A Tuesday lunch at Melvin’s came with two visitors with a singular goal in mind — making headway into the growing crisis of suicide among military veterans and the treatment of mental health issues.
 
Sen. Thom Tillis and Robert Wilkie, the secretary of Veterans Affairs who grew up in nearby Fayetteville, shook hands, listened to veterans, former federal employees and members of the community, and grabbed a few hot dogs between appearances in Fayetteville and Wilmington.
 
For one Michael and Metisa Graham, it was a chance to tap into new connections.
 
“I am an advocate for getting help and better treatment for the veterans,” Michael Graham said. “It’s networking and making more contact for veterans that do need help.
 
“This way we have another contact, and another foot in the door.”
 
For him this was a deep personal situation, particularly with health concerns.
 
“They looked at me and said ‘Give me a call,’ and that they could help me with my stuff, too,” he said.
 
…
 
Tillis said, “The real challenge is finding those that are not reaching out. I use the staggering statistic that of the average 20 veterans that take their life every 24 hours, every day, two-thirds are not in any way connected to the veterans administration. So the secretary is saying that when they come in they identify people that may not have been coming in for mental health services. Our challenge is reaching out to that population that is not reaching out.
 
“We are trying to make sure that veterans get the care that they need.”
 
Tillis said it was a goal to start figuring out who may need help when they transition to veterans status.
 
“How can we start predicting based off of job assignments or their tragic experiences they may have?” he said, adding, “making people more mindful.”
 
That mindfulness is an encouragement to Gordon Jeans, who came as a veteran’s crisis intervention instructor.
 
“I was in for almost 11 years,” he said. “I was a tanker. I teach law enforcement on how to deal with veterans so that no one gets hurt. You have a lot of people running around on both sides of this issue. A lot of people get killed and there’s no need for that.
 
“As far as being with these guys, it’s always nice to see somebody show up and care, and they give you the time of day. That’s not always an easy thing to find.”

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