Green Star horse painting joins Plains parade

Having a horse in a parade is not unusual, but a green one seems to stand out, especially when it's being pulled by people.

The horse is a painting done by local artists to pay tribute to Green Star Families - those who lost veteran family members to suicide - an epidemic that seems to be a constant rise in the United States, according to David Williams, who created the Green Star painting four years ago with Plains resident Hailee Steinebach. Williams is also the founder of Joint Operation Mariposa, a nonprofit organization to help military veterans and the organization that is sponsoring the painting's cross country trek. 

The six-foot tall, eight-foot wide horse painting began its "Veteran Suicide Awareness Journey" last week in Washington, but on Saturday it was part of the Sanders County Fair Parade through Plains, being pulled down Railroad Street by Williams, his son, Kristafer, Robert Hicks and Brad Kinzie, all of Plains. It had been mounted on a custom made frame with wheels for when it's walked through a town. 

The painting's trip started in Neah Bay, Wash., last Tuesday and will finish on Sept. 12 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where it will be "donated to the nation and accepted by leading political figures from both the House and Senate," said Heather Allen, a veteran of the Air Force and JOM's vice president. Allen made the schedule for the painting's trek across the country, including 42 stops and one parade. Allen and Williams are taking the painting to Washington, D.C. It's next few stops include Polson, Missoula and Butte. There are scheduled stops at military bases and veterans service organizations communities along the trip. At those stops, veterans, their families and the families of veterans that have taken their own lives will be invited to add their names to the back of the artwork, according to Allen. 

"I decided to make the journey because the subject hit really close to home," said Williams, who served in the Navy aboard the aircraft carriers USS Constellation and the USS Carl Vincent from 1980 to 1984. "I do not know of a single veteran who can't give you the name of someone they know that has made this choice and I would like to see a day we don't hear about this ever again," added Williams. According to a Veterans Administration report, military veterans consist of 13.5% of deaths by suicide in the United States, even though veterans are only 7.9% of the adult population. The report stated that veteran suicide is an ongoing phenomenon among U.S. veterans compared to the general civilian population.

The JOM was established in 2015 to help foster veteran to veteran interactions through art, education and therapy. One of the organization's missions is to bring awareness to veteran suicides and to help the families impacted. "I started JOM because of the lack of veterans services located in Sanders County, not to mention communities just outside the county," said Williams. "With access to these services veterans are able to start businesses, buy houses, go to college, and help grow the communities that they live in," he added.

"The average number of suicides per day among U.S. adults rose 55.0%, from 81.0 in 2001 to 125.6 in 2019. Across the same 18-year period, the average number of veteran suicides per day rose 4.5%, from 16.4 in 2001 to 17.2 in 2019," according to the VA. Williams said suicide is a silent killer in the U.S. He hopes the painting going across the country will make more people aware of the problems veterans encounter when going from military to civilian life. 

This green horse was painted on burlap in 2018 as part of the "Guardians of the Herd" exhibit on the Plains greenway. A painting of a horse was created to depict each on the five branches of the military, along with one representing the disabled veteran, another for those who died in the service of their country, and the Green Star horse. A custom frame for the painting was designed by a group of people. Williams made the top piece. The left side was made by Tom Collins, the right side, Rich Cotte, and the bottom was done by Allen, Angela Muse and Janet Brandon.

The Green Star Families painting was on display at VFW Post 3596 in Plains for nearly two hours Saturday morning. It already had nearly 300 signatures before being set up in front of the VFW, where another 50-plus people affixed their signatures to the back of the painting. Allen said they plan to continue gathering signatures on the painting's backside during its journey across the country. People can also add the names of their loved ones who had committed suicide, said Williams.

"This journey is a great way to bring awareness to the struggles that veterans deal with as well as families of veterans who died by suicide," said Allen, who spent 10 years in the Air Force and is now the quartermaster of Post 3596. "We want our message to be that they are not alone. They are not the only ones out there struggling. There is help available and many others going through the same thing who will listen and relate," she added.

"I have already seen its effect in just the couple of stops that we have made already," said Williams, including a husband and wife that lost their son, and two young ladies that lost their mother. "You can see it in their eyes the stress and loss. You know it helps when they hug you and smile or when they tell you how they feel and tell you stories about their loved one and then write their loved ones name and then their names to the back of the painting," said Williams. He said the government spends thousands of dollars to train military members, but nothing after they leave the service. "I think they need to take as much time to retrain us to be civilians as it took to be soldiers and sailors," he added. "It's in the first couple of years after service that you begin to see the delayed effect of their time in service. If we took a year after service retraining and getting us used to not being who we were, I think you would see the rates go way down," he said.

People can track the Green Horse's journey by visiting the JOM website at http://www.jointoperationmariposa.org or on their Facebook page.