According to a recent estimate by the C.D.C. an average of eighteen American veterans kill themselves every day. That number accounts for 1/5th of all of suicides in the United States.

Photographer Ashley Gilbertson goes inside the Department of Veteran Affairs in Canandaigua, NY where the Veteran Crisis Hotline is located (here).

ontheline

I am floored by the dedication Ashley has shown to this subject. Bravo man, bravo.

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7 Comments

  1. What have we done?

  2. I saw this in the NYT magazine, I believe. Incredible. What extremes must be reached to ensure adequate counseling and mental health resources will be made available to vets? bravo to all involved.

  3. Thanks for this valuable information. Have shared it on Facebook…

  4. This is a hard subject for me being a Gulf War vet and retiree. The guys I have met, a hand full, who have come back from the war over the last five years have difficult time putting their lives back together. Many just need someone to talk to, that can listen and just allow them to tell their stories and without comment sometimes. Most want to get it off their chest and not have it spread around, again for fear of being judged.

    One who became a friend said he didn’t tell his stories to people because they judged him. He was doing his job, just like I did. In some ways I think we are beginning to repeat how the members of the military are treated, I think we have come full circle to the public attitude of Viet Nam.

    Ashley, Thanks!

  5. The audio really powers this story. So strong.

  6. Great story (I think? explanation follows):

    What an absolutely terrible slideshow interface. Random, tiny icons everywhere. Two different play buttons required to view. No captions? I guess there is audio, but what if you prefer to read rather than wait for the audio to catch up?

    Scrolling through thumbnails requires hovering the mouse over them and then waiting. And instead of simply ending, it cycles back to the beginning slide.

    I look at a lot of slideshows and I couldn’t wait to get away from it. Sad way to destroy a story with abysmal presentation software.

  7. Thanks for the kind words everyone, about the story. This hotline is a major step in the right direction to help the veterans of all wars, it’s heartening that it exists. The call operators are incredible people and I’m glad their words are reaching people like you.
    Ash

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