Get ready for one of Dog Tag Diaries’ most raw and inspiring episodes yet. In this episode, retired Navy Senior Chief Leah Stiles opens up about her turbulent childhood, her quest for belonging, and the hidden eating disorder that shaped—and nearly ended—her military career. Raised in foster care and group homes, Leah sought the structure and “family” of the U.S. Navy, eventually founding Sea Waves, the only nonprofit dedicated to eating disorders among service members and veterans. Tune in as Captain Kim and Leah bravely tackle the silent epidemic of disordered eating in the military, the stigma surrounding mental health, and the power of truth and advocacy. Looking for stories of healing, resilience, and advocacy for veterans’ mental health? This episode is for you.

Leah Stiles is the founder of Sea Waves, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for, educating, and supporting active duty service members, veterans, and their families who are dealing with disordered eating, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia. With twenty years of service and retiring as a Navy Senior Chief, she developed a strong commitment to supporting the well-being of her fellow service members. Having personally navigated the challenges of eating disorders during her service, she recognized the critical need for specialized support. Through Sea Waves, Stiles is dedicated to offering crucial support and resources for prevention, recovery, and resilience. She strives to be a lighthouse, shining light on this often-taboo issue and guiding others who may be in the dark or weathering their own storms.

Connect with Leah:

Website- www.sea-waves.org

Instagram- @seawavesinc

Dauntless Veteran Foundation - Agricultural Grant Program

DVF newsletter

Ms Veteran America

Women Veterans Giving - Melissa Washington Small Business Award

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) - Guard and Reserve Members 

Kim Liszka served in the United States Army/Reserves as a Combat Medic, Combat Nurse, Flight Nurse Instructor and one of the Top Female athletes in the Army. Kim worked 20+ years as an ER nurse and decided to explore the world as a travel nurse. She's an Advanced Wilderness Expedition Provider and Chief Medical Officer for numerous endurance/survival expeditions in different countries. Kim has a son, Jace and a daughter in law, Sammy and 2 grand animals, Joey & Bear. Her dog Camo is her best buddy. Camo is the sweetest yellow Labrador Retriever to walk this earth. He loves licking snow, riding the ocean waves, visiting carnivore food trucks and loves belly rubs and treats. Fun Facts: Kim's lived in the Reality TV World! Fear Factor, American Ninja Warrior-Military Edition, American Tarzan, Spartan Namibia and more to come!

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Learn more about Reveille and Retreat Project: 

reveilleandretreatproject.org

Instagram: @reveilleandretreatproject

Facebook: Reveille and Retreat Project

You aren’t alone.

If you’re thinking about hurting yourself or having thoughts of suicide contact the

Veteran crisis line: Dial 988 then press 1, chat online, or text 838255.

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Leah Stiles was conceived during a party game and raised by strangers searching for safety long before she found the U.S. navy. What began as a quest for belonging turned into a 20 year military career. Rising to Senior Chief. But behind the uniform, Leah hid a life threatening eating disorder that thrived in a culture of control and perfection. Today, she's the founder of Sea Waves, the only nonprofit supporting service members and veterans with eating disorders. And she's using her voice to expose what too often goes unseen. This episode is raw, powerful, and a reminder that true strength starts with truth.

We made it Season 6 of Dog Tag Diaries where every military woman deserves a platform to tell her story and have it be heard. I'm your host, Captain Kim, and this community has already racked up over 4,500 downloads. So let's smash 5K together, share these episodes and help us make season six our biggest yet.

This episode of Dog Tag Diaries features retired Navy Senior Chief Leah Stiles, a 20 year veteran who turned her pain into purpose. From a childhood spent in foster care, group homes, and churches that stepped in when her mother couldn't, Leah became a leader in the Navy, a mentor to many, and the founder of Sea Waves, the only nonprofit dedicated to eating disorders in the military and veterans communities. Leah opens up about the silent epidemic plaguing our armed forces, disordered eating, and how it nearly cost her life. More than once, she shares how the traits of military rewarded discipline, control, and obsession with physical fitness also fueled her illness. But this isn't just a story of struggle. It's one of survival, advocacy, and fierce leadership. Leah, welcome to Dog Tag Diaries. Thank you for taking time to be here.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Yeah. Sea Waves, I am so excited to get into your nonprofit, but first we have to learn all about you. Let's hear about your childhood.

