Jack Goetz visits with Jeff Kyle, the brother of American Sniper Chris Kyle, duing a ceremony honoring veterans and first responders during Operation True North's Patriot Day Golf Classic, on Monday September 11, 2023, at Crossing Creeks Country Club. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)

For veterans who are struggling with mental health issues, the key to getting help is having humility.

That’s the message Marine Corps veteran Jeff Kyle, brother of the late “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, gave during Operation True North’s Patriot Day Golf Classic on Monday at the Crossing Creeks Country Club in Longview.

“I finally sucked it up and said, ‘I need help,’” Kyle said about his experience with counseling. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d be on a wall somewhere. My name would be etched in stone.”

Monday’s golfing event raised funds for Operation True North, a Longview counseling service for veterans, first responders and their families. Founded in 2019, the organization is funded by donation and through insurance payments for services.

The event also served as a memorial ceremony for those who were killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York – and as a way to remember the mental scars veterans carry home after combat.

Jeff Kyle serves as president of the American Valor Foundation. The organization supports a scholarship named after his brother, a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper who recorded more kills than any other U.S. sniper. Chris Kyle’s story was recounted in his 2012 autobiography and the 2014 Clint Eastwood film “American Sniper.”

The brothers struggled with their mental health because of their military service.

“My brother, he was my sounding board when he was alive,” Jeff Kyle said. “In between deployments, we’d call each other and get everything off of our chest. I’d go to a lot of places that he was coming home from, so we would kind of tell each other stories and bounce ideas off each other, talk about our brothers that we lost the time before. That was our sounding board. That was our counseling.”

When Jeff Kyle was discharged from the military, information about counseling services for veterans was limited, he said. Life got tougher after his brother was killed in 2013 by a veteran whom he was intending to help.

“Whenever I lost my brother, I lost my counseling,” Jeff Kyle said. “I was one of those that, I came home with all four limbs that I went over there with, so I was too proud. I didn’t need any help. I figured, ‘Well, I’m screwed up. Now, I’m just like the rest of us. So, I’m just going to find my way and deal with it.’ Well, that wasn’t the right way to go about it.”

Kyle’s mental health affected his family, he said. His children were scared of him, and his marriage nearly crumbled. He didn’t seek professional counseling until another Marine urged him to do so.

As a veteran and police officer, Kyle said he has seen that first responders and veterans alike often don’t want to talk about mental health challenges. But concealing a problem, he said, only makes it worse.

“I’ve lost more brothers back home than I did overseas,” Kyle said. “To me, that’s ridiculous. I’m tired of losing brothers. I’m tired of seeing flag-draped coffins. I don’t want to see another one. So, suck it up. You’re not too proud. Get help if you need help. Be there for your brothers and sisters.”

Kyle encouraged those who aren’t familiar with Operation True North to learn more about what the organization does for veterans and their families.

Joanna Goodwin and Grace Henderson founded the organization. Henderson said they’re serving between 60 and 70 clients each week through counseling and peer support groups.

“So much of what we do is about community,” Henderson said. “We have lost too many not in the war, but since coming home. So, we want to make sure that everyone’s connected, everybody’s got the resources that they need, the people that they need to surround them and give them that support.”

Angie Kaldro, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant who attended the event, said she agreed with Kyle that veterans need to open up about their time during the service. Female veterans face unique challenges during and after their duty, she said.

“Some are just too stubborn to say, ‘Hey, maybe I have a problem,’” Kaldro said. “You get to a point where you feel like, if you show weakness, then you’re not performing your job because that is part of your job, to be strong.”

She said the support of family, friends and fellow veterans is essential for veterans coping with difficult and traumatic military experiences.

“People need to talk,” Kaldro said. “They need to be able to express their feelings where it’s non-judgmental. Another opinion always helps.”

Jace Halbrook, a former U.S. Army staff sergeant and current Operation True North client, said Kyle’s message gave him a fresh perspective on getting mental health treatment.

“American heroes are just like the rest of us,” Halbrook said. “So, a hero, if he has to go to therapy, then that means that we have to go to therapy just like anybody else.”

To learn more about Operation True North, visit https://operationtruenorth.com/ or call 903-932-3938.