08/25/2026
We wish this did not have to become an argument. But in our comments and messages, we hear it again and again: debates over what color star a family should be, whose loss “qualifies,” and where a family belongs after losing a Veteran to su***de.
And that conversation goes to the very heart of why Green Star exists.
The Gold Star has a long and deeply honored place in America’s military-family tradition. We respect that history. We respect Gold Star families. And Green Star Families has never existed to take one single thing away from them.
We are here because there is another group of families who have too often been left standing on the outside.
Families who lost a Veteran to su***de. Families whose loved one served, sacrificed, came home, carried wounds that were not always visible, and later died by su***de..
This should not be a competition over grief. It should not be a fight over whose loss matters more. There is already far too much pain in the military and Veteran community for us to turn on one another.
We should be standing beside each other.
Supporting each other.
Loving each other.
Honoring the lives and service of those we lost.
No family should feel invisible.
