Episode 979

Healing Through Service – Aaron Quinonez pt 2

Published on: 13th October, 2021

Healing Through Service 

Aaron Quinonez pt 2

I grew up in the Vietnam Era. I joined the military straight out of high school just a few years after Vietnam ended. I have seen the effects of what we now call PTSD on friends and fellow soldiers that served prior to my enlistment. I know many of our war veterans back then did not know, nor did anyone else for that matter, what PTSD was or how it affected our veterans.

Fast forward 25 years and we understand a lot more about PTSD and its effects. But yet, many of our war veterans still struggle with these battle scars. Some have such a hard time readjusting to civilian life, they decide to take their own life.

My guest today has experienced just this sort of turmoil. Aaron Quinonez is a Marine combat veteran who joined the service straight out of high school. Serving 8 years in the Marines and a combat tour in Iraq as part of the Marine 1stANGLICO unit. In case you were wondering about the military acronym for ANGLICO it stands for “Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company” which is the only US Dept. of Defense unit capable of bringing in direct fire support for ground forces from air, sea or land and they are regularly part of special operations forces in combat.

Sgt. Quinonez returned to civilian life, only to find that the real battle had just begun. Suffering from depression, anger and panic attacks, he was diagnosed with PTSD. But just being diagnosed with a problem and receiving the needed help are two entirely different things. This affected Sgt. Quinonez (or “Sgt. Q” as he is called now) decided it would be better to just take his own life that continuing in the agony he was facing on a daily basis.

Today is part two of a three part interview with "Sgt Q." He has been sharing how Jesus delivered him, gave him a new life, a new calling and he is now in charge of what is called, “Q Missions.” This is a pathway for veterans and fellow warfighters to help them replace the battle scars of their minds with the joy of serving others through building churches, homes, feeding children and suppling precious hope to struggling communities worldwide.

Sgt. Q has also authored a new book titled, “Healing Thru Service: The Warriors Guide to Overcoming Trauma.”

Take us through some of the turmoil PTSD has on a war veteran. I know not everyone suffers the same things or to the same degree. But in general, what are some of the things going on the mind of someone suffering from PTSD?

Then came the day you decided to take your life. Can you give us what was going through your mind on that day and what happened to make you change your decision? 25 min zoom edit

How did you decide to start “Q Missions?”

Tell us about “Operation Pop Smoke.”  I know the phraseology for “pop smoke” but how have you used this term to communicate with veterans that need assistance?

Folks, veteran PTSD and veteran suicides are a very real and very serious reality in this country. Just as this condition is very individual in nature, where every person suffers in their own way, the help needs to be individualized as well. Organizations such as those founded by Sgt. Q are not only needful, but directly impacting those who need help and need help now. Your donations are needed – right now. Someone, somewhere is suffering – right now. There is no better time to provide help, than right now.

Go down into the show notes and click the links there to get in touch with Sgt. Q and his organizations, “OperationPopSmoke.com” and “QMissions.org.” And be sure to click the link below and order your copies of “Healing Thru Service: The Warriors Guide to Overcoming Trauma.”

 CONTACT INFORMATION

Email:   MrsQ@operationpopsmoke.com

Book:  “Healing Thru Service: The Warriors Guide to Overcoming Trauma” – on Amazon

Website:  https://sgtq.net

Website:  https://operationpopsmoke.com

Website:  https://www.qmissions.org

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Kingdom Cross Roads Podcast
Interviews with influential Christian ministry and business leaders / owners, authors & musicians & prophecy experts, too!
Pastor Robert Thibodeau interviews Christian guests that range from pastors and ministers to Christian authors; Christian musicians and singers to Christian businessmen and businesswomen who are running impactful businesses while maintaining the Christian morals and values. Each podcast is approximately 28-35 minutes in length (give or take a few minutes). This is an interview based podcast that will often dig deep into the beliefs of the guest being interviewed. We recently published our 1600th Episode (with over 1100 individual interviews) and have been ranked by "Listen Notes" (the "Nielsen Ratings" of Podcasts) in the TOP 1/2% of ALL podcasts worldwide (2.7million +)! So your interviews will be heard!

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Robert Thibodeau

I am a 12 year Army veteran as both enlisted and as a commissioned Cavalry Officer.
I am now a retired law enforcement supervisor...

I had my own business for seven years before I entered law enforcement.

As a cop, I was injured on the job on May 12, 2007 and after several surgeries over a couple of years, forced to retire in 2011.

As I was looking down the road to “what am I going to do next?” I started what is now known as a podcast (I had no clue at the time).

Within six months of starting (what I called) “My online radio program” I was offered an opportunity to be on nationwide AM radio. I learned A LOT in one year of doing that!

I then started the online Christian radio platform "Evangelism Radio" in the fall of 2010. It has had listeners in 160+ nations and all 50 states. We host 50+ Christian broadcasters on a weekly basis. We have been operating 24/7 for almost 14 years now. We have been rated #1 in the world by Shoutcast. com on several occasions in our genre. We recently transferred ownership of Evangelism Radio to another ministry so I could concentrate full time on podcasting, preaching and writing.

In 2018, I started the Kingdom Cross Roads Podcast to conduct interviews with Christian influencers from all walks of life and to play their interviews on the radio station. (The KCR Podcast has its own time slot on Evangelism Radio)!
We now have over 1600 episodes and almost 1100 interviews (in just over 6 years).

Looking out at the future of online Christian media, I noticed there was no viable platforms that catered only to the Christian podcast market.

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