The veteran suicide rate reached a six-year high according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2025 report analyzing data through 2023. An estimated 6,398 veterans died by suicide that year—a small drop from 6,442 in 2022—but the rate per 100,000 veterans increased to 35.2, compared to 34.7 the previous year. The rate rose for both men and women, from 37.3 to 37.8 for men and from 13.7 to 13.9 for women.
The VA designated suicide prevention as its top clinical priority. VA Secretary Doug Collins stated that “veteran suicide has been a scourge on our nation for far too long.” A significant finding: 61 percent of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA health care in the last year of their life, suggesting that VA care functions as a protective factor.
Face the Fight Coalition
Face the Fight, a coalition launched by USAA alongside founding partners Reach Resilience and the Humana Foundation, is complementing VA’s prevention efforts. The coalition has grown to over 300 alliance members including nonprofits, corporations, and government liaisons. Since its inception, Face the Fight has invested more than $42 million in direct grants and has an ambitious goal to cut the veteran suicide rate in half by 2032.
David Rozek, the senior scientific advisor for Face the Fight and an associate professor at UT Health San Antonio, emphasized that the group wants to reach veterans outside traditional clinical settings. “People aren’t banging on my door daily to talk to me when they’re suicidal. We need to think where can these touch points happen outside of clinical settings,” Rozek said.
Multi-Factor Prevention Approach
Chris Ford, the Face the Fight lead at USAA, emphasized that treatment alone cannot solve this problem. Suicidal thoughts can result from social isolation, insomnia, chronic pain, job loss, divorce, financial insecurity, food insecurity, housing insecurity, anxiety, and other factors. Nearly three-quarters of veteran suicide deaths involved a gun, prompting Face the Fight to focus on safe firearm storage. VA’s Veterans Crisis Line fielded 1.3 million calls, chats, and texts in the past year—a 39 percent increase over the previous year—and made $52 million available through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grants Program.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://news3lv.com/news/nation-world/stopping-veteran-suicide-va-face-the-fight-working-to-save-lives-amid-rising-rate