Moving Beyond the 22
By Liv Stecker
September 10th is National Suicide Awareness month. In some tragic twist of society, suicide has become almost synonymous with American Veterans as hashtags like #22aday trend, telling the story of horrific statistics of veteran suicides in the United States. While presidential candidates quibbled over semantics and doled out blanket promises to imploring veterans at the Commander In Chief Forum in New York last week, Americans nationwide participate in the 22 push-up challenge to raise awareness of the startling statistic. But where did we get this number, and what does it really represent?
In a “Suicide Data Report” put out by the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) in 2012, a projection based on the broad accumulation of research and survey results that accounted for less than half of the States in the US, stated, “...an estimated 22 Veterans will have died from suicide each day in the calendar year 2010.” In context, this statistic was based on extrapolations from incomplete data and some scientific speculation. The study reported that from the years 1999-2011, an estimated 22.2% of suicides in the United States were former service members. While the current #22aday trend is associated with the youngest generation of veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the real statistics tell a different story: the average age of veterans who take their own lives is 60. Clearly this epidemic is not limited to one demographic of veterans.
Recently, as a response to the media sensation of the 22 a day statistic, veterans of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) have spoken out against the obsession with suicide rates and the PTSD epidemic. Derek Weida, an Iraq War vet who served with the 82nd Airborne sent out a message on social media. “Stop with all the 22. Change the message. Go be great. Show the world.” He, along with many others, insist that the obsession with a questionable statistic is not helpful to vets, and neither is the act of “raising awareness.” Instead, veteran community resources like the website Taskandpurpose.com ask concerned friends and family members to reach out to individual veterans with a phone call.
In anticipation of September as suicide awareness month, the VA established the Veterans Crisis Line, a specially focused suicide prevention hotline for veterans that operates not only a toll free call line (1-800-273-8255), but a website and text helpline (text to 838255) as well. But more often, a familiar voice on the other end of the line can help just as much as a trained professional to combat the sense of isolation and being forgotten that many vets have given voice to.
Whether the statistic of 22 deaths a day is accurate or far fetched, the idea that an alarming number of our honored vets are going missing every day from the lives they came home to live is unacceptable. One phone call, text, email or even a friendly Facebook tag is a way to remind the vet you know that he or she isn’t forgotten or alone. We don’t have to wait for Veterans Day to let them know that we are thinking about them, that we honor their sacrifice, or just to remind them of the value they hold now in their civilian lives.