It’s OK … to not be OK.
If you think that’s some feel-good chestnut from an old, tucked-away, self-help paperback on your bookshelf — well — think again, Daniel Seehafer said Wednesday evening.
“This is what we tell our people all the time,” he said.
Seehafer is an ordained minister and military chaplain wearing another hat these days.
He’s also the national commander of the American Legion, and the Wisconsin native was in town calling on local Legion Post 174 as part of national birthday tour.
The American Legion turned 105 this month.
Members and the families gathered at the post on Earl L. Core Road for the evening.
That family aspect, the commander said, couldn’t have been more appropriate.
That’s because America’s collective military family — the men and women who wear the uniform both here at home and in the war zones — are hurting.
According to most sources in the military and mental health groups outside the service, at least 20 of those soldiers die every day.
By their own hand.
Suicide.
And there are countless more suicide attempts or the incidents that go underreported, because a soldier labored to make the final act look like an accident.
Which is why, when Seehafer was named to his national post in 2023, one of his first platforms was to lean into an initiative launched by the Legion two years ago called, “Be the One.”
The one, as in, you.
That person in the room who just might one day stop a soldier — say, your platoon mate, your spouse or that buddy from high school — from taking their own life.
Just because you knew what to say.
Or, most importantly, Seehafer adds, because you knew how to listen.
“Some people call it a ‘campaign,'” the commander said, “but it’s really beyond that.”
“This isn’t a slogan or a catch-phrase. For us, it’s a mission. Because one death — is one death too many.”
The Legion is now hosting suicide prevention workshops across the country, but the biggest component of it all, Seehafer said, comes in the form of three numbers on your cell phone: 9-8-8.
Punch those in, he said, to be connected immediately with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which took more than 4 million calls last year in an 11-month period ending May 31, 2023, the Legion said.
“Sometimes, that’s all it takes,” the commander said. “Just being there for someone.”
Meanwhile, Post 174 continues to be there for its family and for the community-at-large, local commander Bob “Punky” Sanders said.
Wednesday night, the post presented a $5,000 check to the Veterans and Children Foundation, a Legion-led group for disabled veterans and military families in crisis.
And last year, Post 174 donated some $30,000 to community causes across Morgantown, Monongalia County and the region.
“We’re all about helping our neighbors,” Sanders said.
