Distinguished Members of the Committee on Veteran Affairs, my name is Melvin Cintron. I am a veteran of both Desert Storm and the current war in Iraq.  In Desert Storm I worked as a flight medic conducting forward area medical evacuation support of both US and enemy injured and wounded personnel, both civilian and military with a large portion of those being children and a portion of those that died in transport in our aircrafts.  Additionally, although I had been inactive for approximately 6 years, I also received notification of my reactivation into active duty beginning 2004 for a period of 18 months for the war in Iraq.  While I could have chosen at that time to seek the avenue of many of those who were in my condition and were activated I chose not to seek deferment or to make any attempt to shy away from my responsibility in responding to my country’s call. I did this, as our oath requires, without purpose of evasion or mental reservation because I knew that if I did not go then some other father, mother, son or daughter would have to have the same painful conversation with their family that I had with my family when I received my letter, because someone else would have to go in my place because I didn’t and that was not an acceptable option for me so I chose to answer this nation’s call and serve it proudly and honorably.  In the first Gulf War I was submitted for a combat air medal for part of my efforts and the conduct of my duties in support of our units mission.  In my second activation I was submitted and received the army’s Bronze Star medal for my contributions and performance as the unit’s aviation maintenance officer in the 1159th medical evacuation company. My and my team’s combined efforts led to our unit having the following approximate statistics in our Medical Evacuation mission;  over 2400 US Military, over 700 US civilian and Coalition and more then 150 EPW (Enemy Prisoners of war).  Within these there where over 2100 Litter patients and over 1700 ambulatory

While I feel that I served honorably and at great cost to myself financially, physically and  mentally and to my quality of life, and at a much higher cost to my family and my children and yet I have no regrets of having answered a call and would proudly do so again.  And yet my sacrifice to me seems so small and I consider myself often ashamed to enter the VA to seek help when I have seen so many of my colleagues who have faced so much of a higher price than I and some who I’ve seen pay the ultimate price.  I have never been nor will I ever be ashamed of the service that I have performed for  my country nor will I ever cease to be proud of what I have seen my fellow soldiers do in answering their call to duty.  This goes to a sharp and contrary contrast to the service provided by the VA to those men and women whom like me have served proudly and selflessly.  When I walk into the VA medical center I see in the walls posters that say “it takes the courage of a warrior to ask for help”, but I am here to tell you that it really should read not that “it takes the courage of a warrior to ask for help”, but “it takes the courage of a warrior to ask for help from the VA”. I can give countless examples of many of the failures encountered by our veterans daily in seeking help from the VA, but that is a different chapter. This committee as I understand it is seeking input on the suicide prevention hotline and efforts of the VA.  Make no mistake, I consider myself extremely blessed with all the blessings that God has and continues to bestow on me regardless of my deserving or not.  But there are many who are not as blessed and their need for good timely help from the VA should never be compromised as I believe it is now.  But I digress so I will state that I believe that the VA suicide prevention hotline and suicide prevention efforts in my singular opinion are not working.  I often call the VA for medical appointments and there is a message that comes on and it says that if I or a loved one is at risk for committing suicide to call the suicide hotline.  I m here to tell you that while I have never considered suicide nor see that as an option in my life I have often desired someone to talk to or share with when I’ve had a bad day who would understand, however never would I consider calling a suicide hotline if it is not something that I see as an option in my life.  I believe that there are many veterans whose faith might be different and for whom suicide is not as foreign a thing as I consider it to be in my life. However these veterans too seek no more than someone to talk to or help them get through a certain hour in their life.  However the VA in my experience does not provide for that, what it provides for is suicide so a veteran would have to have reached the point of actually considering suicide to actually call the suicide hotline and I would submit that by then for some it could have prevented or that might have been prevented it would already have been too late.  I am not an expert in these matters but I would think that providing for the mental well being of our returning soldiers in a manner that allows them to seek and get help without tying to them the stigma of “you are considering suicide so you need to call this number”.  In my 19 plus years since coming back from desert storm as well as in the last 5 years in coming back from Iraq this time I have met many veterans who have seen fit to talk to me about their experiences and who have broken down in the middle of telling these experiences to me.  These have been things they’ve held in for a long time.  I’ve asked them why they don’t go to the VA for help already knowing the answer.  I’ve also advised them of calling the VA and they too have shared with me that they are not suicidal nor would they want to risk such a label for fear within their job, their family or their social circles. 

