A blast didn’t end his life—it began his purpose

Taylor Vogel thought the Marine Corps would give him structure when life had none. After three deployments and a devastating IED blast, he survived but came home unraveled—TBI, PTSD, a bottle within reach, and a family on the line.

This isn’t a polished comeback—it’s a raw story of drifting without roots, wrestling with faith 🙏, and learning that surrender and daily discipline can rebuild a life.

Taylor shares how surviving a hundred-pound IED led to the question: “Why am I still here?” He reveals three levers that helped him rise again—
💪 Habits that keep the body and mind honest
💭 A mindset that turns “I have to” into “I get to”
🎯 Actions that bring purpose back home

From isolation to service, from numbing to presence, Taylor’s blended family of nine proves that loss can lead to abundance.

If you’ve ever felt “so low a mosquito won’t bite,” this conversation offers a way out—start small, reach out, and let purpose do its work.

🎧 Subscribe, share, and leave a review to help others find hope too.

Chapters

• 0:00 Reunion and Setup
• 1:32 Taylor’s Upbringing and Identity
• 3:30 Pre-Faith Confusion and College Drift
• 5:40 Choosing the Marines
• 8:40 Combat, Loss, and Self-Medication
• 11:44 The IED Blast and Questioning Purpose
• 14:18 One Foot In, One Foot Out of Faith
• 17:10 Hitting Bottom: Separation and Custody
• 19:30 Turning Toward Sobriety and Service
• 22:00 Habits, Mindset, and Getting Life Back

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:07

Everyone, welcome to the Unor Talk Podcast. I am your host, Mario P. Fields. I have an amazing guest who is willing to remove his armor and have some discussions to help folks. And it's not just a guest. I look at him as a friend and family member. We served together in some uh, let's say, fun times in BLT, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. You guys know those that the flag has rolled up. If you're civilian, it's uh M Capitan that no longer exists. Taylor Vogo, United States Marine Corps veteran, a war hero, and my friend. He kept me safe as a young first sergeant. What's up, man?

SPEAKER_00: 0:50

Hey Mario, thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here. So great. Yeah, and to see you again. It's just like I said before, I I have images of you on the PT table, just commanding the troops and telling stories and all these things and just just going nuts. I love it. It's so good to be here on the flip side. What I mean, what are we too? That was 2008, 2009. So almost 20 years later.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14

I you know, man, I don't I it doesn't hit me how fast time flies until someone says this. I can't believe it's been that long.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23

I know.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24

And it and it has, but you look good. You look good, man. Likewise. You look real good. Well, can you tell us as a viewers just a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00: 1:32

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So uh born and raised in a small little New England town up in Vermont, um, mom's side of the family was uh, you know, the spoon had a place, the fork had a place, uh, very proper, knew how to speak, were educated, you know, Dartmouth, Seaton Hall, just just good schools. Um, and then dad's side of the family was just bikers, bars, and cars. Just completely different dynamic. Um, dad was a traveling businessman. Everybody in my family were entrepreneurs, um, Spirit Hill Farms, Backroads, Granola. Um, everybody was either in business, Uniroyal, IBM, uh, or they started their own business. So it was, it was a dynamic upbringing. Dad, dad was always on the move, he was always on the road selling uh in business. So he wasn't around much. I was basically raised by a single mom.

SPEAKER_01: 2:23

Wow, wow. And um, I like that bike, bikers, bars, and cars. That's my entrepreneur spirit. That's a good slogan. Well, everyone, you know the deal. We're gonna jump right into the topic. You heard what I started this episode um off with three kind of frameworks. My basic understanding, uh, Taylor, is that you had a period in life where you your faith um in God in the Bible was absent. And then things happened, and then you started to experience life when your mindset changed. Let's talk about the first part. How was life before you found faith?

