I’ve been lucky enough to be on Jay’s Veteran Wargamer podcast several times, and I’m delighted to be able to return the favour now that I have my own podcast series.
In this show, I wanted to invite Jay not only to talk about wargaming and military history, but also about his life as a soldier and NCO in the Illinois National Guard, which led to him ‘seeing the elephant’ whilst on active duty in Afghanistan in 2009. He also speaks candidly about seeking help for depression, and his personal involvement in directing other veterans to the help they need, both for PTSD and for sexual harassment as a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Victim Advocate.
The show ended in not quite the way we had planned, but nevertheless, I hope you’ll find plenty here that’s both entertaining, informative – as a Brit, I was fascinated to hear about the organisation of the various armed forces in the US and Jay’s role in officer training. At times, I also found what Jay had to say about his experiences deeply moving.
In case you are affected by the content of the show, British veterans can contact Combat Stress and US veterans should contact their local Veteran Center – here’s their central website. Veterans elsewhere have similar organisations.
I’ll have Jay back on the show as soon as I can to just talk gaming, but I’m incredibly grateful to him for allowing me to have what I think is a deeply meaningful conversation with him this week.
I decided that owing to the subject matter covered, the content of this show is potentially important and so I am releasing it to the public immediately.
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