ST. LOUIS, Missouri — The Armory is hosting a "Toast to the Troops" on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., including a silent auction and raffle, to help raise money for a new local veterans charity to open here in St. Louis.
Tim Metheny, a retired Command Sergeant Major who spent 34 years in the U.S. Army, traveled to St. Louis to help launch the local chapter of USA Cares, a veteran and family support system that operates in dozens of states across the country.
To date, no USA Cares chapter has opened anywhere in Missouri, something that is personal to Matheny.
"My first plane flight ever was out of Saint Louis to basic training," he told 5 On Your Side.
His travels took him to Iraq, where he earned a Purple Heart when shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade pierced his jaw, and eventually to Afghanistan, where he became the Command Sergeant Major overseeing American troops, sometimes pinning medals on them for their valor.
He recalled a moment in Afghanistan when he went to the hospital to visit "a young man that has been shot in the hip, shot through the face, and he's completely sedated, and the general and I go in to put his Purple Heart on him, and this guy's trying to sit up in a hospital bed and trying to salute the general."
It was in between deployments when tragedy struck Metheny's family during a stateside stint at Fort Hood.
"Worst day of my life," he said. "I've lost 147 people in combat, and that was that was the worst day of my life."
That morning at breakfast was the last time he'd ever see his 14-year-old son Zach.
"My daughter called me -- or texted me -- and said, 'Zach's not at school.' He wasn't on the bus. And so then we started looking and then they found him about an hour and a half later. He had he had gone across the street and shot himself."
Metheny's struggles of coping with the pain of losing a family member to suicide drive his passion to help veterans' families avoid the same fate.
"We lost close to 5,500 people in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said, "and over the last 20 years, we've lost close to 21,000 to suicide."
Why do so many veterans find themselves in despair?
"Sooner or later, [everything] just weighs you down," he explained. "Every one of those stressors comes in and and then you get to the point where you're like, 'Well, I'm I'm a failure. I'm unsuccessful.' Especially if you've been serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. You got to feel like, 'Why did I do that?' I spent years away from my family and I went through I mean, it cost me a son. It cost me a marriage. And then you come back and you go, 'Why?'"
The nonprofit USA Cares helped Metheny renew his mission to continue helping his fellow soldiers.
"I feel like I'm back on the team again," he said.
The charity raises money to help veterans and their families avoid financial hardships, such as eviction, utility costs, job loss, or medical debt.
If you or anyone you know are experiencing thoughts of suicide, you can reach help at 314-469-6644 or call 988.