SPEAKER_00: 3:14

Yeah, so super confusing, right? So growing up uh in that that kind of dynamic that I explained in the beginning, we we were what you would call creaster Christians, right? Uh Easter and Christmas, right? We'd go to church, and even then that was that was spotty, like that didn't happen hardly, right? So can you can you say that one more time? I've never heard of that. Easter and Christmas, right? So we just that was the services that we attended, if we attended any, right? So I I had a little bit of an understanding, but it wasn't like, you know, real big presence in our home, right? There was no relationship uh with God and with Jesus. And right, um, so I was lost, confused, insecure. Uh, was bullied in school. Uh I played full contact sports, you know, and I just I was just lost and confused. A lot of my my pivotal years of growing up as a teenager. Um, you know, I've barely finished high school, uh, was running with the wrong crowd. I was doing all the wrong things, and uh was the only one in my family who had not gone to college. And of course, being lost with no with no clear roadmap or or clear book to follow, I did the proverbial, I'm gonna take a couple years off to find myself. Um, and then I, you know, I I quickly found myself, you know, going pretty much right into the Marine Corps after that. You know, I I took a couple years off. I was running with the wrong crowd, uh, living in complete sin, right? Um, social behaviors were off. Um, the way I treated people was off. I was off to myself. I was just, I had no, I had no higher power. I had no roadmap, no guidelines. Uh, so then I was like, well, finally I was like, oh, I guess I'll go to college and I'll study business like everybody else in my family. And uh so I I joined school and I was in my third semester, and we had um, you know, just we were about a year to two years into the invasion of Iraq. And I was in school and I was watching some of my classmates leave. Um, you know, and they would they would join the effort and they they weren't coming back or they were coming back different, right? Uh limbs lit missing, they were shot up. Uh I had kids that I grew up with in my hometown that joined, never went to college, and uh they were they were killed in Baghdad. And, you know, I just saw a lot what was going on, and I'm like, here I am, this lost college kid running with the wrong crowd, no faith, no spirituality, no relationship with anything but myself and what I wanted to do. Um, I need a quick out. So I walked into the recruiter's office, you know, and I went down, I got that's a whole story. You know, I walked into the strip mall, and it was like the army recruiter, navy recruiter, air force recruiter, Coast Guard recruiter, then the Marine Corps recruiter. I walked in, you know, one was eating a cheeseburger. I was like, oh no. One walked in, one was missing, didn't know where it was.

SPEAKER_01: 5:59

Who was eating a cheeseburger?

SPEAKER_00: 6:01

I walked first the first office I walked in was the army. The next one walked in, they were nowhere to be found. It was just like going, and then I walked into the Marine Corps recruiter's office, and there he was at his desk. And as soon as I walked in, he popped up and he had on this crisp uniform, this big stack of ribbons. Dude, there were swords and K-bars hanging up, and I was just like, I was like, this is it. I was like, this is gonna be amazing. I can't wait. And uh anyway, long story short, 14 days later, I was gone. Paris island, South Carolina. Wow, 2006, early 2006.

SPEAKER_01: 6:35

You know, and and just you know, just your initial journey of you know, being aware, all right, there's gotta be a greater purpose. There and even when you're seeing and and and my heart goes out, and my prayers go out to the families who did lose um you know, service members uh from your town, and or those who are still battling with those hidden injuries of uh an amp, you know, amputated leg or whatever. But here you are, here you are. You you see the results of combat, and you go, you know, I'm still gonna go. I'm still gonna serve and protect our nation's most precious jewel called freedom, which I believe. Now let's let's kind of speed up a little bit. You you know, you and I've seen everyone, I've personally seen Taylor, one of the best. Um I I've seen a lot of Marines and Sailors and folks in my 8,000 years of serving, but I will never forget him. But what was a major turning point that made you say, okay, if I continue down this path, I'm not gonna be on this earth much longer.

