How many veterans die each day

NYPD then disqualified him from serving on the force. Our veterans still face dire jobless rates, and often turn to addiction or self-harm when they have nowhere else to go for help. One way to decrease these ill feelings toward PTSD, a condition affecting nearly one-third of our troops is to ramp up public education efforts. When we teach employers and the public to understand and accept PTSD as a treatable condition, we are helping our veterans slowly break free from this stigma.

Every single day, 22 veterans take their own lives. As shocking as that number is, the real number may actually be higher. The VA researchers used death records from 21 states to come up with a national estimate for veterans of all ages.

As a group, veterans are old. What is contributing to the 22 suicides a day number: The veteran-suicide statistics are likely to become a topic on Feb. VA officials have emphasized in recent years that mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts are not a problem specific to the veterans community. In a statement, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said that despite the lack of overall progress in suicide prevention among veterans, the report does show some areas of improvement.

The rate of suicide among veterans who recently received some type of VA care decreased was down 2. For veterans with no connection to VA care, it increased 2. The legislation — expected to be signed into law later this week — was part of a congressional compromise earlier this year allowing VA to create a new grant program for community advocates to help with VA outreach efforts.

However, that deal dropped House Democrats' plans to include new incentives on safe storage of firearms among veterans. White House officials had included the item in its new suicide prevention task force priorities at the start of the summer, but several Republican lawmakers objected to the idea. The new VA suicide report shows that firearms were involved in more than 68 percent of veterans suicides in Among the rest of the American population, the figure was about 48 percent.

Trump made VA reforms a key point in his campaign trail speeches. Veterans experiencing a mental health emergency can contact the Veteran Crisis Line at and select option 1 for a VA staffer.

This is why legal aid organizations, such as Veterans Legal Services, routinely collaborate with social workers and others working directly with veterans. The goal is always to try to resolve the issues causing the veteran undue stress. We don't yet have comprehensive data on veteran suicide rates during the COVID pandemic, but there are some things we already know.

For one, gun sales increased dramatically nationwide in Why does this matter? Because firearms are the most common means of suicide in the United States, with slightly more than half of all suicides occurring by firearm, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.

Veteran suicide is preventable. But we do a disservice to our veterans, and to all who silently struggle, when we fail to talk about mental health treatment, social and economic stress, and the divide between the poetry of honoring our veterans and the prose necessary to end a national tragedy. If you, or a veteran you know, are having thoughts of suicide, help is available 24 hours a day.

Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Twitter. Anna Richardson Twitter Cognoscenti contributor Anna Richardson has served as the co-executive director and chief counsel at Veterans Legal Services, a nonprofit legal aid organization in Boston, since