Help prevent vet suicide

When I spent the weekend at the Rolling Thunder veterans’ rally in Washington, among the many wonderful people I met were some good folks working at the Veterans Crisis Line, a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program designed to help vets facing extreme hardship that could lead to the awful result of suicide. According to one major study, 22 vets commit suicide every day.

The Veterans Crisis Line is a place for vets to go, confidentially and privately, for help and support. If you are a vet facing great hardship and stress, you can call these people who know a lot about the subject and have many ways they can help. If you are a mom, dad, son, daughter, husband or wife of a vet you love and are deeply worried about, you can share this information or contact the Veterans Crisis Line yourself for advice, help and support.

The phone number is 1-800-273-8255 or you can text them at 838255. I emphasize that these contacts are totally confidential. Memorial Day has passed but our nation’s admiration and support for those who serve will always remain, and I share this information with the hope that it might be helpful to some who have served and those who love them.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.