October 19, 2025 • 34 mins
Newt talks with Marcus and Amber Capone, co-founders of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), about the transformative impact of ibogaine treatment on veterans suffering from mental health issues, including TBI, depression and PTSD. Marcus, a former Navy SEAL, shares his personal journey of overcoming challenges related to traumatic brain injury and mental health struggles through ibogaine therapy, which he initially resisted due to misconceptions about psychedelics. Amber, instrumental in finding this treatment, highlights the profound changes it brought to Marcus and their family, leading them to establish VETS in 2019. Their organization has since supported over a thousand veterans and their families in accessing ibogaine treatment, despite regulatory challenges in the United States. The Capone’s emphasize the need for research and policy change to make such treatments available domestically, citing successful legislative efforts in Texas and ongoing studies at institutions like Stanford and Ohio State. They also discuss their upcoming Netflix documentary, which aims to raise awareness about ibogaine's potential.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
On this episode of the News World. As many of
our listeners know, I've been doing a series of podcasts
about ibogain and how it is helping veterans recover from
issues they face when they come home from their tour
of duty. Marcus Capone served our country for thirteen years
as the Navy Seal. He faced challenges like depression, isolation,
cognitive impairment due to a traumatic brain injury. His wife, Amber,
(00:29):
was determined to find a treatment plan that could help him.
She found a clinic where he could undergo treatment with Ibogain.
The treatment and experience changed Marcus's life and led to
the founding of their nonprofit organization VETS, which stands for
Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions in twenty nineteen. Since their founding,
(00:50):
they've helped hundreds of fellow veterans undergo Ibogain treatments. I'm
really pleased to welcome my guests, Marcus and Amber Capone.
Marcus is the co founder and chair of the board
of directors and Amber is the co founder and chief
executive officer of VETS. Marcus and Amber, welcome and thank
(01:20):
you for joining me on News World.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, Speaker gamers, thank you so much. We welcome the opportunity,
were grateful for it. So thank you and thank you
for doing this story. And I have a gain when
this was presented to us almost nine years ago. Now,
probably like you, we thought this was a little outside
the box and a little different. But we appreciate you
doing a story because it's extremely important.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And Amber, we're glad to have you with us too.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Thank you so much for your leadership on this. It's
an honor to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So Marcus, you served as a Navy seal for thirteen years,
much of that time deployed to combat zones. When you
transitioned out of the seal teams, what were the biggest
challenges you faced in adjusting to civilian life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You know, I thought transitioning out would be extremely easy.
I thought I was ready. You know, I was really
burnt out. Towards the end of my military career. I
started having real symptoms of if you want to call
mental health, symptoms of depression and anxiety. I had a
history of traumatic brain injuries that I think were catching
up with me. And then the transition out. I went
to work in private banking. I went to work in
(02:21):
Beverly Hills, which is probably the worst thing I could
have done going from the sale teams crossing over in
the private sector. But it just got worse from there, speaker,
you know, it was really isolated. I kind of lost
that tribe, that safety net of really amazing individuals that
I had served with for so many years, and that's
your family. I was with those individuals for you know,
(02:41):
close to three hundred days a year, and it was
a shock to the system. And I think when you
take some challenges with mental health, some TBIs and then
transition into private sector life, it's kind of a storm.
And I was just experiencing isolation and anger and sadness.
You know, I was experiencing headaches, so I was having nightmares.
(03:03):
I mean, I was experiencing all the things that you
hear and read about. And unfortunately, for people like me,
you think you're the only one that's struggling, and so
you're afraid to reach out for help. You're afraid to
talk to your friends and others. And what we're finally
realizing now that you're not the only one. There's many, unfortunately,
that are struggling out there, and we just need to
(03:24):
ask for help. And so twenty seventeen. Lucky for me,
Amber had been working in the background with a few
doctors and friends, and they enabled me to go receive
treatment outside the country.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amber, how did you actually find eye again?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Honestly, I didn't find it myself. A friend suggested it
because he knew that we were struggling and thought that
it could be helpful for Marcus. He had a positive
experience with it and was able to direct us to
the clinic where Marcus would eventually go for treatment. Now,
I approached Marcus with this idea in twenty sixteen, and
(04:02):
for a year he was very reluctant because it was
more or less saying what is available in Mexico that
I can't get here in the United States were the
most medically advanced country in terms of healthcare in the world.
And I was able to convince him to go finally
after a year, because he tried all of these things
(04:22):
in the United States and they were unsuccessful. And when
you have someone who is used to achieving goals or
very driven to find relief and they're not finding relief,
that's where things can get dangerous.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Marcus, was your reluctance that it was going out of
the country or what slowed you down.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Really slowed me down? Was I didn't understand Initially this
was presented to me as a psychedelic right. I grew
up in Long Island playing ball. I went to a
hole boys Catholic high school in Queen's Holy Cross High
School like so for me, this was so far outside
my com for its own. It just didn't experience anything
like this. And all I grew up understanding was, you know,
(05:05):
the War on drugs, psychedelics or recreational drugs, and that's
all I knew. And when I started diving into ibygain,
I realized that it wasn't traditional psychedelic. It was something
that had been utilized for thousands of years for mental health,
for stomach ailments, for infections in the body. So this
was a medicine that had been used forever. It was
brought over in a Western society, and initially Western culture,
(05:29):
the French used this as a medicine. And so it
took me a while of my own research and talking
to individuals to say, hey, this is not a fun experience,
this is not a recreational drug, this is real work.
And there was an individual before me that was on
the brink of suicide and he did a one eight.
(05:54):
This was like your typical as you would consider tier
one operator that for thirty years, that had done multiple deployments.
That was one of the hardest individuals that you know,
and is life changed and got better. And so for
me to see that was convincing that this is probably
something I should try. On another note, I don't know
(06:17):
if many people know this. On the low end, thirty
percent of US thirty percent of individuals speaker in the
US don't respond to traditional standards of care, and traditional
standards right now for US are really antidepressants and specific
types of talk therapy. On the high end, roughly fifty
or fifty five percent, so let's just say almost half
(06:40):
the population that's being treated for mental health cannot and
will not respond to the current treatments that are available.
It's just genetically biologically we won't respond, and so we
need access to treatments like ibeganan and others. I mean,
there's others coming.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You made the decision. How hard was it to get accepted.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I don't think it was.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I was actually handling a lot of the logistics of that.
