Three years ago, I wrote a somewhat confrontational article about why 22 was not the correct number of how many veterans commit suicide each day in the United States.
I argued that if hiring managers and recruiters focused on the number 22 without context, they could severely impair veterans’ ability to find meaningful employment. After all, according to the now infamous Veterans Affairs report from 2012, the VA candidly said it was using data collected from only 21 states. My line of reasoning, whether right or wrong, was that assigning the number 22 to the younger generation of veterans perpetuated a destructive stereotype for post 9/11 veterans.