A Call for All Americans To Help Stop Veteran Suicides

It took Day nearly two years to physically recover from his wounds, which he described in his moving memoir Perfectly Wounded. After retiring from the Navy in 2010, he continued along the path of service by acting as a case manager and care advocate for other injured service members.

Like so many Veterans, Day was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), terrible and invisible wounds that even he - a wounded warrior’s warrior – could not overcome, ultimately causing him to take his life. In the U.S., Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than non-Veteran adults. Research shows that there were on average 17.5 veteran suicides per day in 2021, the latest year that data is available. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Health, Shereef Elnahal, recently declared that even one Veteran dying by suicide is too many, and I wholeheartedly agree.

1. Check in on the Veterans in your life. If you have a Veteran in your social circle or family, look for the warning signs—verbally or behaviorally—that precede most suicides. Many individuals who are suicidal may only show warning signs to those closest to them. Even then, without understanding them, they can be tragically overlooked.
2. Have the courage to speak up about suicide. Once you observe the warning signs, it is essential to act, either directly or through a trusted intermediary. There is a widespread stigma associated with suicide, and as a result, many people are afraid to speak about it. Talking about suicide not only reduces the stigma, but also allows individuals to seek help, rethink their opinions, and share their story with others.
3. Support a Veterans assistance organization. There are hundreds of organizations in the U.S. working to prevent Veteran suicides. For instance, when I led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we partnered with the nonprofit Force Blue, whose purpose is to help special forces Veterans cope with PTS through efforts that support NOAA’s ocean conservation mission.  Whether by volunteering, advocacy, or donations, there are many ways to make a difference through a support group that best fits you.
4. Call on Congress to do more to support our Veterans. While the Veterans Administration has made great progress by establishing the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, we must seize every opportunity, such as encouraging Congress to pass the Don Young Veterans Advancing Conservation Act which seeks to improve Veteran mental health by training and deploying them to restore the health of America’s oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.