It wasn't that hard for him to get a spot
at the clinic. But there were a lot of troubles,
you know, getting out of the country, and it's very
nerve wracking, especially for someone that's dealing with post traumatic
stress type symptoms, you know, to leave the safety of
the United States to go into Mexico, you know, without protection.
(07:22):
I can't speak from Marcus, but you know I can
tell you that from a logistics standpoint, it was quite
complicated and quite nerve wracking for me as well to
send him.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
There were the complications, essentially government regulations.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What were the complications, Well, I begain like all psychedelics
in nineteen seventy were through the Controlled Substances Act. We're
all classified as schedule worn drugs. Scheduling drugs means one,
there's no health benefit to them. Number two, they have
a high risk of addiction, and we know now that
(07:59):
both of those are extremely untrue. These drugs will being
utilized now across the board over too under clinical trials
for medical use, for medical treatments, and we know many
of these psychedelics are actually non addictive, and there are
many folks going to retreats and clinics in countries where
(08:20):
they're legal or unregulated to actually get themselves off of opioids,
heroin stimulants, alcohol abuse, and so it's really the opposite.
So we're using these things to get people really off
of that fight with addiction that so many people have,
and so they were considered schedule one and so we
just don't have access here in the US, and we
(08:41):
also can't research them. That's the other part is all
the major academic institutions and AMBER can talk a little
bit about the new bill that was passed in California
called rap C, which will open up research. But for
years or research has been closed off, and so that's
what we've been trying to do since day one is
really just open up research. Research. Church provides data. Data
provides lawmakers with the ability to make rational decisions.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
When you went down there, how long was the treatment process?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Consider the treatment like an impatient process. I begain tends
to be a little bit longer compared to some of
the other psychedelic treatments which can be shorter lasting. But
I began as a good twenty four hours where you're impatient,
you're doing blood work before you're doing your analysis, you
do an EKG, you're hooked up to a heart monitor.
This is an extremely medically supported experience, and we believe
(09:35):
as you bring these treatments to the US, they should
be clinician guided and medically supported as much as they can.
And I believe the new administration is extremely positive on
these treatments, but they also want to see this done
the right way. We don't want to happen what happened
in the sixties and seventies where these were abused as
recreational drugs. There's a real chance here to advance mental
(09:57):
health care like we've never seen it before through innovative treatments,
and we just need to do it the right way,
and the way to do it is through this medically
guided approach.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
How many people are time tend to be at that clinic.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That is sponsoring approximately five, you know, sometimes it fluctuates
between four and six, but five individuals per week who
are loading up in a van, crossing the border, heading
down for a five day clinical or retreat experience and
then back to the United States roughly five at a time.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think it's safe to mention that through our nonprofit VETS,
we have supported over one thousand individuals, now spouses and
military veterans to receive access to this treatment and we
can't handle the demand. Speaker, the demand is overwhelming. We
probably get ten applications to every one grant that we
can award.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Is there a limit on how many of these sites
could be built in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
There's not a limit. The rate limiting factor, like everything else,
is proper train, proper licensing. I would say we're an
inning one and so if and when we get approval
in the US, there's gonna be a bottleneck. There's gonna
be a bottle neck and therapist, there's gonna be bottleneck
and providers. So it's definitely gonna take time. We're gonna
need to figure that piece out. It's not the part
(11:16):
you know we're currently working on, but this is definitely
gonna be challenging. It's not going to be able to
just turn on overnight just because these are FDA approved.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The entire goal of our organization, honestly, is to not
have to rely on treatments being done in Mexico because
of the treatments are available here in the United States.
It's a necessary stop gap and it is not an
ideal long term solution.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So I go back to your personal experience. You arrived
on there. How long does the treatment take is a days, weeks, months?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
The treatments overnight, let's just say the sun goes down
and you take medicine around eight or nine o'clock. By
four or five am in the morning, you're kind of
coming down off of this really intense experience, and then
within a few hours, most people can take a nap
(12:25):
or go to sleep. Some people, you know, may have
to stay up a little bit longer. It may still
be in the system, but it's a six to eight
hour peak experience with several hours after of kind of
a reflection time where you're dozing off into like twilight
where you're able to you know, take little cat naps,
and then by the evening of the next day you
should be able to go to sleep and you feel
(12:46):
one hundred percent the following day when you wake up.
Many individuals that we have supported through our program, it
can be a one and done. For others, there's a
lot of things to work through, you know, especially if
there's cole moorming diagnosis. If a person has serious traumatic
brain injuries, they're really struggling with their mental health and
they're let's say, abusing alcohol, and individual may have to
(13:10):
go back a second time or a third time. We're
also seeing people ask and then just pay on their own.
Some people go for a yearly reset or they go
every two years, because it's like a reboot. You know,
our brains are filled up with the phones and the
laptops and the constant pinging. It's just like our cup
just keeps overflowing. This kind of allows the brain to
completely reset and give a person an opportunity to think
(13:34):
again versus just react to everything that's going on in society.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
When you begin to realize how much this was changing
your life, how did the two of you decide that
you need to help others and that you needed to
found veterans exploring treatment solutions in twenty nineteen. How long
did that transition from your own experience to thank you
you had to share up with others.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
About an hour. No, I'll let Marcus answer that, but
it was very quick.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, speaker geg Rich. So, I was so excited to
see Amber. Within the first forty eight hours, I just
felt this complete relief of just everything everything I feel
like I'd been dealing with over the last ten years.
And I gave her a huge hug and I said
this is exactly what the guys need. I mean, it
was like that simple. So within two hours, I said,
(14:25):
this is exactly what the guys need. And I don't
really know what that means because someone paid for my treatment.
These treatments are expensive and somewhere between five and ten
thousand dollars, and we need to figure out a way
to pay for that, right, that's the next part after
the FDA approves these treatments. But I said, immediately, this
is exactly what we need, and we need to figure
(14:45):
out a way to pay it forward. And that's really
was kind of the grassroots effort of what started. That's
received its five H one C three status in twenty
nineteen after its first application, and we haven't stopped or
looked back ever since.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
When you take the drug, is it essentially reorganizing your
brain or what is it doing?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think that's part of it. I think part of
it is like defragging your brain. I consider it where
you just have so much mush and information that's going on.
