TrueLife - THE MEN WHO CAME BACK ON FIRE

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🔥 Save $2,000: Master Plant Medicines from Home (Ayahuasca, Psilocybin, San Pedro & Cannabis)Transform Your Mental Health & Consciousness with Blue Morpho’s Proven Courses:https://bluemorpho.org/plant-medicine-training/george/?ref=georgeThe Lila Code: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4612-3942🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/True Life Podcast Episode DescriptionHealing Vietnam Veterans: Psychedelics, Trauma, and the Urgent Call to ActionIn this heartfelt pre-Christmas episode, host George welcomes back Dr. Randall Hansen – healing advocate, educator, ethicist, and author of four transformative books on trauma and wholeness.Together, they shine a spotlight on the unseen wounds of Vietnam veterans – a generation that sacrificed everything, only to return home to silence, misunderstanding, and inadequate support. With ~500 Vietnam vets passing every day and generational trauma (including Agent Orange effects) still rippling through families, the urgency is undeniable.Dr. Hansen shares powerful stories:•  A chance encounter with a Vietnam vet at a dollar store, unpacking decades of shame and guilt•  How plant medicines (ayahuasca, psilocybin) lift moral injury, restore spiritual connection, and spark profound post-traumatic growth•  Why trauma isn’t pathology but a signal – and how psychedelics help rewrite narratives, forgive the unforgivable, and turn wounds into giftsThe heart of the episode: a fundraiser through Heroic Hearts Project to fully sponsor a domestic psilocybin retreat for Vietnam veterans ($35k for one retreat – let’s double it!). Heroic Hearts (veteran-led) provides preparation coaching, ceremonies, integration, and community – transforming “dead eyes” into lives reignited, families reunited, and hope restored.We explore:•  Government/VA shortcomings vs. nonprofit action•  The military-industrial complex and lip-service “support”•  Lingering stigma around psychedelics (tied to Vietnam-era politics)•  Why this should be reparative justice, not charityThis isn’t just a conversation – it’s a rally cry. Share this episode. Donate if you can. Reach out to influencers. Apply if you’re a vet. Let’s honor their service with real healing before it’s too late.🌿 Support the Fundraiser & Heroic Hearts Project: heroicheartsproject.org📖 Dr. Randall Hansen: randallshansen.com (books, articles,)donation link:https://donorbox.org/bringing-vietnam-veterans-home#VietnamVeterans #PsychedelicHealing #PTSD #HeroicHeartsProject #TraumaAlchemy #PostTraumaticGrowth #TrueLifePodcast One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🔥 Save $2,000: Master Plant Medicines from Home (Ayahuasca, Psilocybin, San Pedro & Cannabis)Transform Your Mental Health & Consciousness with Blue Morpho’s Proven Courses:https://bluemorpho.org/plant-medicine-training/george/?ref=george

George Monty, True Life Podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, it's the episode you've been waiting for today on True Life. We're joined by Dr. Randall Hansen, a healing advocate, educator, and ethicist working at the frontier of trauma, wholeness, and transformation. His work challenges the modern fragmentation of healing and returns us to its original meaning to make whole, drawing from lived experience, ancient wisdom, and intentional psychedelic practice. Dr. Hansen confronts the gap between surviving and truly healing. This is a conversation about what it costs to stay broken and what becomes possible when we don't.

And I should also mention the author of four incredible books. There's probably another fifth one being written right now, but Dr. Randall, thank you so much for being here today. how are you? George, I always look forward to these conversations. You know, on some podcast, I get nervous beforehand thinking, oh, I better have all my notes in front of me. And with you, I love it because it's sort of not a free-for-all, but just a beautiful open conversation that doesn't require much preparation, but just love and open heart. So I am excited to be here today. Yeah, me too. I love our conversations. And I, you know, I follow you on social media, and of course, you and I have multiple conversations, some online,

some offline, but what an incredible time. And you were doing so much in healing, whether it's psychedelics or with dieting or just bringing so much knowledge to the forefront to help people, man. I'm so stoked for that. I just want to say thanks again. Thank you. Well, I want to just jump in here because I just think, you know, We were talking about timing and not, you know, there are no coincidences, whether it's God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, brings things, people together, events together. And as we were talking about doing the show, I realized it's, you know, we picked a date just a few days before Christmas, and it reminded me of this movie, and I know a viewer's under a certain age will not know it, and that's fine. but it's this movie called White Christmas and this beautiful movie about

these veterans from World War II who go on to start a song and dance group and do really well and they go to Vermont to see this former general who bought an inn and there's no snow and he's basically on the brink of bankruptcy and so the main character goes down to New York to a popular TV show and says

everybody i'm asking for your support we're we're doing a special show in vermont for our general i'd like to see all the people from our platoon our company come up there and visit and we're just supporting him he's an honorable man and he doesn't know anything about this this is a surprise just to give him a boost and i thought wow here i am who is my go-to when i said who do i want to talk to about this veterans fundraising we're doing. And I said, George Monti, of course, popular podcaster. And so it's like this, I'm reliving this movie in my brain. And, but that's my plea.

I mean, my plea is everyone out there listening, watching, share this podcast, share the fundraising page, contribute if you can, if you know anyone that's, you know, I'll do the Kevin Bacon routine. If you know anyone that's connected to Tom Hanks or Gary Sinise or Mark Wahlberg or Perry Underwood, all these celebrities that support veterans, please reach out to them. Again, imagine, you know, we're trying to raise $35,000. And for some people, that's everything. And for other people, it's nothing.

So we're just asking to people to contribute in whatever way they can, even just share. wearing it to, to, I don't think I'll ever go viral, but just to get the information out there. Yeah. You know, my dad was a Vietnam veteran. He was in recon, and my grandfather before him was a Marine. My whole family were Marines. And, you know, my dad has shared some of his stories from time to time, not much, but a little bit. And, you know, I'm 50 years old.

I don't know anybody that hasn't been touched by the life of a Vietnam veteran. You know, and I'm so grateful to all their service. And if you are listening to this, there's a QR code right on the screen right here. Think about it. Think about the lives and the sacrifice that veterans make. And particularly in this case, like the Vietnam veterans. Randall, I don't think anybody hasn't been touched by the life of a Vietnam veteran. What are your thoughts?

I agree. I agree. And my why for doing this is, number one, I've always been a supporter of veterans because they sacrificed themselves, their families, everything, for protecting this country. And the Vietnam veterans have a special place in my heart for a lot of different reasons. I was growing up during that time. My oldest brother got his draft card, and the war ended before he was caught. but that led to so many discussions in our household about what's honorable, what's not, what are the options? Do you go? Do you go to Canada? What do you do? And then I'm also,

I'm such a supporter of the unseen, unheard. And I think the biggest crime that these Vietnam vets have suffered is being coming home and being treated like war criminals sometimes spat upon not understood and even the VA kind of turned them away and so they've been told to be silent to suck it up and you know we didn't even know about post-traumatic stress back in those days and it's so my why is I want to lift these people up and any of these Vietnam vets that are listening I also encourage you to go to Heroric Heart's Project and apply for a healing retreat because that's totally separate from this fundraising. We're trying to do fundraising for a specific Vietnam veteran retreat, but any veteran can apply for healing through a heroic heart project.

