UPPO DEIB Spotlight – Tanner Kuth

Tanner Kuth serves as a Senior Recovery Consultant within the Corporate Asset Recovery team at MarketSphere Unclaimed Property Specialists. He recently discussed his personal experiences in the U.S. Army and his journey after retirement. Originally published on September 26, 2024, by the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization, MarketSphere is sharing this content again with permission.

DEIB Spotlight is a UPPO DEIB Committee initiative that celebrates the organization’s diversity by highlighting a member who helps make UPPO a welcoming association for all unclaimed property professionals.

Tanner Kuth served in the U.S. Army for a decade, including two combat tours in Afghanistan. During his second tour in 2009, 22 soldiers died, and 79 were wounded in one year in his battalion alone, making them the worst-hit Army unit during the entire Afghan campaign. He was among the injured when an IED blast resulted in numerous injuries, including a broken neck, back, coccyx, legs and feet. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and lost 70% of vision in his right eye, and his left leg injuries resulted in amputation.

Long after that tour, the unit’s casualties have grown beyond the 22 who lost their lives in combat. An additional 13 soldiers have died by suicide, including three from Tanner’s small reconnaissance platoon. Even more have attempted suicide, including Tanner.

Veteran suicide statistics are staggering. On average, more than 17 veterans take their own lives every day, according to 2003 U.S. Veterans Administration data. Other studies put the number as high as 24 per day.

Tanner’s suicide attempt occurred in 2017 after a bad relationship breakup, causing the split of his family and potentially devastating legal issues. It served as a wake-up call, leading Tanner to change the direction of his life by choosing to forgo retirement, seeking help and helping others.

“I had an overwhelming sense of guilt about almost leaving two children behind,” he said. “That hit me really hard. I realized I had to be better than that and turned my life around at that point. I recognized that not having a daily purpose was affecting my mental health, and despite having a cushy military retirement, I needed to go back to work. I went back to school, graduated magna cum laude with a business degree and earned a master’s degree in sports administration with a 3.9 GPA. While pursuing my master’s, I also got linked up with MarketSphere and have been off and running in unclaimed property ever since.”

While post-traumatic stress disorder surely contributes to the soaring military suicide rates, Tanner believes the causes are far more expansive than PTSD.

“I have traumatic stuff that goes all the way back to childhood,” he said. “Many soldiers do. We focus on the soldier aspect but discount our loss of identity – who we are, what we are. At the same time, we have more broken families, lost connection to faith, transient or scattered communities, less shared sacrifice making it harder for soldiers to relate to their peers, stuff like that which is unique to these last couple generations of combat veterans.”

While working to understand his mental health issues, Tanner heard a podcast featuring former Green Beret and successful businessman Chris Cathers, discussing how he deals with frequent suicidal ideation despite his years of success, as well as the organization he founded to help others, Brothers Keeper Veterans Foundation. Cathers’s story resonated with Tanner.

“Here’s a very successful guy, someone who, similar to myself, operated with specialized units in the military, doing great in his civilian career, but still battles these demons,” Tanner said. “After I turned my life around and started becoming successful outside of my military career, I still battle these thoughts, have a traumatic brain injury and deal with childhood trauma. It’s easy to beat myself up and blame myself. After hearing Chris’s story, I really wanted to get involved with his organization.”

Tanner connected with Brothers Keeper Veterans Foundation and is now an ambassador for the nonprofit. BKVF works to raise awareness of and destigmatize military-based mental health issues by connecting those in need to personalized treatments without barriers of entry, for as long as needed.

Tanner emphasizes the importance of the foundation’s work to destigmatize military mental health issues.

“A lot of veterans – especially guys – don’t want to seek help,” he said. “They have this mentality that they aren’t as bad off as someone who lost a leg, for example, so they don’t deserve help. It’s important that we get the message out there that they deserve help no matter what their situation is.”

So, how can people help battle the veteran mental health crisis? Tanner encourages anyone with family or friends who are veterans to get them involved in the community.

“Connection is prevention,” Tanner said. “We’re social beings, but we’ve become more disconnected than ever. Soldiers returning from World War 2 returned to their hometowns, where everyone knew them, so they had a sense of community. That’s not the case today, so it’s important to make sure these people in your life are included and not just sitting at home alone.”

For employers, Tanner stresses the importance of empathy, flexibility and grace.

“Let veterans in your organization know that you care and that you’re not going to stigmatize them,” he said. “If they’re generally productive but are having some issues, give them some grace. There may be times when they struggle to compartmentalize and simply put their troubles aside because it’s time to focus on work. As long as they are good at managing their time and production, be understanding if they need a mental health break.”

Learn about Brothers Keeper Veteran Foundation and donate at bkvf.org.