As we mark this Veterans Day, almost a forgotten holiday, I came across a sobering statistic I wanted to share: Since 9/11, four times as many U.S. service members have died by suicide than have died in battle. If that doesn’t signal that something is wrong with the care and services that are being offered to our returning service members, I am not sure what does.
That’s where we come in.
Axios wrote a great story highlighting some ways to help our veterans, and they did so by asking veterans themselves. Among the areas they identified are:
- Volunteering.
- Hiring.
- Helping families.
- Embracing conversation.
- Saying thank you.
- Donating.
On that last point, specifically, I wanted to highlight a few of the wonderful organizations that work day-in and day-out to support our veterans.
The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS). Yes, you read that correctly. Our own FRS has partnered with CoBank on a Virtual Living Room project. Put together a community engaged NTCA member broadband provider, some resources to outfit and support a private, secure space for telehealth, and the willingness by the NTCA member to engage with their state Veteran’s Affairs office, and you have a recipe for success to open small care centers that your local veterans can use for access to their VA networks.
Particularly useful for mental health support, this model implemented more broadly across rural America can certainly help to take those original statistics down on possible suicide prevention. When you support FRS efforts, you also help to support the ability to create these safe spaces for veterans, utilizing the robust networks you already provide. I encourage anyone remotely thinking about establishing your own local program to reach out to myself or Pam Becker, our FRS Executive Director, for information about how to make this magic happen!
And certainly, we need to all take the time and make the effort to thank those who serve or have served. I used to feel funny saying something to someone in uniform but no longer. My last opportunity to potentially embarrass myself by stepping out of my own comfort zone (which is a pretty big space!) was when I was in the Dallas, Texas airport recently and saw a number of young recruits – obvious from their uniforms and buzz haircuts in the candy store by my gate. I went in and handed the clerk my credit card and told her to put anything they bought on my card. It was a tiny bit awkward, both the transaction and initial reaction, but those young men then acted like kids in a candy shop and I was the certainly the winner of that transaction.