Colin Gibson on Military Contracting, PTSD & The Power of Being Yourself

Best Of Belfast: Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast

Colin Gibson is an ex-soldier, military contractor, scuba-diver, and owner of Talon: a security training company based in Northern Ireland. He’s served in Iraq and Afghanistan, lived in Belize for 6+ years and has been on a rollercoaster journey of dealing with combat-induced PTSD and childhood trauma.

In part one of this epic four-part special we talk about:

• The effects of growing up with an abusive father
• How violence dominated his early years
• Getting in trouble with the police
• The moment his life changed and all the anger disappeared
• Walking through fields barefoot in the rain
• The one positive male influence on his life
• Moving to Belize
• Scuba diving stories: manta-rays, blackness and pica-pica jellyfish
• Finding happiness for the first time
• And a few teasers to what you’ll hear in part two.

In this part two we talk about:

• Getting his feet washed by an Iraqi driver
• Being challenged to a fist-fight by his girlfriend’s dad
• Getting thrown into a Belize prison cell with 20+ other people
• What led him away from Belize
• Why he ended up joining the military
• And a few stories from his deployment…

In part three we talk about:

• The specific combat-event that “sent him down the rabbit-hole”
• Dealing with survivors guilt
• And battling with suicide.

In part four we talk about:

• How his experiences affect his life today
• Why he’s thrown himself into serving others through his new teaching business
• (Talon Security Training)
• What he’s focused on
• Why he started opening up about his experiences
• And advice he’d give to an 18-year-old version of himself

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/colin-gibson-talon-security