jobs report. coming up, they are to talk to medal of honor recipient staff sergeant leroy petrie about -- petri about mental health. and then later, national geographic environmental writer sarah gibbons will examine the nexus between host: as we get rr next guest we want to show you a portion of sergeant petry's medal of honor ceremony as we get ready to talk to him about the issues of veteran's mental health. here's the ceremony. [video clip] >> the president of the united states of america authorized by an act of congress march 3, 1863

has awarded in the name of congress medal of honor to staff sergeant leroy a. petry. he distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. this was in may 26, 2000 and eight. the weapon squad leader with deck -- delta squad company 75th ranger argument, -- he cleared the p -- he cleared the courtyard of combatants. he and another ranger were engaged and wounded by automatic weapons fire from enemy fighters. still under enemy fire and wounded in both legs, the staff sergeant led the ranger to cover. he then reported the situation and engage the enemy with a hand grenade, providing suppression as another ranger moved. the enemy responded by

maneuvering closer and throwing grenades. the first grenade explosion knocked his two fellow rangers to the ground and wounded both. a second grenade landed a few feet away from them. instantly realizing the danger, he unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his safely deliberately and selflessly move forward, picked up the grenade and in the effort to clear the threat through the grenade away from his fellow rangers. as he was releasing the grenade it detonated, amputating his right hand at the wrist and further injuring him with multiple shrapnel wounds. although picking up and throwing the live grenade previously wounded him, his gallant act undeniably saved his fellow rangers from being severely wounded or killed. despite the severity of his wounds, staff sergeant petrie -- petry placed a tourniquet on his

right wrist before communicating the situation in order to coordinate support for himself and his fellow wounded rangers. his extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the 75th ranger regiment and the united states army. [end video clip] host: we are back with retired army master sergeant leroy petry who is with us today to discuss veterans mental health and the efforts to get americans to reach out to veterans in need. good morning. guest: good morning and thank you for having me. host: we were watching your medal of honor ceremony back in 2011. you are a veteran of afghanistan. tell us a little bit about your experience in afghanistan and what you think about how that war ended. guest: my first trip over to

afghanistan was in 2002. i made five other trips over there throughout the years, and then i started going with taking wounded veterans back from afghanistan, so my last time over there was in 2018 and 19, somewhere in there, and i got to see the country transform the stuff we were doing was not a lot of times on the news, the fact that we had a civilian population, ones that would come up and say thank you for being here and all that you have dedicated. we have -- we do not ever want you to leave. we built infrastructure, women went to school, all the changes throughout the number of years, that is what kept me going back. and to see how it ended was a little disappointing. i feel like we just up and

abandoned a lot of our allies, the ones that were supporting us and working with us on the ground. it was not the best strategy exit, the way we did. and it was very unfortunate that we lost some more american soldiers over there. during our exit. host: we are here to talk this morning about warrior call, which you are the co-chair of national warrior call day. tell us exactly what warrior call is? guest: it is a pledge that we came up with. we went to the past two dod suicide prevention conventions and really what we found out was that we have every resource to help just about anybody with

anything out there, veterans and active-duty, the ones that we are losing are the ones that are isolating themselves and feeling so alone that they get to the point where they think the only answer is to take their own life, and we said how do we find those people, the ones that are not calling into a facility or not walking in, how do we find those ones that are isolated before they make that ultimate decision that they cannot come back from. and we came up from this idea to just make a pledge to call one person a week to check on their welfare, to have honest dialogue and conversation to make that call that could save their life, and find out where they are at before they get to that point, and also to have honesty with yourself and others to take that call.

