Military personnel get an amazing amount of training. They take years out of their lives to defend this country and develop an amazing set of skills. The veterans I have worked with never flinch from an assignment. They uniformly show an amazing work ethic and superior leadership skills - whether they were officers or not. They lead by example and put their nose to the grindstone to get things done. They put ego aside and work for the team and the mission - whatever that mission may be.
However Military veterans often face hard time integrating back into the civilian workforce. Their resumes generally don’t show the technical skills that jobs require because they were learning other technical skills. As a counterpoint to that veterans I have worked with are extremely adaptable, willing to learn and will do what it takes to learn new skills if given the chance.
As you have hiring openings please consider bringing Military veterans into the hiring pool.
But Military careers are intensely stressful. And this stress causes mental health issues.
September was suicide awareness month.
A recent study by Boston University estimated that in the past 20 years “30,177 active duty military personnel and veterans have died by suicide.” In that same time period “7,057 service members have died in… war operations”.
That number is staggering.
Most American professional football stadiums seat 60,000 to 70,000 people. So the next time you turn on a football game look at the stands and imagine them half empty.
Now these are estimates and statistics on suicides are difficult to obtain. And some have disputed those numbers.
The Department of Defense’s Defense Suicide Prevention Office produces a Quarterly Suicide Report (https://www.dspo.mil/qsr/).
Now we can get into a numbers discussion right now but let’s stop right there.
There is a Defense Suicide Prevention Office.
The Defense Suicide Prevention Office was established in 2011 to help understand the impact of suicide to military readiness and create solutions to create a “mission-ready, suicide-free military community.”
Read that again.
This is a big enough issue that the Department of Defense needed to establish an entire department to track this.
So let’s not get into a numbers debate.
This. Is. A. Problem.
Any number above zero is too big.
There are resources to help
The Veterans Crisis hotline is available 24/7. It is confidential . You can call 1-800-273-8255 or text 838255. It is also online: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help/hotline
If you know someone in crisis please reach out or call.
As always I hope this helps. I look forward to continuing the conversation. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
All the best,
Dave Terné
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