Oh. So I usually give a trigger warning and a don't worry, it starts dark but gets better warning. So we do start dark times. It was a super rough childhood filled with lots of neglect and all kinds of abuse. And I was really bounced around in the system, all over the system, from foster care to group homes. My mother was just not emotionally or mentally stable. And as much as I fought and tried to stay with her and have a relationship with her, she just really wasn't capable of being a mother.

Yeah. From what you're saying, bounced around from group home to group home and churches. How did they come about?

Yeah, so that's kind of like where it started was my mother would begin Leaving me and my older brother at the local church. And then she'd disappear for all kinds of reasons, whether it was hospitalization for mental health, or she was on some kind of alcohol or drug bender, or she was chasing another man. You know, whatever the reason was, when she just didn't know what to do with us, I think she felt like that was a safe place to leave us. And it was. It actually was. The different families in the church would take turns taking care of us at different times. Both pastors, a husband and wife, they took good care of us. They had children our age, and so they just kind of implemented us into their family whenever they could or whenever they had to.

And that is so amazing that you had that opportunity, but then your mom would come back into the scene. Right. And then you would have to go back into that environment again.

Correct. But let me be clear that I wanted to. I wanted to. And even a little bit later. So when I was five, she married a local firefighter, and. And we kind of thought that that was going to be, like, a turning point. Everybody at the church kind of thought that would be a turning point. Like, we'd probably care for her and care for me and my brother.

But by the time I was 8, I lost my virginity to him. And. Yes. And so he was not the hero that we all hoped he would be. And I reported when I was 11, and he got arrested and, you know, had to do jail time. And so then we went back and forth with family court. And when he got out of jail, you know, the judges would give my mother an ultimatum because there was a restraining order and he was on the sex offender list. And, you know, we couldn't be in the same home.

They would provide her the ultimatum of, you know, kick him out and we'll try to bring your daughter home. And she just either couldn't or wouldn't, so. But I still, whenever the judge would ask me, like, where do you want to be? Like, I want to be with my mom. But she wouldn't have him leave. So then that's where I would go, just kind of wherever the county had room for me or whatever was available at that time.

Oh, gosh, Leah, that could not have felt good. One, there was, like, no stability, and two, that wanting to be with your mom because she's your mom. Of course, we grew inside her bellies for nine months. You have that connection, and I believe there's an emotional connection, too.

Yes, I wanted that so bad. But just, you know, one reason or another, just. It couldn't work. You know, When I was 11, I was home before he got arrested, and I heard him on the phone with another firefighter, and I heard him tell him that skinny women are unattractive. And so I thought to myself, if I could shrink my body, if I could get skeletal, emaciated, malnutrition, tiny, that he'd no longer be attracted to me. And that began my eating disorder.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so then you started down the anorexic path, is correct.

Exactly. I did. And a short time after that. At first, my mother was furious when she found out, but it didn't take long for it to turn again. She had serious mental health issues. But it kind of turned to a. She asked me why I was trying to steal her husband from her. So again, I felt like if I was unattractive to him or anybody, then she wouldn't feel that threat.

So, yeah, you could have her love.

Exactly. And she wouldn't think I was trying that. And I tried to reason with her. And for those reasons, something that would seem so unreasonable to other people, choosing anorexia. That made sense at that time. But by the time I was 12, I know a few of the different facilities, they would send me inpatient to, like, the impeccable eating disorder units. And there was lots of rules you have to follow. And at this time, my little brother was born, and I was very close with him and protective of him and really wanted to protect him from the system.

I didn't want him in the same system that me and my older brother had been bounced around in. But in order to, I guess, earn a phone call to call home to check on my brother, part of the rules in the eating disorder program was to have 100% meal completion. And so that's everything on your plate, from the burnt end on the broccoli, or, you know, the piece of the chicken that you don't normally eat, those kinds of things. Like, it was 100% meal completion. So I would force myself to achieve that. Because another thing about me is I'm a black and white thinker, and I'm an achiever. And so that was what was set. And that's what I felt like I had to get.

But it didn't feel achievable for me. And so you know how teenagers are. You know, they give the best and the worst advice. And there was another girl there that said, well, I know a way for you to get 100% meal completion, and then you can get it right out of you. You can get it right back out. And she taught me how to purge. And the first time I did was like an addiction. Immediately for me, I was like, oh, my God, I found the answer.