It kind of takes all that and it files it
for you. So I think it allows individuals to think
clearly again when they come out of it, because just
like a car or a computer system when there's just
too much going on, it just doesn't operate correctly. So
(15:30):
I would consider it defragging your brain in a way
and being able to organize your thoughts in a way.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
It certainly seems as though there are common threads and
everyone's experiences. If you would have given us relief in
one of the four major categories that I'm again seems
to address, it would have been life changing. It was
more than I kind of ever asked for or dreamed
for that we would receive relief in all four. So
(15:59):
the first area is a deep psychological purging of trauma.
A lot of that trauma is rooted in childhood, definitely
some war trauma. I mean, we've witnessed hundreds, now over
one thousand other experiences and the trauma purging is very consistent.
It's very anti addictive. I begain has traditionally been used
(16:20):
for addiction, as full blown heroin addicts have come off
of heroin without any cravings are withdrawals. Also works for
alcohol use disorder, et cetera. So very anti addictive. Number
two number three, it's doing something in the brain physiologically,
and this is what doctor Nolan William Stanford's study was
(16:43):
so paramount to observe that it is having some sort
of profound physiological impact on the brain. And then the
fourth thing is it's creating connection, most notably connection back
to self, to God and then everything external from there,
so nature, relationships, family, purpose, community. This reconnection gives people
(17:10):
the will to want to live again. It's very profound.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
When you first talked to Marcus after the treatment, how
much did you notice the change immediately?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I have known Marcus since I was seventeen years old.
I don't want to date myself, but we're getting close
to three decades here. I never wanted to think that
the Marcus I met was completely gone, but he had
turned into someone that I no longer recognized, and I
wanted some sembilance of the man that I married. It
(17:44):
was devastating to witness someone be willing to sacrifice their
life for this country, survive the wars, and come home
a shell of who you remember them to be, and
I wanted that relief for him. When I saw him,
it was immediately as though I was transported back to
not only the man I married, but the man that
(18:05):
I met. The charismatic larger than life, super easy going,
laid back. Just his presence was safe again. He was
himself again, and I immediately felt that energy shift, and
I was reminded of exactly who I met and fell
in love with within seconds.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Speaker Gengrish. I've had more than one person say like,
what'd you do? You have this glow and you look
ten years younger. And that wasn't just one person, that
was many. There's obviously something happening there when you kind
of repeat the same things.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
You two created veterans explos or in treatment solutions or
vets as a nonprofit, how do you fund bets? What
you're undertaking is big.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, it has been the honor of a lifetime. I
certainly think that it is why we were put on
this earth. I have a very deep Christian faith, so
this seemed to be in the beginning somewhat opposed to that.
I had to really reconcile that. And yet what I
have witnessed over the last eight years is this incredible
(19:33):
series of bondages being broken over all of these lives,
and these individuals who have given so much are reclaiming
their lives and living fully for perhaps the first time
in their adulthood. It is a huge undertaking, and we're
one hundred percent supported through philanthropy, although I will tell
(19:55):
you every time that this is abundantly blessed, divinely blessed.
We are donor dependent, like I said, and so more
information can be found about Vet's on our website, which
is veslutions dot org. The bread and butter of this
is where we started supporting Marcus's friends and former teammates,
(20:17):
which grew to all of the Sealed Community and now
all branches of Special Operations and now in many cases
all military. We're supporting the individuals who are leaving the country,
but we'll never get ahead of that demand. So we're
also supporting research like the Stanford ibagain study. When we
pair those voices from our programs alongside the data, we
(20:41):
can then advocate for state and federal policy change to
bring these treatments here in the United States.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Can you share with us, Marcus, what Amber's rule was
on how it evolved.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Amber's the savior here. The spouses of the military community.
I really think the spouses of many of us that
are away doing what we love. The spouses are at
home taking care of the family, really holding it all together.
Amber's just been such a steadfast I call her my
guardian angel. She's done everything. She saved me, she saved
(21:13):
our marriage, she saved our family, and she is such
a north star to other spouses out there that are
really struggling and really searching for something. She's just a
voice for them because she's been there and done that.
And she's been a starter since she's been a child.
She used to play games when she was ten years
old about building a company and building a retail store,
(21:36):
and so she's just always been an entrepreneur. She had
her own real estate team back in the day, and
then when this started, she was the founder of Vets
and now she's the CEO, and she's just a go getter.
And I think sometimes we forget, but she's the one.
I call her the engine. I'm just the paint that
you can change colors, but she's really the one that
(21:56):
keeps the thing going every day. So I owe it
all to my baby. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm really curious, ever, you seem to have had a
very dramatic growth over these last six years. Can you
sort of share with us how when from being a
dream to being a real organization.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Well, I will say, first and foremost, it's been abundantly
divinely blessed. It doesn't make human sense how we have
been able to achieve such market growth. But I will
also say that when you pair something that's so efficacious
within a community that has such high levels of trust
and suffering, everyone wants to share this with someone that
(22:34):
they know. We take care of one another. And so
I think that we have been effective in keeping up
with the demand to a certain point. But ultimately the
growth that needs to continue from here is really at
the governmental level. We can simply not meet the demand
despite the market growth we've experienced.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Part of it also has beens. I understand it that
you have a direct effect on the suicide rate among veterans.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I would certainly like to think so our driving goal
is to end veteran suicide. It's a lofty goal, but
we have to ask ourselves why are we fighting the
suicide epidemic, which is largely unchanged and grossly underreported. Why
are we fighting that epidemic with medications linked to suicide?
(23:24):
The primary tools and the VA healthcare system are SSRIs, antidepressants,
and talk therapy, And every antidepressant bottle comes with a
warning label on the side that it could increase suicidality.
That to me is asinine. Why are we fighting suicide
with medications linked to suicide? There's a better way?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, I was shocked. Apparently for younger veterans one hundred
and forty five, suicide's the second leading cause of death.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, and you think about the post nine to eleven
era soldier. The first time in American history, Street that
our military has been forward deployed for two decades of
sustained combat. Marcus went to Buds in two thousand. His
Buds is Navy seale training. His Bud's roommate is still serving.
(24:15):
So we're talking about over twenty five years of service
and now transitioning out of the military at fifty ish.
What do we have to offer him as a nation.
