories, horrible stories from people that were stationed there. But I will tell you, I would live in South Korea. It's orderly, it's neat. And I I never it it it's the social contract in in South Korea to me is just perfect, dude. You never see people in open debate or anger or yelling at each other's throat. Like I never saw anything. They have a huge party or drinking culture, but you never saw somebody throwing up outside uh unless they were an American or or a tourist. Like the Korean people are some of the kindest, nicest people. But again, like the the horrors that I see when I scan through the news cycle, you don't see in Korea. You just don't. Like by and large, you don't see in South Korea. And it it blew me away. And I thought about it the entire time I was there, and it was just like you felt safe everywhere you went. There wasn't a single neighborhood when I was like, oh, this is sketchy. I never had one individual that was rude to me or uh said anything. And in fact, it was the opposite. And I it's just it it it gives you the understanding that, like, wow, other countries are doing something correct. I don't know what it is. I don't I know, not to knock on the American experiment too much, but uh we're kind of fucked up in a few areas.
SPEAKER_00Well, we do, I mean, we lead the world in mental health and we lead the world in things like mass shootings, and of course, that there's you know some correlation between those things. And when you're in an environment where anything can happen, and when I talk about safety in the United States versus abroad, that's kind of the metric that I use is violence in the United States is chaotic. It's random. You can be stabbed by a homeless man, you can be at church, and the church could get shot up. Violence overseas, at least it kind of makes more sense to like, oh, I was I got my phone taken because the person wanted to rob me. You know, they didn't come up and like light me on fire or take a machine gun to a crowded church parking lot or something. Like, things like that don't happen. If you, you know, and one of the things that I think is unique for the veteran community when it comes to moving overseas is the military trains you to be an expat. First off, we're already stationed overseas during our military careers, so we're used to that kind of cultural aspect. And we've already integrated into another culture, military culture, which which has its own language and customs and all those things. Just like if you go to Japan, you're gonna have a deep respect for their culture. You're gonna know how to kind of fit in, you're gonna know how to take care of yourself, you're gonna know how to put your life in a bag, you're gonna know all the things you need to do to thrive as an expat because you're used to picking up and going. So that kind of mentality isn't really that difficult for veterans because you're gonna go somewhere every two years in a military career, regardless. So a lot of veterans, when they find themselves in expat life and living overseas, they find themselves in a comfortable kind of like routine in life that they had in the military that's hard to find in the United States. Yeah, it's so true, man.
SPEAKER_01You know, leaving going through the program in Thailand when you were going through that out process, how did it feel? Did you have you feel like you got everything you needed to walk into this new journey and be free and clear of the addiction and then have the resources you you needed in case something did go wrong? Do you feel like you're properly armed with it after that time there?
SPEAKER_00I love the structure of the program. Like that, I think, really reminded me of like a military training calendar to where you wake up in the morning, you have yoga, you know, first thing you start your day off with yoga or a beach walk. So you have that option. So some days I do the beach walk, some days I do yoga, and that would put me in a place where I was more reflective. Also, another thing I liked about the program that kind of got me is you you can only have your cell phone in your room. So when you're outside your room, when you're doing the classes, when you're doing meetings, when you're going to do stuff or whatever, um, you know, your phone's back in your room. So I was able to be more present in like my healing. I was able to be more like aware of my surroundings. I was able to develop closer relationships with the veterans around me. A lot of the healing, you know, takes place in the context of relationships. So when I was there and I was talking to other veterans who have problems with addiction, when I was in the um counseling with the psychologists who are experts on both PTSD and addiction and talking about those things kind of in tandem because as veterans, we tend to kind of work on one thing or the other, like PTSD or whatever, when you know, reality are complementary. So you have to kind of address your therapy in a way that makes sense. And that's one thing when you go to a place that has really good therapists, because a lot of veterans go to therapy and they're just paired up with a shitty therapist, like which is obviously par for the course. That's how it goes. There's uh, you know, there's a tier where some therapists aren't that good, some of them don't develop good plans for you, some of them are have way too big of a caseload and all those things. So a lot of veterans don't get great health care because they end up with, you know, a bad therapist, a bad treatment plan, misdiagnosis, and and all those types of things. And when you're there, really able to be more present for the treatment. So I've done some of the VA addiction stuff. I've done um I've I've done court-mandated addiction stuff as well when I was younger. Um, you know, the military has ASAP and stuff like the Army has ASAP. I don't know what the other branches have, but you know, I've so I've been through different treatment programs for addiction. Started actually when I was a teenager, was the first time I had court-mandated addiction, uh addiction problems. And then this was the first time where I felt like kind of armed with the right tools, and some of that's because of the community. So they have like a nightly meeting in Thailand, which takes place at like seven in the morning in the United States. So a lot of people, a lot of veterans log into the meeting, you know, and then they go and they give you the tools to be successful at home. Because anybody can be sober during rehab. You you can't even get drugs or alcohol. So it's easy to be sober during that
Safety, Stress, And The Pace Of Life
