Almost gone to suicides National Guardsman fights to keep others here

California National Guard veteran fights back against military suicides
DVIDS
California National Guards
Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Cossel
January 6, 2014

MALIBU, Calif. - When it comes to veterans committing suicide, Save A Warrior founder Jake Clark minces no words.

“This is a holocaust in slow motion,” the former California Army National Guard captain said. “Over the next ten years, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates more than 150,000 vets will kill themselves.”

Clark was referring to a 2013 report released by the Department of Veterans Affairs that estimated 22 veterans take their own life every day. But those numbers don’t paint the whole picture, he pointed out, as only 21 states report suicide numbers to the VA.

“Two of the largest states in the nation — California and Texas — do not report their suicide numbers,” Clark said.

He added that many cases of veterans taking their own lives are not included in the reports the VA receives.

“You’ve got guys offing themselves via cop-assisted suicide. You’ve got guys drinking themselves to death, overdosing. … There’s so much that doesn’t get classified as suicide,” he said. “The actual numbers aren’t even close.”

Clark was almost one of those numbers himself. After returning from a deployment to Kosovo, Clark said the things he witnessed there haunted him.
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