More Iraq and Afghanistan veterans die of suicide than have been lost in the two wars, with rates in 2011 still climbing.  Veteran Ron Zaleski formed a non-profit in 2006 called The Long Walk Home to raise community awareness about the alarming trend of veterans committing suicide after they are supposedly “home safe.”  Veteran Journal talks to Zaleski about his work:

What is The Long Walk Home?

Eighteen veterans a day commit suicide.  I carry a sign that says that. Veterans are Incarcerated, abuse drug and alcohol , are homeless at a higher rate than non-veterans.  For every suicide, it  affects 25-30 other people.  Seven to eight percent of the population are active or retired veterans.  If we don’t help them, society has a huge problem.  I figure, they can get two million signatures to save the whale; I can’t get a million to save a human being?  It blows me away.”

What is your background?

I got out of the Marines in ’72.  I stopped wearing shoes in ‘72.  It was more in an act of defiance, “You are not going to tell me what I am going to do!”  I had friends who had committed suicide and who died in Vietnam; I was supposed to go overseas with five others.  They all got shot and two were killed. In  2005, a child asked me why I didn’t have any shoes on.  I wasn’t a warm and  fuzzy guy.  It was like God talking to me.  I realized I hadn’t helped any of my friends, I was just angry.”

So what did you do?

I walked the Appalachian Trail and got people to write letters to their Congressional representative about veteran suicide. I started speaking to  very small audiences of maybe ten people per day in the woods.  But I realized if I started speaking to newspapers, I might reach ten thousand people.   When I speak to VFW, the American Legion, a hospital or school, almost 100 percent sign the petition because they get it.

After the Appalachian Trail, I went home to take care of my dying father.  My father was a WWII vet.  I was beaten every day and branded when I was eight years old.  I knew he loved me, but he didn’t have the tools.  When you are a kid you have doubt when someone does that to you.  Then I learned that he cleaned Auschwitz, scraping relatives off the floor.  He prepared me for the world he saw; that is the way he knew how.”

What do you hope to accomplish?

We think suicide can be prevented if we implement three things:  They offer counseling during boot camp and when they leave the military; we want to make it mandatory, so that everybody gets it. It is a myth that anyone comes back from the war unwounded. Then, expand support groups that would be available after discharge, like in a 12-Step program, to ease separated personnel into productive lives.

 Even if you didn’t go overseas;  you learn all your life not to kill people, then you are trained for 12 weeks to kill.  You are a different person.  It just makes common sense.  You are training them for their next greatest job, be an American citizen and a healthy citizen; that is what makes a strong America.  What kind of country do we want?”

Did you complete your walk?

I walked 3400 miles, from the East Coast to the Santa Monica pier on March 19, 201.  When I got there I knelt down and thanked god and jumped in the to ocean with my batman underwear on. ”

Where do you stand, now?

I’ve been flying around the country speaking about this issue since then.  Tomorrow I am flying to Atlanta, Georgia for funeral for mother who lost her only son to suicide.  She had six miscarriages and thought of this boy as a miracle baby.  He went to war at  17 and after his 2^nd tour of duty he came home and killed himself.  She told me the first few months after his death, she was a basket case, but she asked what God wanted her to do.  So we are setting up places for her to speak about her son.  She told me she doesn’t want other mothers to lose their children the way she lost hers.”

How can others help?

Sign the petition.  People don’t realize how valuable their signature is.  If we had 100,000 signatures, Congress and the President would be standing at the door holding it open for me.  People feel that they are insignificant, that they don’t matter.  But you do matter, you make a difference to everyone around you. 

I am also speaking with Congressman Philip Roe, TN, who is setting me up to speak in front of Congress.  When I was writing the nine-page letter to the Committee for Veterans Affairs, I realized that I had been doing the walk to heal myself, to forgive myself.  It won’t hurt if others call to tell Congress that this is important.”