How is he supposed to transition into civilian life after
so much combat and be unscathed, And how are we
(24:36):
supposed to meet him with the current tools that are available.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
It's kind of like we're way behind the curve. Texas
and California and other states are doing very positive things
in this direction. Could you come and just REMNTEO what's
happening at the state level.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Sure, the biggest win thus far on ibigain has certainly
been in the state of Texas, which is where we reside.
And Texas just shows up to support its veterans. So
when we were able to get behind this bill and
take grant recipients mark Is included to the state capital
to share their stories, it moved lawmakers in a very
(25:13):
significant way. So Texas is the first state and only
state to appropriate fifteen million dollars for i BE again
clinical trials, which will happen right here in the state
of Texas. That will be matched by fifty million dollars
from a drug developer and in working with the FDA,
i begain trials will begin. Now. I begain does have
(25:35):
cardiac risks, it's not risk free, so the necessity of
doing this in a medical setting cannot be overstated.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Amber, do you want to add about the recent win
in California.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
California is I would say less impactful. It's really just
getting step one out of the way so that we
can to do something more aggressive next session. But California,
in essence high had some additional delays in Schedule one
research that we were able to successfully mitigate this session
with plans to go back next session. But there are
(26:09):
other states that are very interested, particularly in ibagain, and
a lot of those states have massive opioid dependency issues. Ibogain,
of course, is the premier treatment for opioid dependency. So
I think that veterans are largely leading the way for
many other indications which could be addressed with ibagain, But
(26:30):
the research is lacking, and that's where the needs to start.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I've done an interview about the study at Stanford, but
Ohio State they're also looking at the impact in terms
of people recovering.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We actually have worked with doctor Allen Davis said Ohio
State for a number of years, and he will soon
begin publishing the data that he's collected on the VETS program,
and the vast majority of those study participants have chosen
to do I be again in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
What are the key steps that citizens should be asking
for in order to accelerate access to IB again for veterans.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
What my experience has been is that we are all
united by one degree of separations through suffering, and we
all know someone who has suffered either with depression or
suicidal ideation, chemical dependency, et cetera. So I think that
there's a real impetus for the American people to better
(27:34):
understand options that might be available that are currently not
accessible here in the United States. So a robust education
campaign is necessary, and approaching this with caution and curiosity
is an important next step as well. That we'll be
advocating again at the state and federal levels of government
(27:57):
for reducing barriers to research and expanding access to care.
But I think ibagain holds so much promise that that
will always be our driving vision for where we take this.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I'm really curious you got a chance to talk directly
with Secretary Doug Collins. What would your message to him be?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
If I have the opportunity to sit down with Secretary Collins,
I would first of all say that I know he
wants better for our veterans. That's evident. I also understand
that he's trapped by much of the bureaucratic red tape
that exists in DC. At the end of the day,
the treatments that are currently available for our veterans are
(28:38):
not working. Marcus oftentimes says that battlefield tactics must evolve
with each generation of warfighter. We are still using tactics
that were developed thirty five years ago. In terms of SSRIs,
the veterans suicide rate is unchanging and it's grossly underreported.
(29:00):
So how can we work together and creating research that
can produce data that leads to outcomes. VETS was recently
tasked with putting together a coalition to work on this
topic in Washington, d C. And I'm proud to say
that on day one of our launch of the Valor Coalition,
(29:22):
we were able to sit down with the Chief of
Staff for Doug Collins, and he's very willing to listen.
We just need to find ways in which we can
work together. So Valor is a coalition of four founding
members that plan to go the distance on this topic
in DC. Alongside the VA, it's VETS, the Navy Sale Foundation,
(29:44):
the Greenbery Foundation, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Other organizations
will surely sign on to support. But I'm very optimistic
about what we can do with this administration and what
we could do with Secretary Collins inside the VA.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You have an upcoming Netflix documentary.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Tell us about that, Marcus Neudegg that one he's the
star of the documentary one of three.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, I'm the subject. As I say, I'm still waiting
for my tea shirt from the directors to say lead subject.
We were approached by Participant Media a number of years
ago when they heard this story. And usually when someone
has an idea for a movie, they write a story
and they pitch it to a production company and then
they go out for funding. Well, this happened the opposite.
They had heard about these two individuals that were funding
(30:27):
special operations veterans, initially Navy seals to go receive treatment,
you know, in countries where they were legal, and that
was Amber and I, and they flew us up to
their offices and they just said, hey, we want to
fund this story. We think it's so powerful. And we said, hey,
we think this could potentially, you know, change the world,
change the future of mental health care if we do
this the right way. And so they wanted to tell
(30:48):
that story, and so we filmed for the last five years,
tons of interviews, and they tied the story around three
of us, myself and two just incredible Navy seals that
I worked with and served it for many years, DJ
Shipley and Matt Roberts, and we just had a story together.
Matt Roberts was part of unfortunately the Loan Survivor Task
(31:10):
Unit initially on that helicopter and got off that helicopter
before it took off, and unfortunately we lost all the
individuals on that helicopter. And then and DJ Shipley worked
together in their second platoon and there was a major
injury there, and so there was just a story that
was tied together. But the long story short of it
is that all three of us kind of came back
(31:34):
and got whole again through I began treatment and I
helped those individuals seek out that treatment and kind of
walk them through the whole process and same thing. Their
families were saved, they were saved, and they just wanted
to pay it forward. So it's a really beautiful story.
It's a bit intense. They open it up with a
little bit of hey, here's the history of what sale
(31:54):
teams look like, just to show everybody what it's like.
But then it goes into what I began is, and
then what the treatment is, and then they go into
the Stanford study, so speaker, they kind of tie in
everything and so it's really powerful, powerful story.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
It premieres on Netflix November third, so I hope you'll
be able to watch it.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, that's great and if people do want to help you,
what's the best way they can support you.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
There are donation links on our website as well as
our social media accounts. That solutions dot org is our website.
We're on all platforms of social media, as well as
simple Google search of veterans ib again Marcus, Amber Capone,
that will probably lead people there. But the website again
(32:40):
is vetsolutions dot org.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Dan Bryan Marcus, I want to thank you first of
all for serving the country. I want to thank you
for the pioneering work you're doing to help others, and
I want to thank you for joining me. Our listeners
can find out more about the incredible work you're doing
by visiting your website at vetsolutions dot org, which we
will have on our show page. But thank you very
much for being.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
With me, thank you for having us, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
My guest Marcus and Amberka Hoome. You can get a
link to vets on our show page at neutworld dot com.
