Trey “Raggot” Warren graduated from TOPGUN and flew the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18F Super Hornet as a Naval Flight Officer. He was also suicidal three separate times.
Trey’s fight was with what the Top Gun movies never show: traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress (PTS), and a long fight to get his life back. He tells how buried post-traumatic stress surfaced after his father’s death. The VA’s answer was stacked prescriptions, and he says they left him feeling like a zombie.
His way out ran through ayahuasca, psilocybin, and ibogaine with 5-MeO-DMT at Ambio. Fellow Naval Flight Officer Mark “Slider” Keller guided him, through the same door Kegan “Smurf” Gill walked through. Trey has been sober for a year and a half. He teaches, meditates daily and practices trauma release exercise. He serves as a peer support coach and legislative ambassador for VETS (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions) and Americans for Ibogaine. Today he also helps other veterans find the same path.
Orientation and the debrief
I connect Trey’s story to John Boyd’s real OODA loop, where orientation sits at the center. I bring in the triple-hit hypothesis, which looks at genetics, culture and experience together. Boyd put those same inputs inside orientation. Trey and I keep coming back to one point. The healing happens in the integration afterward. That is the same plan, brief, execute and debrief discipline we both relied on in the cockpit.
A path through
Trey’s message is plain. Suicidality does not care what you did in the military, and there is a path through.
If you or a veteran you know is struggling, the Veterans Crisis Line is open 24/7. Dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. This episode is not medical advice. Ibogaine is a Schedule I substance in the United States, and it is dangerous without cardiac screening and medical supervision.
Who on your team or in your family have you not checked on lately?
Listen and watch:
YouTube:
Apple Podcasts:
Spotify:
No Way Out on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/@nowayoutpodcast
Written by Ponch Rivera with AI assistance in production. The full conversation is in the player below.