Missouri Veterans Commission increases focus on suicide rate, under new state law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (WGEM) – A new law taking effect Wednesday places more responsibility on the Missouri Veterans Commission to tackle the troubling rate of suicide among the state’s veteran population.

Missouri veterans are more prone to taking their own lives than the nationwide rate among veterans, and more than the statewide general population, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“There are a lot of assumptions out there about veteran suicide, but that’s not what’s important,” said Retired Col. Paul Kirchhoff, Executive Director of the commission. “We need to know what the facts are and what the truth is.”

Kirchhoff said part of the commission’s work will be selecting a statewide coordinator who will lead this new endeavor. He also said the group will need to look for solutions across the state, and outside of it.

“I was able to work with a lot of other state agencies throughout the country who have programs similar to this, learning from their experiences and building the expectation, making it realistic,” Kirchhoff said.

Ric DePontee is the 2024 Commander of the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“Now we’re putting it on the Missouri Veterans Commission and saying, ‘We want you to look into this. We want you to look into different avenues,’” DePontee said. “Is opioid abuse, is that part of the issue? Is homelessness? Is that part of the issue? We have all this data, we just need to compile it into one spot.”

The same law creates a new state medallion to be awarded to veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also requires state agencies to put a veteran status question on any new or modified forms.

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