Healing from Trauma Through Faith: Vietnam Veteran Keith Cole on PTSD, Grief & Recovery.

What happens when you spend decades carrying grief, trauma, responsibility, and pain without ever truly learning how to process it?

In this episode of Walk With Me Conversations, Stephanie sits down with author, speaker, and Marine Corps combat veteran Keith Cole for a deeply personal conversation about survival, faith, healing, and the courage it takes to finally face the things we have carried for far too long.

Keith shares how the death of his father during his senior year of high school changed the direction of his life and eventually led him to join the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era. His service included combat in Vietnam, multiple injuries, and later the difficult responsibility of notifying families when a Marine had been killed or wounded in action.

After returning home, Keith continued to push forward—becoming guardian to his younger siblings, attending college, becoming a CPA, building a career, and creating a life that looked successful from the outside. But the grief and trauma he had set aside never truly disappeared. Over time, emotional numbness, exhaustion, nightmares, and alcohol became signs that what had been buried still needed to be addressed.

Keith eventually reached a breaking point that became a turning point. He cried out to God for help and began writing about his experiences. That writing became part of his healing process and eventually inspired a fictionalized story drawn from his own memories, pain, and redemption.

Through that process, Keith also developed what he calls PRAISER, God's Recovery Plan, a scripture-based recovery practice designed to support people navigating trauma, severe stress, and the challenges of everyday life.

In this conversation, Stephanie and Keith explore why avoiding pain is not the same as healing from it, why trauma does not have to come from combat to be real, and why asking for help is an act of strength—not weakness.

Keith leaves listeners with an important reminder: whatever you are carrying, you do not have to carry it alone. Support may come through trusted friends or family, clergy, a therapist, or another person willing and able to walk beside you.

In This Episode How grief changed the direction of Keith's life

Serving as a Marine during the Vietnam War

Surviving combat and multiple injuries

The emotional toll of notifying families of military casualties