The Best Advice I Can Give For Surviving MST (MSTy’s Story | Part 3)
MSTy, an anonymous Marine Corps veteran, shares the second stage of struggles with mental health, learning about MST, and developing a tool to help survivors come forward and establish patterns of predatory behavior. This episode demonstrates the power of only one person saying, “No more!” and rallying more to stand with them against military sexual trauma and the military’s diligence in sweeping cases under the rug. Read the full story and access helpful resources.
MSTy shares her story of Military Sexual Trauma in the U.S. Air Force, reflecting on years of survival without support, the physical and emotional costs of unresolved trauma, and the role of books, pets, and community in her healing.
MSTy discusses Military Sexual Trauma, the health impacts of living in survival mode, and long-term healing on The Silenced Voices of MST with Rachelle Smith.
Books, Pets, and Daily Coping Tools
MSTy describes the long silence she endured before finding support. In those years, she turned to books as her lifeline, reading self-help, spiritual texts, and classics like Man’s Search for Meaning to find guidance. She explains how pugs became another coping tool, providing comfort, routine, and companionship. These simple daily practices gave her stability when nothing else was available.
She also reflects on how positive affirmations, gratitude, and even social media memes carried real weight. Short reminders like “you are enough” or “what happened to you is not who you are” gave her perspective in moments when she felt overwhelmed. She emphasizes how easy it is to dismiss small acts of encouragement, but for survivors they can become anchors in the darkest times.
Beyond coping, MSTy talks about building community. Through her MST Crime Map, she gave survivors a way to mark their experiences anonymously and establish patterns of predatory behavior across military history. She also created pages like MST News and Info and Misty Days on Facebook and Instagram to curate resources, share daily reflections, and remind survivors they are not alone.
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After finding out the long-term cost of unaddressed trauma, MSTy offers caution to survivors. She discusses chronic muscle tightness, inflammation, and memory issues that worsened over time. She regrets how dissociation and survival mode prevented her from being fully present with her children when they were young. Looking back, she warns that waiting decades to begin healing comes at a heavy price.
“Make time for it today.” - — MSTy
The People Who Stayed
Still, MSTy highlights the people who stayed. A best friend in the military, a civilian coworker, and her husband all saw her worth even when she doubted it. Her husband’s reassurance, “I ain’t scared,” became a defining reminder that she could be loved without fear or judgment.
Click here to explore more survivor stories
MSTy’s story shows how coping strategies, community, and small acts of daily healing can sustain survivors.
If you are unsure if you are ready to seek help, remember MSTy’s message of urgency for prioritizing emotional wellness before the physical and emotional toll becomes irreversible.
Episode Trigger Warnings and Timestamps
00:14–00:31: On-screen details of MST markers
01:26–01:33: Panic attacks, dissociation
11:25–14:22: Physical toll of trauma, regret, difficulty being emotionally present
Resources From This Episode:
This episode contains a few references to news articles and books that are listed below:
MSTy’s MST Crime Map: https://mstmap.com/
MST News & Info: https://www.facebook.com/MST.Information
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Alan Singer
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Join the Conversation & Amplify Survivors
Leave a Review
If this episode was meaningful to you, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Reviews help more people discover stories of Military Sexual Trauma and join the movement for change.
Support and Community:
Veterans Crisis line: Dial 988, the press 1
DoD Safe Helpline: https://www.sapr.mil/dod-safe-helpline
Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theadvocatesofmst
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If Victims Were Afraid Then, Predators Should Worry Now (MSTy’s Story | Part 2)
MSTy, an anonymous Marine Corps veteran, shares the second stage of struggles with mental health, learning about MST, and developing a tool to help survivors come forward and establish patterns of predatory behavior. This episode demonstrates the power of only one person saying, “No more!” and rallying more to stand with them against military sexual trauma and the military’s diligence in sweeping cases under the rug. Read the full story and access helpful resources.
How MSTy designed a new tool that helps survivors track abuse, expose patterns, and take back their power — one marker at a time.
Survivors can take their power back with this map — and that includes you.
Accountability Through Reported Patterns of Predatory Behavior
MSTy didn’t set out to become the creator of an innovative and accurate way to hold the perpetrators of Military Sexual Trauma accountable. Like many survivors, she was mostly trying to get through the aftermath of her encounters with avoidance and unhealthy coping until she found education and therapy. Survivors can especially understand wanting to only seek peace after having their lives disturbed so violently and abruptly, often without support for many years until that became unbearable as well.
In learning about complex PTSD and dissociation as a coping skill, she understood that silence and pretending her traumatic events hadn’t happened wouldn’t make the events magically disappear. It didn’t make it easier, because her trauma appeared in her life in other ways when she least expected or wanted it to.
In Part 2, MSTy shares what happened after her assaults — the disorientation, the dissociation, and the dark spiral that followed. But this time, she’s guiding listeners along her path to healing and discovering a brilliant method to help more survivors speak up. She’s sharing her way, possibly your way, of fighting back against this toxic cultural issue in our military.
MSTy introduces a powerful data driven crime map, born from her own story: a digital map that plots MST incidents across the world — Every marker represents a survivor. Every marker is a story that someone felt they had to keep quiet. Until now.