Much to my discomfort I interact with the VA on a regular basis and in all of the time that I interact with the VA I have been keenly aware of the suicide prevention and the posters suggesting that you call for help.  What I have not readily and easily encountered is a system that puts strong emphasis, however if in all these years of dealing with the VA I am ignorant of the easily accessible and readily available intermediate or non-suicidal hotline efforts going on then I apologize, however the fact that I don’t know it means that that system needs help in its promotion, marketing and easy accessibility for our veterans to seek and receive help long before the point of resorting to a suicide hotline by which time I would consider we’ve missed the help opportunity.

As stated earlier, I am one who is blessed beyond anything I could ever earn.  I have 2 arms to hug my children with, I have full sight to see my family and my blessings and 2 legs which easily led me here today to testify not for my need but in hopes that others who are not as blessed and who have need of better support from their government would hopefully receive it and if I can be a part of making their support easier then I am proud to have come and testified before this committee.  And I hope that instead of just suicide prevention that we also attack the problem at a point long before our system would lead another veteran to just a dire end. I am not aware of ongoing efforts but if not considered I would strongly recommend that those more learned than I would seek to establish a system of  continuity support or life intervention type program that would address a basic need to our soldiers to talk without acquiring the stigma of, or being considered, a suicidal risk or at least without having the perception whether real or not that you need to talk a suicide hotline because you are now suicidal just because you wanted someone to talk to on any given day and in any given hour.  

In addition to such a continuity support / life intervention program I also feel that a peer mentor program would be an effective approach to helping veterans before they reach the point of considering suicide.  On a personal note, I just as many of my peers, was hesitant to make any formal approach to the VA or another medical facility to talk about any problems because of the stigmas I noted previously.  However, if there are mentors or peers who had lived through the same experiences and with whom soldiers could express themselves as counterparts and receive guidance on how to deal with their emotions and move forward with their lives, this would have provided a much more approachable solution for their problems rather than a sterile doctor’s office or an open forum.  Only those who have lived through these experiences can truly listen and understand those who have.

However for such a program to be successful it must start not only at the VA but in our services.  As an example, when returning from Iraq, as we out processed in Fort Dix, New Jersey, in an auditorium, a sergeant asked “Is there anybody here who feels they need to talk to someone about anything they saw or did?”  Nobody raised their hand.  He then stated, if you want to do it confidentially please sign the roster that will be in the adjoining room.  On the day prior to our leaving the out processing center the sergeant again addressed the crowd of soldiers and with the pad in his hand he read out the names of those soldiers that had signed up confidentially for the offer made the previous day and asked do you still need to see somebody.  Needless to say, nobody responded with a yes.  I was one of those soldiers.

I further recommend that we have a program within each unit to help identify both formal and informal leaders within the groups that can be trained on a voluntary basis to be outreach mentors or peer confidants who could informally reach out as colleagues or fellow soldiers to talk to them as friends or as fellow soldiers who have been through similar situations and can equally share discussions outside of to structured a program although it could lean towards a more structured group help type program should it be needed down the road as they currently exist today (group therapy programs).

In a magazine I read many years ago there was a picture of a wall that was depicted as a wall where people where executed by firing squads it read “you have never lived till you’ve almost died, for those who fight for it, life has a flavor that the protected will never know” I would at that such a taste also has a price that no soldier should be left to pay alone.

I thank you for this opportunity and pray that my contribution may in some way help my fellow men and women of our armed forces and others who support our countries efforts in combat zones or in harms way.