Yeah. You know, it's so interesting because earlier in the week, I was down at the dollar store and I was just going about my business. I was buying some wrapping paper or something, and I walked up. the counter and there was a gentleman behind there older gentleman his name was walter walter if you're listening man i love you thank you for the conversation and i go walter how's it going man and he just looked at me and he goes it's better than it was 60 years ago and i had no idea like you know it was just a random thing and i'm like what happened 60 years ago he's like i was one of the first people to be in vietnam and what what ensued after that was like this long conversation

imagine two guys at a dollar store you know and this conversation is just happening and like it's just interesting and he was just telling me we got pretty deep and by the end of the conversation both of our eyes are tearing up and he was just he had dropped some real bombs on me

like you know I didn't he goes I come back you know and I'm thinking about I killed some people there you know not because I didn't not because I wanted to because it was either that guy

was going to kill me or I was going to kill him and he goes I still think about that guy still think about all these people what the fuck am I supposed to do with that What am I supposed to do with that? And so, you know, it's just, it's mind-blowing to see how much weight this still holds in so many people and how that affects our system and how many people could benefit from something like the Heroic Hearts Project or retreats or something from that example.

Yeah, I teared up when I read that story that you posted in the comments. And I also so loved it because I have a friend who says, don't ever ask me how am I because no one wants to hear the answer. And you did that and he was ready to give you an answer, which was beautiful, beautiful. Here's a shocking statistic that I don't know if you know about. This is from the Army website. there are so we know that most vietnam veterans are probably in the ages between the late 60s and late 70s depending if they

kind of lied and got in early or one of the later stage veterans but on the U.S. Army website it says 500 Vietnam vets are dying every day typically in long term or hospice type care facility. these. So we are losing these heroes every day. And that's not even talking about veteran suicide. And we know veterans over 50, age 50 tend to have a higher suicide rate. So this is why I just feel it's so imperative. I mean, psychedelics are so powerful for healing. But now we're also looking at end of life. And what a blessing it could be, not only to heal and have this amazing transformation, but also have this brighter outlook on knowing, you know, that death is on the horizon. And I, I, so it's just, we have to do, it's just an imperative.

We have to do something. Estimates range that out of the, I think, where there were 2.7 million that serve, men and women that served in Vietnam. And some estimates put it that about a million are still living today. Some say it's closer to 600,000. So again, I just see those numbers and say, man, we need to get on, we need to get on the stick. We need to get this done. We need to get this healing momentum moving forward. Without a doubt.

Juliet C says this is for you, Bruce. Shout out to Bruce. Juliet, thank you so much for being here today. She also says that I've heard the same stories from some of the same veterans. Jesse, shout out to Jesse Munriel. Thanks for being here. Jesse, she says, after losing two immediate family members to suicide, one who was a Vietnam veteran who had the most beautiful spirit of anyone I have ever known, I hope and pray every single day that this nation and its lawmakers can finally do right by the people who have given so much and often then came home to get nothing back in return, not even bare minimum care. Thank you for this conversation. George and Randall, the government isn't going to. going to rally behind them. So we must do it ourselves and these nonprofits. Shout out to Jesse out there.

It's so true. Yeah. Yeah, the government, I mean, it's, I think the VA is slowly, slowly moving toward things like plant medicines, experimenting very small. But for so, you know, for 60 years, the VA has done so little, but just push pills and move, you know, move on to the next person. And we do need these nonprofits to, unfortunately, and that's why we need to support them. And so these veterans can't get the healing they need and deserve.

What's it look like, Randall? Like, let's say someone reaches out to Heroic Hearts Project. What does it look like? Can you walk us through what it looks like from call to ceremony? Yeah. So they, they, you know, by the way, Jenny would have loved to have been here, but she's off doing things today. and so it's just you're stuck with me only. I love it.

Shout out to Jenny. Yeah. So they go to the Roarkhart's website and they click apply and they fill an application which asks for their narrative about their military history. You have to submit their proof of their military history. And then it goes into a system where it's analyzed by various experts on the staff. And then if they are approved, they go into the next pile, which is every, I think about every quarter or so, they do a call for the next several retreats. So then every veteran has been approved, who sent an application been approved, gets this call to action.

Hey, in April, May, June, there are five retreats and choose the one you want to do the most. most, you know, rank them in order. And right now, they're typically mostly still international retreats where the medicine is legal. So they do it mostly in Peru. There's also retreats in Mexico. And they've started doing domestic, those are ayahuasca. And then domestically, they've started in Oregon with psilocybin retreats and possibly also expanding to Colorado, now that Colorado has now kind of gotten more of their act together on how to do these things, also legal there. So psilocybin legal in both those states. And then they go through a couple of last minute checks, make sure their medical is, especially for ayahuasca, make sure their medical is all set.

They can go to the jungle and have the more powerful medicine. Soylacin, as you know, is more gentle and doesn't require as many. medical hoops to jump through. Once they're approved and on that retreat, they start coaching sessions, and they have several weeks of coaching and community with the other participants that are going to be joining them in that retreat. Then they go to the retreat, have that experience. It varies by which one, usually at least two nights of ceremonies, followed by some integration.

and then they have several weeks of coaching integration afterwards. And that's basically of the nutshell. And veterans have to, there's sort of a sliding scale. If a veteran has complete need, no resources, then oftentimes there are donors that will pick up the complete tab. Otherwise, there's a small fee that Herrickhart asked so that the veterans have a little skin in the game. but the donations pick up the rest of those costs. So, for example, the one we're talking, what we're hoping to do would be a psilocybin retreat,

and it cost about $35,000 to do just one of these retreats. And so we're trying to raise some money so these veterans don't have to pay anything at all to come to this retreat. If we raise 70,000, we can do two. We raise, you know, it's just keep pushing that multiplier up. But that's basically the process. There are a couple little details here

and there that Jenny probably could have filled in more and she might be cringing when she watches this, but I think I covered the process pretty well. There's also, yeah, there are several times where people from H.HP talk to the veteran to make sure, so they get a sense of who the organization is and the organization gets a get them a better sense of who the veteran is. Yeah, it's well said.

Shout out to our listeners on X. How amazing is it that the conversation around psychedelics is changing. This isn't the Woodstock 60s anymore. A new time deserves a new discussion. Thanks, a weight coach from X. Keith, Keith, Keith comes in and Keith says, kind, compassion. Shout out to Keith Fiverson. Thanks for being here. He says, kind, compassionate individuals focused on helping individuals on their journey to align body, mind, and spirit to recover from PTSD. I got a question coming in here from James H. former infantry, Des Moines, Iowa.

