If you are a veteran in crisis, or you are worried about one, call or text 988 and press 1. The Veterans Crisis Line is staffed around the clock. You do not need to be enrolled in VA care to use it.
Most people who lose a veteran to suicide say afterward that they saw something. A call that did not get returned. A person who stopped coming around. Something in a conversation that sat wrong and got set aside, because they did not know what to say and were afraid of making it worse.
The Fire Watch was built for that gap.
WHAT THE FIRE WATCH DOES
The Fire Watch is Florida’s first statewide community response to veteran suicide, and the model is CPR. You do not need to be a cardiologist to keep someone alive until the ambulance comes. You need to know what to look for and what to do in the next few minutes.
Their Watch Stander program trains ordinary people to recognize a veteran in crisis and guide them toward help. No clinical background. No live session. About forty-five minutes.
You don’t need to be a counselor. You need to be a connector.
WHY THIS MATTERS HERE
In its 2025 annual report, The Fire Watch identified the five Florida counties with the largest increases in veteran suicides between 2019 and 2023. Manatee County is one of them.
The same report found a 12 percent decrease in veteran suicides in counties with more Watch Standers, compared with a 2 percent decrease in counties with fewer. Their conclusion was that the program needs to expand into high-risk regions of the state.
We live in one.
WHY THIS PILLAR
The Fire Watch anchors our Strengthen pillar. Every Watch Stander is a neighbor who has been made ready, and a community with enough of them stops depending on whether a veteran happens to reach the right professional at the right moment.
Knights of Columbus San Damiano Assembly 3192 became the first Knights assembly in Florida to earn Veteran Safe Place Certification, with more than fifty-five trained Watch Standers. That is what this looks like when a single organization decides to do it.
HOW TO STAND WITH THEM
Take the training. Free, self-paced, about forty-five minutes, in two videos. The first covers what veterans want you to understand about suicide risk. The second teaches a practical framework for recognizing warning signs, asking directly, and connecting someone to help. You finish by signing a pledge to stand watch and receive access to a statewide directory of veteran support services.
Select Veteran/Active Duty or Civilian when you register.
Bring the training to your group. If your parish, HOA, civic group, employer, or organization wants to host a session, we can connect you with The Fire Watch Regional Program Director serving the Manatee and Sarasota area.
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Give. The Fire Watch depends on community support to train Watch Standers, expand into counties like ours, and sustain the data work that tracks these trends across Florida.
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WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES
Neighbors in Service accepts no donations for itself. Your gift goes directly to The Fire Watch through their own secure gateway. They process it, they receipt it, and they train with it.
Stand With Us
If you are a veteran and you are struggling, you are not a burden and you are not beyond reach. Call or text 988 and press 1. If that feels like too much right now, tell one person. Manatee County Veterans Services can also help you find your way to care at 941-745-3795.
If you are a neighbor, forty-five minutes is the entire ask. You will not become a counselor and nobody expects you to. You will become someone who notices, and who knows what to say next. In a county the data has already flagged, that is not a small thing to be.
Questions, or want to bring training to your organization? Contact Dr. Jack McGourty at drjack@neighborsinservice.org.
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