The Pentagon is set to implement a law that requires them to provide mental health services for troops after a delay of more than a year, according to a defense official with knowledge of the matter.
The law is named the Brandon Act after Brandon Caserta, a 21-year-old sailor who took his own life at Naval Air Station Norfolk in June 2018. In letters to his parents and to his friends, Caserta said he was constantly hazed and bullied in the Navy, and he saw no other way out.
Passed into law as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Brandon Act requires the military to provide a mental health evaluation if a service member self-reports a problem or seeks help. It also allows service members to seek confidential help outside the chain of command.
But the law languished for more than a year, as the Defense Department said it was working on how best to put into effect the requirements of the act. On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to sign a policy to start the implementation of the law, the defense official said.
Caserta had told his commanders that he was suffering from depression, but they took no action, according to his father, who served 22 years in the Navy, and his mother.
“It took way too long for something like this to take place,” Teri Caserta told CNN. “A bill like this that can save military service members’ lives, we should not have had to fight this hard.”
Caserta’s parents plan to attend the Friday signing ceremony at the Pentagon.
“I’ve had so many service members’ moms tell me that if the Brandon Act was in place, their son or daughter would be alive today,” Caserta said.
In 2021, the latest year for which numbers are available, 519 US service members died by suicide. Though a slight decrease…
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