November 4, 2025 • 30 mins
“Driven to help his fellow veterans conquer addiction, Joe Yurick, Creator of This Sober Vet Podcast, shares stories of those who fought for our freedom and now fight for their own recovery.” www.thissobervet.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Selvia Moss. Welcome to part two of last
week's Insight, where I introduced you to Coachfille, military veteran
joe Yorick and his remarkable journey that not only changed
his life, but the direction of so many of the
lives of veterans. Joseph, let's do a quick recap where
we left off. We'll get to the part where we
left off. Okay, you graduated from high school in two thousand, right,
(00:21):
just party time, like kids do. You join the army,
and at one point, because of the culture of the army,
you continue the drinking, right, Okay, Then nine to eleven happened.
You're over there and Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
That was hell over there. We all know that. We
all saw it on TV. I can't imagine what that
(00:44):
was like for you. As I said, how how when
you left when you're eighteen years old? Let me ask
you this, and you got over there, You're right in
the middle of all this stuff. Did you think, Wow,
this is kind of what I expected.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, I mean you kind of think this is what
I signed up for. But it's pretty wild because now
my oldest son's twenty two and when he turned eighteen,
I'm like, he is a child, Like I can't even
imagine me at that age doing what I did. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, and look like I said, last week's pro me
your poor mother if she knew, Oh my god. Okay,
you came home. You continued your booze and you met
this incredibly wonderful girl named Katie. You have two children,
but you kept your party time. And then it got
to the point where Katie said get out yep, and
you did not know what to do. So what did
(01:32):
you do?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So that day I quit. I chose her. I knew
that I had been asking God for a sign, and
this was a sign that I could not deny because
I didn't want to lose her. Like she was the
one constant. She was the good thing in my life,
and the last thing I would ever want to do
is lose her, because honestly, I would never find another Katie.
(01:54):
She's my rock, she's my like, she's the ying to
my yang. It's funny because we're kind of completely opposites,
and in our crews growing up, we were the leaders
of our crews and we were like voted least likely
to ever settle down and get married because we were
like the leaders. But together Katie and I just meshed
so well, and frankly, I didn't want to let that go.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh, I don't blame you. Everybody wants exactly. You had
what everybody wants exactly, but you didn't realize it until
it was going to be taken away from you. I
talked to her. We talked her a little bit earlier
about you go through all the hell of word. You
come home, you're a different person. Family expects the same
kid that left, and I wanted to talk more about
(02:35):
what families go through because they have no clue. What
was it like for Katie when she saw this, Well,
she didn't know you then, No, you met her after
you came home from the military. Yeah, but even so
she knew you were in the military. What your alcoholism?
What does that do to families?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It's tough because, like I said earlier, she was in
love with half of me, and as soon as I
would start drinking, she would say, my eyes would get lower.
She wouldn't know which Joe she would get, you know,
and that's when she would like kind of avoid me
and pull back.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And she was she was in her twenties. She was
a young girl, right yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And the thing that threw me off was she drank
as well, because we met at a bar, so as
she was like getting to the point where she was
trying to limit me, I'm like, dude, why are you
trying to change me? Like, you know, I drank when
we met, You drank when we met? Like what again
that you go.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Like you no, not at all, nowhere near.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. She would just drink for fun. And she's one
of the normals out there that could have a drink
or two and be fine until the next Friday, which
I never understand. I'm like, how do people do that?
Because that's not in my DNA.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, when you you got out everything and where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So I moved to a little basement apartment in Phoenixville
because it was great. Well it was tough yet because
I was on my own. When I first hung out
with my friends, like you said earlier, I was different.
My humor was super dark. I was drinking a ton,
and my friends I kind of were like who is
(04:08):
this guy? Like it was weird. So I started hanging
out with no one. I would be home, I would
work and get all my I was a highly functioning alcoholic. Yes,
all my responsibilities work before play. I would get all
that done. But when I was home, I was never
not drinking, and I was alone, so no one could
be like, hey, Joe, like you're kind of doing too
much here. No, it was me.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Did you ever seek down any type of counseling.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, no, because again, my ego was in the forefront. Ego.
Counseling is the enemy of ego. What you want to
tell me what to do?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Like, but bye bye bute. At the same time, you're
what you told me, you enjoyed walking in the woods
and you had this homegoing conversation with God. And God
doesn't like stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
When did that hate you that?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
There were actually two or three times I could think
about where God's word or works have hit me, but
I wasn't ready to get it up, and I would
always make up an excuse, like you could ask, hey,
there is a time where something happened. We came back
from Sure, I'm like, I think God's telling me I
need to stop drinking. She's like, oh, that's amazing. You
know what I did that Friday? I drank And she
(05:13):
was like what happened to what God said? I was like, well,
maybe that one message for me, or like, when you're
an attic and you're in it, it's any excuse you
could get to get that next hit, you know, like
it's it's scary.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, they say a lot of times, you're not going
to change to hit bottom.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Correct or until you're ready to, And like say, you're
an attic and I'm telling you all my story, all
this positivity of being sober. No one's going to do
it till they're ready. And that's the difficult part because
no matter how much you love them, you want good
for them, until they're ready to make that leap. They
might quit for a little, but they're always going to
relapse and go back because they're not doing it for them.
They have to be doing it for them in order
(05:50):
for this to stay.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And I think a lot of times when people harp on,
you harp on, no matter what it is, it's like
you just shut them out.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Right, Yeah, you're like yeah, whatever, Like that does not help.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh what I want to talk about, what you're here
to talk about? And what I think is really awesome.
You're in the woods. The sober beat comes to mind,
where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So let me back up a little. So when I
first quit drinking again, I felt like I was naked, exposed,
I have no armor. So I kind of had to
gain my confidence back, and in the first six months
it was a process doing that. But what really helped
were these micro winds. So what I mean by that is,
say on a Wednesday, something bad at work happened, where
(06:32):
normally I would go home and drink it off. Now
I didn't have that as an option, so I had
to lean on my support system, which was my wife,
my friends, my church crew, my religion. So I would
talk it out and instead of numbing it and pushing
it down, now I'm letting my emotions come up and
I'm actually dealing with it. So Thursday morning I would
wake up and go Actually I got through without drinking.
(06:55):
That's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You figure this all out my own about the support Yeah,
well it wasn't on your own, Lea.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, no, I had to lean on my supporting system
and upstairs.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Absolutely, And what fascinates me so much about this is
the different things that just continue to fall in place
and put you in the position that you're in.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So so one thing I've realized was now that I'm
not drinking, I have so much time on my hands
because all I was doing was drinking before. So I
had to fill in my time so and I had
to make myself responsible so I would not relapse. So
I decided every Saturday morning, when my schedule were allowed,
I would start doing these rock marches. There's this nice
trail by my house, It's a five point three mile trail,
(07:35):
and I would put my rucksack on go march out there.