SPEAKER_00: 7:44

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously being in the infantry and then and going on on the three deployments, you know, it was there there was actually several. Um but there there was one there was one pivotal one, right? So I I come from uh uh when I when I look back at everything, I came from a long line of self-induced trauma, right? So um when just to back up a little bit, when I was 16 years old, I uh I had a brand new car that my father had bought me. My father came home on the weekend, I had wrecked the car, and he was he had a heart attack. He was he and I were getting into it at the dinner table and he died right in front of me at 16 years old of a heart attack. So from that moment on, it was just you know reckless, right? And then you know, finish school, go to college, drop out, join the marine corps. It was like all this wreckage, all this stuff. Go through the the the deployments, um, with the three deployments with three eight, uh, and I come back and I'm different, right? So I'm different, I'm even more lost and confused than I ever was. Um during that time in the Marine Corps, it was a 10 years, a decade stint that I had. Um, you know, I had married young, you know, Lance Corporal, got married, started a family. It was like this next deployment, I might not come back. So I'm gonna go ahead and procreate, hope it's a boy. And uh, you know, back then everything was hope. I hope it happens, I hope it happens. You know, now it's it's blessings and prayers, right? So yeah, I, you know, made a family, started a young family, and I came back and I came back different. And I had no real guidance, right? Like I nobody in my pocket telling me, hey, do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that. You know, the Marine Corps was kind of my vehicle. And um, naturally I turned to to the bottom, you know, and I drank uh to cover up a lot of feelings and things that I was I was going through and mass those things and fill those voids. So it was like drive fast, do fast things, um, whatever I could do to fill that void inside of me uh for what I was feeling, what I was going on. And you know, I ended up finding myself in a really unique situation, which to a lot of us veterans is is not unique, but it was I felt so lost, like homicidal, suicidal, like nowhere to turn. And I felt like I was all alone and I was angry. I was like, there's no brotherhood. Where's the brotherhood? They they it's I've been abandoned, they've left me, they don't know what to do with me. They, you know, um, you know, there's all these things. And what really started my my walk and my journey was in uh February 27th of 2011, the vehicle I was riding in in Afghanistan, we were going out to do Snap VCPs. I was a forward observer. So my objective when we got to our point, the objective was to climb the closest mountain and provide overwatch for the Snap VCP while we shook down, you know, roadblock. Uh well, I was in the third VIC, VIC never made it, took a direct blast to the truck, had a TBI, took about a year or so to recover, uh, got back on full duty, and it was just it was just a a tumultuous you know sequence of events. And I was I just never really got right after that. And I just self-medicated, kept self-medicating. But that day, that that day getting the TBI and hitting the blast is what really showed me like, okay, how am I still here? How did I make it through a hundred-pound IED directed to my vehicle? Every everybody lived, you know. Uh, how does that happen? There has to be something bigger here. And like I said, there was a lot of events that were like that. Like, there's gotta be something bigger than me here because there's no way I just made it through that, right? Um, you know, and I just I lived life on the edge and I lived crazy. And and I came back and I was doing all those things. And I was I was starting to believe, was starting to read, read the Bible, I was starting to go to church, I was starting to listen to certain people, but I was I was I was doing it my way. I was I was one foot in, one foot out, which is almost even worse, right, than going all the way in or staying all the way out. Um, it was like I wanted to believe what when I wanted to believe. I wanted to sin when I wanted to sin. It was like, here, Jesus, I'll give you this little piece, but I'm gonna keep this little piece over here. And I'm right, I'm gonna do these things and I'm gonna act this way, and I'm gonna live in sin. Um, and that that led to a separation, you know. And I found myself in in uh going through a separation and and uh what what was to be a divorce and a custody battle with my ex-wife and and the kids, and uh was about to lose everything.

SPEAKER_01: 12:15

Yeah. And and I remember February 27th of 2011, and uh, you know, as the first sergeant getting the SIGAX, this for civilians, if you're listening to this, this is uh it's a call a significant action. If uh there's a a bomb or uh firefight and you may have some wounded inaction or other things that nature. So I personally remember um that day, and I'm glad you you all you know did survive. And it's so you ever when you hear you know, TVI is is brutal. You know, that's brutal, or it rearranges your brain. And not only that, I mean you guys heard uh Taylor talk about even the traumatic uh unxpected death of his father. And and now you're one foot in, you're one foot out. I like how you were talking about it like a part-time Christian. God will give you nine days a month. But looking back now, because I know you're a full-time now, you're a full-time believer. I know that you and I have had a chance to talk a few times. As you look back when you were lost, and then you kind of had that moment on February, feb, you know, February 27th, 2011. Some other things happened post-blast. But now you're full-time. What do you what do you see as the fundamental change about you spiritually, mentally? What what what have you noticed?

SPEAKER_00: 13:49

Man, life is so much easier. When you're walking in faith and you're you're walking it with the with the Prince of Peace, Jesus. I mean, it life is so much more simple. When you're not living in sin, life is so simple. Like, okay, life still happens. You're right, right? Things still I still struggle. I still struggle with post-traumatic stress. I still struggle with my traumatic brain injury, my processing center is off. I still struggle with, you know, friends passing away or family members that life still happens. Debt comes in, bills gotta be paid, you know. But before I used to, I used to wake up in the morning and go, oh, you know, I got I got to go do this, or I gotta pay this bill, or I gotta go see this person. And I, you know, this and now I wake up and my feet hit the floor and I'm like, I get to. I get to take mom to a doctor's appointment. I get to see my kids. I get to pay that bill. I get to wake up early. I get another day. Like I don't just waller in self-pity. You know, there's that worship song out there where it's like, you know, why would I lay in a bed of shame when there's a fountain of grace pouring over me? You know, and it's like I I never I never saw that until I had a relationship with with God and with Jesus. Like I just, I it didn't make sense to me. Um, uh everything was about me. I was my higher power, alcohol was my higher power. Um, whatever I could do to benefit Taylor is all that mattered. So yeah, it's just life is so much better. So and you know, I lost everything because of the way I was living my life. And what I want a lot of the people listening to this episode here to realize is there's a lot of veterans out there that are struggling. And I suffered in silence, you know, and I suffered in, and I'm not I'm not gonna sit here and say that Jesus is the way for everybody and God is the way, and you got to go that route and become a Christian or or find a faith. Like I'm I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that's what worked for me. Getting sober, putting down the bottle, putting down the sin, and get it, that's what worked for me. But know that you guys are not alone, and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I there was a point in my life where I was like, I'm so low a mosquito won't even bite me. You know what I mean? And that's the way I felt.

