Heroes in the Sky Foundation Presents Breaking the Silence Together; The Aftermath of Suicide.

Josh Gagnier, Founder of Mission Phoenix , joins the show in Hour 1 to discuss his experience in the Law Enforcement Realm as Officers have to respond to Veterans with PTSD. Josh discusses losing his father to suicide by cop, and how that lead him to start researching and helping others in the MIdst of the grief. Hour 2 brings Jackie Mainard, Mother of US Air Force fallen warrior Eric Buell, and the trauma and generational grief that followed his loss. 

John, Carrie, and James discuss the early life, military career , and direct aftermath of the loss of Carrie's son SFC Cody Cosner , to suicide. The conversation gets raw, and emotional as Carrie describes what life is about in the direct wake of losing a loved one to suicide. Generational Trauma and full scale emotions are on display when a mom that has lost her child to suicide describes the life left behind after the loss. 

Shawn , D-LAT , and James discuss some of the challenges our law enforcement officers face working the streets on shift and even some of the emotions required when working in a school environment as an SRO. 

Stephanie joins John, and James in the studio to discuss the loss of her son Nikolas Maner - SPC - US Army to suicide. She discusses Nikolas as a child, and then as he developed and chose the path of joining the United States Army. We discuss the aftermath of what suicide does to families and how it affected her family. John , joins the team as the cohost - having endured that same loss , his son Trey, back in February. Stephanie explains how she turned Nikolas' loss into a project where she produces awareness for veteran suicide through "ducking" the use of ducks to circulate to the public in honor of her son Nikolas, and all others lost to veteran suicide. 

Today , we speak with Stephanie Maner , Mother of US Army SPC Nikolas Maner . Nikolas lost his internal war, and that fueled Stephanie to start her own brand of outreach to remember him. Ducking for Awareness. Rich, our audio engineer joins us in studio to fill in for Shawn Hibbard. The conversation today was about the healing journey after the tragic loss. 

In this episode Shawn and James  bring on the Non-Profit Semper Fi Mission discussing their beginning, and the pathways to deciding their very important mission they execute today. We chat with the founders of Semper Fi and an additional board member as well. They discuss their Patriot 5K coming up in Pittsburgh PA on September 26th. The second half of the show features retired NYPD Detective John Salerno and the importance of noticing PTSD symptoms and relying on each other when we arent at our best. 

Shawn , James , and Janaea Hunter discuss strength after a loved one has died by suicide. Janaea 's courage and resilience is noted after losing her son, and still continuing to fight and create camaraderie with Bowden's Brigade. Her organization that honors her son Bowden, A United States Marine, who died by suicide. Bowden's Brigade creates safe camaraderie spaces for veterans and families to prevent them from drowning in thoughts of isolation, despair, and self detachment from their environment. 

In this episode Shawn , Heather, and James discuss the decline in veteran legacy organizations with our younger veterans. we also discuss some of the challenges families feel during a loss to suicide and how certain parts of the brain control certain functions in correlation to studies of brains that have died by suicide. 

James and Suzy Willis discuss some of the challenges women veteran face during the transition period from the Armed Forces to Civilian life and how difficult it can be for a female veteran to find a group or organization that they feel safe with or most importantly feel heard and appreciated. 

Shawn, James, and John Ring discuss the difficult  conversation about one of the hardest transitions a person can face: leaving military service and trying to find solid ground again in civilian life. This Episode discusses  those challenges service members face as they leave military service and enter civilian life, and the lasting internal impact of suicide loss on families.