The Brandon Act
The Brandon Act was created because our son Brandon Caserta, died by suicide on June 25, 2018.
The Brandon Act is designed to protect service members who experience mental health emergencies and reduce the stigma around reporting. This bill will allow service members to seek mental health treatment and require a mental health evaluation as soon as a service member self-reports. It will also allow Americans serving in uniform to seek help confidentially and, if necessary, outside of the chain of command.
The measure also mandates that the Department of Defense provide annual training on how to recognize when members may need a mental health evaluation.
Read the Congressional Bill H.R.7368 – Brandon Act : https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7368/text
A worsening epidemic
Suicide rates have been increasing among members of the military and veterans alike. An annual DOD report, released in September, showed rates for active duty service members alone went from 20.3 suicides per 100,000 members in 2015 to 28.7 in 2020, with increases across all branches. That compares with a national suicide rate of 13.5 in 2020.
Last year, 580 service members died by suicide – 384 active duty members, 77 reservists and 119 National Guard members. Military members who take their own lives are largely men younger than 30.
The DOD report cites a number of risk factors, including relationship and financial problems, ineffective coping skills, access to lethal means of injury and reluctance to seek help.
Military research finds that up to 70% of service members with mental health symptoms do not seek treatment, and 35% have reported that they worry seeking help would negatively impact their careers.
More Information:
Article from Kronkite News Arizona PBS: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2022/04/28/brandon-act-address-suicide-mental-health-military/
Article from Arizona State Senator Mark Kelly: https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/in-the-news-kelly-backed-brandon-act-passes-in-annual-defense-bill/
Article from 13 News Now (local news WVEC in Norfolk, Virginia): https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/national/military-news/brandon-act-mental-health-military-law/
He was bullied and hazed
among many other things by his Naval command, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28 in Norfolk, VA, to the point of no return. No one in his command helped him and he felt he could not get help from anyone because of the retaliation he knew he would receive. He told many people in his chain of command that he was depressed and all they told him to do was suck it up and go back to work.
Patrick who is a 22-year retired Navy Senior Chief, tried helping Brandon the entire time he was at HSC-28 but nothing worked. Patrick called the command and Brandon was retaliated against for his father calling concerned for Brandon’s welfare and well-being. They were going to take Brandon to Captain’s Mast for not driving. Please read Brandon’s entire story and what happened to him on Military Corruption website. The link is on the “Additional Stories and Interviews” page of this website.
Brandon worked all day long on June 25, 2018. The last flight ops of the day Brandon grabbed is cranial, ran up to the plane captain, yelled over the noise of the helicopter, “I’m sorry for what you are about to see”, ran to the rotating rear tail rotor, threw off his cranial, jumped, missed and then jump again and made contact. He did this in front of the watchful eyes of his command and the flight line. He was not even involved in the flight ops and was not even supposed to be on the deck. No one stopped him, no one ran after him when they saw him. After it happened, everyone on that flight line ran away. No one gave him medical attention.
We created The Brandon Act to allow the men and women who serve in the United States of America’s Armed Forces to get help without retaliation whatsoever from anyone in their commands and will hold people accountable for their actions, if it is deemed necessary. It will allow them to get counseling for any issues they may have from bullying to sexual/mental/ domestic abuse among many other issues. With “The Brandon Act” in place, we hope to completely eliminate suicides in the Armed Forces.
Learn More About Brandon
All About Brandon
Brandons Last Words
Bill First Draft