and, if somebody is calling you who needs help, and to do that once a week is too simple. if you are someone who is served or has served and reach out to those folks that we have not heard from for my a while and say how are you doing? because i will tell you, i had physical courage my entire life, but what i lacked was emotional courage. i was afraid to call out and i realize that i had a great support network and i was struggling with some things, and i am glad i reached out before it got too late, and i was seeing three psychologists at one point because if one was not available i went to the next one and i did not stop until i got what i needed. so my wife and i went through

marriage counseling. we all face adversity at some point in our lives, something that will be tough and i will tell you what, people out there are just waiting for us to reach out to them. from the day you are born to the day you die, you are not alone. there is family, friends, peers, leaders, even strangers that will help you if you just reach out. host: now, can -- is this only for people who already know those who have retired from the military? or can anyone participate in a warrior call? how do you do that? guest: anyone can. it does not have to be over the phone, it can be someone who lives down the street, a neighbor, friend, or relative. all you have to do is recognize that they served in the military and say, how are you doing?

and, have an honest conversation. it works better if you are friends or if you know the person. the great part is that anybody can do this, you do not have to have served to be open to someone and say i want -- to say is there anything i can help you with? i think we cannot help everyone, but everyone can help someone. this is something small that we can all do, and you might not have the answers, we might come and say i am struggling with this or that, and understand, i do not have all the answers. someone came to me with a difficult situation and i did not have the answers to it, i would say honestly, i do not know what we can do, but i will not helps -- i will not stop helping you search until we find the answer. host: one of these things we see a lot of people say to veterans in public is thank you for your

service, should we include thank you for your service? we see a lot of people saying thank you for your service should we add how are you doing onto the end of that? guest: it never hurts to ask. you never know the answer until you ask a question. also, that being said, be that person worth saving. be that person worth service members risking their lives for and return that thanks by just checking on their welfare. host: let me remind their view -- our viewers that they can take part in this conversation about veterans mental health. we will open up special lines, meaning that for those of you who are veterans of the conflict in afghanistan we want to hear from you. your line will be 202-748-8000. if you are a veteran of other wars or the family member of a

veteran we want to hear from you and how your veteran is doing. your number will be 202-748-8001 . if you do not fit in either one of those categories but you want to join the conversation, your number will be 202-748-8002 for everyone else. now, leroy, tell us what should and should not be said when we are making a warrior call? are there things that we should say and things that we should not say? guest: i would stay away from promising anyone anything because once you say ok, i am going to do this, it is a promise and it hurts more to have that promise broken, so stay away from promising things,

say i will try my best and that is all anyone can expect from you, but no guarantees and, get though them a little bit, if you can, even if it takes a few more minutes, ask a few questions like where you from? what are you doing now that you are out of the service? what has been the hardest thing for you during your service the first thing i would start off with is saying it is ok if you do not want to share, if you do not want to answer any of these questions, but here's what i am curious about. no questions off the bat, it is up to them to answer or not. they might take offense and that is when you know you are headed in the wrong direction. but, usually the way they react, tone of voice, if you see them

get more physical reactions, you are probably asking the wrong question. and, just look out to someone. if you cannot help them, look to link them up with someone who can. host: these calls can be important, because as we have seen and i will show you data that shows the suicide weight -- rate for veterans has been consistently higher than from civilians and this comes from the rand corporation when they point out for the past 12 years, suicide rates have been consistently higher among veterans and nonveterans. furthermore, the suicide rate has risen faster among veterans than it has for nonveteran adults. you can see the chart where that number is clearly going up faster for veterans than nonveterans, and i want to point out that there is a veteran's

crisis line that you can call -- i will give you the number which is 1-800-273-8355. so, let some of our viewers take part in this conversation, let us start with joe, west plains, missouri. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a vietnam veteran. i want to thank this man for his organization, but i'm going to tell you -- once you are back from these crop holes, i don't know why you would be committing suicide. you are back to the world. you are safe now. i don't understand why you would be committing suicide now, or thoughts of it. you are safe now, ok? second of all, i am pissed the way we left afghanistan, with all of weapons. how dare we -- how dare he leave

all of those weapons. we lost that war. we haven't won a war since world war ii, and i am pissed about it. should have pulled us out in the first eight years. all of the weapons that are left for our enemies, thank you for your organization, and i am pissed. host: go ahead and respond, leroy. guest: first of all, thank you for your service. a lot of people don't talk about it. when they talk about 22 a day, it is actually higher depending on who you ask, but those suicides, for the longest time the highest percentage has always been the vietnam veterans. just like this war, their war -- we are trying to stay ahead of