He says, when a country sends young men to absorb terror on its behalf, what ethical obligation does it carry once those men come home carrying the war inside them? What are your thoughts, Randall? Wow. Wow. Wow. That is the age old question. And I think, I wish we could learn the lesson. I just watched recently the Ken Burns, rewatched the Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam War, which if no one, if you haven't watched that, people.

It speaks to this issue of this question. We knowing, after every war, you know, the government say, oh, we've learned this is why we never want to do this again because it's horrible, it's horrific, and then we do it again. And I think with the Vietnam War especially, and everything's past that, you know, Vietnam War all of a sudden we had these coffins. we had this gruesomeness in our living rooms on our TVs and it was an awakening for the public as well unfortunately that turned to anti-war anti-soldier which was unfortunate and that happened that way but i think we need to i wish there was an uprising to put the you know put the pressure on all our lawmakers to say let's put more thought into before we put any person in harm's way because our history is we throw them in harm's way

and then we do nothing on the back end. We put all these resources into training them on the front end. And then when they come back, it's like, well, good luck. You know, oh, yeah, the VA is there if you need something. But, you know, we're on to training the next person that may get injured, maimed, killed. and I think I would love to see us all rise up and say we're all brothers and sisters here why can't we find a better way to resolve our conflicts

especially in places where this might be converser but I'm going to say it anyway where I don't think we have any business being you know we really didn't have any business being in Vietnam it was a civil war we were so afraid of communists taking over the world and, you know, we had to be the dominant superpower that we involved ourselves. And we've done that ever since was Afghanistan, Iraq, and it's just frustrating that we're repeating these things over and over again.

And so many people and families and children and brothers and parents are paying the consequence. Yeah. I remember hearing Jesse Ventura one time say, wouldn't it be nice if we could pass a law? that says for every lawmaker who who votes for a war they have to send either themselves or someone in their immediate family to the front line like how much more how much less war would there be if everybody had to have skin in the game in that aspect of so yeah that's awesome yeah yeah thanks james for that question maria comes in from oakland shout out to maria shout out to oakland i'm right by you guys over there she says she says why do we continue to treat trauma as pathology instead of as information, a signal that something meaningful was violated. Any thoughts on that? Again, I take the lead from Jenny, who says that we are not a diagnosis. We are not a label. And so, yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people can put trauma as a label.

And I think I totally agree. I think it's more of a flashing light, a warning sign or something that says, hey look at me there's something yeah some negative horrible whatever thing happened to me and i need to be seen i need to be dealt with and i think that's the biggest problem the biggest problem we have with trauma is that we either put stick it on as a label you know hey i'm traumatized so that's my excuse for whatever i'm doing or it's So pushed back. I'm not traumatized. Don't look behind me. Don't look at that screaming light saying I'm traumatized because you know, that's that was me. Yeah. You know, I was a workaholic

and I wore that badge of workaholism as an honor. Don't look behind this paper mask because you'll see the gruesomeness, you know, the blackness of my soul behind it. And until I hit that healing journey and saw that it was it was you know it was enlightening so i agree we have to see it as this is something that our body our brains is screaming out for us to address and we can turn it into something beautiful i always come back to you george and i think about you know the many traumas you've been through and i still remember the first time we talked or one of the early times you said this was a gift and I thought about some of my traumas and I thought at first I was like blank you I mean for you yes I'd love it for me they weren't a gift for me I know I know

but but then you start thinking about it and you're like that's why I always I love that question what about your life would you change if you could go back in time and that's what it started thinking about what you said because my answer is I never want to go back because I like the person I am where I am right now if I change one thing God knows what I would be today and so that sort of made me think about that and it's like well okay if you can see these traumatic wounds as an opportunity for growth for understanding for evolving then it And then, I don't know, maybe a gift is still too strong word, but I see that now. I see that, that, you know, some of the things that have to me just push that compassion level in me so high that I never would have without that trauma, without those wounds.

And also understanding, you know, for me, it was something done to me. And so understanding that, man, what happened to that person? How was he traumatized that he did this to me? And so it becomes this, yeah, I think it becomes maybe a gift of understanding ourselves better in our place in the world. I don't know. But thank you for, that will always be one of the moments of in my memory forever when you said that because it just, it blew my mind. So thank you for that. Yeah.

Well, I would, I think it was my dad, a Vietnam veteran who I learned that for. from, you know, coming back from Vietnam with so many scars and, you know, the really difficult inability to reintegrate into a society that no longer cared about him or thought about him. But because of that, because of what he did over there, because of the things that happened to him, he incorporated all of these incredible sort of character, you know, sort of these character gifts. Like, he was one of the most charismatic. And still is one of those charismatic people in the world. And he would tell different stories and just so magnetic in so many ways.

And I remember thinking, you know, hearing stories from my mom. Like he was not the same when he came back. And for me, it was like, wow, even though he made it through that tragedy, what a gift. And he's still here. And he's more charismatic now. And I think sometimes he would overcompensate, you know, because of the pain. And I'm like, maybe he wouldn't be the way he is unless. he had those traumatic experiences.

And so it was really my dad that helped me get to see tragedy as a gift, you know, and it's because of the tragedy that he went through. And he was able to metabolize it and spin it into this alchemy of a gift. But yeah, it's, I think that's the only way to do it, Randall, is that once you move through that pain, you realize how changed you are and that you came through that pain. And if you can see that as the gift, like, you're pretty much unstoppable. Like these Vietnam veterans that came back, if they can do that, they could do anything.

And it's just recovering that idea of like, yeah, like, look at what you made it. Like, you guys are the leaders. Even though people said you were broken or you may feel broken, look what you've accomplished and you came back and you found a way to raise a family. You found a way to make it through when no one else helped you. Like, these people are incredible. And so if you're listening to our voice today, you can go down to Heroic Hearts Project and you can give back to the people that have given us so much out.

Let me bring it back over to Juliette over here. Julia says the dichotomy is so real in life. She also says that great way to put it, Dr. Randall Hansen, existential therapy in real time out there. Now, Dr. Randall, you have, I have noticed an Ariadne thread that runs through many of your books, and it's that you have spoken to lots of different veterans out there. Have you noticed something in the stories of these veterans in all your books that kind of tie everything together? that's a great question i think to me what the thing that ties it all together is just reinforcing this lack of support when they come home you know whatever the age of the veteran

most of the veterans i've spoken to for the books are from more the afghan afghanistan iraq wars but it's just a running theme that they come home and some think you know i'm just going to return right back to the job i had before and they go back and they last a couple months and their co-workers are looking at them differently and they feel differently and the job doesn't hold value anymore and they start self-medicating and then this is just sort of downward cycle sometimes and self-medicating sometimes is is alcohol or drugs Sometimes it's food. For a lot, it's porn or gambling, all these different things.

