What the hell were you thinking?

Advocates freaked out about "awareness" stunts
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 28, 2018

What is the harm in talking about veterans committing suicide? That is such an easy answer and the proof of the harm being done has been right under our noses for almost two decades. These are the numbers of veterans the VA knows committed suicide. There are many more.

The numbers from the VA, the real ones, not the ones made up from a headline, prove it.

Last report from the VA is, 20 a day! 

The numbers from the Department of Defense prove it.

In 1999, reporters did not want to hear about any of this. It was at a time when there were 26.4 million more veterans living in the US. That is over 5 million more veterans living here now.

If you cannot see these numbers prove beyond a doubt these stunts and slogans do more harm than good, then you must be running one of those groups.

What the hell were you thinking? Did you think no one was doing anything before you became aware veterans were killing themselves? 

Did you think that you only needed to figure out how to get publicity because you knew a number you read from a headline? On that subject, did you think it may have been more helpful to take it all seriously enough to have bothered to read the damn report first? Invested time in discovering what had worked over the last 4 decades to avoid repeats of what failed?

The problem is not that you do not care. The problem is you did not care enough. Not enough to know the report you quote was from limited data from just 21 states. Did not care enough to notice that that 65% of the veterans who were counted, were over the age of 50. 

The press loves a stunt and a feel good story, so they cover you but the rest of us are covering our mouths out of the bitter taste you left us to swallow.

Our veterans do not need to know you cared so little about them their lives did not merit real effort from you. You reduced them down to slogan and then collected money while they were left to suffer and die by their own hands.

Last weekend I was at the Veterans Reunion in Melbourne. This is what we talked about most of the time. You have stolen hope away from veterans looking for a way to survive one more day.

You have used the generosity of the American people hoping to do some good, because they did not know who was actually doing something to change the outcome.

What makes all of this worse is, it was brought up that if veterans started to heal instead of suffer, you'd be out of business.

Ok, so how about you make it your business to actually help them? Redemption is waiting for you to actually invest the time and your resources, as well as your exposure, into something that will give them a reason to live! That is a hell of a lot better than making them aware of how many you think killed themselves this day.