Interview with Sen. Isakson: Combating Veteran Suicide and Addiction

On April 16th, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who is also the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, joined Merion West’s Erich Prince to discuss issues facing veterans today and his efforts to combat suicide and opioid abuse among those who have served the United States in uniform.

Senator, good morning. Very nice to hear from you, and I look forward to chatting about issues affecting veterans, an area of particular advocacy for you. So to start off and set the scene, I want to ask you about your op-ed last Memorial Day in the Savannah Morning News.

You describe this very moving experience of walking among the headstones and noticing the grave of a soldier, who was killed on the very day that you were born: “All of a sudden, the meaning of Memorial Day became clear. On the day my mother gave me life, Roy C. Irwin sacrificed his life for the freedom I have enjoyed and cherished for 72 years.” What are some of these moments that help remind you of the sacrifices our veterans make?

I think that we, as Americans, take for granted so many things that we have and that we treasure. Some of these things we have only because our veterans fought and, in some cases, died so that we have them. That was just a good example, a very moving moment and a moving incident in my life. I was at an American cemetery, where the soldiers from the Battle of Bulge were buried, and I was going down looking at the headstones. My wife was with me. We came to one, and we saw December 28th.