And it's just a way to replace and try to, that wound is so deep that's trying to fill it with something. And so it's this, it comes back to me, the big thing is community, you know, these vets, finding other vets, whether it's through, you know, local, not rhetoric uh veterans apart wars you know one of those or whether it's through horrid hearts or one of these other non-profits um just finding that community and and that sort of that way back but again none of that is supported by the government it's all grassroots or non-profits or having to do it on their own um but i i think they come back but they also have hope at least the ones I've talked to for the book. They have hopes of finding themselves

or finding the new version of themselves and integrating that path. And I think that one really fascinating thing that I've found with Heroic Hearts Project veterans is they often go into the retreat saying with the intention, I need to heal my moral injury or I need to heal this PTSD

or whatever that intention is about the war experience and the first night it's all about their childhood trauma that they had totally forgotten or pushed away. And so that's the other, I guess, circular pattern that comes around here is that, which is back to my personal belief that almost all of us could benefit from some kind of healing.

I think plant medicines cut to the root pretty, pretty clearly and give us a kind of a hit on the head. This is what you need to be focusing on. And I love that because there's so much truth in that. And it sheds the way our blockers that we're, you know, I don't want to face that. No, you do need to face that because you're not going to be able to live your life until you do face that. and so i guess that's the the final piece is just that you know we all you know need healing and we and if you just look at your life and say what am i abusing something whether it's food or

people or drugs and if you are then there's probably a reason that you're doing that and it's probably connected to an old wound that you may or may not even remember depending on when it happened yeah it's so well said you know i when i think about the different plant medicines and my experience with them and the accounts of the people with whom i've spoken it's sort of this lifting of shame and guilt and when i think about the conversation earlier that i spoke to about walter i could see the shame and guilt not only in his words and his language but the tears forming in his eyes. Like, I did not want to be someone who's thought of as a murder. I don't want to kill anybody. And like, if you don't have the tools to see that particular situation without

shame or guilt, there's no way to get around it. And plant medicines, in my own experience, have allowed me to approach situations with, you know, my son dying or my wife getting cancer and just alleviate for a moment the idea of shame, guilt, and fault. And when you can do that, you can see clearly, you know, it's like the, I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. Like when you can see it clearly and you realize the circumstances that you were under didn't allow for any other way out, all of a sudden there's room to breathe like, okay, okay, there's something here. And it seems to me that's something that also happens with a lot of the veterans' testimonies

that come back. It's like they allow space to forgive themselves for a situation in which they did the best they could yeah yeah I love how you put that I have a neighbor down the road who was as a cop and shot in line of duty left to die and he is afraid of he's done microdosing and it's dramatically changed him but he's afraid of doing the macro dose because he I think he has some shame that he didn't pull his weapon fast enough and the guy got the jump on him and he's also afraid of reliving this kind of near-death experience. And I try to explain to him just as you explain that it's, you know, and all these veterans share that same story. It's just, I love how you said

that removing that shame, removing any guilt that I didn't act fast enough to save my brothers or sisters in combat. And it's also being it from a different perspective, it's not reliving it. And so you're not re-traumatizing yourself if you've got the right coaching and you have all this, you know, have this knowledge beforehand. And it's more, yeah, just understanding it differently in a way we maybe could through a therapist or other other work. But the psychedelics, again, just get you right there and say, let's talk about it. Let's deal with this. And then you come out with this different perspective, and it is a window to this is what life could be.

And I don't need to live with that shame and guilt or fear or anger, at least not at that level that I was doing where every sound was make me jump from my chair or scream or whatever it might be. Yeah, it's so true. Juliet, thanks again for being here. She says, Juliet, see you in the house. She says genuine community matters, feeling understood and accepted as well as appreciated and value. Jesse Monroe, shout out to Jesse. I think she might have a new book coming out, ladies and gentlemen. So if you're watching this, click on Jesse and see what she's up to over there.

She says the medical model completely ignores the need for people with trauma to be able to rewrite their personal narrative, engaging in meaning making and reorient themselves post trauma this is post traumatic growth i love that this is trauma alchemy the medical model says you are sick take pills and it falls and people die so well said post traumatic growth let's make that up let's make that viral i love that yes and it's so true you know and it is yes and i also fear that a little bit with i thought it was she was going to talk about that with psychedelics and I was going to say that's that's a whole another discussion we can talk about but I think that the conventional medical model is yeah horrible a pill for every ill and that's the other thing talking to some of these veterans from my

books is you know here are these 30 year old people on yeah seven nine medications you know that's polypharmacy that's in my mind unethical and typically you only see that in people in their 90s you know we have so many different conditions going on and that that definitely ignores what's the root and so i love yeah we and we need community back to what the other comment jesse's comment was too that community i ran a psychedelic group here in spokane for a couple years and the best meetings were not ones where we had a speaker but where we had community shares and it was so powerful and so and everyone left uplifted by just some of the transformations people were making growth they were making through integrated you know through integration and this

plant medicine work yeah I'm so like on the topic of community I want to challenge everybody out there to you know don't be afraid to just ask somebody how they're doing or I'll give you a good example this happened at a local store of mine I was wearing my heroic hearts t-shirt to the grocery store and picking out some salad and a gentleman comes up to me and he taps me on the back and I look back and he's just staring at me and I said hey how's it going man how are you doing and he just he just kept staring at me and and I was a little confused and he's like I noticed your shirt and I had to look down to see what shirt I was wearing and I go oh yeah horroa cards are great outfit they're really helping a lot of people what what interests you and I was wearing the

green camel one that says you know and uh on the back there's like a call to action yeah and he goes i go well what interests you about this shirt and he says i'm a veteran and i have PTSD you know what it hit me here i am at a grocery store on a random Tuesday afternoon and because i'm wearing the shirt because i'm willing to have a conversation about psychedelics and helping veterans or just psychedelics in general people come up to you and are like hey what is this about how can i get involved you know does there a number i can call and it's just so amazing how how easy it is to start a conversation if you have a little bit of courage and are willing to help. And I think all of us want that out there.

So, you know, I like, I recommend, go ahead. Yeah, I can say, whoever designed that shirt at Aurora Carts is brilliant because I had the, I've had the same experience. I had the way, I have a shirt that says, asked me about ayahuasca. Yeah. And same thing happening. I was at a restaurant and this waiter's kind of hanging behind my shoulder. And I'm like, I'm fine. He's okay, you know, no problem with the meal, and he's just hanging there.

