Elizabethtown was the site for sharing an important message Tuesday. Later this month, more of the country will hear it in Nashville, Tennessee, at a suicide prevention conference.

The department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense are working together against the increasing number of suicides by active-duty military members. There was a record number in 2018. Among veterans, the rate nationwide tops 20 a day.

Robert Wilkie, who grew up in Fayetteville, leads the VA. The secretary and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis were in Melvins’ to chat with veterans, letting them know how important each of them are, and to tell them they’re working hard to get help where it is needed.

Wilkie said it is especially important in North Carolina. While the state has drawn recent praises for its economy and growth, its enticements from the mountains to the coast are also fueling the retirement population. Major military bases at Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station, Cherry Point and Seymour Johnson enable thousands of service men and women to preview the state for that next chapter of life.

A lot of them like it.

Wilkie said the Old North State may well be fourth in veterans population in less than six years, with a chance to go even higher by 2030. For perspective on how soon that is, remember the change of presidency from George Bush to Barack Obama.

Wilkie is accomplished on many fronts, and that’s an integral part of his ability to understand and create a plan. He’s a Navy veteran and served as an intelligence officer in the Air Force Reserve. His government career is long, and includes working in the Bush administration. He’s also worked with Sens. Jesse Helms, Trent Lott and Tillis.

Wilkie was picked to lead the troubled VA — it had three leaders in 18 months before he was confirmed in July 2018 — because of his outstanding problem-solving abilities. Senators hailed him as “the real deal” last summer.

More clinics and facilities are central to providing the help necessary, he said. Also needed is for soldiers and their buddies to see the signs of problems.

“We start educating soldiers now when they hit boot camp, and telling them that it is alright to say something to us, if you see something within yourself or in your comrades,” he said.

Earlier Tuesday, he told a group in Fayetteville that in his father’s day — he’s the son of a Fort Bragg Army officer — those who would speak about such issues would earn a ticket out of the service.

The U.S. has been embroiled in conflict since 9/11, and those 18 long years are still counting. They’re producing a number of veterans who have experiences that cause pain, physical and especially mental.

Help is on the way.

We know it can’t get here soon enough.

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