Ryan speaks with Navy Captain David Carey about his incredible experiences serving in Vietnam as a fighter pilot and being shot down and captured by North Vietnamese forces, how 2,022 days in captivity led to him embracing the teachings of Epictetus, why the community that he and his fellow POWs formed in prison saved them from depression, how he has been using his experiences to help others ever since, and more. David Carey is a retired Navy Captain who served in the Vietnam War, as well as an author, motivational speaker, consultant, and trainer. After being deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany in 1966, he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and taken as a Prisoner of War. After serving 2,022 days in the camp, David was released during Operation Homecoming in 1973 and was awarded the Legion of Merit with Valor. Since his retirement from the Navy in 1986, David has dedicated his work to sharing his experiences in the hopes of helping others through his speaking and training engagements and his book The Ways We Choose, Lessons for Life from a POW’s Experience. David’s work can be found at davecarey.com.
The Incredible Stoicism of Admiral James Stockdale
On September 9, 1965, Admiral James Stockdale’s A-4 Skyhawk jet was shot down in Vietnam. He was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese and spent the next seven years being tortured and subjected to unimaginable loneliness and terror. Fortunately, three years earlier, he was recommended a book. That book, he says, saved his life. After twenty years in the navy, Stockdale decided to go back to school. He enrolled in a two-year graduate program at
