Political Quotes

“As we approach Veterans Day, our Nation is still faced with the epidemic of veteran suicide. And while the VA has made it a priority to address this problem, there are still many combat veterans left without access to VA mental healthcare services. Here is what we know. An average of 20 veterans commit suicide daily. VA evidence suggests a decrease in suicide risk among those who have received VA healthcare services. In May 2017, the Government Accountability Office found that 62 percent of the over 91,000 servicemembers who were separated for misconduct from 2011 to 2015 had been diagnosed with PTSD, TBI, or other conditions that would be associated with misconduct. Of those veterans, 23 percent, or 13,282, received an other than honorable discharge, leaving them without access to VA's critical mental healthcare services. As a Marine Corps combat veteran, I like to live by the rule that we never leave anyone behind. Unfortunately, the military routinely used the other than honorable discharge to rid itself of combat veterans who were designated as having disciplinary problems and who often had documented medical histories of PTSD, rather than providing them with the treatment and rehabilitation they so desperately needed. While the correlation between their mental health condition and minor misconduct could be linked, this fact made no difference to their character of discharge. Mr. Speaker, my legislation, H.R.…”