Finally Understanding She Wasn’t Alone
After MSTy’s terrifying and confusing assaults and harassment, she began documenting what happened — first in her diary, then in her mind, and eventually in a way that others could connect with too.
She speaks about living in a fog of dissociation, turning to alcohol, and losing trust in everything and everyone around her — including herself. But slowly, over time, something shifted. She courageously chose to go back to serving, in the Air Force after September 11th. This new direction with better peers, more opportunities to be the servicemember she knew she could be, and to be able to guide younger Airmen was a source of peace and redemption. A second chance. And upon retiring from both military and civilian work, she turned her focus to healing from MST. The more she learned about MST, the more she realized how common this was — and how often it was expertly covered up, completely ignored, or viciously downplayed.
That’s when the idea for the MST Map found its way.
Using Patterns to Isolate Predators
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The MST Map isn’t just about stories — it’s about patterns. As MSTy began collecting survivor submissions, she saw its potential. Imagine if we could isolate the similarities: the same bases, the same patterns. Different people. Different years. But the same violence.
Consider this. As an example, let’s say a certain recruiter was stationed in an area for 4 years and there are numerous cases of MST reported on the map in that specific time period, and the person was described the same way by all victims… by process of elimination, this map makes it possible to finally validate a victim’s pain.
She and Rachelle discuss how documenting these stories can visually give survivors a sense of power and justice. Most markers are anonymous, while others contain comments of what happened in more detail. But all of them say the same thing: This is real. And it’s everywhere.
The more markers, the better the opportunity to zero in on the people that caused so much pain but managed to slip by, protected by their leadership often to the serious detriment to the lives destroyed in their wake.
Demonstrating the Magnitude of MST
MSTy opens up about how watching the shock toward and spread of Vanessa Guillén’s story pushed her into action. She talks about the exhaustion of fighting the VA disability claim system while still wrestling your own shame. The pain of being invalidated online. The rage of watching predators get promoted or thriving while survivors are barely staying alive each day.
And the hope that something like the map might finally turn anecdote into evidence. Patterns into pain. Well-kept secrets into cleansing truth.
“This map isn’t just data. It’s how we get change, accountability.” - MSTy
Every marker is a defining moment that someone chose to speak up.
By the end of the episode, MSTy reflects on what it means to keep going — to build something for others even when the process hurts. She and Rachelle talk about accountability, prevention, and the fact that every survivor who shares their story makes it a little harder for systems to pretend they don’t know.
This isn’t just a tool. This is a reason for perpetrators to finally begin to feel the same fear that every survivor has felt daily since their lives were changed forever.
Links From This Episode:
This episode contains a few references to news articles and books that are listed below:
Join our mailing list to learn about upcoming episodes, new resources, and daily support.
Episode Trigger Warning Index
This episode contains references to the following topics. Please use this guide to skip if needed:
12:54 - Mention of Vanessa Guillén
13:06 - Mentions of dissociation/mental health struggle
13:22 - Compensation and Pay Exam
13:45 - Mentions of Complex PTSD/mental health struggle
15:10 - Explanation of MST Map Website
15:31 - All types of SA named
15:50 - Mention of MST victims of recruiters
16:22 - Marine Corps recruiter predator news article
16:41 - Army ROTC LT COL predator news article discussed
17:16 - 17: 45 - Unreported cases of MST
17:49 - 18:29 - Markers displayed on the map of incidents
20:02 - 22:08 Trolls invalidating MST on social media
22:24 - 22:36 - Feelings of shame, isolation, and paranoia
23:11 - 24:47 - Describes how MST occurs around the world and in different situations illustrated by map markers can identify perpetrators over time
Takeaways from This Conversation
Creating a map for MST allows survivors to share their stories anonymously and still establish patterns of predatory behavior.
Personal healing often involves confronting past traumas.
Predators often look for naive, trusting individuals with weak boundaries.
Dissociation can be a coping mechanism for trauma survivors.
Data mapping can help identify patterns of abuse and accountability.
Survivors often feel isolated for years due to shame and stigma.
Accountability is crucial for creating change in the military.
Reflection Journal Prompt
What would accountability look like if survivors led the conversation?
Spend a few minutes after listening to reflect or journal. What did you feel during this episode? What are you still thinking about? What systems need to change — and what part could you play in that change?
Join the Conversation & Amplify Survivors
Want to talk through your experience? Or support someone else in theirs?
Join our private Facebook group: The Advocates of MST
Don’t forget. This conversation matters. And MSTy showed immense courage by telling her story. Please help us make sure her voice travels further: Leaving a written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts helps elevate the visibility of the show for more survivors suffering in isolation and pain. A simple review can change another person’s life forever.
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
Need Support?
Although this podcast is a great resource, it does not and should not replace care from a medical professional. If you’re in crisis or need someone to talk to:
Call the Veterans Crisis Line — 988, then press 1
Or go to the nearest emergency room.
You are not alone. We believe you. You matter.
The final part in MSTy’s three part series goes live Tuesday April 15, 2025.