New World is produced by Ginglish three sixty and iHeartMedia.
Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson.
The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley.
Special thanks to team at Ginlishtree sixty. If you've been
(33:31):
enjoying newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts
and both rate us with five stars and give us
a review so others can learn what it's all about.
Right now, listeners of New World can sign up for
my three free weekly columns at ginglishtree sixty dot com
slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newsworld
On this episode of the News World. As many of
our listeners know, I've been doing a series of podcasts
about ibogain and how it is helping veterans recover from
issues they face when they come home from their tour
of duty. Marcus Capone served our country for thirteen years
as the Navy Seal. He faced challenges like depression, isolation,
cognitive impairment due to a traumatic brain injury. His wife, Amber,
(00:29):
was determined to find a treatment plan that could help him.
She found a clinic where he could undergo treatment with Ibogain.
The treatment and experience changed Marcus's life and led to
the founding of their nonprofit organization VETS, which stands for
Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions in twenty nineteen. Since their founding,
(00:50):
they've helped hundreds of fellow veterans undergo Ibogain treatments. I'm
really pleased to welcome my guests, Marcus and Amber Capone.
Marcus is the co founder and chair of the board
of directors and Amber is the co founder and chief
executive officer of VETS. Marcus and Amber, welcome and thank
(01:20):
you for joining me on News World.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, Speaker gamers, thank you so much. We welcome the opportunity,
were grateful for it. So thank you and thank you
for doing this story. And I have a gain when
this was presented to us almost nine years ago. Now,
probably like you, we thought this was a little outside
the box and a little different. But we appreciate you
doing a story because it's extremely important.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And Amber, we're glad to have you with us too.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Thank you so much for your leadership on this. It's
an honor to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So Marcus, you served as a Navy seal for thirteen years,
much of that time deployed to combat zones. When you
transitioned out of the seal teams, what were the biggest
challenges you faced in adjusting to civilian life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You know, I thought transitioning out would be extremely easy.
I thought I was ready. You know, I was really
burnt out. Towards the end of my military career. I
started having real symptoms of if you want to call
mental health, symptoms of depression and anxiety. I had a
history of traumatic brain injuries that I think were catching
up with me. And then the transition out. I went
to work in private banking. I went to work in
(02:21):
Beverly Hills, which is probably the worst thing I could
have done going from the sale teams crossing over in
the private sector. But it just got worse from there, speaker,
you know, it was really isolated. I kind of lost
that tribe, that safety net of really amazing individuals that
I had served with for so many years, and that's
your family. I was with those individuals for you know,
(02:41):
close to three hundred days a year, and it was
a shock to the system. And I think when you
take some challenges with mental health, some TBIs and then
transition into private sector life, it's kind of a storm.
And I was just experiencing isolation and anger and sadness.
You know, I was experiencing headaches, so I was having nightmares.
(03:03):
I mean, I was experiencing all the things that you
hear and read about. And unfortunately, for people like me,
you think you're the only one that's struggling, and so
you're afraid to reach out for help. You're afraid to
talk to your friends and others. And what we're finally
realizing now that you're not the only one. There's many, unfortunately,
that are struggling out there, and we just need to
(03:24):
ask for help. And so twenty seventeen. Lucky for me,
Amber had been working in the background with a few
doctors and friends, and they enabled me to go receive
treatment outside the country.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amber, how did you actually find eye again?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Honestly, I didn't find it myself. A friend suggested it
because he knew that we were struggling and thought that
it could be helpful for Marcus. He had a positive
experience with it and was able to direct us to
the clinic where Marcus would eventually go for treatment. Now,
I approached Marcus with this idea in twenty sixteen, and
(04:02):
for a year he was very reluctant because it was
more or less saying what is available in Mexico that
I can't get here in the United States were the
most medically advanced country in terms of healthcare in the world.
And I was able to convince him to go finally
after a year, because he tried all of these things
(04:22):
in the United States and they were unsuccessful. And when
you have someone who is used to achieving goals or
very driven to find relief and they're not finding relief,
that's where things can get dangerous.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Marcus, was your reluctance that it was going out of
the country or what slowed you down.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Really slowed me down? Was I didn't understand Initially this
was presented to me as a psychedelic right. I grew
up in Long Island playing ball. I went to a
hole boys Catholic high school in Queen's Holy Cross High
School like so for me, this was so far outside
my com for its own. It just didn't experience anything
like this. And all I grew up understanding was, you know,
(05:05):
the War on drugs, psychedelics or recreational drugs, and that's
all I knew. And when I started diving into ibygain,
I realized that it wasn't traditional psychedelic. It was something
that had been utilized for thousands of years for mental health,
for stomach ailments, for infections in the body. So this
was a medicine that had been used forever. It was
brought over in a Western society, and initially Western culture,
(05:29):
the French used this as a medicine. And so it
took me a while of my own research and talking
to individuals to say, hey, this is not a fun experience,
this is not a recreational drug, this is real work.
And there was an individual before me that was on
the brink of suicide and he did a one eight.
(05:54):
This was like your typical as you would consider tier
one operator that for thirty years, that had done multiple deployments.
That was one of the hardest individuals that you know,
and is life changed and got better. And so for
me to see that was convincing that this is probably
something I should try. On another note, I don't know
(06:17):
if many people know this. On the low end, thirty
percent of US thirty percent of individuals speaker in the
US don't respond to traditional standards of care, and traditional
standards right now for US are really antidepressants and specific
types of talk therapy. On the high end, roughly fifty
or fifty five percent, so let's just say almost half
(06:40):
the population that's being treated for mental health cannot and
will not respond to the current treatments that are available.
It's just genetically biologically we won't respond, and so we
need access to treatments like ibeganan and others. I mean,
there's others coming.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You made the decision. How hard was it to get accepted.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I don't think it was.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I was actually handling a lot of the logistics of that.
It wasn't that hard for him to get a spot
at the clinic. But there were a lot of troubles,
you know, getting out of the country, and it's very
nerve wracking, especially for someone that's dealing with post traumatic
stress type symptoms, you know, to leave the safety of
the United States to go into Mexico, you know, without protection.