And finally, as the meal was over, he comes up, sneaks behind my ear, and he says, can I ask you? And the same thing, I just kind of forgotten. I'm like, ask me what, you know, how is the meal? He's like, no, can I ask you about that? And it was great. So I don't know who did it, but it's brilliant. I love that call to action, that question because I have got, and then other people, yeah, maybe not quite yet brave enough to ask, but.

looking at the shirt and thinking about it. And so I love that you have that same experience. It's great. Yeah. It's so it stokes me to see. And it's weird because it the same way he whispers to you, I want to talk about this guy. You know, the guy when I was speaking to this gentleman,

he's like, I'm kind of afraid to do it. You know, there is this huge stigma around it still. Even though there's so many great people out there working on the forefront at the VA, some people like heroic heart. yourself and Jenny and so many of these different Diego Ugald is another one

there's all these people out there that are really helping it's still so taboo Dr. Randall. Why do you think that is? Is that society? Is that culture? What is that? Well, it's so funny. I was invited to a podcast a couple weeks ago and in the pre-interview the host said

by the way I know some of your books about psychedelics and we're not talking about psychedelics And I was like, okay. I said, you know, I generally only talk about psychedelics and plant medicines when the host asks me, or depending on the podcast. But I, it's so funny. And I do get that.

I get that from neighbors, too, that there is. And, you know, it's tied right back to this topic of Vietnam because it was during that same era that all of a sudden, know these psychedelics that are opening. up these ideas of love and peace and oh we can't have that because there's this war on and we need to win it and so psychedelics were you know immediately put on a on the stigma list and been that way ever since and I don't understand it because well I mean because we've done it so we know the benefits right right intellectual point I I don't understand it because yes I mean

we all heard just say no and all these things and the egg and the frying pan which weren't about psychedelics anyway but it's that whole stigma of just say no to drugs but even when you try to talk to them but well you know psychedelics actually have anti-addictive right ability capabilities and so it's they're not addictive and they actually help people with addiction and so i don't know whether it's just still that older generation that grew up with the dare and all that that are still just stuck on that that that message but i think anyone that i try to challenge say just look at it just look at the research or look at even just the indigenous use of these for centuries and centuries uh and just open your mind and i think that's the big egg we need to crack

is not more research. I mean, I love all the universities doing research, but it's like, oh, my God, how much research do we need? And send me with the VA and even my state in Washington. Yeah. We had a law two years ago that was going to make type medicines legal, like in Oregon and Colorado. And they turned the bill into another research bill.

No, we're not, let's do some more research. I'm like, oh, you know, there are hundreds of universities. she's doing this research we we need action and so again comes back to these non-profits that are saying hey we don't need more research we need the actual boots on the ground doing the work and trying to help these people find the healing and so that's kind of where I am with this the subject I guess yeah I can understand an abundance of caution but this works I've talked to people I've done it I know people in my life that I love that have gotten better. It works.

And I understand the need for caution. I get it. Yes. You know, I'm so grateful for people like heroic hearts or yourself and Jenny, Diego Yugaldi, I mentioned before. Jesse Manuel, everybody out there is really trying to find a way to apply something that's worked for eons.

People have been using this for a long time. We've got Clint Kyle's chiming in over here. The great Clint Kyle's psychedelic Christian podcast, check him out out there. He says we rightly focus on the physical and mental aspects of trauma, but how much of the trauma our vets carry is spiritual in nature and how little support and direction is offered or provided. I recognize that our religious communities appear to be ill-equipped to help those with post-in trauma. This is a great point, Clint.

What are your thoughts on that, Randall? Wow, that's a beautiful point. And again, that's why plant medicines are so powerful for that, but I saw, again, And not to harp on this Ken Burns documentary, but I saw some of that in some of the conversations people had about losing their faith over what they witnessed over there. And yeah, there's no, you come back in VA, you know, church and states, of course, they're not going to help with anything spiritual. And I agree.

I think probably most of religious groups weren't ready to handle it. But back to plant medicines, to me, like I did a lot of more. my healing in nature. And so psychedelics for me were sort of the taking me to the penthouse or taking me to the top level. And one of the things that I desperately needed that I didn't get was the spiritual aspect. And I, George, I know you and I have talked about this, but probably as a kid I had some amazing spiritual moments at the altar. I was an altar boy and I just felt God's presence there sometimes and I lost it through this abuse and during an ayahuasca ceremony, rainy, cloudy day, evening, sorry, middle

the night and i walked outside and it was like the heavens were just lit up and my interpretation of that was you know we're with you whoever the spirit soul god whatever we want to call that and to me that is one of the most powerful aspects of plant medicines is that I've talked to people that were atheists before plant medicines and afterwards are not ready to say God and I believe in Jesus or whatever but they're they come back saying okay there there's something out there is a power and I'm going to explore that and and that's what we're talking about now we're not talking about religion we're talking about spiritual healing Yeah, and I think that is a profound aspect of of plant medicine work not just the the trauma healing But the spiritual healing as well and sometimes the spiritual and the trauma healing are one and the same

Yeah, there is no denying that a plant medicine ceremony at a significant amount amount will show you that you're not alone. You are part of something bigger than you can possibly imagine. And that to me is a space in which healing takes place. Like we get so caught up and like it's my fault. I'm guilty. I should be ashamed of this. And you have such like this narrow tunnel vision of what's happening in reality. And a psychedelic experience or a plant medicine experience under the right watchful care or in the right set and setting, however you want to deem it, will show you that you are not alone. There is something bigger that's all around you, that's constantly pouring into you,

that is inspiring you, that is communicating to you. And when you can make that connection, everything seems to brighten up a little bit. You know, you're not alone out there. And so many people, they feel like they're alone. And that's what leads to so much of these traumatic experiences is there. I have Andre, Andre M, a retired Marine coming from New Orleans, Louisiana. He says, why do we celebrate veterans symbolically but refuse to fund the actual work of healing them? Thank you, Andre, for your service. Indeed. That was a fantastic question.

Yeah. Again, it comes back to the earlier discussion that we're so short-sighted. You know, we're willing to put the money into the everything, all the preparation beforehand, but not willing to do anything afterwards. And it's just so strange to me because we spend all this time training people to be in brotherhood, get out there and brotherhood saves lives all the time

out in the battlefield. And then when they come back, their brotherhood is gone because there's no official way. There's no decommissioning, but in the sense of that decompressing. And they just sent home. And you're like your dad, especially back in those days, even more so than to at least today, maybe there's a little more trying to foster community or some healing.

But back then, especially with your dad's generation, it was more just good luck. And I don't know why we don't. You know, so many politicians have a little American flag on there. Or I support veterans. Well, tell me how you support veterans. How do you do it? Because I have seen so much focus on military spending on planes and bombs and weapons and all these things. And so little on aftercare and supportive veterans.

Yeah, it is truly so much lip service. And that's why some of these veterans say, don't thank me for my service because that's just bullshit. to do something. Don't thank me. I've been thanked too often and got nothing. You know, it's just a pat in the back. And then, oh, next year I'll thank you again on Veterans Day. It's like, no, no, we need more.

We need more action. And again, it comes back sadly to these nonprofits. And so again, I would just encourage, and if you work for a big corporation, I'd say, hey, bring this up the ladder to the corporate chain and say, what are we doing for veterans? There are so many companies that hire veterans, and I love that.

