Jasper veteran wants to stop veteran suicide with new means

JASPER, Ind. (WFIE) – An average of 17 veterans kill themselves every day, according to data from the Bureau of Veteran’s Affairs.

Veterans are more than 50 percent more likely to die by suicide than their civilian counterparts.

In Dubois County, one man is trying something new to stop this crisis.

Boone Taylor is the veteran behind Jasper’s Operation Mind, Body and Soul Corporation, a group dedicated to revolutionizing mental health care for veterans.

“Sometimes you just need that support, you need that person to have your back,” Taylor said. “As we say in the military, we’ve got your six.”

Taylor says the organization started as a way to connect veterans with other veterans and the mental health care they need to get better.

While American Legions and VFWs provide community everywhere, Taylor says they are not always the best place for those who are struggling.

“If they’re on medication for certain things, we don’t want them to also be on alcohol because that could put them in a suicidal state,” he said.

Instead, Taylor says Operation Mind, Body and Soul Corp. helps veterans focus on clean living and emphasizes their mental health.

Vietnam War veteran John Bieker says hanging out at the organization’s Jasper River Center location has helped him build a community of friends who understand what he went through.

“You can’t talk to a citizen or they won’t understand some of it, your family won’t understand it,” Bieker said.

After returning from combat, he says he struggled for years to find a place where he could fit in again.

“We’ve been going through hell for a long time,” Bieker said. “We actually just fell through the cracks.”

Other veterans like Jack Pars say the organization has provided them with a space to train and have fun with peers.

Their new space is equipped with a kickboxing and training room.

“We just give them a place to get away from everyone that they need to get away, play cards, throw some darts, play sports,” Taylor said.

It’s a model that Taylor says he wants to copy elsewhere. While the details he can share now are limited, he says the Indiana Governor’s Challenge Board has a program in the works that would spread the idea statewide.

“We need to go in a different direction and do something different than what has been done in the past,” Taylor said.

Taylor says there have been four veterans in the past month who have struggled with mental health issues.

He says all of those individuals are alive and receiving help because of their organization.