If you are a veteran or service member in crisis, call or text 988 and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line, or text 838255. You do not have to be enrolled in VA care to use it.
Purple Heart Day is August 7, a day to recognize the service members wounded or killed in combat and awarded the Purple Heart. It honors a physical sacrifice. This piece is about the part that often goes unseen, the wounds that do not show up in a medal citation, and the support that helps veterans carry them.
When it is and why it matters
The Purple Heart is the oldest US military decoration still in use, tracing back to George Washington’s Badge of Military Merit in 1782. August 7 marks the date it was revived in its modern form in 1932. On paper it recognizes those wounded or killed in action. In practice, for a lot of the veterans I have worked with, the day surfaces a complicated mix, pride and grief and the memory of people who did not come home.
Here is why I write about it on a directory for support groups. The visible wound gets the ceremony. The invisible ones, post-traumatic stress, depression, moral injury, the slow ache of losing your unit, tend to get handled alone. And veterans are a population where handling things alone can be genuinely dangerous.
What does the research say about veteran mental health?
Start with the hard number. Veterans die by suicide at a markedly higher rate than non-veteran US adults, even after accounting for differences in age and sex (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2023). That is not a reason for despair. It is a reason to treat connection as a serious intervention rather than a soft one, because isolation is one of the threads running through that risk.
There is also a concept that helps a lot of veterans make sense of their experience: moral injury. Researchers describe it as the lasting psychological harm that follows acts, or failures to act, that violate a person’s deepest moral beliefs, which is distinct from fear-based trauma (Litz et al., 2009). In my work, naming moral injury out loud is often a turning point, because it tells a veteran their pain is a moral response, not a malfunction. That reframing lands differently coming from another veteran who gets it.
On the connection side, the broader evidence is blunt. Loneliness and social isolation are linked to a 26 to 32 percent higher risk of early death (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, Baker, Harris, & Stephenson, 2015). Group support pushes back on exactly that. Irvin Yalom calls one of its core ingredients universality, the relief of learning your struggle is shared (Yalom & Leszcz, 2020), and for veterans, who often trust people who have worn the uniform more than anyone else, a room of peers can reach places a clinic sometimes cannot.
Veteran support groups in our directory
The Group Guide is a directory built to help you find the right room without the runaround. You can search by population and by format. Start with a keyword search for veteran support groups. If combat trauma is the core of it, our pages on PTSD support groups and understanding PTSD and peer support speak directly to that. And if this Purple Heart Day carries grief for someone you lost, grief and veteran support may fit better.
How do you choose a veteran support group?
A few honest pointers. Peer-led veteran groups run on shared experience and are often free, which matters because a lot of veterans will walk into a room of peers before they will walk into a clinic. Clinician-led groups add professional structure and are a strong fit when trauma is heavy. If you are weighing the two, our comparison of peer support versus clinician-led groups lays it out. Consider format too, since online groups reach rural veterans and anyone for whom leaving the house is the hard part. Then give it a few sessions before you decide. New to all of this? How to find a support group near you is a solid starting point.
Other resources
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line, or text 838255. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can connect you with mental health care whether or not you are enrolled. Nonprofits like the Wounded Warrior Project and peer networks such as Vet Centers offer community-based support as well.
Frequently asked questions
What is Purple Heart Day?
Purple Heart Day is observed every August 7 to honor US service members wounded or killed in combat and awarded the Purple Heart medal. The date marks the 1932 revival of the decoration, which descends from George Washington’s 1782 Badge of Military Merit. It is a day of recognition and remembrance for combat sacrifice, both the visible wounds and the ones that are harder to see.
Why do veterans face higher mental health risks?
Combat exposure, repeated deployments, moral injury, and the loss of the tight-knit unit structure after service all contribute. Veterans die by suicide at a higher rate than non-veteran adults even after adjusting for age and sex (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2023). None of this is a sign of weakness. It reflects genuinely extreme experiences and the difficulty of the transition back to civilian life, which is exactly why connection and support matter so much.
What is moral injury?
Moral injury is the lasting psychological and spiritual harm that can follow acts, or failures to act, that violate a person’s deepest moral beliefs (Litz et al., 2009). It is related to but distinct from PTSD, which is rooted in fear. Moral injury shows up as guilt, shame, and a loss of trust. Many veterans find that simply having a name for it, and hearing peers describe the same thing, brings real relief.
Are veteran support groups only for combat veterans?
No. Support groups exist for all veterans and service members, including those who did not see combat, National Guard and reserve members, and military families. Some groups are broad, others focus on specific experiences like combat trauma, military sexual trauma, or grief. The shared thread is military life, and you do not need a Purple Heart to belong.
How do I support a veteran who is struggling?
Show up and stay steady. Ask directly how they are doing, listen without trying to fix, and avoid pushing them to relive combat before they are ready. Point them toward peer support, where connection with other veterans often opens doors that clinical settings cannot. And keep the Veterans Crisis Line handy: 988, then press 1. If you are worried about immediate safety, do not wait.
References
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237.
Litz, B. T., Stein, N., Delaney, E., Lebowitz, L., Nash, W. P., Silva, C., & Maguen, S. (2009). Moral injury and moral repair in war veterans: A preliminary model and intervention strategy. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(8), 695–706.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. (2023). National veteran suicide prevention annual report.
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th ed.). Basic Books.
The Group Guide is a directory. Group leaders write their own listings, and we do not vet, supervise, or endorse the groups listed here. We are not a clinic and we do not provide clinical services or guarantee outcomes. That is the group’s work, not ours. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.