COVINGTON, Ky. — For years, Northern Kentucky native Brian Martin listened to stories of military service from friends and family. While his father didn’t speak much about his time in uniform, his mother would often speak of her father’s time serving in the Pacific during World War II.
"Hearing all those stories, knowing a lot of people that have been involved in the military, it's always been something that's resonated in the back of my mind," Martin said.
Over the years, he’s read numerous news stories and engaged in the growing awareness regarding mental health and, more importantly, the connection to suicide among veterans and active duty members.
One day, the songwriter picked up his guitar, and his fingers began to pluck away.
"My personal belief is sometimes there are songs that kind of already exist out there. And you're just a conduit, because of the ones that come real easy," Martin said. "(I) was kind of playing something plucky and upbeat, and just started singing some words and it started to flow. And in the second that I had the first line, I knew what the song was going to be about."
His song "Good Enough" is from a veteran’s perspective.
"The first time we're saying, 'I'm old enough the military will take me. They think I'm good enough to die.' The second time is saying, 'A mistake happened. It didn't bring me peace, but apparently it's good enough to die,'" Martin said, describing some of the lyrics of the song. “Finally, I've reached the end of the line here, and I'm running out of options, and let’s see if this combination of cocaine and Sertraline is good enough to die.”
Martin had two goals when creating the song. One is to de-stigmatize the issue of PTSD and veteran suicide to hopefully open up further discussions about the topic, working on solutions. The other goal is to raise money for the Headstrong Project.
According to the nonprofit’s website, they’re a "mental health organization providing confidential, barrier-free, and stigma-free PTSD treatment to our veterans, service members, and family connected to their care."
The website goes on to say their goal is to provide effective mental health treatment.
Martin said all money via streams or downloads will be donated directly to Headstrong Project.
"A stream of the song will probably generate anywhere from three to five cents. If you download it once for $1, that's 75 cents. And so, all the money that will come in, I will then funnel it back to the Headstrong Project," Martin said.
You can listen to or download the song on a variety of platforms. Click here for more information.
For Martin, this mission to support veterans through the song is a way to serve veterans and give back to a community that has sacrificed so much for our country.
"Something that my parents instilled in me the idea of you know, leave any place you go better than you found it," Martin said. "And that's the same for life and earth, so you know if I can leave things a little better than I found it, I'll be happy with that."