Like, I can have the best of both worlds. I can eat what they tell me to eat, and then I can get it out.

And it's all because of. Right. Because it's not about the food. It's about the emotion underneath it. And it was still wanting your mom's love and acceptance.

Yes, it was that. It was wanting to control things around me. You know, they told me when to eat, when to wake up, what to do, and my emotions fell out of control. I wasn't sure. So, yeah, it's absolutely a coping mechanism that makes you think that you're in control of things and the choices that you make. And then there are also, like, physical endorphins that come from it. That was the beginning of almost 30 years of me purging, like, yeah, decades purging. And so I've learned later, you know, the endorphins that do come from it.

I've explained it to other people. In fact, when I was in the military and I was trying to justify my disorder, why it wasn't a big deal. I used to say that other chiefs, after their meals, they get to go smoke cigarettes. And that's not illegal, but it's not healthy. And we don't say anything. We just let them do it. And I kind of, like, justified it the same way. Like, this is what I do after meals.

This is what I do, and it's not illegal.

Yeah. We could justify anything in our heads for it to make sense. Yeah, but that was a smart one. You're right.

Yeah. It got me out of a few things. I used it a few times. It got me delayed, you know. You know, and that is another thing about eating disorders, is almost like manipulative. You come, you know, around in. That was probably one of the main reasons that drove me to want to be on a healing journey, is because my eating disorder doesn't align with my values and my morals.

Like, I love. What I treasure about me is my honesty. And I really love being a transparent person. That's why I share my story now. But my eating disorder didn't allow that. It really forged a lot of lies and manipulation and things like that.

Yeah, we tell a story, that's for sure. And then we will. You're right. We'll believe it. And then we end up living that life. And it's this conditioned life that we just get used to hence, years of therapy to undo it, which we'll talk about. But you talked about being in having the eating disorder in the military. What made you gravitate towards the military?

Oh, honestly, I think there's a lot of reasons, and I've actually been doing more reflection on this. I do think that people that have a history of abuse and trauma and gravitate towards the military for the structure, for the guaranteed benefits. Like, I grew up in poverty, so automatic, like health care. I had a desire for education, you know, paid education. So those are the things that had me knocking on the recruiter's door. But then when the recruiter said to me in conversation, he said, the Navy is really like a family. And, you know, he really. You started describing the way that service members in the military community, the way people show up for each other.

And I just remember getting caught on that word, like family. Like, I hadn't really identified that. That was, like, what my search had been, you know, my whole life up until then. But looking back, I realized that that keyword family, is what made me sign that line.

Oh, gosh, we have so many similarities. I'm very excited to learn more and hear more. But, yeah, it's true. You end up with this family. I mean, you train together, you're with each other 24 hours a day, and it. If you didn't have that stability and that discipline and the leadership and that family, it's a really good gig. And like you said, you grew up in poverty, you're getting your school paid for, you're getting different job titles. You're getting exposed to so much stuff.

And you did 20 years.

Yes. So I had a lot of interest in photography. And when the recruiter came back to me and said, there's room for a photographer. You can be a photographer. Like, that was amazing. What a cool job. What a cool experience. I loved being a Navy photographer.

Oh, my gosh. I didn't know that was your job title.

Yes. Whoa.

Talk about that a little bit.

Okay, so that was so cool. So I joined in 2001, and my first day of photography, a school was 9, 11. And I turned to the guy next to me who was the biggest, burliest, like, most protective, loving, best hug I have ever felt in my life. And I hugged him. And I had a son. My son was in New York at the time. You know, my first day of a school. And so, yeah, I hugged my husband at a school.

And we've been together ever since, 22 years from there.

So that guy became your Husband.

Yes. There's gonna be a whole book. It's all coming in the book. And we actually ended up retiring the very same day. But I didn't answer your question. So I went to photography, a school. And so I came out as a photographer. And my first duty station, well, my first sea Duty was a CBN 73.

And just being on the flight deck and being able to take pictures of the jets taking off and landing and all the VIPs that would come out to the ship and, you know, all those things, absolutely amazing. And then I went on to an expeditionary command. So I got trained as a combat photographer. I went to Sears School. I don't know if you've heard of Sears School. That's a whole story.

I have, but tell the listeners what that stands for. I have not, no. But tell the listeners what Sears School is.

