Benjamin Sledge: Award Winning Author of Where Cowards Go to Die and Combat Wounded Veteran

<div>In this week's Team Never Quit Podcast, Marcus has 11-year combat veteran and Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, Benjamin Sledge in the studio. Benjamin served in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning 2 Army Commendation Medals. He lost his best friend in combat. These days, Benjamin is a viral writer, graphic designer, and author of <em>Where Cowards Go to Die</em> where he reveals a brutal portrait of war and the cost of returning to a country that no longer feels like home. He travels around the country educating businesses, non-profits, and churches about veterans’ mental health issues.</div> <br> <div><strong>In this episode you will hear:</strong></div> <br> <ul> <li>I got to see the best and worst parts of war. Often times we were the first ones in the door, so we either made friends or got shot.</li> <li>I was 21 when I first got to the battle, thinking “I literally have no idea what I’m doing.”</li> <li>There’s a very distinct smell to death. It’s like rotting meat dabbed with knockoff CK1 cologne.</li> <li>Many combat veterans don’t necessarily come home with PTSD; it’s moral injury. It’s the physiological damage that occurs when you violate your sense of right and wrong.</li> <li>Seeing death from that close does something to the mind. It became a real struggle point for me.</li> <li>When I first got home, they didn’t know how to handle me, because I didn’t know how to handle myself. I was drinking myself silly, so I could get the images out of my head.</li> <li>The strangest thing happened to me – I found myself missing war. </li> <li>My wife left me while I was in Iraq.</li> <li>War really is a spiritual experience.</li> <li>What does it look like to live a courageous life and carry that into career and family relationships – Never give up, never accept defeat, and never leave a fallen comrade behind.</li> <li>Inside every man, there’s both a warrior and a poet.</li> </ul> <div> <br> <br> <strong>Support Benjamin<br> </strong>Website: <a href="https://benjaminsledge.com">https://benjaminsledge.com<