SPEAKER_00period. Um, but then when you get out, you know, because eventually everyone leaves rehab. You can't stay there forever. Even though the place I was at, I kind of did want to stay there forever because of three great meals a day. We get to go see elephants. I got to do yoga in the morning, and you got to train at this world-class Olympic facility for like fitness that they take you to like three times a week. So that was cool getting to go there and kind of see like all this world-class, you know, they had uh cold plunges and saunas and Olympic-sized pool and great weight room and stuff like that. So it's is, you know, they they understand that addiction isn't only addiction, it's a whole health thing. So you have to work on your physical health and things like that. So I like the emphasis on that. Um, but I would say, yes, that this is, you know, it it's in my mind, it's the best treatment program in the world for veterans. And some of that is because it's nothing out of pocket. So that's cool to be able to go there and, you know, you don't have to pay $10,000 to go. If you're a veteran that qualifies, you can go there with nothing out of pocket. So I I do want to get that message out to other veterans that places like that exist. And I'm hoping more places like this exist. So that's what I'm hoping to set up in the future is uh retreats for veterans, you know, um, through our brands or through the Veterans in Paradise stuff, where veterans can come with nothing out of pocket, get health care, and then also volunteer in local communities. So that's kind of the goal um going into 2027 for me. Like next month, I'm going to Colombia, where there is an awesome veteran center that I'm going to be partnering with. And then so I'll go there for weekly massages and physical therapy and stuff like that because I continue to have back issues. So, and a lot of veterans like don't know that you can go to Columbia and get treatment with nothing out of pocket, get your medications, nothing out of pocket, and get great massages and healthcare and things like that. Um, so I I want to continue to share that stuff with other veterans.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, most veterans only know Columbia for one thing and one thing only. That's uh the the late the young ladies who happen to be there on Instagram. I thought you were gonna say cocaine. No, no, it's it's uh the common the common jokes is like if you're a seventh group guy, you got a second family in Colombia.
SPEAKER_00They all want to get stationed at the embassy there too. All the Marines want to get stationed at the embassy. It's the it's the most desirable posting for Marines is to go to Bokesta.
SPEAKER_01I I never had the uh uh proclivity for Latinas. I have um always uh had a soft spot for my uh blonde hair, blue-eyed, uh soft. I'm looking at uh my white, wonderful queen over here. Well, I hate to break it to you, but they have blonde hair, blue-eyed women in Columbia too, man. But it just to me, it's like uh I'm like um, you know, it was I I I kid you not. I really, you know, I I used everything I could. You know, I had working knowledge of Spanish, I'm Panamanian. So I was like, dude, I'm language school Spanish. And then they're like, you know, where do you want to go for all the locations and everything? I was like, dude, 110 in Germany? Hell yeah. German girls? Yeah, no, sadly, straight to seventh group. That's all right. You got my white snow bunny over here. Perfect.
SPEAKER_00But then one other thing that I did want to talk about is for veterans, uh, while we're on topic overseas, don't get too deep into the weather and stuff, the is the uh using your dry bill overseas, which is something I've I'm partnering with more schools to try and put more information out there. Yeah, do it into that. It's actually something that way more veterans need to do, and it's more straightforward than I think a lot of veterans understand. But the first thing to mention is obviously the BEH, because that's like veterans' first question is what's the BEH? So I'll explain a couple different ways to use G bill overseas. The first is the traditional way, just going to an overseas school. And if you do that, the GI Bill is locked in for BEH at a specific set rate. And next year, starting in August, that rate is gonna be $2,500 a month. So no matter where you go in the world, if you go to school in Japan, it's $2,500, Brazil, $2,500, Thailand, $2,500. No matter where you go, that's your monthly BEH, $2,500. It's not zip code dependent like it is in the United States. And then a lot of veterans get to take that and combine it, of course, with their existing VA benefits or disability, and then you're living extremely high quality of life in a place like Thailand. I was from Thailand recently. There's a 25-year-old American veteran there who has his 100%, and he's getting $2,500 a month for the dry bill, and he's living like a king, doing the coolest possible college experience that a veteran can have. So I want veterans to know like you don't need to get out of the military and go to your community college. In fact, I think that's kind of the last thing you should do because you're just going to get sucked back into the same community, the same bullshit, the same whatever that you wanted to leave. But you can't take your dry bill and you can go straight overseas. So to use your GI Bill internationally, first you have to find the country and the school that you want to go to. Then you go on the VA website and you look up the GI Bill comparison tool, and that will show you the approved schools and the approved programs. So it's important to note that not only the school has to be approved, but the program within the school has to be approved. So you can look at that, then you apply to school, like any other school in the entire world, you get your certificate of eligibility to the VA certifying official at the school, which if you look at the GI Bill comparison tool, it'll also tell you who the certifying official is at the school. Um, and you can go to school's website and contact them through there or whatever. Then you get them that, and then you're basically good to go. I mean, you go there, and then the only extra step that you need to do opposed to a United States school is to make sure that you get your uh student visa if you need one. Some places you're not gonna need a student visa, some places you are. But the school also will help you with that process for foreign students because they want foreign students to go there, and they especially want GI Bill students to go there because the United States government is paying the max tuition. So they want you to go to the school so the school can get the money from you know the VA.
