We currently have legislation in Congress to OFFICIALLY adopt the SAR Flag:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/899/text

New York currently has legislation to OFFICIALLY adopt the SAR Flag and to ANNUALLY recognize September 22nd as “Veterans Suicide Awareness & Remembrance Day”

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/A5114

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/A5116

Massachusetts currently has legislation to ANNUALLY recognize September 22nd as “Veterans Suicide Awareness & Remembrance Day”

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/HD4986.Html

The phrase “committed suicide” is wordage that we and the families who have lost a loved one to suicide condemn because it only adds to and perpetuates the stigma associated with suicide.

These Veterans and Military did not “commit” a crime. The appropriate phrases are “died by suicide” or “lost to suicide.”

When a Veteran or Active Military member dies by suicide, they have succumbed to a mental health ailment, similar to the way in which someone would die from a physical health condition. Either way, it is through no fault of their own.

According to VA.gov, from 2001 to 2014 an average of 20 Veterans and Active Military died by suicide each day. That’s at least 7300 Veterans and Active Military lost in one year. That’s more then all of the casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, going back to 2001. Over the 13 years covered in the 2016 VA report, we lost an estimated 94,900 veterans to suicide.

A study released by the Government Accountability Office showed that the VA spent only $57,000 of a $6.2 million dollar allotment for suicide prevention media outreach for fiscal year 2018. The VA spent less than 1% of its allotment. This clearly shows our government is falling woefully short in its attempt to make a difference in the Veterans suicide crisis.

Since 2001 we’ve lost over 100,000 Veterans to suicide.