WE ARE OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER

Luciano: Former Marine reservist launches Buddy Check 22 effort to wish a vet well
Journal Star
By Phil Luciano
Journal Star columnist
Posted Aug. 19, 2015

One particular post pointed directly at the goal of Buddy Check 22: “Lost a great Marine, husband and father 14 days ago to the demons of PTSD. He was 26. The VA is trying, but they are losing this battle. WE ARE OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER.”

Like machine-gun fire, the number kept jolting Zach Ziegel

Story after story, the news astounded him: An average of 22 veterans kill themselves every day, a rate more than double that of the general population. This week, after long brainstorming tactics, the Marine veteran attacked the enemy of suicide.

Ziegel has launched Buddy Check 22, which simply urges people — military and civilian alike — to contact at least one veteran on the 22nd of each month and ask how things are going. The suggestion has exploded: Within a half-day after he posted Buddy Check 22 as a Facebook “event,” invites spread to nearly 180,000 users, with 22,000 saying they’d participate.

“It just took off,” Ziegel, 29, says in pleasant surprise. “We don’t want to let veterans down. They were there for us, to protect us. And now we need to be there for them, when they need us.”

Ziegel saw such challenges during a decade while active in the military, perhaps even more so afterward.

“That might make a buddy mad for a while,” Ziegel says. “But I’d rather that a buddy be mad at me. I don’t want to go to his funeral.”
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REMINDER
It is not 22 a day but veterans commit suicide double the civilian population with 78% veterans over the age of 50. For younger veterans (Afghanistan and Iraq) it is triple their peer rate.