SALT LAKE CITY — With 17 veterans taking their own lives every single day, a Utah army veteran is encouraging others to get connected with resources during Suicide Awareness Month.

“You know, so you find reasons to fight and you fight,” said veteran and mental health advocate Bryan Jacobs.

For Jacobs, first there was a fight. Then there was finding a purpose.

“I got to the point where I didn’t feel like I mattered in the world,” he admitted Wednesday.

Jacobs served as a combat engineer in the U.S. Army, traveling roads before everyone else did, just to make sure they were safe and clear for troops. He was just 22 years old when a bomb went off on one of the routes.

“When it detonated, I remember getting blown out of the vehicle. I remember how blue the sky was that day,” he recalled.

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