Thank you. Wow. But maybe also contribute to their healing on top of just hiring them would be another thing that we could do. Yeah. I think another aspect of it is if we, and my dad has had some really awesome things to say about the VA as of recently. Like they have really helped him through different modalities.

And I think over the, I think it's the pressure that the veterans themselves have put on the VA and the families of the veterans have said, hey, we need to do some more things. So I know that there's great people out there in that aspect of it. But I think that there's a fundamental conflict of interest when the VA is getting their money from the government and the government is making tons of money off of wars. You don't want to come back and publicly say, look at all these ruined people, because that fundamentally undercuts everything you're doing to try to promote the war. And if you look at the ways in which we go to war, whether it was Iraq or even Iran now,

it turns into this patriotic fervor of like, you've got to go support democracy over. here. Well, I can tell you from my dad, we're not making democracy in any other place. Like, we're over there doing things for special interests. And those special interests don't include the special interests of the people fighting, you know. And so I think that there's a real conflict of interest of wanting to publicize the broken people that come back because it undercuts the very strategy of getting people to sign up and go do it. So, you know, I don't know how to solve that. And I'm glad that there's these nonprofits out there that are taking care of people. But any Thoughts on that, Randall?

Dr. Randall? I was just going to say, you know, it's sad. We've been warned of the military industrial complex for decades, and yet no one has done anything to try to dismantle it. And so, yeah, there's this whole industry. Who was it? When the, I think it was Zelensky from Ukraine was in Washington trying to gain support in Congress for more aid.

there was this picture and he was not surrounded by Congress people. He was surrounded by military contractors, you know, these presidents of these companies who are going to get all the benefit of getting more aid to Ukraine because they're going to buy their weapons. And I thought, wow, that's not a picture to wake people up that our military industrial complex is running part of this show. And there is a huge benefit for war for these companies and many of these politicians who have a vested interest either from campaign contributions or maybe even, you know, investments in those companies. So it's it's something that I wish we could break that, break up that complex as well in some way. Yeah. I, you know, I don't thoroughly, I don't pretend to understand the whole.

idea of the geopolitical strategies of the world, but it seems to me a lot of these wars are just giant laundering machines for NGOs, family offices, corrupt policies. And it's, you know, what about our veterans? What about the people in our country? Like, why are we spending billions of dollars in foreign wars when we can't even build our own infrastructure over here? When our veterans are coming back damaged and we're writing blank checks to other countries to go invade up the things.

It's so ridiculous. It makes me so upset, especially seeing people in my family that have had ruined marriages that have had, didn't get to be the best versions of themselves because they were sold this propaganda. And it just drives me crazy.

It drives me crazy. Yeah, I agree. We know some veterans that are disabled and they have to, you know, constantly fight the VA for higher benefits or increased benefits. And it's so disheartening to see that lack of understanding for them by the government. Well, you're getting, you know, you're getting 75%.

That should be enough or you're getting 50% or whatever it might be or the benefit. And yeah, and then in the news you see, oh, $20 billion are going to this foreign country. It's like, wait, why I'm only getting 50% of my benefits. I fought for this country. I'm disabled, and you're sending $20 billion to a foreign country just because maybe they're oil or whatever it might be. And so I'm with you with that outrage. I look at someone to even if we just cut like one bomber or 100 bombs, we could put so much that money into veterans and making their lives better rather than feeling they'd have to fight for everything when they come back for the most part. I want to come back to what your statement was, too,

because I have heard, especially in the last couple of years, some other veterans saying, depends on the VA you're going to, but some of them are definitely getting better, and they're finally moving into the modern age of technology as well, which is good to see. But I wish, yeah, back with you, George, I just wish we could,

I'm with you with that being incensed over how much we spend outside these borders while inside. I feel like there was something. movie David Lynch where what's it called a minute now where everything was was was green and beautiful and above ground and below ground it was rotting it was sinking it was disgusting that's how I feel sometimes you know we spend all this money outside and yet inside like you said our bridges are collapsing so many people need healing so much trauma going on and people being traumatized every

day by lack of resources and I wish I knew the solution to that one but I don't yeah

and you know there's another aspect too I was talking to my dad last week and he had brought up because he was

he was recon and so he was he's got some really interesting stories and definitely some interactions with Agent

Orange and he was telling me you know George I just want you to be aware of this you know Agent Orange can

have gets into your DNA and it can have long lasting repercussions not just for you but your kids kids the kids are born with spina bifida because of their great-grandfather or their grandfather or their dad being subjected to chemicals like agent orange like these are they're not one generation some of these casualties of war last multiple generations and there's no there's no recourse for that and i just don't think it's being addressed in a way that should be and so back Shout out to Heroic Hearts and, you know, the other veterans groups out there that are really doing their best to raise money to help some of these long-term victims and heal these individuals that came back from a war and didn't get their fair due. Yeah. Yeah.

And again, Vietnam, all veterans, yes, deserve people. Vietnam vet. Some younger vet asked me, you know, what about, you know, what about us? What about our generation? I said, well, you know, Herod Hearts has been focused mainly on you guys, and that's great. and you deserve healing too, but these Vietnam vets, they are literally dying every day and let's, you know, put some money toward them before it's too late. So yeah, again, it's not, we're not discounting younger veterans at all, we're saying this is, this is a time we need to put a little

more focus on Vietnam veterans before it's too late. Yeah, especially with the idea of end of life. You know, we've spoken a little bit about psychedelics and end of life and hearts goes out to all the veterans. This next question comes from Rachel D., daughter of a Vietnam veteran, Eugene Oregon. She says, how much of my anxiety, how much of my anxiety, my father's silence and my family's fractures are secondhand consequences of a war that ended before I was born. Rachel, thank you for that. It's generational. Yeah. Yeah, thank you for that, Rachel. That was a beautiful share and powerful share and it you know whether it's physically passing it passing it on like you mentioned with agent orange george or whether it's that emotional

trauma that's passed on it's not woo-woo this is real life it does get passed down and especially if you grew up in a household where you're living you feel like you're living on what i call living on eggshells where you can't you have to think before you speak and you have to think about what words might trigger a parent whether it's a veteran or not a veteran someone else who's just traumatized but wow thank you for that right though that that's wow yeah before you're even born that's yeah uh this one comes to us from noa p a law student at madison wisconsin he says should healing veterans be framed as charity or is repaired justice owed by the state.

