The 22 KILL movement was created in 2013 by veterans to combat the staggering number of veteran suicides every day due to post traumatic stress or PTS. The members of this movement want to raise awareness and educate the public about the issue while also supporting partnered organizations that deal with veteran empowerment, mental health treatment and other services made available for veterans and their families.
The mission statement of 22 KILL is, “To honor those who serve and to raise awareness for veteran suicide prevention through education and empowerment.”
A personal friend of mine, Kalle Blindenbacher, served in Iraq a few years back. “I know for a lot of guys and myself included, when I first got home seeing large piles of trash on the road it was unsettling because insurgents would hide IEDs in anything they could find,” Blindenbacher said.
The men and women of our armed forces are taught to think differently and sometimes there are consequences from this very serious situations.
In 2012, the VA released a Suicide Data Report that an average of 22 veterans are “KILLED By Suicide” or KBS every day. Since then, a new study has shown that on average, 20 veterans commit suicide every day. This staggering number accounts for 18 percent of all suicides in the United States while veterans themselves only take up less than nine percent.
“Any event that’s traumatic can cause PTS according to the army,” Blindenbacher said. “I call bullshit on that though and the term should be saved for the ones who were in intense combat, or watched a friend die, or saw people get severely maimed.”
22 KILL is an organization dedicated to raising awareness by challenging the people of the world to record themselves doing 22 push-ups. They welcome all types of push-ups and encourage creativity. Even if you can only do 5 push-ups they will help reach the ultimate goal of 22 million documented push-ups.
Currently, there are a total of 17 million pushups and counting. The push-ups are all found by a hashtag #22PushupChallenge and are all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This campaign was inspired by the ALS ice bucket challenge, which was a huge hit in the social media world two years ago in 2014.
I did the 22 push-up challenge by doing 22 push-ups for 22 days. I documented all of my push-ups on my personal Instagram profile and even attempted to do as many as I could in a row for the final day.
My reasons for doing this challenge are simple. I have the utmost respect for the men and women in our armed forces and I always try to help in any way I can. I have numerous pieces of clothing to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, and when I saw this challenge it was a no-brainer for me.
Since I was in high school, I debated joining the military and wanted to honor the flag that we fly high above our heads. I think that many Americans have lost sight of this patriotism in recent years.
After completing the challenge, I have learned a lot about myself as well as the people around me that I now know have been affected by this situation first hand. Suicide due to PTS not only effects the person taking their own life, but it also impacts everyone close to them. Kalle mentioned that he has lost 3 friends to heroin overdose and he attributes this to PTS.
“A good step to take is to simply ask them about it,” Blindenbacher said. “Some folks may not even be aware that they have PTSD and talking with others could bring it to their attention.”
In the movie and book, The American Sniper, Chris Kyle talked about how he would take veterans to shooting ranges to aid their tough times. “Hanging out with fellow veterans always helps because your experiences are similar,” Blindenbacher said.
Kalle described people with PTS being more introverted than violent and for the most part they want to just be left alone. Of course there are exceptions to that, but talking in majorities that is the case.
If anyone you know may be suffering or you personally have a similar situation, I urge you to call the Veteran Crisis Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 as soon as possible.
