Interview with retired Green Beret, Teddy Lanier

to earn the coveted green beret and to wear the green beret to me is an honor unlike anything else in this world and I've worked with some of the greatest men known to mankind I woke up one morning and I didn't feel right I felt off I'm Ted Lanier I'm from Lenoir North Carolina I'm a retired master sergeant was 22 and a half years in the military my career started out in 1989 for the first 10 years in my military career I was in the Regular Army as a 19 Delta CAV Scout and eventually volunteered for Special Forces training where I'd spent the last 12 and 1/2 years of my career as an 18 series weapons sergeant 3rd Special Forces Group I joined the military for for a couple of different reasons it was something that I had always thought about growing up you know my father who served in Special Operations in Vietnam growing up with him seeing all his memorabilia and some of the pictures and listening to his stories uncles cousins of the same that took that military path some did for careers some did not but just about everybody in our family served well to begin with not always take my son and of course I love him but he and I really are not only father and son but we are the best friends he's my he is literally my best friend and we trade names back and forth that which I don't care to say anything this nature right now might require some editing but it might arson hid growing up with my dad I wouldn't say was extremely easy particularly because he was gone a lot so that made it hard that sometimes because I considered him my best friend obviously being in the military there is there's a lot of stress there's a lot of stressful situations there's combat there's deployments there's separation from families and a lot of times for myself I would deal with those stressors with what we call having a good time and what is having a good time consists of well you know for a bunch of guys in the military such as myself we like to drink substance abuse is something that I have dealt with for many many years you know it started off as a teenager and then it progressed into a daily thing when as far as alcohol is involved you know throughout my 20s I remember there was one time in right before Desert Storm I had to have dental surgery and I was given a prescription medication and I to this day I remember I really liked what that medication did to me and from 2001 until 2017 I stayed on a opiate prescription for 17 years did I need those opiates you know there were times where I think I did however I just knew in the back of my mind I liked the way they made me feel you see I'm a guy that's high-energy and those drugs put me on another level of high energy I felt as if I could perform at peak performance normal but imagine the performance I could get out of using these types of medications to me they were stuff that that amped and already amped up guy even more and little did I know that the that opiate medication would eventually drive me to a place that no no human being should ever have to experience I woke up one morning and I didn't feel right I felt off about the best way I can describe it as I just felt tired and not tired as in I'm sleepy tired because I just woke up I just felt tired and I'll never forget I go to work and I was talking to a buddy of mine and I told him what was going on and he you know and you listened to me it was the first time I had ever decided to tell anybody about what I had been doing and the bad things that I couldn't shake in the habits that I couldn't shake and I remember this day like it was yesterday and I remember it was a very dear friend of mine and he looked at me he said it's okay we all have times in our lives where we can't seem to manage but things will turn around from me and I took that to heart and I know to this day's different amount he meant that and those words are true however I was so far gone by the time I had heard that that I needed more than just words the day goes on and I'll never forget I I was training we were doing some shooting instruction and for the first time in my life I draw stroke my gun and I couldn't pull the trigger for the first time in 30 years I couldn't do my job and I knew right then and there that that person life I talked about in that professional life had finally had finally collided and I knew right then and there I was in trouble I i holstered up my gun took my belt off went up top to where I worked and told a certain group of individuals who I work for that that I am a bonafide alcoholic drug addict and if I didn't get help now I might not make it another day and then one day I was just again like many of us do was strolling on social media and I ran across this place called warriors heart and I'll never forget the I'll never forget the day I called I had never heard the voice of an angel until I called warriors heart and it was uh it was it was almost as if I knew right then in there I had found the place that I needed to be and the place that I wanted to go and that there was nothing in this world that was gonna stop me from getting down there and I can honestly say the day that I drove through those gates I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that is where I needed to be and that I was going to receive the help that I so desperately needed from the moment I walked through those gates till the day I walked out it was it was work we put in work there you had to work every single day for your life I can't say enough for the facility itself some of the counselors down there made me realize that you know I'm not the only one with this problem and that it's okay to come forward and admit your faults and admit your deficiencies and admit the fact that I am powerless over drugs and alcohol they gave you the tools to deal with situations of which I couldn't handle as it relates to post-traumatic stress disorder as certain psychological issues until my last breath I wish to do nothing more than to be a good husband a good father and a good kind human being and to be there for people that don't have what it takes to get to where I am and to be able to lend that helping hand because for the first time in my life it feels really good to be able to face the Sun and let my shadows fall behind me [Music] the changes of my dad were extraordinary now either motivated me to become a better person [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Silent Pain Film

Views: 593,090

Rating: 4.9164529 out of 5

Keywords: special operations, Army, military, combat, ptsd, recovery, addiction, hope, family, documentary, Sergeant, interview, payitforward, spec ops, hero, America, North Carolina, Fort Bragg, Green Beret, storytelling, community, support, civilian transition, heroin, opioid, warriors heart, treatment center, veterans, active duty, navy, marine, air force, coast guard

Id: DeOCwy7IOII

Length: 9min 33sec (573 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 20 2018