1 800-273-TALK (8255); veterans should press "1" after being connected.

More than 22,000 of our veterans have already sought help from this suicide prevention hotline, which is in its first year of service.

Last year, the Veterans Administration (VA) teamed up with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to launch this suicide prevention hotline, after several years of harsh criticism that it wasn't doing enough to help our wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

This telephone hotline now receives up to 250 calls a day — double the number of calls when it began last year, and its callers are divided evenly among veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam wars.

According to a recent RAND Corporation study, roughly one in five of our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), putting them at a high risk for suicide, and researchers at Portland State University have found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide, as men who are not veterans.

Janet Kemp, national suicide prevention coordinator for the VA says, "We want them (veterans) to know that there are other options, and that people do care about them, and that we can help make a difference in their lives."

Richard McKeon, a public health adviser for SAMHSA, says 10 to 20 of the 1,575 calls received each week have to be re-routed to high-volume backup call centers throughout the country because of the urgency of these calls.

And the VA estimates that every year, 6,500 veterans now take their own lives. The mental health director for the VA said last December that of the 18 veterans who commit suicide each day now, four to five of them are under VA care, and 12,000 of our veterans under VA care are attempting suicide every year.

This month, the hotline also began an advertising campaign in Washington D.C. area subway stations and buses featuring the slogan, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help."

"We try to get them (callers) to talk about their situations and what they remember, and to see if they can identify exactly what their issues are. I think there's a comfort in knowing that they can get some help from people who do understand what combat stress is like," Kemp said.

From the hotline call center, counselors can instantly check a veteran's medical records, and then connect him or her to a local VA suicide prevention coordinator for follow-up, monitoring, and care at their local VA medical centers. Kemp said that since the hotline started, 106 veterans have been steered to medical care.

Kemp also said that the hotline was put in place specifically for those veterans who don't get enough help, until it's too late. "They have indicated to us that they are in extreme danger; either they have guns in their hands or they're standing on a bridge, or they've already swallowed pills," she said.

The VA is also now preparing for the eventual return of a large number of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. This could put additional stress on the mental health screening program for returning veterans, which could lead to an additional rise in undiagnosed mental health issues. The VA recently doubled its suicide prevention staff, and it is planning to hire 212 more people soon.

The Veteran Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24 hours a day, by calling 1 800-273-TALK (8255); veterans should press "1" after being connected.

If you know a veteran (or the family member of a veteran), in need of help, please give them this telephone number.  You might help save a life.