In this episode, Terry Shepherd sits down with Korey Rowe—Army veteran, filmmaker, and entrepreneur—to discuss his raw new memoir, The Soldier That Left: The Untold Story of Loose Change. The conversation explores Rowe's extraordinary journey from the battlefields of the Middle East to producing one of the internet's first viral blockbusters, offering an unfiltered look at dissent, survival, and the search for identity.

From the Front Lines to Dissent

• Rowe originally enlisted in the US Army to find direction as a high school dropout from a poor area of upstate New York.
• His very first day of basic training coincided with the September 11 attacks, rapidly pulling him into deployments across Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Deeply disillusioned by the loss of his fellow soldiers and innocent Iraqi lives, Rowe made the difficult choice to go AWOL rather than accept a forced third deployment.
• He spent six years navigating the fallout before finally presenting his case to an officer and receiving an honorable discharge.

The "Loose Change" Phenomenon

• Teaming up with his childhood friend Dylan, Rowe pivoted a poorly acted fictional project into the controversial 9/11 documentary Loose Change.
• The film captured the cultural zeitgeist, dominating early streaming platforms like Google Video and sparking extreme reactions from both loyal grassroots supporters and fierce media critics.
• This viral explosion launched Rowe from a struggling veteran into Hollywood contract negotiations with major figures like Charlie Sheen and Mark Cuban.

Mental Health and Rewiring the Mind

• Rowe candidly discusses living as a 100% PTSD-disabled veteran with Bipolar II disorder.
• He credits a combination of therapy, journaling, and cannabis (leading to his current role as a dispensary owner) for his survival during his darkest years.
• Today, he relies on a mental "operating system" built from stoicism, Adlerian psychology, and books like The Courage to Be Disliked to maintain a healthy perspective.

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