Someone get Noah. Someone get Noah a microphone over here. Get the lawyers involved. I like the sound of that. Reparative justice owed by the state. It's well said. Sophia. Sophia is a clinical researcher from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She says, if guided psychedelic therapy can help veterans reclaim meaning, memory, and dignity, what moral justification exists for delaying its availability? good question i agree 100% i you know i look at it's funny there's a big ibigin initiative going on right now and it's fascinating and it will really blow my mind if ibegain opens the door to all other psychedelics and plant medicines and maybe it will maybe it won't we'll see how that how that progresses but again yeah well oh man i just wish that we would just again with some education as we've talked about we don't like it aren't necessary for everyone certainly some people with certain medical

conditions both mental and physical but why isn't this a human right i mean these are plants mostly it's like LSD derived from a plant right and so why isn't this you know again I think about um like there's a cactus the cactus you know in your front lawn in southern california totally legal it to be there but if you cut it open to get its psychedelic properties all of a sudden it's illegal and and it's just yeah it's so confusing to me because why how why we made these plants illegal which of course was totally political we've talked about that before and certainly based partly on the uprising from about the vietnam war and the hippies quote unquote but i think plants these psychedelic plants should be a basic human right and that's how it should be framed

and let people choose not be controlled by the government says or be so afraid I have someone who wouldn't even do microdosing because they're afraid that if it comes to their house, the government's going to find out and they're going to get arrested and they have kids or, you know, whatever they call that, the kid police will come in and take their children away. And no, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, this should not be happening and should be a basic human right. How we get there though, maybe we need to get back to that lawyer. and I know other lawyers We have some great lawyers

in the psychedelic space that are working on this Shout out to Shout out to Eric Postal Psychedelic lawyer He's out there listening Here's a great one that comes in From William Bill C

Vietnam veteran Fresno, California William thanks for being here He says Do you believe this country is prepared to actually face what it did to us? Woo! I don't know

Bill, I don't know. I think that it's been a long time overdue and that I don't think so, Bill. If I'm being honest, Bill, I don't think the country is ready for that. Not that the majority of people aren't ready for that. I think that the majority of people are, but the policies in place are not allowing for the actual healing to take place because of what it would mean for foreign policy. And like I said, I'm a glorified truck driver. What do I know? But I do know that the people in positions of authority have a vested interest in a monetary gain of making the war machine continue to grow.

That's what grows the economy to so many of these people. And it's so I would say no, Bill. And I don't say that with any sort of glee or anything. But what's your take on that, Dr. Randall? You know, I also think I would love to ask, you know, when we were writing this campaign for this, for this fundraising, I had this long history about the Vietnam War in it and our campaign person was like, that's too long. You can't, no one's going to read all that or they won't donate because it's too long. Yeah. But I wonder, speaking of this invisibility, I would love to ask a lot of people 30 and younger.

did they even know about the Vietnam War because I think not only are the veterans invisible but I think the war itself became invisible yeah and so you know yeah they know about Afghanistan and Iraq because they you grew up during that time but I wonder how much was just because of our own government's shame or our own yeah Agent Orange is a whole another thing that I think we just wanted to bury the whole thing and so not only our veterans invisible but the whole war experience is invisible because it comes back to what you said with the protecting these these military interests and and and and and and and and wrapping around the

the flag you know oh it could our military interest because we're you know we're the watchdog of the world we're the superpower that the only democratic superpower and all these things where let's just unwrap all this BS that's surrounding this and get to the basic thing that no war is profitable as taking your words george you know it's as i was thinking about what you're saying and what bill had mentioned you know my my wife's father she's leocean And he has a story about Vietnam, you know, living in Laos and having the opposite side come and just take everybody where he was, hey, you guys are all fighting for us now. You know, so it's, I think it's important to maybe broaden the scope.

And while our conversation today is about nonprofits, particularly heroic hearts, helping our veterans, it's happening everywhere. You know, the governments and the people in the positions of authority. And I don't pretend to know exactly why. But I don't think anybody, like no people here have a problem with actual people in another country. Like we didn't do anything to each other. It's just these sort of giant abstract entities telling us we need to go to war to fight these people. But Clint Kyle has a great idea. Clint Kyle says maybe the corporations that benefit from war profits should be responsible for the financial cost of treatment.

You know, I believe that there was no profit on war. there was a bill that used to be part of our country that in a time of war you can't charge excessive profits I don't know if that's still in order I think it may have been pushed to the side

but Clint Kyle's that's a great why can't we institute something like that why couldn't the politician say okay it's a time of war Congress declares war the president decides we're going over at that point in time no company that's making weapons for war

can make a profit over 5% or 1%. That could be an economic barrier that would slow down this process and ultimately probably heal a lot of people and that less people would probably have to go. Yeah. I'd say any legislation that puts

a back end on it that if we go to war it's not about just the preparation. We need to have an end game. We need to have institutions, financing, all these things in place before we declare war well that ever happened probably not great great idea and quite thank you for that i agree these corporations that are you know i look again you look at how much like even leaving afghanistan how much

resources we left behind and how many sadly people we've left behind that yeah probably have perished because of that and again just because this stupid idea that we have to fight each other for some ideology when that's it again with psychedelics you say you know what somebody's better and say is man if I had taken psychedelics before I went to war I never would have gone to war because these are my brothers and sisters who are not enemies they're people like me yeah and they're going through the same struggles as I'm going through and it's just a a beautiful thing that I wish we had that that kind of mindset before we declared war too that you know why Why are we really doing this?

Yeah, maybe there should be, when you read some of the literature on indigenous communities, you know, I think there's a great book called Black Elk Speaks, and it's a medicine man that talks about a time, a long time ago. However, they talk about, you know, using plant medicine before they go to war. Like, what would it be like if our politicians had to do a giant dose of MDMA before deciding to go to war? Like, it'd probably be like, wait a minute, you know, hang on. I'm starting to peek a little bit here. This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea, you know? Maybe that should be part of our policy.

Yeah, I mean, I've joked many times that, you know, the greatest act would be to put, you know, MDMA or second dollars into the water system for the capital and see what happens. The only downside to that plan, though, is, you know, for certain people, psychedelics without any kind of preparation, you know, expands their ego. So my fear, they already have such big ego is my fear is putting the psychedelics in the water would make them come out like megalomaniacs. And so, but NBMA is a good choice because that is much more focused on the heart opening and and having more truthful conversations. So there's something to be said about that. Right. And for everybody listening, we're not saying to do that. Don't do that. No, no, no, no. It's just a couple of guys talking out here. But yeah, you know, it's something to be said about the altered states in which we inhabit that allow us to see the world differently. And you can do it through breathwork. You can do it through all these different modalities. But it is these sort of extended awareness that allows you to see through that tunnel vision. And when you get scared, when you're in heightened states of fear, you know, right before you go to war, all these sort of, you know, different states of consciousness that arise on us.

They don't allow us to see all of the possible decisions that are out there. And I think that that's another point that this particular project by heroic hearts and helping these Vietnam veterans get their life back together is expanding the awareness of how to get better on so many different aspects. Have you talked to some of the people that have come back, Dr. Randall, from these retreats, specifically from heroic hearts. And if you have, what are they saying? It's absolutely amazing. You know, you see them in coaching beforehand and some of them have just dead, I call it dead eyes.

