Close to 90 people, including many Lewis County veterans, their families and friends, attended the Veterans Day program on Monday, Nov. 11, at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis.
The program included a speech by Operation Iraqi Freedom U.S. Army veteran David Konkler along with a Quilts of Valor ceremony where five veterans were honored with handmade quilts.
Those five veterans included:
Quilts of Valor is a nationwide nonprofit started in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, the mother of an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who wanted to help her son. It focuses on helping veterans find healing in part by gifting them handmade quilts.
Since its founding, more than 400,000 quilts have been given to veterans across the country.
During his speech, Konkler focused on the mental health challenges many veterans face following the transition back to civilian life along with his own personal struggles, his crusade against veteran suicides and the founding of the Nineline Veteran Services nonprofit.
“It’s OK to not be OK. It’s not OK to do it alone. Please don't, because there are people that love you. Your story is important,” Konkler said.
Being a bit of a troubled teenager, Konkler found himself working random jobs after a stint in the Washington state Job Corps.
“Decided to do a little bit of some meaningless work, and realized that’s not where I wanted to be. So I went and visited one of the greatest car salesmen — I’m sorry if there’s any recruiters in here — but I went and met with my recruiter and decided I was going to enlist,” Konkler said.
Originally, he was lined up to be a Patriot missile control technician, but his recruiter talked him into becoming a tank gunner.
After graduating boot camp in 2005 and completing his tank gunner training, Konkler was first stationed in Germany, but it wasn’t longer than four months before he found himself on his first deployment in Iraq.
“My first duty station in Iraq was Tal Afar, but then we got restationed in Ramadi, because Ramadi was popping off and 1st Mar Div (Marine Division) needed tanks,” Konkler said. “... Tal Afar, we got a taste of what it looked like, and then we hit Ramadi. And Ramadi was absolutely flabbergasting, the things that were going on.”
He didn’t go into detail, but said he saw both the highs of helping out his fellow service members and the lows of how what they were doing affected them, including afflicting some of them with PTSD.
“The mental health issues that we have are real things. Some of us can find a way to get through them. Some of us have to find other outlets,” Konkler said.
Many of the mental stresses Konkler endured were compounded when, seven months into the deployment, his unit received deployment extension orders. In total, his unit spent 15 months in Iraq.
“We were ready to go back home and they were telling us that we had to stay. That was heartbreaking,” Konkler added. “You have every plan and intention that you’re going to be home. You’re gonna be with your loved ones. I had just gotten married. We just had a kid, and my kid was over a year old by the time I got back home. I didn’t get to see the majority of the things I was hoping to see as a father.”
When they finally did return, Konkler discovered the Army’s attitude toward mental health issues at the time wasn’t very good either. His chain of command at the time would always say that they were there for the troops.
“But when we go and do some of the in-processing, that wasn’t the case. When we went to go have conversations with the mental health providers … we were briefed before we went into the room that if we said anything, ‘You’re under risk of an Article 15. You have to stay combat ready. If you’re not combat ready, you’re useless.’ That’s how they looked at it,” Konkler said.
Article 15s are non-judicial punishments unit commanders can hand out to soldiers in the Army for minor misconduct issues not needing a court martial, but can still result in loss of rank and forfeiture of pay.
Both Konkler and the other soldiers in his unit did as they were told, and said nothing of their PTSD symptoms, keeping what they had seen and done secret from the mental health providers, Konkler said.
Despite this, Konkler was still hoping to make a career out of his time in the Army and re-enlisted. He deployed again to Iraq in 2011.
“This time was completely different. When we went back, it was a police action. Our hands were tied. The things that I was used to there in 2005 were completely different. We weren’t able to have the same ROE (rules of engagement),” Konkler said.
The adjustment was rough for him, and Konkler found himself stressed even more than during his first tour despite this second tour being much more uneventful. The PTSD from his first tour had begun to torment him, causing him to start to self-destruct following his return stateside.
He ended up injuring his back repairing a tank and was medically separated from the Army due to his injury and his PTSD diagnosis in 2013. This was another big hit to his mental health as he had hoped to serve a full career.
“Eight years and some change, to be medically retired, that was a waste, a loss of everything I was driving for. So when I got out, I continued to self-destruct. Drugs and alcohol were my lifeline and crutch,” Konkler said.
He ended up getting divorced and losing custody of his children, but when that happened, he realized he didn’t want to lose his children forever and finally started seeking counseling — which was the start of his recovery.
“It doesn’t help deal with the issues though, so I had to start looking around elsewhere,” Konkler added.
He realized he needed to start making changes within his own personal life that brought him happiness and joy.
After undergoing some equine therapy, he realized it was helping, but realized he couldn’t afford a horse of his own and it wasn't a permanent solution.
Konkler remarried and, together with new his wife, noticed the effect that getting out into nature for hikes was having on his mental health.
“We started talking and we decided, ‘why don’t we try to get other veterans out too?’” he said.
While doing that and working with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit that helps veterans get involved with local community volunteer projects, Konkler met Shawn Durnen.
Together, they founded Nineline Veteran Services in 2015.
By 2020, Nineline had grown from an organization to help provide veterans with mental health services and getting out into nature to also include veteran housing projects. In 2022, Nineline was also awarded a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention grant.
“This is near and dear to my heart. People’s mental health, the connection that we can have as humans, is important. Getting connected again and serving those that have been willing to give it all, they deserve it the most,” said Konkler said.
The grant funds a suicide prevention program for veterans that provides them with much more than just mental health counseling.
“We will also get them connected with alternative therapeutics, and we will also look at the whole picture … And the whole picture isn’t just because of PTSD. The whole picture is what’s really going on. Is there housing insecurity, is there food insecurity, are there issues at home?” Konkler said.
Whatever the issues are, he and his fellow peer counselors at Nineline will help their fellow veterans through them.
Nationwide, 22 veterans commit suicide every day, according to the VA, which has established a hotline for veterans and their loved ones, which can be reached by calling 988 and then pressing 1.
For more information, visit https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/.
To learn more about Nineline Veterans Services, including how to get involved, visit https://www.9linevets.org/.
