About 17 veterans a day commit suicide in the United States. For Janine Lutz, who lost her 24-year-old veteran son to suicide, the answer lies in veterans connecting with other veterans in their local community.
Janine Lutz recalls the first time that her son called her from the war zone. He was solemn as he told her what he had seen that day — a car bomb explosion.
When Lutz returned to the States a year later, he was tormented by nightmares and the pain from injuries he suffered in a battlefield explosion. At Camp Lejeune, N.C., he was prescribed an assortment of drugs. By the time he returned home to Davie, Florida, he had tried to kill himself — and he was addicted to anti-anxiety medication.He tried to wean himself off the drugs, and for a brief time, it appeared he was on the road to recovery.
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has been working to address the suicide crisis among veterans and members of the military since the late 2000s, when rates began to rise. “It is just criminal the way the VA gives our veterans a pill for every symptom. For them the answer to their problems is a pill — instead of getting to the root of the problem. Let’s process what they went through, the hell they went through on the battlefield, help them process it through other war fighters, not with some psychiatrist who has never seen battle.”
Now Lyle works with federal and state lawmakers lobbying on behalf of veteran issues, including suicide prevention. He traveled across Florida last month speaking to veterans. “We are getting away from medicines and now we have other therapies,’’ said Steve Murray, spokesman for the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs. “We have hyperbaric oxygen treatment, canine warriors, equine therapy, light-sensitivity therapy. We are now using non-traditional ways of addressing the issue and there’s been some success in that.”But he and others acknowledge many veterans fail to avail themselves of programs.