(07:22):
I can't speak from Marcus, but you know I can
tell you that from a logistics standpoint, it was quite
complicated and quite nerve wracking for me as well to
send him.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
There were the complications, essentially government regulations.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What were the complications, Well, I begain like all psychedelics
in nineteen seventy were through the Controlled Substances Act. We're
all classified as schedule worn drugs. Scheduling drugs means one,
there's no health benefit to them. Number two, they have
a high risk of addiction, and we know now that
(07:59):
both of those are extremely untrue. These drugs will being
utilized now across the board over too under clinical trials
for medical use, for medical treatments, and we know many
of these psychedelics are actually non addictive, and there are
many folks going to retreats and clinics in countries where
(08:20):
they're legal or unregulated to actually get themselves off of opioids,
heroin stimulants, alcohol abuse, and so it's really the opposite.
So we're using these things to get people really off
of that fight with addiction that so many people have,
and so they were considered schedule one and so we
just don't have access here in the US, and we
(08:41):
also can't research them. That's the other part is all
the major academic institutions and AMBER can talk a little
bit about the new bill that was passed in California
called rap C, which will open up research. But for
years or research has been closed off, and so that's
what we've been trying to do since day one is
really just open up research. Research. Church provides data. Data
provides lawmakers with the ability to make rational decisions.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
When you went down there, how long was the treatment process?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Consider the treatment like an impatient process. I begain tends
to be a little bit longer compared to some of
the other psychedelic treatments which can be shorter lasting. But
I began as a good twenty four hours where you're impatient,
you're doing blood work before you're doing your analysis, you
do an EKG, you're hooked up to a heart monitor.
This is an extremely medically supported experience, and we believe
(09:35):
as you bring these treatments to the US, they should
be clinician guided and medically supported as much as they can.
And I believe the new administration is extremely positive on
these treatments, but they also want to see this done
the right way. We don't want to happen what happened
in the sixties and seventies where these were abused as
recreational drugs. There's a real chance here to advance mental
(09:57):
health care like we've never seen it before through innovative treatments,
and we just need to do it the right way,
and the way to do it is through this medically
guided approach.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
How many people are time tend to be at that clinic.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That is sponsoring approximately five, you know, sometimes it fluctuates
between four and six, but five individuals per week who
are loading up in a van, crossing the border, heading
down for a five day clinical or retreat experience and
then back to the United States roughly five at a time.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think it's safe to mention that through our nonprofit VETS,
we have supported over one thousand individuals, now spouses and
military veterans to receive access to this treatment and we
can't handle the demand. Speaker, the demand is overwhelming. We
probably get ten applications to every one grant that we
can award.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Is there a limit on how many of these sites
could be built in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
There's not a limit. The rate limiting factor, like everything else,
is proper train, proper licensing. I would say we're an
inning one and so if and when we get approval
in the US, there's gonna be a bottleneck. There's gonna
be a bottle neck and therapist, there's gonna be bottleneck
and providers. So it's definitely gonna take time. We're gonna
need to figure that piece out. It's not the part
(11:16):
you know we're currently working on, but this is definitely
gonna be challenging. It's not going to be able to
just turn on overnight just because these are FDA approved.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The entire goal of our organization, honestly, is to not
have to rely on treatments being done in Mexico because
of the treatments are available here in the United States.
It's a necessary stop gap and it is not an
ideal long term solution.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So I go back to your personal experience. You arrived
on there. How long does the treatment take is a days, weeks, months?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
The treatments overnight, let's just say the sun goes down
and you take medicine around eight or nine o'clock. By
four or five am in the morning, you're kind of
coming down off of this really intense experience, and then
within a few hours, most people can take a nap
(12:25):
or go to sleep. Some people, you know, may have
to stay up a little bit longer. It may still
be in the system, but it's a six to eight
hour peak experience with several hours after of kind of
a reflection time where you're dozing off into like twilight
where you're able to you know, take little cat naps,
and then by the evening of the next day you
should be able to go to sleep and you feel
(12:46):
one hundred percent the following day when you wake up.
Many individuals that we have supported through our program, it
can be a one and done. For others, there's a
lot of things to work through, you know, especially if
there's cole moorming diagnosis. If a person has serious traumatic
brain injuries, they're really struggling with their mental health and
they're let's say, abusing alcohol, and individual may have to
(13:10):
go back a second time or a third time. We're
also seeing people ask and then just pay on their own.
Some people go for a yearly reset or they go
every two years, because it's like a reboot. You know,
our brains are filled up with the phones and the
laptops and the constant pinging. It's just like our cup
just keeps overflowing. This kind of allows the brain to
completely reset and give a person an opportunity to think
(13:34):
again versus just react to everything that's going on in society.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
When you begin to realize how much this was changing
your life, how did the two of you decide that
you need to help others and that you needed to
found veterans exploring treatment solutions in twenty nineteen. How long
did that transition from your own experience to thank you
you had to share up with others.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
About an hour. No, I'll let Marcus answer that, but
it was very quick.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, speaker geg Rich. So, I was so excited to
see Amber. Within the first forty eight hours, I just
felt this complete relief of just everything everything I feel
like I'd been dealing with over the last ten years.
And I gave her a huge hug and I said
this is exactly what the guys need. I mean, it
was like that simple. So within two hours, I said,
(14:25):
this is exactly what the guys need. And I don't
really know what that means because someone paid for my treatment.
These treatments are expensive and somewhere between five and ten
thousand dollars, and we need to figure out a way
to pay for that, right, that's the next part after
the FDA approves these treatments. But I said, immediately, this
is exactly what we need, and we need to figure
(14:45):
out a way to pay it forward. And that's really
was kind of the grassroots effort of what started. That's
received its five H one C three status in twenty
nineteen after its first application, and we haven't stopped or
looked back ever since.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
When you take the drug, is it essentially reorganizing your
brain or what is it doing?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think that's part of it. I think part of
it is like defragging your brain. I consider it where
you just have so much mush and information that's going on.
It kind of takes all that and it files it
for you. So I think it allows individuals to think
clearly again when they come out of it, because just
like a car or a computer system when there's just
too much going on, it just doesn't operate correctly. So
(15:30):
I would consider it defragging your brain in a way
and being able to organize your thoughts in a way.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
It certainly seems as though there are common threads and
everyone's experiences. If you would have given us relief in
one of the four major categories that I'm again seems
to address, it would have been life changing. It was
more than I kind of ever asked for or dreamed
for that we would receive relief in all four. So
(15:59):
the first area is a deep psychological purging of trauma.
