How to reduce veteran suicide acts on VA campuses in 2020

Captain Ryan Spangler (left) and Gunnery Sgt. Tousnel Renaud (right), with the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, United States Marine Corps Reserve in Tampa, fold one of the two American flags that are to be presented to the family at the end of the memorial service Friday afternoon, at the Serenity Funeral Home in Largo, for retired Marine Col. James Turner IV, who took his life at Bay Pines Dec. 10, 2018. (DIRK SHADD | Times)

Jim Turner put on his dress uniform on December 10, 2018 and drove to the Bay Pines VA facility in St Petersburg, FL in his truck. Upon arriving he piled up all his military records, sat on them, and then shot himself with a rifle commiting the act of suicide in the parking lot. He left a note like many veterans with a cry 4 help beforehand.

“I bet if you look at the 22 suicides a day you will see VA screwed up in 90%.”

The State Of The Union address on veteran suicide

Because 1 veteran a day 2 suicide is 1 too many

I’m not only a client, but also a proud representative now. For those veterans who are still living with suicidal ideations in their brains, go get help NOW! According to the Department of the VA 70% of veterans who committed the act of suicide did not have established care prior to the act.

You’re worth more alive than you are dead. Please, always remember that if you awake each morning it’s a blessing. Sleep is the cousin of death. “If you breathing you achieving.”

In May of 2019 I walked through the doors of the VA campus at American Lake in WA state. Hours before though I was…