The Strategic Veteran

Navy EOD officer turned addiction-treatment founder, Tom Sauer has seen both sides of the fight. After losing his father to addiction, he spent years defusing bombs overseas before realizing the real war was happening back home. In this episode he breaks down the crisis inside veteran mental health, the failures inside the VA, and why he built Miramar Health to give veterans a real shot at surviving addiction and trauma.

We cover his early Marine Corps years, counter-WMD work in Guam, leaving the Navy, and how he now treats veterans who arrive at rock bottom. Tom explains why trauma recovery, fitness, and community care aren’t optional if we want to save lives—and why the system has resisted change.

• Addiction is killing veterans faster than war ever did.

• Trauma recovery and structure change outcomes.

• Community Care must be enforced if the VA can’t meet demand.

Miramar Health, Amakaya Retreat, Heroes Media Group, Ramshorn Coffee, The Strategic Veteran, Megaphone, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube

Subscribe for raw conversations about the fight to rebuild your life after service.

COL-select David Zallo spent 27 years serving across Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and JRTC before stepping into one of the hardest missions he’s ever faced: rebuilding his identity outside the uniform. In this episode, he breaks down what the Army gave him, what it took from him, and why financial wellness became his new way of serving veterans.

We cover deployments, leadership, burnout, the collapse of Afghanistan, and the quiet fear every senior leader carries when it’s time to walk away. David explains why money and mental health are more connected than people realize and how he plans to help veterans avoid the traps he saw destroy families and lives over the last two decades.

• Transition hits harder than anyone prepares you for.

• Money problems fuel mental health problems more than we admit.

• Reinvention requires honesty, discomfort, and showing up.

• Amakaya Retreat: https://amakaya.org

• Heroes Media Group: https://www.heroesmediagroup.com

• Ramshorn Coffee: https://ramshorncoffee.com

• The Strategic Veteran: https://thestrategicveteran.com

• Megaphone: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/the-strategic-veteran

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3U8FOupOu070V00PXR4DSd

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strategic-veteran/id1743039436

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thestrategicveteran

Subscribe for raw, unfiltered conversations about transition, purpose, and rebuilding your life after service.

Rich Spalla joined the Army at thirty five, walked into Afghanistan with men ten years younger than him, and carried the weight of July 7th long after he came home. This episode goes deep into identity, guilt, transition failure, VA pills, the struggle to feel human again, and the long road back through faith, discipline, jiu jitsu, and fatherhood.

If you’ve ever felt like the world kept spinning while you fell apart, Rich’s story will hit hard. We talk about rebuilding identity, why purpose matters more than rank, and what it takes to finally stop running from yourself. This is one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on this show.

• The day that broke our company and what it took to climb back

• Why identity collapses after service and how to rebuild it

• The danger of the VA pill conveyor belt

• How faith and physical discipline saved his life

• Amakaya Retreat: https://amakaya.org

• Heroes Media Group: https://www.heroesmediagroup.com

• Ramshorn Coffee: https://ramshorncoffee.com

• The Strategic Veteran: https://thestrategicveteran.com

• Listen on Megaphone: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/the-strategic-veteran

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3U8FOupOu070V00PXR4DSd

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strategic-veteran/id1743039436

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thestrategicveteran

What do you do when the one job that made you feel useful gets wiped out overnight?

Marsha Cleff spent seven and a half years as a TAP counselor, helping high-ranking military folks find their footing in civilian life. Then one day, she was told it was over. No backup plan. No warning. Just “reallocation of funds.” Instead of folding, she built Six Star Resume Strategy from the ground up, channeling everything she knows about identity, purpose, and making the invisible visible on paper.

The moment she realized the transition system failed her, too

Why “you’re a veteran, you’ll be fine” is one of the biggest lies we tell

The new-girl sickness that hit her at a job fair

What happens when your resume makes you feel small

How her husband’s joke became the name of her company

Why a six-figure salary isn’t worth your soul

https://6starresume.com

https://linkedin.com/in/marshacleff

[email protected]

What if the very identity that made you successful is the same one keeping you stuck?

How do you rewrite your life when the script you’ve followed since birth suddenly stops working?

David Richards grew up steeped in the Marine Corps—it was the family business. He led troops in combat during Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, then spent 17 years climbing the corporate ranks at Cisco. But the real battle started when he realized he didn’t know who he was outside the uniform. Now a bestselling author, executive coach, and purpose-driven creator, David helps others find meaning on the far side of success.

Felt like a failure the day he got promoted

Stopped partying to earn back a legacy he thought he’d already inherited

Carried the same anger at his father into his marriage—and watched it collapse

Was scared to write because it meant confronting who he really was

Burned the boats when it was time to go his own way

https://davidrichardsauthor.com

https://instagram.com/davidrichardsauthor

https://a.co/d/aaAXxDw

What happens when the moment that broke you becomes the reason you lead?

How do you rebuild when the war follows you home?

