EP-316 | Trapped by Terrorists - Meyli Chapin

Mentors for Military Podcast

10-08-2022 • 1 hr 54 mins

On January of 2019, Meyli Chapin was trapped in a hotel room in the DusitD2 in Nairobi for seventeen long hours while Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked the property. She was completely alone, and certain she was going to die. However, thanks to the incomprehensibly brave men who fought to get us out, led by now-retired UK SAS (Special Air Service) operator Christian Craighead, hundreds were extracted to safety. After the attack, though, PTSD made Meyli so miserable that she started to wish she had died after all. Aside from the terrorist attack itself, PTSD is the hardest thing she have ever dealt with in her life.

In this episode, we'll discuss her book which covers the in-depth retelling of the attack, combined with her personal journal entries about PTSD afterward. It's a true story about trauma. About how dark and ugly it can be. Because the unfortunate truth is: the vast majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lives. "But when I was lying on the floor sobbing, unable to leave my apartment but also unable to sleep, wishing that I had died in that terrorist attack, I didn’t know that. I thought that I was uniquely traumatized, and uniquely weak. I could think of so many stories of incredible, resilient, practically superhuman people who had overcome all manner of horrible things. Why couldn’t I?"

Taped at 15 Perry Street. Buy Terrorist Attack Girl: How I Survived Terrorism and Reconstructed My Shattered Mind by Meyli Chapin on Amazon.  https://www.mentorsformilitary.com