We’re Not Broken — The Vision Behind the No Sleeves Network

By Michael Carlisle

I used to think strength meant keeping everything inside.

In the Army, you’re trained to push through, to compartmentalize, to keep the mission going no matter how you feel. That mentality worked for a long time.

Until it didn’t.

After my car accident, everything stopped. The structure, the noise, the distractions…. Gone! What was left was a lot of silence, and in that silence, the anger, anxiety, and depression started to crawl in. I didn’t recognize myself for a while. I was short with people, restless, and exhausted at the same time.

When I finally went to the VA, I wasn’t sure what I was walking into. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep pretending I was fine. They diagnosed me with PTSD. For a minute, that label felt like a life sentence. See I had been walking around with a lot of unresolved trauma from my life and my time in the military, but I was never forced to confront it. I buried that pain down and hid it behind substances. But over time, I realized it wasn’t a life sentence. It was just a name for what I was already carrying and knowing what it was meant I could start working on it instead of hiding from it.

Building Something New

While all this was happening, I was also back in school trying to build something that meant more than just surviving another day.

That something became The No Sleeves Network.

The idea was simple: to create a space where veterans could see themselves. Not the version you see on TV. You know… the broken vet, the politician’s prop, or the tragic headline. The real versions are the guy who still cracks jokes with his buddies, the woman who shows up every day for her kids, the people who’ve seen darkness but still find a way to laugh.

I want No Sleeves Network to be that space. A platform where veterans can tell their own stories, create content that feels true to them, and connect with one another without filters or judgment. A place where being a veteran isn’t about pity; it’s about pride, creativity, and connection.

There have already been setbacks. We applied for a program designed to help businesses get off the ground after the person running the program told us we “had to apply” “you’d be perfect for the program”. Only to be met with a rejection and being told that “I needed to look in the mirror” and the “quality of the applicant was such that we couldn’t get in”.

AND YET WE PERSIST.

My tattoo commemorating this very motivational quote

Representation Matters

We’re building a network that covers sports, comedy, media, gaming, and podcasts all through a veteran lens. Because representation matters. If all you ever see is the “broken” version of who you are, you start to believe it.

I want to flip that narrative on its head.

Not every veteran has PTSD, but PTSD doesn’t mean we’re broken for those that do. It means we’ve been through hell and came back with a new mission. Mine is to make sure the world sees the real us.

So, if you’re a veteran who’s got something to say, a story to tell, or just a spark of creativity you’ve been sitting on, please reach out. Join the network. We’ll figure it out together.

This Is Only the Beginning

No Sleeves Network isn’t just a brand. It’s proof that we’re still here, still fighting, still laughing and still creating.

We’re not broken. We’re just getting started.