Cole Lyle: Transitioning Back Home
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This week on Live in the Bream, we are joined by someone I consider to be a hero, and he is also trying to be somebody who serves other heroes. Cole Lyle is with us, served as a Marine. He's now executive director of Mission Roll Call and is doing important work for people who deserve it and need it the most. So, Cole, thank you for being with us.

Absolutely, Shannon. Thank you for having me on. I always enjoy our conversations. So let's talk about mission roll call, what it is and the three primary goals that you have. Who are you trying to help?

So Mission Roll Call is a national veteran nonprofit that was set up really to give policymakers in Washington, D.C., you know, the direct voice of veterans across the United States, traditional advocacy groups, the VFW, the Legion, and the individual veterans voice kind of gets filtered through local posts, you know, state conventions, national conventions before that message really gets to D.C. So we pull veterans.

veterans directly about the issues that are most important to them. And our top three priorities as a result of talking with veterans around the country are suicide prevention, number one, access to timely and effective care and benefits, and amplifying the voices of underserved veteran populations like tribal veterans, rural veterans, women veterans, all types.

So let's talk first about the suicide issue because I spoke to a group last year and it was a military group and I was doing a little bit more research in depth on this issue of suicide. I was stunned by the numbers. I actually thought I had them wrong. I went back to the original sourcing to check them because I was literally shocked by what I found. And that's the reality every day. You know it better than most. Yeah.

Yeah, unfortunately, you know, so in 2014, I was a few pounds of trigger pull away from becoming one of the one of those veterans statistics. And that's really what has prompted my passion and engagement on this issue. But, you know, I was a former enlisted Marine, worked for a member of Congress and then at VA and then now for a nonprofit organization.

It's something I deal with every day. And the reason that, you know, I came on board mission roll call after the Afghanistan withdrawal. I was the only person in my unit that deployed that had worked at the federal policy level and everybody was contacting me, men and women saying, how are we letting this happen? Why is this happening? I had to talk three of my friends down on suicide charges.

And so when this organization presented me with the opportunity to take the helm, it was something I jumped at because their number one priority is something that I'm very passionate about. And, you know, and like I said, still deal with.

Well, and I talked to a veteran who had attempted suicide. It wasn't until he was in the hospital and kind of in the point of recovery when a social worker was assigned to come by and talk with him that told him about some very specific resources that were there for veterans and people struggling with thoughts of suicide. And

And I'm thinking this guy had really been struggling for years. How was this the first time that he'd heard about what's available? Is that part of the issue, trying to get the word out to veterans to say, you're not alone. Here are the specific resources where you can go for help right now.

Yeah, it's a huge problem because, you know, right now there are roughly 18 million veterans in the United States. Only nine million of them are engaged with VA. VA's outreach needs to needs to be improved if we want to catch all the veterans that may or may not be struggling with this.

and are not engaged with VA. But backing up a little bit, it's also kind of a problem because the American public you alluded to earlier, you were stunned by this, right? And you have a personal connection to the military. The American people are frankly largely unaware of the struggles that veterans face because

military service is becoming a family business. 80% of people that serve on active duty have an immediate family member that served. So it's a struggle when you say, I bet if you poll the American public, 99.999% of them would say, I support veterans, but they don't

have any idea of how to specifically help. And for this particular issue, it really will take community involvement. The BA can't solve this problem on its own, though they certainly can do things better, but it really is a community problem. So how do we educate students

not only the veterans who may be struggling with this issue and plugging them into resources that they need, but how do we get communities involved? Because what leads veterans to that point, it may not be a service-connected mental health issue. 30% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer from

some sort of mental health issue. So it's not all of them. It's not every one of them. It could be acute financial stress. It could be a relationship issue. It could be employment. It could be any number of things. And because it's such a complicated problem, it's going to require community buy-in and engagement from the American public.

So how can we do a better job at that? As you said, those of us who have military in our families, we do have a connection. We worry about them. We think about their transition back from active duty into a civilian life, if that's the step that they're taking in their lives. But as you said, it could be any number of other things. How can we best as civilians be supportive of folks who need that kind of help?