It would kind of give me something to do. I
would also call it my weekly celebration of sobriety, so
that way I'm celebrating what Instead of looking at sobriety
as oh man, I can't drink anymore just sucks, you
have to flip the narrative and say, I get to
be sober. I get to wake up every morning without
a hangover, without regret, without feeling like crap. I get
(07:59):
to do this. I'm gonna sell rate every Saturday morning
with a rock march, because back when I was drinking,
the last thing I would ever want to do on
a Saturday morning hungover is so a forty pound rock
on it. Go March five miles in the woods like no,
thank you. So now I'm doing that with a smile
on my face. So I love the woods. Like even
as I was drinking, I would always go for walks
and I would get a lot of inspiration for my business,
(08:21):
whether it's video, ideas, network, whatever it is. So the
first six months I have no inspiration. I'm going on
these walks and I'm just kind of like waiting for
God to be like, hey, good job, Joe, You're doing great,
Like boom, here's something. So like eight months into it,
I'm like, I get fed up with God and I'm
on this one rock march and I'm like, God, here
I am. I'm doing it. I'm sober. I'm eight months.
(08:43):
I'm fully capable, Like, use me, let me be a
conduit for your word. Give me something like it's literally
been crickets and I need you. I need purpose something.
So I turn this one corner I have one hundred
times before, and clear as day in my head, I
hear this sober and I'm like, this sober vet. What
is it? Is that like a podcast?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
That could be a podcast where I share my story
and maybe I could inspire other veterans who are struggling
like me to get sober because they see how good
sobriety is. So I'm like, now on fire. I get home,
I talk to my wife. I'm like, huh, God, talk
to me. He wants me to start a podcast, blah
blah blah. And my wife is she's very good at
humbling me. It's one of her superpowers. So she's like, Babe, like,
(09:26):
no offense. You're just one vet that stopped drinking. Like
you need someone with credentials, Like you need to to
kind of link up with a therapist if you really
want to do this. And I'm like, man, that's a
really good idea. So I thought my network was huge.
I've reached out to all my networks through business ownership,
be and I groups, chambers everything. I know a million
veterans and I know a million therapists. I couldn't find
(09:49):
one veteran therapist. So here I am like two months
into this idea, and I'm getting down on myself because
i feel like I'm letting God down because he gave
me this gem and I'm just fumbling it. So I'm like,
I don't know what to do. Guy, Like I'd need
a little more help. To make this work the right way.
So I'm scrolling through IG on my phone, which is
Instagram for those who don't know, and I see Sergeant Thomas,
(10:12):
who was our supply sergeant when we deployed. She had
posted something about her therapy practice, and I'm like, oh crap,
Sarn Thomas. She's a therapist. So I was like, why
didn't I think of this? So I immediately dm'd her.
I said, hey, Sartinty, can you give me a call?
I have an idea. So that afternoon she called me.
I told her about this sober vett. I said, I
(10:33):
need a therapist on She's like, oric, I'd be more
than happy to help. So I'm like, yes, thank you
so much. So I lined everything up. I found a
place to record episode one. I wanted to introduce doctor
T and tell my story because I figured, how can
I expect my guests to be vulnerable if I'm not first?
So I put myself out there, told my story, introduced
(10:54):
doctor T, and then moving forward, every other episode has
other veterans, male and female, all branches, telling their sobriety story.
Because you may not relate to my sobriety story, but
you might relate to this female and what her journey was.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So we're trying to reach as many people as we can,
in as many varieties as we can, to inspire as
many as we can, and just to be a ray
of light for those still in the dark. Our listeners
may not quit today, but if they keep hearing these
sobriety wins, and if they keep hearing how on fire
we are on this side of it, knowing that we've
gone through the darkness you're living in right now, we
(11:33):
hope that they're like, you know what, I can do
this too. If they can all do it, I could
totally do jo.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
How did you? I know you know a lot of bits,
but did you I just as bets you know I
did because I know some of your people from men
and women that are on your show, on your podcast.
They're different around the country.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yep. So it started out was I reached out to
my close network. So episode two was my current truck
commander with my own a junk removal company. Excuse me,
So he was episode two, and then episode three was
a female who I had deployed with Tiffany blickenstaff and
her story was interested. I didn't know how bad hers
(12:12):
was until she told her story, so I was like, blick.
I had no idea, Like, she's doing great now. So
I only had three episodes lined up and then I
had to give it up to God for the rest.
As I was putting these episodes out on social media,
people are like, oh, man, I'm a sober vet, I'm
eight years Can I get on your show? Can I
do this? So now people are reaching out to me,
which tells me that God is totally making these connections.
(12:34):
I'm on the right path. I just need to keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Right now, you have part twenty five episodes?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, right now, we have recorded twenty eight episodes. We
just released episode twenty four because they come out the
first and third Monday of the month. So the third
Monday of this month will be our season one closer
episode twenty five, which is with grunt style CEO Tim Jensen,
which is an awesome episode.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Okay, I want to mention a couple because I listened
to a bunch of but I just get people an idea.
There's a lady. She's an Army National Guard VET. Her
title of her show is from Crashing Cars to Healing Scars.
See you, these are do you come up with these
titles I do. I figure that you're amazing. I'm Scott.
Listen to your dad. You've got a lot of stuff
going on here, buddy. A marine vet says, it's a woman.
(13:20):
She's an Olympic bobs letter.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You can't make this stuff up. She's a maid of
Riley T. Jack. She's awesome. She's a captain, she's still
in the Marines.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Who's the guy that's seeing his way to sobriety.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So that is Michael Allen and you guys got to
check out his music. He is amazing too. So he's
Special Forces. Great story because as veterans like especially his story,
you could totally relate to it because part of his
job as Special Forces was when he was deployed, he
was supposed to meet the foreign diplomats to get in
good with the people we were working with. And what
(13:51):
do you do when you meet foreign diplomats? You go
straight to the bar, have some drinks, have some cigars.
And now he's like, wow, this is like so embedded
in me. And he quit drinking while he was in
So that's even harder to do. As you're like this
liaison and you're like, hey, I don't drink there. What
do you mean you don't drink like it's yeah, that
was a great episode.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Obviously you get your strength because you're way smarter than
you ever thought you were. And that's a blessing. I mean,
my god, yeah, I have decent parents. Where would you
have gotten it from? God is everything? And that wonderful Katie.
