Hard To Hold On To: PTSD Fueled Military Suicides

Laura Kaye draws attention to prevalence of suicide among vets
HAPPY EVER AFTER
USA Today
Special for USA TODAY
August 21, 2014

Laura Kaye, author of Hard to Hold On To, finds more than just a story in the new novella in her Hard Ink series.

Laura: Every once in a while, a character and a book compel you to take his story a step further.

Something about their story or their history or their wounds crawls under your skin and demands that there's something more important there than just a story. And that's what Edward "Easy" Cantrell, the strong, brave, but very troubled veteran hero of Hard to Hold On To, did for me.

So, here's what I'm doing with that feeling: I'm donating all of my proceeds of the first two weeks' sales of this e-original novella to a national non-profit organization that assists wounded veterans as they transition to civilian life. So that's all sales through Sept. 1.

Here are some of the more staggering statistics, according to the Department of Defense. In the U.S. Army, which has the highest suicide rate among the branches (48.7% of all military suicides in 2012), the suicide rate in 2012 was 30 per 100,000, compared with 14 per 100,000 among civilians and 18 per 100,000 in 2008. In 2012, 841 active-duty service members attempted or committed suicide.

Among veterans, as of November 2013, 22 committed suicide every day. Every. Day. I cannot read or think about that statistic without getting choked up. A frightening 30% of veterans say they've considered suicide, and 45% say they know an Iraq or Afghanistan veteran who has attempted or committed suicide.

But this problem is more than a list of numbers. It's what real men and women are facing. Since Hard to Hold On To released on Tuesday, members of several military families have contacted me with their stories. One woman shared that her husband lost a military friend to suicide just three days earlier — and it was the third such loss to suicide he'd experienced. Another woman shared that her husband was an Army veteran who served in the Balkans, got air-lifted out around the age of 21, and suffered from severe depression and PTSD, ultimately attempting suicide, after returning home. Another shared that her son had committed suicide, and believed the only way to combat the problem was by coming at it with acceptance and knowledge so that people get the help they need.
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