Veterans Battling Invisible Wounds of War

by U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR): The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates 22 veterans commit suicide every day. This trend is tragic and unacceptable. It is our responsibility to provide the necessary, life-saving mental health resources for the men and women who honorably wear our nation’s uniform in defense of our freedoms. As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, my colleagues and I are working to fully understand the scope of mental illness in our veteran community. One thing is clear; VA lacks the personnel, services and proper tools to help veterans facing mental illness struggles.

In testimony before the VA Committee last year, Susan Selke shared the story of her son’s struggle with mental illness including obstacles he encountered to getting VA treatment. Her son, Marine Corps veteran Clay Hunt who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, committed suicide in 2011.

Congress has an opportunity to deliver help to veterans living with mental illness. This can be accomplished by honoring the memory of Hunt and other veterans whose struggle with mental illness by supporting The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (SAV) Act.

This legislation would improve mental health care and suicide prevention resources for veterans by increasing access to mental health programs, providing incentives to recruit and retain psychiatrists to treat veterans and enhancing resources for members of the military transitioning to civilian life. In addition to providing increased access, the legislation also requires VA to evaluate its mental health programs using metrics common to mental health practitioners in order to determine which programs are successful and which are not. This will help VA more efficiently use the taxpayer funding it receives to support the programs most beneficial to our veterans.

There are also a number of non-profit mental health organizations that are doing great work for our veterans but have struggled to gain the cooperation of VA in their efforts because of outdated laws. That will no longer be the case. This legislation gives the VA Secretary authority to cooperate and share resources with non-profit mental health organizations working to prevent veteran suicides.

Our veterans should never face an uphill battle to get the care they earned. On Wednesday, the Senate VA Committee met for the first order of business in the 114th Congress – approving this bill with a bipartisan vote of 15-0. Our veterans deserve this care. That’s why I cosponsored this legislation. The House approved this bill last week and I’m confident the Senate will follow its lead. It is my hope that Congress will reaffirm its commitment to our veterans by having the Clay Hunt SAV Act be the first piece of legislation that we send to the President for his signature and enactment into law.

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Tags: veterans, suicide, invisible wounds, wounds of war, Veteran Affairs, The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (SAV) Act, John Boozman, Senator, Arkansas To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!