Supporting New England's Service Members on "National Warrior Call Day"

With so many veterans facing mental health challenges and isolation stemming from their time in service, they often find they can't access the meaningful connections they need to stay in a healthy place. Sunday, November 17th is National Warrior Call Day, a time when we take a few minutes to reach out to the veterans and service members in our lives and ask them how they are really doing. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is a co-sponsor of the Senate Resolution marking the day, and she joins Nichole on this week's show to talk about it.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Is so good to be back with you
again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. While Veterans Day has
come and gone, support for our service members and veterans
is not just something we focus on for a day
or two each year. That being said, many of our

(00:29):
vets face mental health challenges stemming from their time in
the service, and often they can't access the meaningful connections
and help they need. On Capitol Hill, a new bipartisan
resolution marks this Sunday, the seventeenth, as National Warrior Call Day.
New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen is here to talk
about this. Senator, thank you so much for your time
and you are a big part of this resolution happening.

(00:50):
Tell us a bit more about how this all came together.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, this is a resolution that Tom Cotton from Arkansas,
who's Republican, and I have introduced. We had forty co sponsors,
almost equally divided between Republicans and Democrats. Because the health
and well being of our veterans and our men and
women in the military is not a partisan issue. It's
something that I know everyone in this country supports. And

(01:17):
we've had too many suicides by veterans, by members of
our military. We've had too many people who have had
PTSD and have not been able to get the support
they need, who sometimes feel lonely and abandoned, and this
is an effort to help people know that we are

(01:39):
thinking about them. We want to make sure that the
resources are there through the VA for the help that
people need if they need help with their mental help,
and to remind them that there is a twenty four
to seven Veterans Crisis Line that connects veterans and service
members with critical information with professionals. If you dial nine

(02:03):
eight eight and press one, that gets you to that
call line in times of crisis.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's important, I think to take care of our
veterans because some of the trauma they see, even if
they don't necessarily deploy, some of the things they see
can be really intense. And you're on the Armed Services Committee,
so I know you're pretty familiar with this problem firsthand.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
That's right, and unfortunately a lot of sometimes it gets repressed.
You know, my father was in World War Two, and
I can remember he almost never talked about his experiences
in World War Two, just like so many veterans, But
he experienced, like so many of our veterans, the trauma

(02:42):
of conflict of war, of being separated from family, from
being in another country, being in a different culture. And
that's traumatic and we need to understand that and appreciate
that if you can be a tough warrior and still

(03:04):
have mental health concerns, and we need to make sure
that people understand that that we're supporting that. I think
the Department of Defense and our military are getting better
at understanding that we've got to support people when they
have mental health issues and that there should be no
stigma attached to that. And again, that's part of what

(03:25):
this resolution is all about. It's helping to make sure
that people know there are resources out there, that there
are people who care about them, and that there's no
stigma to saying this is tough and I maybe need
help sometimes.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
I think personally, it's a really good idea for people
who may not know a veteran to maybe go and
volunteer and make those connections and learn about people's stories.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Absolutely, and I can guarantee that when people do that,
they are going to feel better. Not only are they
going to make veterans feel better personally, we feel better
when we get involved, when we volunteer. One of the
highlights of my year is the Veterans Day ceremony at

(04:12):
the Veterans Cemetery in New Hampshire because there are so
many veterans who come to honor those who have served,
who we have lost, and they have amazing stories. So
it is a benefit to everyone who's involved for sure.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now when it comes to your constituents in New Hampshire,
what are you hearing about not just this, but all
the other work you're doing with veterans up in the
Granite State.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, again, New Hampshire has a very high percentage of veterans.
We revere our veterans and the military here. We're one
of those states that has continues to do a good
job I think at honoring our veterans. We have a
wonderful Veterans Home Hampshire for people who have served our aging.

(05:04):
We have support in lots of ways. We have. What
we don't have is a full service Veterans hospital and
we need that and we need to make sure that
veterans can get the healthcare they need when they need it,
and we continue to work on that.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Have a safe and healthy weekend, and please join us
again next week for another edition of the show. I'm
Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio