"Let me know if you need anything" puts the next move on the person already struggling. They have to name a need, decide it is worth asking for, and make the call. Most will not. Say the specific thing instead. I'm coming by Thursday. #Mission22 #WhatNotToSay

In 1871 a study of 300 Civil War soldiers found racing hearts and chest pain no injury explained. They called it soldier's heart. Shell shock. Battle fatigue. PTSD in 1980. Five names in 150 years. The wound never changed. We kept running out of words for it. #Mission22 #PTSD

Today is National Day of the Deployed. Thank you to every service member standing a post far from home right now, and to every family counting the days until they walk back through the door. Both of those are service. 🇺🇸 📷 DVIDS #Mission22 #NationalDayOfTheDeployed

It was 6:22 on a Sunday morning. 241 Americans were killed in Beirut. 220 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers. Forty-three years later it remains the deadliest day for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima. They Came In Peace. #Mission22 #Beirut

There is a record of what you were exposed to. ILER is a joint DoD and VA system tracking exposure across a military career, including blast overpressure. It is compiled automatically from service records. VA has used it since 2019. 📷 Staff Sgt. John Bae #Mission22 #ILER

Progress is not feeling better. It is recovering faster. The bad week that used to be a bad month. The argument that used to cost three days and now costs an afternoon. If your hard stretches are getting shorter, something is working. #Mission22 #PostTraumaticGrowth

The anger might not be PTSD. Veterans in high-risk blast occupations are 22% more likely to show anger or aggression in their medical records, independent of PTSD and TBI. The exposure is not from enemy fire. It is from firing their own weapons. #Mission22 #BlastOverpressure

Somebody will walk onto that plane tonight. Somebody else will watch them go. This is why we wear red. Who are you wearing it for? Until they all come home. 🔴 📷 Airman 1st Class Carl Good, DVIDS #Mission22 #RememberEveryoneDeployed

Military spouses experience anxiety and depression at three times the national rate. You can be proud of your Veteran and tired of carrying everything. Both are true. If you love a military spouse, this is what they will not say. 📷 Cavan Images #Mission22 #MilitarySpouse

Your body remembers dates your mind stopped counting. If there is a Veteran in your life who goes quiet the same week every year, there is usually a reason. Withdrawal is not a signal to back off. It is usually the moment to say something. #Mission22 #PTSDTruths

Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas spent her career researching Veteran suicide. Her work also found female Veterans developing breast cancer at rates 20 to 40% higher than civilians. Diagnosed at 38. Died at 42. The law in her name passed 418 to 0. #Mission22 #BreastCancerAwareness

Depression does not look like crying. For a lot of Veterans it looks like showing up, doing the work, and feeling nothing. Some days the ordinary things cost everything. That is not failure. It is effort nobody can see. #Mission22 #DepressionAwarenessMonth

This is the part everybody wants. The part nobody sees is the nine months before it. The missed birthdays. The one-sided conversations. The nights the phone did not ring. Somebody is still waiting on theirs. R.E.D. 🇺🇸 📷 Lance Cpl. Olivia McDonald #Mission22 #REDFriay

September has ended. The work has not. The number does not observe a calendar, and neither do we. Healing does not require a designated month. It starts whenever someone decides they are ready. Veterans Crisis Line: 988, Press 1. #Mission22 #VeteranMentalHealth

October 7, 2001. Twenty-five years ago today, Operation Enduring Freedom began. 7,057 American service members were killed in the post-9/11 wars. 30,177 died by suicide. More than four times as many after the war than during it. Crisis Line: 988, Press 1. #Mission22 #OEF

Vietnam Veterans called it Agent Orange. Post-9/11 Veterans call it burn pits. 86% had exposure. Average duration 244 days. The PACT Act now covers 30+ presumptive conditions. Many Veterans do not know they qualify. va.gov/PACT #Mission22 #BurnPits

Two people who keep showing up. Jim Murphy, Michigan — Ambassador of the Month. At nearly every event, driving hours each way to be there. Jamie Doyle, Pennsylvania — State Leader of the Month. New to the role and already all in. Thank you both. #Mission22 #VeteranSupport

Families have been watching from tarmacs like this one for generations. They are still watching them leave. Different families, different wars, same tarmac. That is why we wear red every Friday, until they all come home. 🔴🇺🇸 #Mission22 #RememberEveryoneDeployed

Suicide Prevention Month has ended. Suicide prevention has not. What keeps people alive is not a campaign. It is community. Being included. Being asked. Being thought of. None of it requires training. Crisis Line: 988, Press 1. #Mission22 #SuicidePrevention

Two days left. Nominations for the Mission 22 Tundra close October 1. Any Arizona Veteran is eligible. Free. Five minutes. On Veterans Day somebody gets handed the keys. It should be someone whose story got told. Mission22.org #Mission22 #TundraForVeterans