Thread by @mookieghana

Wanted to share our story about Tim Walz:

My brother-in-law marine veteran Justin Miller died by suicide at the Minneapolis VA in Feb 2018. Justin’s body was found on a Sat morning. His father Greg was at a political convention when he got the call to come home the unthinkable.

Weeks later, Greg was again at convention where Rep Walz was running for Gov. Greg told Tim what had happened to Justin and the amount of empathy, shared anger and despair was exceptional. Walz was shook and said he'd look into it; he’d seen things like this happen to his friends

At the time, we thought a chance encounter with a politician doesn't usually result in much. And so, we forgot about the conversation and moved on with mourning and grieving and living.

Fast forward to the end of September...

Suddenly there’s a news report about an Inspector General report on the death of a former US Marine at the Minneapolis VA finding many failures to follow policy/procedure.

It was the report that Walz had said he would request.

oversight.gov/sites/default/…

My wife Alissa called the Walz office, because she knew they would want to be in touch with the family. And they did. In fact, with our permission, Walz shared Justin’s name and story that week in a Congressional hearing on veteran suicide.

mn.gov/mdva/news/legi…

Tim made sure to get on the phone with us before he spoke. Tim Walz didn't shy away from expressing his emotions about the situation. He did right by our family because he cared about all us as people--only telling our story with permission and standing with us to make change.

And because of advocacy of Tim Walz and my wife Alissa and many others, I believe that while things aren't perfect, the care a hurting veteran receives at any VA in the country is better than it was in 2018.

veteranscrisisline.net

And many of the changes wouldn't have been brought to the forefront had Tim Walz not listened, cared, and followed up. Thank you @GovTimWalz.