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This is Later with Lee Matthews the
Lee Matthews Podcast More What You Here Weekday

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Afternoon's on the Drive. Kelsey Sheritt
is a combat veteran and artillery gunner in

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the Canadian military. She served in
Afghanistan from in two thousand and nine with

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the Canadian, American and British forces
and has come back to tell her tale

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in a book that is called Brass
and Unity. One Woman's Journey through the

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Hell of Afghanistan and back and joined
Us. Now, Kelsey, what was

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the first thing that attracted you to
the military life. Oh, I feel

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like this is going to get repetitive. I've met a lady on a bush

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and she said, she said,
you ought to join the army. Honey,

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let me give you some contact.
So in Canada we call it Remember

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this Day. In America you call
it Veterans Day. And I go down

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to the ceremonies every year. And
I was in Ottawa and I was going

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to college at the time, and
I was on my way back from that

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ceremony and there was this lady on
a bus in an Air Force uniform with

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a row of medals, and I
had a quick conversation with her and something

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sparked, something in my heart,
whatever you want to call it, just

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snapped and said, all right,
we're doing this. I got off the

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bus. I quit college that day, and I went and I found the

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recruiter's office. Well, and you
ended up being the smallest person in your

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basic training. Yeah, I mean
that's the thing. So many, so

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many of us are all different types
of people. It takes all types,

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right, But yeah, I'm five
foot tall, one hundred ten pounds.

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Now in particular, what attracted you
to artillery? Well, I actually wanted

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to go infantry. And in Canada, Yeah, in Canada, we've we've

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always allowed women to be combat arms
rolls if you can do the job,

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and so they give you the opportunity. And they said I was too small.

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So the next option was either armored
or our chilly. I chose artillery

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because the idea of being in a
ten scared the hell of Okay. Well,

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also, artillery is a little more
like rifle practice, just on a

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larger scale. Yeah, it's a
one five five millimeter how with her that

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shoots up to forty kolometers with one
hundred pound rounds. So it's a it's

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a good time. Yeah. Yeah, And a little more math involved.

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I imagine, yeah, yeah,
if you're on the if you're on the

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site, but if it takes about
five to seven people to run that gun

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efficiently. So if you are,
you know, you're in a group of

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people, you're a team, you're
a family, you're a unit. So

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it is it's quite nice because you're
not you're not alone in it. Kerrie

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Sharon is with us. She's a
combat veteran who's written about her experiences in

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a book called Brash and Unity,
One Woman's Journey through the Hell of Afghanistan

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and back. But the brass and
Unity term comes also from a new brand,

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you have Begun. So my brand
has been around since twenty and sixteen.

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We uh, we'd take we'd produce
shellk things, turn them into jewelry

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and then donate twenty percent of the
net pro seats different organizations like Heroic Arts

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Projects, Defenders of Freedom, That
Solutions, and Boot Campaign in America and

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all over the world. And our
pieces are really really just a means to

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end and end a vehicle to put
the money in the hands of these organizations

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that are helping our veterans on the
boots on the ground well and with PTSD,

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depression, anxiety and suicide, the
things that we hear so much about

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our returning veterans. I'm curious because
I deal with a lot of spent cartridge

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shells and spent cartridge brass, because
I do my own reloading. Is there

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anyone Is there any particular caliber that
is easier to turn into jewelry than another?

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Not at this point. I mean, we've gotten to the point where

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we've actually had to started manufacturing our
own case things because of the demands,

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but predominantly used thirty eight rounds seven
six two or five five six, okay,

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because there's plenty of those to go
around, and those are very difficult

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to reload. Yes they are.
Yeah, I know I've done my share

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of that brass. And Unity is
the brand, but it's also the name

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of the of the book that has
been written by Kelsey Sharon, One Woman's

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Journey through the Hell of Afghanistan and
Back. When did you realize you too

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were suffering from PTSD? I would
diagnosed in country. I was not.

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I did not come to that conclusion
on my own. It was I was

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after I was with the British.
The doctors and my staff started to see

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some issues and I started to seeing
very unwell very quickly, and that is

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when they sent me back to Canada
three weeks early before the end of my

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deployment to go see some doctors.
And was it a long involved struggle.

