What Happened to This Army Veteran After the Car Accident?

Have you ever wondered how one moment can change the rest of your life?

A rollover crash on a dark Montana highway changed everything for Army veteran Darshan Shanti. The accident left him with a traumatic brain injury, severe injuries to his hand and arm, and a year-long recovery that forced one powerful question: What meaning do you attach to what happened?

In this episode, Darshan shares his journey from Army medic to survivor, revealing how resilience, perspective, and embracing progress—not chasing the "old version" of himself—transformed his recovery.

We also have an honest conversation about mental health. Darshan opens up about his personal experiences with medication side effects, including suicidal thoughts while taking gabapentin, how THC negatively affected him during recovery, and the challenges of living with multiple sclerosis. Together, we discuss why self-awareness, asking for help, and support from trusted friends and healthcare professionals can make a life-saving difference.

Chapters
00:00 – Welcome & Guest Introduction
01:43 – Army Life & Constant Pressure
04:38 – The Montana Rollover & Recovery
07:39 – Mindset & The Meaning We Choose
10:34 – Medication Side Effects & Dark Thoughts
16:08 – A Future That Pulls You Forward
18:43 – Self-Love & Getting Help
20:31 – How To Connect & Final Words

If this conversation encouraged you, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. What part of Darshan's story resonated with you the most? Let us know in the comments—we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Darshan’s website: https://savingourveterans.com/

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Mario P. Fields 0:05

Welcome to An Armor Talk Podcast where we remove the armor, have real conversations, and strengthen how we think and respond to life. I'm your host, Mario P. Fields. And I know I have not uh published an episode in about a month, but that's because I've been doing summer projects. Everyone had to take the backyard and make it into a uh a Fields resort. But I'm back, and today I am honored to welcome Darshan Shanti. Shanti, did I get it right, Shanti?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

You did. You get two check marks. You pronounce both my name's right.

Mario P. Fields 0:42

And you know, and I he's a veteran, uh United States Army. He's also a motivational speaker, author, coach, and more. And everyone, he has dedicated his life to helping people overcome many of things. And we're gonna get into uh how did he get to that purpose? You know, what happened in his life, but before we get to that, thank you, everyone who's been watching and listening since 2020. Love you guys. And for those new listeners and viewers, welcome, welcome. Darshan, can you please bless the listeners and viewers and tell them a little bit about who you are?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

I would be happy to. First of all, thank you for having me on. I'm glad it's it's taken a while for us to connect, but now that we have, it's awesome. You know, you're a good guy and you you're making a big difference, and you're helping a lot of veterans. And anybody that's helping veterans and helping people is great in my book. So I'm honored to be here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mario. Thank you, sir.

Mario P. Fields 1:41

Thank you.

Army Life And Constant Pressure

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Um, so I mean, my whole life was an interesting experience. Uh just starting out in a military career, I was a medic, like an EMT, trained to save people. I was always in trouble in the army. Somehow something kept going wrong, whether I was running my mouth or saying something silly, or it's just been the way I've been my whole life. So I always got in trouble. I could do more push-ups than anybody when I was in basic training because I was constantly doing them. I mean, it was crazy. It just I woke up just getting out of bed, I got in trouble. I mean, it was every single day, no matter what we did, trouble, trouble, trouble, so doing push-ups or whatever. I mean, that whole thing continued through my whole military career. I was always in trouble, always picked on, always abused by whether it was the drill sergeants or my regular sergeants, or just the people I served with. The funny part is, Mario, my own unit voted me most likely to be killed by them.

Mario P. Fields 2:53

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

I don't know if that's a good thing or well, they figured they'd be safer off with me dead than if I was alive, even though I was a medic and trained to save their lives. They kept threatening me. Well, man, if we go to war, we're taking you out first. So I lived with all that stress and pressure and worry, and all I wanted to do was help people, and it just never worked in my favor. I would just felt so attacked and like worried all the time. Like, what's gonna happen to me? That was my whole life, and I never could get promoted. I mean, I spent three years active, and I ended up just uh being in E4, and there were people, I was already in E3, and there were people that came in as E1s and made it to E4 before I did. And so that was my whole three years active, and then I did uh the rest of the time in the National Guard, never got past E4, never could get promoted, and I just well the heck with it, and I decided to get out. But the fact of the matter is, everybody who is serving or has served is still my brother, my sister. They are my family, and I've always felt this kindred spirit to them. So I've done my whole life, all I've done since then is help people. I mean, I went to school, learned a ton of stuff, went to every personal development course you can imagine, wrote two personal development books. I've spoken, probably given over 1100 talks. Everything I do is to help

