Scott DeLuzio:    00:00:03    Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast, where we talk about issues affecting Veterans after they get out of the military. Before we get started, I’d like to ask a favor if you haven’t done so already, please rate and review the show on Apple podcast. If you’ve already done that, thank you. These ratings help the show get discovered so it can reach a wider audience. And while you’re there click the subscribe button so that you get notified of new episodes. As soon as they come out, if you don’t use Apple podcasts, you can visit DriveOnPodcast.com/subscribe to find other ways of subscribing, including our email list. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio and now let’s get on with the show. Hey everyone. Today, my guest is John Strickland, who is a franchisee of Vitanya Brain Performance Center in El Paso, Texas. He’s a 23-year Army Veteran who served in Vietnam and afterwards, suffered from PTSD.  He’s here to talk about his background in the Army, his journey, finding treatment for PTSD and how Vitania has helped him through that journey. So, John, welcome to the show. Why don’t you,  give us a little information about your background and your time in Vietnam and things like that.

John Strickland:    00:01:20    Well, thank you for having me, Scott, and it’s a pleasure to be with you.  I joined the Army in 1965 after one year of college. So, you can do the math. I’m not a spring chicken. I served three years in artillery,  including a year in Vietnam. And,  during that first tour in Vietnam, I met some helicopter pilots at that time. They needed a lot of helicopter pilots. So, I applied for flight school while in Vietnam, knowing that I would come back to the States, go to flight school, and go back to Vietnam. I spent,  almost three years at Fort Sill before that tour in Vietnam and then a year at Fort Sill as a drill instructor, a platform instructor at the advanced training or artillery, waiting on my application for flight school. So,  I went to flight school and graduated high enough in my class that I was offered advanced helicopters.

John Strickland:    00:02:35    So I accepted that and here’s the reason, I could fly a Cobra helicopter. Well, I’d already been in Vietnam for a year. Hueys land out in the middle of the jungle. Cobras land where there’s fuel and ammunition. We had air superiority and my wife was pregnant and that kept me in the States for three more months. So, I went to Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, supporting long range, reconnaissance patrols. We were based at the same base. So, we had a lot of comradery. We met with one another and they would always talk about boy, how we love those helicopter pilots. They didn’t realize that they were so high on my list of people to admire. Can you imagine a six- or seven-man team going out looking for the enemy? And when they find them, they know that they’re outnumbered, that was just amazing to me. So, when you a call from troops in combat, we’re airborne within two minutes, that was our goal. And we’re out there to help them. So, I had a lot of admiration for the people that we were helping.

Scott DeLuzio:    00:03:56    So when you started off as artillery in Vietnam and then you decided to apply for flight school while you were in Vietnam and learn how to fly helicopters. What made you decide to go about that transition? What made you want to get into flying helicopters?

John Strickland:    00:04:21    Well, I had considered taking pilot lessons before I even joined the Army. I was just excited about being able to fly and I could stay in the Army and make a career out of flying helicopters. That seemed like a pretty...