Military Sexual Trauma and The Monster Inside of Me: Ron Carter (Part 1) | The Silenced Voices of MST with Rachelle Smith
Military Sexual Trauma survivor Ron Carter appears on The Silenced Voices of MST to share the experiences that shaped his early service, the assault he endured, and the long-term effects that developed when the trauma went unrecognized. This interview begins a three-part series that follows his path from enlistment through MST, behavioral collapse, and his eventual understanding of PTSD outside of combat contexts. His story offers clear insight into how MST develops within military structures and how untreated trauma influences thinking, memory, relationships, and emotional regulation over decades.
U.S. Army veteran Ron Carter discusses Military Sexual Trauma, suffering from repressed pain, and survival on The Silenced Voices of MST.
U.S. Army veteran Ron Carter brings his story of Military Sexual Trauma to The Silenced Voices of MST. As the author of The Monster Inside of Me, Ron details his experience of assault, the devastating toll of silence, and the heavy price of betrayal within the system.
Ron Carter appears on The Silenced Voices of MST to share the experiences that shaped his early service, the assault he endured, and the long-term effects that developed when the trauma went unrecognized. This interview begins a three-part series that follows his path from enlistment through MST, behavioral collapse, and his eventual understanding of PTSD outside of combat contexts. His account offers clear insight into how MST develops within military structures and how untreated trauma influences thinking, memory, relationships, and emotional regulation over decades.
His Path to The Army
Ron grew up in a small town in Oregon where financial constraints made college unrealistic. He chose the Army at seventeen and entered the delayed entry program with his best friend, believing service would provide structure, stability, and a clear direction for becoming a mature adult.
Basic training introduced him to disciplined routines, intense physical demands, cultural diversity, and a level of pressure he had not experienced before. Although he passed out on his first day due to the heat, he recovered and progressed with strong performance. By excelling in physical training, Ron gained respect with some drill sergeants, and completed airborne school after graduating. These accomplishments were steps toward a promising military career.
When Ron and his friend received their orders they expected to serve together but were separated on arrival in Germany. This unexpected change intensified Ron’s sense of isolation. The unfamiliar environment, distance from home, and sudden loss of his support system made the adjustment difficult.
What Led to His Assault (Trigger Warning)
“As parents, we’re trusting our children to the United States of America. That should really mean something.”
Being stationed in Germany introduced Ron to culture shock and his first real experience of distance from home at 19 years old. He enjoyed the physical demands of fieldwork but disliked the constant emphasis on garrison expectations. During this period, he noticed hostile behavior from a higher ranking soldier in a different platoon, although he did not understand the cause.
The situation escalated when the platoon sergeant invited Ron and another private to what was presented as a simple gathering at his home. Ron wanted to behave respectfully and show he was a good guy, so he agreed to be there. Almost immediately after consuming a beer, he experienced sudden physical impairment and lost consciousness. He regained awareness during an assault, lost consciousness again, and later found himself back in the barracks. An aspect of his assault that sticks with him today is that he had no memory of how he had returned and never saw the other men involved again.
Ron had no way to describe what was done to him that day which contributed significantly to his confusion, aggressive behavior, and distress.
Help us continue amplifying voices of Military Sexual Trauma survivors.
Immediate Impact After the Assault
The trauma produced abrupt behavioral and emotional changes. Ron began drinking heavily, smoking hash, and getting into fights resulting in receiving multiple Article 15s. Finding himself unable to regulate his reactions, experiencing intrusive thoughts, night terrors, and unpredictable anger, Ron relied on his survival instinct to make it through daily life. Hyper-vigilance became constant, yet he did not understand why he felt disconnected from his own behavior.
U.S. Army veteran Ron Carter speaks out about Military Sexual Trauma, living in silence, and the lifelong journey to healing.
He interpreted his reactions as personal failure because no one ever explained trauma, dissociation, or survival responses in the mid-80’s. Without any knowledge of mental health, his behavior and internal chaos reinforced the shame he carried and made it increasingly difficult to function in a high-pressure environment.
The Long-Term Effects on Thought, Behavior, and Identity
Ron shares that he lived with these symptoms for many years without understanding their source. The missing modern-day understanding of post-traumatic stress led to the assumption that the volatility, emotional distance, and reactivity he experienced reflected deep flaws in his character. Trying to suppress memories intensified their impact on his relationships, jobs, and at times his will to live.
Only later did he learn the language of trauma, emotional processing, and PTSD. He discovered that trauma can alter memory, disrupt emotional regulation, and create long-standing patterns of hypervigilance and mistrust. This allowed him to reinterpret his symptoms with clarity and accuracy.
PTSD is not only caused by combat experiences, which is something Ron learned and wants people to know. Understanding this reshaped his perception of himself, his past, and helped him identify the years of untreated trauma.
Ron’s Work Now
By sharing his story publicly, Ron’s goal is to increase awareness of MST so that parents and young people considering joining the military understand the reality of what serving can look like. His work includes advocacy, community engagement, and contributing to public education about trauma and its effects. An important aspect of his mission to help is getting survivors access to information that was unavailable during his service.
