Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Brut America
  • 3/25/2025
"I am tired of getting phone calls telling me that my friends have killed themselves." These veterans want an honest conversation about life after combat.

Category

šŸ—ž
News
Transcript
00:00I am tired of getting phone calls telling me that my friends have killed themselves.
00:30For many years, for me, I chose to focus on the negative, and that behavior after seven
00:43years led to me sitting at my kitchen table, putting my Glock in my mouth, and trying to
00:49end my own life.
00:52I'm thankful every day that I failed at that attempt.
00:59I served for six years, and when I left, I took with me post-traumatic stress disorder,
01:07anxiety, and depression.
01:09I was having multiple panic attacks.
01:11I couldn't even drive, I couldn't go to school, I couldn't work, I couldn't function.
01:16It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs, from anxiety to depression to feeling hopelessness
01:23to feeling like I'm a burden on the ones I love.
01:27I've been out in the military now for 13, 14 years, and it's always thought over time
01:32that it would get better, and it doesn't.
01:48The Veterans Administration has let down the veterans in this country.
01:52I go to a VA appointment.
01:55All they do is up my medication and give me more.
01:58I'm supposed to take five or six pills a day, two, three times a day.
02:02All it does is numb me.
02:03It does nothing to how I feel.
02:05I can still feel it.
02:07I still feel the anger.
02:09I still feel the hurt.
02:10I still feel the guilt.
02:12If you get enough nerve to ask for help, to reach out for help, and you call, and then
02:19you have to wait six to eight weeks, who knows what's going to happen in that time?
02:24You have veterans that are committing suicide inside VA waiting rooms, leaving letters behind
02:30saying they're trying to bring attention to the horrible care they're receiving, and what's
02:34the response to the politicians in the Washingtons on the Democratic and Republican side?
02:38Silence.
02:54Silence.
02:55Silence.
03:11The alarm needs to be raised about veteran suicide more than just the 22-a-day because
03:18even those that aren't acting on it, they're having the thoughts.
03:22they're living that life of it's not worth it and I don't know what to do and
03:27maybe they're not doing active suicide but they're passively thinking about
03:31suicide which means thoughts of driving off cliffs of never waking up of life
03:37not being worth it or being told we're not strong enough. There is no shame in
03:43having PTSD. There is no shame in having injuries from war. That shame is the
03:50shame we bring to it and I want to change that.

Recommended

5:18
Up next
Honoring Veterans: Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association
ABC15
5/23/2018
0:55
'Don't give up', mother urges veterans after inquiry
Australian Community Media
12/2/2024
3:02
California Health: Kern County services helping local veterans
23ABC News
10/22/2019
0:30
Veterans telling war stories to schoolchildren
The News, Portsmouth
2/10/2020
0:32
Prince Andrew ā€˜misses doing royal events and being able to dress upā€™, says biographer
The Independent
today
0:36
Watch: Mexico City celebrates International Day of Indigenous Peoples with vibrant street march
The Independent
yesterday
0:31
Watch: Moment police arrest protesters as hundreds rally in support of Palestine Action
The Independent
yesterday
1:08
These Companies Paid the Consequences for Their Monopolies
FYI News
5/14/2019
0:57
People React to Breakdancing Addition to 2024 Olympics
FYI News
5/14/2019
1:11
Jesse Pinkman's Best Scenes in Breaking Bad
FYI News
2/26/2019
0:44
Sea otter shows off rock to fisherman
Brut America
6/27/2025
6:48
Danny Boyle on his new film "28 Years Later"
Brut America
6/26/2025
0:35
Paris police car plays Titanicā€ music in flooded street after storms.
Brut America
6/26/2025
1:00
Police caught thief by testing the DNA on his lost shoe.
Brut America
6/25/2025
2:20
Trump to put a statue garden near Mt. Rushmore
Brut America
6/25/2025
1:30
What is the pink triangle in San Francisco?
Brut America
6/24/2025
0:44
Lawyer accidentally calls judge honey
Brut America
6/24/2025
1:30
Elon Musk shares clean urine drug test on X
Brut America
6/19/2025
4:47
The story of the Spice Girls
Brut America
4/9/2025
3:35
El concreto daƱa al medio ambiente mucho mƔs de lo que te imaginas
Brut America
4/9/2025
5:25
What is the G7?
Brut America
4/9/2025
5:44
TikToker shares her life from the South Pole
Brut America
4/9/2025
3:47
La vida de Megan Rapinoe
Brut America
4/9/2025
3:38
Malala, Pakistan's fearless education activist
Brut America
4/9/2025
6:24
La vida de Robert de Niro
Brut America
4/9/2025