How People Endure When Systems Collapse (ft. Trevor Reed, author & Russia detainee)

Send a text

This episode of FUTUREPROOF. is different.

My guest is Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who was wrongfully detained and abused in a Russian gulag for nearly three years, freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange in 2022—and then made a decision few could comprehend: he voluntarily went to Ukraine to fight against the same system that imprisoned him.

In this conversation, Trevor reflects on what captivity does to the human mind, how survival reshapes your definition of justice, and why freedom—real freedom—can’t be taken for granted once you’ve lost it.

We talk about:

• What daily life inside a Russian penal colony is actually like—and how close he came to dying there
• The mental discipline required to survive prolonged isolation, hunger, and uncertainty
• The emotional toll of being turned into a geopolitical bargaining chip
• Why revenge eventually gave way to a deeper definition of justice
• The surreal contrast between everyday life and active war zones in Ukraine
• Being critically wounded by a landmine—and what it means to survive twice
• How his understanding of freedom, responsibility, and humanity has fundamentally changed

This is not a conversation about politics.
It’s a conversation about power, resilience, moral injury, and what it means to remain human when systems fail you.

Trevor’s memoir, Retribution: A Former US Marine's Harrowing Journey from Wrongful Imprisonment in Russia to the Front Lines of the Ukrainian War, is not an easy read—but it is an important one. And this conversation is not comfortable—but it is necessary.