it so that our generation does not become the higher percentage. i will tell you, a lot of times people have a hard time dealing with the way things are going, the way they left that country, because they saw the good over there, and now they saw what it is going to become, and it is going to fall apart. i'm got to remind myself as well that i did my best well i was over there. that was not my decision, how we left. that was not my decision that we left at all. but i've got to be content. i did what i could while i was over there, and that is all anyone can expect. i can't cry over spilled milk, i cannot look at the past. i look to effect the things i can change, and that is reaching out to people around me that i can save their lives. host: leroy, is there any help from the v.a. on this standpoint, or are there any

discharge procedures that people go through before they leave the armed services that help look out for some of these issues? guest: i get out seven years ago, so things have changed. i just recently came back from a week at twentynine palms. we took some veterans out there and we talked about suicide prevention and building resiliency. i will tell you, the command out there really cared about their troops. for three days in a row they just kept filling the theater with troops in the morning and in the evening. it was mandatory. a lot of these young kids were trying to expand to them, hey, this might not help you right now, but down the road we want to be able to save your life or you save the life of somebody else listening to their problems

and taking care of one another. i will tell you, to see the command team that knew how important it was, it reminded me that marines do the best to take care of their troops, and it really shows the amount of time they gave us to talk about such a serious issue going on right now in our military. and our veterans. host: one of our social media followers has a question for you. they want to know, as far as mental health of afghanistan veterans, is it the case that combat ptsd accounts for the mental health issues, or did these people have problems before volunteering for service? guest: i think no matter if you had a before or had it afterwards, the ptsd is adding to the fact it is a depressing

situation. if you give blood and sweat and tears to build something, and it is all of a sudden knocked down right before your face, it is destroying what was beautifully created. host: let's talk to floyd, who is calling from tall branch, tennessee. floyd, good morning. caller: yes, i've got four sisters, and an abortion is something that, i just think it is wrong because if a woman don't want to have a baby today, there is a whole slew of ways to prevent it. host: let me stop you there. we are talking about veterans' mental health right now. do you have a question about veterans' mental health?

i guess not. let's go to michael, who is calling from maryland. michael, good morning. caller: good morning. i am a disabled veteran dealing with ptsd. i would like to make a comment on the veterans administration. they seem to hurt veterans more than help, to me. i have been dealing with a claim for compensation going on seven years now. and all they do is deny, deny, deny, go to appeals, and i've got some things approved, but it just seems they push it along and along, and, to me, it would help a veteran to speed things up or just, you know, try to, you know, get it faster than they do.

host: go ahead and respond, leroy. guest: i talked to a lot of those providers constantly. and it is difficult. i have had my issues with the v.a. as well. nobody is perfect, and you are going to run into some of those employees that are not the best employees, but you will run into some great ones. it is a big organization, just like our military or law enforcement. it is like an apple orchard. you might find a couple of rotten apples, but don't burn the whole orchard because you found a couple of rotten apples. the other thing is, i don't know if you are going up alone or had support, but what i talked about earlier, nothing is easy on your own. it gets easier if you have support, and it is a strange place to navigate, the v.a., if you are new to it and you don't understand fully what it has or

who does what and what you are supposed to be doing, exactly like we do when we join the military. we reach out to the people who are senior to us, the veterans who have been there before. i will tell you, not going at it alone, reaching out to veterans service organizations such as the american legion, the vfw, and those type that have people that have already been down that road. maybe they worked at the v.a. they have so much great intel, and people that are willing to help you with those claims or situations, that all you have to do is go in there and ask. that is the hardest part for some folks, is asking for help. if you can get past that, there is people out there who want to help you. host: and i want to remind you that there is a veterans crisis line that you can call.

