Senator Velis seeks action to address military suicides unrelated to combat

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP)– State Senator John Velis is voicing his concerns over the rise in suicides among military active duty members that are not combat-related.

This comes after a New York Times report found that there is a mistaken belief that suicides in the military are the result of combat trauma and PTSD. The investigation shows that those at the highest risk are active duty members who have never been deployed to a combat situation.

“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 Senator Velis, who is also the 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.”

Velis is calling for more support and awareness within the military and government, as well as communities where military members live. He is planning a meeting for the fall that will target military and veteran suicide with HomeBase , a national nonprofit founded in Massachusetts, dedicated to providing mental health and trauma services to veterans, service members, and military families.

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