BENJAMIN SLEDGE: Award Winning Author of Where Cowards Go to Die and Combat Wounded Veteran @TeamNeverQuitPodcast

Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

In this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast, Marcus has 11-year combat veteran and Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, Benjamin Sledge in the studio. Benjamin served in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning 2 Army Commendation Medals. He lost his best friend in combat. These days, Benjamin is a viral writer, graphic designer, and author of Where Cowards Go to Die where he reveals a brutal portrait of war and the cost of returning to a country that no longer feels like home. He travels around the country educating businesses, non-profits, and churches about veterans’ mental health issues.

In this episode you will hear:

I got to see the best and worst parts of war. Often times we were the first ones in the door, so we either made friends or got shot.
I was 21 when I first got to the battle, thinking “I literally have no idea what I’m doing.”
There’s a very distinct smell to death. It’s like rotting meat dabbed with knockoff CK1 cologne.
Many combat veterans don’t necessarily come home with PTSD; it’s moral injury. It’s the physiological damage that occurs when you violate your sense of right and wrong.
Seeing death from that close does something to the mind. It became a real struggle point for me.
When I first got home, they didn’t know how to handle me, because I didn’t know how to handle myself. I was drinking myself silly, so I could get the images out of my head.
The strangest thing happened to me – I found myself missing war.
My wife left me while I was in Iraq.
War really is a spiritual experience.
What does it look like to live a courageous life and carry that into career and family relationships – Never give up, never accept defeat, and never leave a fallen comrade behind.
Inside every man, there’s both a warrior and a poet.

Support Benjamin
Website: benjaminsledge.com
Book (Where Cowards Go to Die): https://amz.run/5GAb
Facebook: facebook.com/benjamin.sledge
Instagram: instagram.com/benjamincsledge
Twitter: twitter.com/benjamincsledge

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Support the Show
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Special Thanks / Credits

Executive Producer & Artwork - Andrew Brockenbush
Audio Engineer - Joey Garza
Video Editor - John Fritzsching

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About TNQ Podcast:
Each week join Retired Navy SEAL and Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell, Morgan Luttrell, and Producer Andrew Brockenbush as they’ll take you into the “briefing room” to chat with incredible guests who share their greatest never quit stories. This humorous, heartfelt, and entertaining podcast is changing lives and has become a beacon of hope and resilience to those who are facing the impossible. One of the best ways we can support our community is to share their stories so that we might inspire others to Never Quit.

We’re bringing you real-life stories of men and women who took life’s toughest challenges and met them head-on, radically changing their own lives and inspiring others to do the same.

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