Silent Watch honors vets
VFW Post 9289 held a Silent Watch on Sunday to honor the memory of the veterans that commit suicide everyday in America.
Canteen Manager Kristina Smith, who played a large part in setting up the event, held a simple service on Sunday in Memorial Park. Armed with a flag, some veterans on standby, as well as an empty casket provided with the help of Miller Funeral Home, she figured something had to be done to honor certain veterans memories.
“The Silent Watch is to bring awareness to veteran suicide, and the 22 veterans that commit suicide everyday,” Smith explained about the event. “The PTSD that they deal with, letting the veterans know that they aren’t alone, and that the families aren’t either.”
The empty casket was placed in the gazebo in the park at about 10 a.m., with two guards standing watch over it at all times. The guards were changed at 15-minute intervals, who made sure the flag on top of the casket. This went on up until 6 p.m., when other festivities started.
These weren’t the only things offered at the watch, though. Photos of veterans were put around walkways, and a counselor even visited the grounds as the ceremony went on. The reason for this amount of focus today was because of the situation in Afghanistan possibly triggering the PTSD of veterans today.
“When you look at the numbers for the veterans crisis line, they have gone up dramatically after all this happened in Afghanistan,” Smith stated. The watch is a needed things, especially after such a troubling crisis. “It’s triggering all these busy from Desert Storm to now, their PTSD [acting up].”
The watch was concluded with
“Taps” being played as the flag was folded, as well as a 21-gun salute being conducted. Veterans were warned in advance about the salute in order so their own PTSD was not triggered before they cleared the park.
The service itself is new to Auglaize County, with the idea of these Silent Watches being only a recent trend in Ohio. With September being Suicide Awareness Month, Smith and the rest of Post 9289 figured it would be a good idea to bring it here. Hopefully, this will be a tradition in every county to hold a watch at one point during the month.
“We’ll have information out there too,” Smith said, noting that they’ll be posting information as long as possible so anyone can get help if they need it. “The phone number, the text line for the centers crisis line for anyone that wants it. We’ve been posting things about every other day at the VFW Facebook about PTSD and veteran suicide, signs to watch for and all that.”
If anyone wants to understand more on veteran suicide or learn more about the post, feel free to visit them on their Facebook at Facebook.com/vfw9289/. For those that need help for themselves or their loved ones, veteran or not, feel free to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.