A lot of that trauma is rooted in childhood, definitely
some war trauma. I mean, we've witnessed hundreds, now over
one thousand other experiences and the trauma purging is very consistent.
It's very anti addictive. I begain has traditionally been used
(16:20):
for addiction, as full blown heroin addicts have come off
of heroin without any cravings are withdrawals. Also works for
alcohol use disorder, et cetera. So very anti addictive. Number
two number three, it's doing something in the brain physiologically,
and this is what doctor Nolan William Stanford's study was
(16:43):
so paramount to observe that it is having some sort
of profound physiological impact on the brain. And then the
fourth thing is it's creating connection, most notably connection back
to self, to God and then everything external from there,
so nature, relationships, family, purpose, community. This reconnection gives people
(17:10):
the will to want to live again. It's very profound.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
When you first talked to Marcus after the treatment, how
much did you notice the change immediately?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I have known Marcus since I was seventeen years old.
I don't want to date myself, but we're getting close
to three decades here. I never wanted to think that
the Marcus I met was completely gone, but he had
turned into someone that I no longer recognized, and I
wanted some sembilance of the man that I married. It
(17:44):
was devastating to witness someone be willing to sacrifice their
life for this country, survive the wars, and come home
a shell of who you remember them to be, and
I wanted that relief for him. When I saw him,
it was immediately as though I was transported back to
not only the man I married, but the man that
(18:05):
I met. The charismatic larger than life, super easy going,
laid back. Just his presence was safe again. He was
himself again, and I immediately felt that energy shift, and
I was reminded of exactly who I met and fell
in love with within seconds.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Speaker Gengrish. I've had more than one person say like,
what'd you do? You have this glow and you look
ten years younger. And that wasn't just one person, that
was many. There's obviously something happening there when you kind
of repeat the same things.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
You two created veterans explos or in treatment solutions or
vets as a nonprofit, how do you fund bets? What
you're undertaking is big.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, it has been the honor of a lifetime. I
certainly think that it is why we were put on
this earth. I have a very deep Christian faith, so
this seemed to be in the beginning somewhat opposed to that.
I had to really reconcile that. And yet what I
have witnessed over the last eight years is this incredible
(19:33):
series of bondages being broken over all of these lives,
and these individuals who have given so much are reclaiming
their lives and living fully for perhaps the first time
in their adulthood. It is a huge undertaking, and we're
one hundred percent supported through philanthropy, although I will tell
(19:55):
you every time that this is abundantly blessed, divinely blessed.
We are donor dependent, like I said, and so more
information can be found about Vet's on our website, which
is veslutions dot org. The bread and butter of this
is where we started supporting Marcus's friends and former teammates,
(20:17):
which grew to all of the Sealed Community and now
all branches of Special Operations and now in many cases
all military. We're supporting the individuals who are leaving the country,
but we'll never get ahead of that demand. So we're
also supporting research like the Stanford ibagain study. When we
pair those voices from our programs alongside the data, we
(20:41):
can then advocate for state and federal policy change to
bring these treatments here in the United States.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Can you share with us, Marcus, what Amber's rule was
on how it evolved.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Amber's the savior here. The spouses of the military community.
I really think the spouses of many of us that
are away doing what we love. The spouses are at
home taking care of the family, really holding it all together.
Amber's just been such a steadfast I call her my
guardian angel. She's done everything. She saved me, she saved
(21:13):
our marriage, she saved our family, and she is such
a north star to other spouses out there that are
really struggling and really searching for something. She's just a
voice for them because she's been there and done that.
And she's been a starter since she's been a child.
She used to play games when she was ten years
old about building a company and building a retail store,
(21:36):
and so she's just always been an entrepreneur. She had
her own real estate team back in the day, and
then when this started, she was the founder of Vets
and now she's the CEO, and she's just a go getter.
And I think sometimes we forget, but she's the one.
I call her the engine. I'm just the paint that
you can change colors, but she's really the one that
(21:56):
keeps the thing going every day. So I owe it
all to my baby. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm really curious, ever, you seem to have had a
very dramatic growth over these last six years. Can you
sort of share with us how when from being a
dream to being a real organization.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Well, I will say, first and foremost, it's been abundantly
divinely blessed. It doesn't make human sense how we have
been able to achieve such market growth. But I will
also say that when you pair something that's so efficacious
within a community that has such high levels of trust
and suffering, everyone wants to share this with someone that
(22:34):
they know. We take care of one another. And so
I think that we have been effective in keeping up
with the demand to a certain point. But ultimately the
growth that needs to continue from here is really at
the governmental level. We can simply not meet the demand
despite the market growth we've experienced.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Part of it also has beens. I understand it that
you have a direct effect on the suicide rate among veterans.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I would certainly like to think so our driving goal
is to end veteran suicide. It's a lofty goal, but
we have to ask ourselves why are we fighting the
suicide epidemic, which is largely unchanged and grossly underreported. Why
are we fighting that epidemic with medications linked to suicide?
(23:24):
The primary tools and the VA healthcare system are SSRIs, antidepressants,
and talk therapy, And every antidepressant bottle comes with a
warning label on the side that it could increase suicidality.
That to me is asinine. Why are we fighting suicide
with medications linked to suicide? There's a better way?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, I was shocked. Apparently for younger veterans one hundred
and forty five, suicide's the second leading cause of death.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, and you think about the post nine to eleven
era soldier. The first time in American history, Street that
our military has been forward deployed for two decades of
sustained combat. Marcus went to Buds in two thousand. His
Buds is Navy seale training. His Bud's roommate is still serving.
(24:15):
So we're talking about over twenty five years of service
and now transitioning out of the military at fifty ish.
What do we have to offer him as a nation.
How is he supposed to transition into civilian life after
so much combat and be unscathed, And how are we
(24:36):
supposed to meet him with the current tools that are available.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
It's kind of like we're way behind the curve. Texas
and California and other states are doing very positive things
in this direction. Could you come and just REMNTEO what's
happening at the state level.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Sure, the biggest win thus far on ibigain has certainly
been in the state of Texas, which is where we reside.