You know, they're just like the last eye staring out at you and there's almost no life behind them. And then you see them after the retreat, after integration and they're animated. their eyes are alive again and to me that's the most beautiful thing I mean yes all the other things that happened with that but just being a return of life within them yeah you know rather than this existing that was happening beforehand so to me that's that this bare existence before these plant medicines and then this alive again and then this idea of this beautiful flower opening up a potential beyond this interruption that war caused in their life and that war doesn't have to be the end but just something with lessons if you

came back to or a gift if we look at it the right way and can move beyond it. I mean, certainly for the founder of Horace Hart Project, Jesse Gould, this was, you know, he founded this organization after his experience with ayahuasca because he saw the potential and he became alive again this this is one of the fruits of his flower that he had from from plant medicine and it's beautiful and like they said they come back and you hear these stories of families coming back together that's again you know spouses saying oh my god i have my husband or wife back for the first time and since before the war or children

I think back to this earlier comment children saying you know I was scared of my dad for a while or my mom but usually the dad and now you know we're throwing the football again or whatever and it's just

it's like it's just so again there are so many positives to these experiences and it's all related to how to human growth whether individually or within their families or within their communities. And so I think, yeah, I, it's just, if we could see some of these skeptics who could see some of these stories and more and more, you know, we are posting, everyone's posting videos or sharing these stories. And the skeptics can see that.

Maybe that would change their mind about it because it's not, you know, you take a, you get drunk or you get high on a, on a. illegal drug and you you go from live way to existence or you know passed out or whatever and psychedelics are the opposite you go from passed out in life to alive again through this healing process yeah shout out juliet thanks for being here i appreciate it i hope you have a beautiful day yeah yeah it's in it seems to me now i've i've i've had i've talked just via text stuff to Jesse, but it seems to me everybody in Heroic Heart's project is either a veteran or affected by a veteran.

Is it veteran run and veteran owned? Yes. I believe all the coaches are veterans and all the top people are veterans and or are connected to veterans in some way. They also have a, I should give a little shout out. They have a sister organization called the Hope Project.

which is for gold star widows who have lost a spouse in battle or more and have trauma they need to deal with. And the whole project sends these widows to Mexico, I think, mostly, for reach for the same wonderful healing process. So it's a unique and beautiful organization. and it's all about serving these veterans who are, again, often unseen, unheard. You know, how many of us, again, and come back to loving what you did in that dollar store, how many of us see someone, especially an unsheltered person,

Vietnam vet just need a break or hungry, need a meal, and how may just walk by that, even though on Veterans Day will say, oh, thank you for your service, but we'll walk. by that person and so maybe that's even just the first start what you did in that store just ask them how they're doing and and and how and and sometimes just hearing them out is the first step to their healing because wow someone wants to hear my story so wants to hear some of this that's been trapped in my head and so i think that maybe that's the first step to to to doing this is for us all of us to take some kind of action whether it's on a personal level with someone in a store or on

the street or whether it's through sharing this podcast or sharing the donation link or donating there are ways we can take action you can say well why should we take action the government like we said oh the government should do it or the these corporations should do it but the reality is they're not and the buck is passed either to no one or to us and i'm here to say i'm not wrapping myself in the flag i'm wrapping myself in healing and that's what i'm about and so i will do whatever i can to serve all the populations that need healing but especially veterans because they are we so often walk right past them they're the unseen yeah it's really well said it's really well said ladies and gentlemen

And like I said in the beginning of the podcast, I don't know anybody who hasn't been touched by the life of a Vietnam veteran. And I see it on both sides of my family. And if you can, go down to the, if you're watching the show right here, there's a link right there. Go down to the website, check it out. If you can make a donation, that's great. If you can maybe just have a kind word for somebody, that's great too. And just the fact that you're here watching and being part of this. Well, I'm grateful, and Heroic Hearts is grateful.

Dr. Randall's grateful. But let me kick it back to you, Dr. Randall. What do you got coming up? What are you excited about? How can people donate? How can people give? Where is the best place to focus our attention on right now? Well, you have the link for the Vietnam veteran thing.

That's the biggest thing. There's actually, I don't know how many people know this. I didn't know this. You probably know because your dad, but there's actually a Vietnam. Veterans Day. It's March 29th, and President Obama started it, and then President Trump actually put it, Congress made it into law, and Trump signed it, so it's wonderful. I think it's an attempt to try to give more light to Vietnam veterans. So our goal is over the next three months to raise this 35,000 so that we can, you know, on or near that day, hopefully celebrate that we've raised

that money or raise 10 times that amount so we can get these veterans healing. If you're a Vietnam veteran listening and watching, go to Horace Hart's, apply for your own healing, if that's something you're interested in. As for me, my latest book probably, I have something deep in my mind, but I'm not ready to share it yet. Imagine that. But my latest book, Finding Wellness, I'm still trying to really break the Amazon algorithm on that because I priced it as cheaply as possible as an e-book or an audio book because I want

healing to be as accessible to people as possible. Some people can't pay $25 for a book, but they can maybe get $1.49, which is what the kingdom book costs for finding wellness. And it's just a collection of, a curated collection of my best articles on healing and on health. And I think for the most part in this, as I look around this country or as I'm in Walmart and I see these shopping carts filled with Cheetos and Coke and other stuff, we need both a health and healing journey. And so that's still my motivation. It is all intertwined, as you said, in that beautiful introduction. My goal, I feel it's a mission that came to me

and a psychedelic experience from the collective, from God, from the universe, whatever you want to say it. But just to keep promoting this idea that let's just take one step at a time. You don't have to change overnight, but just start thinking about how can I heal, do I need healing from my past, trauma. Do I have past trauma? And as I'm looking at my gut expanding or whatever other health problems, hypertension, maybe I can get on a health journey too. And to me, these, like I said, are intertwined. And that's the path to wholeness to living our best lives. And so that

deal with my mission. And people can go to randallesshansen.com, my website, and find all my books and find all my articles. You don't even have to buy one of the books. Most of my articles are online. And you just reminded me, I need to put a link to the donation page on my website so people can find it a little easier. They are a QR code. So I'll do that too. But that's it. I just, that's my motivation. I feel like we all, once we do plant medicine, we have a greater sense of urgency to serve our fellow humans and this is my overarching goal I I want everyone to just find some peace in their lives it's so beautiful uh if you're listening to this go to randlehansen dot com he's got four different books out there and all of them are chock full of great accounts

of people finding ways to become the very best versions of themselves. In our community, Dr. Randall Hansen, I think you got probably the biggest heart out of anybody I know. And I'm so grateful that you and Jenny, you guys are an amazing team. And I'm grateful for all the service that you guys provide to everybody out there. You never quit working. And you're always got something going on. And I'm grateful. And I know the rest of the community is too.

So ladies and gentlemen, Roick Hearts Project, check it out. Finding Wellnessbook.com. check it out randall hanson dot com check it out randall hang on briefly afterwards to everybody within the sound of my voice i hope you have a beautiful day if you can find it in your heart during this christmas help out the vietnam veterans heroic hearts project thank you so much ladies and gentlemen aloha