What happens when you survive some of the most dangerous places on Earth… only to discover that the fight isn’t over when you come home?
Sean Carberry returns to The MisFitNation for a raw and deeply personal conversation about war, identity, PTSD, addiction, and the dangerous ways we sometimes try to replace the purpose and adrenaline we’ve lost.
For more than 15 years, Sean worked as an award-winning journalist and correspondent, reporting from conflict zones and fragile states including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Congo, and Yemen. From 2012–2014, he served as NPR’s last Kabul-based correspondent.
He survived close calls in war zones while losing friends and colleagues along the way.
But coming home brought a battle he never expected.
After returning from Afghanistan with undiagnosed PTSD, no job, and little support for reentry, Sean found a new source of adrenaline inside a Maryland casino. What began as an escape eventually became years of high-stakes video poker and losses totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
His new book, Doubling Down: A Memoir of War, PTSD, and the Dangerous Bets We Make, picks up where his first memoir, Passport Stamps: Searching the World for a War to Call Home, left off.
In this episode, we get into:
🔥 What war reporting does to a person long after the assignment ends
🔥 The forms PTSD can take when there are no obvious flashbacks or nightmares
🔥 Why losing your identity and sense of purpose can become dangerous
🔥 How gambling replaced the adrenaline and belonging Sean found overseas
🔥 The psychology and design behind the casino experience
🔥 What institutions owe the people who sacrifice on their behalf
🔥 Addiction, relationships, trauma, and rebuilding a life after everything changes
🔥 The powerful difference between having a “gambling problem” and having a life problem that manifests through gambling
Sean is candid, unguarded, and willing to go into places most conversations avoid.
This isn’t simply a story about war.
It’s about what happens after the war is over—and the battle comes home with you.
🎙️ Welcome Sean Carberry back to The MisFitNation.
Learn more about Sean and his work:
https://passport-stamps.com/
📚 Look for Doubling Down: A Memoir of War, PTSD, and the Dangerous Bets We Make
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