Veteran suicides continue to be a concern in Florida, but where citizens have taken The Fire Watch’s Watch Stander course, the rate has fallen significantly.
The Fire Watch, a nonprofit working to end veteran suicide by offering the free intervention training, released its 2024 Annual Report: Veteran Suicide in Florida in July. The report finds that, following a significant decline in 2019 and 2020, veteran suicides increased over the next two years.
In Florida, the veteran suicide rate is more than 2.5 times that of civilian suicides.
“Veterans continue to struggle with suicidal ideation,” said The Fire Watch Executive Director Nick Howland. “It’s our responsibility — the community’s responsibility — to stand vigilant for veterans, to recognize the signs of crisis and to connect veterans in crisis to the help they need.”
The Fire Watch was founded in 2019 in Northeast Florida, where more than 4,000 people have taken the Watch Stander course. The report shows that the rate here has decreased 27% from 2019 and 2020. Throughout the rest of Florida, the decrease was only 1%.
In St. Johns County, there were four veteran suicides in 2022 — the latest year that data is available — out of a veteran population of 21,667. This is down from the baseline year of 2019, when 13 veteran suicides were reported, and 2020, when there were eight. There are 372 Watch Standers in the county.
In Duval County, there were 41 veteran suicides in 2022 out of a veteran population of 82,346. This is down from 44 in 2019 but up from 24 in 2020 and 22 in 2021. There are 1,048 Watch Standers in Duval County.
The report found that the highest increases were in Lee, Santa Rosa, Flagler, Jackson and Gulf counties. Statewide, there were 655 veteran suicides in 2022, down from 660 in 2019. Veterans at the opposite ends of the age spectrum tended to die by suicide more often than those between 35 and 74, at least in Northeast Florida. The rate for males was nearly twice that for females.
Nationally, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ most recent report found that there were 6,392 veteran suicides in 2021.
“The Watch Stander program we built in Northeast Florida and have now extended to Central and Southeast Florida is working,” said The Fire Watch founding member Brigadier General (Ret.) Mike Fleming. “But even one veteran suicide is too many. Veterans are heroes who have written a blank check for up to and including their lives to protect our community. Now it is time for our community to protect them.”
To view the full report or to register to become a Watch Stander, go to thefirewatch.org.
