SALT LAKE CITY — With 17 veterans taking their own lives every single day, a Utah army veteran is encouraging others to get connected with resources during Suicide Awareness Month.
“You know, so you find reasons to fight and you fight,” said veteran and mental health advocate Bryan Jacobs.
For Jacobs, first there was a fight. Then there was finding a purpose.
“I got to the point where I didn’t feel like I mattered in the world,” he admitted Wednesday.
Jacobs served as a combat engineer in the U.S. Army, traveling roads before everyone else did, just to make sure they were safe and clear for troops. He was just 22 years old when a bomb went off on one of the routes.
“When it detonated, I remember getting blown out of the vehicle. I remember how blue the sky was that day,” he recalled.
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Jacobs shattered both of his legs in his accident, and years later, one leg was amputated. When he left the military, Jacobs found a battle of another kind in college.
"It's difficult to tell you which is harder, your mental health or your physical health," he shared.
Jacobs found himself using parties as an escape.
"That's all I did," he said. "I found myself drinking more and more and pretty much trying to drink myself to death every day.
“I battled with not having a purpose.”
Veteran Affairs data recorded from 2022 showed that there were more than 6,000 veteran suicides in that year alone.
“The statistics are showing that 7 out of every 100 veterans will have PTSD,” explained Sue Baker, Chief Program Officer for Semper Fi & America's Fund.
The group encourages people to use mental health support.
“We’re offering our sleep kits, neuro fitness kits, mindfulness kits, we also offer programs like our apprenticeship program,” said Baker.
The organization helped Bryant make his way back from the darkness.
“Semper Fi and America’s Fund, you’re not a number," he said. "You're family, like from the get-go, my case manager calls me just to check in.”
Jacobs found his purpose in the people around him.
"You get that mentality of I can't give up because I don't want to disappoint myself, I don't want to disappoint my family, I don't want to let my guys down. You find reasons to fight and you fight," Jacobs shared.
Bryant encourages people to talk to someone, and if you need it, look into local resources.
“It’s the simple things that add up to big things," he said.
