Daniella Mestyanek Young thought she'd put her past behind her. She ran away from the abusive cult where she grew up, put herself into a regular high school, and graduated as the valedictorian of her college class.
But the path after that looked like a return, rather than a moving forward, as she joined the U.S. Army. Some of the behaviors that drove her away from the cult were present in the military as well.
She tells the story in her memoir, Uncultured. The army is not a cult, but she did find a harmful group mentality there that harkened back to Children of God. The author joins us to share her story.