But he worries that the big, inaccurate, number contributes to a corrosive stereotype about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Jennings, the clinical psychologist, agrees it has raised awareness. Helping vets: that's what the number 22 motivated a lot of people to try to do. "But we have to know who the people are that need those treatments before we can offer it to them and help them become engaged in care," Capehart says.
Bruce Capehart, who heads the mental health program for Afghanistan and Iraq veterans at the VA Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "That helps us focus what should our efforts be as far as outreach, education, prevention and treatment," says Dr. And younger military vets are committing suicide much more often than civilians.ĭoctors treating veterans want researchers to identify which groups of vets are most at risk, like troops who saw heavy combat or soldiers who were pushed out of the service early. He acts as chief science adviser for a North Carolina-based group called. "That number, if we talk about it out of context, it's questionable," Keith Jennings, Iraq combat veteran and clinical psychologist, says. That number, 22, doesn't really apply to the veterans everyone thinks it does: those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were lots of news stories this summer about Toby Flaget, a retired police officer and Marine veteran, who walked from Oregon to New Jersey wearing a T-shirt that said "22 is 22 too many." Speeches, fundraisers, marches and even walks clear across the country. Twenty-two.Ī number so specific it inspires action. Twenty-two, not some vague, rounded-off number.
The number has become a rallying cry for advocates trying to call attention to suicide among vets, especially those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the number 22, as in, 22 vets take their lives each day. The bill calls for evaluation and expansion of existing Veterans Affairs mental health and suicide prevention programs.Ī single number has shaped the way that Americans think about young military veterans. President Barack Obama signs the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, named for a Marine Corps combat veteran who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and who killed himself in March 2011 at the age of 28.
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