SPEAKER_01: 16:16

And I was like, if you're gonna talk about what you say to Taylor said, Man, I I mean, I'm sure I'm I'm I'm lower than Mario. I mean, Mario's like four foot nothing. I'm so low, mosquitoes like, mm, no, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00: 16:31

Yeah. We feel that way sometimes as veterans. We feel so lost and we feel so wrapped up, like I should have tried harder to put that bandage on, or I should have tried, I should have moved faster to put that tourniquet on. Right. Or I should have put this, I should have had my sucking chest wound package ready. Right. I I I should have, I should have. No, we were the most highly trained individuals in the world, besides tier one operators, right? Infantry Marines are the most highly trained. And when we do, when we run into a situation and we think we failed, we really didn't because we gave it our absolute best. But what people have to understand is that like there's help out there, and there's so many people that care. You don't have to suffer in silence. You can do this thing and get out to the other side. I I mean I'm I'm telling you, so homicidal, suicidal. I did not want to live. And now I can't wait for the next hour, the next minute, the next day. It got better. And and like I said, I lost everything, but I got everything back tenfold. The promises do come true. When I stopped living in sin and I started correcting the my my my I'm huge on habits, mindset, and skill set. Right. And if you focus on those three areas of your life, you're you can be unstoppable. And and and everything became real, everything became, I got my feelings back. I started having feelings and I started caring for others. I started doing for others. Right. And it just it it it I got it all back. I got it back tenfold. I have I have you know a new marriage, a a bigger family. You know, this is how you know God has a sense of humor, right? Only child, single mom, broken, broken household up in New England, small family. I'm now married to a woman. She's a she's a Bama bell. Ask me how that uh down south in New England, ask me how that happens. I don't know. But she's got four kids and I've got three. We have we are a household of nine. I've got one kid in college, three in high school, high school, two in middle school, and one in elementary school. He said, 'cause he said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna make this fun for you. And uh I got it all back tenfold. I got I I I lost a house, I got a better house. I lost a vehicle, I got a better vehicle. I I I lost all these things, and I was like at I was at rock bottom. I will never get anything back. I'm done. It's over. I lost everything. I'm living out of bags, totes, and my I'm living out of my truck.

SPEAKER_01: 18:57

Right. And that's and that's powerful. Never lost his faith, everyone. I mean, you heard Taylor and and just the the amazing in my my mindset pro tips, if you were from his heart, you know, never lose your faith. You may lose all the materialistic things on earth, but you can replace those. And then I I don't have to, you know, be a loving father for you know for uh you know nine children or in Mario 2. He's gonna have a tenth one. He's gonna adopt the little guy here, but uh because he's you guys will know he's got a 7,000 square foot home now. But seriously, to be self-aware, to be self-aware, and like he said, veterans, and anyone listening and watching this episode, we all suffer from various life events, but don't suffer in silence, and you have a choice to choose what you're gonna believe to ground your soul in Christ. Um, and that's like like uh Taylor said, We're not telling you to do anything, but I am a friend with you, and oh man, the mount of peace uh spiritually when you you know choose to ground your soul in in Jesus in Christ in Christ's ways, it's just it's undeniable. Well, I will talk to you forever, and and uh and but I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna imprison you on the Unored Talk Podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 20:25

Do you have any closing remarks, my friend, for the team just reach out, reach out to me on on LinkedIn, reach out to me any which way you can. Uh find me. I'm in I'm in the greater Camp Lejeune area still. I'm in I'm local, I'm in Sneeds Ferry to the close to the base. Like if you're struggling, reach out, get help. There's people that want to help, and and you're you don't have to stay on that trajectory. You don't have to go down that road and find yourself in a catastrophic situation, um, like you know, divorce, domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, you know, any uh adultery, any of that. You don't have to go that route. You can stop it. And if you are on that route, you're not too low. And uh reach out to your your friends. Easier said than done. But I'm here, uh, I want to help. And I uh and I just uh my heart bleeds for anybody that's struggling because we we don't have to.

SPEAKER_01: 21:20

That is that is so cool, man. Thank you so much, everyone. I'll put uh uh Taylor Vogel's LinkedIn linked in the uh in the notes. And so and if you're listening on uh audio, you you'll be able to see that in the show notes and also on my YouTube channel. Uh but until next time, all the listeners and viewers truly appreciate your continued support. And I will continue to intentionally pray for you, the listeners and viewers, your family and your friends. And of course, if you have some living beings, animals, puppies, cats, you name it, man, they're like family members. I will keep them in my prayers as well. Until next time. See you guys later.