President Biden recently noted that, as Americans, our one truly sacred obligation is to properly equip our women and men in uniform when we send them into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return.
The sobering reality is that we are failing to live up to that obligation.
As difficult as it is to hear, and as hard as it may be to believe, more veterans—by a significant margin—have died by suicide than in combat since 2010. The numbers are simply heartbreaking, not to mention staggering.
More than 65,000 men and women have taken their own lives following service since 2010. That is more than the total number of deaths from combat during the Vietnam War and the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. That’s 17 precious lives every single day.
While those in positions of authority are aware of the size of the problem, for too long, there has not been adequate effort to address it—a problem that leaders and policymakers have a solemn duty to respond to. That’s why I was encouraged to see the White House release a fact sheet last week outlining five key priorities to reduce military and veteran suicide. Among them are an emphasis on improving safety around potential lethal means for suicide and increasing access to and delivery of effective care.
One of the reasons why it’s so powerful for the President to place this issue on his agenda is that our culture still makes it difficult for individuals to speak up about their mental health struggles. Especially in the military, where an emphasis on mental toughness and fortitude frequently comes at the expense of the very real mental health challenges faced by soldiers and veterans, this culture can be challenging to break through.
Moreover, fraught policy issues are tangled up in debates around veteran suicide. For instance, because many deaths by suicide occur with the use of a handgun, new regulations around mental health and firearm use and storage can bring up strong feelings for many individuals. It is to the credit of the White House that they are placing this conversation in the context of the well-being of veterans, and working to find concrete solutions to reduce access to lethal means for veterans when they find themselves in places of desperation. As John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, observed, this plan is, in effect, “blazing a new path” for the safety of those who could be a danger to themselves.
While taking on some important initiatives like those mentioned above, the fact sheet is especially notable insofar as it acknowledges the interconnected nature of mental health challenges and the care required to address them. In fact, it specifically states that preventing suicide “requires a comprehensive public health approach.” I’m glad to see this reality being acknowledged at the highest levels of the government.
Possible solutions
With all of that said, what specific solutions could begin to help address the issue? There are three that would likely amount to an excellent start. The first is to focus on giving veterans an engaging community to return to when they come home from combat. Easier said than done, right? We can start with the services we know are needed - those that comprise mental health and addiction treatment are a good start, but we also need to go more upstream – to address veterans’ full ranges of needs for employment, stable housing, and meaningful connection with others. As I have noted on previous occasions, we need to think about mental health at a system level. Otherwise, we will be stuck in a cycle of one-off solutions that never address the full scope of the problem.
The second thing policymakers can do to make significant progress is put their money where their mouths are and get serious about providing a full range of mental health services to veterans. In many cases, veterans take their own lives in isolation, an outcome that is simply unacceptable. In my conversations with senior Veteran’s Administration staff (and former staff), many Vets who die by suicide are not engaged in the treatment that’s offered at the VA. This is a problem. We need to think more creatively about meeting veterans where they are – from their communities to the clinics outside the VA. We have an obligation to ensure that veterans not only have mental health resources at their disposal – wherever that may be, but that they are also made aware of the full range of services available, and routinely encouraged to use them.
Finally, leaders can begin to address culture, which drives the social and structural stigma that sits upstream of so many of our nation’s mental health challenges. Especially in the military, leaders must learn to balance the necessary toughness required of a warfighter with the openness and social embeddedness that every person requires to truly thrive. Those in positions of authority should take special care to remind our men and women in uniform that they are not alone, and that someone will be ready to listen to them when they need to talk, whether to express anxiety, grieve losses, or process traumatic experiences.
If you are a service member, a veteran, a part of a military family – thank you. Your service and sacrifice is felt everyday.
It’s our turn to do more to help support you.
While this is an extremely delicate and difficult topic, I’m grateful that our leaders are taking steps to address it. After all, we owe that effort to our veterans. It is our sacred obligation.