And Texas just shows up to support its veterans. So
when we were able to get behind this bill and
take grant recipients mark Is included to the state capital
to share their stories, it moved lawmakers in a very
(25:13):
significant way. So Texas is the first state and only
state to appropriate fifteen million dollars for i BE again
clinical trials, which will happen right here in the state
of Texas. That will be matched by fifty million dollars
from a drug developer and in working with the FDA,
i begain trials will begin. Now. I begain does have
(25:35):
cardiac risks, it's not risk free, so the necessity of
doing this in a medical setting cannot be overstated.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Amber, do you want to add about the recent win
in California.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
California is I would say less impactful. It's really just
getting step one out of the way so that we
can to do something more aggressive next session. But California,
in essence high had some additional delays in Schedule one
research that we were able to successfully mitigate this session
with plans to go back next session. But there are
(26:09):
other states that are very interested, particularly in ibagain, and
a lot of those states have massive opioid dependency issues. Ibogain,
of course, is the premier treatment for opioid dependency. So
I think that veterans are largely leading the way for
many other indications which could be addressed with ibagain, But
(26:30):
the research is lacking, and that's where the needs to start.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I've done an interview about the study at Stanford, but
Ohio State they're also looking at the impact in terms
of people recovering.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We actually have worked with doctor Allen Davis said Ohio
State for a number of years, and he will soon
begin publishing the data that he's collected on the VETS program,
and the vast majority of those study participants have chosen
to do I be again in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
What are the key steps that citizens should be asking
for in order to accelerate access to IB again for veterans.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
What my experience has been is that we are all
united by one degree of separations through suffering, and we
all know someone who has suffered either with depression or
suicidal ideation, chemical dependency, et cetera. So I think that
there's a real impetus for the American people to better
(27:34):
understand options that might be available that are currently not
accessible here in the United States. So a robust education
campaign is necessary, and approaching this with caution and curiosity
is an important next step as well. That we'll be
advocating again at the state and federal levels of government
(27:57):
for reducing barriers to research and expanding access to care.
But I think ibagain holds so much promise that that
will always be our driving vision for where we take this.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I'm really curious you got a chance to talk directly
with Secretary Doug Collins. What would your message to him be?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
If I have the opportunity to sit down with Secretary Collins,
I would first of all say that I know he
wants better for our veterans. That's evident. I also understand
that he's trapped by much of the bureaucratic red tape
that exists in DC. At the end of the day,
the treatments that are currently available for our veterans are
(28:38):
not working. Marcus oftentimes says that battlefield tactics must evolve
with each generation of warfighter. We are still using tactics
that were developed thirty five years ago. In terms of SSRIs,
the veterans suicide rate is unchanging and it's grossly underreported.
(29:00):
So how can we work together and creating research that
can produce data that leads to outcomes. VETS was recently
tasked with putting together a coalition to work on this
topic in Washington, d C. And I'm proud to say
that on day one of our launch of the Valor Coalition,
(29:22):
we were able to sit down with the Chief of
Staff for Doug Collins, and he's very willing to listen.
We just need to find ways in which we can
work together. So Valor is a coalition of four founding
members that plan to go the distance on this topic
in DC. Alongside the VA, it's VETS, the Navy Sale Foundation,
(29:44):
the Greenbery Foundation, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Other organizations
will surely sign on to support. But I'm very optimistic
about what we can do with this administration and what
we could do with Secretary Collins inside the VA.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You have an upcoming Netflix documentary.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Tell us about that, Marcus Neudegg that one he's the
star of the documentary one of three.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, I'm the subject. As I say, I'm still waiting
for my tea shirt from the directors to say lead subject.
We were approached by Participant Media a number of years
ago when they heard this story. And usually when someone
has an idea for a movie, they write a story
and they pitch it to a production company and then
they go out for funding. Well, this happened the opposite.
They had heard about these two individuals that were funding
(30:27):
special operations veterans, initially Navy seals to go receive treatment,
you know, in countries where they were legal, and that
was Amber and I, and they flew us up to
their offices and they just said, hey, we want to
fund this story. We think it's so powerful. And we said, hey,
we think this could potentially, you know, change the world,
change the future of mental health care if we do
this the right way. And so they wanted to tell
(30:48):
that story, and so we filmed for the last five years,
tons of interviews, and they tied the story around three
of us, myself and two just incredible Navy seals that
I worked with and served it for many years, DJ
Shipley and Matt Roberts, and we just had a story together.
Matt Roberts was part of unfortunately the Loan Survivor Task
(31:10):
Unit initially on that helicopter and got off that helicopter
before it took off, and unfortunately we lost all the
individuals on that helicopter. And then and DJ Shipley worked
together in their second platoon and there was a major
injury there, and so there was just a story that
was tied together. But the long story short of it
is that all three of us kind of came back
(31:34):
and got whole again through I began treatment and I
helped those individuals seek out that treatment and kind of
walk them through the whole process and same thing. Their
families were saved, they were saved, and they just wanted
to pay it forward. So it's a really beautiful story.
It's a bit intense. They open it up with a
little bit of hey, here's the history of what sale
(31:54):
teams look like, just to show everybody what it's like.
But then it goes into what I began is, and
then what the treatment is, and then they go into
the Stanford study, so speaker, they kind of tie in
everything and so it's really powerful, powerful story.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
It premieres on Netflix November third, so I hope you'll
be able to watch it.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, that's great and if people do want to help you,
what's the best way they can support you.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
There are donation links on our website as well as
our social media accounts. That solutions dot org is our website.
We're on all platforms of social media, as well as
simple Google search of veterans ib again Marcus, Amber Capone,
that will probably lead people there. But the website again
(32:40):
is vetsolutions dot org.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Dan Bryan Marcus, I want to thank you first of
all for serving the country. I want to thank you
for the pioneering work you're doing to help others, and
I want to thank you for joining me. Our listeners
can find out more about the incredible work you're doing
by visiting your website at vetsolutions dot org, which we
will have on our show page. But thank you very
much for being.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
With me, thank you for having us, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
My guest Marcus and Amberka Hoome. You can get a
link to vets on our show page at neutworld dot com.
New World is produced by Ginglish three sixty and iHeartMedia.
Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson.
The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley.
Special thanks to team at Ginlishtree sixty. If you've been
(33:31):
enjoying newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts
and both rate us with five stars and give us
a review so others can learn what it's all about.
Right now, listeners of New World can sign up for
my three free weekly columns at ginglishtree sixty dot com
slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newsworld
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