Team Never Quit Mark Keller: Stories From A Fighter Pilot- Haunted Missions, 2 Brushes w/ Death & His Road To Recovery
May 21, 2025
02:46:12
From Combat to Clarity: The Healing Journey of Mark Keller
This week’s Team Never Quit episode features Lieutenant Commander Mark Keller, a retired U.S. Navy Naval Flight Officer who served his country with distinction in combat zones around the world—including Kosovo, Iraq, and post-9/11 Afghanistan. But after two decades of intense operational service, Mark faced a more insidious enemy at home: the devastating mental, emotional, and physical toll of war.
In this powerful conversation, Mark opens up about his early years as a thrill-seeker, his journey from the Air Force to earning his commission into the Navy, and the harrowing missions that left scars no one could see. He recounts the mission that haunted him most—the unintended loss of innocent life—and how that moment triggered a years-long battle with PTSD, addiction, broken relationships, and near-death experiences.
But Mark’s story doesn’t end in darkness.
He takes us inside his transformational healing journey, made possible by plant-based neurogenesis therapies including Ibogaine and 5-MEO-DMT. Supported by the nonprofit Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) and inspired by fellow veterans like Marcus Luttrell and Marcus Capone, Mark discovered not only deep healing—but a new purpose.
Now an advocate for alternative PTSD treatments and featured in the upcoming documentary No Fallen Heroes, Mark shares how love, neuroplasticity, and hard-fought self-discovery helped him reclaim his life.
If you or someone you love is a veteran struggling with PTSD, you’re not alone. Reach out, share this episode, and explore the healing resources shared today.
In This Episode You Will Hear:
• When you’ve got 2 Lieutenants with 15,000 pounds of gas and an hour to kill in an F-14, what are you gonna do? (18:46)
• If there’s any flat earthers listening to this… the earth is round. (19:28)
• As I look over on my left, I start seeing bright orange, all over the place. And I switched around on my seat, and the whole back of the plane’s on fire. Holy shit! (25:30)
• A lot of guys got in the habit of making sure they had a mag in there. They wanted to be sure to take themselves out, before the Taliban got ‘em. (36:22)
• [Marcus: a buddy of mine] came over the wood line and dropped down over our crawfish boil, you could see him come down; rolled over to do a panel check; and hung us the finger. (43:53)
• Why are you gonna strap an explosive-laden rocket to your ass, if you can’t do something fun with it? (44:44)
• Detailed discussion related to lasers and precision bombing. (48:27 to 55:30)
• People have different experiences, and you make decisions based on what you know. (59:21)
• I got home to my wife and my 2 young sons, and I wasn’t the same. (75:35)
• Every time you launch, you gotta be on the ball. You’re at 100% all the time. You have to. Mission success, and sometimes survival requires it. (77:19)
• The life of a fighter air crew in the Navy: Poor quality sleep, not the best nutrition, constant high stress for months at a time, bathing in and drinking water contaminated with jet fuel, the G-forces associated with catapult shots and arrested landings deform your brain rather violently, you’re flying with a 10,000 watt radar down by your feet, when you’re at altitude, there’s nothing between you and God but a piece of plexiglass. Why are guys getting prostate cancer? I don’t know. We can guess about that, can’t we? (78:09)
• There were times that I was so screwed up that I knew that next one was gonna kill me and I said I don’t care and I did it anyway. I don’t know why I’m not dead. (95:47)
• Ibogaine doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need. (124:45)
• Ibogaine is a medicine that works on cellular metabolism and neuro transmitters and happens to have some psychedelic-like effects. (128:45)
• I’ve just learned to not be too attached to what other people think. (164:42)
Support TNQ
- IG: team_neverquit , marcusluttrell , melanieluttrell , huntero13
- https://www.patreon.com/teamneverquit
Sponsors:
- armslist.com/TNQ
- partnersinbuilding.com
- cargurus.com/TNQ
- Navyfederal.org
- - You can find Cremo's new line of antiperspirants and deodorants at Target or Target.com
- WARFARE IN THEATERS APRIL 11th
Watch Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JER0Fkyy3tw
First Look Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3DWuqiAUKg&t=3s
- - PXGapparel.com/TNQ
- bruntworkwear.com/TNQ
- Selectquote.com/TNQ
- Groundnews.com/TNQ
- You can find Cremo's new line of antiperspirants and deodorants at Target or Target.com
- shipsticks.com/TNQ
- Robinhood.com/gold
- strawberry.me/TNQ
- stopboxusa.com {TNQ}
- ghostbed.com/TNQ [TNQ]
- kalshi.com/TNQ
- joinbilt.com/TNQ
- Tonal.com [TNQ]
- greenlight.com/TNQ
- PDSDebt.com/TNQ
- drinkAG1.com/TNQ
- Shadyrays.com [TNQ]
- qualialife.com/TNQ [TNQ]
- Hims.com/TNQ
- Shopify.com/TNQ
- Aura.com/TNQ
- Policygenius.com
- TAKELEAN.com [TNQ]
- usejoymode.com [TNQ]
This week’s Team Never Quit episode features Lieutenant Commander Mark Keller, a retired U.S. Navy Naval Flight Officer who served his country with distinction in combat zones around the world—including Kosovo, Iraq, and post-9/11 Afghanistan. But after two decades of intense operational service, Mark faced a more insidious enemy at home: the devastating mental, emotional, and physical toll of war.
