COLUMBIA — Behind every pair of combat boots is a story, and for many veterans, the battle doesn’t end when they return home.
The Veterans Mental Health Council brought mental health struggles to light Monday in Columbia using personal stories and interactive displays to show the challenges veterans face long after leaving military service.
The displays showed the different mental health battles veterans experience, including PTSD, depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Forty-four pairs of combat boots were displayed to represent the number of veterans who die each day by suicide, according to a study by Duke University and Operation Deep Dive.
Carol Thompson, chair of the Veteran’s Mental Health Council, said this display is personal.
“One of those boots has the name of my brother who was a veteran who died by suicide,” Thompson said. “Thirteen of the names of the boots are (my) battle buddies who died by suicide. That’s just too important.”
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
The council’s goal is to break the stigma and encourage veterans to talk about their mental health struggles and receive help.
State Rep. Jim Schulte, R-New Bloomfield, is a 41-year veteran of the Missouri Army National Guard. He said the transition between service and civilian life is abrupt.
“The military does a very good job of taking civilians, and through a very strict and regimented program, turning them into warriors,” Schulte said. “But then when we’re done with them, we just discharge them and send them home without transitioning them back to being a civilian.”
State Rep. Gregg Bush, D-Columbia, said he learned more about how service doesn’t just affect the veteran, but their family as well.
“All the things that the soldiers do and bring back home with them that maybe they didn’t know they were carrying,” Bush said. “All of the traumas and different events that they are going to need to process.”