Glen Burnie Veteran to Walk for Suicide Prevention

Thomas Sweet remembers finding a relative on the floor after a drug overdose suicide attempt years ago. He also remembers a brother in arms who took his life shortly after returning from the Middle East.

Sweet, 28, now a federal police officer living in Glen Burnie with his wife and two children, is literally taking the steps to prevent suicide from affecting communities like his. In early June, he will walk 18 miles in the Out of the Darkness Overnight in Washington, DC, to raise awareness for suicide prevention.

Sweet returned from Afghanistan in 2009 after his third deployment in the Marines, and he has dealt with a mild form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in his daily life. Unlike the hypersensitivity and anxiety experienced by many veterans returning from combat, Sweet said his experience left him battling a numbness.

But his eagerness to raise money for the cause of suicide prevention–an epidemic he has seen from the national to personal level–shows he is all but numb. In just a few weeks since pledging to walk with Miles for the Military, he has learned how suicide has affected his friends in ways he never knew.

"Anytime I talk to friends, I mention the walk, and I didn't realize exactly how many people it affects," Sweet told Patch. "Almost everybody I talk to says they know or have heard of someone who has attempted or committed suicide."

The newest data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 38,000 people committed suicide in the United States in 2010—that's an average of one suicide every 14 minutes.

Additionally, suicide has been shown to be particularly prevalent among military members and veterans. With 349 active-duty suicides in 2012, more people in the U.S. military took their own lives than died in combat, according to The Washington Post.

Sweet wants people at risk of suicide–of whom 90 percent suffer from severe depression or drug abuse–to know they are not alone.

He says this overnight walk, scheduled from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting June 1, will be the first of many walks and runs he's planning for the future.

"It's unique because there's only one major walk a year," he said, comparing the event to the national walks and relays for cancer research. He plans to set up a third-party charity to continue raising money for the cause year-round.

Sweet encouraging friends, neighbors and coworkers on Facebook and Twitter to donate whatever they can to the cause. Donors can make contributions of any amount, but he considers even a $5 donation as a sign of camaraderie battling something that affects people of all classes, races and backgrounds.

"It's almost like being in the military, in the sense that you go in with a whole group of strangers, but you leave with a handful of friends," Sweet said.

To make a donation to Miles for the Military, visit Sweet's donor page here. To learn more about the Out of the Night Overnight walk, visit its website here.

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