Bakersfield Life

Ride for America

By: Dana Martin

     By the time you finish reading this issue of Bakersfield Life, at least one United States veteran will have committed suicide.

 

Perhaps that isn’t a great opener, but the aftermath of war isn’t pretty, either, and Jeremy Staat wants everyone to know it.

Staat, an Iraq War veteran (and former National Football League player) is planning to ride a bicycle across the United States beginning Feb. 19, with the hope of bringing attention and understanding to a multitude of veterans causes as well as help develop unity among veterans of all ages. And suicide awareness is top on his list.

According to Staat, 35, suicide is the No. 1 cause of death in veterans — in any conflict. “We are losing one vet every 18 minutes due to suicide,” he said, drawing from information collected by the 17 states that report to national awareness personnel.

“From what I understand, we lost over 168,000 Vietnam veterans due to suicide, and from the current conflict we have lost over 7,000 veterans to suicide, which is more than we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “There isn’t a definite number, but if we add up all of the suicides since 2001, it adds up to more suicides than actual combat related deaths.”

Staat attributes the current spike in suicides to timing. Prior to Sept. 11, he said, young men and women viewed the military as a means to an education — they’d enlist, mature a little and receive a college degree. Their mindset wasn’t on war. After Sept. 11, however, these same youngsters were handed M-16 rifles and sent to Iraq, a move Staat feels contributed to the fastest veteran suicide rate the nation has ever known.

“They didn’t know what to do.”

So, Staat, along with Wesley Leon-Barrientos, 27, will embark on the Wall to Wall Cross-Country Bicycle Ride for all veterans. Leon-Barrientos, a three-time Iraq War veteran, a three-time Purple Heart recipient and a double amputee, will ride a hand crank bicycle, while Staat will pedal a traditional bike.

Starting at the Wall of Valor in Bakersfield and ending at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., the men’s trek will exceed 4,000 miles as they zig-zag to military bases, churches, veteran posts, sporting events, schools and memorials to draw attention to veterans’ issues, culminating their efforts on Memorial Day, the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam Wall Memorial.

Uniting all veterans

Close your eyes. Now, visualize a veteran. What image do you see?

Most who try this exercise see the same veteran — wrinkled and withered, gray hair, white stubbly beard, wearing an olive green jacket and squinting from beneath an old boonie hat.

The image most people see is a Vietnam era veteran the way he looks today, but Staat and Leon-Barrientos will ride to remind people that the vet they’re picturing was a 25-to 26-year-old man when he came home from Vietnam. Today, more than 30,000 troops will be coming home to California, a state suffering an already tragic 12.5 percent poverty rate among veterans aged 18 to 34, a number that is double what it was 10 years ago.

“We are trying to put a new face on what a veteran is,” Staat said.

During the ride, Staat and Leon-Barrientos will work to unite a spirit of unity among all veterans — from Vietnam to the Gulf War to veterans of current conflicts, hoping to promote the perspective of having a unified voice for all.

Some veterans can’t forget how they were treated after returning home from Vietnam, when they were not greeted with the same gratitude as the veterans filing back into the United States today. Staat and Leon-Barrientos consider all veterans as family and encourage using one voice of unity, not separate voices for different times or conflicts.

“No, no brother, we’re together on this,” he’ll say.

Staat and Leon-Barrientos believe that uniting all veterans will build a network of support. Through their nonprofit group The Jeremy Staat Foundation, the pair wants to provide a hub for veterans to find the help they need regardless of when or where they served.

“If a guy is thinking about suicide, he should be able to talk about it with another veteran,” said Staat. “No vet is going to call a 1-800 number to try to get counseling. We advocate peer-to-peer counseling.”

The ride

Staat and Leon-Barrientos did not choose the mild spring months for their cross-country ride. They will trek through snow, freezing temperatures and other inclement weather, which some people think the timing is crazy, Staat said.

“What kind of discomfort is that? Thirty degrees is nothing. We’ve had vets lost on marches, POWs skinned alive and others who’ve lived with shame for 40 years,” he said. “There is no amount of discomfort that can compare to that.”

Physically and metaphorically “bridging the gap” between the Wall of Valor in Bakersfield and the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., Staat and Leon-Barrientos hope their ride will be a stepping stone in breaking the generational gap between the Vietnam veterans and those returning from current conflicts. 

“We want to unite the country through a simple bike ride,” Staat said.

Not all that simple. The pair will travel 4,263 miles to 15 states in 100 days to bring awareness to veteran issues, particularly benefits.

According to Staat, there are 1.2 million veterans in California, with the highest populace here in Kern County.

“Kern County loves its veterans, but in California, criminals get treated better than our veterans,” he said, pointing to the medical benefits, dental care, gym memberships and brand name prescription drugs that prisoners receive. “Yet, it currently takes 290 days for the V.A. (Veterans Administration) to process a G.I. benefits claim. G.I. benefits shouldn’t be so difficult to receive.

“We paid into it. We went and fought and did what we were supposed to do, and the G.I. benefits should be there for us.”

Staat and Leon-Barrientos remain hopeful that their ride will put Kern County on the map for something good. “Not just where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s girlfriend lives,” Staat said.

The pair would like to open the first privately owned veterans’ center in Kern County, so that they can make “whole people” again, spiritually and physically. And it starts on the ride.

“What can we do to help vets, bring awareness to veterans’ issues and represent Kern County that no one has ever done? Everything we’re riding for — everyone can get on board with it,” Staat said.

“If everyone loved America as much as their Xbox, cell phone and Starbucks, we’d be all right.”