Yeah, it's a great question. And there's no single answer I can give you that's like the silver bullet. But I think step number one is just engaging with the veterans that you know more frequently. You know, I see awareness campaigns where you say, hey, let's do 17 or 22 push-ups a day to raise awareness for this issue. Instead of doing that, you could take five minutes every day and just text a veteran that you know or call them and just ask questions.

you know, it may not be a service-connected mental health issue, but they may be struggling with, like I said, any number of other issues that maybe you could help and you do have resources that you could refer them to that aren't necessarily veteran-focused or VA resources, but that you know about just generally. So connection is critical. And, you know, outside of that, if people

people don't have that connection immediately, find a local veteran organization that is helping veterans. Donate an hour of your time, two hours of your time a month. It doesn't have to be much. You just donate your time. Maybe you'll meet a veteran and that'll be how you become more aware of the issues that they're facing. But I

Again, connection is critical and education and awareness campaigns are super important. That's another reason why Mission Roll Call tries to, we take the data that we get and we present it to members of Congress, but we also tell individual veterans stories to make that data like stick in their minds and make it less abstract and make it more of a human interest story to tell to these members of Congress.

And we do have some members of Congress who are veterans themselves on both sides of the aisle, which I think is always a helpful thing to try to push through, you know, change and reform that will benefit our veteran community and our active duty as well. So the second prong you're working on is effective care and benefits. Tell us more about that.

Well, you know, it may not be everything flows from suicide prevention because that's our number one priority. And veterans may not struggle with getting help in primary care or specialty mental health care or something like that. But ensuring that there are no issues with the way the VA provides that care is very important because it can be very frustrating. They go from an organization and DOD that's very bureaucratic. They get out and then they have to deal with the largest health care system in the country.

where experiences on an individual level can vary because there's a popular saying amongst veterans, you know, you've been to one VA, you've been to one VA. The local directors all have some pretty broad authority to implement care the way they feel best serves the unique populations in their area. It's why Mission Roll Call, you know, we're advocating for the secretary to make suicide prevention accessible.

his number one priority. It may seem like nothing to folks that don't know, but the local directors, they take their cues from the secretary's priorities. And that would send a very clear message to these folks, you know, laser focus on this issue.

Chances are, if you're doing well in suicide prevention outreach, you're also going to be capturing veterans that need healthcare. You're also going to be capturing veterans that are homeless and all of this stuff, but with particular emphasis on

access to care after the Mission Act was passed. And we've seen issues with the way people are being referred out to care in the community if the VA has a backlog. Our organization's goal is to make sure that veterans are taken care of, whether that is at VA or in the community, just making sure that they have that access. How big of a gap is that? Because I feel like this was on the front pages a few years ago, and then another topic becomes hot and we move on to other things. But

but our veterans don't move on. I mean, they still have their lives to live and they need all kinds of different care, but there was a lot of talk about the VA, the backlogs, being able to get an appointment months and months out records, not being accurate in some places. And I will say I've had family members who've actually had excellent experiences with VA. And I do think it just depends on your location where you are, maybe what your physical ailment is or what you're struggling with. So I've seen both sides of it, including very positive. Right.

But there was a lot of discussion about that gap. If you cannot get into the VA system for one reason or another, how you're able to access other health care without enormous costs. Right. Well, it all started with the Phoenix waitlist scandal in 2014, where veterans literally died on waitlists because the VA officials, you know, they had secret lists to hide the actual patients.

wait time numbers and things like that, Congress passed the Choice Act, which was the initial step to providing kind of a relief valve, if you will, of VAs that are having problems getting veterans in timely, in a timely manner, so they could access care providers in the community. There were issues with that from a funding perspective.

You know, six different ways that that that bill was getting funded and implemented by VA. In 2018, Congress passed the Mission Act, which consolidated those funding channels, made it easier for veterans to access care. If the VA couldn't provide care within a certain time window or veterans were had to drive onerous distances to their homes.

