Opinion | How to Keep Momentum in the Fight Against Veteran Suicide – By Keita Franklin (Military.com) / Dec 16, 2022
Keita Franklin is the former senior executive director for the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and senior executive for the Defense Suicide Prevention Program for the U.S. Department of Defense. She is an executive at Deloitte Consulting LLP.
The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
Loved ones who have lost a service member or veteran to suicide have a shared agony.
The heartache of losing a child is immeasurable, but I recall one mother, a nurse, who also couldn’t enter a hospital anymore without suffering a panic attack. She felt helpless in a role where she was responsible for helping others.
Her son took his life on Mother’s Day, 2,000 miles away from their family home. The young soldier, in his early 20s, was experiencing a humiliating breakup, had been injured and had seen the terrors of war. Prescription medicine managed his physical pain, though he may have misused it to numb his feelings. He felt marginalized within his command — like he didn’t fit in and was unsure about the future.
