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News Release
By Hon. Nathan Hecht Each Veterans Day we take time to honor the men and
women who have served in our nation’s armed forces, and rightfully so. The men and women who volunteer to serve our country
put their lives on the line to protect our freedom, and they do it knowing
that they may pay the ultimate sacrifice in that service. It comes with the
job. But there’s another price that no veteran should ever pay. It’s the
tragic price paid by many veterans long after they’ve served: suicide.
The statistics on veteran suicides are sobering – and
shocking. According to a VA study from 2021, for Texas veterans age 18-34,
the suicide rate is 52.7 per 100,000 individuals.
That’s hard to visualize, but in
real terms that means in your community of 100,000, almost 53 would commit
suicide. Compare that to a rate of 19.6 for the Texas population at large.
And it’s not just the younger veterans who are tragically dying by their own
hands: 50 percent of Texas veteran suicides are veterans over 55, and 95
percent of veteran suicides are men. Younger veterans are at particular risk because of the
general higher risk of suicide among young men, but also for reasons
particular to the veterans community. Recently separated servicemembers
struggle with a return to civilian life and may have lost some of the coping
mechanisms they had in the service. While 27 percent of veterans of all
conflicts have reported a difficult time readjusting to civilian life, as
many as 44 percent of modern veterans have said the same thing. Certainly, proper diagnosis and treatment of
depression, isolation, and PTSD is the most obvious way to beat these
statistics. But there are others you might not think about. For example, too
often we see that these common drivers of suicide are exacerbated by other
stressors: things like legal trouble, divorce, housing, financial struggles,
and bankruptcy. We all know the stress of dealing with any number of
legal issues, family law, housing rights, financial, or estate planning.
Often for a veteran struggling with PTSD, these issues can be the straws
that break the camel’s back. The Texas Access to Justice Foundation, created by the
Supreme Court of Texas,
provides funding for civil legal aid in Texas, including free legal
services to qualifying veterans. Veterans
often struggle because they don’t know when to ask for help. They’re used to
being self-reliant and in control. But these issues can rob them of their
independence and leave them feeling alone and abandoned. But they’re not, and that’s where legal aid comes in.
Legal aid can help with just these kinds of problems through free legal
services for qualifying veterans. It might be assisting a veteran, who went
through hard times and has moved forward, to expunge his record. Or it could
be helping a veteran get back on his feet after a divorce, or helping a
veteran struggling with a mortgage keep his home. It might be protecting
veterans from consumer fraud. If you’re a veteran and can’t afford legal
services, legal aid is here for you. Sometimes all a veteran needs is to
know someone has his back. Because that’s all a veteran really wants: a fair
fight. If you or a veteran you know is struggling and at risk
for suicide, the first thing to do is get help, whether it’s medical help or
counseling. But don’t forget about those other things: the straws that break
the camel’s back. It’s never one thing that puts someone down the road to
suicide, and it’s not just one thing that gets them off that road.
Each year, the week of Veterans Day is designated as Texas Veterans Legal
Aid Week (TVLAW). This year from Nov. 11-15, local bar associations, legal
aid organizations and law schools across Texas are hosting free, virtual
legal clinics to serve Veterans with the support and civil legal guidance
they need. To find a
clinic in your area during TVLAW or throughout the year, visit
texaslawhelp.org or
call the statewide hotline at 1-800-622-2520, option 2. You fought for us, now let us fight for you.
Contact: Kimberly Schmitt512-320-0099, ext. 104 kschmitt@teajf.org
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