Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.

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Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And before we get started with this episode, I want to let the listeners know that the topic of today’s episode is suicide prevention and awareness. And we’ll obviously have some conversation that touches on suicide. So if that isn’t something that you’re comfortable with or [00:02:00] can handle at the moment, we’ll We’ll, uh, just catch you on the next episode, um, so feel free to tune out at this point if need be, uh, for, uh, your own situation.

But, uh, for the listeners who are sticking around, uh, today, my guest is Doug Brinker. Doug is the founder of Beacon for Hope, where he provides suicide prevention techniques and workshops to veterans, active duty, and, uh, teens, as well as, uh, organizations. And he’s here to discuss his background and how he helps others navigate the difficult topic of suicide prevention.

So, with that, welcome to the show, Doug. I’m glad to have you here.

Doug Brinker: Morning, comrade.

Scott DeLuzio: So, for the listeners who maybe don’t know a ton about you and what you do, let’s start a little bit about your background, who you are, and your journey to where you are now.

Doug Brinker: Well, first and foremost, I am a survivor. I am [00:03:00] an advocate. am an individual that served two different branches of military, a father to a U. S. Marine, a father to another firstborn son, most importantly, I am the beacon for hope for other people. A little bit about my background, I lived here in Michigan my whole life other than the time away for the Navy and deployment to Iraq 19 years ago.

also An individual that’s been, like many of your listeners, have been down those ups and downs, those peaks and valleys of life, more, more valleys than peaks, uh, the...