Today, I salute Afghanistan War Veteran Samantha Juan. Samantha served as one of the first Cultural Support Team members attached to Joint Special Operations Command in Afghanistan. After leaving the military, she struggled with addiction. She said with the end of her tour came the silence, the sudden loss of purpose, the flood of memories, and she did not have the tools to hold. Eventually, she began curating an online persona of healing before confronting the truth of her own recovery through art, ritual, and psychedelic therapy, and she found all of this in Mexico. Today, she writes and paints about the nonlinear path of healing, sobriety, and return. Thank you for sharing your story, Samantha, and THANK YOU for your service.