once again, that number is 1-800-273-8255. let's talk to elaine, who is calling from north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. hope you both are doing well. host: thank you. caller: first of all, leroy, thank you for your service. i am a military spouse of a veteran that serves -- served 22 years combat. and also a military brat originally. my father was 30 years. he was vietnam and never got any help. leroy, i appreciate what you

just mentioned to the gentleman from maryland. for years when my husband retired in 2006 we never really asked for any help. as soon as we did the v.a. is really out there to assist. i got in the caregiver program. he got into all of the groups that you mentioned, and he is a part of all those groups. american legion, vfw. he is able to give back now, which is fulfilling to him. he helped another veteran recently, and i really appreciate the programs now, being a military child and not seeing those programs for my father when he came home from vietnam. guest: thank you. a lot of times we tell folks that it is our families that serve more than we do and sacrifice more than we do. a lot of times we are having

time with our friends training, and even if we have to go to war we feel like we are with our family. and even if we don't go out on missions, our families back home don't realize that. they constantly worry that we're are going to come home safe, if we are going to come home alive, or if we are going to come home at all. the baggage with ptsd, with the amputations, the burns, if we are going to be physically able to continue our life. so, the sacrifice of our families is greater than what we have. we know what we signed up for. sometimes we bring our family along for the ride, and they didn't get a vote a lot of times. so thank you for what you do. host: leroy, can you tell us exactly when national warrior called a is and when exactly --

what exactly will be going on on national warrior called a? guest: we are looking at november -- i had it here somewhere, i'm sorry. i got up late this money. it is mid, and i think it is the 23rd. it is a call to awareness. we are looking to push a bipartisan bill that would make national warrior called day, and we are doing all we can to -- like i said, we are visiting different basis, we are talking with different folks about it, you're doing everything we can, but having the support of our government and then recognizing it would push that out there even more and have people say, hey, veterans, there is all of these other different organizations out there that want their national day of

heritage or national day of whatever, national month of whatever. veterans usually only have one day, and that is veterans day. we can give back more than one day, and even though it is a one-day thing, it is one day of remembrance. will you make one for the next 52 weeks out of the year? that sounds simple. once a week, just make that call, take that call, and be honest. host: this year national warrior called day will come up on november 21. we want to make sure everyone goes to warriorcall.org. let's see if we can talk to glenn, who is talking from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. give a shout out to the v.a. and

shout out to the veterans and a shout out to the ones serving right now in the army. i want to give a shout out to them right now, and i'm also going to touch on afghanistan. we need to get out. biden did the right thing. the prime minister for afghanistan got up and left the country. we need to get out. we need to get out. look at all of this afghanistan. they are on the sideline. the prime minister get up and leave. his own country. we should stay there and fight and sacrifice money and blood? no way. host: go ahead and respond there, leroy. guest: if we get out, who is there to fight for the ones who can't fight for themselves? that was my take on it. there is a lot of people there that have less than a second

grade level education when i first arrived, and that was because the taliban had control and they kept them -- like korea, they shut them down from educating themselves. it is easy for them to be controlled like cattle and sheep . we came in and gave them that opportunity to think for themselves, to say, hey, i want a better life, there is a better life out there for me i never knew about. i understand a lot of people were upset over the number of years, but if you have already invested 20 years, why not stay a lifetime? the other thing i look at is, the kids, the ones that were starting to move up and change things when we first got there 20 years ago. were the 10-year-olds, and now they are the 30-year-olds that were wanting to see that change and support it, and unfortunately when we left them

they were not as confident in themselves to continue moving forward. we started too late creating their army and helping them transition, and left too soon. they were crawling, but they were not walking on their own, so we left him and said hey, good luck. so everyone that could was trying to flee the country that said, you know, america is leaving us, there is too much danger, i'm not staying. host: we would like to thank leroy petrie, who is the cochair of national warrior call day for talking with us about veterans' mental health. we will remind everyone there is a veterans crisis line, 1-800-273-8255. lee and his group can be found at warriorcall.com. thank you for being with us.

guest: thank you for the opportunity. i'm very grateful to my -- april. to my fellow veterans, may cap, great memories so hopefully those are the ones that recur and you have those memories. host: coming up after the break, we will take a closer look at natural disasters, the rising costs, and who pays. that conversation with national geographic environmental writer sarah gibbens will be up next. stick with us. we will be right back. ♪

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