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struggling with the transition from military to civilian life, he’s realized the power of his own experience in helping move the conversation about Veterans’ suicide and suicide prevention forward. And, he emphasizes that an important part of that process is that helping other Veterans helps him to continue to help himself. “I love being there for them,” he states about his work with Veterans Bridge Home, “this is the most rewarding thing of anything I’ve done, and this is probably the proudest time of my life.” And, in a world where staying alive in and of itself is a struggle, Rieman’s ability to say something is the proudest time of his life is significant.
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i George W. Bush, State of the Union Address (Jan. 23, 2007), available at https:// www.c-span.org/video/?c888871/clip-state-union-address.
ii Interview with Tommy Rieman, conducted by author, May 23, 2019 (notes and recording on file with author).
iii Rieman interview.
iv Quil Lawrence, A Vet’s Suicide Pushes VA To Do Better, NPR (Aug. 28, 2018), available at https://www.npr.org/2018/08/28/640918694/a-vets-suicide-pushes-the-va-to- do-better (last visited May 3, 2019); see also Sherman Gillums, Jr., Stopping Veterans Suicide Starts on the Front Lines, Not in DC, The Hill (Opinion), available at https:// thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/441446-stopping-veteran-suicide-starts-on-the-front-lines- not-in-dc (last visited May 3, 2019).
v Alan Frio, A Father Talks About the Pain of Veteran Suicide, Nashville News 4 WSMV (Nov. 19, 2018), available at https://www.wsmv.com/news/a-father-talks-about-the-pain- of-veteran-suicide/article_db2debf8-ec4a-11e8-91f0-2b7b3cffb24b.html (last visited May 22, 2019).
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