Veteran's Voice: 'Community Is the First Line of Prevention Against Veteran Suicide'
In a small community, we tend to assume we know when someone is struggling.
Sometimes we do, but just as often, people pull back quietly. They stop coming to events, stop answering messages, stop showing up in the places where we are used to seeing them. Life gets busy, seasons change, and it becomes easy to assume they are simply occupied.
The newest National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report reminds us that isolation is one of the strongest risk factors — especially in rural areas like ours.
Today, there are roughly 18 million veterans living in the United States, many of them in small towns and rural communities. In 2023 (the latest year for which we have verified data), 6,398 veterans died by suicide, an average of about 17.5 veterans every day. The report also found that veterans living in rural areas face higher suicide rates than those in urban communities, and that veterans who are not connected to health care are at the highest risk of all.
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These are not abstract statistics. They describe the reality facing communities across the country, including small towns like Floyd.
Distance, transportation challenges, limited services, and the simple difficulty of accessing care in rural areas make it harder to reconnect once someone has stepped away from community life. When getting help requires planning an entire day, many people delay until problems feel overwhelming.
In a place like Floyd, prevention does not start with institutions. It starts with neighbors. It starts with noticing who hasn’t been around lately. It starts with checking in, even when it feels awkward. It starts with making space for people to return without having to explain where they’ve been.
Simple gestures matter more than we realize. Inviting someone to sit with you at a local event. Sending a message just to say you were thinking of them. Offering a ride when travel is difficult. Taking a few extra minutes to talk instead of waving from a distance. These actions interrupt isolation before it deepens into something more dangerous.
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Families and close friends also play a critical role. The report notes that many veterans who died by suicide had experienced challenges such as chronic pain, sleep problems, or major life stressors in the months leading up to their deaths. Withdrawal from activities, increased drinking, changes in sleep, or expressions of hopelessness should never be ignored. Asking direct questions can feel uncomfortable, but silence allows problems to fester.
Faith communities, civic groups, and local organizations can help simply by continuing to create welcoming spaces where people feel safe showing up exactly as they are. Sometimes the most powerful thing a community can offer is a place where no one has to pretend.
Even with strong support, there may still be moments when someone reaches a crisis point. When that happens, immediate help is available through the Veterans Crisis Line by calling or texting 988 and pressing 1, or through online chat. It operates 24 hours a day and connects veterans, service members, and their families with trained responders — many of whom are veterans themselves.
Knowing that number and sharing it when needed can save a life.
Preventing crisis is not something that happens in a single moment. It happens through consistent connection, through everyday interactions, through the quiet understanding that in a small town, we are responsible for one another. That concept is very similar to how a military unit takes care of their own.
Floyd takes pride in its sense of community. That strength becomes even more important when someone is struggling.
If you are a veteran having a difficult time, you are not alone. If you care about a veteran, your presence may matter more than you realize. You can make a difference.
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If you want to understand the issue more deeply, the full report is available on the VA website: www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/data.asp. There's also a regional veteran suicide prevention group that can always use more support. Mountain Valor has been a member for a year and a half, and finding actionable ways to impact those struggling is the group's main focus.
If this column does anything, I hope it encourages you to look around and notice who might need a hand right now.
Check on someone who hasn’t been around, invite someone back into the circle, and make sure the veterans in your life know they still matter here.
Prevention begins with people choosing not to look away.
Author of the "Veteran's Voice" column, Kathryn Whittenberger is a retired Navy Senior Chief, the Executive Director of Mountain Valor Services, and a Floyd County resident.
Do you have a question or idea you’d like to see covered in a future column? Email us at support@mtnvalor.org — your input helps us share the information our community needs most.