What If You’re the Toxic One?

We talk a lot about toxic leadership in the military. But what happens when the person creating the toxic environment… is you? Coming off last week's conversation about Lance Corporal Houston and the way service members and veterans tore him apart online while he was being recognized for his actions at Abbey Gate, I started thinking about something bigger: Why are we so comfortable tearing down our own? We preach brotherhood. We preach camaraderie. We say “Till Valhalla,” raise awareness for veteran suicide, and call each other brothers and sisters. But get underneath almost any military post online and you'll find service members and veterans absolutely destroying each other. And maybe some of that comes from wounds we never dealt with. Maybe you were overworked. Maybe somebody else got credit for your work. Maybe you gave everything to your unit and nobody recognized you. Maybe a toxic leader genuinely screwed you over. You have every right to be angry about what happened to you. But the Marine who shows up tomorrow didn't do that to you. In this episode, we're talking about what happens when hurt service members become part of the same toxic culture they hated, why your attitude can influence an entire workplace, and why breaking the cycle sometimes means accepting that nobody is coming to fix what happened to you. You may never get the apology. You may never get the recognition. You may never see that toxic leader held accountable. But you can make sure the people who come after you don't experience what you did. Because someone else may have caused the damage. You decide whether that damage gets passed on. Stop being great. Be extraordinary.