A seer school is Search, evade, resist and escape. So it's the school that they talk about on the movie GI Jane with Demi Moore. And so it's this whole, you know, you're dropped on an island and you're taught how to do all of those things. Search, evade, resist, escape, all of those things. And so that kind of turned into like my, you know, the combat photography thing. And then the Navy merged photographers with other rates, so journalism draftsmen and lithographers and we became mass communications specialists. So then I kind of started, you know, as I progressed in my career, I was about halfway through my career when we merged and then I made chief petty officer. So I kind of went more on that leadership side, which was like leading teams, working with civilian media and doing more kind of public affairs things.

But, yeah, an amazing and super cool experience.

Oh, my gosh, that must have been incredible. Like you said, the people you met, the things that you got to photograph. Oh, my gosh. And those jets, they're so powerful.

And there's nothing like a sunset to see. Just nothing like that. And definitely a cool experience.

Yeah. So I'm curious, did the eating disorder, did that have any effect on your military career? Like, I know you made Navy Senior Chief, which is amazing. Congratulations on that.

Thank you.

But did you notice that, like, the eating disorder really took a toll? It did. Okay.

It really did. And I almost died a couple different times to my eating disorder, not to be in a combat photographer. So people are usually surprised by that, that my near death experiences were mental health related. And so, yes, the first 10 years of my career, I was just going 100 miles per hour and I was suffering silently. Like, I didn't tell anybody about my eating disorder. My husband knew, but it was also one of those topics that I was justifying and I didn't allow him to talk to me about it. And right around that, that halfway point, that 10 year mark, I finished Sears school. I made chief petty officer.

Then you go through six weeks of initiation where they train you to be a leader. And I wanted to do everything, you know, 110%. And then, you know, sere school was quite a bit triggering, definitely from, you know, having an abusive childhood and then going through that experience. So I started seeing a. A civilian therapist. I didn't want it in my record, like, especially, you know, where I was trying to go. I didn't want it in my record. There's a lot of stigma.

So I started seeing a civilian therapist. And I gave her kind of like a snapshot of my life of, you know, how things started off with my mother. And her advice to me was, now that you're a mom, because I have amazing kids. But she said, why don't you try to approach the conversation with your mother like mother to mother, and just tell her that, like, thank you for everything you've done. And when you chose a man over me, repeatedly, it did some damage. And I want us to be healed. I want us to work. And so I went to my mother's house while I was stationed in New York because my mother lived there.

And then I was stationed there and tried to have this conversation with her, but she replied and she reacted very defensively and told me to leave. She kicked me out of her house. And so I went out the street to the bar and tried to numb everything. And then she killed herself. And that was the spiral for me. Everything really spiraled. And so now at this point, to deal with it, I was purging about eight times a day. I purged so much for so many days that I ruptured my esophagus.

So again, I went to a civilian hospital because I didn't want it in my record. But word got back to my command that I had been hospitalized. And my commanding officer said he wanted to see me. And I was secretly kind of relieved almost that my secret was out. And I had been wondering, like, who can really help me? I had been asking questions over the years and trying to, like, kind of hint it out and see who was emotionally and, you know, mentally prepared to deal with something such as an eating disorder. And I said, think to myself, if anybody can, I bet you it would be this guy. And I had worked for him you know, those three years in a row, two of those years consecutively, I was his Sailor of the Year. So my work ethic was there.

He knew my work ethic was there. But they said, the commanding officer wants to see you. And I went and knocked on his door and entered his office and went to go sit on the couch where we started each day normally, you know, planning for the department. And instead he stood me at attention and he said, there's no place in my Navy for you. And then he began processing me out. And, you know, I'm not mad. I'm not angry, but he didn't know what he didn't know. And so he handled it as a disciplinary issue rather than a mental health issue.

And I had to fight. I had to fight to stay in. And I went and, you know, I went to Navy Legal and brought all of my records and my evals and all those things, and I fought and I won and I got to stay in. But what I learned was I have to keep this more of a secret because it is going to impact my career. And so, you know, I kept it a secret and just kept, you know, working towards it, trying to find resources on my own. I would go to Fleet and Family Service center and ask if they had anything for eating disorders. I would go to Behavioral Health. My therapist, I got a wonderful therapist on the base, but nobody there was eating disorder informed.

