#JustFKNAskby Coach Leslie
September is suicide awareness month and on Tuesday Coach Micah and I attended a workshop presented by the Overwatch Project and Warriors and Quiet Waters on preventing veteran suicide. Did you know that Montana has the third highest rate of veteran suicides in the US? Over 70% of veteran suicides are with firearms. Firearms are uniquely lethal and most veterans who attempt suicide do it with firearms which means most veterans die. While these statistics are sobering, I was most surprised to learn that most suicides are often impulsive. Half of the people who survive suicide say they thought about it for 10 minutes or less. Ten minutes is a blink of an eye. Ten minutes and your friend is dead. Ten minutes and a bright star is extinguished. Ten minutes equals a lifetime of grief. It is within that 10 minute impulsive window where the #justfknask campaign inserts a tactical pause. If you can interrupt, disrupt, or obstruct a veteran's downward slide into darkness you can save a life. The #justfknask campaign is exactly what it sounds like. You know a veteran who is in a dark place? Just fucking ask them what they plan to do with their firearms. We veterans are used to direct questions and don't appreciate subtlety. You can ask your buddy about where they keep their guns. Ask them if they have a gun safe. Ask them if they have a cable lock. Ask them if they would consider giving their guns to you TEMPORARILY while they work through the darkness. Just fucking ask them, "Hey man, what's the plan?" The #justfknask campaign is just like, "Friend's don't let friends drive drunk." Only we aren't asking for keys the their car. We're asking for keys to their gun safe or lock box. What I appreciate most about #justfknask is that it gives all of us something we can DO. It's not an awareness campaign. It's not doing 22 push-ups and posting it on social media. It's directly engaging with a veteran in crisis. It's an action plan. Just. Fucking. Ask.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Special EventsRecord your WOD on Beyond the Whiteboard.
Do you need CrossFit or yoga gear? Click on the links below to buy through our GORUCK, Reebok, Rogue or Affiliate share sale programs. These are affiliate links and our gym will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links.
Check out our Flickr page!
Categories
All
Archives
July 2024
|