They Came Home—But the War Did Not End

There are statistics that should make every American stop what they are doing and pay attention.

During my recent episode of Angela’s Sweet Tea and Politics, Rear Admiral Kent Davis USN (Ret.) discussed an estimate that since September 11, 2001, approximately 200,000 veterans have died by suicide.

Two hundred thousand.

Whatever our politics, that number should break our hearts—and demand our attention. These are men and women who raised their hands and swore an oath to defend this country. They left their families, missed birthdays and Christmases, deployed to dangerous places, and carried burdens most of us will never fully understand.

They survived the battlefield. But for far too many, the battle followed them home.

Admiral Davis believes mental health may be the most important issue facing veterans today. He pointed to shortages of mental-health professionals and the need for treatments specifically designed for the unique experiences of the veteran community. He also made an important point: caring for those veterans is a shared responsibility. When we send Americans to war, we have an obligation to care for them when they return.

We have to stop treating mental illness as something veterans should simply tough out.

One of the most powerful parts of our conversation was Davis describing the peer-support model used with veterans and first responders. Veterans who have gone through recovery themselves work alongside traditional clinicians, helping break down barriers that can prevent someone from asking for help.

Davis, himself a two-time cancer survivor, offered a simple comparison. When someone develops cancer, we expect them to seek treatment, get well and return to their life. Mental-health treatment should be viewed the same way.

That message matters because America needs our military—and our veterans—perhaps now more than at any point in recent memory.

The world is becoming increasingly dangerous. Davis described China as a near-peer adversary with a formidable military and warned specifically about the possibility of conflict surrounding Taiwan. He said America has moved away from an era dominated by the Global War on Terror and back toward confronting peer and near-peer adversaries. Russia has reemerged as a threat, China is thinking strategically decades into the future, and America can no longer operate under the assumption that we are the world’s only superpower.

That makes a strong American military more important than ever.

As conservatives, we rightly believe in peace through strength. We support the men and women who wear the uniform, strong national defense and an America capable of confronting its enemies.

But supporting our troops cannot end when they take off the uniform.

We cannot proudly send young Americans to defend our freedom and then allow them to come home and fight PTSD, addiction, depression or other mental-health struggles alone.

These veterans sacrificed their bodies, years away from their families and, in some cases, pieces of their mental and emotional well-being for this country.

We owe them more than a “thank you for your service.” We owe them action.

We have to figure out what is happening. We have to invest in treatments that actually work. We have to remove the stigma surrounding asking for help. And when a veteran reaches out, there must be someone there to answer.

America asks extraordinary things of its warriors.

It is time America became just as extraordinary at taking care of them when they come home.