Richard Casper survived four IED blasts as a Marine in Iraq.
But the fight that almost took him out did not happen overseas.
It happened when he came home.
In this episode of The Stephan Hogan Podcast, Richard Casper opens up about combat, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, survivor’s guilt, grief, veteran suicide, and the invisible wounds many veterans carry long after the war is over.
After Iraq, Richard struggled to explain what he was carrying. The memories. The guilt. The loss. The things most people could never understand unless they had lived through them.
Then he found something that helped him say what normal conversation could not.
Music.
Art.
Story.
That discovery became CreatiVets, a nonprofit helping veterans process trauma through songwriting, visual art, and creative expression.
Richard has now helped veterans walk into rooms with professional songwriters and artists and turn some of the heaviest parts of their lives into songs, paintings, and stories that finally give language to what they have been carrying.
This conversation is about war, but more than that, it is about coming home.
It is about the silence many veterans live with.
It is about PTSD, C-PTSD symptoms, traumatic brain injury, survivor’s guilt, and the fight to find purpose after service.
And it is about how creativity can reach places that words alone often cannot.
Donate to CreatiVets:
https://creativets.networkforgood.com/projects/93343-creativets-donation-page
Connect with CreatiVets:
https://creativets.org
In this episode:
Richard Casper surviving four IED blasts in Iraq
The hidden wounds of combat
Traumatic brain injury and PTSD after war
Survivor’s guilt and grief after losing fellow Marines
Why some veterans struggle to talk about what happened
The connection between veteran suicide, isolation, and purpose
How songwriting can help veterans tell the truth
Why art can reach places normal conversation cannot
The story behind CreatiVets
Helping veterans heal through music, visual art, and creative expression
What civilians need to understand about combat veterans
This episode is for veterans, military families, songwriters, artists, nonprofit leaders, and anyone who wants to better understand the war many service members are still fighting after they come home.
Subscribe to The Stephan Hogan Podcast for long-form conversations with artists, founders, builders, songwriters, leaders, and builders about faith, pressure, purpose, success, failure, and the cost of building something meaningful.
Sensitive topics in this episode include combat trauma, PTSD, grief, and veteran suicide.
Countrypolitan: https://shorturl.at/JtN6r
Studio Bank: https://www.studiobank.com/
Stage Water: https://stagewater.com/
Clothing: https://www.simonsaysnashville.com/
Filmed in Nashville, TN
Produced: Stephan Hogan
Mavericks Media Co. Production
