Offering Veterans Alternative Medicine With John Launius and Will Wisner

About this episode

Vance Crowe hosts John Launius (a longtime incense/olfactory ceremony practitioner) and Will Wisner (Executive Director of the Grunt Style Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the apparel brand) for a conversation conducted live during a Japanese kodo incense ceremony. Wisner details a veteran suicide epidemic (150,000 since 9/11 versus ~65,000 combat deaths across Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined), attributing much of it to over-prescription of SSRIs/benzodiazepines that carry suicidal-ideation as a side effect, compounded by burn-pit toxic exposure (bronchiolitis obliterans) misdiagnosed as psychological "moral injury" rather than treated physiologically. He argues pharmaceutical advertising revenue effectively buys media silence on the issue. The two describe the Grunt Style Foundation's upcoming "Integration Weekend" (Sept 13-15, Sherwood Forest Camp, Troy, MO) featuring Amazonian shamans, a Lakota medicine man's inipi (sweat lodge) ceremony, ayahuasca education, CBD pioneer Paige Figi (creator of Charlotte's Web), and Launius's Japanese incense practice — all framed as accessible, non-illegal alternative healing modalities for veterans and first responders dealing with trauma the VA system struggles to address. Wisner frames these as "warrior medicine": intense, non-recreational experiences requiring people to confront trauma directly rather than suppress it.

“We lost 57,000 service members during Vietnam. We lost a combined total of 8,000 between Iraq and Afghanistan combined. But yet since 9/11, we've lost 150,000 veterans to suicide... we believe is over prescription of SSRIs, antidepressants, benzos.”

“There are these other options that are out there. It's just a matter of accessibility... the American veteran has to go overseas to seek healing for dealing with the consequences of what they have done on behalf of the country.”

“Why do I need to see commercials for Zoloft on Fox News?... Big Pharma [is] the biggest customer for the news media who control the narrative of what you're hearing... you think the news media is gonna go against their cash cow?”

Key moments

• early ~5-15%: Suicide statistics framing — 150,000 veteran suicides since 9/11 vs. 65,000 combined Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan combat deaths; SSRIs blamed as compounding suicidal ideation (institutions).
• Burn pit exposure story — Forward Operating Base Hammer's open-air waste incineration, resulting bronchiolitis obliterans misdiagnosed as "moral injury" (institutions, trust).
• "Zombie dope" critique of SSRIs and pharma-media financial relationship explaining lack of medical willingness to discuss the topic on air (trust).
• Explanation of ayahuasca as "warrior medicine" — ~8-hour confrontational healing experience, contrasted with recreational psychedelic use (craft, windows).
• late ~60-75%: Detailed rundown of the Integration Weekend program — Amazonian shamans, Lakota inipi ceremony, CBD pioneer Paige Figi's Charlotte's Web origin story, mass hypnosis training (windows, legacy).