Senator pushes for mental health screening for military

Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly announced Wednesday that he is working on a new bill that will provide better care for our men and women in uniform who are at risk of committing suicide.

It would require all military members get a mental health assessment by medical professionals who can pick out risk factors before it is too late.

Senator Donnelly says the best and most consistent screening is only happening among troops who have been deployed.

Another part of the bill aims to improve mental health screenings within the National Guard where suicide rates are climbing.

"To truly understand the scourge of military suicide, we need to know the stories of the individual men and women we have lost. Their lives say far more than the statistics. For me, this about people like Jacob Sexton, a proud son of Farmland, Indiana, and a National Guard specialist, who tragically took his life while home on a 15-day leave from Afghanistan," said Senator Donnelly.

Donnelly is trying to get his proposal tucked into the annual defense bill.