he had more personality than than *** whole bunch of people put together. I miss him terribly. I miss him every day. The guilt felt by Conor McDaniel's father is overwhelming. Last year, the 26 year old veteran sent his last email to his loved ones. He felt like his entire life had been *** series of bad experiences. His family tried to stop him. His father, David, calling law enforcement for help. El paso County Sheriff's deputies found Mcdaniel first where he provoked them to shoot and kill him. The District Attorney's office ruled the shooting was justified. David Mcdaniel is now fulfilling *** promise to his son that he would never be just another number. My son made it very clear in his note to us that he didn't want to be *** gun violence statistic, *** veteran suicide statistic. McDaniel wants to ensure every veteran receives access to mental health care after they return home and data shows the need is rising. The Department of Veterans Affairs projects *** 32 percent spike in outpatient mental health care over the next 10 years and one third of veterans who received care from the V. ***. Were diagnosed with at least one mental health condition stigma and shame. Are some of them according to bob Mclaughlin with the Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center. It's about resiliency, right? And when when, when that breaks, when, when, when people feel that they're weak, that's against the culture. In *** 2018 study from the peer reviewed BMC Health Service journal researchers found *** majority of veterans were worried about what others would think if they sought treatment. University of Memphis President Michael also says troops on active duty can face consequences for reaching out for help. Ultimately, the concern is about the impact on career progression, the impact on your deploy ability, the impact on all sorts of things in terms of advancement, that's how stigma is maintained. Some veterans told the BMC that feared lingers long into retirement in an effort to erase stigma. The Via created *** national campaign called the Veterans know where former service members encourage each other to take charge of their mental health really is quite empowering to hear veterans talk about the struggle, how they became aware of the struggle and then all the different kinds of ways that they got held. Even when veterans look for treatment. The BMC study for found that many had little confidence in the V. ***. Healthcare system. Veterans who were interviewed pointed to appointment problems and staffing issues and limited follow up from providers and staff. It's just starting to build back up into another weightless scandal before the problem drops to *** crisis point like the waitlist scandal. In 2014, Navy veteran Paula Deen accused the V. ***. In phoenix of lying to the federal government about shorter appointment wait times an audit from the VIA Inspector general found systemic problems throughout the V. *** discovering the average weight was really 115 days and at least 40 veterans died without the chance to see *** doctor. There was 100 and 11 V. ***. Facilities that were using the same methodology in manipulating the wait time data to make them look good. V. ***. Secretary eric Shinseki stepped down in the wake of the scandal and then President Barack Obama signed 19 executive orders to improve the hospitals on the website. The V. ***. Says it implemented new methods of calculating average wait times to be more accurate so patients can check how long it will take to see *** provider. The wait times change daily. But when we last checked within 50 miles of Chicago, the weight was anywhere from 9 to 13 days. Under the V. ***. Mission Act of 2018 which aims to provide broader health access, veterans should only wait *** standard of 20 days after requesting *** mental health appointment. Rural areas also face unique geographical hurdles like in Sioux falls south Dakota. When we last checked, there is one treatment facility in the area with *** 15 day wait. The center with the second earliest availability is 95 miles away. Veterans can't get the help they need. The V. ***. Mission act says the V. ***. Is supposed to pay other health care systems to take over like community care. But an investigation from USA today last year found in some cases, administrators overruled dr recommendations to send vets outside the V. ***. In order to retain patients and once people are sent to community care, the average wait time is about 42 days. The via told usa today it's following mission act requirements and some doctors say expanded telehealth is easing struggles. The way that psychiatrists and psychologists can work with. Someone in the rural area is really effective by using these systems as well. Via data shows the pandemic drove tele appointments to unprecedented heights, jumping nearly 2000% between january 2020 and 2021 officials told Congress last year about spending government funds to expand care and improve for each. We distributed over 84,000 ipads, 20,000 cellular phones. It helped us to accelerate our modernization of bandwidth. We were able to reach over 2100 locations with increased bandwidth on modernized platforms. Today this is is supporting over 100,000 remote users. So some veterans expressed distrust over using online services telling BMC researchers they think the system will share private information. One Vietnam veteran confessed he was afraid that sharing about his time overseas would land him in jail. Other vets say they simply didn't know anything about V. ***. Benefits. Before leaving the military, they struggled to understand how to find or use mental health services as veterans instead of as active duty members built make the connection dot net an online resource to link up veterans with resources and solutions for their mental health needs. There are also free online tools for veterans to deal with sleep issues or anger management plus *** crisis line with 24 7 support for vets and their families. But via Dr Brett Berger says it's important for veterans to take the difficult first step and seek the support they need. Veterans are proud, uh they've served their country, they don't want to admit that they have *** problem or admit to defeat in any way. So admitting that they have *** mental health problem, it's really difficult if we can make the D disappear from P. T. S. D. And and it's not such *** stigma and it's something everybody who's been in combat goes for some mental health. I think it will change things *** lot. He just wants to make sure troops know they aren't alone when they come back from deployment while keeping his son's memory alive along the way, Alex Miller Newsy.