Rich Brown was a Marine infantry assaultman. His story started with a teenage-triggered explosion in Haditha — and it could’ve ended there. But instead, he turned trauma into a mission: building men, community, and purpose after the uniform.

Rich co-founded Honor Bound Fit, runs executive protection operations, and leads the Guidon-22 ruck, where veterans carry 22 pounds for 22 miles to honor those we’ve lost — and prove no one walks alone.

The fight wasn’t just overseas. It was learning to become useful again.

The moment he realized “I’m not okay” and why that saved him

Losing his identity when the Marine Corps closed the door

How a barracks-room hustle grew into a million-dollar business

Why the best therapy comes under a ruck, not in a room

The truth about purpose after service — no one’s coming, you lead

Website – https://honorboundfit.com

Instagram – https://instagram.com/honorboundfit

Podcast – https://spotify.com/show/thestrategicveteran

Newsletter – https://thestrategicveteran.com

YouTube – https://youtube.com/@TheStrategicVeteran

🔗 Guest Links🎧 My Links

What happens when the fight never ends — not on the battlefield, but inside your own head?

Carla Hutcherson and Brandy Mock, the women behind Mental Perk, have spent years walking alongside people at rock bottom. Carla’s a licensed therapist who’s seen every side of the system — courtrooms, hospitals, and private practice. Brandy’s a straight-talking entrepreneur who’s lived the civilian toll of military life up close. Together, they’re tearing the mask off mental health — no sugarcoating, no shame, just the truth about what it takes to find your way back.

When he realized he wasn’t broken — just buried under lies he’d told himself

When she finally let go of control and learned to trust the process

When therapy stopped being weakness and started being strength

When asking for help became the most dangerous thing a soldier could do — and the bravest

When healing meant sitting in the pain, not running from it

Mental Perk Links:

Website – https://www.mentalperk.org

Email – [email protected]

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@MentalPerkPodcast

My name is Adam Peters, and I’m here to unf*ck the transition.

What happens when the science of psychiatry collides with the future of AI and the timeless wisdom of healing?

Dr. Bhargav Patel is a physician, psychiatrist, wellness entrepreneur, and CEO of My Peak. He’s also a leader in AI healthcare solutions through Sully AI and the author of Trauma Transformed. In this conversation, we explore the full arc of healing—from childhood adversity and PTSD, to plant medicine, to building systems that empower both patients and doctors.

We dig into:

The truth about psychiatric medications, trauma therapy, and why the VA often misses the mark

Plant medicine, psychedelics, and the emerging science behind healing PTSD and moral injury

The role of nutrition, fasting, and supplements in creating sustainable change

Why ADHD and curiosity can actually be superpowers for entrepreneurs

How AI is reducing physician burnout and transforming healthcare workflows

Dr. Patel’s “core four-step framework for healing”: trauma processing, neuroplasticity/neurogenesis/epigenetics, overriding experiences, and post-traumatic growth

This episode is a raw, evidence-based look at what it actually takes to move from surviving to thriving.

What happens when the mission you’ve given your whole life to suddenly ends? When the uniform comes off and all that intensity has nowhere to go?

Brett Baker knows that moment well. After thirteen years and nine combat deployments as an Army Ranger, his body gave out before his will ever did. What followed was a storm of loss, faith, rebuilding, and the fight to create a new mission outside the wire. Today he’s the co-founder of VA USA, a faith-driven company building jobs and community for military spouses, and his story is proof that purpose doesn’t die with transition—it just changes shape.

The thrill of war colliding with the emptiness of coming home

Losing identity when the one thing you’re best at is taken away

Starting over with nothing but faith, family, and a broken knee

Turning failure into feedback and fear into fuel

Finding out purpose isn’t found—it’s built, brick by brick

Guest Links:

Website: https://www.hirevausa.com

This week on The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with David Maulsby, Executive Director of the PTSD Foundation of America, and Anthony Muro, Afghanistan war veteran and graduate of the Camp Hope program.

David shares how his calling as a minister led him to walk the streets of Houston in 2009, supporting homeless veterans long before there was a program to back him. That leap of faith grew into Camp Hope, a six-to-nine-month peer-to-peer, faith-based residential program that has saved countless lives.

Anthony brings the raw truth of lived experience—his near decade-long prison sentence was diverted when the foundation stepped in. He opens up about hitting rock bottom, how peer mentorship at Camp Hope turned his life around, and why he now helps other veterans reclaim their lives.

Together, we explore:

How faith and moral injury shape the healing process

Why peer-to-peer mentorship is a cornerstone of Camp Hope

The role of family education and support in breaking cycles of trauma

Alternative healing modalities, from equine therapy to plant medicine

The urgent need for veteran and family-centered programs across America

If you or someone you know is struggling, call the Combat Trauma Helpline at 877-717-PTSD (7873). You are not alone.

Learn more at PTSDUSA.org.