Navy veteran sets up awareness display in Plains

The annual veteran suicide awareness display is up, growing and changing, a testament to it being a "living display," said Ed Foste, who started the program six years ago to bring awareness to the suicide problem of military veterans.

Foste, a Navy veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) set up the display of a kneeling military man and woman silhouettes, a cross and a tattered Green Star flag, which specifically using the shabby looking American flag to illustrate a veteran's struggle with PTSD and war. This year, the display once again grew with banners from local businesses and organizations. Clark Fork Valley Hospital, VFW Post 3596 of Plains, Bean Bug Cafe, Von Construction, Wild Horse Veterinary Clinic and Joint Operation Mariposa purchased banners in support of September's National Suicide Prevention Month.

It took Foste less than an hour to erect the display along the greenway on Railroad Street last Thursday evening, but the retired Navy sailor spent a few minutes each night, along with helpers, placing small American flags at the display, adding 22 each night to signify the average of 22 veterans who die by suicide each day. The flags will grow by 22 each night until the end of the month, at which time there will be 660 flags.

Foste started the program with the nonprofit organization Joint Operation Mariposa and though he's no longer with JOM, he wanted to take on the project himself, partly as a promise he made to himself after his only brother, an Army veteran, died by suicide eight years ago, and for the Green Star families, who lost loved ones to suicide. "It's important because I don't want other families to go through what I felt," said the 61-year-old Foste, who served on three Navy aircraft carriers during the Gulf War and retired in 2002.

Foste said that the purpose of the display is public awareness and that it's now a community display. He noted that military vets are at a much higher risk to die by suicide because of added stress placed on them daily for long periods of time.

"Since the announcement of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, there have been prominent concerns that the pandemic could increase suicide rates," according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. "In 2020, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death among veterans overall, and it was the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45," the VA stated.

In addition to the flag and silhouettes, Foste installed solar lights, which flicker to simulate an eternal flame. He also placed a pot of artificial flowers at the foot of the display to signify love, said Foste, who is looking for additional volunteers to put out the flags each night.