VA providers. But the problem is, is again, because the VA is such a massive organization, it's the second largest government agency, you know, in the federal government and the largest healthcare system in the country. You know, even when Congress passes sweeping reform like that, because the local officials have such

power to implement care within their budget the way they see fit. We've seen issues, and I agree with you, I get great care from VA. I'm an end user of VA. I rarely have issues, but we've seen instances where a lot of veterans can't go out and get the specialty care for mental health

that they need or, you know, they prosthetics become an issue or any number of things. So codifying the access standards and making it to where local officials don't have a choice where if they can't

provide that care within a certain amount of time, veterans automatically get referred out to care in the community. It's complicated and it's not, there's no easy solution. But again, it all flows back to congressional intent and making sure that we orient ourselves to the ultimate authority in this conversation, which is the veteran themselves. We'll have more Live in the Bream in a moment.

Hi, everybody. It's Brian Kilmeade. I want you to join me weekdays at 9 a.m. East as we break down the biggest stories of the day with some of the biggest newsmakers. And of course, what you think. Listen live or get the podcast now at Brian Kilmeade show dot com. You also mentioned you want to focus on underserved veteran communities or that may have special challenges, unique challenges. So tell me about that.

Yeah, so historically, you know, veterans in rural areas, right, because they had to drive long distances to go to a VA. A veteran in part of Montana may have to drive three or four hours just to go to a VA facility. COVID, one of the silver linings, I guess you could say, of COVID was that the VA's

VA expanded aggressively on telehealth. So that's been an option that veterans have used or video conference health care appointments. You know, in rural communities, broadband was not always as prevalent to be able to use telehealth and to be able to use, you know, the video conferencing resources. Tribal communities, right?

kind of the same issues. There's also, you know, some different jurisdictional issues with, you know, getting veterans healthcare at VAs. Women veterans who are the fastest growing demographic

of veterans in the country. They face unique issues when they need to go do inpatient mental health care or something. The VA doesn't have child care facilities if they're a single mother. There are unique issues that certain demographics face in accessing their care and benefits. And going back to the original point, if we can make, you know, their story stick with

members of Congress, as they are deliberating on policy issues, you know, hopefully we can advocate for better care, access to benefits, and the ultimate goal, which is to keep veterans from making an irreversible decision and taking their own life. Hmm.

And I know there's gotta be a lot of despair and frustration. We all feel that in dealing with the healthcare bureaucracy, just on a day-to-day, but when you're really struggling and it's a serious issue, that struggle just exacerbates with the delays or feeling like you're hitting a brick wall time after time. So I'm so glad that you are interceding and doing this work here. I gotta ask you about pause as well. And personally and professionally, tell us about that.

So as I mentioned, 2014 was a rough year for me. I was getting out of the military, didn't have a job, wasn't in school. A lot of veterans, they join for that sense of purpose and that sense of camaraderie. And they get out and they get that ripped from them pretty quickly. And they have to refine their purpose. And I struggle with that. You know, I had a Marine intervene when I tried to take my own life. You know, I went from...

thinking, you know, I don't have anything to, I have the opportunity to do anything. Um, so, you know, I, I thought about what I wanted to do and I went back to, as I, as I do often to serving my country and serving the community. Um, so I went up to DC and turned on the hill, um, you know, was still at Texas A&M at the time. Um, you know, after having the

those issues and quitting the pills and the traditional therapy, um, which wasn't working for me and the pills exacerbated the problems. I still needed to find a way to mitigate those symptoms. So I got, uh, Kaya, my service dog, she's German Shepherd. And you guys have actually met at the airport down in, uh, down in Florida, but, uh, I got her and had to pay for myself because the BA didn't provide funding or provide dogs. Uh,

Um, which there, the excuse they gave was that there's a lack of science behind it. Um, but you know, if you need science to tell you that dogs can be therapeutic, you've clearly never owned a dog. Right. So, um, anyways, so I, so I went and did that and I was in DC one day, um, interning and Senator Tillis stopped me on the street and people have questions because I'm not blind and I don't have a limb missing. Like, why do I have a dog? So I get those questions a lot.

And he said, well, what do you think we should do about it? And I said, you're the policymaker, you tell me, right? But it was that original conversation that prompted me to write the first version of the PAUSE Act, which stands for Puppies Assisting Wounded Service Members. Then Congressman DeSantis was the first, the sponsor of the bill. I was

I was flying back and forth from Texas A&M because I was still a full-time student advocating for the bill. It was very bipartisan. Didn't pass that Congress. I graduated in December of that year. So I came up to DC, got a job and just kept kind of working on the issue behind the scenes. And it finally passed in 20, excuse me, last year, August of last year, President Biden finally signed a bill.

a different version into law, but ultimately, you know, still the same idea. So what does it provide then and how will it help others?

