Economic and Health Benefits for Wyoming Veterans

“The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.”

                                    - Dwight Eisenhower

Wyomingites know a thing or two about patriotism and liberty – we punch above our weight in defending our country, with 30% more veterans per capita than the average state. Veterans are major assets to their communities, valuing teamwork and integrity and continuing to serve once they hang up their uniforms.

Yet we have allowed economic and health issues to become a national crisis for our veterans. Close to one in five returning service personnel experience some form of PTSD, and alcohol dependency is as high as one in three. Half our men and women that volunteered to risk their life for our country experience serious trauma after they return, and a similar number express difficulty returning to civilian life. Tragically, every 65 minutes we lose a veteran to suicide—today, more of our men and women deployed overseas die by suicide than in combat.

It’s clear that too many of our service members return with hidden scars that we don’t give them the tools to fix or manage. We ask much of them in wartime, and we owe it to them and ourselves to help heal those wounds. There are many important ways to support veterans (namely, hire them). But one that has touched Wendy and me in particular is providing improved mental health services for veterans. That is why we are proud to support organizations in Wyoming working with veterans to heal and reintegrate.