SPEAKER_01So let me ask you this, because I know the question is gonna already be out there. Does it cover online classes in a foreign college? So you live there, but you want to do online classes.
SPEAKER_00So then you get the you get the what they call the distance rate VH, which is like thirteen or fourteen hundred dollars a month. So for that, go to go to go in person dog. Yeah, yeah. So but some some people do that, but you can do it to where you're like, you know, you can do the same thing in the states where you you attend like one class in person and you do the rest online or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. And the you know, or you the other option is you can go to a stateside school and just live overseas, because then you're getting your VA benefits and you're getting education,
Using The GI Bill Overseas
SPEAKER_00which is an important aspect too. And then you're getting your uh the extra distance rate 1300 BEH. Then the other option, which a lot of veterans are starting to take advantage of and getting like really cool results, is the hybrid option. So some veterans are actually attending like two days in the United States, then living overseas and flying back for like a semester. So like the San Francisco School of Art, um, the Monroe College in New York, so then you're getting like four grand a month BEH, but you're living in Mexico, and then you fly up to California or New York or something like that for a hybrid type program, or you just have maybe a week in person, and then you do, then you live overseas for the rest of it. So a lot of veterans are really making out kind of with that situation. But for me, the GI Bill is kind of an underused benefit because it's an experience. Like if you can have the option to go to college in Japan for three years and make money while you're doing it and get that experience of living internationally and the education and all those types of things, it's really a super cool thing to be able to go and do. So I'm gonna put out um a resource on my website with some top GI Bill schools uh for people to look into. Because if you're a veteran now and you're getting out of the military, or if you still have your educational benefits left, like that can be one route you can take to living overseas because the veteran that I mentioned, uh, you know, who's in Bangkok and I met like 10 veterans who are in the program, you know, they're all making like seven grand a month living in Bangkok on like $400 a month apartments and just living the dream, like living the coolest lives imaginable as a college student in their early 20s coming out of the military. So it's it's really cool to see veterans doing well. Like that's one thing that really just makes me like kind of heart like my heart gets full when I see veterans who are doing well, like happy and adjusted and thriving. And for me and for a lot of people, if you're in the military now, sometimes it can actually be an easier to transition to a foreign country than it can be to your hometown.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You know, it it's um in the thing. That um worries me is in a day of cuts, nobody wants to cut the things that are absolutely atrocious. They always want to trim the fat from our veteran benefits. I don't want to fear-monger anybody, but if this is something that you are potentially excited about doing, go do it now. Don't wait. Don't friggin' wait. Don't wait. If history has taught us anything, the first people they're coming after to cut and trim, it's gonna be us. That's just bottom, that's just the truth, man. Like we're we're not a priority. So take care of yourself and put your needs, especially when it comes to education or treatment, first, especially if you're single, man. If you have nothing tying you down and you're not done adventuring, go live abroad. Like I I I cannot recommend it enough, man. Like after you know the last few years of traveling a little bit more, I realized like, man, like it's gonna come a time where Papa Denny is gonna say, all right, Mama Bear, like let's let's think of some places we'd like to live that aren't necessarily here. Because the quality of life, the quality of like, yeah, we have family, we have people we love dearly. That doesn't mean we can't come back and visit. At least for a few years, be willing to dream, be willing to look at life uh through a different lens, man. And I I I think we need, especially with the college benefits, man. Like after finishing my master's, I realized all right, great program. Not the best, not the best resources here. And you're fighting a VA system that doesn't hire the best people. That's a part of the problem. Like it took me five VRE counselors to get one that was incredible. I would literally invite that woman over to our Christmas like family dinner because that's how great of a job she did. Shout out to you, Kim. You're incredible. Like just when she just wouldn't take no for an answer. With when something, when there was a blockade, when there was a barrier to to a program or for something, she would hunt it down and fix it and get it taken care of. And constantly will come back and and try to get that yes for me on my behalf. But those people are far and few between. And I would imagine that the VA counselors, the representatives that are abroad have a higher incentive to do a great job. They have a more of an incentive to make sure you're taken care of. Because you're not dealing with 25k worth of backlog emails and individuals, thousands. No, maybe a hundred. If that, maybe fifty or sixty in reality. So of course they're gonna get to your stuff a lot sooner. Like I that's just one of the big things that I'm I'm keen on is the ability to limit the caseload and be seen as a person, not a number, dude. Not a number.
