⚠️ Content Note (Discretion Advised): This episode includes discussion of combat trauma, injury, and loss. If it feels heavy, please reach out for support. You're not alone—and you're worth the care.
🎙️ This conversation spans nearly three hours—and still only begins to scratch the surface.
It holds lived experience few have encountered, and even fewer have ever voiced aloud—revisiting some of the darkest and most sacred moments of combat and trauma care from the early 2000s.
“Empathy isn’t just one thing. It’s a toolkit. And sometimes, it’s the only thing you have left to offer. It looks a lot like just loving people well.”
Before Marines had Wounded Warrior Battalions or Regiments…there was First Lieutenant Racicot and Corporal Marano.
To this day, I’m confident there are no books or documentaries that capture the stories of our generation with the same gravity, relevance, or emotional honesty. These are real accounts—from two friends who were there, who carried the weight, and who never stopped choosing empathy in the face of both the biggest miracles and the most unimaginable loss.
This week on Off the Hinges, I sit down with someone who’s walked with me through more than just war and wounds—she’s helped mend and nurture my soul.
Michelle Peacock is my personal hero, one of my dearest friends, and the embodiment of the quiet strength empathy demands.
A combat trauma nurse whose service spans Germany, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan—Michelle doesn’t throw her expertise around. She listens. She shows up. She presses in where most would freeze or flee—and she does it all with compassion, courage, and an overflowing well of empathy.
Together, we reflect on:
đź©ş What it meant to care for someone whose body was broken and whose soul was suspended between war and home.
🤝 What it felt like to hold a hand and whisper encouragement in someone's final moments.
💔 What we did when empathy was all we had left—and it still had to be enough.
🪞 And how we continue to struggle and strive to extend that same empathy toward ourselves.
If you’ve ever struggled to stay soft in a hard world…
If you’ve ever carried pain that defies explanation…
If you’ve ever needed to heal without losing your focus or purpose…
This episode is for you.
Michelle—thank you for walking back into such heavy and sacred spaces with me.You remind me what it means to love well, serve with integrity, and carry each other through the fire.
đź”— Stay connected here: www.foundational-coaching.com/the-vault/
#OffTheHinges #Empathy #FoundationalCoaching #TheVault #VirtueDevelopment #SacredWork #WithYouOnYourLeft #VictoryThroughHIRT
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⏰ TIMESTAMPS:
00:20 Introduction to Empathy
07:10 Michelle's Current Thanks, Learning, & Growth
17:25 Michelle's Story
32:54 Response to Lynz | Choosing the Military
41:25 Response to Aria | Big Wounds & Saving Lives
44:23 Response to Alessia | What War Does to the Body
47:01 Response to Laura | Avoiding Empathy Fatigue
57:29 Landstuhl 2005–2006 | Stories Few Have Lived & None Have Heard
01:22:04 Empathy in Combat | How It Changed Me
01:39:12 Living Between Two Worlds | Caring Through Emotional Suspension
01:49:53 Wound Care | A Metaphor for Mental Health
01:57:51 Sacred Spaces | When Empathy Is All You Have
02:05:00 The Gunny: A Screaming Wife, Shell-Shocked Kids, and a Timely Hug
02:30:07 Plugging the Emotional Drain of War & Refilling the Heart's Well
02:39:10 A Gripping Reflection on Finding Your "Why" in Life
02:49:59 The Power of Developmental Prehab
02:54:05 An Overflow of Thanks, Love, and HIRT
