The suicide rate for Combat Veterans is rising exponentially to the alarming rate of 44 per day on US soil.The numbers have exploded since pulling out of Afgahisan in August of 2021 and continue to rise.
Concomitant with the burgeoning suicide rate is the dramatic increase in the Veteran homeless population over the past several decades.
Isolation and homelessness are especially challenging for our Veterans living in rural areas who experience higher rates of PTSD, depression, and substance abuse than do their urban counterparts, and for whom safe and affordable housing options are scare or nonexistent.
Lack of access to the most basic of needs - housing and community - can exacerbate pre-existing mental health issues and contribute to physical and psychological comorbidities, increased drug, and alcohol use, and in extreme, but becoming more frequent, cases, death.
US Army Sergeant David Allen Elliott was a Georgia native who served in Desert Storm, suffered from PTSD and alcoholism when he died five years ago. It is in his name that the "DAE Compound" was formed by a group of dedicated individuals committed to honoring his legacy by addressing the issue of Veteran isolation in rural Georgia.
The group is non-profit, secular, and bi-partisan. It aims to support Combat Veterans who, having served their country, suffer from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (Dial 988)
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37A Young Harris Street
Blairsville, GA 30512