Veteran Families Don’t Have to Go It Alone
Postvention is the term given to a range of services after suicide prevention fails and the person took their own life. Veteran suicide prevention fails 22 times a day. For our mission, that means there are now 16 Veteran families in need of postvention services.
Our postvention services include:
- Time of Need counseling
- Finding and hiring a biohazard clean up company
- Funeral home negotiations
- Crisis financial assistance
- Free Transcendental Meditation (TM) classes taught by certified TM instructors
Once A Soldier believes that the family serves just like the Veteran. For the end to be a suicide and the family left alone to deal with it, that’s not right. If you or a family you know is in need of postvention help, please call our Help Line or read about hiring a biohazard clean-up company, or about inexpensive direct cremation options.
Faces of Veteran Suicide: Marine Sergeant Tyson Zellaha
Tyson was beloved by his sister who wrote an upbeat Silver Lining Story for him.
Our Postvention Mission is to Limit the Financial and Emotional Scars of Veteran Suicide
Image being the family of a Veteran suffering from PTSD. The Vet is on edge every day of their lives. Inside or outside of the house, anything can trigges the anxiety and fight or flight reaction. Being around that for years takes its toll on those around him or her as well. It’s like walking on a tightrope above an endless abyss of sadness and pain, and then one day, with the sound of a pistol shot ringing out to signal the start, the Veteran is dead and the family has fallen off the tight rope.
The shock of the incident is soon overshadowed by the reality of a messy dead body in your bedroom, bathroom or garage. Biohazard clean up crews need to be found. The EMTs or police will arrive. The coroner follows right behind. Questions start to get asked. Answers are needed. But you’re falling down a pit. Free falling into a new life where only one this is certain: the loss and pain of this Veteran suicide will haunt you for the rest of your life.
More Veteran Suicide Information Provided by the Veteran Administartion.
Key statistics include the following:
• The number of Veteran suicides exceeded 6,000 each year from 2008 to 2017.
• Among U.S. adults, the average number of suicides per day rose from 86.6 in 2005 to 124.4 in 2017. These numbers included 15.9 Veteran suicides per day in 2005 and 16.8 in 2017.
• In 2017, the suicide rate for Veterans was 1.5 times the rate for non-Veteran adults, after adjusting for population differences in age and sex.
• Firearms were the method of suicide in 70.7% of male Veteran suicide deaths and 43.2% of female Veteran suicide deaths in 2017.
• In addition to the aforementioned Veteran suicides, there were 919 suicides among never federally activated former National Guard and Reserve members in 2017, an average 2.5 suicide deaths per day
ABOUT ONCE A SOLDIER
Our Veterans are killing themselves in record numbers mostly due to PTSD. An overmatched VA can’t take care of them or their families. We will.
Soldier suicide leaves Veteran families with thousands of dollars of bills unpaid, mostly bank loans.
We are the only nonprofit standing with the families after a veteran suicide. Stand with us.
Our Mission: Become the preferred channel for donors, advocates and volunteers who care about veteran families left behind after a soldier suicide.