In this powerful conversation, Mark opens up about his early years as a thrill-seeker, his journey from the Air Force to earning his commission into the Navy, and the harrowing missions that left scars no one could see. He recounts the mission that haunted him most—the unintended loss of innocent life—and how that moment triggered a years-long battle with PTSD, addiction, broken relationships, and near-death experiences.
But Mark’s story doesn’t end in darkness.
He takes us inside his transformational healing journey, made possible by plant-based neurogenesis therapies including Ibogaine and 5-MEO-DMT. Supported by the nonprofit Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) and inspired by fellow veterans like Marcus Luttrell and Marcus Capone, Mark discovered not only deep healing—but a new purpose.
Now an advocate for alternative PTSD treatments and featured in the upcoming documentary No Fallen Heroes, Mark shares how love, neuroplasticity, and hard-fought self-discovery helped him reclaim his life.
If you or someone you love is a veteran struggling with PTSD, you’re not alone. Reach out, share this episode, and explore the healing resources shared today.
In This Episode You Will Hear:
• When you’ve got 2 Lieutenants with 15,000 pounds of gas and an hour to kill in an F-14, what are you gonna do? (18:46)
• If there’s any flat earthers listening to this… the earth is round. (19:28)
• As I look over on my left, I start seeing bright orange, all over the place. And I switched around on my seat, and the whole back of the plane’s on fire. Holy shit! (25:30)
• A lot of guys got in the habit of making sure they had a mag in there. They wanted to be sure to take themselves out, before the Taliban got ‘em. (36:22)
• [Marcus: a buddy of mine] came over the wood line and dropped down over our crawfish boil, you could see him come down; rolled over to do a panel check; and hung us the finger. (43:53)
• Why are you gonna strap an explosive-laden rocket to your ass, if you can’t do something fun with it? (44:44)
• Detailed discussion related to lasers and precision bombing. (48:27 to 55:30)
• People have different experiences, and you make decisions based on what you know. (59:21)
• I got home to my wife and my 2 young sons, and I wasn’t the same. (75:35)
• Every time you launch, you gotta be on the ball. You’re at 100% all the time. You have to. Mission success, and sometimes survival requires it. (77:19)
• The life of a fighter air crew in the Navy: Poor quality sleep, not the best nutrition, constant high stress for months at a time, bathing in and drinking water contaminated with jet fuel, the G-forces associated with catapult shots and arrested landings deform your brain rather violently, you’re flying with a 10,000 watt radar down by your feet, when you’re at altitude, there’s nothing between you and God but a piece of plexiglass. Why are guys getting prostate cancer? I don’t know. We can guess about that, can’t we? (78:09)
• There were times that I was so screwed up that I knew that next one was gonna kill me and I said I don’t care and I did it anyway. I don’t know why I’m not dead. (95:47)
• Ibogaine doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need. (124:45)
• Ibogaine is a medicine that works on cellular metabolism and neuro transmitters and happens to have some psychedelic-like effects. (128:45)
• I’ve just learned to not be too attached to what other people think. (164:42)
Support TNQ
- IG: team_neverquit , marcusluttrell , melanieluttrell , huntero13
- https://www.patreon.com/teamneverquit
Sponsors:
- armslist.com/TNQ
- partnersinbuilding.com
- cargurus.com/TNQ
- Navyfederal.org
- - You can find Cremo's new line of antiperspirants and deodorants at Target or Target.com
- WARFARE IN THEATERS APRIL 11th
Watch Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JER0Fkyy3tw
First Look Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3DWuqiAUKg&t=3s
- - PXGapparel.com/TNQ
- bruntworkwear.com/TNQ
- Selectquote.com/TNQ
- Groundnews.com/TNQ
- You can find Cremo's new line of antiperspirants and deodorants at Target or Target.com
- shipsticks.com/TNQ
- Robinhood.com/gold
- strawberry.me/TNQ
- stopboxusa.com {TNQ}
- ghostbed.com/TNQ [TNQ]
- kalshi.com/TNQ
- joinbilt.com/TNQ
- Tonal.com [TNQ]
- greenlight.com/TNQ
- PDSDebt.com/TNQ
- drinkAG1.com/TNQ
- Shadyrays.com [TNQ]
- qualialife.com/TNQ [TNQ]
- Hims.com/TNQ
- Shopify.com/TNQ
- Aura.com/TNQ
- Policygenius.com
- TAKELEAN.com [TNQ]
- usejoymode.com [TNQ]