So, you know, Congress can't do anything without compromise and without going into the minutia of how that whole compromise and those conversations went. This version of the bill that passed is essentially a pilot program that provides dogs. And the idea is that the training of the dog is actual is the therapy versus the actual dog themselves, which I find fascinating.

Kind of ironic because the original objection to not being evidential, you know, therapy, right. There's really not a lot of science behind that either. But, but at the end of the training period where the veteran trains the dog, they get to keep them. Right. And if it's successful, you know, it would provide

greater access to service dogs for mental health, which at the end of the day, it wasn't a bill that I, it wasn't my original intent. I wanted Congress to provide funding and the VA provide funding direct to organizations that do this so we don't have to reinvent the wheel. But ultimately a rising tide lifts all boats. And this is just going to get more dogs in the hands of veterans who need them, which I will always chalk that up as a win.

Yes. And it is a great conversation starter too. Um, I do always ask, is it okay to pet them if they, you know, some, some dogs, you know, you don't want to interfere with the work that they're doing or, um, the comfort level of somebody who the dog is with them. Um, so thank you for letting me meet Kaya. Um, I always love to see that in action and just knowing what a great support, um, that you are for each other and, and how much of a difference that can make.

Um, we're talking to Cole Lyle. He is the executive director of mission roll call has served our country as a Marine, uh, is advocating now for others and, and Cole you're out in Los Angeles while we are talking, um, give us an example there of what you're seeing and how we can be doing better.

Yeah. So we did a poll of veterans in LA County and asked the simple question, you know, do you think the VA is doing enough in terms of suicide prevention and veteran homelessness? Um, and 90% of the respondents said no. Um,

We come out here and we've been talking with members of Congress, local VA officials, veteran service organizations, and just ask the question, like, why is this could be one of two issues. One, because it is a small sample size in the poll. They could be right and the VA could not be actually doing enough. Right. So we've been asking, you know, what is unique about Los Angeles that makes it difficult to deliver this care?

The other issue may be that the veterans in the poll are just ones that the VA is not reaching out to and their outreach is not getting to them. So it could be an outreach problem, but it could be one of those two things.

LA is unique because it's the largest veteran population at 1.5 or 1.8 million in the country, which is why we chose to make this our first stop on the national outreach tour. And with any population that size, it's going to be difficult. You're going to have a wide swath. The veteran community is a big tent. You're going to have a lot of people with different care needs. And it just can be difficult for everyone.

specific solutions. There's a lot of solutions that people have.

and none that we've seen as an organization that have been presented to Congress in the form of legislation. A lot of people have a lot of different ideas. And, you know, homelessness is the biggest one here. The Secretary of the Veterans Affairs is out here, Secretary McDonough, doing the point-in-time analysis on homeless veterans here.

you know, promised to get 500 veterans off the street by the end of last year. You know, a lot of those veterans went from Veterans Row in a tent city here in L.A. to a set of tents literally on the VA campus just now with showers and three meals a day. So as with a lot of things, the VA views these issues kind of transactionally when in reality we need to take a step back and look at how

how can we holistically serve these populations? Because the reason that they're homeless, you know, it may be a mental health issue.

70% of homeless veterans have a substance abuse issue. You know, it could be the fact that they don't, they don't have a driver's license. They don't have, it could be a legal issue. There's a lot of different reasons, but trying to get the VA to be less transactional and again, orient yourself to the ultimate authority here, which is the individual veteran. How can we best serve them? Cause each veteran is unique and has a different story. So again,

That's what we've been seeing. We've seen a lot of veterans, homeless veterans. We've seen some veterans struggling to access mental health. We've seen some veterans that have had great experience with VA, right? But unfortunately, you know, our poll indicated that it might just not be enough.

We've been talking with Cole Lyle of Mission Roll Call. He has served our country as a Marine, now serving other veterans as they have their own journeys and their own struggles. Thank you, Cole, for being out there, being an advocate and somebody who understands how Washington works too, as you advocate for policies for our veterans. God bless you. And thank you for making time for us today. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me on. ♪♪♪

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