The Montana Rollover And Recovery

SPEAKER_01 4:38

people. And then a year ago, yeah, a little over a year ago, I got into a rollover car accident. And if you see my hand, it's messed up as opposed to my normal hand. And so I was on a desolate highway in Montana. It was 11 o'clock at night. I was helping a buddy drive from New Mexico to Alaska, it's about 3,600 miles. It's a long drive. It's like a two-lane road, 11 o'clock at night. I saw a deer, swerved to avoid hitting it, and rolled the vehicle over multiple times. And I know it was at least twice because each time we rolled, I checked in and I said, Well, I'm still here, like I didn't die. We finally came to a stop. And I don't know if I had blacked out for a while because I split my head open from here all the way back, took over a hundred stitches to put my head together. Again, I had a TBI, I was in the hospital for six days, but I broke all the bones in my not all the bones, about seven bones in my fingers, wrists, hands, and I broke uh my two arm bones, the ulna and the radius. And then my whole entire arm was road rashed because somehow when the car rolled over, the window broke and my arm flopped out. And that's what happened. And so it's been a year-long recovery, and this is all I can do with it. And I just felt a stronger kinship now to veterans who have lost the ability to use a limb or lost a limb from what they did in battle. And even though my mind wasn't from battle, I still have the same effect, and I'm still a veteran, and I still have a love and passion. So now my whole purpose is to help veterans who are suicidal, turn their pain into purpose, and that's my mission now. Turn their trauma into triumph so that they can then live and do what they're supposed to do, that their mission continues. And and I don't like to say battle, it's not a battle, but mission is what it is to go on and find out who they really are and do what they want to do. The key is for them to stay.

Mario P. Fields 7:00

Yeah, and you know, Darshawn, I you know, I like um or I respect how you took an external factor, an event that could have been really tragic, um, but but you took a permanent injury, if you will. And how you took that event and turned it into a positive to reinforce your passion for helping people. Um, and and I've seen a lot of folks who who struggle with that. Um, could you give some advice to those who may be currently going through something similar to you or don't even know it's going to happen today or tomorrow on how to change that mindset to turn it into a positive?

Mindset And The Meaning We Choose

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Well, there's a lot of things I can say to that. I mean, a long, long time ago I learned that it's not what happens to you, it's who you become or what you do about it. So what is is, and all the rest is interpretation. All the rest you make up. In other words, what happens, happens, and then we as humans add meaning to it. Now, the meaning that I'm adding to it is this is a great thing. Well, if I added the meaning, is my life sucks, this is horrible, I didn't deserve this. I tried saving a deer's life and the hell with this, and now I can't move, now I don't this and this. See the difference? It's all in what I'm telling myself, and I choose to tell myself the stuff that's going to empower me and to move me forward and to make me feel good rather than feeling bad. That's always the key. What meaning do I want to add to what happened? And if I don't feel good, it's because I'm telling myself bad stuff. Look, I can I can pick up stuff, I can hold stuff now, right? It took, I don't know, about seven or eight months before I could even do that. And so all I did was just said, I want to have as a normal functioning hand as possible, and my whole goal is to have a normal hand. Whatever it's gonna take, I'm in this for the long run. And if I can heal myself of this trauma and turn it in a tragedy and turn it into a triumph, then anybody can. Does that answer your question, Mario?

Mario P. Fields 9:30

No, no, great, great advice because you know sometimes um what I've seen is um veterans who go, or even non-veterans. I mean, I have a lot of folks who watch and listen who aren't veterans, that that that something happens, they either get an amp, you know, amputation or something, they they lose a capability, and then they spend a lot of time trying to get back to the the the old person, the the way I used to be. And I love how you didn't do that, and the the wisdom you gave is it's your mindset, and tell yourself you can't change what happened in the past, but but you can respond to what you have in front of you now and turn it into a positive at any time during this you know this this recovery, and I know you're still recovering, by the way. Um, did you did you ever uh uh get depressed, or was there ever a moment where you're like, all right, all right, uh darshawn, get it together, get it together. And how

