Behind every story is a person willing to be vulnerable, speak honestly, and break the silence. Meet the hosts of Survivor Stories and learn a little about the people creating a space for real conversations about trauma, healing, survival, and hope.
Jarod and Mike met in 2010 while serving as Military Police in the Army National Guard during Operation Unified Response in Haiti, where they worked together supporting earthquake relief efforts. What started as a friendship built through military service grew into a lasting brotherhood.
Over the years, they stayed connected through marriages, childbirths, divorces, moves, career changes, more divorces, and more marriages. Eventually, they put their experience, work ethic, and trust in each other to work and started a roofing company together. Along the way, conversations about life, service, trauma, and everything they had experienced led to an idea for something more.
Now, more than 15 years after first meeting in Haiti, Jarod and Mike are teaming up again to start Survivor Stories: Breaking Silence, Changing Stigma—creating a place for the conversations that often go unspoken and giving others the opportunity to tell their stories.
Mike and Lindsey kept crossing paths until one day, it was finally their turn. They met while both were married to other people and expecting kids. Lindsey was drawn to something in Mike and stayed connected with him through social media. Over the years, they exchanged friendly conversations, watched each other’s milestones, and wished each other well from afar.
Then one day, Mike saw Lindsey online—no, really—and reached out to talk about some drama in his life. Somehow, the timing was perfect for both of them. They bonded over music, laughed together, and before they knew it, they just never stopped talking. What started as a few conversations quickly became something neither of them expected.
What started as a COVID-era romance became something real. They married in 2023 and are now living the life they dreamed of—with two kids, a farmhouse, an old truck, and a dog. After everything it took to get there, they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jarod: Behind the Voice
Jarod is an Army National Guard leader currently serving on Active Duty as a Regimental S4. He is also a business owner, father, and advocate for breaking the silence surrounding trauma and mental health.
Since beginning his military career in 2004, Jarod has served in a variety of leadership and logistics roles, including deployments and missions in Iraq, Haiti, and India. He has been recognized with numerous military awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medals, and Army Achievement Medals. Outside the military, he is a co-owner of a roofing company.
In 2026, Jarod was diagnosed with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), beginning a journey of self-reflection and healing through therapy, Internal Family Systems, and honest examination of his past experiences. That journey became Internal Chain of Command, a platform focused on trauma, healing, relationships, accountability, and understanding the patterns shaped by survival.
Through Survivor Stories: Breaking Silence, Changing Stigma, Jarod is expanding that mission by giving survivors, veterans, families, first responders, and others affected by trauma a place to share their stories openly and in their own words.
Above all, Jarod considers himself a father, friend, teammate, Soldier, and work in progress.
We are more than what happened to us. We are not broken.
Mike: Behind the Voice
Mike is an Army National Guard veteran, former law enforcement officer, business owner, coach, and community volunteer whose life and career have been defined by service, leadership, responsibility, and a commitment to taking care of the people around him.
Mike began his career serving as a Military Police officer before continuing in public safety through security and law enforcement. During that time, he received multiple lifesaving awards and recognition for his actions during critical incidents. He later brought that experience into emergency management and volunteer search-and-rescue work, supporting disaster response, training exercises, and community preparedness.
Outside of his public-service career, Mike is part owner and Operations Lead of the roofing company he owns with Jarod. He also serves as a wrestling coach, where he mentors young athletes in discipline, accountability, resilience, and teamwork.
Through Survivor Stories: Breaking Silence, Changing Stigma, Mike joins Jarod in creating a space where survivors, veterans, first responders, families, and others affected by trauma can share their experiences in their own words.
Above all else, Mike considers himself a husband, father, mentor, teammate, and work in progress.
His philosophy is simple:
Take care of your people. Lead from the front. Give credit publicly. Accept responsibility when things go wrong.
Lindsey: Behind the Voice
Lindsey is not in the military, but she teaches small children art and how to be weird. She recently earned her MBA and is in the middle of a career change that will involve, naturally, organizing chaos. She volunteers in Emergency Management alongside Mike and works within his company, because apparently one job wasn’t enough. She enjoys writing, reading, traveling, and being weird. She has never saved anyone’s life, but she does know CPR.
Lindsey loves traveling and having adventures with Mike and their family. Some of her favorite memories include a super-secret surprise trip to Niagara Falls that Mike planned, their winter honeymoon in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and a family trip to Branson, Missouri, just one week after Mike had shoulder surgery—where she got to ride roller coasters at an almost-empty Silver Dollar City in the snow.
Lindsey’s favorite holiday is Halloween, and she continues to deny being a witch on a weekly basis. Her philosophy on life is simple: the rules are made up and the points don’t matter. When life gives you trauma, you don’t have to keep it. You can put that shit down and go have a good life.
Through Survivor Stories: Breaking Silence, Changing Stigma, Lindsey brings a civilian perspective to the conversation and hopes to give listeners something she wishes she had at several points in her own life: support, understanding, and permission to move forward after trauma.
The Soldier and the Witch
A short Story and the True Telling of How Mike and Lindsey first met – By Michael Conley
Mike and Lindsey first met in the Year of Our Lord 1692. Mike was a soldier – a grenadier serving in the local militia. Lindsey stood accused of the vilest and most grievous crime of witchcraft. By order of the magistrate, Mike was commanded to apprehend her, bind her in irons, and fasten her to the stake, there to be consumed by fire for her wicked transgressions against God and His Holy Law.
And so, justice was done.
Yet as the flames rose and Lindsey drew her final breath, she fixed her gaze upon Mike and spoke these words:
“Mark me well, soldier. I shall have my vengeance upon thy soul – whether in this life or the next.”
Centuries passed…. Then, by the cruel hand of fate, they met again….
