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.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and today my guest is Brian Wempen. Brian is an army veteran, author, and mental health entrepreneur. He is in long term recovery from drugs and alcohol and recently released his book, Fuck My Demons, Redefining Normal, A Journey to Find Spirit.

And today we’ll discuss his journey from his troubled past to recovery. His work with veterans on mental health and addiction recovery and the insights from his book. So, uh, before we get started, [00:01:00] uh, Brian, first off, want to welcome you to the show. Thanks for being here.

Bryan Wempen: Now, Scott, I, I appreciate it and I’m excited to, uh, excited for the conversation. You’re, uh, I just finished your, your book yesterday. So, uh, I’m, it got my mind spinning on a whole bunch of topics and, and old things I hadn’t thought about in a long time. So, uh, thanks for having me.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And I’m, I’m glad that it kind of got your mind going. Um, that’s, that’s great. That was one of the goals, I guess, of the book was to, you know, get people thinking and, and get, you know, some, uh, conversations going and maybe even just, just some thoughts that maybe people never even considered, uh, to just start getting the ball rolling on some of that stuff.

So anyways, so, uh, glad to hear that feedback. So, um, tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of your background. I know we, we, um, you know, We talked a little bit in the intro, uh, a little bit [00:02:00] about you, but tell us about your, your journey, kind of what, um, what got you from there to where you are, uh, today.

Bryan Wempen: Sure. No, it’s, uh, and again, uh, sorry for your brother. I didn’t include that in my, that was a good, uh, good honoring. Like there’s no better way to honor than just talk about it. Right. And so, uh, just wanted to say that. Thanks. And, yeah, so, you know what? It was interesting. So, started out, um, you know, go all the way back to the beginning, was adopted, so, uh, for more than half my life, had no idea who, like, who the blood relative side, so, was adopted at birth, so, um, California, California.

Taken out to, uh, headed out to Wyoming. That’s where both my parents are from, that, uh, my adoptive parents, and, um, you know, had all the family there, and so everything was really kind of, [00:03:00] like, Pretty normal. Um, one side of the family is high octane and the other’s pretty chill. Um, you know, not unheard of.

And, uh, and so, yeah. And so, and then, you know, and then we moved away from all the family when I was like five years old. And I, Through the work that I’ve done in recovery, um, and I’m long term recovery for the last 14 years, I’ve, I think I’ve just, I’ve found different points in my timeline that were significant, was able to identify that just through the work I’ve done.

And I think that was a pretty pivotal moment because we moved away from everything I knew to like total isolation. I grew up on a, you know, on a, on a ranch cattle farm. And so it’s isolated. Right. And we really didn’t have a...