I Dragged My Family Through It | Ex-RAAF Veteran Dan Baldry on Addiction, Anger and Finding Christ

Dan Baldry served six years as a RAAF Airfield Defence Guard, deployed to Afghanistan, then went contracting for years. He came home to a family walking on eggshells, addictions he was hiding, and an anger he is not proud of. This is his story, told the way it happened. The Keith Payne Unit. Being discharged the day before his daughter was born. The relapse. The night his wife said "we can no longer walk this journey", one sip of beer at the bottle-o, and a mate's phone call that put him in a room full of men who prayed for him instead of judging him. Then the part Dan does not hide: a dream, a deliverance in a mate's shed, and Anzac Day 2024, the day he gave his life to Jesus. He walked in there a junkie and walked out clean, and he has stayed that way. That is not me putting a bow on it. It is what he says on camera, and it is why he now helps run The Battle Initiative, a faith-based recovery program for veterans and first responders that he helped bring to Australia. This is the first interview on The Next Mission. Dan and I have walked a similar road: defence into contracting, the mental health system, the hospital admissions. I am still in the middle of mine, and Dan has become a mentor in my own walk with Christ. That is what this channel is: not the view from the far side, the view from where you actually are.