But Katie's story is on there too, so Katie is great.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, so Katie again, this is where she is amazing.
So as we were getting up in episodes, she was like,
you know, I should really be on there telling your
sobriety story through my eyes. And I was like, let's
do it. Let's do our first double digit episode. So
episode ten is Katie's story and it doesn't pay me
in the best of light, but it gives a voice
(14:53):
to the spouse because for all the nights when I
would drink, do something stupid and pass out and then
for get about it, she remembers everything.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, well she's had that was her hell.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Right exactly, So like, yeah, it's tough, but that so
I also I challenge our listeners to if you only
listen to one episode, listen to episode ten. And if
that sounds like your life. Change it now before it's
too late, before your spouse leaves. You. Listen to what
I went through, and if it sounds anything like what
you're going through, please stop, please listen to it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh, where do we find it? This is? I mean,
I know you. You're on the iHeart podcast app right, absolutely, Yeah,
it's called This This Sober Vet. And your website is.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Is www dot thissobervet dot com and you can find
us on all major podcast platforms and we're on YouTube
or on our website.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay. One of the things I was concerned about is
the fact that you got to have we're footing the
bill and to use a recording studio.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's not cheap.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, it is not cheap. And then something happened.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah. So I've been struggling to like fund this because
it is coming out of my pocket. So I've been
looking to God and asking for something. Like first, I
thought by this point we would have sponsors so this
won't be my problem anymore, but unfortunately we don't. Which
we are looking for sponsors and.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You have to have I believe, what is so many
people listening to before somebody.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Before you can monetize? Yeah, yep, we're not.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
There yet, but what you're doing is I mean, oh
my god, the value on what you're doing. And Joe,
you've had a remarkable life. God saved you over there.
And I know this isn't a religious program, but I
got to be who I am and I you know,
but you were saying for a reason.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Absolutely, yeah, I'm feeling that now.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, that's amazing. How can our listeners support you? What
do you need?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So a few things you guys could do is Number one,
subscribe on whatever podcast platform you listen to, and if
you know anyone who is struggling, have them listen. Just
share this with them. And third way is if you
know any rehab center, any place where this would really
benefit people, have them reach out and see if they
(17:06):
could help us monetarily. Be a sponsor. There's two thirty
second commercials per episode, and we'd be happy to team
up with them and just help this and grow because
right now, my biggest hurdle is awareness because we need
to normalize variety with veterans and not everyone's going to
support this mission, but those that do, we need to
push it out there.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You guys have a newsletter? Did I see what I see?
Online on your website.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I need to work on that little more, but yeah,
we're working on them.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Okay, so is this your So you're going to do
this like, well, it's part of you what it is?
And how old are you?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I'm forty three?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Okay, you're young yet ye yeah that's way.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
And this is also it's therapy for me and it
helps me be sober because by hearing these messages, by
getting the positive feedback, and now people are looking at
me because I am this sober vet. I'm never going
to fall off the wagon. I have too many people
looking at me.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And your life is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It couldn't be back. I couldn't imagine how good my
life would be.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We know what I'm talking about. I always worry about,
like how we influence because parents are the number one
influence of children. I remember you were telling the story
about that your books that you were showing your son
was just how old was he recently? The one when
with the pictures in it?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah that was Yeah, that was about
a year and a half ago. Because I have two
pictures of my military experience. One is the serious stuff
I did. The other is what happened in the barracks,
and the barracks was so bad.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
What did he say?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
He was just like geez, dad like that. Yeah, he's
he's good in this sense. He wouldn't make me feel
bad for it, but you could just kind of see
on his face like like just a cringe worthy.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
It is good because that it shows you what not
to do, what not to be.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Like, if you could look back over all the stuff
you've been through, I would say you had you were
being I guess the words set up is not groomed.
At any point before all these things start falling into place,
did you think, oh my god, there's a purpose, here's
(19:08):
my purpose.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No, not while I was going through it, not at all,
because there was always kind of an emptiness. I was
always chasing something I didn't know what it was. But yeah,
nothing fell into place until about eight to twelve months
into sobriety. That's when my AHA moment was like, oh wow,
Like I had to go through that in order to
be courageous enough to tell this story and in order
(19:30):
to bring a new conversation to the world, because what
I'm doing is ruffling feathers. Because a lot of people
still in drink. A lot of vets drink and they
kind of don't want to hear this. But there's a
lot of people that need to hear this, just like me,
and I did my research before starting this. This does
not exist. So that tells me that God wants me
(19:51):
to bring this message to the world. And I'm honored
to be a part of God's plan. So I'm want
to fight every day for this.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Well, there's no other reasons if you did this by yourself,
is no other reason to kick this habit, this horrible
habit by yourself. Well it wasn't by yourself. But you
know what I'm saying that I've never heard of anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's tough, but you have to rely on the support system.
And I tell people that no one is strong enough.
If you think I'm strong, No one is strong enough
to do this alone. You need a support.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Now, you said you've been recently. You went to Was
it a convention?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah? The Veteran Convention is value for it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Was there was anybody else doing anything like this?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
No, not like this.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
People come up and say, hey, but hey man, what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's funny because there's literally a black or white reaction
to what I do. Some people walk by and they
are like, we don't want to hear that because I'm drinking.
And other people walk up and go, oh my god,
my dad was an alcoholic. I wish he heard of this.
Unfortunately he passed away. Or my brother's an alcoholic, I'm
going to tell him to listen. Like it either resonates
with people, or if you're actively using, you're kind of
(20:48):
like like, no, I don't want anything to do.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And you know what, Joe too, It's you are and
you had an incredible service in military. But this doesn't
just help people who are in the military. Is for
people people or have addictions.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Addition does not segregate. Does anyone is susceptible to addictions?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You're giving them hope.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, and that's all we're doing. We're not the end
all cure all. If you listen, you're gonna stop right. No,
it's we're just providing hope. We're showing you that sobriety
is possible. Here's how, here's how all these veterans who
dealt with the things that you're dealing with made it work.
And again, it boils down to our strength is in
our choices. We're either choosing to stay in addiction where
(21:34):
we're choosing sobriety. And another challenge to anyone stuck in it,
I just say, try sobriety for six months. If in
six months you look back and your life is not
better in any way, alcohol wi always be there. You
could always go back to the misery you're in now.