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It is only recently got better,
starting around twenty twenty when I started using

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psychedelic asists of therapy instead of overprescribed
pharmaceutical medication. Now, um, yeah,

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when once you start, Now,
I know you are married in the

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process. Here Were you married before
or after your deployment? No, I

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met my now husband right before I
deployed. We've been together all through everything

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and I've been very fortunate because it
takes a community in a family to heal,

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and so many of our veterans they
don't have the family support or quite

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as much community. And we know
now that that is such a huge component

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to healing. Kelsey Sharon combat veteran
artillery gunner from the Canadian military. She's

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written about her experiences. What was
was writing the book also part of the

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healing process for you as well as
your jewelry business. You know, I

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can't stress it enough that there are
so many different ways of healing, whether

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it's through journaling, whether it's through
art therapy, whether it's through anything that

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you can do with your hands that's
creative. If you can get outside of

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yourself and you can sit down,
whether you can get outside, go ground,

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go swim in the ocean, just
be outside, move your body and

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try these different types of healing.
But journaling, art therapy, these things

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are so so important in different ways
to heal, and she writes all about

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it in Brass and Unity. Is
there anything in particular you're trying to get

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across in the book to other returning
veterans, Absolutely that you matter and that

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you can heal, and that suicide
does not have to be the option.

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It may be a long road in
a dark road, but I promise you

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there are communities out there that want
to help you. They want to see

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you stride, They want to see
you stay with us. We do not

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need another suicide. We're up to
over twenty two a day. We need

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people to stay with us. So
if you are struggling, please reach out

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to Bress Immunity. We will do
our best to send you to resources in

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America. We just want to see
you strive the way we know that you

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can. You served your country honorably. It's your turn now for us to

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help look after you well. And
keep that in mind the Brass and Unity

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brand as well, because when you
make per chases of her designs, a

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good bit of the profits go to
help veterans who are suffering from PTSD,

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depression, anxiety and suicide. When
returning veterans do come home, isn't the

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going from wondering if you're going to
die any minute to a peaceful situation?

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Is That is what is so nerve
racking about returning home from service. For

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me personally, it was a it
was a ton of different things, to

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be honest, but you're right,
that's that's a huge one, right,

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people come home, they're very uncomfortable. You go from you know, the

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the Iraq guys they were in the
city. If you go from having garbage

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on the ground and you never know
where IDs are, and that's always an

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issue. But it's it's you know, for us coming home, I think

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it's a shock to the system because
we need more support when we come home,

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and that's just what it comes down
to. Yeah, one of my

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personal friends served three tours in the
Middle East and he was telling me his

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PTSD was and triggered by what he
saw in combat. His PTSD was relatively

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peaceful patrols when he was in Angola, and for him, it was the

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cheapness of life that is regular in
that country that got him. I mean,

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watching people hack each other to death
over a broom. That kind of

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thing is what drove him into his
PTSD and he was able to get help

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as well. Well. I'm really
happy that he was able to get help

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because there's so many people. It
doesn't matter what your deployments look like.

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We you know, every deployment is
different for everyone and everyone will experience trauma

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in a different way. But there
are ways to heal. There are people

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that want to see you heal,
and we don't need to rely on the

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government. Our community, people like
Heroic Hearts, Project Boot Campaign, Defenders

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of Freedom that solutions. These people
want to see you heal and they're willing

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to help. So reach out to
these people if you were struggling, But

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please no, don't reach for the
bottle, don't reach for the gun,

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reach the phone, reach for the
hand. We are all here to help

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you and you matter, and please
stay with us. Brass and Unity.

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One Woman's journey through the Hell of
Afghanistan and back. Kelseley Sharon. We

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thank you for sharing your story and
where can people learn more about your jewelry

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line. Absolutely, thank you so
much for having me and holding space for

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this. I really appreciate it.
You can find everything at brass and Unity

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dot com and then the book is
available anywhere people buy their books. Thanks

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for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember

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to listen to The Drive Live weekday
afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation