The Brandon Act

The Brandon Act was created because our son Brandon Caserta, died by suicide on June 25, 2018. He was bullied and hazed among many other things by his Naval command, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28 in Norfolk, VA, to the point of no return. No one in his command helped him and he felt he could not get help from anyone because of the retaliation he knew he would receive. He told many people in his chain of command that he was depressed and all they told him to do was suck it up and go back to work.

Patrick who is a 22-year retired Navy Senior Chief, tried helping Brandon the entire time he was at HSC-28 but nothing worked. Patrick called the command and Brandon was retaliated against for his father calling concerned for Brandon’s welfare and well-being. They were going to take Brandon to Captain’s Mast for not driving. Please read Brandon's entire story and what happened to him on Military Corruption website. The link is on the "Additional Stories and Interviews" page of this website.

Brandon worked all day long on June 25, 2018. The last flight ops of the day Brandon grabbed is cranial, ran up to the plane captain, yelled over the noise of the helicopter, “I’m sorry for what you are about to see”, ran to the rotating rear tail rotor, threw off his cranial, jumped, missed and then jump again and made contact. He did this in front of the watchful eyes of his command and the flight line. He was not even involved in the flight ops and was not even supposed to be on the deck. No one stopped him, no one ran after him when they saw him. After it happened, everyone on that flight line ran away. No one gave him medical attention.

We created The Brandon Act to allow the men and women who serve in the United States of America’s Armed Forces to get help without retaliation whatsoever from anyone in their commands and will hold people accountable for their actions, if it is deemed necessary. It will allow them to get counseling for any issues they may have from bullying to sexual/mental/ domestic abuse among many other issues. With “The Brandon Act” in place, we hope to completely eliminate suicides in the Armed Forces.

The Brandon Act that was Introduced to Congress On June 16, 2021

117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. R. 3942 & S. 2088

To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the process by which a member of the Armed Forces may be referred for a mental health evaluation.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 16, 2021

Mr. MOULTON (for himself, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. KAHELE, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. NORTON, Ms. CHU, and Ms. STRICKLAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the process by which a member of the Armed Forces may be referred for a mental health evaluation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Brandon Act”.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY REFERRAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION.

Section 1090a of title 10, United States Code, is amended—

(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and

(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsection:

“(e) PROCESS APPLICABLE TO MEMBER DISCLOSURE.—The regulations required by subsection (a) shall—

“(1) establish a phrase that enables a member of the armed forces to trigger a referral of the member by a commanding officer or supervisor for a mental health evaluation;

“(2) require a commanding officer or supervisor to make such referral as soon as practicable following disclosure by the member to the commanding officer or supervisor of the phrase established under paragraph (1); and

“(3) ensure that the process protects the confidentiality of the member in a manner similar to the confidentiality provided for members making restricted reports under section 1565b(b) of this title.”.