SPEAKER_00And kind of to what you're talking about, life doesn't need to be as hard as we make it or America makes it. You know, life can actually be kind of simple. And I I think that veterans really thrive if we can find ourselves in an in an environment where life is simple. Where you wake up in the morning, you can enjoy your coffee instead of like rushing out the door and grabbing like a monster energy drink or something like that. I think a lot of veterans really thrive in simplicity. And that's one thing that, you know, I I wanted to convey to veterans is like if you can build yourself a simple life with simple things and natural food and good friends, then you're gonna be okay. And that's one of the things that, you know, we try and do is help veterans develop some type of community overseas. And like when I was in Vietnam, there's a veteran like pickleball league. So all the veterans get together and they go play pickleball and then they go out for pizza and beer afterwards. And get, you know, kind of going to do that. Okay, we're all playing pickleball, and then we all go out for pizza and beer twice a week. Like I had so much fun doing that with the other veterans because you know, you have to find a way to find a purpose and community and things like that overseas. So I want veterans to know that, you know, once you go overseas, it's actually kind of easier to make friends than you might think. Um, because people are more interested in having a healthy and productive social life. Whereas in the United States, it's hard to even make time to get together with friends like and go out for you know to watch a game or go out to do something or find, you know, special time together. But in the overseas, people are more interested in community and family and uh kind of the things that make life actually meaningful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, man, as we're wrapping up, dude, like what are you um what are you focusing on now? Like uh where are you A, where are you living at right now, and what are some other things that you're looking to highlight where you're writing? It's because I feel like your writing is going to become the primary catalyst of sharing more of your journey. Um, so I'll tell some working on.
SPEAKER_00Working on some new, I'm working on a new book. Um then I have my book here, Veterans in Paradise, the Veterans Guide to Moving Abroad, which covers everything that you need to know if you're a veteran and interested in moving overseas, everything from TRICARE to mental health to cost of living to those types of things. I also have a quick start guide that I wrote because I realized a lot of marines can't read, so I wrote like a quick start guide with some pictures and some colors and shit like that in it, just kind of like graphs so people can easily understand. And a lot of veterans aren't big readers anyway, so like a 300-page book is kind of like, you know, intimidating or whatever. Um, and then one of the things that I did want to talk about, I'm I'm very I'm very bad at promoting stuff. Like I like creating, I like a creative person, I like creating, but very bad at the emotional aspect of things. So I have my book here, 365 Days of Veteran Affirmations, which is a positive mental health affirmation for every single day of the year, written with military language, military creeds, military values, and things like that. Because one thing that, you know, is possible is to rewire your brain. And as veterans, we tend to lean towards dark humor, sarcasm, embracing the suck. We think life is supposed to kind of be about sucking it up and sacrifice. But this book lays out a good mental health affirmation for you for every single day of the year. So you can kind of like rewire your brain, defeat your PTSD and all that stuff, because you know, the quality of your life is going to be determined by the quality of your thoughts. So I want to help veterans kind of think better. I also have a YouTube channel with like maybe 20 videos of veteran affirmations as well. Again, for the people who don't want to read, like you can listen to them or whatever. Um, that's called veteran affirmations on YouTube. And I also have um a children's book of affirmations for military kids that you can buy on Amazon, but it's also free on my website, and it is colorable affirmations for kids that have deployed and military parents. So
Don’t Wait On Benefits Or Help
SPEAKER_00that's something that's on my website, uh JohnH DavisRyriter.com. That's free to print out. You can print out the pages if you want. Um so that's important. I'm working on a new book, and uh I am going to Columbia. I'm gonna be in Columbia for August, September, uh doing some treatment down there and with the Veterans Center. So I'm looking forward to that. And then we're gonna have a big Veterans Day event this year in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. So if you want to come, you are welcome. Got a free room for you. Done. Signed. Come back as a beast time. So we're working on that. They're they're creating an American Legion there. So I'm going to kind of help them with some of that stage. Yeah, so it's gonna be the first American Legion in the Dominican Republic. So there are four or five American legions in Mexico. There's one in Costa Rica, there's a really active one in Panama, there's about to be a second one in Panama. Um, I think that's it for for um for South America. And then a lot of people just don't know like that there are American Legion and BFWs overseas, but the the American Legion in Mexico is pretty active, um, Costa Rica's pretty active, and now they're making one in the Dominican Republic. So that that'll be a cool, um, a cool thing to be part of. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Well, dude, uh, it is incredible to see your journey unfold, and I just cannot wait for the next big thing. Are are you thinking of launching a Substack? You should. You should.
