Veteran suicide problem and how you can help

The veteran suicide problem is caused by many factors.  

Retired Army Colonel, Scott McChristal tells Newstalk KZRG:  

“We found that the greatest problem for veterans is one of isolation, feeling lonely and when you think about veterans just in our state, say when we get them together for the honor flight, they come from the highways and byways.  Many of them do not have contact with other veterans and that’s why something like the Honor Flight of the Ozarks, getting these guys together, getting them to exchange emails, conversations. And just telephone numbers and just helping them to recognize, they’re not alone.”

How can you help veterans?  McChristal says:

“If isolation is the worst problem, what we’ve studied, every veteran, whether they are in isolation or not, is, we know every human being needs the following, no matter how hard they want to act, how tough they want to.pretend to be, we all need to be loved, we all need to belong, we all need to feel valued. And we all need, especially these veterans, they need a mission, they need meaning in life, and when these things are absent in the minds of the veterans, there is a problem.”