But try six months, because you already know the path
you're on and where that takes you. Try something new.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You're saying, try something new, and I'm saying, try Joe,
try this sober bad again. You can narr it on
the eye either the iHeart or Apple podcasts, and he's
got I mean, like, these are just people. I don't
want to say what I'm thinking about. I was going
to say shooting that, but it's like a bunch of
buddies sitting around the kitchen table.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
We're just veterans having a conversation.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And also with your friend who's a counselor. She's right
there to answer all kinds of questions.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Doctor T.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
She's amazing. It's amazing. What's the next step for this?
Do you think just keep building this?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I want to keep building this. I kind of want
to be as big as a Joe Rogan podcast because
we're spreading such a positive message that why wouldn't this
be successful?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
That's you know what, that's funny. Anybody who I have
known who has been successful feels the same exact way
you do it. It's faith. What do you think? Are
you blown away by this? I bet ya are.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I'm in all because I get messages all the time,
Like I got a message just yesterday. It was through
Reddit and this guy was like, I just listened to
episode ten. My wife just less left me. But I
feel like I could reeal this back in and I
know in a year or two I gonn to have
her telling stories just like your wife told stories of you.
You're just gonna be proud of me when I'm sober. Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Do you ever hear from these people that you've had
on his guests that they went through suffer. Has anybody
ever listened and listened to your program and college and say,
oh my god, I listened to this guy, this woman
and I did what they did and they've given me
such you alone and Katie, you're such an inspiration. But
do you get a lot of that where people reach out.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
To you indirectly, I do. Yeah. So one of my
Jadall customers, her nephews currently in the Navy, he was
struggling with alcohols. She told him about the podcast. He's
now three months sober because he's been listening to the
sobriety Stories of Hope. And she reached out and was like,
in tears, I can't believe like you're changing lives like
this is this is bigger than me. That's why it's
(23:54):
not the Joe your show. That's why it's this Sober Vet.
And if you look at our logo, it looks nothing
like me because it has nothing to do with me.
This is a story of sobriety and providing hope for
those that are still in the door.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
And you do you do all the time? Do you
ever feel like you might slip back?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Never? I couldn't do that. Number One, I would never
want to go through sobriety that journey again because it
was the hardest thing I've ever done. And number two,
there's too many people that are looking up to me.
I don't want to let them down.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
And you know what, like with Katie, yes, she's everything too,
she's the lover of your life, but she can't give
you any guarantees it that.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
She liked your back, right, Yeah, there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, yeah, you don't know what happened. So, but boy,
what a remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know. And when we started this program with talking
about Veteran's Day a couple of weeks ago and how
we have parades and you know, all of a sudden
stuff waving the flags and everything, and I always thought,
they don't care about this. They want you to find
out what they're going through and support them, you know.
And did a lot of people know that what happened
(25:01):
with you and Katie?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
No, No, we cut our life very private. Katy was
good at that. She didn't invent her family about like
she it was hard for her to do that episode
because she knew the world was going to listen. And
she's like, I don't like to put our business out there, sure,
but I'm like, hun, but this is bigger than us.
This is to show people that there's hope on this side.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Proud of you, she is, Yeah, what do you guys
do for fun other than this?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
We hang out with our kids. We enjoy going to
Disney World. That's our favorite vacation spot. My youngest son's
a dancer. My oldest son's a fighter. So yeah, we
just said a lot of family time.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
We love everything. Do you think one of those guys
will involved in military.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
My oldest one has talked about it, but he has
recently found a girl and he's focused on.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know, sometimes I talk to these young girls and
that about stuff and they listen. I don't want to
hear that crap. I love him, love him, love him.
If he loves you, he will be there. Go get
some sort of education that you can support yourself if
something happens. That's realistic. It's a different world. And the
funny part about it, Joe, is when I because of
(26:11):
what my dad went through and because I've always been
interested in helping vets. Technology may have changed some of
the issues that guys deal with, but in general, most
of the issues that veteran steal veteran still with are
the same issues they dealt with years ago.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
You know, But I will say there's a lot more.
There's a lot more help now. Like even when I
first got out and I was transitioning from civilian military
to civilian world, it was very difficult and I didn't
know who to turn to. But now like there's programs
as you're transitioning out that the military provides. There's more
programs that VA provides. There's even help in like vfw's
(26:51):
or American legions. So like, at least people saw that
there was a gap and that gap has starting to
be filled, which is promising.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
What're else concerned you rather than like alcohol? Well, alcohol,
I mean it can lead loads of different things. I
mean even suicide, and there's it's a it's a disgrace.
The number of vets that or kill himself. What is it?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Twenty two that's what they say, and that's another ripple effect.
I hope that our mission will kind of bring down
that number because if you think about it, an alarming
rate of those twenty two a day have some sort
of substance in them when they're making this horrendous decision.
So if we can normalize sobriety with the veterans, that
number should go down, because if we could get more
(27:32):
vets sober, then they're not doing that. Because I had
one of our guests, Gravy, he was episode eight, I believe,
and he said, listen, like, if you're a vet and
you want to hurt yourself, go on a rock marsh
like Joe does, or join me for jiu jitsu. Will
hurt you, but you'll be here the next day. Like
there's there's healthy ways to hurt yourself, you know, like
(27:53):
if that's where you are in life. But suicide is
not the answer because you have to think about your parents,
your siblings or kids, like there's so many people that
rely on you, and I know you're going through a
personal hell, but reach out. Suicide is just is not
the answer.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Did you ever think about that?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Luckily I have not no, but I have had battle
buddies that have and it just it's very confusing to
me because these are people that I've been in touch
with that check in everything's fine, and then all of
a sudden you hear, hey this person, You're like, what
what happened? Just talk to them last month?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Like, well, you know, I think a lot too. There
is such a connection between drugs and alcohol and mental illness.
I mean, they're interconnecting and they're starting to realize that
because they used to treat a mental health problem, you've
gotten in, you know, some sort of substance abuse problem.
Now they realize that or you're something ro I can't
(28:48):
thank you enough for driving here to do this program.
It's been wonderful.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I'll be listening. I keep on doing it again.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Your website is www dot This Sober Vet. You can
find us on all major podcasts platforms, and we're on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Okay, at This Sober Vet podcast. Let me tell you,
they are real accounts of veterans, men and women. They
struggle through so much, and because of the courage and
support they have, they've been able to transform their lives.
And who knows you're gonna be able to listen to
something some days, it's gonna wake things up for you
and turn your life around, just like turn Joe's on.
(29:25):
So thanks buddy, I'll talk to you soon. You know what,
don't forget iHeart Insight with Sylvia Moss is on ten
I heard stations in this market and you can also
listen to it anytime on your favorite podcast now. So
thanks so much for listening. To see you next week.
