American Legion National Commander visits Dalton

DALTON, Ga. (WDEF) – American Legion National Commander Brett Reistad made a stop at Post 112 in Dalton on Monday.

The veterans organization is celebrating 100 years.

“It’s important for me to have a well rounded understanding of what this organization contributes to the communities, and I see a lot of that here,” Reistad said.

While this is a time of celebration for the American Legion, many veterans are dealing with serious issues.

On Monday, members of Congress held hearings on preventing veteran suicides.

“America is facing a national public health crisis. That’s the somber reality. Every day, 20 veterans, service members, reservists, and members of the National Guard die by suicide,” House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, (D) California said.

Just this month multiple veterans died by suicide at VA facilities, two in Georgia.

“We’re dealing with a bureaucracy and it’s not that easy to make changes in a bureaucracy. So it takes the community working with the veterans organizations, working with the Veterans Administration to ensure that all of the pieces of the puzzle are in place and I think that the VA understands its obligation to have something in place when a veteran gets to that point where they walk in the emergency room and say I need to talk to somebody, that they’re not sat down in a room full of people and feel as if they’re being dismissed in a time of crisis in their life,” Reistad said.

“I’m at loss for words because I can’t imagine what kind of feeling that has, they just lost all hope,” Post 112 Commander Lee Oliver said.

Oliver said that every other Wednesday they have a PTSD clinic for veterans to come and talk to a licensed psychiatrist.

“If they had that opportunity more, that would help a lot, to be able to talk to someone that can relate to what they’re talking about,” Oliver said.

Oliver said the clinic is open to any veteran.

For more information contact Post 112, 706-226-5120.