So we would start each session by googling how to treat eating disorders. That was the best that she could offer me. That was the best that she could do. I was definitely still struggling, but was finding that there was just no dialect around this in the military. There was no informed providers. You know, even the primary care physicians I had met, they didn't know what to do. I didn't qualify to be diagnosed with anorexia because I wasn't underweight. Come to find out, less than 6% of people with an eating disorder are underweight.

The other 94% are not. But you can't be diagnosed with anorexia without that. And I couldn't be diagnosed with bulimia because although I was purging every day, I've never experienced a binge episode. And so you have to have both to be diagnosed. So even the primary care physicians didn't know how to diagnose me or do anything. So there was definitely that, like, void of help and information. But I got orders to my dream ship. I was so excited about this ship and I couldn't wait to go there.

But the ship flagged my record because of rupturing my esophagus. And so I had to go meet with the Triad and ask them to accept my orders. And so I did. And that's where I met the leader that finally knew and understood and could see through me and could see through my eating disorder. And he said, I'm gonna accept your orders here, but I have some rules, and you can't purge on my ship. And you're gonna have to do your labs every couple weeks, and I'm gonna check them. He was a former corpsman. He was a former medic.

So he knew medical. And he had a loved one. Yeah, he had a loved one that had an eating disorder. So he knew what to say, how to act, and everything. And it ended up being him to save my life.

I was just gonna say the way he responded sounded like he had experience with this and he had some sort of knowledge. So I am so happy you came into his care, because when you say that he saved your life, what did that look like?

At the time? It looked like pissing me off. That's what it looked like. I was so angry at this man. Oh, we've come a long way now. He's still my mentor, but it really looked like pissing me off. And he would say to me, like, you might be able to hide behind your big smile and your work ethic for other people, but I see you. And he would randomly sit down at meals with me. He would sit with me after meals, and I tried my best to do all the things that he expected of me.

But then it was time for deployment, and we were halfway through deployment, and he came to me one morning. He had been giving me warnings throughout the deployment, like, I see you not eating. I think you're purging. You know? He would call it out, and he would give me warnings and warnings. And one morning, we were in the chief's mass. It was a Sunday morning, and it's a really big deal in the chief's mess on Sunday morning. It was like waffle mornings. It's holiday routine and waffle mornings.

And I was working in the Chiefs mess at the time, which is why I saw him a lot, too, because he was always in there. And to kind of, like, throw him off from him seeing me unravel, I did something I had never done before. I made the waffle. Not only did I make the waffle, I put every topping on the waffle. I went so over the top to kind of, like, put on a show for him and everybody else that might have Been questioning. And then I sat there and I took a few bites of the waffle, and then he sat next to me. So I was like, oh, my God, I have to keep eating the waffle. So I'm playing it cool.

I'm eating the waffle. It was just so out of my comfort zone. And then he got up and he did a few other things, and he came back and he said, meet me in my office. And I was like, oh, God. Like, I looked at him as a father figure, you know, Like, I have, you know, disappointed dad issues, I guess, in my life, too. And. And I didn't want to disappoint him, but I got nervous. I didn't know if I.

If it was related to the food, if I had forgotten to turn in something he needed. Like, I wasn't really sure what it was. But when I got up, he went up the stairs and, you know, down to his office. And when I got up, I walked by the only single stall head that we have. Everything else had multiple stalls, but this one's a single one in the chief's mess. It's the only one. And I just couldn't stop myself. So I went in there to throw up, because I thought, how long is this conversation going to be? Like, I can't let this waffle, like, sit.

Who knows how long he's going to talk? And, yeah, so I went in the bathroom and I threw up. And I had my toothbrush in my pocket that I always use since I. Since I ruptured my esophagus. I stopped using my nails. I started using a soft toothbrush so that I wouldn't do that again. And I tried to make it to his office. And on the way to his office, I almost passed out because it had been so many days since I ate. And then all the sugar and the waffle and then throwing up.

And I got outside of his office, and literally everything started going black. I had to hold onto the wall, and I got myself together. And then I walked into his office, and he slammed the door behind me, and he said, what the f is wrong with you? You couldn't walk from the end of that ship to my office without stopping to throw up first. He was like, do you see it? Do you see it? And I didn't. And he was like, empty your pockets. And I was like, okay. Like, why don't you ask me that? Like, I emptied my pocket and then my toothbrush. And he was like, you don't think I know that? You don't go anywhere.

