Sen. John Velis Raises Alarm on Military Suicides Unrelated to Combat

WESTFIELD — In response to a New York Times investigation on military suicides unrelated to combat, state Sen. John Velis recently called for national, state, and local action to address these statistics and support service members. Despite the common assumption that combat exposure is a primary contributor to suicidal risk in the military, it has been found that soldiers at the highest risk for suicide are active-duty personnel who have never deployed.

“How can we truly say that our government, and our country, is taking care of the men and women who serve our nation when we are seeing suicide rates like this continue to grow? What is happening in our military that soldiers who have not even seen combat are taking their own lives?” said Velis, who is also Senate chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Veterans & Federal Affairs. “There are real, systemic problems at play here, and something is broken. These are individuals that sign up to serve our nation on the behalf of the rest of us, and we simply cannot sit by as this situation gets worse and worse.”

The New York Times investigation combats the misconception that suicide rates among service members is due to combat trauma. The Army’s suicide rate in peacetime has now exceeded total combat deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and far too many of these service members take their lives on military bases, the very places where they are supposed to receive comprehensive resources and support.

“The New York Times investigation highlighted military suicide numbers that have been increasing for far too long, and that is simply unacceptable. Simply put, we have a national emergency on our hands,” said Velis, who is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a current major in the Massachusetts National Guard. “For far too long, there has been this misconception that military suicides are only linked to PTSD from combat, and that is simply not the case. We need a comprehensive response that includes systemic changes in the military, real action from all levels of government, and support and awareness from all of us in our communities. Nothing less is acceptable.”

Velis plans to host a roundtable discussion in Western Mass. this fall focused on military and veteran suicide alongside HomeBase, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing mental-health and trauma services to veterans, service members, and military families.