Med Side Effects And Dark Thoughts

Mario P. Fields 10:34

did you get through it?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Uh so to answer your question, yes, there was many periods of time because the pain was so bad. And here's what's even worse. I had a bad reaction to uh gabapen, which they hand out like it's water, and it's supposed to help with nerve pain. Well, it caused me to have suicidal thoughts. I like I remember saying, Well, if this doesn't work, I'll just blow my head off. That had never occurred to me before. It's not my makeup, it's not how I am, and I went into these dark phases, and then I don't share this with most people, so I don't do any drugs whatsoever. I don't smoke, I don't drink alcohol, I don't do anything. I do uh I take CBD. Well, here's the interesting thing. I took CBD, a different kind I do gummies with that had 5% uh THC in it. I thought, well, that's nothing, maybe it'll make me feel better. It sent me into such a dark place. Wow, the darkest I was getting physical therapy, and I literally broke down like multiple, multiple times, couldn't even function, would just start crying because the somehow the THC and the uh and the drugs just didn't interact with one another. And it wasn't just uh it wasn't just the gapetin made me sad. Then I haven't shared this much. Um on top of all of the accident and everything else that's gone on my life that I haven't even shared, um I developed multiple sclerosis. So I and I've had it for over 20 years, well over 20, like 20 25 years. And um, so it messes up part of the brain, or at least where where the lesions are to deal with pain and pleasure. It's the reward system in your brain, it's called the ventral striatom. You asked about depression, so my whole reward center is off. The whole dopamine, norepinephrine, you name it, everything's off. So they gave me well butrin to help with that. I had a bad reaction to the well-butrin. They gave me another drug called Buspar, B-U-S-P-A-R to help with it. I had another bad reaction to that. And then in the beginning, when I took the THC with it, that's what sent me into the absolute, it's like it was like death. I was so dark and depressed. So I got off the THC immediately, started feeling better, and started gaining control again back to my life, and said, wait a minute, what I can't do this. I can't now I know what it feels like to want to end your life. And that all went into this whole process. The injury, the brain injury, the love of veterans, the dark depression, all of it. That's why I'm on this mission now.

Mario P. Fields 14:08

Man, that's powerful. And you know that and thank you for sharing, and thank you for removing your armor. Um, because that I hope the listeners and viewers understand how complex the brain is, and how medicine uh to treat an injury or an illness can also impact your cognitive abilities. And like you said, Darshan, make you think have thoughts that you have you would never have in your right state of mind. Never. And then to be self-aware, which is powerful, to be self-aware, to be able to go, I am in this state of mind, I am having these thoughts, and I know that is not me. I need some help. I'm going to take steps to figure this out. Not not not going to go, oh, it's a coping skill. So let me go ride my motorcycle and I should feel better. No, it's clinical. It's it's the the the the cylinders aren't firing. We got a six-cylinder engine, and one is not firing right.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Right. And no, it was more like three or four were not firing right. And the one good uh the one or two good ones were being uh attacked. It's crazy.

Mario P. Fields 15:20

Goodness, crazy. You know what I love too, Darshan? You never gave up, you never, you never you're still you're here today. Today is you know, for everyone, uh you know, today's June 30th, the last day of June, I think. Yeah, uh we'll publish publish this here in a couple of days. You never gave up, and and that's powerful. You're still here, you didn't give up, and now you're more committed to helping people. All those folks who who said, Yeah, you know we go to combat, we want you gone first. Shame on them, shame on them because I would love to see how many folks have they positively impacted on this earth, you know. Shame on them.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

They did what they did, I did what I did. It all helped me to be the person that I am now.

A Future That Pulls You Forward

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, I never want to change my past because my past helped me to become who I am, and now what's interesting, uh, and this is really cool. I use now the future to pull me forward, and the past as a springboard to push me forward. I like that. So I use both one to push me, one to pull me.

Mario P. Fields 16:33

You know, you know, and and I had a wonderful guest on the show. You just remind me of Dr. Rubinstein, and he said, uh, the past is depression because the brain is naturally obsessed with the past. He said the future is anxiety because the brain is naturally naturally naturally obsessed with the future. But I love your mindset. I'm gonna use the past to push me forward, push me forward, and I'm gonna use the future as fuel.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yes, let it pull me forward, yes. Yeah, push back because when you look at your life, your future really determines who you're gonna become. So let's say you said you wanted to be the number one podcaster in the world and blow Joe Rogan away.