SPEAKER_00I don't want to turn my thing is I don't want to turn what I do into work. Like that's like I don't do. Like I'm not sure. Very true. Like I've been embracing just being retired and I write because like you don't want to be a writer to make money in today's world. Like unless you're like a terrific, like Jack R type writer or something like that. One, because we live in an increasingly world where people don't read as much. And so the social media stuff has given me the ability to be more creative. So I want to kind of help veterans uh tell their stories. I'd like to maybe do like a workshop for veterans for writing books and writing their own stories and telling their own stories and things like that. Because I think more veterans should should do that. So in the future, I'm gonna do some things like that. Um, and then you know, set up my own kind of retreats and volunteer options uh overseas. So, you know, in Columbia in August, September, we'll be partnering with an orphanage there. So the veterans in our group will we're we're all gonna go to the orphanage, um, you know, and and do stuff with the kids, play games, donate some stuff. Uh usually what we do is have like an a night of drinking, and then we donate the money the bar makes to the to the orphanage. So it all works out for everybody. Like, you know, everyone could go in there. Um last time we had a beer palm tournament at a bar uh in Columbia, and then all the proceeds got donated to this orphanage. And we were able to get this orphanage like so much cool stuff, and we bought all the kids like, you know, um pizza and you know, all these gifts for the kids too and stuff. So that was a really cool experience to be a part of. And it does, you know, being overseas, you do want to. I I do tell veterans you want to be the right type of expat. Like you don't want to be someone that only takes, you want to give as well. And it's important for veterans to kind of be a part of that, be a part of community. And it does make you be grateful to be born in the United States when you go to a place like Colombian Orphanage, you know, and you get to see kind of what real poverty and real stuff looks like. And then sort of give back as well, because you know, if if you're paying 600 bucks a month to rent a sweet apartment in Colombia, you can donate some money to some kids or do something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, dude, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of everything you're doing, and it's um it's incredible to see your platform grow and uh just very grateful that you found the vulnerability and the strength to get help, and now you're sharing every you know with everybody else, because that's what we need to do. When you find something that works for you, be willing to share with the community. But more importantly, I think it's gonna continue to grow as people try and get the fuck out of the United States in the next two years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can always tell like how how much it sucks in the United States based on how many messages I get a day. Like if I get like 10 messages a day, things are okay. If I get like 50 in a day or 50 emails a day, I'm like, oh shit, something must have happened.
SPEAKER_01Like
Books, Retreats, Giving Back, Closing
SPEAKER_01dude, it is oh man. Yeah. It's true, man. It's true. We'll see. Um we've got America 250. Yeah, I'm about to be excited about that. I mean, I'm very excited about that. That's super cool. I'm thrilled. Uh hopefully I um I don't get involved in any fireworks and um you don't have any uh you know this will be airing in the future, but uh hopefully I keep on my digits.
SPEAKER_00It's it's something that you put somebody weekend with your hands, that's for sure. Somebody is gonna get drunk and lose their hands.
SPEAKER_01That's that's absolutely true. Yeah. But hey, if you need help, we're here for you. Guys, do me a favor, you know the spiel. Pause the episode, head on over to the episode description, click those links, connect with John, buy his book, share his resources, and tune into his Instagram. Give him a like, follow, and a share, and uh be willing to look at somebody in our community that's doing great things and support them, man. Uh, there's a lot of grifters out there. There's a lot of people that utilize their platform as a you know a place to just sell you things, whereas John's just trying to show you a better way of living. And that's something we should all be able to rally around. So do me a favor, like I said, support him, support me, share the show, share this episode. And most importantly, take care of yourself. We'll see you all next time. Take care, brother.
