39: The Iraq War

[dannyhatch]

Myke Cole talks about his 3 tours in Iraq and life after the war with PTSD.

Myke Cole







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[flerchin]

Myke is just oozing articulateness and credibility. I could not do anything else while listening to this episode. Once again, Chemda showed how she can tease gobs of insight from her guests.

Damn if this episode alone isn't worth the price of VIP for a month.

[BrianAlt]

Amazing episode. Great insight on the part of the guest AND the host!

[littlp]

Wonderful, wonderful episode. And many thanks for your service Myke. I don't care if you were a contractor or not, you went over there willing to risk your life to help your country and for that I am thankful.

Chemda is truly a wonderful interviewer. She does naturally what us social workers and therapists are taught to do in school. She is respectful, doesn't talk down to people, pushes, but knows when to back off, and is just amazing all around.

I could go on, and on and on about the many needs of veterans. It is something I really want to get back into once I get my clinical license. Mental health across the board is just now reaching normalcy. The military is slowly realizing that it is better for their servicemen to get the treatment they need without fear of losing their ranks or not being able to be promoted (which has happened so many times). In fact, it wasn't until this recent war that the VA finally started having a better system of identifying people who might need further treatment in addition to providing services to help people coming back from war being able to return home with a better transition. Thankfully we are getting away from the WWII and Vietnam mentality of "don't talk about it, you must suffer in silence like the rest of us otherwise you are weak and not worthy of your military ranking" or "all military people are killers and should be treated as such"

I will definitely check out Myke's books.

[Lanfear]

Wow that is such a hard show for me to listen to because I am so very torn between being angry because i will probably never be able to understand why the fuck would anyone want to do that in the first place and my heart breaking from the stories of the aftermath.

[BrianAlt]

Originally Posted by littlp

I will definitely check out Myke's books.

Me too. Love the premise!

[violachick8]

Originally Posted by littlp

I could go on, and on and on about the many needs of veterans....The military is slowly realizing that it is better for their servicemen to get the treatment they need without fear of losing their ranks or not being able to be promoted (which has happened so many times). In fact, it wasn't until this recent war that the VA finally started having a better system of identifying people who might need further treatment in addition to providing services to help people coming back from war being able to return home with a better transition. Thankfully we are getting away from the WWII and Vietnam mentality of "don't talk about it, you must suffer in silence like the rest of us otherwise you are weak and not worthy of your military ranking" or "all military people are killers and should be treated as such"

This. Its what I'm interested in doing post grad school as well.

I kind of wanted to know more about his critiques of current therapy techniques and ideas because unfortunately there's not a whole ton of research other than the use of ecstasy to help break down the "yellow" programing.

[Bucho]

Maybe more than any other episode this one showed just how good Chemda is. Perhaps the most difficult interview subjects are those who choose - sometimes with perfectly fair justifications - to remain vague on potent aspects of their stories, but while Myke was necessarily opaque at points, Chemda, with respect and no small amount of grace, was able to draw a very worthwhile and at frequently riveting interview out of him.

It helped that Myke's very good at speaking about the things he does choose to talk about and hearing the point of view of someone in his position was valuable. Without being explicit he gave enough info that a reasonable guess could be made at the nature of his role, and, in addition to the increasing number of former "hard operators" who're also giving interviews, his publicity work will hopefully lead to further improvement in the level of public understanding in regards to the needs of returning service personnel.

[Larion]

Riveting interview. I felt like this one was going to be a bit boring because I know some special ops guys and they can hold that information pretty tight to their chest but this was way more interesting than Zero Dark Thirty could ever hope to be. I have a good idea what role Myke played and he didn't give up any pertinent information and he is just a compelling character. Definitely going to check out the first book and I don't even read books. Top notch Chemda; very proud of you.

[Dean from Australia]

I've only just come to this episode (am catching up on some that I missed). I was prompted to move this to the top of my playlist because I'm reading Rachel Maddow's "Drift - The Unmooring Of America's Military Power". Like that book, Myke offers a fascinating insight into the PMC culture and I too was riveted throughout the episode. I've checked out his writing too and it looks seriously good.

This show must surely rank among the finest produced by KaTG and again Chemda's skill as an interviewer is without equal. I love the subtle way in which she draws the story from a person. It is so nuanced and patient, and she is able to hone in on really minute points and encourage the speaker to elaborate on them and they end up being the most interesting parts of the whole. The way she does that is just brilliant.