Colin Gibson on Military Contracting, PTSD & The Power of Being Yourself

Colin Gibson is an ex-soldier, military contractor, scuba-diver, and owner of Talon: a security training company based in Northern Ireland. He’s served in Iraq and Afghanistan, lived in Belize for 6+ years and has been on a rollercoaster journey of dealing with combat-induced PTSD and childhood trauma.

In part one of this epic four-part special we talk about:

The effects of growing up with an abusive father
How violence dominated his early years
Getting in trouble with the police
The moment his life changed and all the anger disappeared
Walking through fields barefoot in the rain
The one positive male influence on his life
Moving to Belize
Scuba diving stories: manta-rays, blackness and pica-pica jellyfish
Finding happiness for the first time
And a few teasers to what you’ll hear in part two.

In this part two we talk about:

Getting his feet washed by an Iraqi driver
Being challenged to a fist-fight by his girlfriend’s dad
Getting thrown into a Belize prison cell with 20+ other people
What led him away from Belize
Why he ended up joining the military
And a few stories from his deployment…

In part three we talk about:

The specific combat-event that “sent him down the rabbit-hole”
Dealing with survivors guilt
And battling with suicide.

In part four we talk about:

How his experiences affect his life today
Why he’s thrown himself into serving others through his new teaching business
(Talon Security Training)
What he’s focused on
Why he started opening up about his experiences
And advice he’d give to an 18-year-old version of himself

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/colin-gibson-talon-security