Speaker 1: I have a fifty five kerr ce de talk station.
Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday to you. I was helping Tyler Gray was
Speaker 1: going to be able to join us, but apparently Joe's
Speaker 1: not able to reach him. Forging Chaos the name of
Speaker 1: the book, he was apparently just an Delta Force operator.
Speaker 1: He did all kinds of counter terrorism work, hunted down
Speaker 1: bad guys and high value targets, bomb makers and warlords,
Speaker 1: and he just was just in this high tension, constantly
Speaker 1: adrenaline filled the service to his country and was severely
Speaker 1: injured during a raid in Solder City, Iraq, which led
Speaker 1: to him having to end his military career, which was
Speaker 1: life changing. Oh he's he's there. Wonderful, wonderful Tyler Gray,
Speaker 1: are you there.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm here.
Speaker 1: I was just describing your background. I was I was
Speaker 1: thinking we weren't going to be able to get in
Speaker 1: touch with you, because I think you're The point of
Speaker 1: your book is so very important. I'm a huge supporter
Speaker 1: of the American military. Veteran I've talked to so many
Speaker 1: over the years. I didn't serve myself, which is why
Speaker 1: I utilize a lot of the time on the Morning
Speaker 1: show to help veterans. I promote the local Veterans Service
Speaker 1: commissions and veterans issues and causes, and so your story,
Speaker 1: I think is an extremely important one. You're a Delta
Speaker 1: Force operator. You saw some serious, serious combat admission and
Speaker 1: then tragedy hit you in is it Solder City?
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, that's how I help you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're adrenaline's run in twenty four to seven
Speaker 1: in your service for our country.
Speaker 2: I presume, yes, that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2: Nature of the job.
Speaker 1: And I think part of my understanding of what veterans
Speaker 1: go through when they're out of the service, they're out
Speaker 1: of the whole idea of the camaraderie. They've been kicking
Speaker 1: doors in and facing danger at all times of the day.
Speaker 1: And when you're out here, your trade, Sir Tyler Gray,
Speaker 1: isn't really a val you outside of the military, and
Speaker 1: so something has been taken away from you, but you,
Speaker 1: I guess your brain has continued to be wired in
Speaker 1: that high tension environment. The name of the book we're
Speaker 1: talking about here is Forged in Chaos, a Warrior's Origin story.
Speaker 1: So explain, explain the situation why you're so involved in
Speaker 1: advocating for veterans' mental health and PTSD, it's really important.
Speaker 3: I think at this point there's been so much awareness
Speaker 3: of the problem, and we've had a lot of awareness,
Speaker 3: but at this point it really takes It really takes
Speaker 3: somebody laying out what their experience has been and shining
Speaker 3: the light on their experience to help lead others.
Speaker 2: Down that same path.
Speaker 3: So the book is about my experience and hopefully by
Speaker 3: showing my experience that allows others to help them go
Speaker 3: through the same thing.
Speaker 1: Well, I get the impression when you got back after
Speaker 1: the military service because your injury, your your life kind
Speaker 1: of unraveled.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: In what way were you impacted and how did the
Speaker 1: this this change of circumstances environment as being out of
Speaker 1: military service, how did it impact you for in the
Speaker 1: downside your your experience with this PTSD concept.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, as you said, it's for me.
Speaker 2: The way it affected me is that.
Speaker 3: A loss of identity, a loss of purpose And as
Speaker 3: you said earlier, when you are, you know, wired for chaos,
Speaker 3: when that's been your job for so long, it's very
Speaker 3: difficult for you to suddenly be comfortable when everything is calm.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people get the perception that
Speaker 1: you know, Once you're out of that, you're no longer
Speaker 1: your life is no longer constantly uh in jeopardy. That
Speaker 1: you might embrace laying down in bed and being able
Speaker 1: to go to sleep at night knowing that you don't
Speaker 1: have to get called out in the middle of the
Speaker 1: night with a bomb blowing off in the neighborhood, an
Speaker 1: ied blowing up, or that you got to get up
Speaker 1: in two hours to start kicking more doors in Fallujah
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 2: But that's not the case, is it. No.
Speaker 3: The best way I can say it is, once you're
Speaker 3: a person that can operate in a chaotic environment, that
Speaker 3: becomes your homeostasis, and it becomes very difficult for you,
Speaker 3: once you're comfortable in chaos to suddenly be comfortable when
Speaker 3: everything is calm.
Speaker 1: Well, I understand you develop what you call the LTSD theory.
Speaker 1: Can you explain to my listeners, and there are a
Speaker 1: lot of veterans in the listening audience right now, what
Speaker 1: that is and what it means.