Like, without that. And he was like, this is it. He was like, me and the CO and the xo, we've decided to medevacu back to the States. You need to go back. You need to be in inpatient care. You need to be in an eating disorder treatment facility. And I tried everything from crying, anger, requesting to see the captain, pulling it up in black and white, that he was again, like, you don't do this to the people that smoke cigarettes. You know, I tried everything, but I ended up getting medevaced back to the States.

But even when I got back to the States, so I went back to the world's largest Navy base, and at that hospital, they knew that I was coming. And there was not one eating disorder informed provider in the entire hospital and the entire training command. They did not know what to do with me. So most providers do not get more than 15 minutes of formal education on eating disorders. So they didn't know what to do. And there's also this other problem we have that tricare doesn't pay for inpatient or residential treatment for anybody over the age of 21. And at this point, I was a senior Chief in my 30s. There was no place for me.

And it's so prevalent.

So prevalent. It's so prevalent. And I found that out later, which was why I decided to do something and make a difference. But by the time we found care in a place that could take me, I was living on an NG tube, on and off for almost two years, just in the hospital, bedridden. It just progressed so far. But had he not intervened? Had he not had that intervention? Had he not. And I was not an easy person to intervene with. I fought it tooth and nail.

I didn't want to leave my family. Right. I trained that whole team for deployment, and we were only halfway through. I didn't want to leave them. None of them knew when I was walking off the ship, when I was leaving to go up to the hangar bay and up to the flight deck to, you know, fly off the peeways. The hallways were filled with all my sailors. They all lined up and they were crying and hugging me, and nobody knew why I was leaving. I was so secretive about it.

I couldn't tell them. I wouldn't tell them, but I had to go. I had to go and get the treatment.

I bet I could see it because, like you said, suffering in silence. And all this sounds so familiar, some of the things that I've gone through, but I could see nobody thinks that you do such a good job of covering it. Up, right? And you perform at such a high level that people really don't ever think to ask, how are you? Because you are driving on and continuing with your mission. And you look. You look fine on the outside, but really, you had such a complicated, like, childhood and then upbringing, and then there's this little girl that just wants to make peace with her mom, and because she has mental health issues, she can't even understand all that, and then takes her own life. Like, I can't even imagine how much suffering you went through. And I want to hear how you found peace or if it's still like an everyday journey to get there.

So it's both, okay? It's both. I found peace, and it's an everyday journey. And so when I retired, I started doing the research, and I found that one third of females and one fifth of males in the military community are struggling with an eating disorder. And then I found out that the number one cause of death for somebody with an eating disorder is suicide. And then I kept thinking, like, we want to get after these suicide numbers, the 22 a day, but we're not providing help and Support to the 1/3 of females and one fifth of males that are struggling. And so I talked to the same mentor, cmc. He went on, you know, to be the fleet Master Chief. And I said, you know, I kind of.

I know that I'm supposed to do something. I don't, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And in his very, you know, rough way, he once again put me in my place. And he said, leah, you're never going to be recovered or on your healing journey or the place that you want to be while you're still secretive about it. And I thought about that again. It kind of pissed me off. So I did, you know, what any good millennial will do. And with a glass of wine, you know, maybe two glasses of wine, I ripped the band aid off and I told my whole story on social media, on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Facebook.

And I had never shared anything like that before. I told everybody. I told my shipmates. I told my coworkers, my family. I told everybody at once. Because while I was in the hospital, I allowed people to believe that I was still deployed. And, you know, my children didn't know the full story. Like, I was so secretive.

And he was right. Eating disorders thrive in the dark. They thrive in secrecy. And so when I posted, it did a couple of things. Number one, it did have people show up and say, gosh, if we had known we would have supported you. And that was so sweet. I love the support. I love the support that poured out.

But to me, the more important part was it kind of created this movement where people started reaching out to me and saying, like, that's me. I do that. Or that's my sister or my shipmate or my uncle or my son. And they kept telling me they're very brave stories. And all of those stories kind of led to the same place where they would say, okay, I admitted it. This is where we are. So now what? And reflecting on my story, on my journey as a senior chief. Right.