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Episode Trigger Warnings and Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Ron Carter's Journey
02:08 Deciding to Join the Military
04:53 Basic Training Experience
07:09 Transitioning to Military Life in Germany
09:18 The Reality of Military Culture
11:06 Experiencing MST and Its Impact
Triggering content from 12:55 - 25:48 that includes discussion of being drugged, sexual assault, loss of conciousness and memory, physical assault, coerced sexual acts, and blackmail
13:31 The Aftermath of Trauma
15:45 Coping Mechanisms and Struggles
18:36 The Long Road to Healing
23:55 Understanding PTSD Beyond Combat
25:56 Part 2 of Ron’s Story Preview
Resources from this Episode
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
About the Guest
Ron Carter is a former Army infantryman turned MST advocate. After surviving a premeditated and devastating assault while on active duty, he committed himself to supporting others who have been affected. Through speaking engagements and community work, Ron pushes for better resources and policy change and uses his platform to amplify survivor voices.
ART Might Be the Trauma Treatment Veterans Need to Turn their Lives Around
When I discovered Accelerated Resolution Therapy could process trauma in one to five sessions, it caught my attention immediately. Not because it was a miracle cure, but because of what that timeline means for someone who's been stuck. I know what it's like to sit in therapy talking in circles, unable to break through because your own trauma blocks the path forward. Knowing quickly whether something is working instead of investing months or year can be the difference between giving up and finding your way forward.
Research shows up to 83% of patients drop out of traditional PTSD therapies before their fifth session. Meanwhile, ART has a 94% completion rate among veterans.
I came across Accelerated Resolution Therapy the same way I find most resources I share with our community: scrolling through news stories on our BlueSky account, looking for anything that might help.
I'd never heard of it before, but what caught my attention was the timeline: one to five sessions to process traumatic memories and reduce PTSD symptoms. Traditional therapy can take months or years.
The Merry-Go-Round Problem
If you've been in therapy for trauma, you know the frustration I'm talking about. Sitting there talking in circles, trying to get to some conclusion your therapist is guiding you toward, but not being able to reach it. And it’s not due to a lack of intelligence or insight, and it’s also not because your therapist lacks skill.
I've been there. I knew I wanted to get better and to make progress, but I felt stuck. Then I blamed myself for it, even though it wasn't my fault. It’s your trauma and pain stopping you from getting where you need to go.
That self-blame makes everything worse. You start comparing yourself to other survivors who seem further along in their journey. Seeing them on social media living happily and getting all the things I told myself I wanted but couldn’t get was like torture. There were marriages, first-homes purchased, families started, and more. Each new happy face felt like an indictment of my own ability to move on or forward.
I remember thinking, "Why can't I do this? Why is this taking so long?"
The result is anger, bending to the weight of hopelessness and feeling overwhelmed by the feelings of helplessness. If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to go to therapy anymore when you reach this point. Then you stop going.
What Happens When You Hit That Wall
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Here's what typically happens: We fall through the cracks or quit that therapist and try another, only to run into the same problem. That cycle can lead to worse or potentially deadly mental health episodes. They did for me.
Research shows that up to 83% of patients drop out of traditional evidence-based PTSD therapies before their fifth session. Meanwhile, a 2013 randomized controlled trial found that ART demonstrates a 94% completion rate among veterans with combat-related PTSD.
That difference matters when you're exhausted and losing hope.
Why Speed Matters
ART works differently than traditional talk therapy. You don't have to verbalize the details of your trauma to participate, which is something that a lot of veterans are adverse to because it’s too difficult to go through the traumatic experiences again. The therapy uses eye movements, similar to EMDR, combined with visualization techniques to help your brain reprocess traumatic memories.
The goal is to detach the emotional charge from those memories. You don't have to relive them out loud in order to heal.
For MST survivors who face unique barriers to disclosure, this matters.
But here's what really stuck out to me about that timeline: How quickly a patient would know whether it’s working for them instead of investing months or years before realizing something else might be a better fit.
The Questions This Raises
ART was recognized as an evidence-based treatment by SAMHSA back in 2015. That's nearly a decade ago.
Why aren't more veterans hearing about it?
This post isn’t here to be combative about the VA's pace with new treatments, because I also don’t know the extent of the processes in place to introduce them to veterans. But I do know what it's like to advocate for yourself when what you're being offered isn't working.
I had to do this for my own medication (something that came out at the end of 2022 and saved my life). The VA still doesn't offer it in their formulary. I was in a completely different mental state three days after starting it, and that was after a month of a community care provider going to bat for me.
How many people have fallen through the cracks because something new hasn't been considered or isn’t known about yet?
What You Can Do
If ART sounds like something worth exploring, here's what I want you to know:
Ask your provider about its effectiveness and availability. Ask them to do the research on implementing it as a tool, or request a referral to community care where you can access this treatment if its available in your area.
You have the right to ask for alternatives when what you're being offered isn't working.
One of the driving forces behind starting The Silenced Voices of MST was helping veterans find as many resources and treatment options as possible. I want you to have the same chance at recovery that I did, and I stumbled upon mine accidentally.
A Final Word
There's a quote from Vanilla Sky that spoke to my heart when I wasn't well: "Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around."
When I finally got better, that quote became real for me. I've lived every minute since that morning with it in my mind.
ART could be a chance for many out there that continue to suffer from their trauma.
All anyone needs is a chance to give it their all and see if something works. And if it doesn't work perfectly, take what does work and add it to your toolbox. Leave the rest.
Don't give up on yourself. You deserve to feel better and take your power back.
And remember: even after a significant breakthrough, life won't be perfect. But you'll be equipped to handle life's curveballs instead of being completely bowled over by them.
If you're a higher-functioning veteran who found this helpful, share it with your network. Someone who needs a reason to hope might see it. My goal with sharing resources is to demonstrate how veterans have significantly improved from alternatives and advocate for the VA to implement more treatment options.