Mario P. Fields 17:16

Well, that's no, I want to go after Oprah.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Oprah, there you go. Fine. I think Joe Rogan's probably more popular now. He's a podcaster current, but the point that I'm making is that future is gonna pull you towards it. And that's you're gonna start now, you're gonna see that future and you're gonna take steps towards it. And I see just helping thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands of veterans and saving so many lives and putting a big dent in this. You know, the numbers now are a little lower than they were. Used to be 22 a day. Now it's the latest statistics at 17. It's probably still higher. Just call it 20 a day. That's 600 a month that are taking their lives. So if I save two or three a month, that's a life worth living. Amen. And that makes me want to get out of bed every day.

Mario P. Fields 18:14

I mean, amen. You know, and um, and I'll continue to, you know, I'll hold you all day, but I you know, I don't want to be uh selfish, and you know, and and I will continue to also keep you in our prayers for MS. I I I have had a family member that had MS, so I know that is a very um challenging diagnosis. And and and just thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so strong. And Darshan, before I let

Self Love And Getting Help

Mario P. Fields 18:43

you go, if if you could leave the listeners, matter of fact, if you were standing next to yourself when you were 18 years old, what advice would you give yourself?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Love yourself first, believe in yourself, value, respect, like, honor, cherish yourself. Because so many people don't believe in themselves, and I didn't believe in myself, so I didn't value myself or respect or honor, or like or love, or cherish myself. When you do that, when you love yourself, you're not gonna want to take your life. Yeah, when you value yourself, when you honor yourself, none of that's even gonna enter your mind as long as there's no drugs or any other problems up there, and that's what kept me alive is wait a minute, this isn't that's not right. I don't, that's not me. Get get rid of that. And so and get help, and that's the other thing. We're we're so trained as veterans to stuff it down. I mean, don't joke. I mean, we always joke about service, you were in the Marines, you are a long-term Marine, you did stuff I never could imagine. I was not a Marine, I was the Army, and the Army very different, but we're always still taught to stuff it down and compartmentalize it. We can't, because you can't deal with it and carry the mission on. And then we carry that into our civilian lives, stuff everything down, and then eventually, if it doesn't come out, that's what causes a lot of people to take their lives. So get help. Mental health is so important, whether it's from a friend, a coach, whether it's a therapist, a psychiatrist, medicine, all the above, get the help you're looking for because it will save your life.

Mario P. Fields 20:30

No,

How To Connect And Final Words

Mario P. Fields 20:31

I I truly appreciate it. And if there's folks who want to follow you, um, how can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

The uh easiest way, thank you for that. You you can go to the website saving our veterans with an s dot com. If you're on Facebook, just the easiest way, because it's a it's my old, it's like 17 years old. Just do a search for my name. Is is my name going to be put out anywhere or should I spell it?

Mario P. Fields 20:59

Um, I'm gonna put it in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Okay, in the show notes. It's well, you can see it above. Darshawn Gabriel, the G is for Gabriel Shanti. You'll see a saving our veterans, a shield and boots. You'll see that logo. Just send me a friend request. That's great. If you want to uh uh message me directly, text me directly, whether it's Facebook Messenger, but if it's on the phone, uh I didn't have it up there. It's 505-340-9878, 505-340-9878. Texts are absolutely wonderful. Just say hey, I saw you on the Mario Fields Podcast, the Unarmored Podcast. We'll start a friendship from there.

Mario P. Fields 21:42

Amen. Well, everyone, you guys heard it. Uh, love yourself. Um, love, learn to love yourself, and um, and that's powerful. Darshawn again. Thank you so much for coming on the show, my friend. Thank you. I truly appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

You are welcome. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you for helping me to get the message out because what you're doing will save lives, Mark.

Mario P. Fields 22:06

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

No question about it.

Mario P. Fields 22:09

No, thank you so much. Well, everyone, um, and I'm I'm being obedient to God. I I have Christian beliefs, everyone knows that, so I do not want to get spiritually in trouble. But everyone, thank you all for your continued support, and uh, I'll continue to pray for you, your family, and all living things around you. But until next episode, stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit. God bless you all.