Leave the light on with Tammy Flake
Every 65 minutes, a veteran dies by suicide in America. This is Keep the Light On.
Hosted by Tammy Flake — Iraq War veteran, Heroes Haven peer counselor, and candidate for VFW National Commander in Chief — this is a podcast about the unseen wars. The ones fought inside, in silence, long after the uniform comes off.
Tammy has been to the edge herself. She knows what it feels like when the weight wins. And she knows what it feels like when someone shows up just in time. Each episode she brings the honesty most shows avoid: real stories, hard conversations, and the tools that actually save lives.
For veterans who won’t call a hotline. For military families who don’t know what to say. For anyone who loves someone they can’t reach.
If you only hear one thing today, hear this: you are worth being here.
Episodes
18 episodes
Daniel Conely- Broken or Changed? Learning to See Yourself Differently
In this powerful conversation, Tammy Flake sits down with Army veteran Daniel Conely to talk about service, deployment, injuries, loss, identity, and the long road toward healing.Daniel shares his deeply personal journey through military...
Brooke Quinn- When AI becomes the only voice
In this deeply personal episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with Brooke Quinn, a registered nurse and mother, who shares a story of unimaginable loss—and the strength it has taken to keep moving forward.Brooke e...
James Logan- Just Keep Tri- ING
When You Think It’s the End, It Might Be the BeginningWhat happens when the life you thought you were going to live suddenly changes?In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with James “Jim” Log...
Brandy Vega- Promise 2 Live
When Someone Says “How Are You?” — Ask Them How They Really AreIn this powerful episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with Utah media personality and suicide-prevention advocate Brandy Vega, founder ...
Shame to Passion Projects
In this deeply personal episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake opens up about a tool from Heroes Haven that changed the way she understands trauma, responsibility, and shame: the Responsibility Matrix.Tammy breaks dow...
Numbers behind the crisis
In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake takes an honest look at the statistics surrounding suicide, with a particular focus on veterans.Tammy breaks down the gender paradox of suicide, the role of lethal means, w...
Time Saves Lives
Time Can Save a Life | Building Hope Before the CrisisWhat if the most powerful tool in suicide prevention isn't having the perfect words—but simply creating enough time for hope to return?In this deeply personal episode of...
The Family That Talks About Hard Things
What if the greatest gift you could give your children isn't money, success, or even security—but knowing without question that they matter?In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake shares the intentional practices that...
What Almost Killed Me Wasn't Combat
In this episode, Tammy Flake tells a story she's referenced before but never fully explained: what she means when she says the military almost killed her. It isn't about combat, and it isn't primarily about suicidal ideation, though she speaks ...
Oxygen Tents and Scuba Gear: The Alternative Healing Map for Veterans
In this episode, Tammy Flake steps outside the familiar landscape of VA clinics and prescription pads to explore the wide, largely unknown world of alternative healing available to veterans and military families — much of it free, and almost al...
From Script or From Scar: The Case for Peer-to-Peer Support
In this episode, Tammy Flake makes the case for what she believes is one of the most powerful tools in healing from trauma — not therapy, not medication, not a hotline, but another human being who has actually lived it. She unpacks the differen...
The Night I Stayed: Sloan's Story
This episode tells the story of Sloan — a Marine, a former military mortician who spent years receiving and preparing the bodies of fallen service members, and a man living with traumatic brain injury and PTSD after losing three brothers-in-arm...
The Books That Kept Me Here: Trauma, Meaning, and the Work No One Sees
In this episode, Tammy Flake steps away from interviews and campaign talk to share the private work — the books, the research, and the quiet commitments that underpin everything else she does. She starts with The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel ...
The Room That Changed Me: Tammy Flake on What Suicide Reveals About Us
In this episode, Tammy Flake steps back from her usual format to share what happened inside a room in Golden, Colorado — a three-day gathering called Organizers in Dialogue that brought together roughly eighty people from opposite ends of the p...
Tennis Shoes, Not Dress Uniform: Tammy Flake's Campaign to Reframe the VFW
In this episode, Tammy Flake steps away from the interview chair to make an announcement: she's running for National Commander-in-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. An Iraq War veteran, peer support facilitator, and suicide prevention advoc...
Your Brain Is Not Broken: Tammy Flake on ACE Scores, Rewilding, and the Road to Hope
In this solo episode, host Tammy Flake opens up her own toolkit — the practices and perspectives that carried her from a dark place to a life she loves. She introduces the idea of the "paradigm shift," using her own journey from a wary teenage ...
The Hardest Deployment: General Jeff Burton on Losing His Son and Finding His Voice
Major General Jeff Burton spent 37 years in an Army uniform — enlisting in 1982, commanding the 1457th Engineer Combat Battalion through the Iraq invasion, and later serving as Utah's Adjutant General over 7,500 soldiers and airmen. He brought ...