Command Sergeant Major (ret.) Tom Satterly spent 20 years in the U.S. Army’s secretive and elite Delta Force. Tom’s first deployment with The Unit was the infamous 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book and movie Black Hawk Down. Over the next 20 years, Tom deployed all around the world and was on the mission that captured Saddam Hussein. 

But all of that came at a cost. Two broken marriages, and crippling anxiety, depression and alcoholism began to follow Tom soon after Mogadishu. It would stay with him for his entire military career and nearly cost him everything. 

Ashamed and embarrassed, but at the end of his rope, Tom slowly began to get help. It came in the form of his new wife, Jen Satterly. But of course, it wasn’t that simple. Because trauma loves trauma, the two nearly ended their marriage on their wedding night. 

Tom’s auto-biography All Secure: A Special Operations Soldier’s Fight to Survive on the Battlefield and the Homefront tells his story in raw and honest detail. Since then, Tom and his wife Jen have formed the All Secure Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting veterans with post-traumatic growth through online programs, couples retreats and counseling support. 

On this episode, Tom and I talk about how he had to overcome the fear of being judged by his friends, some of the most elite warriors in the world, and how shame kept him from getting help for so long. 

You can learn more at allsecurefoundation.org and on social media @allsecurefoundation and @tomsatterly

If you need immediate help, call the Veteran’s Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or for first responders, call Safe Call Now at 206-459-3020.

We also talk about the importance of building a team around you to support you during your career but also to be there for those times off-duty when you need someone to listen. 

I want to offer you something that I’m very excited about, and it’s absolutely FREE. We are launching Tactical Tuesdays – a free weekly email where we bring you a few tactics, tips and strategies to help you succeed in the week ahead. It may be about a book I want to share, gear I’ve found useful, an inspiring quote, or anything else I think you’d like. To sign up for the Tactical Tuesdays email list, you can visit thesquadroom.net/tacticaltuesdays or just text your email address to 805-364-2331. I promise we won’t sell or spam your email account. 

If you want to know how you can support the show, there are a few ways to do that: 

If you like what you heard today, if you got something out of the conversation, please consider leaving a review on the podcast player of your choice. If you got a few seconds, please leave a comment with your review. 

Second, share this episode or any other episode you loved with people you know need to hear it. You can share episodes right from our webpage at thesquadroom.net and from most podcast players.

Also, join our FB group and follow me on IG @thesquadroom 

There are some great companies who support the podcast and support you as well. Go to thesquadroom.net/support to see exclusive deals from Signature Coins, Hard to Kill Fitness, CommGear Supply, OfficerPrivacy.com Onnit, RangerUp, Hard Head Veterans, and Audible.