Finding Healing through Meditation

Thank you to Gracefully Global Group for sponsoring this week's episode of Women of the Military Podcast

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The last two weeks of boot camp for Debra were after September 11th. And while she expected the military to be a way for her to pay for college when September 11th happened she felt that she had found her purpose. She completed tech school and went back home to go to school, work, and serve in the National Guard.

In 2003, she was activated to active duty to work at Robins Air Force Base. She enjoyed her time at Robins but struggled to hold her tongue having had leadership experience managing a Mcdonald's and being the rank of E-4 not being able to provide feedback that she wanted to.

From almost done to deploying

She went back home and continued her time in the National Guard and was about to transition out of the Guard when she was tasked with a deployment. Being a military brat, she was able to pick herself up and accept the military changing her life plans. And she headed off to training and then war.

Her deployment was going well. She found comradery and got to work with a lot of people, but in May 2009 she was raped and shut down. The Army knew something was wrong because she stopped talking and eating and they tried to figure out what was happening.

They decided to send her to Bagdad and she began to get help, but a soldier came in and killed her psychiatrist and four other members and she was hidden in her room hoping she wouldn’t die. These two incidents happened within a week of each other and her body couldn’t cope.

The Army can't help

The Army struggled to help her and eventually, she was separated from the military with PTSD. She was using destructive coping methods (parting and drinking) and was spiraling, but then she found out she was pregnant. When she found out she was pregnant she stopped drinking and began to find healing through the love she had for her child.

Finding healing through meditation

A few years later she felt her life was spiraling and started to get help through counseling. One of the recommendations was to start a daily meditation practice. And through that journey, she found healing and now wants to pass on the healing she has found through meditation through her nonprofit, Enlightened Veterans. They are having their first all-women four-day retreat in Denver in May Add dates and link. You can learn more about it here.

Connect with Debra:

www.enlightenedveterans.org

www.facebook.com/enlightenedveterans

Mentioned in this episode:

Ten Percent

Related Episodes:

Looking at Military Transition from a Different Perspective - Episode 125

Flawed but still worthy - Episode 116

A Military Sexual Trauma Survivors Story – Episode 26

Check out the full transcript here.  

Thank you to my Patreon Sponsor Col Level and above:
Kevin Barba, Adriana Keefe, Lorraine Diaz

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Resources:

Women of the Military Mentorship Program

Girl's Guide to Military Service available where books are sold. 

Signed copies of A Girl's Guide to Military Service

Girl's Guide to the Military Series