With a mentor who was a Force Master Chief with a medical background, if we couldn't easily find help, support, resources, even in a life or death experience that I didn't have a lot of now what to give anybody. And so that's why I founded C Waves was to fill that gap. And so that did a couple things. Number one, it fills the gap. Of the 45,000 veteran service organizations that exist, C WAVES is the only one in the eating disorder space. So we do fill that gap. But it also gives me purpose every day. I can't relapse.

I got work to do.

And thank you for finding that courage because it's not easy. Yes. Once you release that story and so many people come to you and are like, oh, my gosh, I can relate. Much like me right now, all this sounds so familiar. And you have me in tears, like, a little bit about thinking about my story. But the fact that you were so brave to tell your story because you don't know what you're going to hear back. You don't know all the comments because people can be nasty. And I'm so happy that there was more people reaching.

Oh, there was some of those, yeah.

Oh, I'm sure. Oh, I am so sure. Which doesn't help. Just be kind, people. But I am so happy you had that male figure who feels like he was in the right place at the right time along with you to save you. Because now it sounds like you're saving or helping guide so many other women and men. And so, yes, let's hear about sea waves. How did you come up with the name? How can people, like, be part of it?

Yes. Okay. So, yes, a lot of people say sea waves. Is that because you are in the Navy? And the answer is partially. And I love all things nautical. I have a bunch of nautical tattoos and mermaids and all of that. And so I definitely love that. But because, you know, Navy, we love our Acronyms.

SEA WAVES is actually an acronym that stands for everything that we do. So it's Support, Education, Awareness, Wellness, Advocacy, Validation for Eating disorders and Suicide prevention.

Oh, I love that. Oh, I had no idea. Oh, we just keep getting deeper and deeper. Okay.

What I do daily is in the first three letters. So the S for support. I act as a bridge in between the military community. So active duty veterans, family members, caregivers, it doesn't matter if you were before 9, 11 or after. It doesn't matter if you have an honorable discharge or not. I connect you with the existing eating disorder organizations on the civilian side. So treatment providers, organizations, treatment centers, support groups. And on that bridge, I also help you navigate any extra hurdles and barriers, including financial obligations.

So I help navigate insurance or we work through pro bono relationships, scholarships, things like that, to make sure that our military community gets the access to help that they need at no cost to them. The E for education, we developed a program called metal. It's the Military Eating Disorder Awareness and Literacy Program. And this is where I go base to base or zoom to zoom. And I teach military Leadership Eating Disorders 101. What doesn't work, what does work, what do I wish that first commanding officer knew that the CMC did and that he knew. And I teach military leadership about that. And, and we found other places like other veterans service organizations, like we've trained the Wounded Warrior Project on being able to have these like eating disorder one on one conversations.

And we've also started a webinar series that explains the correlation between eating disorders and suicide prevention. So lots of E for education. And then the awareness and advocacy is, you know, I do a lot of speaking engagements and in helping people know that this exists and what it looks like. And I do a lot of, I guess you could call it lobbying for getting tricare to expand their coverage and provide more opportunities. So yeah, that's really what I do day to day is provide each of those things and try to fill that gap.

And does that help you as well?

A hundred percent, yes. It gives me meaning and purpose in my life. You know, leaving the military is difficult. You lose so many parts of your identity. And then all of my kids grew up. One of them is active duty. He just got promoted to first class. And you know, we're down to just one baby in the house and she's 19, so, you know, the empty nest thing started happening.

So I had lost so much of my identity and this gives me purpose day to day and there's no shortage of work through it. How to find us, follow us on social media. The handle is WAVES Inc. And you can visit us on our website. It's sea-waves.org and if you don't hear anything else please know that if you are struggling you can text Waves Wave to 741741 and it is free Confidential does not go in your record does not go back to your command. Free confidential 24/7 around the world eating disorder Informed Crisis intervention Counselors so that's waves to 741741 1 and we will have this.

All in the show Notes and I thank you for giving military people a way to understand what is going on and allowing them to know that they are not alone through this process. You are such a beautiful soul coming out on the other end and making sure that other people are taken care of as well. Leah, thank you so much for being on Dog Tag Diaries.

Thank you so much for having me.

That's a wrap on today's episode of Dog Tag Diaries season six, baby. We're gunning for 5,000 downloads and 26 Apple reviews and I know we can get there with your help. Share these episodes, Leave a review and let's show the world how powerful military women warrior voices really are.