Groups offer veteran suicide-prevention education

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For every U.S. military death on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are committing suicide.

That's according to the Defense Department.

And for the first time, the number of soldiers taking their own lives outnumbers the number of soldier deaths on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq.

That is why groups like the Kansas City chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness -- the "nation's voice on mental illness" -- and the KC-based Veterans of Foreign Wars have partnered to educate veterans.

The VFW and NAMI-KC hosted an educational event Monday in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day.

“Suicide is definitely out of control,” said Nikk Thompson, a crisis intervention team coordinator for NAMI-KC. “It's alarming. You've got the entire military concerned about it, and there's not a lot of actual, verifiable data from the military concerning this. You see all kinds of statistics, but it’s alarming.”

Thompson said he thinks many veterans are hesitant to ask for help because they are worried it might jeopardize their military career.