Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehab Research (CINDRR)

MSG Tom Cruz accepting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2017 Consumer/Peer/Family Leadership Voice Award.

Tom Cruz, member of the CINDRR Veteran Engagement Executive Team and the Veteran Engagement Council, is an Active Duty Master Sergeant (MSG) in the United States Army with more than 22 years of service. He has been deployed in support of Operation Joint Guardian (Kosovo) and has been deployed three times to Iraq. MSG Cruz recently returned from a six-month deployment to Jordan and will be deployed to Japan for three years at the end of this year. MSG Cruz is a suicide attempt survivor and has experience in suicide prevention and suicide prevention awareness-raising efforts. Since his suicide attempt, MSG Cruz has become a passionate advocate of Veteran mental health awareness and prevention activities. He has developed two organizations to identify and assist Veterans with mental health issues, suicidal ideations, relationship issues, financial concerns, and other Veteran-specific challenges. MSG Cruz is Master Resilience Training, Level 1 certified; an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) trainer; and Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) trained. He is the Program Director for Suicide Prevention/Awareness with Veterans Counseling Veterans, Tampa, FL; an advisor to Animal Rescue & Veteran Support Services Corporation, Lake Mary, FL; and a subject matter expert on Veteran suicide with the Tampa VA, the White House, and the Office of the Surgeon General.

MSG Cruz received the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2017 Consumer/Peer/Family Leadership Voice Award for his work to ensure that America’s military and Veteran communities have access to the mental health and substance use treatment and services they deserve (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N4IV1L5ojs&feature=youtu.be). In an interview with the VSAMHSA Voice Award staff (http://www.soberrecovery.com/recovery/recovery-hero-of-the-week-br-tom-cruz/). MSG Cruz described his first experience with suicide. In 2008 in Iraq, his boss killed himself. MSG Cruz and his buddy took him home to bury him then returned to Iraq. The mental health counselor MSG Cruz saw after this event just laughed at him. In 2010, MSG Cruz abducted his then-fiancée, held her hostage and planned to kill her and himself. His fiancée talked him out of doing that and remained with him during his recovery on the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

After leaving Walter Reed, MSG Cruz was able to break the stigma of military mental health issues, was able to remain in the military, keep his top-secret clearance, and marry and raise a family. In 2011, he led a stand down on suicide prevention for his troops to get people to come out and talk to someone about their problems and to encourage Veterans to seek help early and where they could find help. The tremendous support for the stand down encouraged MSG Cruz and his wife to relate their own mental health challenges. He wishes now that he had continued his therapy and tried to find a more empathetic counselor; he emphasizes that it is important to keep looking and not give up. His wife can speak from her personal experience with suicide, how she was able to diffuse that situation, and her caregiving struggles with a spouse with PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

In addition to their speaking engagements, MSG Cruz reviews suicide-related mobile applications for the White House, DoD, and the VA to determine which ones are best. MSG Cruz spends many of his evenings on social media, identifying soldiers with suicidal ideation and helping connect them to resources. MSG Cruz and his wife are active with the following organizations: T*A*P*S (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, www.taps.org), the American Association of Suicidology (www.suicidology.org), Veterans Counseling Veterans (Vetscounselingvets.org) and OurDataHelps.org.

MSG Cruz has expressed his appreciation of his roles within the VEC, stating that it is great to see the local community reaching out to get a team of Veterans together to research Veteran issues. The impact of the VEC can be beneficial not only to Veterans in the local community but can be a model for Veteran communities across the country. MSG Cruz believes that empowering Veterans to be involved in decisions about their communities and their healthcare is crucial and puts the focus on Veterans--where it should be.