Kelsi Sheren: War, Artillery, PTSD, and Love | Lex Fridman Podcast #230

Lex FridmanThu, October 14, 2021 5:46amURL:
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Kelsi Sheren is a veteran, artillery gunner, and founder of Brass and Unity. Note from Lex: I’m aware that Jocko temporarily took down his conversation with Kelsi to remove the names of some of the people involved in order to protect their and their family’s privacy. I did the same.

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EPISODE LINKS:
Kelsi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelsiburns
Kelsi’s Website: https://brassandunity.com
Kelsi’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelsie_sheren
Charity: https://www.heroicheartsproject.org/
Do the F*cking Work (book): https://amzn.to/3mGhguF
Notes from Underground (book): https://amzn.to/3mN5TRF
Brothers in Arms (song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhdFe3evXpk

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41

OUTLINE:
0:00 – Introduction
0:45 – World War II
11:48 – Yeonmi Park, starvation, and mental health
26:04 – Kelsi’s 9/11 experience
29:34 – Becoming a soldier
36:01 – Artillery: The Hand of God
45:44 – Weapons training
1:03:29 – Pre-Deployment
1:19:36 – Arrival to Afghanistan
1:41:49 – Tragic war story
2:06:54 – Feelings after tragedy
2:10:36 – The Taliban
2:16:12 – Retrospective: 20 years in Afghanistan
2:32:51 – How war changes people
2:38:13 – PTSD
3:07:07 – Ayahuasca and mental recovery
3:39:04 – Love
3:57:07 – Advice for young people
4:00:27 – Death