Speaker 3: So going back to what I just said, it's LTSD.
Speaker 3: PTSD is post traumatic stress disorder. Obviously, LTSD the concept
Speaker 3: stands for lack of traumatic stress disorder, and I came
Speaker 3: up with that because I realized that for myself, I
Speaker 3: was more comfortable when everything was chaotic, with the environment
Speaker 3: was chaos, I was calm, And when the environment was calm,
Speaker 3: my brain was chaotic. And so I created chaos in
Speaker 3: the environment in order to calm my mind because that
Speaker 3: was what I was used to.
Speaker 1: And a lot oftentimes this leads to self medication and
Speaker 1: substance abuse.
Speaker 2: Did you struggle with that as well?
Speaker 3: Absolutely for years, And it was a struggle that I
Speaker 3: didn't know what I was fighting, and it took me
Speaker 3: years to realize all all the different components of addiction.
Speaker 3: And as you said, it's really the way I explained
Speaker 3: addiction now is it is an external way to cope
Speaker 3: with an internal emotional issue that you're not used to
Speaker 3: being able. You need something external because you don't have
Speaker 3: the internal tools to deal with those emotions.
Speaker 1: Now in your book, Forged in Chaos Again, I guess
Speaker 1: Tyler Gray probably served his country until he was wounded
Speaker 1: in combat. Do you explain how you came I presume
Speaker 1: that you came out the other side that you found
Speaker 1: a coping mechanism. Was it therapy, was it working with
Speaker 1: other veteran services, working at the VA, getting counseling, or
Speaker 1: a combination of all those. How did you come out
Speaker 1: the better side? And they were able to write about
Speaker 1: it in your book.
Speaker 3: For me, actually it was it was a little bit different,
Speaker 3: and it was about looking in a different way that
Speaker 3: I hadn't looked before. The simple way to put it
Speaker 3: is that it is a combination.
Speaker 2: You need.
Speaker 3: You've got ten problems all happening at the same time,
Speaker 3: and you have to treat everything relatively at one time
Speaker 3: rather than just keeping them isolated. And you know, the
Speaker 3: awareness and the treatments are at an all time high,
Speaker 3: and yet the problem is getting worse. So for me,
Speaker 3: it was a different paradigm and really understanding that I
Speaker 3: had a mental and physical issue at the same time,
Speaker 3: not just a mental one.
Speaker 2: It requires a lot of introspection.
Speaker 3: One hundred percent absolutely, And again to your point that introspection.
Speaker 3: The work that I did, that's that's what I put
Speaker 3: into the book, was the search I did for my
Speaker 3: own answers hopefully will allow me to provide the answers
Speaker 3: for others.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you did it. Now.
Speaker 1: Was there a point in this this difficult post? Uh uh,
Speaker 1: I'll say combat or post military experience, where you're going
Speaker 1: through all these these challenges, was there like a moment
Speaker 1: in time, a moment of clarity where you you sort
Speaker 1: of the light went on and you realize that this
Speaker 1: you were struggling with, this, this post chaos syndrome.
Speaker 3: There there were multiple different, you know, awarenesses, but there
Speaker 3: was one fundamental moment that I detail in the book
Speaker 3: where I came up I did something not normal, and
Speaker 3: that was kind of when me trying to figure out
Speaker 3: why I did what I did is where I came
Speaker 3: up with the LTSP concept.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Well, I certainly I'm strongly encouraged my listening audience and
Speaker 1: who have veterans in their lives that may they may
Speaker 1: know are struggling to get a copy of the book,
Speaker 1: because clearly this is going to help them maybe come
Speaker 1: up with their own moment of clarity and help them
Speaker 1: with their own introspection to get over their problems. You're right,
Speaker 1: there's so many out there, and I'm actually glad that
Speaker 1: at least we're having conversations these days about this as
Speaker 1: opposed to just suck it up and get over it,
Speaker 1: which used to be the old way and the old
Speaker 1: attitude getting treatment, talking to people, and the veteran of
Speaker 1: the VA I know has has some help and services
Speaker 1: available for folks struggling with these challenges. But at least
Speaker 1: it's accepted now that veterans go through this and it's
Speaker 1: not looked down upon, and you're only helping us move
Speaker 1: forward and find answers and solutions. Tyler Gray, it's been
Speaker 1: a real pleasure having you on. I want to thank
Speaker 1: you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of
Speaker 1: all my listening audience for your service to our country.
Speaker 1: Although it did lead to some problems and challenges forged
Speaker 1: in chaos, a warrior's origin story may very well help
Speaker 1: others since you went through some terrible times and are
Speaker 1: sharing your experience with everybody else.