Hi, I'm Selvia Moss. Welcome to part two of last
week's Insight, where I introduced you to Coachfille, military veteran
joe Yorick and his remarkable journey that not only changed
his life, but the direction of so many of the
lives of veterans. Joseph, let's do a quick recap where
we left off. We'll get to the part where we
left off. Okay, you graduated from high school in two thousand, right,
(00:21):
just party time, like kids do. You join the army,
and at one point, because of the culture of the army,
you continue the drinking, right, Okay, Then nine to eleven happened.
You're over there and Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
That was hell over there. We all know that. We
all saw it on TV. I can't imagine what that
(00:44):
was like for you. As I said, how how when
you left when you're eighteen years old? Let me ask
you this, and you got over there, You're right in
the middle of all this stuff. Did you think, Wow,
this is kind of what I expected.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, I mean you kind of think this is what
I signed up for. But it's pretty wild because now
my oldest son's twenty two and when he turned eighteen,
I'm like, he is a child, Like I can't even
imagine me at that age doing what I did. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, and look like I said, last week's pro me
your poor mother if she knew, Oh my god. Okay,
you came home. You continued your booze and you met
this incredibly wonderful girl named Katie. You have two children,
but you kept your party time. And then it got
to the point where Katie said get out yep, and
you did not know what to do. So what did
(01:32):
you do?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So that day I quit. I chose her. I knew
that I had been asking God for a sign, and
this was a sign that I could not deny because
I didn't want to lose her. Like she was the
one constant. She was the good thing in my life,
and the last thing I would ever want to do
is lose her, because honestly, I would never find another Katie.
(01:54):
She's my rock, she's my like, she's the ying to
my yang. It's funny because we're kind of completely opposites,
and in our crews growing up, we were the leaders
of our crews and we were like voted least likely
to ever settle down and get married because we were
like the leaders. But together Katie and I just meshed
so well, and frankly, I didn't want to let that go.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh, I don't blame you. Everybody wants exactly. You had
what everybody wants exactly, but you didn't realize it until
it was going to be taken away from you. I
talked to her. We talked her a little bit earlier
about you go through all the hell of word. You
come home, you're a different person. Family expects the same
kid that left, and I wanted to talk more about
(02:35):
what families go through because they have no clue. What
was it like for Katie when she saw this, Well,
she didn't know you then, No, you met her after
you came home from the military. Yeah, but even so
she knew you were in the military. What your alcoholism?
What does that do to families?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It's tough because, like I said earlier, she was in
love with half of me, and as soon as I
would start drinking, she would say, my eyes would get lower.
She wouldn't know which Joe she would get, you know,
and that's when she would like kind of avoid me
and pull back.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And she was she was in her twenties. She was
a young girl, right yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And the thing that threw me off was she drank
as well, because we met at a bar, so as
she was like getting to the point where she was
trying to limit me, I'm like, dude, why are you
trying to change me? Like, you know, I drank when
we met, You drank when we met? Like what again
that you go.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Like you no, not at all, nowhere near.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. She would just drink for fun. And she's one
of the normals out there that could have a drink
or two and be fine until the next Friday, which
I never understand. I'm like, how do people do that?
Because that's not in my DNA.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, when you you got out everything and where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So I moved to a little basement apartment in Phoenixville
because it was great. Well it was tough yet because
I was on my own. When I first hung out
with my friends, like you said earlier, I was different.
My humor was super dark. I was drinking a ton,
and my friends I kind of were like who is
(04:08):
this guy? Like it was weird. So I started hanging
out with no one. I would be home, I would
work and get all my I was a highly functioning alcoholic. Yes,
all my responsibilities work before play. I would get all
that done. But when I was home, I was never
not drinking, and I was alone, so no one could
be like, hey, Joe, like you're kind of doing too
much here. No, it was me.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Did you ever seek down any type of counseling.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, no, because again, my ego was in the forefront. Ego.
Counseling is the enemy of ego. What you want to
tell me what to do?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Like, but bye bye bute. At the same time, you're
what you told me, you enjoyed walking in the woods
and you had this homegoing conversation with God. And God
doesn't like stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
When did that hate you that?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
There were actually two or three times I could think
about where God's word or works have hit me, but
I wasn't ready to get it up, and I would
always make up an excuse, like you could ask, hey,
there is a time where something happened. We came back
from Sure, I'm like, I think God's telling me I
need to stop drinking. She's like, oh, that's amazing. You
know what I did that Friday? I drank And she
(05:13):
was like what happened to what God said? I was like, well,
maybe that one message for me, or like, when you're
an attic and you're in it, it's any excuse you
could get to get that next hit, you know, like
it's it's scary.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, they say a lot of times, you're not going
to change to hit bottom.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Correct or until you're ready to, And like say, you're
an attic and I'm telling you all my story, all
this positivity of being sober. No one's going to do
it till they're ready. And that's the difficult part because
no matter how much you love them, you want good
for them, until they're ready to make that leap. They
might quit for a little, but they're always going to
relapse and go back because they're not doing it for them.
They have to be doing it for them in order
(05:50):
for this to stay.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And I think a lot of times when people harp on,
you harp on, no matter what it is, it's like
you just shut them out.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Right, Yeah, you're like yeah, whatever, Like that does not help.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh what I want to talk about, what you're here
to talk about? And what I think is really awesome.
You're in the woods. The sober beat comes to mind,
where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So let me back up a little. So when I
first quit drinking again, I felt like I was naked, exposed,
I have no armor. So I kind of had to
gain my confidence back, and in the first six months
it was a process doing that. But what really helped
were these micro winds. So what I mean by that is,
say on a Wednesday, something bad at work happened, where
(06:32):
normally I would go home and drink it off. Now
I didn't have that as an option, so I had
to lean on my support system, which was my wife,
my friends, my church crew, my religion. So I would
talk it out and instead of numbing it and pushing
it down, now I'm letting my emotions come up and
I'm actually dealing with it. So Thursday morning I would
wake up and go Actually I got through without drinking.
(06:55):
That's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You figure this all out my own about the support Yeah,
well it wasn't on your own, Lea.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, no, I had to lean on my supporting system
and upstairs.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Absolutely, And what fascinates me so much about this is
the different things that just continue to fall in place
and put you in the position that you're in.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So so one thing I've realized was now that I'm
not drinking, I have so much time on my hands
because all I was doing was drinking before. So I
had to fill in my time so and I had
to make myself responsible so I would not relapse. So
I decided every Saturday morning, when my schedule were allowed,
I would start doing these rock marches. There's this nice
trail by my house, It's a five point three mile trail,
(07:35):
and I would put my rucksack on go march out there.
It would kind of give me something to do. I
would also call it my weekly celebration of sobriety, so
that way I'm celebrating what Instead of looking at sobriety
as oh man, I can't drink anymore just sucks, you
have to flip the narrative and say, I get to
be sober. I get to wake up every morning without
a hangover, without regret, without feeling like crap. I get
(07:59):
to do this. I'm gonna sell rate every Saturday morning
with a rock march, because back when I was drinking,
the last thing I would ever want to do on
a Saturday morning hungover is so a forty pound rock
on it. Go March five miles in the woods like no,
thank you. So now I'm doing that with a smile
on my face. So I love the woods. Like even
as I was drinking, I would always go for walks
and I would get a lot of inspiration for my business,
(08:21):
whether it's video, ideas, network, whatever it is. So the
first six months I have no inspiration. I'm going on
these walks and I'm just kind of like waiting for
God to be like, hey, good job, Joe, You're doing great,
Like boom, here's something. So like eight months into it,
I'm like, I get fed up with God and I'm
on this one rock march and I'm like, God, here
I am. I'm doing it. I'm sober. I'm eight months.
(08:43):
I'm fully capable, Like, use me, let me be a
conduit for your word. Give me something like it's literally
been crickets and I need you. I need purpose something.
So I turn this one corner I have one hundred
times before, and clear as day in my head, I
hear this sober and I'm like, this sober vet. What
is it? Is that like a podcast?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
That could be a podcast where I share my story
and maybe I could inspire other veterans who are struggling
like me to get sober because they see how good
sobriety is. So I'm like, now on fire. I get home,
I talk to my wife. I'm like, huh, God, talk
to me. He wants me to start a podcast, blah
blah blah. And my wife is she's very good at
humbling me. It's one of her superpowers. So she's like, Babe, like,
(09:26):
no offense. You're just one vet that stopped drinking. Like
you need someone with credentials, Like you need to to
kind of link up with a therapist if you really
want to do this. And I'm like, man, that's a
really good idea. So I thought my network was huge.
I've reached out to all my networks through business ownership,
be and I groups, chambers everything. I know a million
veterans and I know a million therapists. I couldn't find
(09:49):
one veteran therapist. So here I am like two months
into this idea, and I'm getting down on myself because
i feel like I'm letting God down because he gave
me this gem and I'm just fumbling it. So I'm like,
I don't know what to do. Guy, Like I'd need
a little more help. To make this work the right way.
So I'm scrolling through IG on my phone, which is
Instagram for those who don't know, and I see Sergeant Thomas,
(10:12):
who was our supply sergeant when we deployed. She had
posted something about her therapy practice, and I'm like, oh crap,
Sarn Thomas. She's a therapist. So I was like, why
didn't I think of this? So I immediately dm'd her.
I said, hey, Sartinty, can you give me a call?
I have an idea. So that afternoon she called me.
I told her about this sober vett. I said, I
(10:33):
need a therapist on She's like, oric, I'd be more
than happy to help. So I'm like, yes, thank you
so much. So I lined everything up. I found a
place to record episode one. I wanted to introduce doctor
T and tell my story because I figured, how can
I expect my guests to be vulnerable if I'm not first?
So I put myself out there, told my story, introduced
(10:54):
doctor T, and then moving forward, every other episode has
other veterans, male and female, all branches, telling their sobriety story.
Because you may not relate to my sobriety story, but
you might relate to this female and what her journey was.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So we're trying to reach as many people as we can,
in as many varieties as we can, to inspire as
many as we can, and just to be a ray
of light for those still in the dark. Our listeners
may not quit today, but if they keep hearing these
sobriety wins, and if they keep hearing how on fire
we are on this side of it, knowing that we've
gone through the darkness you're living in right now, we
(11:33):
hope that they're like, you know what, I can do
this too. If they can all do it, I could
totally do jo.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
How did you? I know you know a lot of bits,
but did you I just as bets you know I
did because I know some of your people from men
and women that are on your show, on your podcast.
They're different around the country.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yep. So it started out was I reached out to
my close network. So episode two was my current truck
commander with my own a junk removal company. Excuse me,
So he was episode two, and then episode three was
a female who I had deployed with Tiffany blickenstaff and
her story was interested. I didn't know how bad hers
(12:12):
was until she told her story, so I was like, blick.
I had no idea, Like, she's doing great now. So
I only had three episodes lined up and then I
had to give it up to God for the rest.
As I was putting these episodes out on social media,
people are like, oh, man, I'm a sober vet, I'm
eight years Can I get on your show? Can I
do this? So now people are reaching out to me,
which tells me that God is totally making these connections.
(12:34):
I'm on the right path. I just need to keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Right now, you have part twenty five episodes?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, right now, we have recorded twenty eight episodes. We
just released episode twenty four because they come out the
first and third Monday of the month. So the third
Monday of this month will be our season one closer
episode twenty five, which is with grunt style CEO Tim Jensen,
which is an awesome episode.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Okay, I want to mention a couple because I listened
to a bunch of but I just get people an idea.
There's a lady. She's an Army National Guard VET. Her
title of her show is from Crashing Cars to Healing Scars.
See you, these are do you come up with these
titles I do. I figure that you're amazing. I'm Scott.
Listen to your dad. You've got a lot of stuff
going on here, buddy. A marine vet says, it's a woman.
(13:20):
She's an Olympic bobs letter.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You can't make this stuff up. She's a maid of
Riley T. Jack. She's awesome. She's a captain, she's still
in the Marines.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Who's the guy that's seeing his way to sobriety.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So that is Michael Allen and you guys got to
check out his music. He is amazing too. So he's
Special Forces. Great story because as veterans like especially his story,
you could totally relate to it because part of his
job as Special Forces was when he was deployed, he
was supposed to meet the foreign diplomats to get in
good with the people we were working with. And what
(13:51):
do you do when you meet foreign diplomats? You go
straight to the bar, have some drinks, have some cigars.
And now he's like, wow, this is like so embedded
in me. And he quit drinking while he was in
So that's even harder to do. As you're like this
liaison and you're like, hey, I don't drink there. What
do you mean you don't drink like it's yeah, that
was a great episode.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Obviously you get your strength because you're way smarter than
you ever thought you were. And that's a blessing. I mean,
my god, yeah, I have decent parents. Where would you
have gotten it from? God is everything? And that wonderful Katie.
But Katie's story is on there too, so Katie is great.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, so Katie again, this is where she is amazing.
So as we were getting up in episodes, she was like,
you know, I should really be on there telling your
sobriety story through my eyes. And I was like, let's
do it. Let's do our first double digit episode. So
episode ten is Katie's story and it doesn't pay me
in the best of light, but it gives a voice
(14:53):
to the spouse because for all the nights when I
would drink, do something stupid and pass out and then
for get about it, she remembers everything.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, well she's had that was her hell.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Right exactly, So like, yeah, it's tough, but that so
I also I challenge our listeners to if you only
listen to one episode, listen to episode ten. And if
that sounds like your life. Change it now before it's
too late, before your spouse leaves. You. Listen to what
I went through, and if it sounds anything like what
you're going through, please stop, please listen to it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh, where do we find it? This is? I mean,
I know you. You're on the iHeart podcast app right, absolutely, Yeah,
it's called This This Sober Vet. And your website is.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Is www dot thissobervet dot com and you can find
us on all major podcast platforms and we're on YouTube
or on our website.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay. One of the things I was concerned about is
the fact that you got to have we're footing the
bill and to use a recording studio.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's not cheap.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, it is not cheap. And then something happened.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah. So I've been struggling to like fund this because
it is coming out of my pocket. So I've been
looking to God and asking for something. Like first, I
thought by this point we would have sponsors so this
won't be my problem anymore, but unfortunately we don't. Which
we are looking for sponsors and.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You have to have I believe, what is so many
people listening to before somebody.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Before you can monetize? Yeah, yep, we're not.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
There yet, but what you're doing is I mean, oh
my god, the value on what you're doing. And Joe,
you've had a remarkable life. God saved you over there.
And I know this isn't a religious program, but I
got to be who I am and I you know,
but you were saying for a reason.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Absolutely, yeah, I'm feeling that now.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, that's amazing. How can our listeners support you? What
do you need?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So a few things you guys could do is Number one,
subscribe on whatever podcast platform you listen to, and if
you know anyone who is struggling, have them listen. Just
share this with them. And third way is if you
know any rehab center, any place where this would really
benefit people, have them reach out and see if they
(17:06):
could help us monetarily. Be a sponsor. There's two thirty
second commercials per episode, and we'd be happy to team
up with them and just help this and grow because
right now, my biggest hurdle is awareness because we need
to normalize variety with veterans and not everyone's going to
support this mission, but those that do, we need to
push it out there.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You guys have a newsletter? Did I see what I see?
Online on your website.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, I need to work on that little more, but yeah,
we're working on them.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Okay, so is this your So you're going to do
this like, well, it's part of you what it is?
And how old are you?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I'm forty three?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Okay, you're young yet ye yeah that's way.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
And this is also it's therapy for me and it
helps me be sober because by hearing these messages, by
getting the positive feedback, and now people are looking at
me because I am this sober vet. I'm never going
to fall off the wagon. I have too many people
looking at me.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And your life is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It couldn't be back. I couldn't imagine how good my
life would be.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We know what I'm talking about. I always worry about,
like how we influence because parents are the number one
influence of children. I remember you were telling the story
about that your books that you were showing your son
was just how old was he recently? The one when
with the pictures in it?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah that was Yeah, that was about
a year and a half ago. Because I have two
pictures of my military experience. One is the serious stuff
I did. The other is what happened in the barracks,
and the barracks was so bad.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
What did he say?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
He was just like geez, dad like that. Yeah, he's
he's good in this sense. He wouldn't make me feel
bad for it, but you could just kind of see
on his face like like just a cringe worthy.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
It is good because that it shows you what not
to do, what not to be.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Like, if you could look back over all the stuff
you've been through, I would say you had you were
being I guess the words set up is not groomed.
At any point before all these things start falling into place,
did you think, oh my god, there's a purpose, here's
(19:08):
my purpose.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No, not while I was going through it, not at all,
because there was always kind of an emptiness. I was
always chasing something I didn't know what it was. But yeah,
nothing fell into place until about eight to twelve months
into sobriety. That's when my AHA moment was like, oh wow,
Like I had to go through that in order to
be courageous enough to tell this story and in order
(19:30):
to bring a new conversation to the world, because what
I'm doing is ruffling feathers. Because a lot of people
still in drink. A lot of vets drink and they
kind of don't want to hear this. But there's a
lot of people that need to hear this, just like me,
and I did my research before starting this. This does
not exist. So that tells me that God wants me
(19:51):
to bring this message to the world. And I'm honored
to be a part of God's plan. So I'm want
to fight every day for this.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Well, there's no other reasons if you did this by yourself,
is no other reason to kick this habit, this horrible
habit by yourself. Well it wasn't by yourself. But you
know what I'm saying that I've never heard of anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's tough, but you have to rely on the support system.
And I tell people that no one is strong enough.
If you think I'm strong, No one is strong enough
to do this alone. You need a support.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Now, you said you've been recently. You went to Was
it a convention?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah? The Veteran Convention is value for it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Was there was anybody else doing anything like this?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
No, not like this.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
People come up and say, hey, but hey man, what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's funny because there's literally a black or white reaction
to what I do. Some people walk by and they
are like, we don't want to hear that because I'm drinking.
And other people walk up and go, oh my god,
my dad was an alcoholic. I wish he heard of this.
Unfortunately he passed away. Or my brother's an alcoholic, I'm
going to tell him to listen. Like it either resonates
with people, or if you're actively using, you're kind of
(20:48):
like like, no, I don't want anything to do.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And you know what, Joe too, It's you are and
you had an incredible service in military. But this doesn't
just help people who are in the military. Is for
people people or have addictions.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Addition does not segregate. Does anyone is susceptible to addictions?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You're giving them hope.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, and that's all we're doing. We're not the end
all cure all. If you listen, you're gonna stop right. No,
it's we're just providing hope. We're showing you that sobriety
is possible. Here's how, here's how all these veterans who
dealt with the things that you're dealing with made it work.
And again, it boils down to our strength is in
our choices. We're either choosing to stay in addiction where
(21:34):
we're choosing sobriety. And another challenge to anyone stuck in it,
I just say, try sobriety for six months. If in
six months you look back and your life is not
better in any way, alcohol wi always be there. You
could always go back to the misery you're in now.
But try six months, because you already know the path
you're on and where that takes you. Try something new.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You're saying, try something new, and I'm saying, try Joe,
try this sober bad again. You can narr it on
the eye either the iHeart or Apple podcasts, and he's
got I mean, like, these are just people. I don't
want to say what I'm thinking about. I was going
to say shooting that, but it's like a bunch of
buddies sitting around the kitchen table.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
We're just veterans having a conversation.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And also with your friend who's a counselor. She's right
there to answer all kinds of questions.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Doctor T.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
She's amazing. It's amazing. What's the next step for this?
Do you think just keep building this?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I want to keep building this. I kind of want
to be as big as a Joe Rogan podcast because
we're spreading such a positive message that why wouldn't this
be successful?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
That's you know what, that's funny. Anybody who I have
known who has been successful feels the same exact way
you do it. It's faith. What do you think? Are
you blown away by this? I bet ya are.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I'm in all because I get messages all the time,
Like I got a message just yesterday. It was through
Reddit and this guy was like, I just listened to
episode ten. My wife just less left me. But I
feel like I could reeal this back in and I
know in a year or two I gonn to have
her telling stories just like your wife told stories of you.
You're just gonna be proud of me when I'm sober. Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Do you ever hear from these people that you've had
on his guests that they went through suffer. Has anybody
ever listened and listened to your program and college and say,
oh my god, I listened to this guy, this woman
and I did what they did and they've given me
such you alone and Katie, you're such an inspiration. But
do you get a lot of that where people reach out.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
To you indirectly, I do. Yeah. So one of my
Jadall customers, her nephews currently in the Navy, he was
struggling with alcohols. She told him about the podcast. He's
now three months sober because he's been listening to the
sobriety Stories of Hope. And she reached out and was like,
in tears, I can't believe like you're changing lives like
this is this is bigger than me. That's why it's
(23:54):
not the Joe your show. That's why it's this Sober Vet.
And if you look at our logo, it looks nothing
like me because it has nothing to do with me.
This is a story of sobriety and providing hope for
those that are still in the door.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
And you do you do all the time? Do you
ever feel like you might slip back?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Never? I couldn't do that. Number One, I would never
want to go through sobriety that journey again because it
was the hardest thing I've ever done. And number two,
there's too many people that are looking up to me.
I don't want to let them down.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
And you know what, like with Katie, yes, she's everything too,
she's the lover of your life, but she can't give
you any guarantees it that.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
She liked your back, right, Yeah, there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, yeah, you don't know what happened. So, but boy,
what a remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know. And when we started this program with talking
about Veteran's Day a couple of weeks ago and how
we have parades and you know, all of a sudden
stuff waving the flags and everything, and I always thought,
they don't care about this. They want you to find
out what they're going through and support them, you know.
And did a lot of people know that what happened
(25:01):
with you and Katie?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
No, No, we cut our life very private. Katy was
good at that. She didn't invent her family about like
she it was hard for her to do that episode
because she knew the world was going to listen. And
she's like, I don't like to put our business out there, sure,
but I'm like, hun, but this is bigger than us.
This is to show people that there's hope on this side.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Proud of you, she is, Yeah, what do you guys
do for fun other than this?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
We hang out with our kids. We enjoy going to
Disney World. That's our favorite vacation spot. My youngest son's
a dancer. My oldest son's a fighter. So yeah, we
just said a lot of family time.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
We love everything. Do you think one of those guys
will involved in military.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
My oldest one has talked about it, but he has
recently found a girl and he's focused on.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know, sometimes I talk to these young girls and
that about stuff and they listen. I don't want to
hear that crap. I love him, love him, love him.
If he loves you, he will be there. Go get
some sort of education that you can support yourself if
something happens. That's realistic. It's a different world. And the
funny part about it, Joe, is when I because of
(26:11):
what my dad went through and because I've always been
interested in helping vets. Technology may have changed some of
the issues that guys deal with, but in general, most
of the issues that veteran steal veteran still with are
the same issues they dealt with years ago.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
You know, But I will say there's a lot more.
There's a lot more help now. Like even when I
first got out and I was transitioning from civilian military
to civilian world, it was very difficult and I didn't
know who to turn to. But now like there's programs
as you're transitioning out that the military provides. There's more
programs that VA provides. There's even help in like vfw's
(26:51):
or American legions. So like, at least people saw that
there was a gap and that gap has starting to
be filled, which is promising.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
What're else concerned you rather than like alcohol? Well, alcohol,
I mean it can lead loads of different things. I
mean even suicide, and there's it's a it's a disgrace.
The number of vets that or kill himself. What is it?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Twenty two that's what they say, and that's another ripple effect.
I hope that our mission will kind of bring down
that number because if you think about it, an alarming
rate of those twenty two a day have some sort
of substance in them when they're making this horrendous decision.
So if we can normalize sobriety with the veterans, that
number should go down, because if we could get more
(27:32):
vets sober, then they're not doing that. Because I had
one of our guests, Gravy, he was episode eight, I believe,
and he said, listen, like, if you're a vet and
you want to hurt yourself, go on a rock marsh
like Joe does, or join me for jiu jitsu. Will
hurt you, but you'll be here the next day. Like
there's there's healthy ways to hurt yourself, you know, like
(27:53):
if that's where you are in life. But suicide is
not the answer because you have to think about your parents,
your siblings or kids, like there's so many people that
rely on you, and I know you're going through a
personal hell, but reach out. Suicide is just is not
the answer.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Did you ever think about that?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Luckily I have not no, but I have had battle
buddies that have and it just it's very confusing to
me because these are people that I've been in touch
with that check in everything's fine, and then all of
a sudden you hear, hey this person, You're like, what
what happened? Just talk to them last month?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Like, well, you know, I think a lot too. There
is such a connection between drugs and alcohol and mental illness.
I mean, they're interconnecting and they're starting to realize that
because they used to treat a mental health problem, you've
gotten in, you know, some sort of substance abuse problem.
Now they realize that or you're something ro I can't
(28:48):
thank you enough for driving here to do this program.
It's been wonderful.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I'll be listening. I keep on doing it again.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Your website is www dot This Sober Vet. You can
find us on all major podcasts platforms, and we're on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Okay, at This Sober Vet podcast. Let me tell you,
they are real accounts of veterans, men and women. They
struggle through so much, and because of the courage and
support they have, they've been able to transform their lives.
And who knows you're gonna be able to listen to
something some days, it's gonna wake things up for you
and turn your life around, just like turn Joe's on.
(29:25):
So thanks buddy, I'll talk to you soon. You know what,
don't forget iHeart Insight with Sylvia Moss is on ten
I heard stations in this market and you can also
listen to it anytime on your favorite podcast now. So
thanks so much for listening. To see you next week.
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