MoH recipients urge stressed troops to get help - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

MoH recipients urge stressed troops to get help

A group of 28 Medal of Honor recipients have banded together in a public service campaign to urge today’s service members to get help for post-traumatic stress, in an effort to help stem the rising tide of suicides among service members.

It’s the first time a group of the 91 living Medal of Honor recipients have participated in such a campaign, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. The “Medal of Honor — Speak Out” campaign, which launched Saturday on Armed Forces Day, encourages the public and military leadership to download and share the resources with service members and their families. Their message is simple, reiterated by many of the Medal of Honor recipients in their messages: “Stay strong, and don’t let the enemy defeat you at home.”

The 28 participating Medal of Honor recipients are each featured in a short video clip personally urging service members to seek help through resources and services that were not available when they returned from war. For example, Jon Cavaiani tells troops he wishes the resources were available to him when he returned from the Vietnam War, because “it would have alleviated the problems I had later. The tools and resources to help are there. Make use of them. I did, much later, and it continues to help me stay strong.”

Cavaiani, a Special Forces staff sergeant, was held by the North Vietnamese as a prisoner of war for two years. He was wounded in the back and severely burned after his small contingent of American soldiers was attacked by an overwhelming enemy force in the spring of 1971.

Robert Foley, a retired lieutenant general who is now the director of Army Emergency Relief, received the Medal of Honor 42 years ago.

In his video clip, he says that as a rifle company commander in Vietnam, he found that “soldiers care deeply for their fellow soldiers and would do anything to prevent them from being killed or wounded.

“The same is true in peace time. If you return from combat and have concerns about your mental health, ask for help.”

DISCUSS: The 'Speak Out' campaign